Death Toll in Rio Landslides Rises

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More than 180 mudslides kill at least 154 people, injure hundreds more and leave 260 missing

Days of relentless torrential rain, the worst in Rio de Janeiro’s history, continue to wreak havoc across the Brazilian state.

Cars are floating on a flooded street in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Reuters. Image may be subject to copyright.

Many of  residents and rescuers are frantically looking for victims buried in mud as a large landslide in Niteroi, across a bay from Rio, destroyed dozens of homes.

Flooding had caused transportation chaos across Rio on Tuesday, but the city slowly returned to normal on Wednesday. However, despite the forecast, the rain did not ease and a heavy downpour created more misery for the denizens.  Forecasters have now warned the torrential rain will continue.

As of posting, at least 4,000 families have lost their homes, more than 10,000 structure are at risk of collapse.

FEWW Moderators expect this pattern to reoccur throughout South and North America, as well as in Europe and SE Asia this summer.

Related Links:

• Deadly Flooding in Rio de Janeiro State, 100 killed
• 2010 Likely the Most Disastrous Year on Record: FEWW
• 2010: Year One of Human-Enhanced Disasters
• Storms, Extreme Rain Events, Floods, Landslides
• Drought and Deluge

Major Hurricanes in 2010: Twice the Cent Avg

Serial No  1,550. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by the authorities/Google in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

Twice More Major Hurricanes in 2010 Than the Century Average : Forecasters

As the Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team predicts an above-average hurricane season for 2010, NOAA NWS fails to adopt a user-friendly hurricane scale.

Hurricane Ike bears down onto the upper Texas coastline with category 2 wind speed of 177 km/hr (110 mph), September, 2008. Thanks to the inadequacies of Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, many could have attested to being hit by a category 3 storm. Image Source: NOAA

ATLANTIC SEASONAL HURRICANE ACTIVITY FOR 2010

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season will see above-average activity with increased chances of United States and Caribbean major hurricane landfall,  the Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team have predicted.

“We have increased our seasonal forecast from the mid-point of our initial early December prediction due to a combination of anomalous warming of Atlantic tropical sea surface temperatures and a more confident view that the current El Niño will weaken.” They said.

They forecast 15 named storms, including 8 hurricanes, 4 of them major, with a 69 percent probability [long-term average probability is 52 percent] at least one major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coastline in 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season which officially begins on June 1 and lasts for 6 months.

Major hurricanes are those classified as Category 3a or above on the FEWW New Hurricane Scale with sustained winds of at least 178 km per hour (111 mph).

Atlantic Basin Seasonal Hurricane Forecast For 2010. Source: Department of Atmospheric Science Colorado State University (By Philip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray)

Probabilities for a minimum of one major hurricane making landfall on the following coastal areas:

• Entire U.S. coastline – 69% (average for last century:  52%)
• U.S. East Coast Including Peninsula Florida – 45% (average for last century: 31%)
• Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle westward to Brownsville – 44% (average for last century: 30%)

Probabilities for a minimum of one major hurricane tracking into Caribbeans (10-20°N, 60-88°W)

• 58% (average for last century: 42%)

The forecasters estimate:

• 8 hurricanes (average: 5.9),
• 15 named storms (average: 9.6)
• 75 named storm days (average: 49.1)
• 35 hurricane days (average: 24.5)
• 4  major (Category 3,4 or 5) hurricanes (average: 2.3)
• 10 major hurricane days (average: 5.0).
• The probability of U.S. major hurricane landfall is estimated to be about 130 percent of the long-period average.
• Atlantic basin Net Tropical Cyclone (NTC) activity in 2010 is expected to be  about 160 percent of the long-term average.

Related Links:

• FEWW FORECAST: 2009 Likely Wettest Year on Record

Listeria Cheese Recall, Illness Reported

Serial No  1,549. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by the authorities/Google in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

Washington State Department of Agriculture has linked one illness to the cheese.

Del Bueno Amends Recall of Queso Fresco Cheese Because of Possible Health Risk

Del Bueno of Grandview, WA is recalling all size packages of Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese was distributed to retail markets in Washington and one in Hermiston, Oregon.

The cheese is packaged in round clear plastic packages, and is marked on the back with a code date; all codes up to and including May 30th, 2010 are being recalled.

Washington State Department of Agriculture has linked one illness to the cheese.

The recall is the result of a routine sampling program by Washington State Department of Agriculture which revealed that the cheese is contaminated with Listeria. The company has notified their customers and has pulled the product from retail stores. Del Bueno is working with FDA to conduct the recall.

Consumers who have purchased Del Bueno brand Queso Fresco are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 425-503-3823 between 8:00am and 4:00pm Pacific time.

Contact: Del Bueno/ Jesus Rodriguez/425-503-3823

Photo of Product Label. Click to enlarge.

What’s Listeria?

Listeria monocytogenes bacteria. Source: koolielu.edu.ee

Listeria monocytogenes bacteria is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria often experience fever, severe headaches, stiffness, diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria can result in miscarriage or stillbirth among pregnant women.

Source: Bacterial Meningitis. Image may be subject to copyright.

Group B Streptococcus, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes comprise the most common causes of meningitis in neonatals. About 17,500 cases of bacterial meningitis are reported in the U-S annually. (Source)

Related Links:

• Food Recall
  

• Listeria Suspected, Cheese Recalled
• Premature births caused by Virgin Blue airline food
• Imported Food Alert 22 Oct 2008

• How old is your ecoli-burger?
• Beef Recall in Six States
• E. coli in Beef May Have Killed Two
• Beef recall, E.coli O157:H7 suspected
• Imported Food Alert 22 Oct 2008
• Naples Garbage: First Commercial Dividends

• USDA
• CDC Press Release: E. coli Outbreak Investigations
• Questions & Answers: E. coli
• Sudden worldwide increase in antibiotic-resistant bacterium

Peru tribes file complaint over oil company

Serial No  1,548. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by the authorities/Google in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

Peru tribes have filed IFC complaint over Maple Energy oil pollution

A year after about 40 tribal men were killed and 100s more injured in clashes with police over President Alan Garcia’s investor-friendly policies, a Peruvian tribe has filed a complaint with the ombudsman of the World Bank’s International Finance Corp (IFC) against Maple Energy Plc. They oil company stands accused of polluting the tribe’s ancestral land and rivers in the Amazon.

Indigenous protesters fighting logging and drilling blocked a road in northern Peru on Friday as police tear gas hung in the air. (June 5, 2009). Photo: AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

The Shipibo-Konibo indigenous communities in Canaan de Cachicuyo and Nuevo Sucre have cited in their complaint five oil spills over the last 15 months, which has contaminated their food and water.

“Our kids are drinking this water and getting sick. And while Maple is working in our territory and getting rich we’re suffering. The issue has never been resolved; that’s why we’ve launched this demand.” Joaquin Sanancino Rodriguez, a community leader in Canaan, told Reuters.

The IFC may not be the best body to complain to, however. It promotes private sector investment in developing countries and has made substantial loans to Maple Energy Plc, a UK-based oil and gas exploration company.

“The tribe has requested help from the International Accountability Project, a U.S.-based environmental nongovernmental organization, to negotiate an agreement with Maple so that the company would accept responsibility and be monitored by the IFC.” The report said.

A senior manager for IFC Oil & Gas, Lance Crist, dismissed the claims made by the tribes

“We believe that Maple is committed to all of the steps that would be expected on an international best practice basis,” he said.

Related Links:

• Disasters Caused by Oil and gas Drilling, Oil Spills, Leaks, Land, Water and Air Pollution
• Peru opposition says Garcia unfit to lead
• Peru urged to investigate protesters’ deaths

• Deadly Clashes Erupt in Peru’s Amazon Region