The Jim Bakker Show

‘Utter devastation’ after major quake, aftershocks hit New Zealand

By Charlotte Greenfield and Greg Stutchbury

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake pummeled central New Zealand early on Monday, killing at least two people, damaging roads and buildings and setting off hundreds of strong aftershocks.

Emergency response teams flew by helicopter to the region at the epicenter of the tremor, which struck just after midnight some 91 km (57 miles) northeast of Christchurch in the South Island, amid reports of injuries and collapsed buildings.

“It’s just utter devastation, I just don’t know … that’s months of work,” New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee after flying over the coastal town of Kaikoura, according to Brownlee’s Twitter account.

He described landslips in the area as “just horrendous”. In a statement seen by Reuters, Key said of the likely damage bill: “You’ve got to believe it’s in the billions of dollars to resolve.”

Powerlines and telecommunications were down, with huge cracks in roads, land slips and other damage to infrastructure making it hard to reach the worst-affected areas.

A tsunami warning that led to mass evacuations after the original quake was downgraded after large swells hit New Zealand’s capital Wellington, in the North Island, and Christchurch.

Wellington was a virtual ghost town with workers ordered to stay away while the city council assessed the risk to buildings, several of which were damaged by the tremor. There were concerns that loose glass and masonry could be dislodged by severe weather hitting the capital, with 140 km per hour (85 mph) winds forecast.

Hundreds of aftershocks, the strongest a 6.2 quake at about 1.45 p.m. local time (0045 GMT), rattled the South Pacific country, fraying nerves in an area where memories of a deadly 2011 quake are still fresh.

Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s ruggedly beautiful South Island, is still recovering from the 6.3 quake in 2011 that killed 185 people.

New Zealand’s Civil Defence declared a state of emergency for the Kaikoura region, centered on a tourist town about 150 km (90 miles) northeast of Christchurch, soon after Monday’s large aftershock.

Kaikoura, a popular spot for whale watching, appeared to have borne the brunt of the quake.

“Our immediate priority is ensuring delivery of clean water, food and other essentials to the residents of Kaikoura and the estimated 1,000 tourists in the town,” Brownlee said.

The Navy’s multi-role vessel HMNZS Canterbury was heading to the area, he said.

Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) said a 20-person rescue team and two sniffer dogs had arrived in the town. A second team was on standby in Christchurch, USAR said in a statement.

Police in the area around Christchurch reported 19 burglaries of homes and commercial properties after the quake as residents headed for higher ground.

“It is extremely disappointing that at a time when people are facing such a traumatic event and communities are coming together to support one another, there are others who are only interested in taking advantage,” Canterbury District Commander Superintendent John Price said in a statement.

TWIN QUAKES

Hours after the quake, officials said a slip dam caused by the quakes that had blocked the Clarence River north of the town had breached, sending a wall of water downstream.

A group of kayakers missing on the river was later reported safe.

New Zealand’s Geonet measured Monday’s first quake at magnitude 7.5, while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 7.8. The quakes and aftershocks rattled buildings and woke residents across the country, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter.

Geonet said four faults had ruptured, with one at the coast appearing to have slipped as much as 10 meters (33 feet).

Government research unit GNS Science said the overnight tremor appeared to have been two simultaneous quakes which together lasted more than two minutes.

New Zealand lies in the seismically active “Ring of Fire”, a 40,000 km arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Ocean. Around 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur within this region.

Stock exchange operator NZX Ltd said markets traded normally, although many offices in the capital were closed. The New Zealand dollar initially fell to a one-month low before mostly recovering.

Fonterra, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, said some its farms were without power and would likely have to dump milk.

Prime Minister Key postponed a trip to Argentina, where he had planned to hold a series of trade meetings ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Peru this week, as he met disaster officials.

At least one of those killed was found in a house in Kaikoura that “collapsed like a stack of cards”, Kaikoura Hospital’s Dr Christopher Henry told Fairfax media. Two other people were pulled alive from the same building.

New Zealand media reported one of the pilots taking rescuers to the area was Richie McCaw, the recently retired captain of New Zealand’s world champion All Blacks rugby team.

“At one point, the railway was way out over the sea – it had been pushed out by (land) slips. It would not have been a nice place to be at midnight last night,” McCaw told the New Zealand Herald after helping fly the USAR team to Kaikoura.

(Additional reporting by Greg Stutchbury in WELLINGTON, Jamie Freed, Wayne Cole and Jane Wardell in SYDNEY; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Magnitude 5.0 quake strikes near Cushing, Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck near Cushing, Oklahoma, on Sunday damaging several buildings and prompting evacuations, but there were no reports of injuries, authorities said.

The quake was centered 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Cushing, a small city of about 8,000 people some 50 miles west of Tulsa, which is the location of intersecting oil pipelines and is considered a hub for crude oil shipment.

The oil and gas division of the Oklahoma Corporation commission said in a statement that they are in contact with pipeline operators, but so far there were no immediate reports of damage to pipelines.

Cushing authorities said the downtown area was being evacuated due to gas leaks and infrastructure inspection.

The quake was among the larger temblors felt recently in Oklahoma, part of a flurry of seismic activity geologists say is linked to energy production and is fueling growing concern.

People posting on Twitter, including some as far away as Kansas City, Missouri, reported that they felt the shaking.

Pictures on Twitter showed broken concrete that apparently fell from buildings in downtown Cushing and products littering the aisles of stores after being shaken from shelves.

Cushing High School canceled classes on Monday in order to assess damage, according to a message on its Facebook page.

Two smaller earthquakes, one at a 3.1 magnitude and the other at a 3.6 magnitude, rattled the area around Perry, Oklahoma, earlier on Sunday.

About two months ago a magnitude 5.6 quake, one of the strongest ever recorded in Oklahoma, shook the area.

Most earthquakes occur naturally, but scientists have long linked some smaller tremors to oil and gas work underground, which can alter pressure points and cause shifts in the earth.

In a report released last year, the Oklahoma Geological Survey said that the earthquakes were linked to the practice of injecting wastewater from oil production into the ground.

Some of that is related to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves injecting water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into rock to extract natural gas or other products. But the report said fracking is responsible for only a small percentage of the wastewater injected into wells in Oklahoma.

(Reporting by Heide Brandes in Oklahoma City, Peter Cooney in Washington, Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif. and Chris Michaud in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Michael Perry)

Aleppo evacuations to fall flat, rebels prevent any exit

Rebel fighters drive their motorcycles under the smoke of burning tyres, western Aleppo city,

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Syrian government official said he did not expect civilians or rebels to leave besieged eastern Aleppo on Friday during an evacuation window announced by Russia and accused insurgents of blocking any exit.

Moscow and the Syrian army told rebel fighters this week to leave opposition-held neighborhoods with light weapons through two corridors by Friday evening, and said civilians would be allowed to evacuate by other exit points.

There was no sign of any evacuations, however.

“I wish civilians would exit … but I expect that won’t happen, not under these circumstances,” Fadi Ismail, an official based in Aleppo in Syria’s reconciliation ministry, told Reuters via telephone.

Ismail said fighters from al Qaeda’s former Syria branch were preventing both rebels and civilians who wished to leave from doing so, and that factions appeared determined to fight on.

“Jabhat al-Nusra is in control of all of the crossings. For civilians, it’s impossible to leave as long as Nusra controls the area,” he said, referring to the group which now calls itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

“We’re communicating with civilians and even with some militants, the ones who want to leave. Unfortunately, when militants want to leave it’s individual cases, not (entire) factions handing themselves over.”

Rebels say that Fateh al-Sham has a very small presence in Aleppo city itself, although the powerful group has been crucial for the fight against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and their allies more widely in Aleppo province.

Ismail said prospects for a deal with rebels looked bleak, and he expected military action to resume if no one left on Friday.

“All the messages (from rebels) that I used to receive were ‘we’re coming for you with car bombs’,” he said. “There was nothing to suggest reconciliation would happen.”

Asked what would happen if no one evacuated, he said: “There must be military action, of course”.

Russia is expected to resume its bombardment of Aleppo once the evacuation window closes later on Friday. Moscow says it has not launched air strikes on the city for more than two weeks as Damascus calls on rebels to leave.

Insurgents have meanwhile launched a counter attack to try to break the siege on eastern Aleppo, which has been mostly surrounded by pro-government forces since July.

Assad seeks the recapture of Aleppo as a strategic prize in the civil war, which is in its sixth year. Some 250,000 people are trapped in eastern Aleppo, and around 1.5 million live in the government-held western neighborhoods.

(Reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus and Ellen Francis in Beirut; Writing by John Davison; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

U.N. vows to press on with securing Aleppo evacuation operation

Rebel fighters ride a military vehicle near rising smoke from al-Bab city, northern Aleppo province, Syria

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations vowed on Thursday to press ahead in securing medical evacuations of hundreds of sick and wounded from the Syrian city of Aleppo and demanded that the warring sides drop their conditions.

The United Nations aborted plans at the weekend to evacuate patients from rebel-held east Aleppo, which it had hoped to accomplish during a three-day lull in fighting last week, accusing all parties to the conflict of obstructing its efforts.

“We are not giving up,” Jan Egeland, a U.N. humanitarian adviser, told reporters after the weekly meeting of the humanitarian task force, composed of major and regional powers.

“We had unanimous support from Russia, the United States and from all of the other countries in the room to try again. On all fronts,” he said.

Egeland also said the Syrian government had rejected a U.N. request to deliver food and other aid supplies to rebel-held eastern Aleppo and an area in east Ghouta near Damascus as part of its plan for November.

“Which means that we need to overturn that decision,” he added.

“It was very clear today that the Russians want to help us with the November plan implementation, would like to help us get access to east Aleppo,” he said.

In all, the Assad government approved access to 23 of 25 areas sought by the U.N. next month, including 17 besieged areas, he said. But it will allow relief for only 70 percent of the more than 1 million people deemed in need, Egeland said. Surgical items are still not allowed in, “a notable exception”.

“The war is getting worse, it’s getting more ruthless and it’s affecting more and more the children and the civilians,” Egeland said.

In another sign that relations between Russia and the United States have frayed, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, announced that the two powers would no longer serve as co-chairs of a separate task force on the cessation of hostilities.

“…the cessation of hostilities is not really a major issue at the moment, but it needs to be kept alive,” de Mistura said.

Volker Perthes, one of his senior advisers, would serve as acting co-chair of that task force, he said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Larry King)

Floridians, Southeast coast urged to evacuate as Hurricane approaches

By Gabriel Stargardter and Harriet McLeod

MIAMI/CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – People along the southeast U.S. coast fled inland, stocked up on groceries and queued for gasoline on Wednesday as President Barack Obama and state governors urged millions to evacuate or brace for a potentially devastating Hurricane Matthew.

Matthew pummeled the Bahamas and took aim at the United States as the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, appearing likely to hit Florida with powerful winds, storm surges and heavy rain on Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

“I want to emphasize to the public – this is a serious storm,” Obama said after a briefing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “If there is an evacuation order in your community, you need to take it seriously.”

Federal emergency response teams had arrived in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, and were coordinating with state officials and stockpiling supplies, Obama said. Governors in those states have declared states of emergency, enabling them to mobilize the National Guard.

Matthew, a major Category 3 storm, had sustained winds of about 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour) on Wednesday night, the Miami-based hurricane center said, adding that it was too soon to predict where Matthew was likely to do the most damage.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has ordered an evacuation of more than a million people in coastal areas, about a quarter of whom were expected to comply.

In Georgia, Governor Nathan Deal expanded a state of emergency declaration to include 17 additional counties in the southeastern part of the state, bringing the total to 30 counties, his office said late on Wednesday.

Workers remove umbrellas at the Starlite Hotel in anticipation of Hurricane Matthew in South Beach, Florida, U.S. October 5, 2016. REUTERS/Javier Galeano

Florida Governor Rick Scott urged those in vulnerable areas to evacuate early, even if orders had not yet been issued, and to use state shelters.

Scott requested that Obama declare a pre-landfall emergency for Florida, which would bring federal resources such as food, water and tarps, and added an additional 1,500 National Guard members to an already active force of 1,500.

Evacuations, some of them mandatory, were underway in about a dozen of Florida’s coastal counties, and at least four hospitals were being cleared, Scott said. More than 1.5 million Florida residents reside in evacuation zones, Scott’s office said.

“If it turns at the last minute, you are not going to have time to get ready,” Scott said. “You are going to put your life and your family’s life at risk.”

In South Carolina, where the effects of the storm were expected on Saturday morning, drivers reported gridlock and long delays. The city of Charleston handed out sandbags and shovels.

Some gasoline stations posted “out of gas” signs but state officials said they were unaware of any significant shortages.

Lynn Pagliaro, 76, was filling up extra cans of gasoline and loading them into his sport utility vehicle in Charleston, saying he had no choice but to head inland.

“I live at (a retirement community) and they’re shutting off the power,” he said. “I like to get out of town anyway and take the burden off local resources. I was here for Hurricane Hugo. It made a last-minute turn.”

Hugo, a more powerful Category 4 hurricane, slammed into Charleston in September 1989, killing 21 people and causing $7 billion worth of damage on the U.S. mainland, the hurricane center said.

In Miami, the owner of an Exxon gas station in the Brickell district set up cones to form an orderly line of cars that at times stretched an entire block.

“Everybody is filling up. We’re about to run out of gas,” said Jesus Ramirez, 56.

At a nearby Publix supermarket, staff said trade was brisk with customers buying water and canned goods, concerned they might be stuck at home for days. “It’s chaos,” said one employee, who was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Floridians on social media said they were stocking up on groceries and preparing their homes with hurricane shutters.

“The grocery store shelves are practically empty,” said Facebook user Sonja Smith of Boca Raton, Florida.

American Airlines said it was canceling Thursday flights at three south Florida airports and all Friday afternoon flights in and out of Jacksonville.

(Additional reporting by Letitia Stein and Amy Tennery; Editing by Daniel Trotta, Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)

Fierce and deadly Hurricane Matthew heads to Southeast U.S.

Hurricane Matthew is seen over the Bahamas in this infrared image

JUPITER, Fla. (Reuters) – Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, slammed into the Bahamas on Thursday and intensified as it barreled toward the southeastern United States after killing at least 39 people, mostly in southern Haiti, on its northward march.

Matthew, which displaced thousands of people in Haiti, smashing homes and inundating neighborhoods, was predicted to strengthen from a Category 3 to 4 storm en route to Florida’s Atlantic coast, making landfall there on Thursday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

A view of destroyed houses in Jeremie. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

The center extended its hurricane warning area farther north into Georgia and more than 12 million U.S. residents were under hurricane watches and warnings, according to the Weather Channel.

Roads in Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina were jammed and gas stations and food stores ran out of supplies as the storm approached, carrying with it strong storm surges, heavy rain and sustained winds that accelerated overnight to about 125 miles per hour (205 kph).

The damage could be “catastrophic” if Matthew slammed directly into Florida, Governor Rick Scott warned, urging some 1.5 million people in the state to heed evacuation orders.

“If you’re reluctant to evacuate, just think about all the people who have been killed,” Scott said at a news conference on Thursday. “Time is running out. This is clearly either going to have a direct hit or come right along the coast and we’re going to have hurricane-force winds.”

A storm surge of up to 9 feet (2.7 meters) was expected.

“Do not surf,” Scott said. “Do not go on the beach. This will kill you.”

The four U.S. states in the path of the hurricane, which was 215 miles (346 km) southeast of West Palm Beach at about 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), declared states of emergency, a move empowering their governors to mobilize the National Guard.

It was too soon to predict where in the United States Matthew was likely to do the most damage, the Hurricane Center said.

Downtown Miami is pictured in this aerial photo as clouds begin to form in advance of Hurricane Matthew in Miami, Florida, U.S. October 5, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Shelters in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina were opened for evacuees. Federal emergency response teams were coordinating with officials in all four states and stockpiling supplies, President Barack Obama said.

Schools and airports across the region were closed on Thursday and some hospitals were evacuated, according to local media. Hundreds of flights were canceled in and out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, industry website Flightaware.com said early on Thursday.

Matthew was heading northwest at about 12 mph (19 kph) and was expected to continue on this track on Thursday, turning north-northwest on Thursday night, the National Hurricane Center said. The eye, or center, of the storm was expected to pass near Andros Island and New Providence in the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday.

In Nassau, the Bahamas capital located on New Providence, it was raining steadily on Thursday morning and high winds were bucking palm trees. Minor damage to roofs was reported but there was no flooding yet or reports of injuries.

DEVASTATION IN HAITI

On Tuesday and Wednesday Matthew, the strongest hurricane in the Caribbean since Felix struck Central America in 2007, had whipped Cuba and Haiti with 140 mph (225 kph) winds and torrential rain, pummeling towns and destroying livestock, crops and homes.

The devastation in Haiti, where officials said on Thursday at least 35 people were killed, prompted authorities to postpone a presidential election.

In Florida, fuel stations posted “out of gas” signs after cars waited in long lines to fill up.

Some residents prepared to wait out the storm and stocked up on water, milk and canned goods, emptying grocery store shelves, local media said.

Residents and business owners boarded up windows with plywood and hurricane shutters and placed sandbags to protect property against flooding.

“All boarded up and ready to bunker down. God be with us,” West Palm Beach resident Brad Gray said in a Tweet.

Scott said he activated 1,000 more members of the state National Guard on Thursday morning, bringing the total number of those summoned to 2,500. Another 4,000 stood ready to respond if needed, he said.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Neil Hartnell in Nassau and Laila Kearney; Writing by Laila Kearney and Frances Kerry; Editing by John Stonestreet and Bill Trott)

Coastal Florida and S. Carolina urged to evacuate as Matthew takes aim

People line up to fill their cars with gas in anticipation of Hurricane Matthew, in Coral Springs, Florida,

By Letitia Stein and Harriet McLeod

TAMPA, Fla./CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Millions of people along the U.S. Southeast coast were urged on Wednesday to evacuate and prepare for Hurricane Matthew as the potentially devastating storm took aim at Florida and South Carolina.

Matthew, currently pummeling the Bahamas, was forecast to begin lashing Florida with fierce winds, storm surges and heavy rain late on Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. It has the potential to be the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005.

Governor Rick Scott urged those in vulnerable areas to evacuate early, even if orders had not yet been issued.

“We must prepare to be hit by a devastating hurricane,” Scott told a news conference, noting that a small wobble in Matthew’s path could hugely impact the state.

The governors in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia have all declared states of emergencies.

Matthew, currently a major Category Three storm, was carrying maximum sustained winds around 120 mph (195 kph) on Wednesday morning, according to the Miami-based NHC.

It was likely to strengthen slightly in the coming days, the NHC added, saying it was too soon to predict where Matthew was likely to do the most damage.

“When a hurricane is forecast to take a track roughly parallel to a coastline, as Matthew is forecast to do from Florida through South Carolina, it becomes very difficult to specify impacts at any one location,” the NHC said in an advisory.

“Only a small deviation of the track to the left of the NHC forecast could bring the core of a major hurricane onshore within the hurricane warning area in Florida. However, a small deviation to the right could keep the hurricane-force winds offshore,” it said.

Florida’s governor activated an additional 300 members of the state National Guard on Wednesday, adding to 200 already summoned the day before.

People queue as they flock to the supermarket to take care of last minute shopping in anticipation of Hurricane Matthew, in Coral Springs, Florida, U.S. October 5, 2016. REUTERS/Henry Romero

Several school districts had canceled classes for Thursday and Friday, and some were releasing students early on Wednesday.

In South Carolina, about a quarter of a million residents were expected to evacuate from coastal areas.

“If you do not leave, you are putting a National Guardsmen’s or a law enforcement officer’s life on the line,” Governor Nikki Haley said.

As thousands began to evacuate vulnerable areas in South Carolina on Wednesday, drivers reported gridlock delaying traffic for hours. Schools and county government offices in 26 of the state’s 46 counties closed through Friday.

The city of Charleston handed out sandbags and shovels. Gasoline stations in the area posted “out of gas” signs as cars lined up to fill up the tank, but state officials said they know of no significant shortages.

The judge overseeing the murder trial of a Georgia father accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son in a hot car to die in 2014 canceled court for Thursday afternoon and Friday due to the storm.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Tom Brown)

Hurricane Matthew slams into western Haiti with deadly waves

A saleswoman shows lamps to a customers while other people flock to the supermarket to take care of last minute shopping as Hurricane Matthew approaches in Kingston, Jamaica

By Makini Brice

LES CAYES, Haiti (Reuters) – The fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade ripped into Haiti’s southwestern peninsula early on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (230 kph) winds and storm surges that killed at least one person and damaged homes.

The eye of the violent Category 4 storm made landfall near Les Anglais on the western tip of Haiti at 7 a.m EDT, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, pounding coastal villages with strong gusts.

One man died when a wave crashed through his home in the beach town of Port Salut, Haiti’s civil protection service said. He had been too sick to leave for a shelter, officials said. A fisherman also was missing, they said.

Overnight, Haitians living in vulnerable coastal shacks on the Tiburon Peninsula frantically sought shelter as Matthew closed in, bringing heavy rain and driving the ocean into seaside towns.

About 3 feet (1 meter) of rain is forecast to fall over denuded hills prone to flash floods and mudslides, threatening villages as well as shanty towns in the capital Port-au-Prince, where heavy rain fell overnight.

Life-threatening flash floods and mudslides were likely in southern and northwestern Haiti, the hurricane center said. It expected Matthew to remain a powerful hurricane through at least Wednesday night.

The outer bands of the cyclone already had reached the area late on Monday, flooding dozens of houses in Les Anglais when the ocean rose, the mayor said. In the town of Les Cayes on the southern coast, the wind bent trees and the power went out.

A woman protects herself from rain as Hurricane Matthew approaches in Les Cayes, Haiti. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

CHILDREN, PRISONERS MOVED

“We have gusts of wind hitting the whole area and the people have fled to a shelter,” Les Anglais mayor Jean-Claude Despierre said.

In the nearby town of Tiburon, the mayor said people who had been reluctant to leave their homes also ran for cover when the sea rose.

“Everyone is trying to find a safe place to protect themselves, the situation is very difficult,” Mayor Remiza Denize said, describing large waves hitting the town.

Poor Haitians are often reluctant to leave home in the face of storms, fearing their few belongings will be stolen.

Civil protection authorities said 130 children were evacuated by bus to a high school in the capital from an orphanage in the shoreside Cite Soleil slum, made up of tin shacks and open sewers and known as Haiti’s largest shanty town.

On the northern coast, about 300 detainees were transferred from a prison near the sea in the town of Jeremie, the Interior Ministry said.

The cyclone comes at a bad time for Haiti, where tens of thousands of people still live in tents after a 2010 earthquake that killed upwards of 200,000 people.

Cholera introduced by U.N. peacekeepers is expected to rise in the October rainy season, and the country was due to hold a long-delayed presidential election on Oct. 9.

The office of Interim President Jocelerme Privert said there was no change to the election date.

Crawling north at about 9 miles-per-hour (15 kph), the strongest storm since Hurricane Felix in 2009 threatens to linger long enough for its winds and rain to cause great damage in Haiti, where it will spend much of the day before hitting Cuba and the Bahamas later on Tuesday.

It will possibly reach Florida by Thursday as a major hurricane, although weaker than at present, the hurricane center said. Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for Florida on Monday, designating resources for evacuations and shelters and putting the National Guard on standby.

CUBA PREPARES

In Les Cayes about 150 people huddled without electricity or food in the town’s largest shelter, a school.

“Since yesterday we’ve had nothing … We must sleep on the floor … Everyone is hungry,” said Erick Cange, 69 years old, a resident of the La Savanne neighborhood surrounding the school.

The conditions in the shelter compared unfavorably with Haiti’s neighbor Cuba, where authorities spent days organizing teams of volunteers to move residents to safety and secure property.

The storm is expected to make a direct hit later on Tuesday in the province of Guantanamo, the disputed home to a U.S. Naval base and military prison but also a small Cuban city. The U.S. Navy ordered the evacuation of 700 spouses and children of service personnel as the storm approached.

Guantanamo’s mountainous terrain is the country’s second coffee producer after nearby Santiago, and the storm poses a major threat to the current harvest.

The U.S. Agency for International Development said on Monday it was providing a combined $400,000 in aid to Haiti and Jamaica. The agency said in a statement it had pre-positioned relief supplies and was preparing to ship in additional supplies to the central Caribbean.

(Reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva in Port-au-Prince and Maini Brice in Les Cayes; Additional reporting by Sarah Marsh in Cuba and Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Simon Gardner and Bill Trott)

Northern California wildfire forces hundreds to evacuate mountainous area

A firefighter from the Sonoma Valley Fire & Rescue Authority work on a a hotspot during the Rocky Fire near Clearlake, California

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters worked to control a wildfire on Tuesday in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco Bay area that has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate, despite its relatively small size, officials said.

The so-called Loma Fire broke out on Monday afternoon and has scorched more than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the town of Morgan Hill, fire officials said. Firefighters have built containment lines around 5 percent of the blaze.

The fire threatens about 300 homes spread out along a network of rural roads through valleys and hills in the Santa Cruz Mountains, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents, said Captain Brian Oliver of the Moraga-Orinda Fire District.

With temperatures in the area nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), the more than 500 firefighters working to contain the blaze scrambled on Tuesday to protect buildings in the area, officials said.

Oliver said the fire, coming at the height of California’s wildfire season, has the potential to balloon in size.

“A lot of it just depends on what kind of progress they can make before any significant winds come in,” he said by phone.

The blaze has destroyed one structure and damaged another, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Heather Williams.

Fire officials are investigating its cause.

More than 60 miles (96 km) to the south, firefighters on Tuesday continued to make progress against the more than two-month old Soberanes Fire. It was 78 percent contained after scorching more than 127,478 acres (51,589 hectares), mostly in the Los Padres National Forest, and destroying 57 homes and 11 outbuildings, officials said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Alan Crosby)

Wildfires kill 4 people on Portugal’s Madeira, 1000 evacuated

A general view of Sitio de Curral dos Romeiros during the wildfires at Funchal, Madeira island, Portugal,

LISBON (Reuters) – At least four people died and more than a thousand were evacuated on the Portuguese island of Madeira when forest fires, raging for a third day, spread to the regional capital and tourist destination, Funchal, authorities said on Wednesday.

Set off in a summer heatwave and fanned by strong winds, the fires have destroyed about 40 homes and a five-star hotel in the hills above Funchal.

On mainland Portugal, thousands of firefighters were still struggling to control hundreds of forest fires – mainly in the north – that have destroyed homes, shut major motorways for hours, and forced the evacuation of several villages this week.

The fire in Funchal was mostly under control, regional governor Miguel Albuquerque told a televised news conference, but several were still raging across the island.

He said 80 people were in hospital suffering from burns and smoke inhalation, including two in a serious condition.

All those killed and injured by the fires were local residents. One person was missing, Albuquerque said.

More than a thousand residents and tourists were sent to makeshift shelters and army barracks during the night although some had been allowed to return since. Two hospitals in the area were also evacuated.

(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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