El Salvadoran officials have evacuated thousands of residents from the area around the Chaparrastique volcano out of fears of a major eruption.
The volcano, which has erupted twice in the last six months, reportedly had a major explosion on Monday and reddish ash was seen spewing in the caldera.
The country’s Civil Protection Department has issued an alert for the city of San Miguel, 30 miles from the volcano and one of the largest cities in El Salvador. Over 1,400 residents have been evacuated from the area and more are expected to be forced to leave.
Previous evacuations ahead of anticipated eruptions have kept the volcano from taking any lives.
Hernan Rosa Chavez, El Salvador’s Environment Minister, said that the volcano is experiencing higher levels of activity than during either of the previous two eruptions.
The last time the volcano suffered a major eruption was 1976 and officials fear the increased activity means a major eruption is imminent.
Southern California emergency officials are dealing with a rash of wildfires that should not be happening this time of year.
“This is May, this is unbelievable. This is something we should see in October,” said Carlsbad fire chief Michael Davies told the BBC.
The wildfires have caused disruptions and evacuations all over southern California. Nine wildfires have broken out around San Diego and have caused evacuations of as many as 20,000 people because of the flames. San Marcos officials evacuated students from the California State University campus.
“The fire was right above campus. I could see it reaching over part of the hill, this really dark smoke. It was almost like an explosion,” said 19-year-old Grant Rapoza.
A 6,000 acre fire at Camp Pendleton Marine Base forced the evacuation of weapons stations for both the Marines and Navy.
“The common theme statewide this year is unprecedented number of fires and fire activity across the state, in many cases two to three months earlier than normal,” Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told the Christian Post.
Drought conditions are fueling a late fall forest fire raging in the Big Sur region of California.
Fire officials say the slow-moving blaze in Los Padres National Forest had burned around 770 acres by late Tuesday night and destroyed at least 14 homes. The fire was reported to be 20 percent contained.
Up to 650 firefighters are on site fighting the blaze and the weather has been favorable for stopping the fire’s spread. However, officials say a weather front moving in Wednesday could tip the scales in favor of the fire.
“It could possibly help us,” Los Padres National Forest spokesman Lynn Olson said. “It could possibly hurt us.”
The popular tourist area has been hit by wildfires in the past. A summer 2008 blaze forced the evacuation of the area and burned 250 square miles before it was contained including the destruction of a dozen homes.
Among the homes destroyed since Monday was the home of the Big Sur Fire Chief, Martha Karstens. She had lived in her home for 23 years when it was destroyed Monday night. Karstens said she was focusing on fighting the fire and functioning as a chief without thinking about her now destroyed home.
Indonesian officials are scrambling to evacuate residents still surrounding Mount Sinabung as eruptions continue to grow stronger throughout the day.
The eruptions send lava and searing hot gases rushing a mile down the mountain’s slopes and shot volcanic rock at much as 6,500 feet into the air. Authorities have raised the warning level for the mountain to its highest level and warned aircraft to avoid the area.
Officials say at least 15,000 people have now been taken out of a zone three miles wide around the entire mountain.
A local farmer who fled the exclusion zone with his family said that hot ash and gravel began to rain down on his village in the early morning hours.
The eruptions are having a devastating impact on farming in the area. Farmers as far as 45 miles from the volcano’s crater are reporting hot ash falling and coating their crops.
Indian officials are evacuating coastlines as Cyclone Helen approaches.
At least 25,000 people have been evacuated and thousands more are expected to leave before the storm makes landfall on Friday.
Cyclone Helen is tracking to hit four districts of India Friday with winds up to 68 miles an hour. The slow moving storm is producing surges of 5 feet already and heavy rainfall is expected to cause flooding in low-lying areas.
Helen is reporting maximum wind gusts of 80 miles per hour.
India’s eastern coast was hit last month by Cyclone Phailin that killed 25 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Officials say the evacuation of a million people ahead of the storm kept the death toll low.
The state department has ruled all non-essential personnel must leave Lebanon and any staff in southern Turkey can voluntarily leave due to “current tensions within the region.”
The state department also said that U.S. citizens in the area need to remain alert because they are in “potential danger.” Continue reading →
After 22 years of attempting to help the civilians in war-torn Somalia, the humanitarian group Doctors without Borders is pulling out all of their staff and closing all programs in the country.
The group says they are leaving because of “extreme attacks on its staff”. It said terrorists and even some civilian leaders “support, tolerate or condone the killing, assaulting, and abducting of humanitarian aid workers.” Continue reading →
The State Department has ordered a mandatory evacuation of all non-essential staff from Lahore, Pakistan after a threat against the consulate according to CNN.
The diplomats were moved to the capital city of Islambad. The state department also issued a travel warning for Americans. Continue reading →
Flood waters have been inundating parts of southern Alberta, Canada and cities along the South Saskatchewan River are preparing for more.
Over 10,000 residents of Medicine Hat have been evacuated as officials expect the river to crest at record levels and essentially split the town. The Trans-Canada Highway bridge which joins the northern and southern parts of the city is expected to be underwater Sunday night. Continue reading →
Nicaraguan authorities are using army forces to evacuate people from the base of the San Cristobal volcano after it began to erupt Tuesday night.
The authorities declared an “amber alert” for a 2 square mile area around the volcano warning of the risk of major eruption. Airlines were also told to avoid flying over the western part of the country due to ash plumes. Continue reading →