tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90185502024-03-07T00:50:29.551-08:00Current Weather Situation latest forecast cyclone reports, and hurricane,flood images.This blog provides current weather situation latest forecast cyclone reports, damage maps, hurricane,flood images.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-45177570395267620052015-10-13T03:48:00.000-07:002015-10-13T03:48:51.251-07:00'Super Typhoon' Dujuan Nears Taiwan<p align="justify">'Super typhoon' Dujuan was swirling towards Taiwan Monday with thousands of people evacuated from outlying islands as the storm gathered strength on its approach. Torrential rains and high winds are predicted across Taiwan from Monday afternoon as Dujuan nears the east coast, with landfall predicted around 11:00 pm.</p>
<p align="justify">Taiwan's weather bureau upgraded Dujuan to a "strong typhoon" Sunday it's top category. Other regional weather bureaus, including the Hong Kong Observatory, categorised it as a "super typhoon" as it intensified to reach gusts of 227 kilometres (141 miles) per hour.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJq-Jvabd_wm0NIQDN8jC4dYcy1ls2huBedUTECc2clNM0WIAIYZQXbe69GZ2_fSA4wb5Ic2c3LEvjCHMUDdXVQ3yZAMqhLdMSxGigs_UguF6Ndy4ISK0WG1v_gZ0-0UoWrk12w/s1600/Storm_image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJq-Jvabd_wm0NIQDN8jC4dYcy1ls2huBedUTECc2clNM0WIAIYZQXbe69GZ2_fSA4wb5Ic2c3LEvjCHMUDdXVQ3yZAMqhLdMSxGigs_UguF6Ndy4ISK0WG1v_gZ0-0UoWrk12w/s320/Storm_image.jpg" /></a></div>
<p align="justify">The whole of the island should heighten vigilance against severe winds and torrential rains." Almost 3,000 people, most of them tourists, were evacuated Sunday from Taiwan's Green Island and Orchid Island popular with visitors.</p>
<p align="justify">Authorities said Monday they were planning more possible evacuations as they assessed the impact of heavy rains. Taiwan's aboriginal mountain communities are particularly at risk during typhoons, often hit by flooding and mudslides. Some are still cleaning up after Typhoon Soudelor left a trail of destruction last month.</p>
<p align="justify">"A massive amount of rubble caused by the last typhoon is still seen on slopes and river beds. This may cause further damage," the weather bureau said. More than 24,000 troops are on standby for disaster relief and evacuations, with 100 shelters set up. Emergency response centres have been established in the north and east.</p>
<p align="justify">The storm threatens long-weekend plans for many as Taiwan celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival. A concert by US rock band Bon Jovi due to take place in Taipei Monday was cancelled. High speed rail was due to be suspended mid-afternoon.</p>
<p align="justify">Ferry services to outlying islands have already been suspended and flights to and from the islands will stop from noon. Dujuan will pass near the Japanese island of Ishigaki as it approaches Taiwan. Japan's meteorological agency has warned it could trigger waves 13 metres (42 feet) high. The storm is on course to hit mainland China from Tuesday, but is forecast to have weakened.</p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-76877328092576453302015-09-14T03:10:00.001-07:002015-09-14T03:10:43.539-07:00Japan Floods- Landslides Leave At Least 7 Dead, 15 Missing<p align="justify">Two men, ages 71 and 51, were found dead in rice fields flooded by the levee breach in Joso, according to public broadcaster NHK. The men were not previously among the list of missing. Seven people are now confirmed dead and 15 remain missing in the wake of torrential rains associated with former Tropical Storm Etau that dumped unprecedented rainfall on parts of eastern and northern Japan Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-J_ChncBidYyB99VbnWla8YtYZ6Y8Wgt60YhIXbrkaNT4ag11tfaC_rUR8ru1V8Dy5QuaJ9hHdRry-dndkqOCtu6sw7ChO8C9wNy4-yw52gstizW33oY1grEwOWyBnLonWYI8A/s1600/Japan+Floods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-J_ChncBidYyB99VbnWla8YtYZ6Y8Wgt60YhIXbrkaNT4ag11tfaC_rUR8ru1V8Dy5QuaJ9hHdRry-dndkqOCtu6sw7ChO8C9wNy4-yw52gstizW33oY1grEwOWyBnLonWYI8A/s320/Japan+Floods.jpg" /></a></div>
<p align="justify">Local officials in Ibaraki Prefecture said 1,344 people had been rescued via helicopter by the country's Self-Defence Force and rescuers from 10 of the country's 47 prefectures. The threat of rain largely failed to materialize Sunday in the Greater Tokyo area, giving search and rescue teams a few more days of favorable weather to look for the 15 missing in Joso, a city in Ibaraki Prefecture about 30 miles northeast of downtown Tokyo. However, rain is in the forecast later this week across much of Japan.</p>
<p align="justify">In addition to the flooded homes, seven dwellings have been destroyed and 23 partially damaged according to the FDMA. Dramatic helicopter rescues unfolded on live television in Japan on Thursday as water breached that levee, leaving scores of residents trapped on the roofs or upper floors of their homes.The Japanese government's Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed that a man found dead in a flooded vehicle in Tochigi Prefecture Sunday morning died of storm-related causes.</p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-54907086598564944502011-11-14T05:42:00.000-08:002014-07-18T02:48:55.346-07:00Flood-weary residents lash out in Bangkok<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0XJVWTyD19mbD36f6tSflElNKEYW9S3p5cUbRMbqhI2v-zTWsL2Vthnus9NyCf0K2z7tN_TXeYdiN1EAggY5_f4hHbc9iRvGFTIEpc5gdwDsE51ossi0_x3YGtGUi-LLUmnx/s1600/flood.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 554px; height: 348px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0XJVWTyD19mbD36f6tSflElNKEYW9S3p5cUbRMbqhI2v-zTWsL2Vthnus9NyCf0K2z7tN_TXeYdiN1EAggY5_f4hHbc9iRvGFTIEpc5gdwDsE51ossi0_x3YGtGUi-LLUmnx/s400/flood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674848120825150370" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">BANGKOK</span> — Angry residents in flooded Bangkok protested on Monday, briefly blocking a major highway as frustration mounted that parts of the Thai capital are suffering badly while the centre stays dry.<br /><br />Thailand's worst floods in half a century, triggered by months of unusually heavy monsoon rains, have left at least 562 people dead around the kingdom and damaged millions of homes and livelihoods.<br /><br />After weeks of flooding, waters in some Bangkok districts have receded significantly. An AFP photographer said the water level in Lat Phrao and Mo Chit areas, on the northern edge of the city centre, had fallen by nearly a metre in 48 hours and inhabitants were no longer using boats to get around.<br /><br />But elsewhere anger is growing that residential areas are being sacrificed to preserve Bangkok's commercial and tourist heart.<br /><br />In the west of the city, around 200 people blocked a section of the Rama II road, the main route linking the capital to southern Thailand, to demand extra water pumps to help drain their swamped neighbourhoods.<br /><br />"The villagers were not happy that there were not enough pumps to drain the floods," local police chief Colonel Nakarin Sukontawit said.<br /><br />"The BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) agreed to bring two more pumps today, so the villagers decided to stop their protest."<br /><br />Around 70 people also gathered at a major floodwall in northern Don Mueang district, watched by about 30 police officers, to ensure the authorities did not repair a gap they had opened to allow water to drain away from badly flooded areas.<br /><br />Visiting the scene, Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra reassured locals that he had not received a government order to repair the barrier and his team would take time to "analyse the situation".<br /><br />People in the area -- many of whom have been living in waters waist-deep or worse for almost a month -- have threatened to step up their protest if the opening in the structure is repaired.<br /><br />The 15-kilometre (nine-mile) floodwall, mostly made up of huge sandbags weighing up to 2.5 tonnes, is a key defence preventing run-off waters from the north from swamping Bangkok's glitzy downtown area.<br /><br />"The water in my house reaches as high as my neck," said 65-year-old Wattana Klongsakon, adding that she was "satisfied" to see the brown liquid rushing through to the other side of the damaged barrier.<br /><br />"If they rebuild it, we will definitely block the toll road", she said, referring to a major nearby route linking Bangkok to the north.<br /><br />In an effort to spare Bangkok's economic and political heartland, authorities have been trying to drain the floods through waterways in the east and west of the sprawling capital and out to sea.<br /><br />Under-pressure Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, facing the first serious test of her fledgling premiership, pleaded for patience and unity on her Facebook page on Monday.<br /><br /><a href="http://creativesuccessalliance.com/">Creative success alliance</a><br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jGLCPdVq4pUAe-SwbhXYDUecBFuQ?docId=CNG.5899a1291312fbd8fbe070b52d1b1899.911">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-71573370415074463982011-11-08T03:26:00.000-08:002014-07-18T02:49:54.070-07:00France hit by storms in south, three dead<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpyKexedR8Whrwl1gfx_w-2AL1dmVPRAKG_qkV_D2LFKvwMERGEhvmKjJstxu4mcbJR8Ahocbl0X8wHeG5g1-kky_9jvkU-oxM9Ix7ZprL2X2xDBQ_Vqd96u_tBbQ6f_TEC2c/s1600/www.reuters.com.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 475px; height: 303px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpyKexedR8Whrwl1gfx_w-2AL1dmVPRAKG_qkV_D2LFKvwMERGEhvmKjJstxu4mcbJR8Ahocbl0X8wHeG5g1-kky_9jvkU-oxM9Ix7ZprL2X2xDBQ_Vqd96u_tBbQ6f_TEC2c/s400/www.reuters.com.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672586352645038562" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Heavy rains and flooding in southern France over the weekend forced the evacuation of about six hundred people, and three people died in weather-related deaths as a dozen local regions remained on alert on Sunday.<br /><br />Rivers overran their banks, flooding streets and homes and leaving hundreds stranded. Television images showed cars floating along roads and residents mopping up their sodden, muddy homes.<br /><br />A retired couple, both aged 71, in the southeastern coastal town of Bagnols en Foret died late Saturday night or Sunday morning from carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to bail out rising water in their cellar, police said.<br /><br />On Saturday, police told Reuters they found the body of a 51-year-old homeless man who had been washed away from his campsite in the Herault southern region.<br /><br />Some 600 people have already been evacuated along the coast and in the Alps in the south east of the country, authorities said. Firefighters helped rescue around 1,200 people affected by the storms, using helicopters to save about 30 people.<br /><br />An orange alert -- the second-highest weather alert after red -- remained in place in 12 southern regions on Sunday, down from about 16 on Saturday.<br /><br />The regions affected are the low-lying areas near the Pyrenees in the south west, where it continued to rain on Sunday, and in the flooded Alps region.<br /><br />In the past two days, the level of the Var river in the southeast rose from 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) to 5 meters, said Europe 1 radio.<br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/06/uk-france-weather-idUSLNE7A500320111106">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-23417412018588176942011-10-31T02:28:00.000-07:002014-07-18T02:50:03.975-07:00October storm's power outages top Hurricane Irene's numbers<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ucG0PMvBx_OYa0L2PeH_6Zk94qcUXtKnC6A2TVfsgESK3Caw5cYg0S2wE0Z6pj2y4u6AE14cS_CAPxg4WujKmparVK01qEqVP5ZMnBA-JrBKhPapNAC0mzaG7pOhUh0Wle9l/s1600/hurricane.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 536px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ucG0PMvBx_OYa0L2PeH_6Zk94qcUXtKnC6A2TVfsgESK3Caw5cYg0S2wE0Z6pj2y4u6AE14cS_CAPxg4WujKmparVK01qEqVP5ZMnBA-JrBKhPapNAC0mzaG7pOhUh0Wle9l/s400/hurricane.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669587757734264050" border="0" /></a><br />Last month, Hurricane Irene left more than 260,000 PPL customers without power.<br /><br />The rare October nor’easter that on Saturday dumped 5.5 inches of heavy snow in the Harrisburg area was worse.<br /><br />Saturday’s storm left 315,000 PPL customers in central and eastern Pennsylvania and 257,000 Met-Ed customers without electricity.<br /><br />By 7:15 p.m. Sunday, PPL still had 150,000 customers without electricity in its 29-county region, including 1,995 in Cumberland County, 3,027 in Dauphin County, 1,003 in Lebanon County, 1,288 in Perry County and 1,998 in York County.<br /><br />The outages occurred when leaf-laden trees bent and broke under the heavy snow and fell on power lines and poles. In a company statement, PPL called the Lehigh Valley the hardest-hit region, with 125,000 customers affected, followed by the Harrisburg and Lancaster areas.<br /><br />“With a storm of this magnitude, it could take days until we can restore service to all customers,” said David DeCampli, PPL Electric Utilities president. “Our crews are assessing the damage by foot, by vehicle and by air. We’re focusing on repairs that can restore power to the largest numbers of customers as quickly and safely as possible.”<br /><br />He said about 1,000 workers on 250 crews responded to outages. An additional 150 crews from western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee joined the restoration effort.<br /><br />It was a familiar job for electricity workers, who in September replaced miles of power lines and more than 1,200 utility poles, 300 transformers and thousands of pieces of pole-top equipment damaged by Hurricane Irene.<br /><br />The storm also affected transportation through the midstate.<br /><br />Greg Penny, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 8 spokesman, said that as of 6 p.m. Sunday, about 30 roads in the eight-county district remained closed because of downed trees on power lines. Most of these were in York County, he said.<br /><br />“PennDOT crews remove trees and branches from the roads when power lines are not involved,” he said. “But if the trees or limbs are entangled with power lines, we have to wait for the utility crew to come in and safely clear the electric power line. Right now, utility crews are busy restoring electricity.”<br /><br />Penny also said Route 11 at the West Pennsboro and Penn townships border near Newville remains closed in both directions. He said state police requested the closure because they are concerned that a silo that appears to be leaning might fall on nearby power lines and the road.<br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/10/octobers_storm_power_outages_t.html">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-13623054374981614402011-10-27T03:53:00.000-07:002014-07-18T02:50:13.704-07:00Hurricane Rina chases tourists from Mexican resorts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-CY-z_5is4K1VhV9QGukFGBBdM6Rvir1dkM4HIpWOoJA8Ng-aMkAa8FZTdqo4zGdm0IiJDjnIw2TWcL5cS2NwivZjTrmxqL86rT7dUh9gJ7Bpl21QSAADcLxHldnmJXVpiCES/s1600/hurricane.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 486px; height: 248px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-CY-z_5is4K1VhV9QGukFGBBdM6Rvir1dkM4HIpWOoJA8Ng-aMkAa8FZTdqo4zGdm0IiJDjnIw2TWcL5cS2NwivZjTrmxqL86rT7dUh9gJ7Bpl21QSAADcLxHldnmJXVpiCES/s400/hurricane.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668125133569224002" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The Category 1 hurricane was expected to sweep by the eastern coast of the Yucatan peninsula, home to the strip of resorts known as the Riviera Maya, by Thursday evening, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.<br /><br />Cancun's airport stayed open, but more than 90 flights in and out of the city were canceled for Thursday. Hundreds of passengers loaded with luggage formed long lines at airport counters, trying to get out before the storm hit.<br /><br />Danielle Selvin and Justin Harris from Los Angeles, decided to cut their visit short when they learned about Rina.<br /><br />"We just figured that we'd rather be home where it's dry and the sun is still shining," said Selvin, 23, as they stood in line to try to get a refund for their original flight.<br /><br />Though Rina was earlier downgraded from a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds dropping to 85 mph (140 kph), emergency services in Cancun's home state of Quintana Roo advised people in vulnerable areas to take cover.<br /><br />Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Quintana Roo's secretary of tourism, earlier on Wednesday urged prospective travelers to reschedule their vacations to avoid running into Rina.<br /><br />The weakened storm posed little danger to tourists already there, but many were dejected by Rina's arrival.<br /><br />"Rina ruined our plans," said Raquel Cortes, on her honeymoon in Cancun. "We wanted to go to the beach, scuba dive and go to the marine parks ... we can't get in the ocean."<br /><br />Rina is not expected to affect Mexico's main oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico or coffee-growing areas in Central America that were battered by heavy rains this month. All of Mexico's ports in the Gulf of Mexico, including major oil exporting terminals, were open on Wednesday afternoon.<br /><br />In Cancun's poorer neighborhoods, emergency workers made rounds to encourage people to move to public shelters.<br /><br />"Above all, we're acting in flood prone areas with fragile housing, which are the zones we have to evacuate first," said Felix Diaz, head of civil protection for the Cancun area.<br /><br />People were urged not to go to Cancun's airport unless they had confirmed reservations.<br /><br />Vacationers along the coast of the Yucatan were met with cloudy skies and sporadic heavy rains. Beaches near the hotel zone emptied during the day, and many stores closed early.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />RAIN AND BIG WAVES</span><br />Cancun was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Wilma, the most intense storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, and locals still have keen memories of the damage.<br /><br />"After Wilma, how could I be afraid of this storm?" said soft drink salesman Mario Gomez, 45. "Even that day, I was the last one to leave. I didn't want to go before all my fruit was sold and I still have cold drinks to sell today.<br /><br />"I'll be here tomorrow, too," he added.<br /><br />Even with the downgrade, Rina is still expected to cause downpours and potentially dangerous waves. Most schools in Quintana Roo closed as a safety precaution.<br /><br />About 2,800 people were being evacuated from low-lying Holbox Island, off the Yucatan's northeastern tip, including 200 tourists, Quintana Roo's governor Roberto Borge said.<br /><br />On Tuesday there were around 80,000 tourists in the state. Most were foreigners, staying at hotels in Cancun and other resorts like Playa del Carmen and the island of Cozumel.<br /><br />Some cruises changed course to avoid Yucatan.<br /><br />The sixth hurricane in the 2011 Atlantic season, Rina was located about 140 miles (225 km) south southeast of Cozumel Island at 10 p.m. CDT/2100 GMT on Wednesday, and was moving west northwest at 6 mph (9 kph).<br /><br />The hurricane could dump 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) of rain over the eastern Yucatan peninsula, and some streets in the main tourist zone were already flooding on Wednesday.<br /><br />A huge storm surge is also possible, raising tide levels as much as 4 feet (1.2 meters) above normal along the coast.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/27/uk-weather-caribbean-idUSLNE79P00R20111027">Read more</a><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-86467966784954413052011-10-20T04:34:00.000-07:002014-07-18T02:50:24.137-07:00Pa. lawmakers probe utility response to Lee, Irene<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMbOqN3ZaSqz0Ak23jmnDOfZrn218kG1_Mryi8kKLpV48UEaetCNnQhfCWc-YXYXc5pCAlRFWBPDkXqpOhAVQvjWD7S5SU6uOpDWq0lsfTWDcduuJSPTBtf_I_LTtsRtBpA6j/s1600/AJ_Tunk_Flood_Pic_2_090811.1_09-14-2011_UMJA7F0.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 627px; height: 328px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMbOqN3ZaSqz0Ak23jmnDOfZrn218kG1_Mryi8kKLpV48UEaetCNnQhfCWc-YXYXc5pCAlRFWBPDkXqpOhAVQvjWD7S5SU6uOpDWq0lsfTWDcduuJSPTBtf_I_LTtsRtBpA6j/s400/AJ_Tunk_Flood_Pic_2_090811.1_09-14-2011_UMJA7F0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665538566897482674" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)</span> — Upgraded call centers and increased use of social media could help utility companies better respond to natural disasters like the two destructive storms that recently hit Pennsylvania, executives and state officials told lawmakers.<br /><br />Utility representatives and state emergency officials testified Tuesday at a joint hearing of two Senate committees about lessons learned from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.<br /><br />The hearing was prompted by constituent complaints to senators about a lack of communication from the utilities and the lag in restoring service in some areas.<br /><br />About 706,000 Pennsylvanians had no electricity during the peak of the outages caused when Irene barreled through the state on Aug. 28. Some residents went without power for 10 days.<br /><br />Just over a week later, the state was hit with historic flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.<br /><br />Utility officials stressed how destructive the storms were to transmission lines and distribution systems. But Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, said the lack of communication with customers left residents "powerless and in the dark," literally and figuratively.<br /><br />Many irate residents had no idea when their service would be restored in the days after Irene, Baker said. Some saw utility trucks parked in their neighborhoods for hours only to watch them leave — without having restored the power, she said.<br /><br />Carl Segneri, an executive with Allentown-based utility PPL Corp., said the volume of calls to report damage during Irene exceeded the company's phone system capacity. The problem was compounded by breakdowns in the outage management system, he said.<br /><br />PPL is evaluating its technology to see how it can improve reliability and performance, Segneri said.<br /><br />UGI Utilities Inc. plans to acquire better weather forecasting tools and buy a new system to manage power outages, executive Robert Stoyko told lawmakers.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.timesleader.com/news/Pa-lawmakers-probe-utility-response-to-Lee-Irene-.html">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-4342884595603700432011-10-19T04:08:00.000-07:002011-10-19T04:16:26.298-07:00Thailand Flood: Bangkok Braces as Damage Swells [PHOTOS]<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-3SbN6514V2q-bdNq1Rhp361UDjs9GjtZXAwrf7L-BKWuq_0KlK0oJJlX_yK0kLqhf01ZvNrhzTqwvGnXbK1E4OoIfBaIuCsEd9TxbJZjptf752lJ4PjrTqQwPHu3CN9c58t/s1600/03.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 505px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-3SbN6514V2q-bdNq1Rhp361UDjs9GjtZXAwrf7L-BKWuq_0KlK0oJJlX_yK0kLqhf01ZvNrhzTqwvGnXbK1E4OoIfBaIuCsEd9TxbJZjptf752lJ4PjrTqQwPHu3CN9c58t/s400/03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665160273986777202" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwr8TclkqMtkK8HFT2p2cXc6VJYQg9C7GC4uqhA8XpMrW2rCHvvFTUsJtiO3RvOhFyCLJBl-V04gk7LgWi-ph1kUJ9vFoDNNe-KzGfBXy0nRq6c9qUtvoUIItjq1olJ3-8j4Lp/s1600/02.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 481px; height: 345px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwr8TclkqMtkK8HFT2p2cXc6VJYQg9C7GC4uqhA8XpMrW2rCHvvFTUsJtiO3RvOhFyCLJBl-V04gk7LgWi-ph1kUJ9vFoDNNe-KzGfBXy0nRq6c9qUtvoUIItjq1olJ3-8j4Lp/s400/02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665160178323729938" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hJfLhJXMBMN85mDfwQgauVF8WefvvM8Mif4YK5EYfuQ7jRrpAN4bbsd2Y10VvKNXC0UXl2sMrdMEmYC8dPSsZ5bbumgxbJN6ExAQvrXrA0dhwr83tLW4PAxIuKP9gTu8heq7/s1600/01.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 488px; height: 325px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hJfLhJXMBMN85mDfwQgauVF8WefvvM8Mif4YK5EYfuQ7jRrpAN4bbsd2Y10VvKNXC0UXl2sMrdMEmYC8dPSsZ5bbumgxbJN6ExAQvrXrA0dhwr83tLW4PAxIuKP9gTu8heq7/s400/01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665160039836489762" border="0" /></a><br />Severe flooding in Thailand has left more than 300 people dead and stranded thousands of others. As rain waters continue to inundate farms and flood cities, the country now faces about $7 billion in damages.<br /><br />The situation began at the start of monsoon season in July, and three months of rain has resulted in the worst flooding in Thailand for 50 years.<br /><br />Yingluck Shinawatra, the country's newly elected prime minister, warned Thai citizens that unless waters can be diverted into the sea, Bangkok could be even more severely damaged. Around 90 percent of the locks in the capital, which sits on the Gulf of Thailand, have been opened to allow water to drain out of the city, but additional storms could still cause massive floods, according to The Guardian.<br /><br />Thai soldiers also built flood walls in Bangkok using more than one million sandbags.<br /><br />The situation has invited criticism of Yingluck, who some Thais feel didn't properly warn or prepare the country for the disaster. So far, she has refused to call a state of emergency, fearing it would scare off tourists, according to The Wall Street Journal.<br /><br />The rainy season has also affected Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where nearly 10,000 people have had to leave their homes.<br /><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-9936425994331536372011-10-17T05:12:00.000-07:002011-10-17T05:24:51.017-07:00Australia risks new damage from above-average cyclone season<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_dbWu3Atpbu-HX3IErU4N98UzGm4qrN9s4kI1EqrE5vh1UvqyiHgAazesb_4O7_Lk7f5nac-DGkZ4Pud0Gqs8OBTMRNpFfajJ82nN5klIx9hA2GdRh9GEmRC4dwQ9lj8S2ue/s1600/Article_Carlos_Sat-420x0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_dbWu3Atpbu-HX3IErU4N98UzGm4qrN9s4kI1EqrE5vh1UvqyiHgAazesb_4O7_Lk7f5nac-DGkZ4Pud0Gqs8OBTMRNpFfajJ82nN5klIx9hA2GdRh9GEmRC4dwQ9lj8S2ue/s400/Article_Carlos_Sat-420x0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5664435963089454338" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Australia weather bureau says country faces more than 12 cyclones 2011-12<br /><br />* Oil, gas, as well as coal and iron ore mines may be at risk<br /><br />* Another La Nina weather pattern brewing to fuel storms<br /><br />SYDNEY, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Australia faces an above-average number of cyclones over the coming storm season, meteorologists said on Monday, threatening new devastation after massive floods swamped homes, as well as destroying crops and crippling mining earlier this year.<br /><br />The northwest offshore oil and gas field and coastal iron ore operations face a 65 percent chance of being hit by more than seven cyclones, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said in its 2011-12 tropical cyclone season forecast.<br /><br />Northeast Australia, where coal mining was crippled last year due to heavy flooding partly generated by cyclones, also faces a 65 percent chance of more than the average of three to four cyclones this season, said BOM.<br /><br />In total, Australia's north may be hit by more than 12 cyclones due to neutral to borderline La Nina weather conditions, which bring wet weather to the western Pacific, fuelling tropical storms over the ocean.<br /><br />"Historically, these conditions have favoured an above average number of cyclones in the Australian region," said BOM.<br /><br />Australia's cyclone season is between November and April.<br /><br />Natural disasters including floods and cyclones cut economic activity by 0.75 percentage points in 2010-11, wiping A$1.75 billion from revenue across 2010-11 and 2011-12, Treasurer Wayne Swan said.<br /><br />Australia's third-largest city Brisbane was inundated with floodwaters and flooding across an area as big as France and Germany forced major miners to declare force majeure and damaged large swaths of croplands, including the key sugar crop.<br /><br />Australia, one of the world's largest coal exporters, accounts for about two-thirds of the global coking coal trade, with around 90 percent of that coming from Queensland state.<br /><br />Coking or metallurgical coal is used for steelmaking, with the bulk of Australian exports to China.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond Studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/australia-cyclones-idUSL3E7LH08620111017">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-90803544556961850582011-10-14T20:53:00.000-07:002011-10-14T21:03:54.166-07:00Storms kill 49 in Mexico, Central America<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPyOwd9f2hJD6R5DPdMFnTQ5g6vmeKgVfb4eXkjCleYRUzPKz8LzWQ_CsCjIxIQQwi-V6agXrU7u_oGKGwmZxzt0eUKbExxaQ4TxOQwzcDRTYsFo9SrQ4f5DbwC40vhvhHnu6/s1600/Dust-storm-Texas-1935.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 464px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPyOwd9f2hJD6R5DPdMFnTQ5g6vmeKgVfb4eXkjCleYRUzPKz8LzWQ_CsCjIxIQQwi-V6agXrU7u_oGKGwmZxzt0eUKbExxaQ4TxOQwzcDRTYsFo9SrQ4f5DbwC40vhvhHnu6/s400/Dust-storm-Texas-1935.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663564540473392594" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">MEXICO CITY, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in Mexico and Central America rose to 49 on Friday as tropical storms and hurricanes continued to hit the region.<br /><br />The United Nations said as many as 100,000 people had been affected in Mexico and Central America, while the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that more heavy rains would pound the region in the next 48 to 72 hours.<br /><br />"Locally heavy rains are likely to continue over portions of the Pacific coast of southeastern Mexico and Central America, resulting in life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," said the NHC in its latest forecast for one of two storms currently moving over southern Mexico and Central America.<br /><br />Civil protection authorities across Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica continued to be on maximum alert.<br /><br />A second storm was forming over the eastern part of Mexico and Central America, and although neither of the two storms seem likely to become hurricanes, the NHC warned that the second storm will cause heavy rains,mudslides and flooding in Central America, Cuba and nearby islands.<br /><br />Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega raised the alert for the country and broke off an election campaign to attend to what he declared a "national emergency" as the death toll in Nicaragua climbed to seven due to the rains.<br /><br />Salvadorian President Mauricio Funes declared a state of national emergency over the massive flooding in coastal areas and initiated plans to evacuate 65,000 people from areas vulnerable to more flooding and landslides in the next three days.<br /><br />The United Nations said it had activated its emergency and assessment teams in Nicaragua and El Salvador.<br /><br />"Some 100,000 people in Mexico and Central America are facing flooding as Hurricane Jova and a tropical depression unleash torrential rains over the region," the United Nations news center said.<br /><br />At least 12,000 people have been evacuated in the five countries worst hit by week-long torrential rains caused by Hurricane Jova, Hurricane Irwin, tropical depression 12-E and two other independent storm systems.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond Studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/15/c_131192594_2.htm">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-59767269184229685492011-10-13T06:48:00.000-07:002011-10-13T06:57:23.505-07:00At Least Five Killed as Hurricane Jova Slams Mexico's Pacific Coast<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUM6UUJNAUyjpRuDa9TibvvjPcqTqa-AE1M9vM3hZMqWZoulWoJna9RJTbpxeZ7NiSDsQ3TctKUZRZU6_NgXkf2uZmkX1ktxClkoakFHCWmpyQ8xFFpugFdirGZ_FuDeGXNXIT/s1600/jova_tmo_2011283.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUM6UUJNAUyjpRuDa9TibvvjPcqTqa-AE1M9vM3hZMqWZoulWoJna9RJTbpxeZ7NiSDsQ3TctKUZRZU6_NgXkf2uZmkX1ktxClkoakFHCWmpyQ8xFFpugFdirGZ_FuDeGXNXIT/s400/jova_tmo_2011283.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662975508191458066" border="0" /></a><br />MANZANILLO, Mexico – Hurricane Jova slammed into Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 2 storm early Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring six, while a tropical depression hit farther south and unleashed steady rains that contributed to 13 deaths across the border in Guatemala.<br /><br />Jova came ashore west of the Mexican port of Manzanillo and the beach town of Barra de Navidad before dawn with 100 mph winds and heavy rains, before moving inland and weakening to a tropical depression by afternoon. It continued to dump rain over a large swath of northwest Mexico, including Jalisco state where rainfall this year had been low.<br /><br />A 71-year-old woman drowned in Colima state after a strong current swept away the car in which she and her son were riding. Her son survived, Colima Gov. Mario Anguiano said.<br /><br />In the neighboring state of Jalisco, Jova triggered a mudslide in the town of Cihuatlan, just inland from Barra de Navidad, that swept away a house on a hillside, killing a 21-year-old woman and her daughter, Jalisco civil protection officials said in a statement.<br /><br />Farther northwest along the Mexican coast in the town of Tomatlan, about 12 miles from where Jova landed, a man and a teenage boy were killed when a wall of their home softened by heavy rains fell on them, officials said.<br /><br />Also in Tomatlan, two children suffered head injuries when the walls of their brick home collapsed under the force of the wind and rains, said Oscar Mejia, spokesman for the Jalisco state Red Cross rescue division.<br /><br />The new tropical depression formed in the Pacific off far-southern Mexico near the Guatemala border, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported. The storm quickly moved ashore over Mexico and was expected to move slightly north before dissipating before day's end.<br /><br />The storm was smaller and less powerful than Jova, but the mountainous terrain of southern Mexico state of Chiapas and neighboring Guatemala is particularly vulnerable to flash flooding and mudslides. Numerous Indian villages perch precariously on hillsides.<br /><br />Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom blamed rain from the storm for the deaths of 13 people in his country. At least four of those were electrocuted when contacted power lines, Colom said. Others died in mudslides or were swept away by swollen rivers.<br /><br />National Hurricane Center forecaster John Cangialosi said the rains in Guatemala probably were linked to the tropical depression, even though it had not yet hit land.<br /><br />"If they're in Guatemala, they're pretty close to the circulation center of the system, and it has been a very slow-moving system ... so it's likely linked to this feature," Cangialosi said.<br /><br />Farther north on Mexico's coast, flooding from Jova was so bad in Cihuatlan that the Red Cross office had to be evacuated because it was filled with 4 feet of water.<br /><br />Mexico's navy said it evacuated a total of 2,600 people in flood-prone areas hit by Jova, and set up kitchens at shelters to feed 1,600 evacuees.<br /><br />The approach of Jova led authorities to close the port in Manzanillo, which is Mexico's second-biggest non-oil cargo port. The storm flooded some neighborhoods in the city and brought down power lines and billboards. Flooding knocked out at least one bridge and destroyed stretches of highways leading out of Manzanillo.<br /><br />The federal Communications and Transportation Department said that several roads were damages by the storm and that landslides and flooding blocked three main highways connecting cities in Jalisco and Colima states.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2011/10/12/at-least-five-killed-as-hurricane-jova-slams-mexicos-pacific-coast/">Read more</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-85095807597664368292011-10-12T06:26:00.000-07:002011-10-12T06:30:42.761-07:00Hurricane Jova lashes Mexican resorts, villages<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOj8E1-G5lfgWT_njrn6YFDIbDhYNh42WvOU5dP8JFTG8C0zm-1S22M2Ll3qWFDlyKH-tAJAWk37bp9CkKztdjWzBedrCnpdowI_2qMO3bKSt00bcOJMjQhhLZoq2KWpLthZO_/s1600/jova_jpg_1329526cl-8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOj8E1-G5lfgWT_njrn6YFDIbDhYNh42WvOU5dP8JFTG8C0zm-1S22M2Ll3qWFDlyKH-tAJAWk37bp9CkKztdjWzBedrCnpdowI_2qMO3bKSt00bcOJMjQhhLZoq2KWpLthZO_/s400/jova_jpg_1329526cl-8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662597552013548434" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">(AP) MANZANILLO, Mexico</span> — Hurricane Jova slammed into Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 2 storm early Wednesday, swamping beach towns and causing floods in the mountains above.<br /><br />The storm toppled trees, knocked out power and flooded streets in the major port city of Manzanillo, but the full extent of damage was still unclear before dawn Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of deaths.<br /><br />The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Jova's maximum sustained winds were near 100 mph (160 kph) when it hit, but it was weakening steadily as it moves inland and winds were down to 75 mph (140 kph) by 7 a.m (8 a.m. EDT; 1200GMT).<br /><br />As the storm's leading rain bands began swatting at the coast Tuesday night, heavy rain fell in Manzanillo, Mexico's second-biggest non-oil cargo port. It was closed to navigation because of the storm.<br /><br />Callers told local station Radio Turquesa that water was several feet (more than a meter) deep in some neighborhoods and schools, some used for shelters, were closed for the day.<br /><br />The Hurricane Center in Miami warned that the storm surge could cause significant coastal flooding along the 210-mile (340-kilometer) stretch between Manzanillo and Cabo Corrientes, which is southwest of the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.<br /><br />Up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain could fall on isolated areas as Jova moves inland, the center said.<br /><br />Before nightfall Tuesday, marines visited flood-prone areas in Manzanillo to advise people to leave. They found a home for elderly people whose homes were already flooded and evacuated dozens of people to stay with relatives, Adm. Jaime Mejia said. Forty others were evacuated in the nearby town of Tecoman, he said.<br /><br />Some people vowed to ride out the storm, while others took refuge at shelters in towns like Jaluco, just inland from the beach community of Barra de Navidad.<br /><br />"My house has a thatch roof, and it's not safe," said Maria de Jesus Palomera Delgado, 44, a farmworker's wife who went to an improvised shelter at a grade school in Jaluco, along with her 17 children and grandchildren.<br /><br />"The neighbors told us the house was going to collapse" if hit by the hurricane, she added as the children slept nearby on folding cots packed into a classroom.<br /><br />In an another classroom, migrant farmworker Rufina Francisco Ventura, 27, fed her 2-month-old son. She said she had left the ranch where she plants chiles and tomatoes planning only to pick up some free blankets, but shelter workers "told me I shouldn't leave here, because it's going to hit hard."<br /><br />Jalisco state authorities evacuated about 200 people to shelters by Tuesday and issued alerts over loudspeakers placed in communities along the coast, telling people to take precautions as the hurricane approached, state civil defense spokesman Juan Pablo Vigueras said. The state had 69 shelters ready, he said.<br /><br />Authorities also set up shelters for residents of inland towns, where the mountainous terrain could cause flash floods and mudslides, which often pose the greatest dangers in hurricanes<br /><br />The Mexican army said it had assigned about 1,500 soldiers to hurricane preparedness and relief efforts.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/11/ap/business/main20119005.shtml">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-12495562870539184162011-10-11T05:46:00.000-07:002011-10-11T05:52:27.237-07:00Hurricane Jova set to strike Mexico<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjektgdFr520Xj3uW7IXXzkVfmxOOZp7aNh2W6jRKnr-wIXefALY50LlD2kEg_3bA89ynwbx4WEufWf92_2IlpPOUugtOzOzoDCsM9YT6MOi_0FnxI_TC6-cJtdFgib1sK7k8hG/s1600/hurricane.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjektgdFr520Xj3uW7IXXzkVfmxOOZp7aNh2W6jRKnr-wIXefALY50LlD2kEg_3bA89ynwbx4WEufWf92_2IlpPOUugtOzOzoDCsM9YT6MOi_0FnxI_TC6-cJtdFgib1sK7k8hG/s400/hurricane.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662216519408665906" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGNSRR04-_Wn9FOdcHexnPyFAuZ2ihup__M72ndj4tkVuzWkAagbC8MKwpIVzlF2LUcbqdM1OFOcdILJWoicT3qnu_IS-hNn1W8gvf-_CTZuDjwR3Ntu0TwCM1GzHUgxKWErD/s1600/hurricane.jpg"><br /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">MEXICO CITY</span> — Hurricane Jova barreled towards Mexico on Tuesday and was expected to slam into the Pacific coast later in the day, bringing high winds, heavy rains and the risk of devastating mudslides.<br /><br />Mexican authorities have placed four southern coastal states on high alert ahead of the expected arrival of the category three storm.<br /><br />The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said in a 0900 GMT bulletin that Jova was packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and was 235 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of the busy port city of Manzanillo, in Colima state. It was moving north-northeast at 9 km/h (6 mph).<br /><br />"The center of the hurricane will be near the coast of Mexico in the hurricane warning area by this afternoon or evening," the NHC said, adding it expected the storm to reach the coast at "near major hurricane strength."<br /><br />Mexico has issued hurricane alerts for large swaths of the Pacific coast.<br /><br />The zone stretched north from the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan for almost 480 kilometers (298 miles), encompassing the popular tourist cape of Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco, Mexico's meteorological institute said.<br /><br />Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan and Nayarit state to the north were all put on guard for possible landslides from heavy rain expected to be dumped by the ninth Pacific hurricane of the season.<br /><br />"A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall," the NHC warned.<br /><br />The surge, said the hurricane center, "will be accompanied by large and destructive waves" as well as torrential rainfall with accumulations of up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in some areas.<br /><br />"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides over mountainous terrain," the NHC said.<br /><br />Several major storms or hurricanes have buffeted Mexico's Pacific coast in recent months but most have remained offshore.<br /><br />The season's first named storm, Arlene, left at least 16 people dead and drenched much of the country in July.<br /><br />Tropical storms and hurricanes last year caused flooding and mudslides in Mexico that killed 125 people, left hundreds of thousands homeless and caused more than $4 billion in damage.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond Earring Studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iGg9djvBMHp4361DRFtk2a5wTJiw?docId=CNG.972981bb9b902352b52df09e8145624a.2b1">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-34543991484001421452011-10-09T23:51:00.000-07:002011-10-09T23:56:26.199-07:00Climate change blamed for storms, flooding, drought: Philippines<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSRizXy0xCHOevMC61v6LYeTlBlaAgzSjUYy5Q6UrgcFbC_4s0jICfsaqXXu7jFYldXtB4iiW1-jwa6hVnr64sbZl8ZnU5KeVknqAMLwnqpqAFdSNOHbwMV0Upq6cSWZCuuTz/s1600/20111003.123856_ann_flood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSRizXy0xCHOevMC61v6LYeTlBlaAgzSjUYy5Q6UrgcFbC_4s0jICfsaqXXu7jFYldXtB4iiW1-jwa6hVnr64sbZl8ZnU5KeVknqAMLwnqpqAFdSNOHbwMV0Upq6cSWZCuuTz/s400/20111003.123856_ann_flood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5661753622053681794" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Officials have warned Filipinos to brace against the inconvenient truth of devastating storms, flooding and drought unless policies and projects are put in place to mitigate climate change.<br /><br />Undersecretary Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said that in the next 20 to 50 years, the Philippines would find "the dry seasons drier and the wet seasons wetter."<br /><br />"With the climate change scenario, we will see more of this as a frequent reality," Yumul said in an interview. "What we used to consider as abnormal we should now consider as normal," he noted.<br /><br />Scientists describe the phenomenon as any distinct changes in weather patterns, such as temperature, rainfall, wind and snow over a long period of time.<br /><br />A major factor is global warming-the increase in the oceanic and atmospheric temperatures of the planet resulting in the melting of the ice caps and the rising of the seas.<br /><br />The doomsday scenarios, depicted in Al Gore's 2006 award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," are now playing out in the Philippines.<br /><br />The climatology division of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has released the results of a study in 2010 concluding that climate data from 1960 to 2003 showed significant increases in the frequency of hot days and warm nights in many areas of the country.<br /><br />On the other hand, Pagasa observed that cooler days had decreased. This trend mirrors the experience of other countries in Southeast Asia, Pagasa said as it predicted more rains in the Philippines in the coming decades.<br /><br />"Reduction of rainfall is seen in March, April and May in most provinces, while rainfall increases are likely in Luzon and Visayas in 2020 and 2050 during the June-July-August and September-October-November seasons," the study said.<br /><br />"Greater increase in rainfall is expected in the provinces of Luzon (0.9-63 per cent) and Visayas (2-22 per cent) during the peak southwest monsoon period (June-July-August)."<br /><br />The number of days where temperature will breach 35 degrees Celsius will also increase in 2020 and 2050, according to Pagasa models.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Fishponds</span><br />Antonio Apostol Jr., chief geologist of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said human activities in the regions that bore the brunt of Typhoons "Pedring" and "Quiel" that struck the country last week exacerbated the hazards and the risks.<br /><br />The plains of Bulacan and Pampanga have always been prone to floods, he said.<br /><br />But the proliferation of fishponds and aquaculture projects in the major waterways and in the coasts has slowed down the flow of water from the typhoons and the dams, resulting in prolonged flooding in residential and rural areas, Apostol said.<br /><br />"These have a multiplier effect. So when the water was released from the dams, the natural drainage could not handle it anymore," he said.<br /><br />If there were no fishponds and garbage clogging the canals and rivers of the region, "the outflow would have been quicker," Apostol said.<br /><br />Floods and landslides will be more widespread until officials realize that they should adapt to the changes in weather and lessen their effects on the general population, Apostol and Yumul said.<br /><br />"In other parts of the country, we are seeing the same situation. In the cities of Butuan and Cotabato, there were floods, too, because the rivers were clogged with water lilies," Apostol said.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond Earring Studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20111003-302894.html">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-82216575504668054562011-10-06T20:47:00.000-07:002011-10-06T20:53:19.324-07:00Flood toll: 244 dead, Ayutthaya warned<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfsGjTvpAv67k5B598hYY0puAl5hhg9yJhsheAzWybcGthtR0Tm96dvotHGqBFUncPsxINwDLSsRVw9A2qmW4_FRDD5aDrcmTvSyzO0PsHVRAG-3jP9EZo8sdhJfPxfIcyVPX/s1600/gFsEi.St_.41.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzfsGjTvpAv67k5B598hYY0puAl5hhg9yJhsheAzWybcGthtR0Tm96dvotHGqBFUncPsxINwDLSsRVw9A2qmW4_FRDD5aDrcmTvSyzO0PsHVRAG-3jP9EZo8sdhJfPxfIcyVPX/s400/gFsEi.St_.41.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660593282274996418" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">As extensive flooding continues to wreak havoc in 28 provinces throughout the country, the confirmed death toll on Thursday had risen to 244 with three people missing, and the forecast isa for worse to come.<br /><br />Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director Wibul Sanguanpong said the flooding has hit 1,486 tambons of 201 districts of 28 provinces, affecting 2.6 million people and damaging more than 7.5 million rai of farmland.<br /><br />The flood toll as of Oct 6 was 244 dead and three missing.<br /><br />Mr Wibul, also deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s disaster monitoring centre, said the amount of water in major dam reservoirs was still at a critical level and overflows from the Chao Phraya river have seriously hit low-lying areas in Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing Buri, Lop Buri, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi.<br /><br />In Ayutthaya, authorities alerted residents living around the former capital’s central area, known as Koh Muang, to evacuate their belongings to safe ground immediately as more flooding was expected to hit the area in the next few hours.<br /><br />There were fears that floodwalls in the area could not resist the flood torrent and also concerns that the floodwaters would surge into the famous Wat Yai Chaimongkol temple in the area.<br /><br />Ayutthaya governor Witthaya Piewpong said that flooding in the province is expected to reach a critical point in the next three to seven days as overflow from the Lop Buri, Pasak and Chao Phraya rivers would add to existing flood woes in the province.<br /><br />It is predicted that flood levels will increase by at least 50 centimetres, Mr Witthaya said, adding that he had instructed workers to reinforce embankments around the Koh Muang area with more sandbags, raising the level of the embankment from 50cm to one metre.<br /><br />Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri said Bang Pahan hospital in Ayutthaya has been temporarily closed because of flooding.<br /><br />He said of the 17 patients being treated in the hospital, two had been moved to Ang Thong hospital, four to Uthai Thani hospital, four to Somdej Phra Sangkharat hospital and seven to Wang Noi hospital.<br /><br />Two field hospitals have been set up at the PTT petrol station between Bang Pahan hospital and the district office and at tambon Bang Kwang in Maharat district.<br /><br />They were being staffed around the clock by doctors and staff from Vajira Phuket hospital.<br /><br />Ban Phraek, Maharat, Tha Rua and Nakhon Luang hospitals in Ayutthaya and Chumsaeng hospital in Nakhon Sawan are also under a flood threat.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond earring studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://pattayatoday.net/news/thailand-news/flood-toll-244-dead-ayutthaya-warned/">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-1325737582056798262011-10-05T23:34:00.000-07:002011-10-05T23:38:55.659-07:00Floods drown Asia's rice bowl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KyBbpUvHUJDyRMXPuHzSv0krDUe7eUWBXxHFEesTdBUgh7Z1HijIqd0E-nzSFKcVlOfo0CU9KOFs_j6m4aYHcy7orwQ5OsxBf47vr3J8HAcn2cOclUWyEUgoCitO4nEQ3GOK/s1600/flood1.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KyBbpUvHUJDyRMXPuHzSv0krDUe7eUWBXxHFEesTdBUgh7Z1HijIqd0E-nzSFKcVlOfo0CU9KOFs_j6m4aYHcy7orwQ5OsxBf47vr3J8HAcn2cOclUWyEUgoCitO4nEQ3GOK/s400/flood1.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660264728500290418" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">HANOI</span> — Massive floods have ravaged vast swathes of Asia's rice bowl, threatening to further drive up food prices and adding to the burden of farmers who are among the region's poorest, experts say.<br /><br />About 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of paddy fields in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos have been damaged or are at risk from the worst floods to hit the region in years, officials say.<br /><br />In Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, where 237 people have died in the floods, about one million hectares of paddy -- roughly 10 percent of the total -- have been damaged, they say.<br /><br />Heavy rains in Laos and Cambodia have also led to big losses in recent weeks, and experts say flood waters have now drained into Vietnam's Mekong Delta, a key global rice producer, making it the latest to be inundated.<br /><br />Further west, flooding of rice and other farmland in Pakistan's arable belt has cost that country nearly $2 billion in losses.<br /><br />"The whole region will now suffer from rising food prices as potential harvests have now been devastated. The damage is very serious this year and it will be some time before people can resume normal lives," Margareta Wahlstrom, the United Nations chief of disaster reduction, said in a statement.<br /><br />The flood damage comes on top of worries about the impact on global rice prices of a new scheme by the Thai government to boost the minimum price farmers receive for their crop.<br /><br />Vietnam meanwhile is the world's number-two rice exporter and the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam accounts for half the country's production.<br /><br />"The upstream waters have begun to drop slightly but here they are rising three to five centimetres (1.2 to two inches) daily," said Duong Nghia Quoc, director of the agriculture department in Dong Thap province.<br /><br />Dong Thap and neighbouring An Giang, which abut Cambodia, have been the worst affected in the delta.<br /><br />The UN, citing government sources, says 11 people have died, more than 20,000 homes are flooded and 99,000 hectares of rice are at risk in Vietnam.<br /><br />"Agricultural production is seriously affected this year by the floods that were, in fact, worse than our forecasts," said Vuong Huu Tien, of the flood and storm control department in An Giang, where thousands of soldiers have been mobilised to reinforce dykes and help residents reach safer ground.<br /><br />In Cambodia, more than 330,000 hectares of rice paddy have been inundated, of which more than 100,000 hectares are completely destroyed, said a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond earring studs</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ivxdU2aK6D4lTbQ-BCk5SZbFyTNQ?docId=CNG.8286e34e8a18e3f61ca4ad30f2f98370.2a1">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-23521560552248098772011-10-04T01:33:00.000-07:002011-10-04T01:50:26.619-07:00Thailand's 'worst' floods leave 224 dead<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0YdB7WLsUbNSJgtxOH400k2q0f877NIsLgjVBR5OPD3IP_8pRzlln4XmvdiEZXr_qoPIDxNgl9ZvUjVV3ruvM5OD7sCalKtNQFlDnAsmZmZ9MF7OR0RwVZjmY8Vl1nnI_A-p/s1600/flood.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0YdB7WLsUbNSJgtxOH400k2q0f877NIsLgjVBR5OPD3IP_8pRzlln4XmvdiEZXr_qoPIDxNgl9ZvUjVV3ruvM5OD7sCalKtNQFlDnAsmZmZ9MF7OR0RwVZjmY8Vl1nnI_A-p/s400/flood.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659556623543598370" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BANGKOK</span> — Thailand's worst monsoon floods in decades have killed 224 people and affected three quarters of the country, including part of the ancient city of Ayutthaya, according to officials.<br /><br />Two months of flooding have inundated 58 of Thailand's 77 provinces -- with 25 still severely affected -- and damaged the homes or livelihoods of millions of people, according to the government.<br /><br />"It's the worst flooding yet in terms of the amount of water and people affected," said an official at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation who preferred not to be named.<br /><br />Wat Chaiwatthanaram, one of Ayutthaya's best known temples, has been closed to visitors after a makeshift dyke was breached at the former capital, a popular tourist destination north of Bangkok.<br /><br />"The water level inside the temple grounds is now 1.50 metres," said Supoj Prommanoch, head of the Fine Arts Office in Ayutthaya, located north of the capital Bangkok.<br /><br />But he said the authorities were confident they could prevent the floods from reaching Ayutthaya's main World Heritage Park, which is located further away from Chao Phraya River.<br /><br />The northern city of Chiang Mai, another popular tourist destination, has been badly hit and the authorities are battling to stop the floods reaching central Bangkok.<br /><br />"The current flood situation is the worst that I have ever seen and it will last until the first week of November," said independent flood expert Royal Chitradon, director of Thai Integrated Water Resource Management.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond stud</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hqj94V3z9Urapil21zfBlurqoVHw?docId=CNG.6185d845b10c9bd3444cb7c3c9426b41.821"><br />Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-48479134578077423442011-10-03T01:45:00.000-07:002011-10-03T02:02:10.694-07:00Autumn heatwave takes England by storm<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedmfaOKQybRPMe3NuLpqKBi-xMNYJETFyP-5lwv2Q9GUUJPRmidVp01VOnL-vnjFcRnxwgQm5HGJx0dJMqElsY2Dy0qEIx23Gwr5VMPswoHV9pxvOOh5yVEy-EH8eUeJOr9Km/s1600/weather.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 304px; height: 171px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedmfaOKQybRPMe3NuLpqKBi-xMNYJETFyP-5lwv2Q9GUUJPRmidVp01VOnL-vnjFcRnxwgQm5HGJx0dJMqElsY2Dy0qEIx23Gwr5VMPswoHV9pxvOOh5yVEy-EH8eUeJOr9Km/s400/weather.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659188570405096882" border="0" /></a><br /><p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;" class="introduction">England is in the grip of a late September heatwave.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">After another poor summer, temperatures have soared to almost 28C (82.4F) and are expected to carry on getting higher over the weekend. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The top temperature seen in England on Wednesday was in Gravesend, Kent, where it reached 27.1C (80.78F).</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The Met Office said the hot weather was caused by a high pressure system pushing warm air north across France and towards the UK. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The high pressure is holding rain and wind coming in from the Atlantic away from the west.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;" class="cross-head">Heatwave to continue</span><br />Paul Mott, meteorologist for MeteoGroup, the Press Association's weather arm, said the top temperatures would continue over the weekend. </div><p style="text-align: justify;">"We are still on for some exceptionally warm weather, temperatures will probably reach 28C (82.4F) over the London area," he said. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">"Central and eastern England could reach up to 27C (80.6F), so it is very warm indeed.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">"That is a good 10C to 11C (18F to 20F) warmer than what we would expect for this time of year."</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid to high-20s until next Tuesday. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">In Northumberland, a lamb has been born early and a field of about 100 sunflowers have blossomed near Bamburgh castle. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">However no records have yet been set, temperatures exceeded 28C (82F) on 21 September 2006 and the all-time high in the month of 30.6C (87F) was achieved in Hampshire in 1895.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond stud</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15107937">Read more</a><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-65549819158738081772011-09-30T02:31:00.000-07:002011-09-30T02:40:37.865-07:00Hurricane Irene aftermath | 09.30.11<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywbpUdWts83GxLLWfheQB414_q5Y2ViNno2OZESqZxYVfjDsU2LVnKuwYA7YwWYqEtloTEbE7qGvw2B2IGxkDmqMeNeOi8P8G7k5PBwZmMADeP6JRhm9eEv8aZwxEOWwhCJSU/s1600/hur2.jpg"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbvoVwdpg4d04mJpVFOX41cGGR5qEIaQFdAmvvfsN0StwWylfpdmLVcpTxOKlLM0t4PqrddESEpCbU3UIv4rTD9-wepVigDQt-YzumhsRB-q14Nla87cfPiGH9z4cdeJze-oq2/s1600/hur1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbvoVwdpg4d04mJpVFOX41cGGR5qEIaQFdAmvvfsN0StwWylfpdmLVcpTxOKlLM0t4PqrddESEpCbU3UIv4rTD9-wepVigDQt-YzumhsRB-q14Nla87cfPiGH9z4cdeJze-oq2/s400/hur1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658083386334722754" border="0" /></a><br />Boys wade through the backyard of Donna and Kevin Tyndall after Hurricane Irene flooded their home in Vandemere in Pamlico County in August.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywbpUdWts83GxLLWfheQB414_q5Y2ViNno2OZESqZxYVfjDsU2LVnKuwYA7YwWYqEtloTEbE7qGvw2B2IGxkDmqMeNeOi8P8G7k5PBwZmMADeP6JRhm9eEv8aZwxEOWwhCJSU/s1600/hur2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 329px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywbpUdWts83GxLLWfheQB414_q5Y2ViNno2OZESqZxYVfjDsU2LVnKuwYA7YwWYqEtloTEbE7qGvw2B2IGxkDmqMeNeOi8P8G7k5PBwZmMADeP6JRhm9eEv8aZwxEOWwhCJSU/s400/hur2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658083899458027090" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Many of the roads in Vandemere are still cluttered with debris.<div style="overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;"><br /><a href="http://www.diamondstudsource.com/">Diamond stud</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/09/29/1527462/hurricane-irene-aftermath-093011.html">View more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-85103928001932516162011-09-29T01:29:00.000-07:002011-09-29T01:34:18.687-07:00DIY flood relief in Pakistan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0XHzl8crxNcOGdLOg2ePh64l96VIeYWgpZftgrNrZfVp9TjR1bR6DqMS9duQbMn_nrPUtnyPGFYT8UPMRt-pB2MGbEPObTiOZLKDVIP7mxhcu0oQAaRP8wgXPVPI9hYcgnBEg/s1600/pakistan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0XHzl8crxNcOGdLOg2ePh64l96VIeYWgpZftgrNrZfVp9TjR1bR6DqMS9duQbMn_nrPUtnyPGFYT8UPMRt-pB2MGbEPObTiOZLKDVIP7mxhcu0oQAaRP8wgXPVPI9hYcgnBEg/s400/pakistan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657697049282515426" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">"Pakistan over the last month has again been plunged into a very dismal state.<br /><br />I along with a few friends have been involved in raising aid online and distributing it by hand all over this region.<br /><br />We have visited the Badin area three times in the last month.<br /><br />On our last trip we drove into Badin from Karachi, amidst reports of violent looting on the roads as well as relief trucks being mobbed.<br /><br />Past the halfway point, at Thatta, the area became almost surreal, with water at road level stretching into the horizon as far as the eye could see.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Water-logged</span><br />As we drove closer to Badin the road was littered on both sides with makeshift tents and people sitting with their families in the awful heat.<br /><br />They drink from the water around them and use the same water for washing and toilets.<br /><br />We drove into Nindo, Khoski and beyond to distribute 2,000 'ready-to-eat' meals we had brought with us.<br /><br />Everywhere we went we saw appalling conditions.<br /><br />One can see relief organizations putting up camps and road-side kitchens all along the way to help feed the needy but clearly the throngs surrounding them are beyond their capacity.<br /><br />The water is 3-4 feet deep in many areas.<br /><br />In one place we saw people crossing their motor-bikes on a donkey cart from a marooned, water-logged village<br /><br />I saw a snake almost as long as a car swimming lazily through this water, as people waded through it.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-58351435133656600102011-09-28T05:37:00.000-07:002011-09-28T05:42:14.952-07:00Typhoon leaves 16 dead in Philippines<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdl31cDXPOEAkns-o4mayHcWNce6x5S-g6deR4ppVl7HACXZ5EnE1uCAXc2fvE_2DeHBSbXM5fuV2OSSAPzvU4FztUKgSSrvxKmWeynzXx5nOf29PxUVgA2SAmj2FBbs5ytpI/s1600/flood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdl31cDXPOEAkns-o4mayHcWNce6x5S-g6deR4ppVl7HACXZ5EnE1uCAXc2fvE_2DeHBSbXM5fuV2OSSAPzvU4FztUKgSSrvxKmWeynzXx5nOf29PxUVgA2SAmj2FBbs5ytpI/s400/flood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657389506214518930" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">MANILA - City residents waded through waist-deep flood waters and dodged flying debris yesterday as a powerful typhoon struck the Philippines, killing at least 16 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls.<br /><br />Most deaths occurred in metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat’s arrival with more downpours and wind gusts of up to 93 miles per hour. Downtown areas along Manila Bay suffered their worst flooding in decades.<br /><br />Pounding rains obscured the view of anyone on the streets as soldiers and police scrambled to evacuate thousands of people in low-lying areas, where rivers and the sea spilled into shanties, hospitals, swanky hotels, and even the seaside US Embassy compound.<br /><br />“It’s flooded everywhere. We don’t have a place to go for shelter. Even my motorcycle got filled with water,’’ said Ray Gonzales, one of thousands stranded by fast-rising flood waters.<br /><br />The massive flooding came exactly a day after this sprawling, coastal city of 12 million held two-year commemorations for the nearly 500 people killed during a 2009 cyclone, which dumped a month’s rainfall in just 12 hours. The archipelago receives about 20 storms and typhoons from the Pacific each year.<br /><br />Some residents acted more quickly this time to evacuate homes as waters rose, including in the Manila suburb of Marikina, where 2,000 people escaped the swelling river by flocking to an elementary school, carrying pets, TV sets, bags of clothes, and bottled water.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2011/09/28/typhoon_rains_flood_philippine_capital_kill_16/">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-42727776950559703982011-09-26T22:40:00.000-07:002011-09-26T22:43:04.086-07:00Hurricane Aircraft -- Technological Marvels That Fly Through Storms<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tHKlcs99DAR-nqR6vacZgwpRPJi8IS6sL1o_5x5t9AZJEB7QV3Xaqz8rxjLXm-VAITuG1wqIbVvCcYXiphmwQUOx-HftARE-l4q9LPoyfcyhyphenhyphen2MYeM_RleGCDNnOWtR0Oi4n/s1600/hurricane.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tHKlcs99DAR-nqR6vacZgwpRPJi8IS6sL1o_5x5t9AZJEB7QV3Xaqz8rxjLXm-VAITuG1wqIbVvCcYXiphmwQUOx-HftARE-l4q9LPoyfcyhyphenhyphen2MYeM_RleGCDNnOWtR0Oi4n/s400/hurricane.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656910726634705634" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The NASA DC-8 is a four-engine jet transport that has been highly modified to support the Agency's science mission. The medium-altitude aircraft has a 148-foot wingspan and is 157 feet long. It can fly at altitudes from 1,000 to 42,000 feet for up to 12 hours, although most science missions average six to 10 hours. The aircraft has a range of 5,400 nautical miles and can carry 30,000 pounds of scientific instruments and equipment. NASA acquired the former commercial airliner in 1985. It was based at the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., until late 1997 when it moved to the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/hurricane_aircraft.html">Read more</a><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-50315411504787645502011-09-25T22:52:00.000-07:002011-09-25T22:57:03.821-07:00Hurricane Hilary 2011: Storm Could Bring Southwest, Texas Needed Rainfall<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjLNjLJ_DJTUREt8R1SatAhAtEktLboDArI9WBVcEJo5QkYhCTeSSzrkNDtsxN_Y3lIomgYEHjyDv33uWrt9-qasa65YTXQ_CxlBENIBrNH4q3JedW00u_v-oDtZylbnc8sHL/s1600/hurricane.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjLNjLJ_DJTUREt8R1SatAhAtEktLboDArI9WBVcEJo5QkYhCTeSSzrkNDtsxN_Y3lIomgYEHjyDv33uWrt9-qasa65YTXQ_CxlBENIBrNH4q3JedW00u_v-oDtZylbnc8sHL/s400/hurricane.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656543263536994962" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Hurricane Hilary 2011 will likely weaken next week from its current Category 3 strength, but the storm may turn into central or northern California before it's done, ultimately bringing needed rain to the Southwest, including Texas.<br /><br />Forecasters say Hurricane Hilary, currently off the western coast of Mexico, will pose a threat to shipping and cruise interests, while creating rough surf along the southwest Mexican coast as the storm turns to the north. Models show Hilary will be north and west of its current location by Wednesday night, and winds will likely have subsided to Category 1 strength.<br /><br />But after that, the U.S. southwest and maybe even Texas could benefit from the storm if it re-curves as some models show, into northern Baja California. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/219454/20110925/hurricane-hilary-2011-southwest-texas-drought-rainfall.htm">Read more</a><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-22565017902953617502011-09-23T04:52:00.000-07:002011-09-23T04:55:42.294-07:00As flood victims protest, China donates 3,000 tents<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5D57-k965I1IniiRaJ4dmfjZSlg4iKOevTKjIONFow-MMov92CSBNpuMvjnWymcnaiNexwPC27qsDmSx8RGDnwRTIJqJanYfFtOzYWHAGyqrnOeaTMHpuH6qgo-RNvkZ7n42A/s1600/flood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5D57-k965I1IniiRaJ4dmfjZSlg4iKOevTKjIONFow-MMov92CSBNpuMvjnWymcnaiNexwPC27qsDmSx8RGDnwRTIJqJanYfFtOzYWHAGyqrnOeaTMHpuH6qgo-RNvkZ7n42A/s400/flood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655522438697646898" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">China sent the tents via four air crafts to Pakistan.<br /><br />The Chinese Counsel General handed over these tents to Provincial Disaster Management Director at the Karachi airport for distribution among flood affectees.<br /><br />The Chinese Counsel General said his country will always stand with Pakistan in difficult times.<br /><br />While efforts continue to tackle the catastrophe, flood affectees in lower and central Sindh have protested against the shortage of basic necessities including food, medicines and clean drinking water.<br /><br />People from several districts protested against the shortage of aid and the government’s inability to drain flood waters from several villages in Sindh. Police have reportedly baton charged people protesting the ineffective and insufficient aid.<br /><br />A shutter down strike is also being observed in the southern town of Kunri.<br /><br /><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/258772/as-flood-victims-protest-china-donates-3000-tents/">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9018550.post-3475601097515996412011-09-22T04:28:00.000-07:002011-09-22T04:31:16.681-07:00Bangkok escapes wrath of floods<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAUZ6wPc5rTnNIPTUbH8HpOcRHi8AGTu8whI3K6sZp7QPHqZQ_c23bqv4oWXwL-nEKn1T8jjuxug42YggddePO3JE5dhjkIv4UvCWec3CzXrqLlpA91MXvWE_LFKLzvJ8jE71/s1600/bangok.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAUZ6wPc5rTnNIPTUbH8HpOcRHi8AGTu8whI3K6sZp7QPHqZQ_c23bqv4oWXwL-nEKn1T8jjuxug42YggddePO3JE5dhjkIv4UvCWec3CzXrqLlpA91MXvWE_LFKLzvJ8jE71/s400/bangok.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655144903944508114" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Bangkok yesterday managed to escape being submerged in floods that have been sweeping through 24 provinces.<br /><br />Farmers in the neighbouring province of Pathum Thani are calling on authorities to open at least one watergate in the capital so water levels in an overflowing canal can be eased.<br /><br />"The Hok Wa canal has risen one metre above its banks," Suchat Janchang complained yesterday.<br /><br />Suchat, who is a farmer in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district, said more than 1,000 rai of his paddy fields would be in jeopardy if a watergate was not opened soon to let out some of the water. "Have some sympathy for us. We are going to incur huge losses," the 46-year-old said.<br /><br />Lam Luk Ka district chief Panuwat Jenprasert said if Bangkok authorities continued blocking flood waters, then more than 18,000 rai of the local farmland would be submerged sustaining huge damages.<br /><br />"Some of them have been flooded for nearly a month now," he said.<br /><br />After a meeting with relevant authorities on preventing floods in Bangkok and adjacent provinces, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) had been well prepared to deal with the situation.<br /><br />Also present at the meeting were Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra and the provincial governors of Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Chachoengsao.<br /><br />According to Yingluck, authorities are proceeding in line with His Majesty's advice on water management as they tackle the ongoing flood problems. "We will be pushing the water out of the capital via Lat Pho Canal. It's faster," she said.<br /><br />With run-offs from the North, the Chao Phraya River has already overflowed in several provinces in the Central region.<br /><br />In Chai Nat province, raging torrents in the Chao Phraya River knocked down a portion of an embankment and submerged Phaholyothin Road between the 290 and 293 kilometre markers, making that portion of the road impassable to traffic.<br /><br />According to BMA Drainage and Sewerage Department chief Sanya Sheenimit, up to 3,800 cubic metres of water travelled down Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district yesterday. Ayutthaya is just an hour's drive from Bangkok.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110922-300814.html">Read more</a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0