Death Toll from Mexico Storms Climbs to 110

Mexico death toll from storms MANUEL and INGRID rises to 110, with 68 others still missing

Deadly storms MANUEL and INGRID have claimed at least 110 lives and left 68 others missing, presumed dead, after a mudslide buried the village of La Pintada in western Guerrero state.

Historic Rainfall

“We are confronting rainfall that has practically been the most extensive in the history of the entire national territory,” said President Nieto.

The death toll climbed after searchers recovered the bodies of five police officers who were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a hillside near La Pintada on Thursday.

The storms have destroyed or damaged private property and public infrastructure in all but 2 of Mexico’s 31 states and affected a total of 1.2 million people, reports said.

About 40,000 tourists had to be evacuated, including 25,00 who were airlifted, out of Acapulco after severe flooding destroyed road and bridges cutting off the popular beach resort.

The full extent of disaster is still unknown because many rural communities remain cut off, officials said.

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

Residents in sections of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, have been  told to evacuate due to flooding, Sunday night.

An evacuation order has been issued for residents along Highway 68 in Alcalde and Velarde, said a report.

Governor Martinez signed an executive order earlier this month declaring a statewide emergency due to flooding caused by extreme rain events.

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Typhoon USAGI Disaster Update No. 2

Typhoon USAGI has killed at least 25 after making landfall in Guangdong Province late Sunday.

The powerful typhoon has affected about 5.48 million people, leaving 310,000 residents displaced.

USAGI has destroyed 8,490 homes and ruined 50,800 hectares of cropland.

The losses and damage from USAGI is estimated at about  CNY7.1billion (US$1.16 billion) in Guangdong province, said a report.

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Iraq Violence

At least 39 people were killed on Sunday raising the death toll from Iraqi violence to 865 so far this month.

The killings occurred in Baghdad (29 people killed by gunfire, IEDs, suicide bomber), Mosul (9 killed by gunfire, IEDs ) and Abu Saida (1 person killed by gunfire), said Iraq Body Count.

As of September 22, at least 5,110 people have been killed and more than 12,000 other wounded in Iraq since the beginning of 2013, according to UNAMI figures.

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Global Disasters/ Significant Events – September 21, 2013

The Collapse Countdown Continues…

Powerful Typhoon USAGI Slams into N. Philippines

Packing sustained winds of 185km/h gusting up to 230 km/h, USAGI made landfall on Itbayat, the Philippine island closest to Taiwan on Batanes island group.

The typhoon has triggered severe flooding and landslides destroying homes, uprooting trees and power lines, and inundating croplands.

“A flash flood occurred and trees were uprooted from the mountain and swept by roiling waters to the town. Many houses lost their roofs or were destroyed. Damage to crops is heavy and landslides were reported all around.” A senior official and a former congressman for Batanes told Reuters

USAGI has already affected thousands of people, and portends more damage and destruction along its path.

The typhoon is moving slowly WNW at about 17 km/h toward southern China, according to several models.

Typhoon USAGI as it passed through the Luzon Strait. Image recorded at 07:30UTC on September 20, 2013. Credit: NOAA

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Flooding in Mexico Become the Country’s Costliest Disasters

Devastation caused by flooding and mudslides triggered by twin storms INGRID and MANUEL have affected hundreds of towns and villages in Mexico, leaving at least 100 people dead and many dozens missing.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, including at least 50,000 residents in the resort town of Acapulco.

All the dams in the country are practically at 100 percent. This is very serious,” according to Evaluacion de Riesgos Naturales, a Mexican natural disaster risk assessment company.

Scores of highways, bridges and other public infrastructure have been completely destroyed by the flooding and mudslides.

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US Air Force nearly detonated hydrogen bomb over North Carolina

The US Air Force nearly detonated an atom bomb over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atom bomb, said a report.

Two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs, each with a payload of 4 megatons, were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina on 23 January 1961, after a B-52 bomber broke up in mid-air.

“The MK Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52,” wrote Parker F. Jones, supervisor of the nuclear weapons safety department at Sandia National Laboratories in his 1969 assessment.

One of the two bombs that fell to earth, “behaved precisely as a nuclear weapon was designed to behave in warfare: its parachute opened, its trigger mechanisms engaged, and only one low-voltage switch prevented untold carnage.”

“One simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe…It would have been bad news – in spades.” Jones said.

Nuclear fallout from a 4-megaton detonation would have put millions of lives at risk in large portion of eastern United States encompassing major cities like Washington DC, New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

The document detailing the incident was obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act.

The US government had previously denied that any such incident ever took place.

“The US government has consistently tried to withhold information from the American people in order to prevent questions being asked about our nuclear weapons policy,” Schlosser told the UK Guardian. “We were told there was no possibility of these weapons accidentally detonating, yet here’s one that very nearly did.”

Schlosser says he discovered at least 700 “significant” incidents involving nuclear weapons between 1950 and 1968 at the height of nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union.

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IAEA Members Vote Down Resolution on Israeli Nukes

A resolution sponsored by Arab countries calling on Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been voted down by 51 countries including the U.S., Japan and dozens of Israel-first European countries.

Some 43 other nations voted in favor of the resolution, which was put to vote in Vienna on Friday.

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Two dozen killed, 55 wounded in Nairobi shopping mall shooting

A group of 5 to 10 gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, attacked the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi midday Saturday, killing at least two dozen people and leaving 55 others wounded.

“We are treating this as a terrorist attack,” said police chief Benson Kibue, adding that there are likely no more than 10 attackers involved.

The Westgate Mall is situated in Nairobi’s affluent Westlands area and is frequented by wealthy Kenyans and expatriates, reports said.

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Global Disaster Headlines – September 18, 2013

581 People remain unaccounted for in Colorado floods

The number of people unaccounted for in the Colorado floods was revised to 581 Tuesday,  according to the Colorado Office of Emergency Management.

Oil-field flood tally: 1,900 wells shut

A drilling derrick near Greeley stands in the flood waters of the South Platte River. (Photo By Tim Rasmussen/The Denver Post)

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Floods submerge Acapulco, death toll climbs, 40,000 tourists stranded

Mexico’s famous beach resort of Acapulco was in chaos on Tuesday as hotels rationed food for thousands of stranded tourists and floodwaters swallowed homes and cars after some of the most damaging storms in decades killed at least 55 people across the country.

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‘Orange Alert’ as extra-tropical cyclone hits Montevideo, Uruguay

Uruguayan authorities issued an Orange Alert as an extra-tropical cyclone battered the capital Montevideo, forcing the evacuations of hundreds of people along the coastal areas in the South Atlantic Ocean. The cyclone cut power to more than 3,000 homes in the region.

Original Caption: A wave hits the dam on the coastal avenue in front of the Rio de la Plata during the passage of the extra-tropical cyclone that affects the country, in Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, on Sept. 17, 2013. The Uruguayan authorities issued an orange alert for the next hours by the passage of extra-tropical cyclone that has already caused power shortage to more than 3,000 homes, and more than 600 people have been evacuated in various departments of the country. (Xinhua/Nicolas Celaya)

Related Links

• Colorado Disaster Zone Spreads across 17 Counties September 17, 2013

• Twin Storms Leave 42 Dead, 1.2 Million Battered September 17, 2013

Twin Storms Leave 42 Dead, 1.2 Million Battered

Tropical storm INGRID weakens having affected 1.2 million people

INGRID weakened to a tropical depression, dissipating over the mountains of Eastern Mexico, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Mexican government declared states of emergency in 23 towns in eastern Tamaulipas state after INGRID left the area devastated.

Mexico’s Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong described the catastrophic floods as a “historic” natural disaster after twin storms pummeled southern Mexico on Monday.

Historic flooding and landslides triggered by twin storms INGRID and MANUEL left at least 42 people dead, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands and stranding at least 40,000 tourists.

Tropical Storm MANUEL made landfall on Sunday near the port of Manzanillo, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, causing devastation in the Pacific resort of Acapulco, where raging floodwaters and massive landslides claimed at least 21 lives.

The storms have affected an estimated 1.2 million people in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacan and Oaxaca, the national emergency services said.

“Landslides buried homes and a bus in the eastern state of Veracruz, while thousands were evacuated from flooded areas, some by helicopter, and taken to shelters.”

The twin storms have destroyed or damaged about 30,000 homes throughout the affected regions in southern Mexico, FIRE-EARTH estimates.

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MANUEL and INGRID Kill Dozens in Mexico

Thousands evacuated in Mexico as heavy rains trigger deadly flooding, mudslides

Heavy flooding reported in the State of Oaxaca in SW Mexico as Storm MANUEL and Hurricane INGRID pounded the region, killing at least two dozen people and prompting authorities to issue multiple warnings and urging residents to prepare for flash floods and mudslides.

Torrential rains have destroyed highways and bridges in Veracruz state, as INGRID moved closer to making landfall, and MANUEL was Less than 80 miles off shore.

INGRID was located about 80 miles northeast of Tampico, Mexico, as of posting, with maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h, said the National Hurricane Center.

INGRID Forces Thousands to Seek Emergency Shelter

Hurricane INGRID strengthens pounding Mexico’s Gulf coast

Thousands of people in Veracruz state on Mexico’s Gulf coast have sought emergency shelters as Hurricane INGRID strengthened Saturday night pounding central and eastern Mexico with heavy rain.

INGRID, the 2nd hurricane and the 9th storm of the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season was moving north at about 10km/h late on Saturday, said the NHC.

INGRID is expected to make landfall north of Tampico, Mexico on Monday.

INGRID and MANUEL – Longwave Infrared Image – Dvorak Enhancement-20130915/ 034500UTC. Source: CIMSS

Meantime, Tropical Storm MANUEL on Mexico’s Pacific coast was also strengthening on Saturday, battering coastal towns, including Acapulco, with torrential rain.