Archive for the ‘landslides’ Category
Posted by feww on May 15, 2010
3 days of torrential rain, strong winds and lightening herald start of monsoon season in SW Sri Lanka
The storms have claimed at least one life and injured many others, affecting about 20,000 people throughout the country.
Sri Lanka is struck by two monsoons each year: The southwest monsoon season, which has just started lasts until September, while the northeast monsoon normally starts in October lasting through January, a report said.
“Officials at the landslide unit of the National Building Research Organization urged residents in certain parts of Colombo to be on guard about possible landslides. Although landslides are more common in the mountainous regions of Sri Lanka than in areas around Colombo, officials said poorly-built structures, particularly at higher elevations, could become dangerous during heavy rain.”
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Serial No 1,732. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).
Posted in Colombo landslide, environment, Landslide, landslides | Tagged: Kerala coast, Monsoon rains, Monsoon Season Sri-Lanka, SRI LANKA | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on November 9, 2009
El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes:
The images that we have seen today are of a devastated country
About 130 people have been killed, with at least 60 others missing after days of heavy rain that caused flooding and landslides in El Salvador.
Salvadorans look at their houses that were damaged by heavy rains in San Salvador November 8, 2009. REUTERS/William Bonilla. Image may be subject to copyright.
Map of El Salvador with the worst affected regions San Salvador, the capital, and central San Vicente province marked.
Describing the countrywide devastation as “incalculable,” the El Salvador president declared a national emergency.
San Salvador, the nation’s capital, and central San Vicente province were the hardest-hit regions, officials were reported as saying
According to local reports, San Vicente is virtually cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges, with the worst hit areas being Cuscatlan, La Libertad and La Paz.
Workers seen near a street that was damaged by heavy rain in San Martin on the outskirts of San Salvador, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Photo: Luis Romero/ AP. Image may be subject to copyright.
What if the rain continued?
A police officer told the AP: “The weather continues to be bad, and we already have a river flowing through the village due to a landslide. We are worried things will get worse if the rains continue.”
Large parts of El Salvador are without power or clean water and remain cut off from government aid because of collapsed bridges and washed-up roads
El Salvador’s relentless downpour that funneled rain from the mountains into populated valleys below, lasting for more than 3 days, were caused by a low pressure system in the Pacific, and did NOT occur directly as a result of Hurricane Ida, according to weather reports.
Ida strengthened to a hurricane-force storm on Thursday for the first time near the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, forcing about than 5,000 people to take shelters from heavy rains.
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Posted in Climate Change, disaster areas, El Salvador, global climate change, heavy rain, landslides, mudslides, national emergency | Tagged: Cuscatlan, El Salvador, El Salvador mudslides, La Libertad, La Paz, Mauricio Funes, Nicaragua, San Salvador, San Vicente | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on October 19, 2009
Listening to the Planet’s Pulse
Weather models provide useful information, but they can’t project the larger picture
Storms and other natural phenomena serve to rejuvenate and ensure streams of life flow unimpeded. If you find their impact devastating, it’s because you are looking at the wrong roadmap.
Super Typhoon Lupit. Date/Time as inset. Click on image to animate.
MTSAT IR Image. Updated at 30 mins intervals. Click image to enlarge.
Background and More images:
Summary of Lupit Latest Data (October 19 at (03:00 UTC)
- Intensity: Super Typhoon (Very Strong)
- Center position: 18.7° N, E 133.8°E
- Direction and speed: N (340 degrees) at 9km/h (5kt)
- Central pressure: 930hPa
- Maximum sustained winds: 250 km/h, or70m/s (135kt)
- Max. wind gusts: 307km/h (165kt)
- Area of 50kt or greater winds: 200km wide (110NM)
- Area of 30kt or greater winds: 440km wide (240NM)
- Source(s): JMA; JTWC
- Significant wave height: 11 m (32 feet)
Super Typhoon LUPIT (22W) is currently located about 1455 km (785 nm) ENE of Manila, Philippines, having moved north-northwestward at a forward speed of about 9 km/h (05 knots) during the previous six hours. LUPIT is turning back towards the west because a mid-latitude trough has left the region and the subtropical ridge is beginning to build in. LUPIT may be unable to retain super typhoon intensity and could slightly weaken before moving closer to northern Luzon, JTWC reported.
LUPIT 3-day projected track. Image: JMA. Image may be subject to copyright. Click image to enlarge!
Super Typhoon LUPIT Projected Track. Solid centers represent wind forces stronger than 117km/h. Source: JTWC. Click image to enlarge!
Satellite Loops/Animation/Images
Other Satellite Images:
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Posted in Dagupan city, deluge in Dagupan, Ketsana, landslides, Luzon, luzon flooding, luzon landslides, Malnutrition, Manila Collapsing, Pepeng, Philippines, philippines floods, Philippines rain, probability of Manila collapsing, Typhoon Melor, Typhoon Parma, Typhoons, Visayas | Tagged: ecological collapse, Intertropical Convergence Zone, Lupit, LUPIT Forecast, LUPIT projected path, LUPIT Projected track, Philippine Sea, Philippines, RAMIL, sociological collapse, storm 22w, storm Ketsana, storm Lupit, storm RAMIL, Subtropical Ridge, Super Typhoon Lupit, super typhoon ramil, TS Lupit, ts lupit forecast track, Typhoon Lupit, Typhoon Parma, typhoon ramil | 1 Comment »
Posted by feww on October 16, 2009
FEWW Forecast appears at bottom of page!
LUPIT Races West Toward Philippines and Taiwan
Would Lupit avoid Luzon, or will it be the storm that drove the island closer to edge of collapse?
Just weeks after storm Ketsana left its deadly legacy, and days after Typhoon Parma worsened the misery, storm Lupit, forecast to be a typhoon, is racing west towards the islands of Luzon and Taiwan.
At 21:00UTC on October 15, tropical storm LUPIT (22w) was located near 12.8N, 137.9E or about 315 km north of Yap moving west along the southern periphery of the Subtropical Ridge (STR) at about 33km/h.
Storm Lupit races west. MTSAT – Visible Image – Still Frame. Click image to enhance and update.
LUPITis expected to intensify steadily as it continues through the Philippine Sea because the environment is forecast to remain favorable, “characterized by minimal vertical wind shear, good radial outflow and high ocean heat content,” JTWC reported.
It is forecast to move West Northwest at reduced speeds of about 26 kph. Intertropical Convergence Zone (itcz) will affect Southern Luzon and Visayas, PAGASA reported.
Lupit expected to generate maximum significant wave height of 5 meters.
How much would storm Lupit affect Luzon, Philippines? MTSAT – IR CH1 – Still Frame. Click image to enhance and update.
Cyclone LUPIT Projected track. Solid centers represent wind forces stronger than 117km/h. Source: JTWC.
FEWW Forecast: Moderators believe if Cyclone LUPIT were to merge with [feed on] the “storm placenta” to its south (encircled on the image), it could probably
1. Reorganize, strengthening into a super typhoon.
2. Alter its projected course, moving toward a westerly direction and targeting southern Luzon.
Satellite Loops/Animation
Other Satellite Images:
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Posted in Dagupan city, deluge in Dagupan, Ketsana, landslides, Luzon, luzon flooding, luzon landslides, Malnutrition, Manila Collapsing, Pepeng, Philippines, philippines floods, Philippines rain, probability of Manila collapsing, sanitation, Typhoon Melor, Typhoon Parma, Typhoons, Visayas | Tagged: Cyclone Lupit, Cyclone LUPIT Projected track, ecological collapse, Intertropical Convergence Zone, LUPIT Forecast, LUPIT projected path, Philippine Sea, Philippines, sociological collapse, storm 22w, storm Ketsana, storm Lupit, Storm Placenta, Subtropical Ridge, TS Lupit, ts lupit forecast track, Typhoon Parma | 2 Comments »
Posted by feww on September 8, 2009
Temp in Paraguay capital Asuncion plunged from 35°C to 12°C.
As a ferocious storm devastated parts of northern Argentina and southern Brazil, temperature in Paraguay capital Asuncion plunged from 35°C to 12°C.
A traffic warden (C) stands in an intersection following a power cut due to a heavy storm in Brazil. Photo: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.
Winds of 120km/h, torrential rain and hail destroyed homes and crops killing about 20 people and injuring dozens more in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Uruguay was also hit by the freak storm.
Meteorologists said a severe depression caused by collision between tropical warm air and frosty air caused the freak storm.
In Argentina, the towns of Pozo Azul, San Pedro, Santa Rosa and Tobuna were reported as the worst affected areas, where a senior official called the devastation “incredible.”
Torrential rains flooded many areas across the entire region destroying hundreds of homes, causing traffic problems and cutting off electricity and phone service. Landslides were also reported.
“We’ve always had very strong winds and torrential rains here. But this was a phenomenon never seen before. Houses were completely destroyed,” a Brazilian official said.
“Damage was registered in the areas of Neembucu, San Pedro, Paraguari, Cordillera, Canindeyu and Caaguazu. Many crops were damaged,” an official in Paraguay told reporters.
“Whole houses disappeared,” a rescue official in Santa Rosa, Argentina said. “There are posts down, trees down, and there are more than 50 injured.”
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Posted in drought and deluge, extreme rain, landslides, mudslide, Pozo Azul, San Pedro, Santa Rosa, Uruguay | Tagged: Argentina storm, Brazil Tornado, El Niño, freak storm, temperature plunge, Tornado | 1 Comment »
Posted by feww on September 8, 2009
Images of the Day: Cars NOT Welcome!
Vehicles piled up by flood waters after heavy rains inundated Tlanepantla, Mexico. (Photo: The Associated Press/Eduardo Verdugo). Image may be subject to copyright.
The landslides are blamed on heavy rains that have fallen instead of the usual winter snowfall. Photo: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.
Heavy rain triggered rock and mud avalanches near the capital Santiago, killing at least two people and leaving one missing, Reuters reported.
The first avalanche buried homes and cars and swept a woman into a river, killing her on Sunday. The victim’s 1-year-old daughter is missing, AP reported the authorities as saying.
A second avalanche at Anglo American’s Los Bronces copper mines wept away buildings, killing a security guard and injuring at least 10 others.
About 1,500 people , mostly tourists, have been stranded, according to various reports.
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Chile: Mudslides leave at least two dead and one missing
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Posted in Anglo American mines, chile, Extreme Rain Events, floods, landslides, Los Bronces copper mines, mudslides, Santiago landslides | Tagged: Carbon Footprint of your car, Carbon Footprint of Your Dollar, Climate Change, Nature Rejects Cars, World CO2 Emissions | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on August 10, 2009
Typhoon Etau Monday pummeled the coast of Honshu, Japan, bringing torrential rains, which caused floods and landslides, and killing at least 13 people, with a dozen more missing.
The town of Sayō in Hyōgo prefecture was reportedly inundated after torrential rains dumped a record 326 mm of rain in just 24 hours, disrupting air and rail links, Japan’s NHK reported the police as saying.
The Paths of typhoons Morakot and Etau. Image Source: Pacific Disaster Center. Image may be subject to copyright.
Diagrammatic representation of the above image. Source: Pacific Disaster Center/via BBC. Image may be subject to copyright.
“Brown waters engulfed the town, ripping through the walls of buildings, toppling trees and flushing cars and furniture through the streets, television images showed from Sayo in Hyōgo prefecture on Honshu island.” AFP reported.
“It was so scary, the water came surging with a roar,” a resident told japan’s NHK. “I’ve lived here for 60 or 70 years, but I’ve never seen a scene like this before.”
Hyōgo and Okayama prefectures were the hardest hit by floods and landslides caused by record rainfall, Xinhua reported.
In Hyōgo prefecture, Japan, more than 100 troops were deployed as a river burst its banks and inundated about 480 houses. AFP Photo. Image may be subject to copyright.
The town of SAYO sumo-wrestled to the geound by Etau. Original caption: A man walks by a light truck turned over on its side in a street following a nearby river floods caused by a torrential rain in Sayo, western Japan, Monday, Aug. 10, 2009. Typhoon Etau slams into Japan causing floods and landslides. (AP Photo/Kyodo News). Image may be subject to copyright.
Storm Toll
In the past three days, at least 55 people have been killed in SE Asia as a result of the storms, with twice as many hurt and hundreds missing.
Reuters reported the farm-related losses in Taiwan and China which were caused typhoon Morakot at about $500million. The news agency quoted local officials in Taiwan as saying that large numbers of houses were buried in mudslides, and that they had lost contact with up to 600 villagers.
A collapsed hotel building is seen in floods after Typhoon Morakot hit Taitung county, eastern Taiwan August 9, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer. Image may be subject to copyright.
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Posted in floods, landslides, mudslides, Okayama prefecture, town of Sayō, Typhoon Morakot, typhoon season | Tagged: Coast of Honshu, Japan, Japan typhoon, Typhoon Etau | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on August 9, 2009
The Shrinking World Will Never Be the Same!
Typhoon Morakot leaves a legacy of deluge and destruction in the Philippines and Taiwan before churning over China
Morakot made landfall on Xiapu, in the eastern province of Fujian, SE coast of China, where more than a million people had been evacuated.
Morakot’s clocked winds of about 118 kilometers per hour on landfall, Xinhua said.
The agency also reported one death: A 4-year-old boy who was buried in debris, which the rescue workers were unable to save him.
Xinhua reported the damge to property as as folows
- More than 300 homes collapsed
- About 16,000 hectares (39,500 acres) of land were flooded
- At least 56 roads were inundated
The typhoon had earlier dumped 2,500mm of rain on Taiwan , more than 2,000mm on Friday and Saturday alone, as it lashed the before heading for China. Taiwan authorities said the flooding was the worst in living memory. At least two people were killed and 15 injured, with 29 others reported as missing.
An 8-story hotel in Chihpen, in the south of Taiwan, collapsed after flood waters washed off its foundations, BBC reported.
About 25 people were reportedly killed in the Philippines after Morakot caused extensive flooding and landslides in the northern part of the country. About 200,000 people in the island of Luzon were affected by flooding and landslides caused by Kiko (Typhoon Morakot).
MTSAT Images of Morakot
MTSAT – Avn Color – Still Frame/ IR CH4 – Date and time as shown
MTSAT – Avn Color Near Real-Time – IR CH4 – Date and time as shown
Still frame dated August 9, 2009 at 12:30UTC. NOAA.
Typhoon Morakot – EO/ NASA
Typhoon Morakot bore down on the island of Taiwan on August 7, 2009. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image at 1:25 p.m. local time (5:25 UTC), the center of the storm was just beginning to reach the shoreline. Morakot was a Category 2 storm with winds of about 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour or 85 knots) and was moving slowly northwest over Taiwan. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast that the storm would pass directly over Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, inundating the city with heavy rain. As a Category 2 storm, Morakot does not possess a distinctive eye. The storm is large, however. Its spiraling clouds stretch from the Philippines to Japan’s southern islands. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.
Dozens were reported missing, feared dead, after flooding in Taiwan. Photo: AP. Image may be subject to copyright.
Filipino villagers are left stranded after fast moving floodwater cut off a section of highway. Photo: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.
Posted in flooding, Kiko, landslides, mudslides, typhoon season | Tagged: hotel in Chihpen, Taiwan, the Philippines, Typhoon Morakot, Xiapu | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on July 23, 2009
Car Burial Day in Busan, S. Korea (!)
Human induced climate change is wreaking havoc across the globe. Extreme rain events and incidents of flooding, landslides … are increasing both in frequency and severity, burying building, cars, humans and everything else in their paths.
Bury the cars, before the cars bury YOU!
Flooding in Busan, South Korea, July 16, 2009. Photo: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.
Torrential rains caused flooding in South Korea triggering landslides, which buried at least a dozen people last week, leaving thousands homeless. On Thursday a record 266.5 millimeters of rain inundated South Korea’s second-largest city, the port city of Busan [Pusan] causing severe flooding which submerged more than 1,200 homes and 3,000 hectares of farmland, S. Korea’s National Emergency Management Agency said.
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Posted in Climate Change, drought and deluge, greenhouse gases, landslides, record rainfall | Tagged: Busan flooding, car burial day, pusan flooding, South Korea, south korean floods | 1 Comment »
Posted by feww on December 4, 2008
UPDATE: The Honshu quake detailed below has been downgraded to a 5.7Mw by USGS.
A Large Mag 6.2 Earthquake Hits Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan
The following details were provided by USGS Earthquake Hazards Program:
Magnitude: Mw 6.2 [Later downgraded to Mw 5.7]
Date-Time:
- Wednesday, December 03, 2008 at 23:16:58 UTC
- Thursday, December 04, 2008 at 08:16:58 AM at epicenter
Location: 38.566°N, 142.762°E
Depth: 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region: Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan
Distances:
- 170 km (105 miles) ENE of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
- 190 km (120 miles) SE of Morioka, Honshu, Japan
- 220 km (140 miles) ENE of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan
- 420 km (260 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan
[Mainshock was followed by a strong aftershock measuring Mw5.2 located at 38.555°N, 142.840°E, Thursday, December 04, 2008 at 12:10:54 PM time at epicenter.]
Source: USGS
No immediate reports of tsunami, damage or injuries as yet.
Map of MMI contours plotted over population per ˜1 square km (see gray scale bar on top of map). The regions of integer MMI values are separated by the thick contour lines and labeled with Roman numerals. The total population exposure to a given MMI value is obtained by summing the population between the thick contour lines. This total is shown in population exposure table. Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are a mix of vulnerable and earthquake resistant construction. A magnitude 6.6 earthquake 378 km Northeast of this one struck Niigata, Japan on October 23, 2004 (UTC), with estimated population exposures of 481,000 at intensity IX or greater and 386,000 at intensity VIII, resulting in an estimated 67 fatalities. Recent earthquakes in this area have caused, landslides and fires that may have contributed to losses. USGS
Map of japan. USGS
Earthquake Location: USGS
Japan sits atop the Eurasian, Pacific, Philippine and North American tectonic plates whose movements cause numerous earthquakes. The country experiences about 20 percent of the world’s major earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
Did you know?
With an estimated total death toll of 88,072 [as of yesterday, Dec 3, 2008,] this year has seen the second worst number of human casualties caused by earthquakes since 1980. The largest earthquake/ tsunami related casualties for the 29-year period occurred in 2004 with an estimated total of 228,802 deaths. [The stats are based on USGS data.]
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Posted in fires, landslides, population exposure, tectonic plates, Tokyo | Tagged: earthquake, Honshu quake, japan earthquake, Morioka, Sendai | 2 Comments »
Fire Earth 
