Disaster Declared for 204 Counties in 10 States

204 Counties across 10 states declared agricultural disaster areas

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 204 counties across 10 states—Georgia, Alabama, Florida, The Carolinas,  Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee—as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding in two separate declarations.

First Disaster Declaration

USDA has designated 148 counties across six states—Georgia, Alabama, Florida, The Carolinas and Tennessee—as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain that began April 1, 2013, and continuing.

List of Disaster Areas – Excessive Rain

• Georgia: Appling, Clinch, Grady, Macon, Treutlen, Turner, Twiggs, Union, Atkinson, Coffee, Greene, Madison, Walton, Ware, Washington, Wayne, Bacon, Colquitt, Gwinnett, Miller, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkinson, Baker, Cook, Hancock, Mitchell, Bibb, Dooly, Henry, Monroe, Baldwin, Crawford, Hart, Montgomery, Bulloch, Dougherty, Houston, Murray, Banks, Crisp, Irwin, Morgan, Butts, Early, Lee, Pickens, Barrow, Decatur, Jackson, Newton, Calhoun, Evans, Liberty, Pulaski, Ben Hill, De Kalb, Jasper, Oconee, Camden, Forsyth, Lincoln, Rabun, Berrien, Echols, Jeff Davis, Oglethorpe, Candler, Fulton, Long, Richmond, Bleckley, Effingham, Jefferson, Peach, Charlton, Glynn, Lumpkin, Schley, Brantley, Elbert, Jenkins, Pierce, Clayton, Gordon, McDuffie, Stephens, Brooks, Emanuel, Johnson, Putnam, Dawson, Habersham, McIntosh, Sumter, Bryan, Fannin, Jones, Rockdale, Dodge, Hall, Marion, Burke, Franklin, Lanier, Screven, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Toombs, Chatham, Gilmer, Laurens, Seminole, Upson, Warren, White, Wilkes, Clarke, Glascock, Lowndes, Taylor, Worth, Telfair, Thomas, Tift and Towns counties.

• Alabama: Houston County.

• Florida: Baker, Gadsden, Jackson, Leon, Columbia, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison counties.
  

• North Carolina: Cherokee and Clay counties.
  

• South Carolina: Abbeville, Anderson, Jasper, Aiken, Barnwell, McCormick, Allendale, Hampton and Oconee counties.

• Tennessee: Polk County.

Second disaster Declaration

USDA has designated 56 counties across five states—Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee—as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rainfall and flooding that occurred July 15 – August 19, 2013.

List of Disaster Areas – Excessive Rainfall and Flooding

• Missouri: Butler, Gasconade, New Madrid, Stoddard, Camden, Laclede, Osage, Texas, Cole, Maries, Pemiscot, Vernon, Dunklin, Miller, Pulaski, Webster, Barton, Cape Girardeau, Dent, Mississippi, St. Clair, Bates, Carter, Douglas, Moniteau, Scott, Benton, Cedar, Franklin, Montgomery, Shannon, Bollinger, Christian, Greene, Morgan, Warren, Boone, Crawford, Hickory, Phelps Callaway, Dallas, Howell, Ripley, Wright and Wayne counties.

• Arkansas: Clay, Craighead, Greene and Mississippi counties.

• Kansas: Bourbon, Crawford and Linn counties.

• Kentucky: Fulton County.

• Tennessee: Dyer and Lake counties.

All counties listed above were designated as agricultural disaster areas on September 25, 2013.

“Secretary Vilsack also reminds producers that Congress has not funded the five disaster assistance programs authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill. These are SURE; the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP); the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP); the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP); and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP). Production losses due to disasters occurring after Sept. 30, 2011, are not eligible for disaster program coverage,” said USDA.

Notes:
1. The total number of counties designated as agricultural disaster areas includes both primary and contiguous disaster areas.
2. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.
3. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.

Related Links

• Agricultural Disaster Declared for 194 Counties in 13 States September 20, 2013
• Agricultural Disaster Declared for 138 counties in 14 States
• Drought 2013
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Agricultural Disaster Declared for 204 Counties

204 Counties across 10 states declared agricultural disaster areas

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 204 counties across 10 states—Georgia, Alabama, Florida, The Carolinas,  Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee—as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding in two separate declarations.

First Disaster Declaration

USDA has designated 148 counties across six states—Georgia, Alabama, Florida, The Carolinas and Tennessee—as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain that began April 1, 2013, and continuing.

List of Disaster Areas – Excessive Rain

• Georgia: Appling, Clinch, Grady, Macon, Treutlen, Turner, Twiggs, Union, Atkinson, Coffee, Greene, Madison, Walton, Ware, Washington, Wayne, Bacon, Colquitt, Gwinnett, Miller, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkinson, Baker, Cook, Hancock, Mitchell, Bibb, Dooly, Henry, Monroe, Baldwin, Crawford, Hart, Montgomery, Bulloch, Dougherty, Houston, Murray, Banks, Crisp, Irwin, Morgan, Butts, Early, Lee, Pickens, Barrow, Decatur, Jackson, Newton, Calhoun, Evans, Liberty, Pulaski, Ben Hill, De Kalb, Jasper, Oconee, Camden, Forsyth, Lincoln, Rabun, Berrien, Echols, Jeff Davis, Oglethorpe, Candler, Fulton, Long, Richmond, Bleckley, Effingham, Jefferson, Peach, Charlton, Glynn, Lumpkin, Schley, Brantley, Elbert, Jenkins, Pierce, Clayton, Gordon, McDuffie, Stephens, Brooks, Emanuel, Johnson, Putnam, Dawson, Habersham, McIntosh, Sumter, Bryan, Fannin, Jones, Rockdale, Dodge, Hall, Marion, Burke, Franklin, Lanier, Screven, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Toombs, Chatham, Gilmer, Laurens, Seminole, Upson, Warren, White, Wilkes, Clarke, Glascock, Lowndes, Taylor, Worth, Telfair, Thomas, Tift and Towns counties.

• Alabama: Houston County.

• Florida: Baker, Gadsden, Jackson, Leon, Columbia, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison counties.
  

• North Carolina: Cherokee and Clay counties.
  

• South Carolina: Abbeville, Anderson, Jasper, Aiken, Barnwell, McCormick, Allendale, Hampton and Oconee counties.

• Tennessee: Polk County.

Second disaster Declaration

USDA has designated 56 counties across five states—Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee—as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rainfall and flooding that occurred July 15 – August 19, 2013.

List of Disaster Areas – Excessive Rainfall and Flooding

• Missouri: Butler, Gasconade, New Madrid, Stoddard, Camden, Laclede, Osage, Texas, Cole, Maries, Pemiscot, Vernon, Dunklin, Miller, Pulaski, Webster, Barton, Cape Girardeau, Dent, Mississippi, St. Clair, Bates, Carter, Douglas, Moniteau, Scott, Benton, Cedar, Franklin, Montgomery, Shannon, Bollinger, Christian, Greene, Morgan, Warren, Boone, Crawford, Hickory, Phelps Callaway, Dallas, Howell, Ripley, Wright and Wayne counties.

• Arkansas: Clay, Craighead, Greene and Mississippi counties.

• Kansas: Bourbon, Crawford and Linn counties.

• Kentucky: Fulton County.

• Tennessee: Dyer and Lake counties.

All counties listed above were designated as agricultural disaster areas on September 25, 2013.

“Secretary Vilsack also reminds producers that Congress has not funded the five disaster assistance programs authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill. These are SURE; the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP); the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP); the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP); and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP). Production losses due to disasters occurring after Sept. 30, 2011, are not eligible for disaster program coverage,” said USDA.

Notes:
1. The total number of counties designated as agricultural disaster areas includes both primary and contiguous disaster areas.
2. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.
3. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.

Related Links

• Agricultural Disaster Declared for 194 Counties in 13 States September 20, 2013
• Agricultural Disaster Declared for 138 counties in 14 States
• Drought 2013
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Agricultural Disaster Declared for 78 Counties

Drought, Tornado, Frosts and Freezes Cause Agricultural Disasters in 78 Counties across 7 States

Drought

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 16 counties in Texas and two parishes in Louisiana as agricultural  disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by the ongoing drought.

• Texas: The disaster areas are Panola, Polk, Trinity, Walker, Angelina, Harrison, Madison, San Jacinto, Grimes, Houston, Montgomery, Shelby, Hardin, Liberty, Rusk and Tyler counties.

• Louisiana: Caddo and De Soto parishes.
  

At least 1,338 counties and parishes, or 42.41% of all U.S. counties and county equivalents, have been designated as agricultural disaster areas due to the ongoing drought so far in 2013.

[Note: The lists include both primary and contiguous disaster areas.]

U-S Drought Disaster Map – September 11, 2013

As of September 11, 2013, at least 1,338 counties and parishes, or 42.41% of all U.S. counties and county equivalents, were designated as agricultural disaster areas due to the ongoing drought so far in 2013.

Frosts and Freezes, April 1 – June 19, 2013

USDA has designated 44 counties in Michigan and one in Ohio as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by frosts and freezes that occurred April 1 – June 19, 2013.

• Michigan: The disaster areas are Antrim, Huron, Livingston, Manistee, Chippewa, Ionia, Luce, Monroe, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Mackinac, Van Buren, Alger, Crawford, Kent, St. Joseph, Allegan, Eaton, Lake, Sanilac, Barry, Genessee, Lenawee, Schoolcraft, Benzie, Gratiot, Mason, Shiawassee, Berrien, Ingham, Missaukee, Tuscola, Cass, Jackson, Montcalm, Washtenaw, Charlevoix, Kalamazoo, Oakland, Wayne, Clinton, Kalkaska, Otego and Wexford counties.

• Ohio: Lucas County.

Tornado

USDA has designated five counties in South Carolina as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a tornado that occurred on June 4, 2013.

• South Carolina: The disaster areas are Dorchester, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and Orangeburg counties.

Frosts and Freezes, April 9 – May 3, 2013

USDA has designated eight counties in Colorado and two in Utah as agricultural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by frosts and freezes that occurred April 9 – May 3, 2013

• Colorado: The disaster areas are Delta, Mesa , Montrose, Garfield, Gunnison, Ouray, Pitkin and San Miguel counties.

• Utah: Grand and San Juan counties.

[Note: The the trigger point for a disaster declaration is a 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop, USDA said.]

Related Links

• Agricultural Disaster Declared for 138 counties in 14 States
• Drought 2013
• Agricultural Disasters Index

 

Destabilization of Middle East Intensifies

Human river of Syrian refugees cross border into northern Iraq

At least 45,000 Syrian refugees have crossed the border into northern Iraq in the past ten days, one of the biggest influxes of refugees since beginning of the Syrian conflict.

At least 45,000 Syrian refugees have crossed the border into northern Iraq in the past 10 days. Photo: UNHCR/G. Gubaeva

“There was war and looting and problems,” said a refugee who trekked with his five children to Iraqi Kurdistan.

“We did not find a morsel (of food), so, with our children, we came here.”

“We fled because there is war, beheadings and killings, and in addition to that there is no work,” said another refugee.

“The economic situation deteriorated and everything became expensive.”

“There was a shortage of food in the market, and everything became expensive, from bread to gas canisters, and unemployment was spreading,” said a refugee whose wife held their three-week-old baby in her arms outside a tent.

“We decided to save ourselves before we died of hunger.”

An estimated 2 million Syrians have fled their country, with most seeking refuge in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

An estimated 200,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Iraq.

“Rebel militants in Syria release chemical substance near Damascus”

Original caption: Chemical reagents are seen at an arsenal of Syrian rebel militants in Jobar, near the capital of Damascus, on Aug. 24, 2013. Some Syrian soldiers on Saturday suffered suffocation after rebel militants released chemical substance around their hideouts near Damascus, the state-TV reported. (Xinhua/Bassem Tellawi). More images…

U.N. chemical weapons inspectors fired on in Syria

“A vehicle carrying U.N. chemical weapons investigators came under sniper fire Monday as it was heading toward the site of an alleged chemical attack last week that killed hundreds of people,” said a report.

Iraq Violence

Meantime, at least 55 people were killed and more than 120 others injured on Sunday across Iraq by car bombs, IEDs and gunfire.

The latest killings in Baghdad, Baquba, Balad and Mosul raises the monthly death toll to at least 685 civilians dead. The blog estimates the number of wounded at 1,500 since August1.

UNAMI Stats for Armed Violence in Iraq

According to information collected by UNAMI, a minimum of 928 were killed (including 204 civilian police) a further 2109 were injured (including 338 civilian police) in ongoing armed violence in Iraq during July 2013.

• In June 2013, 685 civilians were killed and 1610 were injured.

• In May 2013, 963 civilians were killed and 2191 were injured.

• In April 2013, 595 civilians were killed and 1481 were injured.

• In March 2013, 229 civilians were killed and 853 were injured.

• In February 2013, 418 civilians were killed and 704 were injured.

• In January 2013, 319 civilians were killed and 960 were injured.

• In December 2012, 230 civilians were killed and 655 were injured.

• In November 2012, 445 civilians were killed and 1306 were injured.

ALL figures remain estimates until full investigation and analysis has been carried out, said UNAMI.

FIRE-EARTH log on Syria – dated June 14, 2012

The joint proxy war waged by Saudi Arabia and Israel against Syria has entered a new phase. The head of UN peacekeeping operations has described the Syrian conflict as a “civil war.”

The world’s largest food fishery faces collapse

Pollock population declined by 50 percent last Year

The world’s largest food fishery is on the verge of collapse. Pollock, used to make McDonald’s fish sandwiches, frozen fish sticks, fish and chips, and imitation crabmeat, have had a population decrease of 50 percent since last year. —Greenpeace.

Pollock biomass in U.S. waters have declined by  nearly a million ton (to 0.94 million ton) from 1.8 million tons last year, said Taina Honkalehto, a research fishery biologist with the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service.

“Economic pressures to keep on fishing at such high levels have overwhelmed common sense,” said Jeremy Jackson, director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Two of the four Alaska pollock stocks are now shut down completely and a third is a small fraction of its previous size due to overfishing. However, the industry continues to aggresively target the pollock spawning aggregation, removing large numbers of pregnant fish before they release their eggs. Thus, the pollock is prevented to reproduce, grow and mature to reproduce again, Greenpeace said.

More …

Related Links:

• Index of Human Impact on Nature
• Our Oceans
• Billion dollar fishing industry on the verge of collapse

Arctic Sea Ice: Likely Record-Low Volume

Arctic Sea Ice Down to Second-Lowest Extent; Likely Record-Low Volume – NSIDC

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) says despite cooler temperatures and ice-favoring conditions, long-term decline of Arctic ice cover is continuing.

As previously reported, Arctic sea ice extent for 2008 melt season as measured by satellite was the second-lowest level since 1979, reaching the lowest point on September 14, 2008. Average sea ice extent over the month of September, a standard measure in the scientific study of Arctic sea ice, was 4.67 million square kilometers. The record monthly low was 4.28 million square kilometers set in September 2007.

The 2008 observation strongly reinforces the thirty-year downward trend in Arctic ice extent, NSIDC said. The 2008 low was 34% below the long-term September average for the 1979 to 2000 period and only 9% greater than the 2007 record low. The 2008 low was so far below the average, it forced the negative trend in September extent downward to –11.7 % per decade (from 10.7 %).

A comparison of ice age in September 2007 (left) and September 2008 (right) shows the increase in thin first-year ice (red) and the decline in thick multi-year ice (orange and yellow). White indicates areas of ice below ~50 percent, for which ice age cannot be determined. AVHRR, SMMR SSM/I, and IABP buoy data.
—From National Snow and Ice Data Center courtesy C. Fowler, J. Maslanik, and S. Drobot, University of Colorado at Boulder – High-resolution image

“The trend of decline in the Arctic continues, despite this year’s slightly greater extent of sea ice. The Arctic is more vulnerable than ever.” —NSIDC Lead Scientist Ted Scambos

Related Links:

• Arctic ice cover second-lowest on record
• NSIDC Arctic ice extent animation

.

Scale of Sanlu-Fonterra Corporate Manslaughter Widens

Update Sept 22-08: Sanlu Was First Banned in 2004, then Reinstated

The number of babies hospitalized with kidney stones rises above 13,000, news of dead infants appears suppressed.

53,000 babies sickened, 13,000 of them hospitalized and at least 4 dead in Sanlu-Fonterra corporate manslaughter

Australian news outlet LiveNews reported that about 13,000 Chinese children have been hospitalized after consuming contaminated Sanlu-Fonterra baby formula. However, the reported number of babies who lost their lives appears to have been suppressed by the authorities and remains at 4 dead infants.

Security staff keep order as families with children who are undergoing medical checks for possible kidney stones wait their turn at a hospital in Chongqing municipality, September 19, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer. Image may be subject to copyright.

In a new development, a Hong Kong toddler was diagnosed with a kidney stone after consuming melamine-tainted baby formula,  the first reported casualty outside mainland China. [Source]

The Chinese PM, Wen Jiabao appeared on state television promising to prevent further incidents. [More likely to prevent the news of further incidents from spreading!]

Related links:

• Fonterra Files (Index page)
• China’s Quality Watchdog Chief Quits in Wake of Milk Scandal

World Disaster Update

Situation report on diarrhea and cholera in Iraq, September 19, 2008

Diarrhea and laboratory confirmed Cholera 07/08- 19/09/08

1. Summary

Total cholera cases up to 19/09 reached 171 an increase of nine cases over yesterday’s total.

• One case in each of Missan and Diala
• 2 cases in each of Anbar, Najaf and Baghdad Resafa.
• 5 cases in Basra 3 of them confirmed by the (CPHL) and 2 provisionally diagnosed as cholera by the local lab.
• 17 cases in Karbala. o 39 cases in Baghdad-Kerkh.
• 104 cases in Babil province all confirmed at the CPHL

Cases under investigation

• Babil (13) cases diagnosed by provincial Lab. o Basrah (2) cases diagnosed by provincial Lab. o Kerbala (1) case diagnosed by provincial Lab.

Total laboratory confirmed cholera deaths:

• Babil (2) deaths. o Basra (1) death. o Missan (1) death.
• Baghdad Kerkh (1) death

There are another 7 death due to Acute Watery diarrhea; however, either stool specimens were not collected (3 deaths) or stool on examination turned negative for cholera organism (4 deaths)

Tomorrow the Central Public Health Laboratory will forward cholera positive and negative isolates to WHO for confirmation, serotyping, antimicrobial sensitivity pattern and relation to last year or this year out break in Iran. – Full Report by WHO

Haiti: UN hurricane relief appeal grossly under-funded

Source: United Nations News Service

The United Nations today appealed to donors to make up an enormous shortfall in emergency funding for relief work in Haiti, where hundreds of thousands of people are still suffering from the devastation caused by four hurricanes over the past month.

Only 2 per cent of the $108 million flash appeal has so far been donated, nine days after it was launched, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

OCHA stressed that the situation remains very serious in the impoverished Caribbean country, where over 320 people were killed by the storms and flooding, and 160,000 others are still living in the open, exposed to disease and malnutrition.

Some $54 million are needed for emergency food aid. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has already helped feed some 298,000 people since the start of the crisis.

OCHA is also concerned over access to those who have not yet received aid, including people in the Artibonne and Nippes regions, where continued rains might complicate relief efforts.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Haiti, Hédi Annabi, yesterday visited hurricane victims in Hinche, central Haiti, evaluating their needs and assuring them of the commitment of the UN and the international community to help them.

Meanwhile, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow began a five-day tour today to take stock of the devastation which has affected more than 300,000 children, according to Government figures.

Ms. Farrow and UNICEF Canada head Nigel Fisher will meet with children and women victims and visit Gonaïves, the worst-hit town, where some 70,000 people are in temporary shelters.

UN appeals for $10 million to relieve flood-hit communities in Laos

The United Nations has appealed for nearly $10 million in urgent humanitarian aid to assist communities hit by recent floods in Laos that have damaged farmland, infrastructure and the homes of over 200,000 people.

“The floods of August 2008 pose a serious mid- to long-term threat to the health, food security, welfare and livelihoods, especially of the poorest communities affected by them,” said UN Resident Coordinator Sonam Yangchen Rana.

Disease, malnutrition and loss of livelihoods are among the threats facing 11 provinces hit by some of the worst flooding in a century in the South-East Asian country.

“Families who were already close to the poverty borderline risk being pushed under due to the loss of rice paddy, food stocks and other assets,” the UN representative stated. “Caregivers who already struggled to ensure their children received a sufficiently nutritious diet will find the task even harder.”

Ms. Rana noted that while flooding is a regular incident in the region, the calamity of this year’s mid-August inundations was a severe setback to development progress in large parts of the country.

A rapid needs assessment conducted by the Government, UN and other parties has identified the immediate priorities to be addressed: clean drinking water and sanitation, food supplies, essential medicines and primary health care, emergency replacement seeds, immunization and surveillance for disease outbreaks and nutrition status.

Kick-starting the relief activities, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has already contributed $2.024 million towards the joint appeal that proposes 15 projects in eight sectors. The appeal is requesting a total amount of $9,945,998 to address the humanitarian and essential early recovery needs.

Thailand: 16 dead in Thailand floods: interior ministry

BANGKOK, Sept 21, 2008 (AFP) – Severe flooding across Thailand has left at least 16 people dead and more than half a million people struggling to cope with damaged property and disease, officials and news reports said Sunday.

Floods caused by heavy rain have deluged 21 of Thailand’s 76 provinces in the north, east and centre of the kingdom, affecting 693,550 people, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said in a statement.

Nearly 1,900 houses, 659 roads and 188,835 rai (75,500 acres) of farmland have been destroyed in the floods, which began earlier this month, they said. The cost of the damage is estimated at 28.55 million baht (840,000 dollars).

The department said that two people remained missing. It did not say how the 16 people were killed, but local media reports said most had been swept away in flood waters.

The English-language Bangkok Post and Nation newspapers also reported Sunday that more than 50,000 people were suffering from water-borne diseases, and authorities are delivering food, drinking water and medicine to those affected.

Copyright (c) 2008 Agence France-Presse

Thousands of villages still flooded, millions still homeless one month after deluge in India’s poorest state

Source: Save the Children Alliance

Children who were forced to flee their villages to escape flooding in Bihar, northern India, are still homeless and living in appalling conditions.

Much of the floodwater has yet to recede and in some areas, flooding has created new inland ‘seas’ up to 20km wide, according to reports from Save the Children staff in the region.

Save the Children’s Lydia Baker, who has just returned from the affected region, said: “The size of the area affected by flooding is immense. If you stand at one edge of the floodwaters, you can’t see where it ends, it feels just like you are at a coast looking out over the sea. It’s horrendous to think that under all that water are people’s homes and farmland.”

It’s been one month since the Kosi river breached its banks causing massive flooding in India’s northern Bihar province. The two districts of Madhepura and Sharsa are totally cut off with the increase in the water level. Approximately five million people, over half of them children, have been affected in 16 districts, and some villages are still completely under water.

More than 350 relief camps have been set up to house around 340,000 people but there are still thousands who haven’t made it to the camps and are living in basic shelters made from rags that they have built along highways and roads.

Save the Children is calling for more funding for this emergency to provide food and shelter to the thousands of homeless people. So far the amount that has been donated by world governments this year is less than last year, even though this year’s floods are more severe.

Save the Children is responding to the flooding and working in the relief camps of Araria, Saharsa and Khagaria. As well as giving out basic supplies of food, water and shelter equipment they are also working to protect children who may have been separated from their families by the flooding, which puts them at risk of trafficking.

“During disasters there is a severe risk of children being separated form their parents and families. This is not only extremely frightening for children, but also leaves them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation and trafficking” said Shireen Vakil Miller, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children in India.

Save the Children, in partnership with the government of Bihar, UNICEF and the Indian Red Cross have launched a family tracing programme to re-unite families separated by the floods. It will be used in all 357 relief camps to identify separated families and children, create a database of their profiles, match them and eventually reunite them.

Transition Movement

Moving Toward Low-Energy Communities

Transition areas (towns districts, or islands) are designate places where local grass-roots strive to form a low-energy economy.

In its birth place, the UK, the Transition movement has created 70 Transition Towns. Here in the US, Ketchum, Idaho, is the latest Transition Town, joining Boulder County, Colo., and Sandpoint, Idaho. CSM reported.

Volunteers from Transition Forest Row in East Sussex cut grass and weed around gooseberry bushes in a field loaned to them by a nearby college. (Courtesy of Mike Grenville).  Source: CS Monitor.

Transition Movement appears to be a variation of Intelligent Communities: 286W which was first conceived as solar Clusters by MSRB/CASF in 2004.

Related Links:

• Intelligent Communities: 286W
• 13 things you should know!
• Stop Burning Earth
• Is a Future Possible

• Index of Human Impact on Nature
• Initial Conditions

Global Biosecurity Threat: New Zealand Light Brown Apple Moth

DO NOT IMPORT NEW ZEALAND FLOWERS, FRUIT, FARM PRODUCE

As of midnight Friday September 12, 2008 the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, is banning all New Zealand flower imports following the discovery of flower shipments containing light brown apple moth eggs.

The light brown apple moth (LBAM), Epiphyas postvittana (Tortricidae), is a native pest of Australia and is now widely distributed in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Caledonia.

Light brown apple moths

USDA confirmed the detection of LBAM in Alameda County, California on March 22, 2007.  The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) aggressively surveyed the area to discover the extent to the infestation and identified the pest in 11 additional counties.  Intense control activities have contained LBAM within the initial detection area, and effectively eradicated the pest from Napa and Los Angeles counties.

LBAM is of particular concern because it can damage a wide range of crops and other plants including California’s prized cypress as well as redwoods, oaks and many other varieties commonly found in California’s urban and suburban landscaping, public parks and natural environment.  The list of agricultural crops that could be damaged by this pest includes grapes, citrus, stone fruit (peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, apricots) and many others.  The complete “host list” contains well over 1,000 plant species and more than 250 fruits and vegetables.

USDA and CDFA are working aggressively to control and eradicate this pest before it has the chance to spread requiring greater resources to protect American agriculture and our urban and suburban landscape. (Source)

Identification

There are many native tortricids that can be confused for the LBAM.  Adult moths must be identified by a qualified entomologist.  Larval stages cannot be reliably identified using morphological characters.  If you suspect the presence of LBAM, please notify your state department of agriculture or the State Plant Health Director’s Office of USDA, APHIS, PPQ.

E. postvittana 5th instar larvae

New Zealand: Home to over 250 LBAM host species

The insect is regarded as an herbivorous generalist, and the larvae feed on numerous horticultural crops in Australia and New Zealand, where they have limited natural predators. It is known to feed on 123 dicotyledonous plant species, including 22 Australian natives, belonging to 55 different families. In New Zealand, over 250 host species have been recorded. It feeds on nearly all types of fruit crops, ornamentals, vegetables, glasshouse crops, and occasionally young pine seedlings.

The larvae cause significant damage to foliage and fruit. Early instars feed on tissue beneath the upper epidermis (surface layer) of leaves, while protected under self-constructed silken webs on the undersurface of leaves. Larger larvae migrate from these positions to construct feeding niches between adjacent leaves, between a leaf and a fruit, in the developing bud, or on a single leaf, where the leaf roll develops. The late stage larvae feed on all leaf tissue except main veins

In New Zealand, over 250 host species have been recorded. It feeds on nearly all types of fruit crops, ornamentals, vegetables, glasshouse crops, and occasionally young pine seedlings. (Source)

Does your mother shoot moose, too?

Image and title suggested by a reader:

Mother? Moose Murderer and Maverick!

[Just before this woman shot me, I was alive and well, looking forward to running around with my kids all day.] A video tribute to Sarah Palin at the Republican convention was titled “Mother, Moose Hunter, Maverick”. Image may be subject to copyright.

Why do you kill other animals?

Related Links:

• It’s All About Big Oil, Stupid!

• Look me straight in the eye & tell me you can’t …
• Arctic ice cover second-lowest on record
• The real games are in Alaska
• 3 million acres of spruce killed in Alaska in 15 years

• Death by Lethal Pollution
• Bering Sea Drilling Revisited!
• Arctic Marine Mammals on Thin Ice
• Our Oceans Are Dying

• Palin’s Polar Pests Love Their Cubs, Too!
• Mother? Moose Murderer and Maverick!

Hurricane Ike: Who Rubbed the Oil Lamp? [Update 9/12]

Ike has a 78 percent chance of strengthening to a major hurricane before landfall with sustained winds of at least 178km/hr (111mph). ~ FEWW Forecast.

Ike the angry genie is out of the oil lamp!

Targeting Texas for landfall, perhaps Ike  won’t grant too many wishes now without the Monkey’s Paw!

Ike is a very large tropical cyclone. Its hurricane force winds extend outward about 200 km from the center and tropical storm force winds extend about 450 km, covering an area of about 640,000 sq km.

Ike’s latest satellite images show a giant clump of white clouds, together with its outer bands, covering most of the 1.6 million sq km area of Gulf of Mexico basin.

Hurricane Ike regional imagery, 2008.09.12 at 08:45UTC. Centerpoint Latitude: 26:54:30N Longitude: 91:31:08W.

Data Elements: Hurricane Ike is located southeast of Galveston, Texas. This system is moving toward the west-northwest near 13 MPH. Maximum sustained winds are near 105 MPH. Hurricane Ike is a large and powerful storm, quite capable of strengthening before landfall early Saturday.
Observation Device: GOES-12 4 km infrared imagery.
Visualization Date: September 12, 2008 07:37:00 (Credit: NOAA/NESDIS/EVP)

GOES Floater (Updated Image) – Unenhanced – IR CH4 – Date and Time: As indicated on the updated image. Credit NOAA/NHC

Note: As of September 12 – 13:45UTC Image Update, Ike appears to have redeveloped the hurricane eye.

Ike is expected to strengthen to a major hurricane before landfall with sustained wind speeds of at least 178 km/hr, and in all probability the forecast would prove accurate.

However, if Ike fails to strengthen before landfall, it can still cause substantial damage by dumping large amounts of rain, flooding low-lying coastal areas, blowing down trees and road signs, destroying roof structures, doors, windows, curtain walls and mobile homes.

Ike Begins Battering Gulf Coast. A monstrously large, extremely dangerous Hurricane Ike is already affecting the Gulf Coast. NASA’s Aqua spacecraft took this infrared image early Sept. 12. (Sept. 12). Credit: NASA/JPL

A wave breaks over a street sign as Hurricane Ike approaches Galveston, Texas September 12, 2008. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi. Image may be subject to copyright.

The storm surge of the nameless hurricane reduced much of Galveston to rubble – and left thousands dead. (AP photo)- Source

100 mph plus winds expected along the upper-Texas coast by midnight, weather should deteriorate earlier (NOAA)

• Source: NHC
• Forecaster: Avila
• Date and Time: Sept 12, 2008 at 15:00UTC

• Hurricane Watch Area: from Morgan City Louisiana to Baffin Bay, Texas.  Hurricane conditions are expected to reach the coast in the warning area later Friday.

• Tropical Storm Warning Area: From south of Baffin Bay to Port Mansfield Texas.  A tropical storm warning is also in effect from east of Morgan City to the Mississippi-Alabama border, including the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

• Current Location: The center of hurricane Ike was located near latitude 27.2 north, longitude 92.6 west or about 480 km east of Corpus Christi, Texas and about 320 km southeast of Galveston Texas.

• Category and Wind Speed: Maximum sustained winds remain near 165 km/hr with higher gusts.  Ike is a Category 2A hurricane on the FEWW Hurricane Scale (cat 2 on Saffir-Simpson scale), but could reach the coast as a Category Three, major hurricane.  Stronger winds especially in gusts are likely on high rise buildings.

• Direction: Ike is moving toward the west-northwest near 19 km/hr. A turn toward the northwest is expected later today, with a turn toward the north expected on Saturday.  On the forecast track, the center of Ike will be very near the upper Texas coast by late Friday or early Saturday. However, because Ike is a very large tropical cyclone, weather will begin to deteriorate along the coastline soon.

• Extent: Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 195 km from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 445 km.
• Estimated minimum central pressure: 954 mb (28.17 inches).

• Storm surge flooding: Coastal storm surge flooding of up to 6 meters (20 feet) with a few spots to about 8 meters (25 feet) above normal tide along with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected near and to the east of where the center of Ike makes landfall. The surge extends a greater than usual distance from the center due to the large size of the cyclone. Water levels have already risen by more than 1.5 meter (5 feet) along much of the northwestern gulf coast.

• Rainfall: Ike is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 12 to 25 cm (5 to 10 inches) over eastern Texas and extreme southwestern Louisiana, with isolated amounts of 38 cm (15 inches) possible.

• Isolated tornadoes: Isolated tornadoes are possible today over portions of southern Louisiana and extreme southern Mississippi.  Isolated tornadoes are possible tonight over portions of southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.

Unfit for human consumption

Is the EPA selling you anything unfit for human consumption?

EPA and the Dumping of Sewage Sludge on US Farmland

Consumer groups are pressing Congress to regulate against the practice of dumping of toxic sewage sludge on our farmland. “Farmers, scientists and victims of sludge poisoning will go before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday to investigate the Environmental Protections Agency’s role in the sludge dumped on farms and other lands.” (Source)

“We have enough problems with toxic food as it is without having our food grown in toxic soil and derived from animals who have been sickened, often almost to death, because of these toxins,” said Andrew Kimbrell, the executive director of the Center for Food Safety.

What is so toxic about the sewage sludge?

A lot of toxins are found in sewage sludge including:

• E. coli
• Prions (the ones that cause mad cow disease)
• Highly toxic carcinogens used in flame retardants

Are there any victims?

Yes many! Sludge poisoning has caused serious illness, even death. Victims have reported headaches, fainting spells and nose bleeds. “Contact with sewage sludge can also cause asthma, respiratory problems and tumors. There have been several instances of death linked to exposure to the sludge.”

“It’s a very pernicious cycle here of taking the poisons out of the water but putting it back into our land, and therefore back into our food and water supply,” Kimbrell said. Dumping sludge on farmland is practiced widely because it is legal under EPA rules. About 3 million tons of sewage sludge is dumped on US farmlands each year, some 50 percent of the total production.

What About the EPA?

Citing “insufficient scientific evidence to any harmful effects” EPA nixed a petition in 1983 filed by 73 food and consumer groups asking for a moratorium on sludge dumping until the health, food and environmental impacts of the practice could be assessed.

What about the Department of Agriculture, Aren’t they also responsible?

Yes, they are. Andy McElmurray whose farm was contaminated from sewage sludge successfully sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The court ruled that the EPA’s “purposely manipulated data to squash scientific dissent,” and therefore their data was unreliable.

“Bad science and bad policy has to stop, and I think Congress has had it,” Kimbrell said. “There’s a mood for change now, and here’s where we can begin to see real change.”

Let’s hope Kimbrell would not be disappointed!

Massive Action

Japan’s Mikasa Foods to fire its entire staff!

Mikasa Foods Co., an Osaka-based wholesaler, which sold “industrial-use” rice unfit for human consumption to food manufacturers, will fire its entire workforce of about 100 employees because of fallout from the scandal, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported.

“While the company will close operations at its rice cooking and processing factory in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, it will maintain its Kyushu factory in Chikuzen, Fukuoka Prefecture, which resold government stocks of contaminated rice imported from China and other countries that it had purchased at low prices.” (source)

Hurricane Ike Update 9/10

Ike Update 9/12: Who Rubbed the Oil Lamp?

Ike Loves Open Waters!

Ike has strengthened to a Category 2A on FEWW Hurricane Scale, and is expected to become a major hurricane (category 3A or above with winds of at least 178km/hr) before making landfall in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Southern Texas).

FEWW Comment: Ike left behind up to 200 people dead in Haiti and Cuba (the death toll could still rise) as it churned through the Caribbeans and is now bringing much wind and rain to the US.

Having previously strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane, Ike struck eastern Cuba as a category 3 hurricane, and there’s a significant probability that it might strengthen again to a category 3 hurricane, possibly stronger, as it moves over the warm waters of Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Ike has shown a remarkable ability to self organize since almost immediately after birth. The hurricane previously strengthened steadily, but rapidly, as it moved west on the open waters of the Atlantic ocean. Ike loves open waters and with its nascent ability to strengthen rapidly he could prove to be the strongest and most dangerous hurricane of the season to date; however, it’s still too early to forecast with high certainty the hurricane’s wind forces at landfall.

Ike on his way out of Cuba. GOES East Unenhanced Image Frozen for the purpose of comparison. Date and Time: Sept 11, 2008 at 00:15UTC – Credit: NOAA/NHC/NWS

GOES East Floater (Updated Image) Unenhanced – IR CH 4 – Date and Time: Updated  (see foot of image). Credit: NOAA/NHC/NWS

IKE CONTINUES NORTHWESTWARD TOWARD THE CENTRAL GULF

• Source: NHC
• Forecaster: Knabb/Berg
• Date and Time: Sept 10, 2008 at 00:00UTC

• Hurricane Watch Area: From Cameron westward to port Mansfield, Texas.  Hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area by Friday.

• Tropical Storm Warning Area: From the mouth of the Mississippi River westward to east of Cameron Louisiana.  AND from west of Key West to the Dry Tortugas.

• Location: At 00:00UTC the center of hurricane Ike was located near latitude 24.7 north, longitude 86.3 west or about 1,125 km east of Brownsville Texas and about 555 km south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River.
  

• Category and Wind Speed: At 160 km/hr, with higher
  Gusts, Ike is a Category 2A hurricane on the FEWW Hurricane Scale.  Ike is expected to become a major hurricane by Thursday.
• Direction: Ike is moving toward the northwest near 13 km/hr.  A turn back toward the west-northwestward is expected tonight or early on Thursday and a general west-northwestward motion over the central and western Gulf of Mexico is expected on Thursday and Friday.
• Breadth: Ike is a large tropical cyclone.  Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 185 km from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 335 km. 
  
• Estimated minimum central pressure: 947 mb (27.96 inches).

• Storm surge flooding: Coastal storm surge flooding along the coasts of Cuba and in the Florida Keys should continue to subside tonight.  coastal storm surge flooding of 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels, along with large and dangerous waves, can be expected within the tropical storm warning area.  Above normal tides of 2 to 4 feet are expected elsewhere along much of the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico during the next day or so, but will be increasing along the western gulf coast as Ike approaches.

• Rainfall: Ike is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 15 to 30 centimeters (cm) over western Cuba, with isolated maximum amounts of up to
  50cm possible.  These rains are likely to cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides over mountainous terrain.  Rainfall amounts of 2 to 5cm are possible over extreme southern Louisiana and over the extreme northern Yucatan Peninsula.

Ike’s Forecast Path

Latest NCEP/Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) Forecast Positions. Credit: CIMSS – Space Science and Engineering Center – University of Wisconsin- Madison

Coastal Watches/Warnings and 5-Day Track Forecast Cone

Credit: NOAA/NHC/NWS

Another Major Fishery Bites the Dust

World’s biggest wild abalone fishery attacked by killer virus

The world’s biggest wild abalone fishery, off Australian coast of Tasmania, which accounts for a quarter of the global annual harvest, may be under threat from the destructive ganglioneuritis virus, Australian officials said.

White Abalones (Haliotus sorenseni). The White Abalone are highly endangered species. In California, prohibitions on commercial and recreational harvest of this species have been in place since 1996. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. Credit: Geographer

Australia has already experience its abalone industry in nearby Victoria state devastated by the same virus.

“Our current activities are aimed at trying to determine the location and extent of any disease in the wild so we can develop appropriate control measures,” Tasmania’s chief veterinary officer said.

A rare and expensive shellfish, abalone is regarded as a delicacy in many Southeast Asian countries. Tasmania’s abalone export industry is reportedly worth about US$420 million a year. More …

Critically Endangered Species: Arctic Sea Ice

Hell Hath No Fury Like Oceans Warming!

Record Arctic ice loss in August

Previously you read on this blog that the Arctic ice cover was the second-lowest on record. The National Snow and Ice Data Center has since reported that the rate of ice loss through the month of August set a new record, reinforcing conclusions that the Arctic sea ice cover is in a long-term state of decline. With more than a week left to the end of the melt season, the Arctic shrink could still hit a new record annual low in September.

See below for the stats:

• Arctic sea ice extent on September 3, 2008 was 4.85 million square kilometers.
• Extent decline since the beginning of August was 2.47 million square kilometers.
• Extent is now within 370,000 square kilometers of 2007 value on the same date (about 2.08 million square kilometers below the 1979 to 2000 average).
• The average daily ice loss rate for August 2008 was 78,000 square kilometers per day (the fastest rate of daily ice loss ever recorded for a month of August).
• The average daily ice loss rate for August 2007 was 63,000 square kilometers per day.
• The average daily ice loss rate for the month of August was 51,000 square kilometers per day.

It takes very little additional energy to melt what remains of a very thinned sea ice cover!

Monthly August ice extent for 1979 to 2008 shows 2008 as the second-lowest August on record. —Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center  – High-resolution image

The graph above shows daily sea ice extent.The solid light blue line indicates 2008; the dashed green line shows extent for 2007; the gray line indicates average extent from 1979 to 2000. Sea Ice Index data. —Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center – High-resolution image

Sea surface temperature anomalies for August 2008, expressed with respect to 1982 to 2006 mean, correspond closely with ice retreat. Blue line indicates ice edge; warm colors indicate positive sea surface temperature anomalies. —Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center courtesy Mike Steele and Wendy Ermold: Polar Science Center/Applied Physics Laboratory/University of Washington.

High-resolution image

Related Links:

• Arctic ice cover second-lowest on record
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Haiku for Earth

Haiku submitted by a reader:

Behold the shrinking ice
Vanish from Earth
Broiling by lifestyle.

.

.

.

Related Links:

• Threatened Species: Arctic Sea Ice
• Arctic ice cover second-lowest on record

Hurricane Ike Update 9/9

Ike Update 9/12: Who Rubbed the Oil Lamp?

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/10

• Ike’s Photos and Videos

2009: A New Climate

What if each time a storm struck your area it turned out to be a major hurricane?

Based on MSRB/CASF dynamic energy models and FEWW climate model there’s a high probability that:

1. The duration of Atlantic Hurricane season may be longer in 2009. It could start earlier than June 1, and end later than November 30. The FEWW model forecasts an 11-18 day increase in the season.

2. The storms could get stronger throughout the season. Our model indicates average increases in the maximum wind speeds of tropical storms as follows

• Category 5 hurricanes [Saffir-Simpson scale] : 16 to 19 percent increase
• Category 4 hurricanes : 14 to 17 percent
• Category 3 hurricanes : 8 to 11 percent
• Category 2 hurricanes : 4 to 6 percent
• Category 1 hurricanes : 2 to 4 percent

Now, back to Ike

Latest Headlines:

• More than 1 million are evacuated but there are four deaths as 20 inches of rain and 100-mph winds pound Cuba. Reports mount of earlier deaths and destruction in Haiti. Texas could be next. (LA Times)

• Oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remained at a trickle on Tuesday as Hurricane Ike moved toward the region, triggering the second storm-related wave of offshore platform evacuations and production shutdowns in less than two weeks. (Reuters).

• Some two million Cubans had been driven from their homes by the storm’s winds topping 130 km/h (80 mph) more than 24 hours after it first made landfall on Sunday. (AFP)

• Ike earlier caused 66 deaths in Haiti and reportedly damaged 80% of the homes in the Turks and Caicos Islands. (BBC)

Latest NCEP/Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) Forecast Positions. Credit: CIMSS – Space Science and Engineering Center – University of Wisconsin- Madison:

CENTER OF IKE APPROACHING WESTERN CUBA

• Source: NHC
• Forecaster: Franklin
• Date and Time: Sept 9, 2008 at 12:00UTC

• Location: At 12:00UTC the center of hurricane Ike was located near latitude 22.4 north, longitude 82.4 west, or about 65 Km south of Havana, Cuba.
  

• Category and Wind Speed: At 130 km/hr, Ike is a Category one hurricane  on FEWW Hurricane Scale.  Some strengthening may occur this morning before Ike moves over Western Cuba.  Additional strengthening is forecast to occur once Ike reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
• Direction: Ike is moving toward the west-northwest at 20 km/hr and  is expected to continue in that direction in the next 48 hrs.  The center of Ike should reach the south coast of western Cuba in the next few hours, and emerge into the Gulf of Mexico by this evening.
• Breadth: Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 355 km from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 315 km. 
  
• Estimated minimum central pressure: 965mb (28.50 inches).

• Storm surge flooding: Coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 7 feet above normal tide levels, along with large and dangerous battering waves, can be expected in areas of onshore winds east of Ike along the southern coast of  Cuba.
• Storm surge flooding of up to 90cm, along with Large and dangerous waves, are possible in the Florida Keys.
• Large swells generated by Ike will continue to affect portions of the southeast United States coast during the next couple of days. These waves could generate dangerous and life-threatening rip
  currents.

• Rainfall: Ike is expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 25cm over Cuba, with isolated maximum amounts of up to 50cm possible. These rains are likely to cause life-threatening flash
  floods and mud slides over mountainous terrain. Rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10cm are possible over the Cayman Islands. Rainfall accumulations of 2.5 to 8cm are possible over the Florida Keys.
• Isolated tornadoes and waterspouts are possible over the Florida Keys and extreme south Florida today.

Hurericane Ike: Latest Photos and Videos

Ike Update 9/12: Who Rubbed the Oil Lamp?

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/10

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/9

Hurricane Ike Video and Photo Links [See following pages]

View of the sky over Havana’ s harbor on the impending arrival of Hurricane Ike, September 7, 2008. Adalberto Roque. Image may be subject to copyright.

Image Galleries:

• Gallery No 1
• Gallery No 2
• Gallery No 3
• Gallery No 4
• Gallery No 5
• Gallery No 6

Videos are embedded on the below linked pages:

• Ike weakens to Category 1 hurricane over Cuba
• Storm Ike’s uncertain course hampers U.S. plans
• Hurricane Ike pummels Cuba, aims for Gulf Coast

• Deadly hurricane heads for Havana

• Four dead as hurricane hits Cuba
• BBC Weather tracks Hurricane Ike
• ‘Hundreds’ killed by Haiti storm
• Hurricane Ike devastates Caribbean

Hurricane Ike Update 9/8

Ike Update 9/12: Who Rubbed the Oil Lamp?

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/10

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/9

• Photos and Videos

Ike makes landfall in Cuba

Weakened fortuitously to a Category 3 hurricane, Ike made landfall in Cuba in the province of Holguin near Punto de Sama on the north coast of eastern Cuba at about 01:45UTC, NHC said, with maximum winds of about 205 km/hr.

GOES-East 4km IR4 Floater 2 –  Date and Time: Latest Image, Updated – Credit: RAMSDIS-CIRA/RAMM – Colorado State University

Hurricane Ike regional imagery, 2008.09.08 at 14:45UTC. Centerpoint Latitude: 21:15:44N Longitude: 78:26:22W. GOES-12 1 km visible imagery. [Data Elements: The center of Ike may be over open water south of Cuba soon. Ike may not weaken as much as previously shown.] Credit: NOAA/NESDIS/EVP

By 03:00 the center of hurricane Ike was located near latitude 21.1 north, longitude 75.8 west near Cabo Lucrecia about 220km east of Camaguey Cuba.

Ike is now moving in a westerly direction at 20 km/hr, and is expected to turn west to west-northwest in the next 24-48 hours.  On this track the center will move over eastern, central and western Cuba through Tuesday.

Since making landfall, Ike’ maximum sustained winds have marginally receded to about 195 km/hr, and is now a category 3B hurricane of FEWW Hurricane Scale.  Further weakening is likely as Ike moves over Cuba.

Ike’s Legacy in the Caribbeans [so far]

Turks and Caicos Islands (Population 22,500): T & C took the full brunt of Ike as a Category 4 hurricane with 215 km/hr winds. About 80 percent of the houses on Grand Turk (population 3,000 were destroyed or damaged, an official said.

The Dominican Republic: Up to 50,000 people abandoned their homes because of the powerful winds and rain.

Haiti: The downpour from Ike caused the La Quinte river to rise again flooding the city of Gonaives for the second time since Hannah struck. By Sunday evening Gonaives was “a devastated and isolated city,” its mayor reportedly said, “all of our bridges to the rest of the country have collapsed.”

For additional images see: Hurricane Ike Update 9/7

Ike On The North Coast Of Eastern Cuba

• Source: NHC
• Forecaster: Pasch
• Date and Time: Sept 8, 2008 at 03:00UTC
• Category and Wind Speed: About195 km/hr with higher gusts.  Ike is still a very dangerous  3B hurricane of FEWW Hurricane Scale. Some weakening is expected as Ike moves over Cuba.

• Breadth: Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 95 km from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 220 km.
• Estimated minimum central pressure: 945mb (27.91 inches).
• Storm surge flooding: 9 to 12 feet above normal tide levels, along with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected within the warning area in areas of onshore winds.
• Large swells generated by Ike will affect portions of the southeast United States coast during the next 48 hours.  These waves could generate dangerous and life-threatening rip currents.
• Rainfall: Ike is expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 6 to 12 inches over eastern and central Cuba, with isolated maximum amounts of up to 20 inches possible.  These rains are likely to cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides over mountainous terrain.
  • The southern Bahamas: Possible rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches from Ike.
  • Portions of Hispaniola: Additional amounts of 3 to 5 inches.
  • Turks and Caicos islands: Additional rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches.
  • Florida Keys: Rainfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches.

Hurricane Ike Update 9/7

Ike Update 9/12: Who Rubbed the Oil Lamp?

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/10

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/9

• Latest Photos and Videos

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/8

Ike: A Deadly Hurricane by any Other Name

2008 Year of the Rain, too?

GOES – Floater Image – UneEnhanced Infrared CH4 – Date and time:  Updated on Image – Credit NOAA/NESDIS/SSD

FEWW Comment:  Ike has re-restrengthened to a  Category 4A on the FEWW Hurricane Scale (Cat. 4 on Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale)  with extremely dangerous wind speeds of about 215km/hr. It’s outer bands have enveloped the Dominican Republic and the northeastern peripheries of Haiti, moving slowly to cover north [and rest] of the island, where 500 people have already died and up to a million others displaced from previous storms. More rain, flooding, deaths and devastation are to be expected.

Subject to current weather condition and sea temperatures in the Caribbeans and on its forecast path, hurricane Ike may strengthen to a Category 5 hurricane as it approaches/makes landfall in Cuba, striking ferociously at the heart of the tropical island, which is already reeling from the shock of the previous three storms (Fay, Gustav and Hannah) in as many weeks. It’s hoped that the resilient Cuban people would literally “weather the storm.”

Storm Centered Infrared Image. Click here for  JAVA Movie (color enhancement). credit CIMSS – Space Science and Engineering Center – University of Wisconsin- Madison

GOES – Tropical Floater Imagery – Infrared CH 4 – Date and time:  Updated on Image – Credit NOAA/NESDIS/SSD

GOES EAST – North Atlantic Imagery – JSL2 enhancement – Date and time:  Updated on Image – Credit NOAA/NESDIS/SSD

Eye of Extremely Dangerous Hurricane Ike Passing Over the Turks Islands

• Source: NHC
• Forecaster: Avila
• Date and Time:Sept 7, 2008 at 03:00UTC
• Category and Wind Speed: About 215 km/hr with higher gusts.  Ike is an extremely dangerous category four Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale [Cat 4A on FEWW Hurricane Scale]. Some strengthening is
  Possible before Ike moves over eastern Cuba.
• Location: The large eye of hurricane Ike was located near latitude 21.2 north, longitude 70.9 west, very close to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Direction: Ike is moving toward the west-southwest near 24 km/hr and this motion is expected to continue Sunday with a gradual turn to the west late Sunday. On this track, the core of the hurricane Will begin to affect the southeastern Bahamas early Sunday.  Ike should then move near the central Bahamas and the northern coast of eastern Cuba Sunday night/early Monday.
• Breadth: Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 75 km from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 220 km.
  
• Estimated minimum central pressure: 947mb (27.96 inches).

• Storm surge flooding: 13 to 18 feet above normal tide levels and large and dangerous battering waves can be expected in the warning areas.
• Large swells generated by Ike will affect portions of the southeast United States coast during the next 48 hrs.  These waves could generate dangerous and life-threatening rip currents.

• Rainfall: About 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 inches) with isolated maximum amounts of 30 cm (12 inches) are expected over the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas. Hispaniola and eastern Cuba could see 15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 inches) of rain with isolated maximum amounts of up to 50cm (20 inches) possible.  These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides over mountainous terrain.

These graphics show probabilities of sustained (1-minute average) surface wind speeds equal to or exceeding 34 kt…39 mph (tropical storm force). These wind speed probability graphics are based on the official National Hurricane Center (NHC) track, intensity, and wind radii forecasts, and on NHC forecast error statistics for those forecast variables during recent years. Each graphic provides cumulative probabilities that wind speeds of at least 39 mph will occur during cumulative time periods at each specific point on the map. The cumulative periods begin at the start of the forecast period and extend through the entire 5-day forecast period at cumulative 12-hour intervals (i.e., 0-12 h, 0-24 h, 0-36 h, … , 0-120 h). An individual graphic is produced for each cumulative interval, and the capability to zoom and animate through the periods is provided. To assess the overall risk of experiencing winds of at least 39 mph at any location, the 120-h graphics are recommended. NOAA/NHC/NWS

Related “Year of the Expected Unknowns” Links:

• This’s Got to Be the Year of Radioactive, Chemical and Oil Spills, Too!
• Will 2008 be year of the tornadoes, too?
• California Fires: Not Hard to Understand!

• 2008: Year of the Expected Unknowns!
• First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

::

Week 35 Volcano Watch

27 August-2 September 2008

New Activity/Unrest:

• Kasatochi, Andreanof Islands
• Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island
• Soufrière Hills, Montserrat

Deposits from the pyroclastic flow on 25 August 2008. Inset shows image from thermal camera. Source: Montserrat Volcano Observatory’s photostream. Image may be subject to copyright.

Ongoing Activity:

• Batu Tara, Komba Island (Indonesia)
• Chaitén, Southern Chile |
• Chikurachki, Paramushir Island
• Dukono, Halmahera
• Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka
• Kilauea, Hawaii (USA)
• Llaima, Central Chile
• Nevado del Huila, Colombia
• Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Okmok, Fox Islands
• Rabaul, New Britain
• Semeru, Eastern Java (Indonesia)
• Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Taal, Luzon
• Ubinas, Perú

See the GVP Home Page for news of the latest significant activity.

The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program.

Hurricane Ike, TS Hannah, TS Josephine – Update 9-5

Ike Update 9/12: Who Rubbed the Oil Lamp?

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/10

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/9

• Photos and Videos

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/8

• Hurricane Ike Update 9/7

Tropical Storm Hannah

FEWW Comment: Big Hannah’s torrential rains have already submerged parts of Haiti in more than  two meters of floodwater, leaving about 140 people dead. A nightmare scenario in the US Atlantic coast could unfold, if Hannah were to move in slow motion over the U.S. east coast, as already predicted by NHC, without necessarily making landfall, repeating a similar performance to her Haiti debut.

Updated Tropical Atlantic Imagery – Aviation color enhancement – GOES East – Date and time as shown on image. Credit NOAA/SSD/NESDIS

TS Hannah: Coastal Watches/Warnings and 3-Day Track Forecast Cone

This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink), tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow). The orange circle indicates the current position of the center of the tropical cyclone. The black line and dots show the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast track of the center at the times indicated. The dot indicating the forecast center location will be black if the cyclone is forecast to be tropical and will be white with a black outline if the cyclone is forecast to be extratropical. If only an L is displayed, then the system is forecast to be a remnant low. The letter inside the dot indicates the NHC’s forecast intensity for that time. NOAA/NHC

TS Hannah

• Source: NHC
• Forecaster: Rhome
• Date and Time: Sept 5, 2008 / 06:00UTC
• Location: The center of tropical storm Hanna was located near latitude 27.2 North, longitude 77.2 West or about 90 km north of Great Abaco Island and about 790 km south of Wilmington, North Carolina.
• Direction: Hanna is moving toward the northwest. NHC expects a gradual turn to the north with an increase in forward speed later today. The center of Hanna will be near the southeast coast of the United States later Today. However, rains and winds associated with Hanna will reach the coast well in advance of the center.
• Speed: About 30 km/hr.
• Wind Speed: About 105 km/hr with higher gusts. It is still possible for Hanna to become a hurricane.
• Breadth: Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 510 km (v. large) mainly to the north and east of the center.
• Estimated minimum central pressure: 984mb (29.05 inches).
• Additional Information: Hanna could produce rainfall totals of 2 to 3 inches over the Northern Bahamas and the eastern portions of south and north Carolina, with maximum isolated amounts of 5 inches possible.  Rainfall totals of up to 3 inches are possible from the Georgia coast southward to the central Florida coast. Very heavy rainfall amounts are likely to spread rapidly northward into the mid Atlantic states and New England from Friday night into Saturday and may result in flooding.

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike: Coastal Watches/Warnings and 5-Day Track Forecast Cone

NOAA/NHC

FEWW Comment: Ike, having strengthened to a very dangerous Category 4B on the FEWW Hurricane Scale just over 24 hours ago, is now slightly downgraded to a category 4A hurricane churning in a westerly direction. If Ike remains on its 5-day NHC-predicted path, and maintains its current strength as a major hurricane (Category 3A or above,) it would sweep over the northern edge of Haiti and the Island of Cuba causing additional destruction on a grand scale, compounding the misery caused by TS Fay, Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Hannah during the last 19 days.

• Source: NHC
• Forecaster: Brown
• Date and Time: Sept 5, 2008 at  03:00UTC
• Category and Wind Speed: About 215 km/hr, with higher gusts. Ike is an extremely dangerous category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale [Category 4A on FEWW Hurricane Scale.] Some weakening is forecast during the next 24 to 48 hours.
• Location: The center of hurricane Ike was located near latitude 23.6 North, longitude 59.5 West or about 760 km north-northeast of the Leeward Islands and about 1,215 km east-northeast of Grand Turk island.
• Direction: Ike is moving in a westerly direction. A turn toward the west-southwest is expected on Friday, and this motion is expected to continue through Saturday.  On this track the hurricane will continue to move over the open waters of the west-central Atlantic during the next 48 hours.
• Speed: About 22 km/hr.
• Breadth: Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 55 km from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 185 km.
• Estimated minimum central pressure: 945mb (27.91 inches).

TS Josephine

Coming soon …

Hungry Haitian Flood Victims Stranded on Rooftops

“There is no food, no water, no clothes … I want to know what I’m supposed to do … we haven’t found anything to eat in two, three days. Nothing at all.” Pastor Arnaud Dumas

TS Hannah the third tropical storm to strike Haiti in three weeks has left the northern Haitian city of Gonaives submerged in two meters of water. According to AP’s latest report there are 137 confirmed deaths in Haiti.

Hurricane Hanna is seen southeast of Nassau. The system was drifting toward the west near 3 km/hr with maximum sustained winds of about 130km/hr. Dated 2008.09.02 at 08:45UTC – Credit NOAA/NESDIS/EVP

Haitian President Rene Preval declared the situation in his impoverished Caribbean nation a “catastrophe.”

Thousands of people including patients in a flooded hospital have moved to upper floor rooms, balconies and roofs, waiting for the floodwater to recede.

“There are a lot of people who have been on top of the roofs of their homes over 24 hours now … They have no water, no food and we can’t even help them.” The interior minister, Paul Antoine Bien-Aime, told Reuters news.

An aerial view of floods caused by Tropical Storm Hanna is seen in Gonaives September 3, 2008. REUTERS/Marco Dormino/Minustah/Handout

In Cuba more than 500 schools and 100,000 homes were affected. “There are severe damages to the electrical system. It’s practically on the floor,” said the vice- president, Carlos Lage. “In terms of buildings and homes, roofs are generally gone. The island is exposed to the sky.” Thousands of tons of tobacco leaves, coffee, grapefruit and other produce have been destroyed.

A Bolivian peacekeeper, left, stands on an area flooded by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Hanna next to residents in Savan Desole, Haiti, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008. The storm has spawned flooding in Haiti that left 10 people dead in Gonaives, along Haiti’s western coast, according to the country’s civil protection department.(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos). Image may be subject to copyright.

Fidel Castro, Cuba’s ex-president likened the destruction to the nuclear attack on Hiroshima. “The photos and videos transmitted on national television reminded me of the desolation I saw when I visited Hiroshima.”

Hurricane Ike in a satellite image taken September 4, 2008. Hurricane Ike strengthened rapidly into an fiercely dangerous Category 4 hurricane in the open Atlantic on Wednesday.   REUTERS/NOAA/Handout

Meanwhile, hurricane Ike, a very dangerous category 4B hurricane with sustained winds of about 230 km/hr is revving up about 1,000 km northeast of Haiti. Ike is expected to turn west in the next 24 hours.

Related Links:

• Remember this Image!

::