“Fire-floods” are the new threat in California disasters – “We are just entering this era, and it is only going to get more interesting from here”

By Tony Bizjak 25 October 2018 (The Sacramento Bee) – Brent Larson awoke at 4 a.m. to the shake and rumble of what felt like a freight train rolling down the hill toward his Santa Barbara County home. He leaped from his bed and woke his two sons. In seconds, a wall of water, mud […]

“Worst-case scenario” as Typhoon Yutu ravages Saipan, takes aim at Northern Philippines – “Many homes have been destroyed, our critical infrastructure has been compromised, we currently have no power and water, and our ports are inaccessible”

28 October 2018 (The Weather Channel) – Typhoon Yutu has weakened but remains a powerful Category 3 storm as it moves westward en route to a direct strike on the northern Philippines. Yutu is expected to continue weakening as it moves westward toward the Philippines but should still be a potent Category 2 or 3 […]

Remote Hawaiian Island erased by Hurricane Walaka – Breeding ground for green sea turtles wiped out

By Nathan Eagle 23 October 2018 (Honolulu Civil Beat) – Hurricane Walaka, one of the most powerful Pacific storms ever recorded, has erased an ecologically important remote northwestern island from the Hawaiian archipelago.Using satellite imagery, federal scientists confirmed Monday that East Island, a critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles, was […]

Super Typhoon Yutu, the strongest storm of 2018, slams U.S. Pacific territory – Escalation of typhoon’s intensity was “unbelievable”

By Colin Dwyer 24 October 2018 (NPR) – A massive typhoon slammed into a U.S. territory in the west Pacific, lashing the Northern Mariana Islands with gusts of Category 5 intensity Wednesday night local time. Super Typhoon Yutu brought to bear maximum sustained winds of about 180 mph — much more powerful, in other words, […]

Austin urged to boil water as Texas flood shuts down treatment plants – Wettest autumn on record in Dallas

By Mark D. Wilson 22 October 2018 (The Statesman) – Silt and debris from floodwaters have overwhelmed Austin’s ability to produce clean water, prompting an unprecedented citywide alert Monday that urged residents to avoid drinking tap water without boiling it first. By Monday evening, the situation led to a run on bottled water supplies at […]

After Hurricane Michael, “It will be years” before life at Tyndall Air Force base returns to normal

By Amanda Morris 20 October 2018 (NPR) – Swimming in St. Andrew Bay was the first thing Jillian Arrowood wanted to do when she moved into her new home on Tyndall Air Force base on 8 October 2018. She and her two daughters had just joined her husband William, her son, and her father-in-law, an […]

Sewage spill from Hurricane Michael causes Florida fish kills – “It was horrible down here. You couldn’t hardly breathe. It smells like pure crap.”

By Terray Sylvester 18 October 2018 APALACHICOLA, Florida (Reuters) – A sewage spill from a Florida wastewater plant during Hurricane Michael into a river feeding environmentally fragile Apalachicola Bay is suspected of causing mass fish kills downstream, state officials said on Thursday.Experts say the discharge of 80,000 gallons of partially treated sewage into the Apalachicola […]

UN report shows climate change causing “dramatic rise” in economic losses – “The next one that is going to hit us with an explosion is heatwaves”

10 October 2018 (UN News) – Climate-related and geophysical disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis have killed 1.3 million people over the last 20 years and left a further 4.4 billion injured, homeless or in need of emergency assistance, UN experts said on Wednesday.The findings [pdf], published by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction […]

Did Kerala’s dams exacerbate India’s once-in-century floods?

By Euan Rocha, Rajendra Jadhav, and Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Alex Richardson 10 October 2018 KOCHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – Joby Pathrose, a farmer living a kilometre away from the usually languid Periyar river in southern India, was woken in the night by the sound of rushing waters. Hours later his plantations and everything he owned were […]

Video: Bridge collapse in historic Texas flood

By Jason Samenow 16 October 2018 (The Washington Post) – As a powerful cold front charged through Texas from Monday into Tuesday, a deluge unfolded in the middle of the state. More than a foot of rain has fallen in some areas, resulting in severe flooding.In Kingsland, about 60 miles northwest of Austin, a bridge […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial