Natural Events that cause damage. :-( - Page 14

mlurp · #**131** (**permalink**) 08-20-2012, 05:33 PM

#2 for this day... Well the rain & storms were not enough for this location.

Quote:

.6 dead in earthquake on northern Indonesian island

Associated Press – 6 hrs ago.

Related Content.
Associated Press - In this Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012 photo, residents and journalists inspect a house that was damaged after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck in Sigie, Sulawesi island, Indonesia. The death toll …more

In this Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012 photo, … Posted 20 August 2012 ........

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The death toll rose to six on Monday from a powerful weekend earthquake in Indonesia as rescuers reached mountainous villages that had been cut off by landslides, officials said. At least 43 others were injured, including eight in critical condition.

The magnitude-6.3 quake struck Saturday evening near Palu city on Sulawesi Island as residents were ending their fast on the final day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho of Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency said rescuers with heavy equipment and bulldozers were clearing the roads to at least 14 villages in Sigie district that were blocked by landslides.

Nugroho said six people were killed by falling debris and tons of mud, including a 9-year-old boy, and the toll was likely to rise further.

He said the earthquake damaged hundreds of houses and buildings in Parigi Mountong and Sigie, the closest districts to the epicenter, and roads and bridges were destroyed.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines around the Pacific Basin.

A giant quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.

6 dead in earthquake on northern Indonesian island - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**132** (**permalink**) 08-22-2012, 09:01 PM

Well it is the season of wet and death. Which is so

Back when I was in the Nam I took a R&R in Taiwan and it was a place of beauty back then.

Quote:

..Taiwan braces for Typhoon Tembin

AFP – 9 hrs ago.. 22 August 2012 ...............................................

Related Content.

Local officials, military soldiers …

Taiwan on Wednesday placed 48,000 soldiers on standby and evacuated 300 villagers areas as Typhoon Tembin bears down on the island.

The move comes after the Central Weather Bureau warned the public to "take special precaution against landslides and flash floods and stay away from low-lying areas as Typhoon Tembin is expected to bring heavy rains".

Tembin was expected to make landfall early Friday morning, later than the bureau's previous forecast, as it slowed down the past few hours, said the official.

She added that the route of its movement might also be affected by Bolaven, another typhoon around 1,400 kilometres east of Taiwan.

As of 6:15 pm (1015 GMT), Tembin was 320 kilometres (200 miles) east of Taitung, a coastal city in the east where weather forecasters said may bear the brunt of the approaching typhoon.

With a radius of 180 kilometres and packing winds gusting at up to 144 kilometres an hour, the typhoon was moving west-northwest at six kilometres per hour.

Taiwan braces for Typhoon Tembin - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**133** (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 05:39 PM

Well I saw about three of these news reports so here goes.

Quote:

..Pakistan: 26 die from heavy rains, flooding

Associated Press – 9 hrs ago.. 23 August 2012 ...........

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say heavy monsoon rains that triggered flooding in the country's north have caused at least 26 deaths.

An official at the State Disaster Management Authority, Khawaja Zia, said torrential rains that started Wednesday have killed 17 people and damaged about 500 homes in the Pakistan-held Kashmir region.

Another official, Adnan Khan, says nine people died Wednesday in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Six of the deaths occurred in Mansehra district, and three in Nowshera district.

Both officials spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday.

Pakistan suffered the worst flooding in its 65-year history in 2010. Floodwaters inundated one-fifth of the country, an area larger than England, and killed over 1,700 people. Over 20 million people were affected.

Pakistan: 26 die from heavy rains, flooding - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**134** (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 05:44 PM

I posted about this one yesterday I believe. I am glad the govt., is doing what needs to be done and is ready to handle this one coming.

Quote:

.Taiwan evacuates nearly 5,000 as typhoon closes in

By Sam Yeh | AFP – 7 hrs ago. 23 August 2012 ...................

Taiwan evacuated nearly 5,000 people Thursday ahead of Typhoon Tembin, as a military official warned major measures were needed a avoid a repeat of a deadly disaster three years ago.

About 50,000 soldiers were on standby on the island, where memories are still raw from Typhoon Morakot, which killed about 600 people in August 2009, most of them buried in huge landslides in the south.

"Those evacuated are either from low-lying areas or places prone to landslides. This means they will not be caught totally unprepared if natural disasters were to happen," defence ministry spokesman David Lo told AFP.

"We need to adopt this type of preventive measure because of the painful lesson in 2009 when Typhoon Morakot pounded Taiwan, and we had not done enough evacuation beforehand."

As the typhoon drew nearer, local governments in the east, south and centre of the island announced late in the day that schools and offices will be closed Friday.

More than 4,800 people, nearly 2,000 of them from Hualien county in eastern Taiwan, had been moved from their homes by early evening, according to the Central Emergency Operation Centre.

Young conscripts, many wearing facial masks against the sandstorms whipped up by the gusting winds, went from house to house and helped elderly residents, who left their homes willingly.

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Taiwan evacuates nearly 5,000 as typhoon closes in - Yahoo! News

The Asia Link: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**135** (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 05:50 PM

Not sure if this about the first item I posted today or not. Yet it has other info.

Quote:

..Rains kill 27 in western India

AFP – 5 hrs ago.. 23 August 2012 ...............

Related Content.
Indian residents wade through floodwaters …

Heavy rains over the past two days have killed at least 27 people and left thousands homeless in western Rajasthan state, officials said on Thursday.

"Twenty-seven persons have been killed in rain-related incidents. Maximum deaths have occurred in state capital Jaipur," an official of the state disaster management authority told AFP.

Torrential rains that began on Tuesday night have led to flooding in the normally arid state, throwing normal life out of gear.

"Many places have been inundated in different districts of the state following heavy rainfall," the state minister for disaster management Brijendra Ola said.

"Efforts are on to provide relief to people. Those who were stranded in low-laying areas have been evacuated and shifted to safer places like community halls, schools and other buildings," he added.

Earth-moving machines and pumps have been deployed in rescue work.

The state's meteorological department said the capital city of Jaipur was experiencing its heaviest rains since 1981, causing flooding in low-lying neighbourhoods and slum areas.

In July, rains in the northeast killed more than 120 people and forced another six million to flee their homes.

Rains kill 27 in western India - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**136** (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 12:39 PM

Well Tropical Storm Isaac is getting the residents of Key West mixed feelings. Yet creating a lot of guess work for the meteorologist as to where it is headed from here on.
Much more at the site.

Quote:

.Tropical Storm Isaac starts lashing Florida Keys

By MATT SEDENSKY | Associated Press – 37 mins ago. 26 August 2012 ......

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaac started pelting the Florida Keys with rain and strong winds on Sunday, and it could strengthen into a dangerous hurricane by the time it starts hitting the northern Gulf Coast in the coming days.

Exactly where Isaac would hit once it passed the Keys remained highly uncertain, with forecasters saying hurricane conditions could reach anywhere from the New Orleans metro area to the Florida Panhandle by Tuesday. And the storm is large: tropical storm conditions extend more than 200 miles from the storm's center, meaning Isaac could cause significant damage even in places where it does not pass directly overhead.

Isaac has brought havoc to the Caribbean already, killing seven people in Haiti and downing trees and power lines in Cuba. And it had officials worried enough in Tampa that they shuffled around some plans for the Republican National Convention.

However, Isaac had yet to create a panic in South Florida. In Miami Shores, some residents said they hadn't even put up storm shutters. Edwin Reeder, 65, stopped by a gas station to pick up some drinks and snacks. He didn't bother topping off his car's half-full fuel tank.

Reeder said he hadn't put up storm shutters, instead just clearing his gutters so all the water could drain. And while he didn't stock up on canned goods for himself, he did buy some extra cat and dog food for his pets.

"This isn't a storm," he said. "It's a rain storm."

On Key West, locals followed time-worn storm preparedness rituals while awaiting the storm after Isaac swamped the Caribbean and shuffled plans for the Republican National Convention. Hundreds of flights were canceled Sunday as the storm bore down.

A steady line of cars moved north Saturday along the Overseas Highway, the only road linking the Florida Keys. Residents boarded up windows, laid down sandbags and shuttered businesses ahead of the approaching storm. Even Duval Street, Key West's storied main drag, was subdued for a weekend, though not enough to stop music from playing or drinks from being poured.

"We'll just catch every place that's open," said Ted Lamarche, a 48-year-old pizzeria owner visiting Key West to celebrate his anniversary with his wife, Deanna. They walked along on Duval Street, where a smattering of people still wandered even as many storefronts were boarded up and tourists sported ponchos and yellow slickers.

"Category None!" one man shouted in a show of optimism.

The Keys were bracing storm surge of up to 4 feet, strong winds and the possibility of tornadoes. The island chain's two airports closed Saturday night, and volunteers and some residents began filing into shelters.

"This is a huge inconvenience," said Dale Shelton, a 57-year-old retiree in Key West who was staying in a shelter.

Isaac has already left a trail of suffering across the Caribbean.

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Tropical Storm Isaac starts lashing Florida Keys - Yahoo! News

192 comments.

mlurp · #**137** (**permalink**) 08-27-2012, 03:49 PM

Then there are those who depend on the Monsoons to help them with their cattle and farming. Which hasn't appeared. Thing are going helter skelter IMHO.

Quote:

.Poor monsoon rains hit millions of Indian farmers

By MUNEEZA NAQVI | Associated Press – 9 hrs ago. 27 August 2012 .......

Associated Press/Mustafa Quraishi - In this Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012 photo, an Indian farmer Satyavan Narwal gestures to a parched pond that would usually provide drinking water for cattle in Kathura village, …more

KATHURA, India (AP) — The farmer walks past muddy fields of stunted sugarcane and damaged rice paddies as a light drizzle falls. "Too late, too late," he says of the rains he has been praying for since many weeks ago.

For nearly two months, Satyavan Narwal's eyes scoured the heavens looking for the monsoon rains that would nourish his crops, but he found nothing and was left with parched earth. Now monsoon showers are soaking the fields — but late August is much too late for him.

This year's fickle monsoon has played havoc with millions of Indian farmers. The showers, which normally run from June to September, are crucial in a country where 60 percent of the population works in agriculture and less than half the farmland is irrigated.

"Here farming is entirely on God's mercy. If nature doesn't bless us, the farmer can't do anything," Narwal says.

India's Meteorological Department has said it expects the country to get at least 10 percent less rain this year than during a normal monsoon, but large parts of the country have been hit much harder.

In the northwestern state of Haryana, where Narwal's family has farmed for generations, rainfall is less than half what it should have been. And when the rains finally did come, the crops were already nearly dead, fit only to be used as animal feed.

Shriveled old men share a water pipe and one of them points to the skies and shouts "What now, brother?" as they watch men and women carry damaged sugar cane to feed to their cattle. At the edge of fields, young men stand, hands on hips, shaking their heads in dismay. The village is 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of New Delhi.

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Poor monsoon rains hit millions of Indian farmers - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**138** (**permalink**) 08-29-2012, 02:35 PM

Humm this should worry many people but I doubt it will in most cases.

Quote:

Unusual earthquake swarm shakes Southern California

By Alex Dobuzinskis | Reuters – 17 hrs ago.. Posted 29 August 2012 ............

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An unusual swarm of hundreds of mostly small earthquakes has struck Southern California over the last three days and shaken the nerves of quake-hardy residents, but scientists say the cluster is not a sign a larger temblor is imminent.

The earthquakes, the largest of which measured magnitude 5.5, began on Saturday evening and have been centered near the town of Brawley close to the state's inland Salton Sea, said Jeanne Hardebeck, research seismologist for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Scientists were monitoring the earthquake cluster, which continued on Tuesday, to see if it approaches the Imperial Fault, about three miles away. A destructive and deadly earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck on that fault in 1940, she said.

"We don't have any reason to believe that the (earthquake) storm is going to trigger on the Imperial Fault, but there's a minute possibility that it could," Hardebeck said, adding that the swarm of quakes was not moving closer to that fault.

The Brawley quake cluster, which is caused by hot fluid moving around in the Earth's crust, is different than a typical earthquake, in which two blocks of earth slip past each other along a tectonic fault line.

After that kind of an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 or above, there is a 5 percent chance a larger quake will follow, Hardebeck said. But she added the same kinds of probability estimates were not possible with earthquake clusters caused by the movement of hot fluid.

"We understand them even less than we understand normal earthquakes," Hardebeck said, adding that scientists do not know why a cluster of earthquakes will occur at one time rather than another.

The swarm led to jangled nerves in Brawley, a town of about 25,000 residents 170 miles southeast of Los Angeles near the border with Mexico.

"It's pretty bad. We had to evacuate the hotel just for safety," Rowena Rapoza, office manager of a local Best Western Hotel, said on Sunday.

There were two earthquakes on Sunday afternoon, one with a 5.5 magnitude and one measuring 5.3, Hardebeck said. Those were the largest quakes in the cluster amid hundreds of others, she said.

In the past, earthquake clusters have gone on for as long as two weeks, Hardebeck said. Before this recent cluster in Brawley, the last swarm of this size to hit the area was in 1981, she said.

Earlier this month, a pair of moderate-sized earthquakes both registering a magnitude 4.5 struck the California town of Yorba Linda within 10 hours of each other, but no damage was reported. Yorba Linda, the birthplace of the late President Richard Nixon, is 145 miles northwest of Brawley.

(Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Philip Barbara)

Unusual earthquake swarm shakes Southern California - Yahoo! News

I would want more than one persons opinion on this matter

925 comments.

mlurp · #**139** (**permalink**) 08-29-2012, 02:49 PM

And an update on Isaac, which by now has moved further inland.

Quote:

.Isaac spins into New Orleans on slow slog inland

By BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and STACEY PLAISANCE | Associated Press – 1 hr 32 mins ago. 29 August 2012 ...........................

Associated Press/Eric Gay - Research students from the the University of Alabama measure wind speeds as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in New Orleans, La. Isaac was packing 80 mph …more

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Isaac began a slow, drenching slog inland from the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, pushing water over a rural Louisiana levee and stranding some people in homes and cars as the storm spun into a newly fortified New Orleans exactly seven years after Katrina.

Although Isaac was much weaker than the 2005 hurricane that crippled the city, the threat of dangerous storm surges and flooding from heavy rain was expected to last all day and into the night as the immense comma-shaped storm crawled across Louisiana.

Army Corps spokeswoman Rachel Rodi said the city's bigger, stronger levees were withstanding the assault.

"The system is performing as intended, as we expected," she said. "We don't see any issues with the hurricane system at this point."

There were initial problems with pumps not working at the 17th Street Canal, the site of a breach on the day Katrina struck, but those pumps had been fixed, Rodi said.

Rescuers in boats and trucks plucked a handful of people who became stranded by floodwaters in thinly populated areas of southeast Louisiana. Authorities feared many more could need help after a night of slashing rain and fierce winds that knocked out power to more than 600,000 households and businesses.

The extent of the damage was not entirely clear because officials did not want to send emergency crews into harm's way. In Plaquemines Parish, a fishing community south of New Orleans, about two dozen people who stayed behind despite evacuation orders needed to be rescued.

"I think a lot of people were caught with their pants down," said Jerry Larpenter, sheriff in nearby Terrebonne Parish. "This storm was never predicted right since it entered the Gulf. It was supposed to go to Florida, Panama City, Biloxi, New Orleans. We hope it loses its punch once it comes in all the way."

As Isaac's eye Isaac passed overhead, authorities in armored vehicles saved a family whose roof was ripped off, Larpenter said.

Two police officers had to be rescued by boat after their car became stuck. Rescuers were waiting for the strong winds to die down before moving out to search for other people.

"The winds are too strong and the rain too strong," Plaquemines Parish spokeswoman Caitlin Campbell said.

Water driven by the large and powerful storm flooded over an 18-mile stretch of one levee in Plaquemines Parish. The levee, one of many across the low-lying coastal zone, is not part of the new defenses constructed in New Orleans after Katrina.
............................................... CONTINUED ..............................................

Isaac spins into New Orleans on slow slog inland - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**140** (**permalink**) 08-30-2012, 01:22 PM

Well it made land as the waters rushed in before it did. And that rushing water did a lot of damage first.
And some became HERO's helping others. This is just one of those stories.

Quote:

.Louisiana Father-Son Team Rescues 120 From Flooding

By JENNIFER ABBEY | ABC News – 19 hrs ago. 29 August 2012 ...............

Hero Father-Son Team Makes Isaac RescueABC News Videos 0:00 | 0 viewsTown on Louisiana's coast is one of the hardest hit in storm zone.

Residents of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana were shocked by Hurricane Isaac Wednesday morning when ocean water burst over the Mississippi River levee, covering their town and leaving thousands trapped in attics and on roofs.

Jesse Shaffer, 25, and his father, also named Jesse Shaffer, 53, both of Braithwaite, La., stayed behind in their town to rescue their friends.

While police and the fire department were unable to reach some stranded people using their vehicles, the Shaffers were able to save lives using boats.

"We rescued a lot of people, saw a lot of things you never thought you'd see," the older Shaffer told ABC News, beginning to cry.

Each Shaffer controlled a boat, in which the pair saved a combined 120 people in 12 hours, as well as animals.

Their rescue mission began at five a.m. Wednesday at a local auditorium, where they rescued 10 people including a baby and an elderly man, they said. The Shaffers had to break through the attic ventilation system to reach the victims.

"They'd call me and didn't know the water was coming up until it was late, and they'd call me to come get them," the older Shaffer said. "We had to scramble and try to find a boat 'cause none of the sheriff's department or anybody could come to this end of the parish."

The Shaffers rescued a family of five, including three children under the age of 6, from the roof of their trailer home just minutes before water overtopped it. The rescue was the older Shaffer's most memorable of the day.

"They were all on there, screaming their lungs out," he said.

The rapid rate at which water gushed over the 18-mile levee, into their town was "unexpected," the younger Shaffer said. As of this morning, their home had 12 feet of water in it and they had to stash their belongings in the attic, which was then flooded. Water rose six inches every four minutes, the older Shaffer said.

"There were a lot of houses we saw that were in spots that we know where they're supposed to be and they were maybe a half a mile down the road, floating down the highway," the older Shaffer said.

The Shaffers fought through debris, rough water, wind and downed power lines to save their stranded friends.

The older Shaffer insisted they are not heroes and they were never afraid.

"I guess we were just going on adrenaline," the younger Shaffer said.

But the most emotional part of their day was not the difficulty of their rescue mission, but the thought of knowing their town has to rebuild.

"It's just the people you know that you know that are not going to come back," the older Shaffer said.

Louisiana Father-Son Team Rescues 120 From Flooding - Yahoo! News

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