In just the blink of an eye, island life on Dominica was turned upside down. Like Puerto Rico, Dominica was violently ravaged by Hurricane Maria, and residents are still fighting for survival.
The wooden frames and scattered, water-damaged belongings are all that remains of some homes of on Dominica, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria last month.
“We have lost everything that money can buy, and that is a fact.”
The roof of Roosevelt Skerrit’s house was blown away and its floors flooded. On the night Hurricane Maria hit, Skerrit took to Facebook to post updates including one that said, “I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding” and another that said, “The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God!” Later he posted, “I have been rescued.”
“You can still see the shock, the anxiety, the fear the trauma in the eyes and the expressions of people every day,” he told ABC’s Nightline.
“Their entire life investments, life’s savings, blown away.”
Another now displaced resident named Emmanuel Peter said he can still remember the roar of the hurricane-force winds.
“It was just whistling, whistling,” he said. “I thought it would burst my eardrums.”
To date, 26 people are confirmed dead, 31 are still missing, and more than 50,000 people are displaced on the island that has a total population of roughly 74,000.
When ABC’s Nightlinevisited Dominica six days after the storm, the only way to reach its interior was with the United States military. Upon arrival, many who had the option to evacuate the island were already in the process of doing so, including 1,300 students at Ross University Medical School, an American college based in Dominica.
“I do feel sadness for the people of Dominica,” said Carey James, the college’s associate dean of operations, analysis, and admissions. “My wife’s family is from Dominica … and it’s hard to see a place that you love go through that kind of a storm.” And nearly four weeks after the storm, people are still fighting to survive.
No one on the island has access to running, drinkable water, and with sewage systems destroyed, residents are contending with fears of diarrhea, dehydration, and dysentery. Much of the island still remains without power. For the vast majority of Dominicans, the choice to leave their home country isn’t financially available. More than 85 percent of houses have been damaged, and of those, more than a quarter simply do not exist anymore, leaving many of the residents homeless.
Hurricane Maria caused widespread damage to Puerto Rico. Drone footage captured the scene in San Juan and Canóvanas on Sept. 21.
As we reported earlier, flash flooding caused by the storm has prompted the NWS to warn that a dam in the northwestern part of the island is in danger of failing, prompting the government to scramble to evacuate the 70,000 residents of the river valley beneath the dam that is in danger of being completely submerged.
Over 3 million residents of Puerto Rico are without power after Hurricane Maria devastated the island Wednesday morning with Category 4 winds as high as 155 mph and officials have warned that power may not be restored for months.
The powerful winds took out trees, ripped off roofs, and turned roads into free flowing rivers, with President Trump noting that the destruction was so bad it “absolutely obliterated” the island. Unbelievably, weather forecasts have the island once against preparing for even more rain and flash flooding.
According to The Daily Mail, the full extent of the damage still remains unclear as first responders haven’t even been able to make communication with key parts of the island that were cut off by the storm. The devastation is horrifying.
Maria moved north after pummeling the island through Wednesday night- but flooding continued through Thursday afternoon, leaving many San Juan streets looking like small rivers.
The Category 4 hurricane had sustained winds of 155mph through wednesday – and was the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in over 80 years. So far at least 19 people have been killed throughout the Caribbean – one on the US territory.
Mayor of the capital Carmen Yulin Cruz said the devastation is like nothing she has ever seen, telling MSNBC ‘The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there.’
Authorities have imposed a strict curfew while warning that it will most likely take months before any sort of recovery actually begins to happen.
Police were on the streets to warn people they must respect a 6pm to 6am curfew imposed by the governor to ensure everyone’s safety. People resorted to rafts and kayaks to get around because flooding made many roads remained impassable.
‘Months and months and months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this,’ Felix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, told The Associated Press.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has called Maria ‘the most devastating storm of the century.’
The U.S. territory’s sole representative in Congress told CNBC in a telephone interview from the island that it was going to take a “titanic effort” to recover, especially considering how cash-strapped Puerto Rico already is.
“This is not the same island, ” Republican congresswoman Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon told the networks “Squawk Box” show. “There are no trees. There are no palm trees.”
“Most of the houses lost part of the windows and doors,” she continued. “People with wooden houses, of course, didn’t resist it, this type of environment like never before.”
Although most of the scenes coming from the island are ones of sheer devastation, residents of San Juan began the long process of “figuring it out” Thursday.
Left to fend for themselves a day after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico and forced them into a primitive existence, San Juaneros took to the streets Thursday to do what they say Caribbean people do best: Resolver. Figure it out.
No electricity? A mustachioed man in a white undershirt played traffic cop at a Santurce intersection. No ambulances? A daughter borrowed her brother’s SUV to race her frail mother from the La Perla neighborhood to a hospital. No debris removal? A physician and two neighbors borrowed garden tools to clear main Condado thoroughfares on their own.
With the enormity of Maria’s destruction still unknown even to the overwhelmed Puerto Rican government, the capital’s storm-dazed residents ventured outside Thursday, clogging roadways while trying to bring some semblance of order to their bruised city.
It is clear at this point that Puerto Rico is completely screwed and the fact that they may be without power for months could not only make things extremely difficult, it could also cause major water issues as the pumps are simply unable to operate without power.
As Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon stunningly noted, “This is not the same island”.
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As much of Florida is left flooded and without power from this weekend"s hurricane, the damage across much of the Caribbean goes well beyond water damage and downed power lines with many describing the devastation left by Irma as "end-of-the-world times." As one resident of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands told the Washington Post, "it was beyond rough times, it was end-of-the-world times...everything normal to us has been destroyed."
On St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, “people there are roaming like zombies,” said Stacey Alvarado, a bar owner who managed to leave for the mainland. Her husband, who is still there, told her Sunday that residents and tourists are in shock. “They don’t know what to do. The island was wiped out. It’s like the walking dead down there.” Other islanders sent social media messages pleading for help, decrying looting and a series of armed burglaries.
“We need help,” wrote St. John blogger Jenn Manes. “We need the United States government to step up. We need military. We need security.”
Lauren Boquette, a 48-year-old restaurant manager on St. John, said his family had barricaded themselves in the bathroom of their home. When they emerged, he said, they saw a scene of total destruction.
“It was beyond rough times, it was end-of-the-world times. Everything normal to us has been destroyed,” he said.
Some of the hardest-hit places were those in the Leeward Islands like St. Martin and St. Barts, where 11 people have reportedly died.
Meanwhile, aerial videos surfacing from the British Virgin Islands reveal just how extensive the damage across much of the Caribbean was.
As Irma hits Florida, don’t forget the horrific damage it has inflicted on the Caribbean pic.twitter.com/FvpOq9es4g
But it wasn"t just the Leeward Islands that were devastated by Irma as the entire island of Cuba has reportedly been left without power and the AP is reporting that 39 buildings have collapsed in a single city.
In Cuba, where the government said it had evacuated 1 million residents, Hurricane Irma’s driving winds and pelting rains sent roofs flying, knocked over trees, wrecked building and caused large-scale flooding along the northern coast. Officials in Havana warned of flooding that would last through Monday. In the city of Santa Clara, the Associated Press reported that 39 buildings had collapsed.
As streets turned into rivers, authorities took to inflatable rafts to access coastal neighborhoods. Some Cubans had even sought shelter in caves. The brutal storm struck Cuba along a coast studded with resorts that are among the pillars of the island’s economy. Authorities warned of heavy damage from the storm, which has killed at least 25 people across the Caribbean.
“The hardest-hit provinces are Camaguey, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and to some extent Matanzas, the resort area of Varadero, which was directly in the path of the hurricane and where all the tourists were evacuated,” Richard Paterson, the CARE organization’s representative in Cuba, said by phone from Havana.
“Power has been turned off throughout the city, in fact, throughout the country,” he said. “The electricity infrastructure received extensive serious damage.”
Meanwhile, you know it"s a serious storm when even billionaires like Richard Branson can"t build structures strong enough to survive.
Billionaire Richard Branson shared footage of the damage to his home in the British Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma pic.twitter.com/IFtIIgvbgF
As previewed yesterday, moments ago the National Hurricane Center said that "quickly strenghtening Jose" which has been quietly following in Irma"s foosteps, has become a hurricane.
Located about 1040 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, Jose is headed at 16 mph on a steady west-northwest track, steered by the same ridge that is helping to direct Irma.
On its current track, Jose would reach the northern Leeward Islands by Saturday, but the ridge is predicted to weaken enough by Saturday to allow Jose to arc just northeast of the islands. Conditions are favorable for Jose to strengthen into a hurricane by later Wednesday, and it could approach Category 3 strength by late in the week. About 25% of the European model ensemble members bring Jose into the northern Leeward Islands, but all of the GFS ensemble members keep Jose north of the islands.
The news means that there are now two major hurricanse barreling toward Florida in the Atlantic, as shown in the map below.
Meanwhile, Katia, which was christened as a Tropical Storm by NHC at 5 am EDT Wednesday, was also just upgraded to a Hurricane.
Located in the Bay of Campeche about 175 miles north of Veracruz, Mexico, Katia is embedded in a very moist environment with numerous showers and thunderstorms along and south of a frontal zone (see Figure 9), and the storm’s core has become gradually more organized. Wind shear will be dropping from about 10-15 knots to around 5-10 knots by Friday, which also supports development.
Models and the Euro and GFS ensembles are unanimous in drifting Katia for a couple of days before driving it southwestward into the Mexican coast this weekend. Extremely heavy rains of 10 – 20” are possible along parts of the northeast Mexican coast, especially in northern Veracruz, as Katia approaches and moves inland.
Wintry chill, moisture, and snow are expected to extend as far south as Virginia and the Carolinas this winter.
The Rockies are predicted to have a cold winter with a moderate snow storm, so it might be a good idea to book your ski vacation in New England (which is expected to have cold and snowy conditions).
West Texas and New Mexico will experience soggy weather and mild temperatures.
“And for parts of the western Great Lakes, eastern Great Plains, and points south, including Arklatexoma (where Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma abut), be prepared for wide swings in the weather pendulum, from very warm to very cold, and periods of tranquil conditions mixed with occasional spells of tempestuous weather,” the forecast says.
The Farmers’ Almanac weather formula “takes things like sunspot activity, tidal action of the Moon, position of the planets, and a variety of other factors into consideration” for its forecasts, according to its website.
“The only person who knows the exact formula is the Farmers’ Almanac weather prognosticator who goes by the pseudonym of Caleb Weatherbee,” the website says. “To protect this proprietary and reliable formula, the editors of the Farmers’ Almanac prefer to keep both Caleb’s true identity and the formula a closely guarded brand secret.”
The website lists specific days in which the Almanac predicted major storms.
“Many longtime Almanac followers claim that our forecasts are 80% to 85% accurate,” it says.
Do you trust the Almanac forecasts? Share your thoughts in the section below:
This morning we reported that the small Caribbean island of St. Martin has been one of the first casualties of the "monstrous" Hurricane Irma, after the French government said that the four "most solid" buildings on the Caribbean island were destroyed by Irma.
French interior minister Gerard Collomb told reporters said that "the four most solid buildings on the island have been destroyed which means that more rustic structures have probably been completely or partially destroyed." The French government also said that there are electrical blackouts and widespread flooding on the islands of St Barthélemy and St Martin.
Now, to get a sense of just how powerful this storm is, here is a live feed from St. Martin showing "devastating images" as Hurricane Irma barrels overhead with maximum sustained winds of over 185 mph.
The good folks at the NOAA2 just recorded Hurricane Irma"s surface winds at ~200mph, barreling towards the lesser Antilles. The current trajectory of the storm has it wiping out all of Miami, or perhaps swinging west and laying waste to the Florida keys. Either way, insurance stocks (UVE, HCI, HRTG, FNHC) in Florida are positively doomed.
Here is the latest reading on this great storm of death and cataclysm.
The storm is clocking in at 913.1 mb.
To put this in context, Hurricane Katrina clocked in at 902mb and this system hasn"t even reached the coast yet.
Emmy award winning storm chaser, Jeff Piotrowski, just did a gloomy Periscope, warning people to evacuate Florida, saying a storm of this magnitude will lay waste to wherever it hits.
"You don"t want to experience it. I promise you.When your house starts coming apart and your buildings and walls start collapsing, the boards start punching through the house like torpedoes, like missiles -- it"s unbelievable what"s going to happen."
Having experienced some of the major hurricanes in person, Jeff painted a grim picture of roof tops being torn off, both house and hotels, windows blowing out up to 15 to 20 stories highs -- power failures and "catastrophic" damage that will take months to repair.
If you"re wondering about the intensity of this storm, I strongly advise you to watch his Periscope below and heed his dire warnings.
As if the speculation over the potential destruction from Hurricane Irma was not enough, which as of this morning has been dubbed the strongest Atlantic Hurricane in NHC records, a new Tropical Storm - Jose - the 10th of the seasons, has formed over the Atlantic, and according to the latest advisory, "Jose could become a hurricane by Friday."
In other words, in a worst case scenario just as Florida struggles to emerge from Irma"s potential damage, it could be hit with a second hurricane just days behind it.
At 1100 AM AST (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Jose was located near latitude 12.3 North, longitude 39.1 West. Jose is moving toward the west-northwest near 13 mph (20 km/h) and a movement toward the west or west-northwest at a slightly faster rate of forward speed is expected during the next two days.
Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 km/h) with higher gusts. Some strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours and Jose could become a hurricane by Friday.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles (75 km) from the center.
The estimated minimum central pressure is 1008 mb (29.77 inches).
Hurricane Irma continues to strengthen much faster than pretty much any computer model predicted as of yesterday or even this morning. Per the National Hurricane Center"s (NHC) latest update, Irma is currently a Cat-3 storm with sustained winds of 115 mph but is expected to strengthen to a devastating Cat-5 with winds that could top out at 180 mph or more. Here is the latest from the NHC as of 5PM EST:
Irma has become an impressive hurricane with intense eyewall convection surrounding a small eye. Satellite estimates continue to rapidly rise, and the Dvorak classifications from both TAFB & SAB support an initial wind speed of 100 kt. This is a remarkable 50-kt increase from yesterday at this time.
Irma continues moving west-northwestward, now at about 10 kt. There has been no change to the forecast philosophy, with the hurricane likely to turn westward and west-southwestward over the next few days due to a building ridge over the central Atlantic. At long range, however, model guidance is not in good agreement on the strength of the ridge, resulting in some significant north-south differences in the global models. I am inclined to stay on the southwestern side of the model guidance, given the rather consistent forecasts of the ECMWF and its ensemble. In addition, the strongest members of the recent ensembles are on the southern side on the consensus, giving some confidence in that approach.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INIT 31/2100Z 17.3N 34.8W 100 KT 115 MPH
12H 01/0600Z 17.8N 36.2W 105 KT 120 MPH
24H 01/1800Z 18.2N 38.3W 105 KT 120 MPH
36H 02/0600Z 18.3N 40.7W 105 KT 120 MPH
48H 02/1800Z 17.9N 42.9W 105 KT 120 MPH
72H 03/1800Z 16.8N 47.5W 110 KT 125 MPH
96H 04/1800Z 16.0N 52.0W 115 KT 130 MPH
120H 05/1800Z 16.5N 56.5W 120 KT 140 MPH
As of now, Irma remains in the far eastern Atlantic ocean and is moving west at roughly 11.5 mph. Based on current projections, the storm will make its first landfall in the eastern Caribbean sometime toward the middle of next week.
Longer term computer models still vary widely but suggest that Irma will make landfall in the U.S. either in the Gulf of Mexico or Florida. Meteorological Scientist Michael Ventrice of the Weather Channel is forecasting windspeeds of up to 180 mph, which he described as the "highest windspeed forecasts I"ve ever seen in my 10 yrs of Atlantic hurricane forecasting."
These are the highest windspeed forecasts I"ve ever seen in my 10 yrs of Atlantic hurricane forecasting. #Irma is another retiree candidate. pic.twitter.com/e6nMsp1myY
In a separate tweet, Ventrice had the following troubling comment: "Wow, a number of ECMWF EPS members show a maximum-sustained windspeed of 180+mph for #Irma, rivaling Hurricane #Allen (1980) for record wind"
The Weather Channel meteorologist also calculated the odds for a landfall along the eastern seaboard at 30%.
Up to a 30% chance via the 12Z Calibrated ECMWF EPS for a landfalling Major Hurricane somewhere along the eastern seaboard #Irmapic.twitter.com/nUmZkPGJpY
Meanwhile, the Weather Channel has the "most likely" path of Irma passing directly over Antigua, Puerto Rico and Domincan Republic toward the middle of next week.
Levees at Columbia Lakes in Brazoria County have been breached, according to the official Brazoria County website.
Live Feed...
FLASH FLOOD WARNING western Brazoria county until 5:45 PM. Brazos levee at Columbia Lakes has breached. All residents urged to evacuate now pic.twitter.com/7MZRyL3M3x
Emergency workers and rescue crews in Houston have been overwhelmed overnight with calls for water rescues, having responded to “hundreds” as of early Sunday, the Houston Chronicle is reporting, as Harvey, the most powerful storm to hit the state in more than 50 years, roared inland. According to the Houston newspaper, five people are now reported dead in Houston as Tropical Storm Harvey has dumped up to 30 inches of rain.
“It’s catastrophic, unprecedented, epic — whatever adjective you want to use,” Patrick Blood, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told the Chronicle. “It’s pretty horrible right now.” The newspaper reported the weather service said five people have died in the Houston area in unconfirmed flood-related deaths.
As the Statesman puts it: "It was supposed to be bad. It wasn’t supposed to be this bad."
A tweet from executive weather producer at the Weather Channel, Matthew Sitkowski, summarized the situation best: "surreal."
Underscoring the severity of the storm, moments ago president Trump tweeted "Wow - Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!"
Wow - Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!
In its latest bulletin, the National Weather Service similarly did not mince words, saying this morning that "catastrophic flooding is ongoing with flash flood emergencies in effect. The threat for continued additional, catastrophic, unprecedented and life threatening flooding continues today and into next week with periods of heavy rain from bands coming off the Gulf. Flash Flood Watches and Warnings are currently in effect for all of southeast Texas."
NWS computer models show continued rounds of thunderstorms spawned by Harvey, which has been downgraded from a hurricane to tropical storm. Blood said the Houston area can expect at least an additional 15 to 25 inches over the next few days.
Thunderstorms pummeled this city overnight Saturday as Tropical Storm Harvey stalled out again, dropping more nearly two feet of rain in some residential neighborhoods, which triggered widespread flooding that is already blamed for five deaths. To the south, it was even worse. More than two feet of rain fell at the National Weather Center’s Houston office in League City, about 30 miles south of Houston proper. Emergency responders turned swamped freeway overpasses into ramps to launch rescue boats, Houston Chronicle reporter Dug Begley tweeted early Sunday morning.
Texas governor Greg Abbott told Fox News that damage from Harvey will be in the billions of dollars statewide. President Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to say, “I will be going to Texas as soon as that trip can be made without causing disruption. The focus must be life and safety.”
Some neighborhoods have been hit with more than 15 inches of rain, the Chronicle reported, forcing some residents to flee to their attics, especially along Interstate 45 between downtown and Clear Lake, including parts of Pasadena. One resident described seeing a woman’s body floating in the streets during a flash flood in the same western part of the city. The flash floods were several feet high, the resident told local TV station abc13.
A mobile park is destroyed in the Coast Bend area on Saturday in Port Aransas, Texas
According to Reuters, Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport canceled all inbound and outbound flights early on Sunday due to standing water on the runway. The airport said its arrivals area was flooded, and the National Weather Service issued a flash flood alert for the surrounding area. Authorities have urged residents to stay off the streets of Houston and other southeast Texas cities as rain falling at up to 5 inches per hour flooded roads and major intersections.
The storm has killed at least two people and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Twitter the death toll could rise, with his deputies responding to reports of a deceased woman and child inside a submerged vehicle on Interstate 10 near Houston.
On Friday night, a man died in a house fire in the town of Rockport, 30 miles (48 km) north of Corpus Christi. Another dozen people in the area suffered injuries including broken bones, another official said.
The Harris County Joint Information center said first responders were conducting hundreds of rescues early on Sunday morning.
Gonzalez’ Twitter feed was inundated by residents asking for help. The sheriff could only tell some of them that crews were doing the best they can. “All agencies care but everyone simply operating at maximum capacity,” he tweeted at one point.
Some in Houston have climbing into attics to flee rising flood waters, the Houston Chronicle also reported . “Have reports of people getting into attic to escape flood waters,” tweeted Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, Austin’s previous police chief. “Do not do so unless you have an ax or means to break through onto your roof.” Those reports were coming from areas along Interstate 45 between downtown Houston and Clear Lake, the Chronicle reported.
Early Sunday, sheriff Gonzalez tweeted that there were reports of several submerged vehicles on Interstate 10 at Lathrop and added that, while it was unconfirmed, crews were investigating reports that one of the vehicles possibly had a deceased woman and child inside.
Harvey slammed into Texas late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 miles per hour (210 km per hour), making it the strongest storm to hit the state since 1961. It has since lingered over the state, dumping amounts of rain that threaten to break the record established nearly 40 years ago when Alvin, Texas, was deluged by 43 inches of rain in 24 hours from July 24-25, 1979.
The storm has ripped off roofs, snapped trees, triggered tornadoes and flash floods and had cut off power to nearly 230,000 people on Saturday night. Houston police officials said officers were evacuating two flooded apartment complexes. Oil and gas production was largely halted in the state, prompting price hikes at the pumps.
“There are a number of stranded people on our streets, calling 911, exhausting needed resources. You can help by staying off the streets,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said on Twitter.
Officials here have reported performing at least 1,000 high-water rescues with thousands more needed as homes were inundated by the water. The 911 system here was so overwhelmed that officials begged Houstonians to only use it if they were in immediate danger.
The weather forecast shows no reprieve in sight for this city and county of 4.5 million people. Rain, including more torrential downpours, remains in the forecast for the rest of today.
* * *
Even though Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, it is expected to lash Texas for days as it heads inland, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), which described the forecast for the state as potentially “catastrophic.” The coastal town of Rockport took a direct hit from the storm, leaving streets flooded and strewn with power lines and debris on Saturday. A dozen recreational vehicles were flipped over on a sales lot, one blown into the middle of the street. A convoy of military vehicles arrived in the Rockport area on Saturday to help in the recovery efforts, and town officials announced an overnight curfew for residents.
Daylight shows the devastation in Rockport and surrounding areas of southeast Texas,
“It was terrible,” resident Joel Valdez, 57, told Reuters. The storm ripped part of the roof from his trailer home at around 4 a.m., he said as he sat in a Jeep with windows smashed by the storm. “I could feel the whole house move.”
Before the storm hit, Rockport’s mayor told anyone staying behind to write their names on their arms for identification in case of death or injury. A high school, hotel, senior housing complex and other buildings suffered structural damage.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was activating 1,800 members of the military to help with the statewide cleanup, while 1,000 people would conduct search-and-rescue operations. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it was forced to evacuate about 4,500 inmates from three state prisons near the Brazos River because of rising water.
A destroyed apartment complex in Rockport, TX
Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard said it had rescued 20 people from distressed vessels on Saturday, and was monitoring two Carnival Corp cruise ships carrying thousands of people stranded in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Authorities warned of the potentially life-threatening impact of heavy rains between Houston and Corpus Christi over the next several days, with the latest forecast saying Harvey could loop back toward the Gulf of Mexico coast before turning north again on Tuesday.
"This rain will lead to a prolonged, dangerous, and potentially catastrophic flooding event well into next week," the National Weather Service said.
In a Sunday morning tweetstorm, instead of taking shots at his political opponents, president Trump assured people on the ground that government support is on the ground: "Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen. Good news is that we have great talent on the ground." He added that "I will be going to Texas as soon as that trip can be made without causing disruption. The focus must be life and safety."
I will be going to Texas as soon as that trip can be made without causing disruption. The focus must be life and safety.
In a matter of days, Hurricane Harvey evolved from a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico into a Category 4 storm, making landfall on Friday night near Rockford, Texas with sustained winds of 130 mph. After making landfall, Harvey immediately stalled, pummeling the same area for hours, before inching slowly north and dropping in intensity. Several local communities could be left underwater for days.
The flooding threat is projected to intensify over the next couple of days for much of the region as the storm continues to spin over the Texas coast.
Catastrophic rainfall amounts are estimated to be as high as 40 inches in some areas through the week, affecting major cities including Houston and San Antonio.
The latest computer models are not sure where the storm will go next.
The Anti Media"s Aaron Nelson compiled the most intense videos of the night showing the level of destruction Hurricane Harvey unleashed upon the Gulf Coast:
Hard to sleep with the roar of the wind in Port Lavaca TX as the eye of #Harvey makes its closest approach. Water rise record 5.5" so far. pic.twitter.com/mvYaluipxu
US carriers have grounded 1,796 flights today, and 3,384 tomorrow - numbers which keep constantly rising - as Winter Storm Stella approaches the U.S. Northeast, according to FlightAware.com.
Chicago is bearing the largest share of Monday"s cancellations, while Tuesday"s disruptions are hitting hardest from Washington to Boston including the New York City area, AP adds. The major airlines are waiving ticket-change fees that range up to $200 for customers who want to change their travel plans. Restrictions vary by airline.
Southwest has canceled more than 300 flights for Monday and nearly another 900 scheduled for Tuesday, according to FlightAware. American Airlines and its American Eagle contractor Envoy Air together had canceled more than 300 flights Monday and 700 on Tuesday. JetBlue Airways, with major operations in Boston and New York, had already canceled more than 600 flights scheduled for Tuesday, FlightAware said.
The weather system may dump as much as 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow from Connecticut to Long Island, including New York City, according to the National Weather Service. A deep freeze is poised to linger in the Northeast after the storm passes, sending Boston’s low to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 Celsius) on March 16, 17 below average, AccuWeather Inc. data show
Meanwhile, as the blizzard bears down on the Eastern Seaboard, natural gas futures rose to one-month highs on speculation that demand for the heating fuel will surge during the storm, shrinking a supply glut, Bloomberg reports.
The late-winter cold blast is giving gas bulls a break after a warm start to the season sent the market plunging to an eight-month low earlier in the year. While gas stockpiles are still above normal for this time of year, frigid conditions could erode the surplus and stave off another price collapse before the summer.
“It’s not just tomorrow’s storm, but the forecast going out to late March that should be supportive for prices,” said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA in New York. “But we’re coming to the end of the season, and storage is pretty healthy.”
While gas futures for April delivery rose 1.2%, to $3.044 per mmBTU at after earlier reaching $3.089, the highest since Feb. 10, gas is still down 18 percent this year, the worst performer among major commodities. However, a look at spot prices for NYC nat gas shows a much bigger spike, which is to be expected as the region will be most affected by the coming weather.
Of course, once the weather system passes later this week, expect a similar and just as sharp drop in prices.
While the series of major storms hitting California have begun to subside, residents of San Jose are being warned to keep away from affected homes until water levels decrease to a safe level. Flash floods along the west coast of the US have seen thousands of people forced to leave their homes and a state of emergency declared by California governor Jerry Brown. The majority of mandatory evacuation orders have now been downgraded for areas including Sutter County around the Oroville Dam Spillway, which sparked panic one week ago when it threatened to collapse during the floods.
However, San Jose, the 10th largest city in the US, remains one of the most substantial urban regions affected, with 14,000 resident evacuated and more than 36,000 homes estimated to be hit by floodwater, reports the San Francisco Gate.
To get a sense of the water damage, the following drone footage shows the extent of the flooding in San Jose.
City Mayor Sam Liccardo has admitted failures in the official response to the storm crisis. “If the first time that a resident is aware that they need to get out of a home is when they see a firefighter in a boat, then clearly something went wrong,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said, report KQED News. “We are assessing what it is that led to that failure.”
The reason for the city"s dire predicament is that over the last two weeks, heavy rains pushed water levels at Santa Clara County’s largest reservoir into the danger zone. That happened over the weekend, sending massive amounts of water into the Coyote Creek, which runs through the heart of San Jose. By Tuesday, the creek was overflowing at numerous locations, inundating neighborhoods, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing the frantic evacuations of more than 14,000 residents, who remained out of their homes Wednesday, the LA Times reported.
The worst flooding to hit Silicon Valley in a century left San Jose reeling and residents angry about why they were not given more warning that a disaster was imminent. Even city officials on Wednesday conceded they were caught off guard by the severity of the flooding and vowed a full investigation into what went wrong.
Floodwater surrounds homes in San Jose on Wednesday
Late Wednesday, Assistant City Manager Dave Sykes said officials had learned that the information they had on the capacity of Coyote Creek channel was not accurate. He also said the city was working with the Santa Clara Valley Water District to determine whether debris caused blockages that contributed to flooding.
Neighbors talk in front of their homes, which were inundated after Coyote Creek overflowed
“The creek spilled over the banks faster and higher than anybody expected,” said city spokesman David Vossbrink.
Ricardo Juarez, who has lived in this house for six years, works to free his van Wednesday
Officials said that on Thursday they would focus on assessing the damage and getting residents back home.
Homes and cars are swamped on Wednesday in San Jose
The approximately 14,000 people under mandatory evacuations hailed mostly from central San Jose. Evacuation advisories were also issued to 36,000 residents in a zone that covered a business and industrial area along a roughly seven-mile stretch of Coyote Creek.
Floodwaters surround a play structure in San Jose
By Wednesday evening, city officials had lifted some mandatory evacuations for homes north of Interstate 280. They also revised the number of residents impacted by evacuation advisories down to 22,000.
Cars are covered by floodwater on Wednesday. The Coyote Creek crested to 13.6 feet at a river gauge point on Tuesday
“We haven’t really had anything quite like this before,” Vossbrink said.
Rescuers in chest-deep water steer boats carrying dozens of people, some with babies and pets
Meanwhile, the local government of San Jose has issued an emergency alert declaring that while flood water is creeping back, residents should not return to their homes until authorities deem it safe to do so. The notice informs people to be wary of live electrical units in flooded buildings and structurally unsound walls.
Rescuers travel by boat through a flooded neighborhood looking for stranded residents in San Jose.
The good news, according to a San Jose emergency alert, is that the “water is beginning to subside, however, levels are still high. Many areas are still unsafe to access. The City continues to send in teams to assess damage and determine when it is safe for residents to return to their homes.”
Cars are submerged in a flooded neighborhood in San Jose.
“Flood water and homes, cars, and belongings that have been flooded should be treated as contaminated.” Evacuation notices are still in place in the Oakland and Rock Springs Area of San Jose. A map of the areas still out of bounds for people has been listed on the San Jose government website. Meanwhile, homes to the south of the city near Lexington Reservoir and Anderson Lake remain in flood danger zones.
For the next few days, California will be dry. But according to weather reports by the United States Geological Survey the rain respite will last until Sunday, when another “storm system is predicted to bring 1-3 inches of rain to the regions on Sunday.”
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The overflow of a faulty dam and emergency spillway has created an ongoing emergency in Oroville, while is about an hour and half north of Sacramento.
Flood waters have already breached the spillway from the tallest dam in the entire United States. Ironically, the flooding dam comes after an intense five-year drought that nearly wiped out California, only for heavy rains to bring many of California’s water reservoirs back to – and over – capacity.
Now, emergency officials are doubling down on the need to evacuate people from the area, and prepare to mitigate extensive flooding damage if the situation should erupt into a larger problem. Good reason to stay prepared, and ready to bug out or survive without food, water or
In the worst case scenario, officials predict that within a matter of hours, the entire town of Oroville could be covered in waters as high as 100 feet, while the floods would traverse towards Yuba City, some 30 miles south where they could see flood waters as high as 10 feet. Several other towns in between could also be heavily flooded.
A gaping 250-foot chasm was expected to collapse and unleash a 30ft ‘tsunami’ tidal wave that could have killed thousands and left nearby towns under 100ft of flood water.Tens of thousands of panicked residents took to the freeways, causing total gridlock on the roads and sending anxiety levels soaring as they wondered if the dam would burst while they were sat in their cars.
‘Everyone was running around; it was pure chaos,’ Oroville resident Maggie Cabral told CNN affiliate KFSN on Sunday.
‘All of the streets were immediately packed with cars, people in my neighborhood grabbing what they could and running out the door and leaving. I mean, even here in Chico, there’s just traffic everywhere.’
‘THIS IS NOT A DRILL’: Residents in areas of Oroville, Calif. ordered to evacuate as dam is predicted to failpic.twitter.com/b49uOFvDDt
“Around 3pm we were advised of a hole that was developing near the lower edge of the alternative slash emergency spillway, which has been used to reduce the level of the lake given that the main spillway was damaged a couple days ago,” Sheriff Kory Honea told a press conference, adding that he was advised of the “imminent danger” that it would collapse.
Explaining his decision to promptly evacuate the area, the sheriff said the authorities had “significant concern that [the erosion] would compromise the integrity of the spillway.”
“We had to make a very critical and difficult decision to initiate evacuation,” he said, adding that he “could not risk the lives of thousands of people.” Officials are set to re-evaluate the evacuation orders at dawn, Reuters reported.
Measuring 770 feet (230 meters) high, the Oroville dam is the tallest dam in the United States. It exceeds the Hoover Dam by more than 40 feet (12 meters).
Assuming that this area dodges a bullet, and avoids total disaster, it still a part of California which seems to be facing the worst of luck.
With extensive drought comes risk of water rationing, skyrocketing prices and a threat to agricultural production; with extensive rains, come dangerous flooding which obvious California is not prepared to handle.
It seems that all extremes have impacted California harshly, and it continues to be a risky area, particularly for those dependent upon large metropolitan areas. Regardless, heavy taxation, dense population, thick traffic and a vengeance from Mother Nature have not made for appealing circumstances.
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Author: Mac Slavo Views: Read by 415 people Date: February 13th, 2017 Website:www.SHTFplan.com
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Severe flooding hit the West Coast, and drivers everywhere were caught in life-threatening flash floods. The loss of life and property damage are already significant.
What would you do if caught driving in flash flood conditions, and rising water was headed for your vehicle?
Mark Chagaris uploaded video to YouTube of the terrifying flash flood – and while it’s unclear if he was the driver who captured the chilling scene on the dashboard cam – what is clear is that the surge of water was definitely dangerous.
The canny driver manages to reverse course and back quickly away from the muddy surge, which flush wave after wave of water over the road as his windshield wipers go full blast.
‘Mother Nature Speaks Loudly’ Chagaris captioned the video, which has so far received almost 250,000 views. This year’s California El Niño is so intense that it’s been nicknamed ‘Darth Niño.’
This man got away without incident after facing an epic force of nature. And thanks to his dash cam, he captured video of it while driving north of Los Angeles.
After waters rushed over the highway, he man backed up, reversing course down the road as the flood threatened to subsume his vehicle, before turning around and heading for higher ground…
Evacuations and orders to move to higher ground are driving the temporary relocation of thousands of people, and the episodes of flooding could take place in other places as well. As
Some 3,000 people in Sonoma County are under evacuation orders, and at least seven homes are seriously damaged.
“Our biggest concern is possible trees coming down, power outages,” said John Gulserian of the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services.
In the town of San Anselmo, police ordered people out of the downtown area because of rising flood waters, telling them to either evacuate or move to higher floors. A mudslide pushed a tree into a house in the town of Fairfax, California, trapping four people including two children. (source)
Unfortunately, an uptick of extreme weather has put millions of people, particularly in coastal urban areas at risk of encounter with flooded waterways or property damage in homes and buildings.
If you are caught in flooding, or compelled to evacuate in your vehicle during an emergency and must pass through or near flooded roads, keep in mind the overwhelming force that this water holds when up against any vehicle. Crossings that appear safe enough could end up sweeping a driver away to his death. Hundreds of people die this way in the average year.
As Tess Pennington notes, you must keep these factors remember during a flash flood:
Driving Flood Facts
The following are important points to remember when driving in flood conditions:
Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars causing loss of control and possible stalling. A foot of water will float many vehicles. Two feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles including sport utility vehicles (SUV’s) and pick-ups.
In the event that you end up stranded, unable to cross over a necessary roadway, or you crash into an embankment without knowing when help will arrive, it would be prudent to keep some basic supplies in a 72-hour kit, etc. to help keep you sustained if conditions put you in a bad spot.
Additionally, supplies to deal with getting out of your car – busting windows, cutting seatbelt straps, flares and radios to signal for help and other items could be invaluable if you are trapped in a car during a flodo, or disabled by a crash.
Your car kit should see you through at least 48 hours. Do you have enough water and food that doesn’t require cooking to get your family through an event like this? Do you have a way to keep small children entertained? Go here to see what I keep in my car kit. Yes, it’s extensive, but in a situation like this one, we could last for days without waiting for a helicopter to drop supplies to us.
Whenever possible, evacuate before things get this bad. Timing is everything when it comes to an evacuation. If you get out early, you won’t get stuck in traffic and are less likely to encounter insurmountable hazards. Of course, you can’t always make it out ahead of the crowd, especially in a situation with conditions that strike suddenly, like wildfire (check out the videos here to see how fast it can happen) or flash floods.
Keep your gas tank above 3/4 full. If you get stranded, you may need to run your vehicle for warmth, to keep the cell phone battery charged, and to listen to news updates. You’ll be glad you kept the tank topped up.
If you were stranded in your car, would you have to wait for supplies to be dropped?
Other videos from California show the high water levels and dangerous flooding conditions:
