Thousands Take Shelter as Massive Snowfall Buries Japan

EXTREME WEATHER AND CLIMATIC EVENTS
MEGA SNOWFALL
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Record snowfall continues to paralyze central Japan, thousands seek shelter

Scores of evacuation centers were opened in two dozen cities and towns  in central Japan sheltering more than 1,600 people who were stranded in cars and trains, as well as thousands of residents who feared their homes, damaged in the snowstorm, could collapse.

Some 1,000 vehicles have been stuck in snow on freeways NW of Tokyo since early Saturday.

Supermarket shelves were left bare, as delivery trucks, also stuck in the snow, failed to arrive, according to reports.

The latest snowstorm has killed at least 18 people and left up to 2,000 others injured.

More snow is forecast along Japan’s Pacific Coast starting Tuesday.

UPDATE

Snow forces Toyota, Honda, Suzuki … to suspend operations at multiple plants

Toyota Motor Corp  suspended operations at four plants in Aichi prefecture, central Japan because heavy snow has disrupted its parts delivery chain, according to reports.

Honda Motor also stopped production at its plants in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo for similar reasons.

Suzuki Motor announced on Monday it too had halted production at 3 plants in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Many other major manufacturers have followed suit including Seiko Epson and the Hitachi group, said reports.

Related Link

• Massive Snowstorm Paralyzes Tokyo, Much of Japan February 16, 2014
• Japan Hit by Major Snowstorm  February 8, 2014

Latest Storm Dumps Yet More Rain on Ireland, UK

EXTREME WEATHER AND CLIMATIC EVENTS
EXTREME RAIN EVENTS
MEGA-FLOODING
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16 Severe Flood Warnings remain in effect, as more intense rain swamps the UK

Dozens of UK counties remain under Severe Flood Warning, Flood Warnings and Flood Alerts, as the latest rainstorm  from the Atlantic dumps up to 16mm of rain per hour on parts of the country, as well as Ireland.

More Rain Moving in from the Atlantic

IR Satellite image. Infrared Mosaic Color Background – Atlantic Region GOES-East/Meteosat-9/MTSAT. Source: CIMSS

FIRE-EARTH / EDRO Forecast

In November 2009,  EDRO/FIRE-EARTH Models showed climate change could directly affect about half the UK population within 3 to 5  years. Our Forecast and most of the links posted below have since been filtered, censored, blocked or buried by Google, WordPress and others.

• Climate change could directly affect about half the population in the UK  in the next 3 to 5 years  posted on November 20, 2009.

Related Links

• UK Floods Intensify February 14, 2014
• Ireland and Britain Face Major Disaster Crisis February 13, 2014
• “Red Warning” Issued for UK Hurricane Force Winds February 12, 2014
• UK Floods Threaten Thousands of Homes February 10, 2014
• Britain Moving Closer to Climate Checkmate February 10, 2014
• Britain Battered by Barrage of Storms February 9, 2014
• Massive Storm Striking Ireland, Britain February 8, 2014
• Superstorm Striking W Europe – Satellite Image Update 2 February 7, 2014
• Catastrophic Superstorm Targetting Britain – Satellite Image February 7, 2014
• Catastrophic Superstorm to Smash into Britain Shortly February 7, 2014
• Superstorm to Hit UK February 5, 2014

What you should know by now

• RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Critical Overload Threatens Planetary Life Support Systems

Other Links

• Britain Set for “Worst Winter in History” December 2, 2013
• ‘Catastrophic Losses’ of Animals Feared due to UK Spring Snow Posted on March 26, 2013
• How Homo Ignarus Killed Spring Posted on March 21, 2013
• Intensifying Winter Drought in England Worst Since 1888 Posted on March 12, 2012
• British Govt Makes Another Straw Man March 17, 2010

Likely Radiation Leak at NM Military Nuclear Waste Dump

High levels of radioactivity detected at New Mexico military nuclear waste dump

Abnormally high levels of radioactivity were detected at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), an underground military nuclear waste dump in New Mexico on Saturday, said to be the first real alarm since the plant began operating 15 years ago, said a report.

“At 11:30 PM Friday, a continuous air monitor detected airborne radiation in the underground,” said WIPP.

“They (air monitors) have alarmed in the past as a false positive because of malfunctions, or because of fluctuations in levels of radon (a naturally occurring radioactive gas),” said a Department of Energy spokesman.

“But I believe it’s safe to say we’ve never seen a level like we are seeing. We just don’t know if it’s a real event, but it looks like one,” he said.

“We’re in shutdown mode,” said DOE.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is one of DOE’s nuclear waste dumps where the U.S. Gov buries transuranic (man-made radioactive elements that are heavier than Uranium) radioactive waste such as plutonium used in making nuclear weapons.

A shipment of contact-handled transuranic waste arrives at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Source: WIPP, US Department of Energy

Located about 26 miles east of Carlsbad in SE New Mexico, WIPP has “disposal rooms” excavated in an ancient salt formation, about 700m (2,150 feet) underground. WIPP employs more than 800 workers. Waste disposal began at WIPP in 1999.

The Horizontal Emplacement and Retreival Equipment (HERE) is used to push remote-handled transuranic waste into horizontal boreholes in the disposal room walls. Source: WIPP, US Department of Energy

The 250-million-year-old salt formation below the Chihuahuan Desert is used to dump about 6,000 cubic meters of TRU radioactive waste each year. About 4% of the TRU waste received at WIPP is far too toxic and the containers must be remote-handled by robots and automated  machinery.

If Anything Can Explode, Leak, Contaminate… It Will!

On January 12, 2014 FIRE-EARTH forecast:

Estimated 100,000 HAZMAT storage sites across the U.S. can potentially explode, leak, contaminate the environment

United States is dotted with an estimated 100,000 HAZMAT storage sites containing one or more of deadly substances including radioactive, biohazardous, toxic, explosive, flammable, asphyxiating, corrosive, oxidizing, pathogenic, or allergenic materials, as well as herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers that don’t fall into those categories.

Some of the substances (hazchems), which include more than 200 types of dioxins, are so lethal that even a small leak into the water supply could kill or permanently harm millions of people, before they are detected.

Related Links

• If Anything Can Explode, Leak, Contaminate…  January 12, 2014