Forced evacuations - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Three separate Colorado wildfires force evacuations Sunday

Shelly Bradbury — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 06:03:23 +0000

Evacuations are in place in Teller and El Paso counties, pre-evacuation in Pueblo.

At least three wildfires forced evacuations across Colorado Sunday afternoon amid dry and windy conditions.

El Paso County fire
Residents in the area of Curtis Road and Patton Drive in Peyton in El Paso County were ordered to evacuate just after 5 p.m. Sunday for a wildfire.

The mandatory evacuation area covered homes and businesses inside the square formed by Curtis Road, Falcon Highway, Slocum Road and Colorado 94, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

The evacuation orders were lifted after 8 p.m., the sheriff’s office said on Twitter. Denver7 reported the fire was 38 acres and considered 100% contained.

EPCSheriff@EPCSheriff
The mandatory evacuation area has been updated – the new area is West to Curtis Rd, East to Slocum Rd, North to Falcon Hwy, South to Hwy 94. The remaining area East to Peyton Hwy w/ the same North & South boundaries is under a pre-evac. Call 9-1-1 only if in immediate danger.

EPCSheriff@EPCSheriff
Update: April 10, 5:50 PM
Falcon FD is the lead fire agency w/ multiple Fire agency partners collaborating together. EPSO is going door to door in this area to assist in evacuations. Currently, a field, an out building and an unknown structure affected

Teller County fire
Additionally, Teller County residents with addresses between 600 and 720 on County Road 89 were ordered to evacuate at 5:07 p.m. for a separate fire burning near County Road 89, according to the Teller County Sheriff’s Office.

The approximately 3-acre fire was contained and residents were allowed to return to their homes, Teller County Sheriff’s Office tweeted at 7:01 p.m.

Lieutenant Bunting, PIO@TCSOPIO
Unattended fire near the City of Cripple Creek. Law enforcement and fire responded to unattended camp fire. 20 people (not homes) were evacuated.
Fire now contained, crews beginning mop up. Roads open, residents allowed to return to their homes. Fire burned aprox. 3 acres.

The Front Range was under a red flag warning Sunday due to high wind and low humidity that meant fire could spread quickly, according to the National Weather Service at Boulder. The warning expires at 7 p.m.

Pueblo fire
Earlier Sunday afternoon, an 18-acre wildfire in Pueblo along the Arkansas River east of the intersection of W. 11th Street and Pueblo Boulevard forced the evacuation of an animal shelter, Pueblo Fire Department Capt. Woody Percival said.

The fire was 75% contained and all evacuations were lifted, the department tweeted at 6:50 p.m. There was also no injuries or damage to any structures reported.

Residents in about 15 houses near the fire were asked to be ready to evacuate but were not forced to leave Sunday afternoon, Percival said. The Paws for Life animal shelter at 800 N. Pueblo Blvd. was evacuated and the animals relocated to a safe place.

Pueblo Fire Dept@PFDPIO
Wildland fire in progress near PAWS east of Pueblo Blvd. Please DO NOT come and add to problems to be a lookey-loo. Some houses were threatened initially. Poor conditions expected to worsen.

That fire was burning between the rural housing development and a water treatment plant on the river, moving through 3-foot-tall grass and tall old-growth trees, with winds of about 15 to 20 mph and low humidity, Percival said.

“All of the things that add up to a bad situation with a fire,” he said.

Pueblo Police Department@PuebloPolice1

Apr 10, 2022
Paws Fire – City Park and the Aberdeen area next to city park have been evacuated due to a fire on both banks of the Arkansas River. Pueblo City Fire and several other local Fire Departments are fighting the fire. Due to the high winds the fire is challenging to control.

Pueblo Police Department@PuebloPolice1
Paws Fire – Please avoid the area. Additional information and updates will come from Pueblo City Fire.

About 45 firefighters from a variety of agencies were attacking the blaze, and it was “somewhat contained” by about 3:30 p.m., Percival said, though he added firefighters were “struggling to keep it in its boundaries right at the moment.”

The Colorado Red Cross opened an evacuation center for the Pueblo fire at Goodnight Elementary School, at 624 Windy Way in Pueblo. It has since been closed.

Source: https://www.denverpost.com/2022/04/10/pueblo-wildfire/

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La Palma volcano engulfs village minutes after residents flee their homes – BBC News

BBC — Sun, 26 Sep 2021 00:46:00 +0000

The post La Palma volcano engulfs village minutes after residents flee their homes – BBC News first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Parts of Northeast begin to feel first impacts of Hurricane Henri as storm barrels closer to region

Jason Hanna and Aya Elamroussi, CNN — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 03:16:23 +0000

(CNN)Parts of the Northeast began to feel Hurricane Henri’s first impacts Saturday evening as the storm barreled toward the coast ahead of an anticipated Sunday landfall, threatening to bring damaging winds, dangerous storm surge and flooding to an already saturated area.

The storm’s first showers drifted from southern New Jersey and into the northern part of the state Saturday evening and began soaking parts of southwestern New York, heading toward New York City, CNN meteorologist Gene Norman said.

“This rain band could produce rainfall rates of 1-3″ per hour this evening into the overnight hours, with considerable flash flooding possible,” the National Weather Service of the Eastern Region said on Twitter.

In addition to the rain, coastal flooding is expected in parts of New Jersey and Delaware’s coasts with Saturday evening’s high tide, the weather service in Mount Holly said on Twitter.

Henri, which strengthened from a tropical storm late Saturday morning over the Atlantic, could make landfall at or near hurricane strength on New York’s Long Island or southern New England on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Strong wind and rain will likely smack a broad area from New York City into New England — and since the area is saturated from recent rain, Henri could easily down trees and set up days of power outages.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon ahead of the storm, saying in a news conference that heavy wind, rain and storm surges are expected Sunday morning and urged everyone to stay indoors if they can.

The mayor also issued a travel advisory, recommending that residents limit travel on Sunday, especially driving.

And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned people in flood-prone areas: Move to safety now.

“If you know you are in an area that tends to flood … get out of that area now, please,” Cuomo said in a televised news briefing Saturday. “If you have to get to higher ground it has to be today.”

Lightning also forced the postponement of the “WE LOVE NYC: The Homecoming Concert,” which was televised by CNN.

Mandatory evacuations ordered

More than 35 million people are under a flood watch across the Northeast, with the hurricane center warning the heavy rain could cause “considerable flash, urban and small stream flooding” and create the potential for “widespread minor and isolated moderate river flooding.”

The Weather Prediction Center has a moderate — a level 3 of 4 — risk for excessive rainfall for parts of western Connecticut and Massachusetts, southern New York, northeastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey.

Significant damage is possible in this already-soaked region even if Henri is not a hurricane at landfall, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell said.

“We’re going to see power outages, we’re going to see downed trees, and even after the storm has passed, the threat of falling trees and limbs is still out there,” Criswell told CNN Saturday morning.

In Connecticut, mandatory evacuations were ordered for the coastal towns of Guilford and Branford, according to a tweet from state Rep. Sean Scanlon.

“If you live in a coastal, low-lying or area prone to historic flooding due in Guilford, evacuate now. If you live in Zone 1 or 2 in Branford (see map), evacuate by 9pm,” Scanlon wrote. “PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY.”

Groton Mayor Keith Hedrick also told CNN the city decided to order mandatory evacuations in some neighborhoods, and authorities will go door-to-door in those parts of town to advise residents to leave ahead of the hurricane.

Earlier Saturday, the city recommended a voluntary evacuation for some residents by 10 p.m., including those who live on Shore Ave., Beach Pond Road, Pine Island Road and Jupiter Point.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont told residents Saturday afternoon to prepare to shelter in place on Sunday and urged them to pile up on food and get extra gasoline. Energy company Eversource said Saturday between 50% and 69% of customers in Connecticut could lose power and restoration efforts could take up to three weeks.

Millions under weather warnings

Henri’s center had sustained winds of 75 mph late Saturday afternoon.

Rain showers will likely become more widespread starting Saturday night and into Sunday, when Henri is expected to make landfall.

The storm will likely slow its forward speed after landfall, meaning the risk for showers and isolated thunderstorms will remain through Tuesday morning in the Northeast.

Hurricane warnings have been issued for nearly 6 million people in areas including parts of Long Island, and from New Haven, Connecticut, to west of Westport, Massachusetts.

More than 36 million other people are under tropical storm warnings, including parts of New Jersey and New York — including New York City — and large parts of southern New England.

A hurricane landfall in this region would be somewhat rare. Long Island has not had a direct hurricane hit since Gloria in 1985; New England last saw a hurricane landfall with Hurricane Bob in 1991.

Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey in 2012 with hurricane force winds and devastated swaths of the Northeast, though it technically was a post-tropical cyclone when it came ashore. Henri’s wind field at landfall is expected to be a quarter of the size, CNN meteorologists said.

Long Island restaurateur: ‘We have some big concerns’

With Henri, storm surges also are a major concern: Surges between 3 and 5 feet are possible Sunday in areas including parts of Long Island to Chatham, Massachusetts, the hurricane center said.

People living in an area under storm surge warnings “should take all necessary actions to protect life and property from rising water and the potential for other dangerous conditions,” the hurricane center said Saturday morning.

On Long Island’s East End, Christine Oakland-Hill said road flooding was just one of her concerns for her shoreside business, Oakland’s Restaurant and Marina, which has been there 30 years.

“God forbid this is head on,” Oakland-Hill told CNN affiliate WCBS on Friday. “We have some big concerns. This (business) is our legacy.”

Doreen Puco was running errands at Long Island’s Oyster Bay to prepare for the storm.

“I’m afraid of losing my power,” Puco told WCBS Friday. “I just hope they’re better prepared than they have been in the past.”

James Masog, center, and Gary Tavares move particle board into place to board up the sliding glass doors of a client’s house in Charlestown, Rhode Island, on Saturday.

Portions of New England and southeast New York could see widespread rainfall of 3-6 inches through Monday, with isolated totals near 10 inches possible — and could lead to flash, urban and stream and river flooding.

As Henri moves parallel to the East Coast on Saturday, rip currents also will be a concern from North Carolina to Massachusetts.

More than 50 rescues from rip currents were reported in North Carolina’s coastal Wilmington area alone on Friday, the National Weather Service in that city said.

Forecast rainfall from Hurricane Henri.

One city will order mandatory evacuations

New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island officials said National Guard members were activated or otherwise poised ahead of the storm to help with any rescues, cleanup and other support.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker warned residents to be prepared for possible prolonged power outages, minor flooding and tropical-storm-force winds and urged people to avoid unnecessary travel and to delay weekend getaways to Cape Cod.

In a news conference Saturday afternoon, Baker said that while the state will “avoid the direct hit,” it will likely still feel impacts including the outages, winds, storm surge and significant rainfall. He warned there is a chance of flooding and washed-out roads in Berkshire and Worcester counties, especially given the previous rainfall.

“Looks like we will avoid the worst,” the governor said. “But everyone should still pay attention to local weather alerts.”

Cuomo said Saturday he would declare an emergency for areas including Long Island, New York City, Westchester and Hudson Valley.

New York has heavy equipment deployed on Long Island and water-rescue teams ready to go, Cuomo said.

A voluntary evacuation order is in place in Fire Island — a barrier island off the southern shore of Long Island — so residents and visitors can “leave for their own safety,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in a Saturday afternoon tweet.

“I urge residents to check ferry service times and make plans to leave the barrier island today,” Bellone wrote.

New York City Emergency Management issued a travel advisory for the city until further notice. All beaches in the city will close Sunday and Monday, according to city officials. Swimming and wading will not be permitted during those days.

New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) suspended service on its Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Saturday night and Metro-North Railroad (MNR) on Sunday due to the impacts of the storm, the transportation service said in an update.

And Amtrak announced Saturday it has canceled its service between New York and Boston on Sunday, according to the passenger railroad service. Train service between New Haven, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, is also suspended.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee urged residents to prepare for the storm and announced he has signed an emergency declaration to unlock federal resources to support storm response.

A town employee in Bourne, Massachusetts, connects a generator to a sewage pump in the case of electrical loss as Henri approached Friday.

The governor urged residents to use caution along shoreline areas due to anticipated rip currents and high surf.

“Rhode Island has often experienced needless tragedy during storms when wave watchers and anglers who have climbed onto rocks near the shore get hit by waves and quickly swept out to deep water and drowned,” he said.

State beaches and parks will be closed Sunday and likely Monday, depending on storm damage and required clean up.

CNN’s Brandon Miller, Artemis Moshtaghian, Brian Todd, Haley Brink, Arlette Saenz, Liam Reilly, Hollie Silverman, Melissa Alonso, Jackson Dill, Elizabeth Joseph, Judson Jones and Raja Razek contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/21/weather/tropical-storm-henri-saturday/index.html

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Philippines Evacuates Nearly 1 Million As Typhoon Goni Nears

AFP News via International Business Times — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 13:51:16 +0000

Nearly a million people in the Philippines were evacuated from their homes Saturday as the most powerful typhoon of the year so far barrelled towards the country, with authorities warning of “destructive” winds and flooding.

Typhoon Goni is expected to slam into Catanduanes Island Sunday morning with wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour (127 miles per hour) before crossing the main island of Luzon, the state weather forecaster said.

A man fishes in a swollen river caused by heavy rains north of Manila, ahead of Typhoon Goni’s landfall in the Philippines Photo: AFP / Villamor Visaya

It comes a week after Typhoon Molave hit the same region of the natural disaster-prone archipelago, killing 22 people and flooding low-lying villages and farmland, before crossing the South China Sea to Vietnam.

“It looks like we will have really strong winds, increasing the chances of widespread flooding and landslides,” Mark Timbal, spokesman for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, told local broadcaster ABS-CBN.

“Storm surges are imminent on our east coast. We are monitoring Mayon and Taal volcanoes for possible volcanic mudflows.”

Coastguard workers evacuate residents from the coastal villages of Buhi town, Camarines Sur province, south of Manila Photo: Philippine Coast Guard / -)

Civil Defense chief Ricardo Jalad said “almost a million” people had left their homes in the Bicol region, which includes the southern part of Luzon and Catanduanes.

Authorities spent Saturday marshaling rescue vehicles, emergency response teams, and relief goods ahead of the typhoon.

Residents walk past parked wooden boats along a boulevard in Legazpi Photo: AFP / Charism SAYAT)

“Violent winds and intense rainfall” are expected that could trigger floods and landslides in an area of more than 20 million people, the weather service said.

There was a “high risk” of storm surges of more than three metres (10 feet) high along parts of the coast, it added.

(Photo: AFP / Gal ROMA)

Schools which have been empty since the start of the coronavirus pandemic are being used as emergency shelters as well as government-run evacuation centres and gymnasiums.

“Evacuating people is more difficult at this time because of Covid-19,” Bicol regional civil defence spokesman Alexis Naz told AFP.

Mary Ann Echague, 23, and her family fled their home in the coastal city of Legazpi in Bicol to an inland primary school where they were sheltering in a classroom with several other families.

“We fear the wrath of the typhoon,” said Echague, who was with her two children, parents and siblings. They had carried with them a portable stove, tinned meat, instant noodles, coffee, bread, blankets and pillows.

“Each time we’re hit by a typhoon our house gets damaged, since it’s made of wood and galvanised iron roofing,” she said.

“We have always managed. We find a way to get by.”

Hundreds of people have been left stranded after the coastguard ordered ferries and fishing boats into port in expectation of rough seas throwing up 15-metre waves.

Goni is expected to “weaken considerably” as it crosses Luzon and enters the South China Sea Monday morning, the state forecaster said.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure, keeping millions of people perennially poor.

Its deadliest on record was Super Typhoon Haiyan, which unleashed giant waves on the central city of Tacloban and left more than 7,300 people dead or missing in 2013.

Source: https://www.ibtimes.com/philippines-evacuates-nearly-1-million-typhoon-goni-nears-3073806

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Super Typhoon Goni explodes into 2020’s strongest storm on Earth, moves toward Philippines

Jason Samenow — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 12:55:38 +0000

In just a day’s time, Super Typhoon Goni transformed from an ordinary Pacific cyclone into the year’s most intense storm on the planet. The typhoon is on a beeline for the Philippines, where it is expected to roar ashore Sunday.

A satellite view of Super Typhoon Goni in the western Pacific Ocean on Friday evening local time. (NOAA)

Goni’s explosive intensification occurred over the warm waters in the western Pacific Ocean. Its peak winds catapulted from just shy of 100 mph to nearly 180 mph between Thursday and Friday night local time.
Once its peak winds surpassed 150 mph, it qualified as a “super typhoon,” which is equivalent to a strong Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic. But it grew even more intense, comparable to a strong Category 5.

Its leap in strength occurred over waters about 2 to 3 degrees (1 to 1.5 Celsius) warmer than normal. Such rapid intensification is made more likely by human-caused climate change, which has raised ocean temperatures globally.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Pearl Harbor described Goni as “a compact but very powerful system.” On weather satellite, it displayed a sharply defined eye and near-perfect symmetry, characteristic of the most intense tropical cyclones.

Goni is predicted to track westward and make landfall in central Luzon, northeast of Manila, around 8 p.m. local time Sunday, weakening some before landfall.

In the short term, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Goni to undergo an eyewall replacement cycle in which the most intense thunderstorms surrounding its center reorganize. Although this process usually decreases a storm’s peak winds, it often results in a larger storm.

Track forecast for Super Typhoon Goni. (Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicts that Goni will make landfall in Luzon with peak winds of more than 140 mph, which is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane.

Forecasters with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), referring to this storm as Typhoon Rolly (the Philippines has a separate naming system for storms in its vicinity), have issued tropical cyclone warnings as the storm approaches. They are calling for “heavy to intense rains” starting as soon as Saturday evening, which might trigger flooding and landslides. PAGASA is also predicting damaging winds and a storm surge as high as 6½ to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 meters).

The Inquirer, an English-language newspaper in the Philippines, reported that tens of thousands of people are expected to shelter in government evacuation centers and that the country faced a “double whammy” from the storm and the novel coronavirus. Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, encouraged wearing face masks and social distancing and said evacuation sites should not be filled to capacity, the newspaper reported.

Goni is predicted to weaken as it passes over Luzon before emerging over the South China Sea. Additional weakening is forecast as it heads west toward Vietnam, as a result of hostile high-altitude winds and dry air. Landfall in Vietnam as a tropical storm is forecast for around next Wednesday.

While the Philippines have been impacted by several tropical cyclones in 2020, overall storm activity in the western Pacific has been below normal. Storms have generated less than half the energy of an average season, according to Colorado State University. This is the opposite of the tropical Atlantic, which has seen record-setting storm activity.

While the Atlantic has raged with storminess, the Pacific has been strangely quiet

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/super-typhoon-goni-explodes-into-2020-e2-80-99s-strongest-storm-on-earth-moves-toward-philippines/ar-BB1ay6sr

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The Risks of China’s Three Gorges Dam’s Flooding

Michael Auslin — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 13:20:28 +0000

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River discharges water to lower the water level in the reservoir following heavy rainfall and floods in a few regions, Yichang, Hubei province, China July 17, 2020. (China Daily/Reuters)

China has been suffering through record rains the past weeks, leading to the worst flooding in the country in decades. There is little relief in sight, and the Yangtze River is now above flood level, according to China’s Ministry of Water Resources. A few days ago, officials admitted that certain “peripheral” structures of the massive Three Gorges Dam deformed due to the building water pressure. Stunning pictures of water being released to relieve pressure are raising the specter of whether the entire dam could fail (some good photos here). Some online satellite photos purporting to show the buckling of the dam, however, should be viewed with skepticism.

Still, the damage that has already occurred from the record deluge is significant, with numerous cities upriver from the dam already flooded. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Some 40 million people in more than two dozen provinces have been affected by the flooding as of July 12, causing more than 80 billion yuan ($11.5 billion) of direct damage to the economy, according to China’s Ministry of Emergency Management. Around 28,000 homes have collapsed, while millions have been displaced and at least 141 people have been declared dead or missing in the floods.

All that would be dwarfed if the Three Gorges Dam failed. The dam was built from 1994 to 2006, at a cost of $31 billion and displacing 1.4 million people for its construction, precisely to lessen the risk of devastating flooding along the Yangtze, a perennial problem in China since ancient times. The river’s basin accounts for nearly half of China’s agricultural output, and it runs through major cities, such as Wuhan, with 10 million people.

Chinese authorities have already evacuated 38 million people downriver. The dam can hold backwaters to a level of 175 meters above sea level; according to the Bureau of Hydrology of the Chanjiang (Yangtze) Water Resources Commission, the latest (Friday) height at the dam was 158.85 meters, down from 164 meters on Tuesday. Yet more rain is predicted, and if smaller, older dams upriver from Three Gorges overflow or fail, then the pressure on the main dam could quickly overwhelm either its capacity or even its structural integrity.

While an outright failure of the dam may not be the primary danger, nonetheless its geopolitical consequences are staggering to contemplate. It would be a black swan of epic proportions, China’s Chernobyl moment. A tsunami-like wave from a breach in the Three Gorges Dam could wipe out millions of acres of farmland right before the autumn harvest, possibly leading to famine-like conditions. As it is also the world’s largest hydroelectric power station, a failure would lead to huge power outages. Low-lying cities of millions along the Yangtze’s banks cities could become uninhabitable and the death toll could be staggering.

China’s heartland manufacturing and inland shipping along the Yangtze, which empties out into the East China Sea at Shanghai, would be significantly affected by downriver flooding, potentially leading to major economic disruption inside China and around the world. The political impact could be enough to destabilize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in the same way that Chernobyl was the nail in the coffin of the Soviet Communist Party. Public anger, already stoked by the draconian state response to the coronavirus pandemic that started in Wuhan, could boil over, even if many understand that the rains are an act of nature.

Given the social and political implications of the current flooding, and the specter of a Three Gorges breach, it may not be a complete coincidence that Beijing last week announced its second-largest purchase of U.S. corn ever, to the tune of 1.365 million tons, along with 320,000 tons of winter and spring wheat. From a political perspective, the dam’s failure would be the gravest crisis faced by CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, comparable to the Katrina hurricane that so tarnished George W. Bush’s reputation. Unlike the weakened post-Chernobyl USSR, however, a destabilized CCP could well become a more dangerous one, looking to divert public anger towards “enemies” such as Taiwan, Japan, and the United States.

That Xi has not visited the dam or seemingly made it a public priority may mean that he’s been assured by Chinese engineers and hydrologists that the dam can withstand the current deluge. A long-overdue rebalancing in U.S.–China relations is taking place, and a hard-edged policy of reciprocity is entirely proper in dealing with Beijing’s endemic predatory and abusive behavior. However, for humanitarian, economic, and geopolitical reasons, the world should obviously hope the Three Gorges Dam holds. 2020 has already been enough of an annus terribilis.

MICHAEL AUSLIN is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the author of ASIA’S NEW GEOPOLITICS. @michaelauslin

Source: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-risks-of-chinas-three-gorges-dams-flooding/

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China flooding leaves thousands trapped after levees fail, another dam at risk of breaking

Travis Fedschun | Fox News — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 08:11:13 +0000

At least 141 people have died or are missing in flooding since the beginning of June

More than 10,000 people are trapped in a town in eastern China as flooding across much of the country renews pressure on dams.

The provincial government in Anhui province said online that on Sunday floodwaters breached levees protecting the town of Guzen and left area residents trapped.

Wang Qingjun, Guzhen’s Communist Party secretary, told the official Xinhua News Agency that floodwater rose as high as 10 feet in the region.

CHINA FLOODING DEATH TOLL RISES AS SURGING WATERS TRIGGER NEW ALERTS, DAM BLASTED

State media outlets reported that around 1,500 firefighters rushed to rescue those in the province, where weeks of heavy rain have disrupted the lives of more than 3 million people.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an aerial photo shows the extent of flooding in Guzhen Town of Lu’an City in eastern China’s Anhui Province on July 20. (Tang Yang/Xinhua via AP)

In central China’s Hubei Province, local governments urged residents to prepare for evacuations due to a growing risk of dams that may break.

The Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture government said a landslide along the Qingjiang River increased the threat of dam failure there, according to the Global Times.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an aerial photo shows the extent of flooding in Guzhen Town of Lu’an City in eastern China’s Anhui Province on July 20. (Tang Yang/Xinhua via AP)

China’s Meteorological Administration warned that more heavy rain along the Yellow River and Huai River is expected over the next three days.

In Jiangxi province, 45-year-old Xu Yongxiang told China Youth Daily his village of Liufang had been without running water or electricity for almost a week.

“We do not have 1 inch of dry ground. It has all been flooded,” he said online.

DEVASTATING CHINA FLOODING PUTS CONTROVERSIAL THREE GORGES DAM UNDER NEW SCRUTINY

Last week, the controversial Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze opened three floodgates as the water level behind the massive dam rose more than 50 feet above flood level.

Additional rainfall is putting renewed pressure on the dam, which straddles the mighty Yangtze River.

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, water flows out from sluiceways at the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River near Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province, July 17. (Wang Gang/Xinhua via AP)

The official Xinhua News Agency said the rate of flow in the reservoir behind the dam would hit a record for the year Friday night, at 55,000 cubic meters (almost 600,000 cubic feet) per second.

The inflow peaked Saturday at 61,000 cubic meters per second, before easing to 46,000 by Sunday night, Xinhua reported.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, floodwaters are discharged at the Three Gorges Dam in central China’s Hubei province on July 19. (Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua via AP)

State media outlets have insisted that the massive dam is stable amid the flooding and that its operations are “safe and sound,” the Global Times reported.

“The Three Gorges Project is not so ‘fragile’ as some people have imagined… it has prevented large floods,” the dam’s operator, China Three Gorges Corp. (CTG), told the Global Times. “Speculation without scientific monitoring data is irresponsible and unprofessional, or out of ulterior motives!”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE WEATHER COVERAGE FROM FOX NEWS

At least 141 people have died or are missing in flooding since the beginning of June, with more than 150,000 houses damaged and direct economic losses estimated at about $9 million.

The Kwanyin temple built on a rocky island in the middle of the Yangtze River is seen flooded as the water level surge along Ezhou in central China’s Hubei province on Sunday, July 19, 2020. (Chinatopix Via AP)

On Sunday, a dam in Anhui was blasted to allow floodwaters to flow downriver. The province’s Wangjiaba dam on the Huai River opened its 13 sluice gates on Monday, flooding cropland and forests to prevent more extensive damage downriver.

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Seasonal flooding strikes large parts of China each year, especially in its central and southern regions, but conditions this year have been especially bad due to heavy rainfall.

China experienced its worst flooding in recent years in 1998 when more than 2,000 people died and almost 3 million homes were destroyed, mostly along the Yangtze.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-flooding-anhui-province-guzhen-flood-waters-dam-risk-hubei-province-yellow-river-huai-river-severe-weather-rain

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Heavy Rain, Flooding in China Force Evacuation of Nearly 80,000

Reuters via Voice of America — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 13:13:03 +0000

Residents stand on a bank of a river as they look at the rubble of a bridge damaged by flood following heavy rainfall in Nanjing, Fujian province, China, July 9, 2019.

BEIJING – The heaviest average rainfall to lash a swathe of southern and eastern China in more than half a century brought torrential rain and floods, destroying houses, damaging crops, and forcing the evacuation of nearly 80,000 people, state media said.

Even more rain is expected, state television said Thursday, after average rainfall in the affected areas this week was recorded as 51% higher than in the corresponding periods of previous years, and the largest since 1961.

State television showed images of half-submerged buildings and flooded streets in some of the worst-hit areas. Trains along the Beijing-Guangzhou railway were delayed after rising waters blocked a bridge in the southern province of Hunan, it added.

The latest episode has caused losses of 2.69 billion yuan ($392 million), with 126,100 hectares (311,600 acres) of farmland damaged and 1,600 homes collapsed, the Ministry of Emergency Management has estimated.

Rescue workers wade through flood waters as they evacuate a woman with an inflatable swimming pool following heavy rainfall in Pingxiang, Jiangxi province, China, July 9, 2019.

As many as 77,000 people had been evacuated, it added. The affected areas include the southern provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi, eastern Zhejiang, the southeastern province of Fujian, and the northern parts of the southwestern Guangxi region.

The first three areas are expected to be doused again in a fresh burst of torrential rain Friday and Saturday, weather officials said, along with the central province of Hubei, eastern Anhui, and the province of Guizhou in the southwest.

The Yangtze River in Jiangxi is expected to exceed its warning level for the first time this year around Sunday, swelled by heavy rain that could last until Tuesday, state TV said.

Extreme weather is becoming increasingly frequent in China, with temperatures in some parts hitting records this year.

Weather officials warned on July 3 that rainfall in the south could surpass the average by 30% to 70% over a 10-day stretch.

Source: https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/heavy-rain-flooding-china-force-evacuation-nearly-80000

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The post Heavy Rain, Flooding in China Force Evacuation of Nearly 80,000 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Northern California town destroyed by wildfire

CBS This Morning — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:57:57 +0000

The post Northern California town destroyed by wildfire first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

3 California wildfires destroy thousands of structures and force emergency evacuations

Nicole Chavez, Sarah Aarthun and Jason Hanna, CNN — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:49:54 +0000

(CNN)A series of fast-moving wildfires is racing Friday up and down California, destroying thousands of structures and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate through flame-lined streets.

Two fires are just miles from the bar where 12 people were killed in a mass shooting in Southern California’s Thousand Oaks, and part of that city has been evacuated.

And a blaze in Northern California sent terrified residents running for their lives as it closed in and destroyed parts of the town of Paradise, near Chico.

Fanned by high winds and low humidity, the fires spread rapidly Thursday and overnight into Friday. The threat continues Friday morning, with millions of Californians under “red flag” warnings portending windy, arid and warm conditions that pose extreme fire risks.

Camp Fire: People flee ‘carrying their babies and kids’

In Northern California, Tanah Clunies-Ross woke up in the dark Thursday to what sounded like lumps of coal raining down on her home. Within minutes, her family and thousands of people were racing to escape the raging flames of the Camp Fire.

“The smell of the smoke and realizing the smoke was a lot closer than I thought and then seeing flames up to my knees. … I lost it,” she said.

Her family was among at least 40,000 residents forced to evacuate in Butte County after the fire broke out early Thursday, “growing uncontrollably” at a rate of about 80 football fields per minute.

So far, it has burned at least 20,000 acres, injured firefighters and residents, and destroyed parts of Paradise, a town of 26,000 people roughly 80 miles north of Sacramento.

Friday morning the fire was burning to the outer edges of Chico, a city of 93,000 people about a 90-mile drive north of Sacramento. Area hospitals have evacuated and all of Butte County schools have closed Friday.

Whitney Vaughan described a scene of panic and terror as she recalled her narrow escape from her Paradise home on Thursday morning.

Vaughan and her husband had just fled their home as flames rushed them. She saw a man “sprinting past our house carrying a little baby, running as fast as he could.”

They drove away but got eventually got caught in traffic. Flames were inches away, smoke was thick, cars weren’t moving and people were panicking. Some people left their cars there “and took off running, carrying their babies and kids.”

She cried as she recorded video of the terrifying scene, which she posted to Facebook. She and her husband eventually were able to drive away safely.

“We thought the fire was going to kill us,” she told CNN.

The Paradise Inn burns as the Camp Fire tears through Paradise on Thursday, November 8. A state of emergency has been declared in Butte County, where thousands have been forced to evacuate.

The full extent of the destruction is still unknown, but authorities believe up to 1,000 buildings have been destroyed — most of those in Paradise, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) spokesman said.

Multiple injuries have been reported by both civilians and firefighters, Cal Fire spokesman John Gaddie said. The extent of their injuries is unknown.

In Paradise on Friday morning, the town’s main road was littered with downed trees and power lines. Much of the brush and grasses were blackened along the valleys, and many trees were still burning, a CNN crew there observed.

Late Thursday, more than 2,200 firefighters were battling the flames and the fire remains uncontained, according to Cal Fire.

Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the area and has requested federal funds to help those impacted by wildfires in the state. Newsom is serving as acting governor while Gov. Jerry Brown is traveling out of state.

Authorities fear the fire, fueled by strong winds, could reach Chico — a city of 90,000 people where many Butte County families already have evacuated to shelters.

An unknown number of homes and buildings in Paradise have been destroyed by the Camp Fire.

Woolsey Fire: Thousands of homes evacuated, Malibu threatened

In Southern California, the night sky burned orange as the Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties grew thousands of acres overnight, exploding from 2,000 acres to 8,000 in a matter of hours.

The Woolsey Fire is one of two blazes burning just miles from the site of Wednesday night’s shooting massacre in Thousand Oaks. This one is just to the east of that city, part of which was evacuated.

About 75,000 homes in Ventura and Los Angeles counties are under evacuation orders, the Ventura County Fire Department said. Some structures have already been destroyed, Cal Fire reported.

“Please, please, please if you are asked to voluntarily leave the area, please do,” Ventura County fire Capt. Scott Dettore told CNN affiliate KTLA on Friday morning. “Make sure your stuff is packed and ready. Please leave the area.”

The Woolsey Fire in Southern California exploded in size overnight Thursday.

By Friday morning, the fire had crossed US 101 a few miles east of Thousand Oaks and was headed south to the Pacific coast — in the direction of the seaside city of Malibu and Pepperdine University, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

Pepperdine on Friday closed its Malibu and Calabasas campuses because of the approaching blaze.

Hidden Hills resident Adrienne Janic gave her home over to firefighters late Thursday to use as a command center. Her deck provided a strong vantage point to monitor the spread of the fire.

By 1 a.m. (4 a.m. ET), more firefighters arrived as the flames closed in on Janic’s street.

“While a lot of my yard and neighbors’ yards burned, the firefighters saved our homes,” Janic tweeted just after 2 a.m. (5 a.m. ET) Friday. “We are still not out of the woods yet.”

Christy Dawn Little abandoned her Oak Park home, northeast of Thousand Oaks, around 11 p.m. PT.

“I had to work this evening, and ran out when I realized how close it was,” Little told CNN. “We have found a safe hotel … (in) Los Angeles.”

Video of her drive out of town shows the fire emitting an orange-red glow in the distance in the nighttime sky.

Hill Fire: RVs, outbuildings burned

The Hill Fire is the other fire burning near the site of this week’s mass shooting in Thousand Oaks.

This fire quickly spread to cover 10,000 acres, Ventura County Fire Department officials said.

Just 12 minutes after it started Thursday afternoon, the flames spread across US 101, leaving several drivers temporarily stranded. The highway is expected to remain closed Friday morning, Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said.

Residents posted on social media to share their views of the flames nearly consuming the hillside in the Newbury Park area of western Thousand Oaks.

While no homes or businesses have been lost due to the fast-moving blaze, a number of RVs and outbuildings have been burned and a firefighter suffered a minor injury, authorities said.

Fire officials anticipate the fire will reach the Pacific Ocean.

CNN’s Emanuella Grinberg, Nick Valencia, Tristan Smith, Amanda Watts, Joe Sutton, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Stella Chan, Amanda Jackson and Jennifer Selva contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/camp-fire-california/index.html

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The post 3 California wildfires destroy thousands of structures and force emergency evacuations first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.