M4.9 Quake Strikes SoCal

Earthquake jolts Bakersfield, CA

Centered at 35.542°N, 119.373°W (37km NW of Bakersfield) the event occurred at a depth of 22.1 km (13.8 mi), reported USGS/EHP.

The quake was followed by at least two aftershocks.

EQ Details

Magnitude: 4.9Mw
Location: 35.542°N, 119.373°W; depth=22.1 km (13.8 mi)
Time: 2016-02-24 00:02:23 (UTC)
Nearby Cities:

• 6km (4mi) SSW of Wasco, California
• 10km (6mi) WNW of Shafter, California
• 37km (23mi) NW of Bakersfield, California
• 128km (80mi) NNE of Santa Barbara, California
• 142km (88mi) N of Ventura, California

Flooding in Kentucky, Raging Wildfires in California

Many rescued in Kentucky amid severe flooding caused by heavy rains

At least 12 people were rescued from floodwaters and about 400 others evacuated after torrential rains hit Louisville area.

“The deluge swamped low-lying areas and flooded streets, trapping people in their homes and cars, as the area was drenched with 6 inches of rain in less than 24 hours,” said a report.

Wildfire burns 1,500 acres, forces hundreds of evacuations

A raging brushfire at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base forced the evacuation of 230 residents from the O’Neill Heights housing area and 22 patients from the base hospital, said a report.

The blaze damaged at least four buildings, but no injuries were reported.

“More than 200 firefighters from the Camp Pendleton Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection were battling the blaze. They were assisted by six air tankers and five helicopters,” said the report.

Large blaze reported in southeast Orange County

Meantime, a large blaze was burning out of control in Silverado, an unincorporated area of southeast Orange County, near the edge of the Cleveland National Forest.

The blaze was driven by Santa Ana winds of about 10 mph amid extremely dry conditions, with relative humidity of 7%, LATimes reported.

“The fire started about 10:10 a.m. in a large mulch pile at a nursery in the 27900 block of Baker Canyon Road, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.”

More than 125 fire personnel were trying to contain the flames, so far without any success. The exact size of the fire was not known, as of posting.

Our Forecast for 2009 California Fires

Wildfires: The Golden Fleecing of America

The Raw Facts

• Cost of fighting wildfire in California since July 1: $285 million [And it’s just the beginning!]

• Daily cost of fighting the fire [which should be allowed to burn out] : up to $13 million

• Cost of fighting California fires a decade ago: $44million a year

• Why aren’t the fires allowed to burn naturally? Need the unburnt fuel for next year’s fires!

• “There is no more fire season as we know it — the fire season is now all year-round,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in July while touring wildfires in N. California. “That means that we don’t have enough resources.“

Burn Baby, Burn!

In this July 5, 2008, file photo, firefighters watch as a brush fire burns out of control in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Goleta, Calif. (AP Photo/Phil Klein, File). Image may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice.

• California’s budget deficit: $15.2 billion [Are you surprised? They don’t call us the Golden State for nothing. Our forests are paved with the precious stuff!]

• Calif. Sen. Feinstein is seeking $910 million in emergency funding [for now anyway.]

• Forest Service has already spent about $900million, or 75 percent of its fire-suppression budget, and the season hasn’t even peaked yet.

• Last year Forest Service spent more than 50 percent of its entire budget on fires, compared with only 13 percent in 1991.

• Allstate Corp., as if it had already smelled a rat, stopped selling new homeowner policies in California in 2007. They have 50,000 fewer homeowner policies in the state this year than in 2006. (WSJ)

Our forecast for 2009 California fires?

They’d cost more to “fight” than the 2008 Fires. Guaranteed!

Get the message?

Related Links:

• California Wildfire Scam Continues
• California Fires: Not Hard to Understand!

• The War on Wildfire
• Telegraph Fire: Day 5
• What Next After The Telegraph Fire?

• Nature Must Be Punished, Look at the Mess in California!
• California ‘Mojavefied’ by 2011?

• Thought for the Day
• Stop Nature! She Is Ruining Our Lifestyles

• The Godfather Brush Fire! [Added October 24, 2008]
  

Images of the Day: California Fires

4th of July Red, white and Blue Recipes!

US President George W Bush has declared a state of emergency for the whole of California. BBC/Getty Images. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

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Image of the Day: Southern Spain

Desertification of Southern Spain

The land of southern Spain has dried, leading to rationing and disputes over water. Photo: Monica Gumm for The International Herald Tribune. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

The average surface temperature in Spain has risen 2.7 degrees compared with about 1.4 degrees globally since 1880, records show. (Source)

Related Links

• Drought (Index Page)
• In Spain, Water Is a New Battleground
• California ‘Mojavefied’ by 2011?

Environmental Disasters: Too Close for Comfort?

submitted by a reader

“You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Beginning to feel that the environmental disasters are getting up close and personal?

One minute you are in your comfortable home near Paradise, north of Sacramento, the next minute you are being consoled by the firefighters as you stand in the front garden watching your home turn into blackened cinder. They apologize for failing to help you, but it wasn’t their fault. They ran out of water!

Wondering why?

Butte Valley fire, Humboldt, Thursday night. Image: Jason Halley / Chico Enterprise-Record. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Into the SUV with what little you could snatch away from the mouth of the fire heading east to Iowa to stay with Aunt Molly. On interstate 29 a twister is about to touch down. Whoosh! You swerve out of the way just in time.

Parkersburg Tornado. Photo AP. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Aunt Molly’s house in Cedar Rapids wasn’t so lucky. It didn’t have wheels to drive away and avoid the floodwater; it is completely deluged.

An aerial photo shows a flooded area of downtown looking North over Cedar Rapids, Iowa June 13, 2008. Interstate I-380 can be seen at top while Mays Island, with Cedar Rapids City Hall, is seen on the left with its bridges under water. Floodwaters have inundated about 100 city blocks of Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second-largest city with 200,000 residents. REUTERS/Ron Mayland. Photo AP. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Five hours and a dozen phonecalls later, you are finally heading to the calm of Wisconsin to stay with Cousin Thelma and her family. Turn the radio on. Homes on Lake Delton in central Wisconsin have been ripped apart by deadly storm and washed away by floodwaters. Chilly gooseflesh grow on your forearms. Something tingles deep inside your gut, that uncomfortable feeling something is wrong. And you are right! Well, It’s Friday the 13th, you hear yourself murmuring.

Lake Delton is a popular tourist spot south of the Wisconsin Dells. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Distant Cousin Joe and his family are in deep mourning in Loveland. Two of their kids with four of their classmates and a teacher didn’t make it back from a fishing trip. And his 5,000 acre cornfield is submerged in floodwater …

Corn crop submerged in floodwaters near Loveland, Iowa, June 12, 2008. REUTERS/Dave Kaup. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Back to Iowa to stay with an old classmate who lives in Marshal Town, Iowa, and who invited you to visit her last summer. A rain check is as good as … a rain check! Finally you arrive in Marshal Town. But the whole town has been evacuated and the power plants have been shut down!

Well, at least you have the good old, reliable SUV, and it’s not as if the world is running out of corn to make ethanol for you!

Related Links:

• Failing Ecosystems
• The Root Cause Matrix
• First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

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