Tag Archives: Evacuations

New evacuations around fire-struck Fort McMurray in energy heartland

Residents of Fort McMurray assemble in Conklin, Alta. after their city of 62,000 was evacuated due to raging wildfires

By Rod Nickel

ANZAC, Alberta (Reuters) – A massive wildfire near Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, that has grown to five times its initial size has spread south, forcing more evacuations on Thursday after 88,000 people fled the city in the nation’s energy heartland.

The weather forecast has called for cooler temperatures and possible rain, offering hope that controlling the blaze could become easier.Map of the Fort McMurray fire – (http://tmsnrt.rs/1TtvIOD)

Late Wednesday, flames fanned south from Fort McMurray, the main city in Canada’s oil sands region. Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for the Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates and Fort McMurray First Nation communities, located about 50 km (31 miles) south of the battered city.

Officials on the scene were forced to evacuate a make-shift emergency operations center for the second time in less than a day.

Authorities said there had been no known casualties from the blaze itself, but fatalities were reported in at least one vehicle crash along the evacuation route.

Thousands bunked down for the night on Wednesday in arenas, hockey rinks and oil work camps that were often short of fuel and food.

Fire also threatened the airport, and web cam images showed black smoke engulfing the area late Wednesday evening. Officials confirmed that a hotel north of the main terminal had caught fire, but as the sun rose on Thursday new images of the airport showed no obvious damage.

Major oil sands facilities were not in the path of the flames, but companies’ efforts to help employees and evacuees and protect pipelines affected production and helped boost the price of crude.

Austrian consultancy JBC Energy estimated that some 500,000 barrels per day of capacity was offline. [O/R]

Hot, dry, windy weather has made the massive wildfire all but impossible to control. The entire city of Fort McMurray was ordered to evacuate on Tuesday, and some 1,600 structures have been destroyed, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said on Wednesday.

Temperatures hit 31 degrees Celsius (88°F) on Wednesday. But on Thursday morning, Environment Canada forecast a high of 19 degrees Celsius (66°F) with a 30 percent chance of rain. The average high in the area is 15 degrees Celsius.

A government forecast map of potential fire intensity still showed some areas around Fort McMurray at class 6, the highest level.

In the early hours of the evacuation on Tuesday, fire blocked the only route south to major cities, so thousands of evacuees drove north, where there are oil sands facilities but few major settlements, and no route out except back through the burning city.

Late Wednesday, the regional government fielded questions on Twitter from frightened evacuees north of the city, asking when they would be able to drive south, and whether areas north of the city were safe.

“We haven’t forgotten about you and you’re safe,” said the government on Twitter.

(Reporting by Ethan Lou and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Aftershocks bring Misery for Japan

Yuji Maeda cries as he watches search and rescue operation at a site where houses collapsed due to a landslide caused by an earthquake in Minamiaso town

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) – Aftershocks rattled survivors of deadly Japanese earthquakes on Wednesday, nearly a week after the first one struck, as the area braced for heavy rain and the possibility of more landslides.

Rescuers using backhoes and shovels to dig through crumpled houses swept away in a landslide found a woman’s body, one of several people still missing. Another death was confirmed later in the day, taking the toll to 48.

Hundreds of people in the Kumamoto area of southwestern Japan spent another night in their cars, afraid to return to damaged houses.

Medical experts warned of the danger of potentially fatal blood clots from sitting too long in cramped conditions after a 51-year-old woman died and at least 12 people were hospitalized.

Eleven people appear to have died of illnesses related to their prolonged stay in evacuation centers, NHK national television said. The first quake hit late last Thursday and the largest, at magnitude 7.3, some 27 hours later.

“I keep thinking the earthquakes will stop, but they just go on and on,” one woman at an evacuation center in Mashiki, one of the worst-hit areas, told NHK.

“It’s really scary.”

Of more than 680 aftershocks hitting Kyushu island since April 14, more than 89 have registered at magnitude 4 or more on Japan’s intensity scale, strong enough to shake buildings.

An earthquake of 5.8 magnitude struck off Japan’s northeast coast on Wednesday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning, nor were there any reports of damage or casualties.

The agency gave an initial magnitude of 6.1 for the quake that was centered 104 km (about 60 miles) southeast of Sendai, Honshu, near where a devastating quake and tsunami struck in March 2011, killing about 20,000 people.

On Kyushu, nearly 100,000 people were in evacuation centers, some huddling in blankets outside as night temperatures fell as low as 8 Celsius (46 Fahrenheit).

Heavy rain is expected over the area, raising fear that slopes weakened by the quakes could collapse.

Authorities have begun condemning buildings and other structures deemed unsafe. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of buildings collapsed, many brought down by their heavy roofs of traditional tiles.

Though public buildings must abide by stringent safety standards, the law is lax for private homes.

“When a big earthquake hits, structures may sustain damage that’s impossible to fix if there’s another quake within days,” said Akira Wada, professor emeritus at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Most of those who were killed had returned to their homes after the first quake.

(Additional reporting by Kwiyeon Ha; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Death Toll Rises as Floodwaters Continue to Plague Missouri, Other States

Large portions of the central United States remained under flood warnings on Thursday morning as high waters continued to wreak havoc on dozens of riverside communities.

The National Weather Service issued the warnings for significant swaths of Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, where floodwaters reached historic levels following a powerful winter storm, but also issued isolated flood warnings throughout the southeast. The service also issued flash flooding watches in large portions of Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

While floodwaters began to recede in many locations, particularly around hard-hit greater St. Louis, they remained at critically high levels. The National Weather Service warned that towns and cities further south along the Mississippi River could experience “significant river flooding” into mid-January as the massive amounts of water flowed downstream, according to its website.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that 365 river gauges remained at flood stages on Thursday, 44 of which were at “major flooding” levels. The river gauges don’t always consider lakes, creeks or streams, many of which also breached their banks.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, who declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard in the wake of the flooding, said the floods are responsible for killing 14 people in the state, according to a news release from his office. The Missouri Department of Transportation said at least 200 roads were submerged statewide early Thursday, according to a news release.

A busy 21-mile stretch of Interstate 44 remained closed near St.Louis, and the statement from Nixon’s office indicated it was the first time floodwaters shut down the road since 1982.

The Meramec River in Valley Park, Missouri, near St. Louis, crested at a record level of 44.11 feet early Thursday, according to the NOAA, which was more than four feet above a 33-year-old record and only the second time the river reached 38 feet in the past century. The river receded slightly to 43.57 feet later Thursday, the NOAA said, but that was still 27 feet above flood stage.

The community ordered those in low-lying areas to evacuate as the waters surged toward historic heights, according to a posting on its Facebook page. The city is protected by a levee, the posting indicates, but there was still “significant flooding” in several portions of the city.

The Meramec River flooding also damaged “hundreds of homes and businesses” in Pacific, Missouri, according to the governor’s office. The city, located upstream from Valley Park, crested just shy of its all-time record, the NOAA said, but that was still 18 feet above flood stage.

As the waters departed Valley Park and Pacific, they arrived further downstream.

NOAA data indicates the Meramec River in Arnold climbed to an all-time high of 47.22 feet on Thursday morning, nearly two feet above the record and roughly 23 feet above flood stage. The city recommended people evacuate because of the danger to residences, according to its website.

The Meramec flows into the Mississippi River, and communities downstream were expected to see waters rise further. In Chester, Illinois, the NOAA said waters were already at 44.26 feet on Thursday, 17 feet above flood stage and its second-highest level ever, and forecasts called for another 3-foot rise this week. Several roads in the city were already closed, its website indicates.

“This historic flooding event will continue to cause significant hazards and disruptions – from Missourians being forced from their homes, to businesses temporarily closing, to traffic congestion and impacts on interstate commerce due to the closure of a major trucking corridor,” Nixon said in a statement. “I thank the many Missourians who are assisting their neighbors by providing rooms in their homes, helping with sandbagging efforts and countless other acts of kindness.”

Missouri wasn’t the only state affected by the extreme weather.

The storm dumped snow, ice and rain throughout Oklahoma, prompting Governor Mary Fallin to extend a state of emergency. The state Department of Emergency Management reported Wednesday evening that five people lost their lives and another 104 were injured in the storm.

Earlier this week, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner said “significant issues related to flooding” had occurred in seven counties and he issued a disaster proclamation for those areas, according to a news release from his office.

State of Disaster Declared, Evacuations in Texas Fire

With no rain in sight for relief, a massive, spreading fire has already destroyed over 4,000 acres of land and nine homes.  Hundreds of people have been evacuated as dozens more homes are threatened. The fire was only 15% Thursday morning and has prompted Governor Greg Abbott to declare a state of disaster for Bastrop County.  

A shift in wind direction Wednesday sent the smoke plume from that fire into Austin, the state’s capital, about 30 miles away.  

“We haven’t gained the kind of ground we wanted to throughout the day,” said Bastrop County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Fisher “We haven’t lost any more assets. In fact, we keep saving assets. I think we’ll be out for several more days.”

The high in Austin reached 96 on Wednesday, breaking the daily record and establishing an all-time record for the hottest reading so late in the year. Previously, the latest date of a temperature at or above 96 degrees was Oct. 13 in 1991. Monday brought a high of 99, which topped any temperature ever recorded on or after Oct. 12 in Austin.

As winds are picking up in the central portion of the United States officials are expecting more fires to begin due to the lack of moisture on the ground and extremely low dew points in the air.

Red flag warnings are up now in portions of South Dakota and Iowa as well as Texas.  A red flag warning means that conditions are right for fire to start and spread easily.

 

California Hit With Earthquake As Battles With Wildfires Continues

As if firefighters weren’t already having enough trouble trying to stop a deadly wildfire that has roared through parts of Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties in California, now they have to deal with earthquakes.

A magnitude 3.2 quake struck in Lake County early Tuesday morning.  The quake caused no significant damage to buildings in the region already threatened by the massive fire.

Officials said that the fires have claimed the life of one woman and has left four firefighters hospitalized.  Over 11,000 firefighters are now on the scene of a dozen wildfires in the state.

Cal Fire said the Valley fire that killed a woman had destroyed 585 homes and hundreds of other buildings.  The fire that began Saturday also caused a number of propane tanks to explode in the town of Middletown.

“This was a very destructive fire,” Cal Fire public information officer Daniel Berlant said Tuesday.

That fire burned 67,200 acres near Sacramento.  Another fire in the same area burned 71,780 acres and was only 40 percent contained.

Light rain has been helping fight some of the flames.  However, the rain has also caused problems with flooding in other areas.

Los Angeles received over an inch and a half of rain in a downpour which caused the Los Angeles River to flood. Several people had to be rescued from the rushing water.

Typhoon Goni Hammers Japan

Typhoon Goni has slammed into Japan with wind gusts topping 112 m.p.h. and has left as many as 26 people dead and over 100 injured.

Officials in Japan urged more than 600,000 people to flee their homes and to seek shelter.

The storm made landfall around 6 a.m. in Kumamoto prefecture.  The storm then crossed over one of the country’s four main islands before heading into the sea of Japan and striking North and South Korea.

The storm essentially paralyzed the country, with air and rail service suspended during the course of the storm.  Over 470,000 homes were without power at one point during the storm’s crossing of the nation.

Officials say at least one man is confirmed missing and presumed dead in a landslide caused by the torrential rain.  The city of Hiroshima ordered the evacuation of 70,000 because of potential landslides.

The storm had previously left 26 dead in the Philippines with 15 still reported as missing.  Thousands of homes were destroyed and hundreds of thousands have been left with no shelter because of storm damage.

The typhoon is beginning to break up as the eye has collapsed but heavy rain is still pouring into North and South Korea.  North Korean officials say that at least 40 people have died because of storm related flooding and over 1,000 homes have been damaged.