Flood Disaster Warnings Issued in Central Europe

Czech government declares a state of emergency in most of the country

Flooding in Czech Republic threatens the historic center of capital Prague, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

Levels on the Vltava river that runs through Prague’s center continued to rise Monday. Flood-related incidents have left a dozen people dead or missing, and forced thousands of people to flee their homes in low-lying areas of Prague and western half of the country.

• The Czech Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency in seven of the country’s 14 administrative regions.
• Authorities have shut a dozen subway stations in the capital.
• Many roads and train routes are also closed.
• All schools in the capital Prague will be closed Monday.

Flooding has also wreaked havoc across Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Severe Flooding in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Dresden, Passau, Rosenheim and several other German cities have declared states of emergency due to severe flooding, with Passau requesting help from the federal army.

At least a dozen people were killed, several others reported missing and hundreds evacuated from their homes as floodwaters continue rising in Germany, Austria and Switzerland following days of torrential rain.

Major Flood Warning in Slovakia

Slovak authorities have issued the highest level of flood warning for the length of the Danube River in the country, as   water level on the river at the confluence with the Morava River topped 7.20 meters and continued rising.

• Slovakia’s State Shipping Administration has banned all traffic on the Danube River in the country until further notice.

Related Links

• Hundred Evacuated Amid Flooding in Central Europe

The Alps buried under 6 feet of snow

Vercorin, Switzerland Sees 6ft of Snow in just 3 Days

NC Gov Declares State of Emergency after Snow Storm

Large snow storms have been reported across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and France in the past three days.

Switzerland saw the most snow, On the Snow reported. In Vercorin, Switzerland,  snow topped 180cm. Elsewhere in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France between 105 and 120cm (48 inches) of snow  covered much of the region.

“Another 42-70cm of further snow is forecast within the next five days in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and France: 70cm in Gstaad, Switzerland; 48cm in am Belchen and Todtnauberg, Germany; 47cm in Courmayeur, Italy; and 42-44cm in La Mongie, Piau Engaly, and Saint Lary Soulan, France.” The report said.

In Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia,  the region where the cities of Cologne and Dusseldorf are located, more than 300 accidents were reported in a 12-hour period between Friday night and Saturday morning.

The chaos on the North Rhine-Westphalia roads killed at least one motorist and injured  40  others, while Bavaria’s frozen roads claimed another two lives, and a road accident in Thuringia killed 2 more people.

Flights at some of the airports in both regions were canceled or delayed, as police advised motorists to stay at home.

US Weather

Near Real-Time U.S. Composite Satellite Image.  Credit SSEC. Click image to enlarge.

Meanwhile, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency as more than a foot of snow blankets mountain areas. About 20 emergency shelters opened across the state, Perdue said.

“The storm left roads icy and snow packed across the South, and thousands were without power as ice accumulated. Although police said they had to clear hundreds of wrecks, there were no deaths or serious injuries reported.” WMBF reported.

Some 11 inches of snow covered Asheville, North Carolina, on Friday. The storm that brought the winter weather to the Southeast is now heading toward the Eastern Seaboard.

The lowest temperature in the Lower 48 states ranged from a low of -25ºF degrees at Upson, Wisconsin, to a high of 83ºF degrees at Vero Beach, Florida.

IR Satellite Image. Click image to update.

Weather. Click image to enlarge and update.

Temperature. Click image to enlarge and update.

Predominant Weather. Click image to enlarge and update.

Related Links:

• For other graphical forecasts click  Weather
• For additional satellite images click  Satellite Imagery
• The 10 Worst Snow Disasters in History [The 1st entry on the list concerning the number of soldiers lost from Hannibal’s army is disputed.]

Image of the Day: Austrian Avalanche

Aerial view of an avalanche in Eisenerz, Austria

Aerial view of an avalanche in the town of Eisenerz in Austria’s Styria province February 25, 2009. No injuries were reported. REUTERS/www.fotoflieger.at. Image may be subject to copyright.

Avalanches, rapid flows of snow down mountain slopes, result from either natural triggers or human activity. Avalanches can mix air and water with the descending snow. Powerful avalanches have the capability to entrain ice, rocks, trees, and other material on the slope; however avalanches are always initiated in snow, are primarily composed of flowing snow, and are distinct from mudslides, rock slides, rock avalanches, and serac collapses from an icefall. In mountainous terrain avalanches are among the most serious objective hazards to life and property, with their destructive capability resulting from their potential to carry an enormous mass of snow rapidly over large distances. —Wikipedia.

Naples Garbage Opera – Act II

Partenope: Naples Garbage Opera

Act II: Confusion, Rodents, Vermin, Pest [and possible disease pandemics]

There are known knowns: Things we know we know

• As per usual with Italian politics, garbage and football the facts and numbers don’t add up!
• The garbage dumps near Naples reached their limit in Mid December 2007.
• By Mid January 2008, some four weeks later, about 250, 000 tons of garbage decorated the Neapolitan streets.
• The 6million inhabitants of Campania region (Naples is the capital city of Campania) produce about 7,200 tons of garbage per day (between Mid December 2007 and end May 2008 they will have produced a total of about 1.2 million tons of garbage ).
• Germany’s Environment Ministry estimates that 52,000 tonnes of Italian waste were imported to Germany for processing in 2007. (Source)
• A one-off deal was struck with the German city of Bremen to transport 30,000 ton of Neapolitan garbage to an incinerator in Bremerhaven.
• Another deal was struck with Germany to haul 200,000 tons of the garbage by train to German Incinerators via Austria.
• EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the European Commission would take legal action against Italy unless it resolves the garbage crisis in Naples. [Wow, that really scared the pants out of the Italians!]

The ongoing nightmare scenario could only get worse in the coming weeks when the summer temperatures soar in the Campania region.

Naples’s mob, the Camorra has been illegally importing garbage from Italy’s northern cities stuffing Naple’s landfills. “The Camorra has grabbed an even larger share of the city’s garbage-hauling contracts after vetting standards were relaxed to cope with the current crisis.” WSJ said.

[Of course, no one has told EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas that “throwing out trash has become big business” in Europe. “According to a March report by the European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management, about 15% of the continent’s hazardous trash, or 8.6 million tons, was disposed of outside its country of origin in 2003, the latest year for which figures are available.” Wall Street Journal reported. “Plants in northern Germany charge between €150 and €250 ($237 to $394) to incinerate one ton of waste, estimates Christian Fischer, a waste-management analyst who co-authored the March report.” ]

[Why is it so difficult to live without producing waste you can’t handle?] A woman and children walk past a pile of garbage in Naples, Italy. Photo: AP Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

There are known unknowns: We know there are some things we do not know

• How much of this garbage still fills the streets of Naples?
• The estimates for the amount of garbage still covering the Neapolitan sidewalks (and elsewhere in Campania) vary from a misleading 100,000 tons to an unconvincing 200,000 tons.
• About 700,000 tons of garbage may have been stockpiled in provisional sites. (Source)
• Unless a substantial amount of the garbage, about 200 -300,000 tons, is consumed by millions of rats and other vermin, the total amount of garbage rotting on the streets of Naples and other town in Campania is closer to 400 – 500,000 tons as of end May 2008. What we know that we don’t know, is exactly how many rats are feasting on their Neapolitan diet and how many pizzas they can eat per head per day!

Unknown unknowns: The ones we don’t know we don’t know

• In case of bubonic plague outbreaks or other serious disease pandemics caused by rodents, vermin, pest infestation, how does the Italian government propose to protect the rest of Italy, or the EU authorities the rest of Europe?

Relate Links:

• Seeking Toxic Asylum (Act I)
  
• Naples Garbage: First Commercial Dividends
• Naples: The Triangle of Death

• Italy: Submerged in Floodwaters, Sinking in Garbage

[Note: The Known Unknowns …  was recited by the US bard, Donald Rumsfeld.]

Seeking Toxic Asylum

submitted by a reader

Partenope: Naples Garbage Opera

Protagonists:

• Queen Partenope: Played by the entire population of Naples and Campania [and the estimated 1.2 million tons of rotting garbage]
• Prince Armindo of Rhodes: played by Il Duce [the leader] of Italy Silvio Berlusconi and his gang.
• Prince Arsace of Corinth: The garbage incinerators in Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere
• Prince Emilio of Cumae [who is at war with Naples and with Queen Partenope] : Played by the Camorra mafia

Full List of Actors:

• Il Duce [the leader] of Italy Silvio Berlusconi
• Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo
• Camorra mafia
• Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the influential Italian Bishops Conference
• The corrupt regional governor, Antonio Bassolino, and 27 others under house arrest.
• City’s chief officer and special commissioner Alessandro Pansa (one of the 27)
• Rosanna Laraia, head of waste management in Italy’s Ministry for the Environment

• Billions of missing, misappropriated, or unaccounted for euros [ € billions ]

• Environmental campaigner Francesco Pascale
• Sergio Sedia and his wife Giulia
• President Giorgio Napolitano
• Just over 1 million Neapolitans (and a further 5 million people living in Campania region and the province of Naples.)
• Hundreds of police officers in riot gears
• Probably as many as 10 million “super-charged” rats and 100 million cockroaches living in the garbage piles throughout the city of Naples

Composer:

• Germany’s George Frideric Handel

Act I – Seeking Toxic Asylum

In Act I of the famous Naples Garbage Opera, Partenope, Sergio Sedia and his wife Giulia request “toxic asylum” in Switzerland.

Sergio and his wife Giulia live in the “Triangle of Death” near Naples where the mafia has illegally dumped tons of toxic waste. British medical journal, The Lancet, reported in 2004 on “considerably higher cancer and deformity rates” in the area compared with other parts of the Campania region near Naples.

[Other than rats and cockroaches, what sort of vermin would transform its place of habitat to this?] A woman wearing a filtered mask walks past piles of trash thrown into a street intersection in protest in Naples May 16, 2008. REUTERS/Ciro Messere/Agnfoto. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

“The (Italian) government has not protected my right to health, and in this area people are dying of cancers caused by tonnes of chemical and toxic waste illegally dumped here for more than 20 years,” said Sergio.

Camorra mafia has been secretly dumping thousands of tonnes of industrial waste since the 1980s in what is “the heart of some of Italy’s best farm land,” environmental groups said.

“This area is nearly entirely agricultural, there are no factories, but has mortality rates for cancers linked to pollution higher than the national average. Here one doesn’t die of a heart attack or an accident, but from tumors,” said Sedia, 34, who works in the finance industry.

Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister of Italy (President of the Council of Ministers of Italy). Born 29 September 1936, he is an entrepreneur, media proprietor and Head of the

“What I eat and breathe every day makes me afraid because of the products — the asbestos, the lead, the dioxins that are there in the air, the soil, the ground water,” he told AFP.

Fearing also for the health of their unborn child, said Sedia, “we decided to demand protection abroad and our choice fell on Switzerland.”

“We want to save ourselves, and only another country can help us, because if waste is one enemy, the Italian state is another in continuing to deny there is a problem in this area.”

“The Italian authorities are trying to act as if the problem of contamination doesn’t exist,” he said.

“I am not very confident when I see the authorities test mozzarella (over dioxin poisoning) because it is a valuable product, but doesn’t conduct tests on us citizens because we don’t have any commercial value.”

Earlier this year samples of mozzarella cheese, made from buffalo milk, were found to have highlevels of the toxic compound dioxin. As a result, buffalo farms in the Campania region were quarantined.

Japan, Singapore and South Korea banned the import of Italian mozzarella, earlier this year. (Source)

continued …

Related Links:

• Naples Garbage Opera – Act II
• Naples Garbage: First Commercial Dividends
• Naples: The Triangle of Death