Tag Archives: State of Emergency

Pacific Northwest Storms Claim Another Life, More Rain on the Way

The devastating rainstorms that have caused flooding, mudslides and power outages throughout the Pacific Northwest claimed another life on Wednesday, according to a published report.

The Oregonian reported an elderly woman drowned in Clatskanie, Oregon, when a man she was traveling with drove a car into high water. The man was able to escape, but the woman was not.

It was the second death caused by the storm, which also brought high winds to the region.

The Oregonian previously reported the storm sent a 30-inch diameter tree crashing into a house in Portland early Wednesday morning, pinning a 60-year-old woman in her bed. She was killed.

The National Weather Service reported that more than seven inches of rain fell in parts of Oregon and more than five inches of rain fell in parts of Washington between 4 p.m. local time Monday and 6 a.m. local time Thursday. Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency after landslides closed major highways, rain led to “widespread flooding of roadways, homes and property,” and high winds left thousands without power, he said in a statement.

The storm is the latest in a line of storms to pass through the Pacific Northwest dating back to the end of last month. Inslee said the state of emergency covers all storms since Nov. 30.

The National Weather Service issued storm warnings off the Washington and Oregon coasts, as forecasts called for additional storms to arrive Thursday and this weekend. The Weather Channel reported the new storms would bring additional rain and wind, as well as snow in higher elevations. That could spur further landslides or flooding, particularly in coastal areas.

The National Weather Service reported that Thursday morning’s rainfall pushed Seattle-Tacoma International Airport over six inches in the first 10 days of December, a new record. Previously, the fastest the airport reached six inches in the month was 14 days, set in 1946 and tied in 2010.

The arrival of more rain wasn’t good news for residents who were already experiencing flooding.

At least 17 river gauges in Washington and Oregon were still in flood stage Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. “Major flooding” was reported in the Washington cities of Snohomish, located northeast of Seattle, and Potlatch, which is northwest of Olympia. Flood warnings remained in effect for parts of Washington, largely around the Puget Sound.

More than 21,000 Puget Sound Energy customers in Washington were without power Thursday morning, the company said. Portland General Electric also reported some scattered outages.

The storm led to dozens of road closures in both Washington and Oregon. Culprits included mudslides, sinkholes rockslides and flooding. Some of the repairs were expected to be lengthy.

In Portland, the rainfall caused the city’s sewer system to overflow into two local waterways on Monday morning. The city’s Bureau of Environmental Services continued to advise residents to avoid parts of the Willamette River on Thursday morning “because of increased bacteria.”

A Teacher at a Jewish School Stabbed in France by ISIS Supporters

On Wednesday night, a teacher at a Jewish school in the southern French city of Marseille was stabbed by three people who yelled anti-Semitic and pro-ISIS obscenities. The teacher survived the attack.

Reuters reports that the three attackers were on two scooters and approached the man in the street. One of them wore an Islamic State t-shirt while another showed pictures of Mohamed Merah – a man who killed 7 people in France in 2012 before being shot by police – on his phone to the victim. They stabbed the teacher three times in the arm and leg.

“The three people insulted, threatened and then stabbed their victim in the arm and leg. They were interrupted by the arrival of a car and fled,” Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin told Reuters.

BBC News reports that police are looking for the attackers.

Since the attacks in Paris last Friday that led to the deaths of 129 people, France has been in a state of emergency.

Dangerous Joaquin Now a Category 4 Hurricane

Hurricane Joaquin intensified to an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm Thursday afternoon, and continues to hammer the central Bahamas with hurricane-force winds, storm surge flooding and torrential rain.

The most severe flooding reported so far was on Acklins island, where power went off overnight and phones were down. Some of the roughly 565 people who live there were trapped in their homes. Capt. Stephen Russell, the director of the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency.Russell said.

Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey were the latest to declare a state of emergency, warning residents that the severe weather already predicted could be significantly worse if Joaquin veers northwestward. East coast states are alerting residents to prepare as potentially historic rainfall and flooding is set to create havoc into the weekend whether or not Hurricane Joaquin makes U.S. Landfall.  

With the Category 4 hurricane passing close to the islands at a relatively slow speed, a catastrophic situation may unfold there with a prolonged period of intense hurricane conditions. Intense flooding and storm surge is expected to continue.  

Los Angeles Declares Homeless Situation an Emergency

Los Angeles’ elected leaders on Tuesday said they would declare a “state of emergency” and devote up to $100 million to a growing homeless population problem. But they offered few details about where the money would come from or how it would be spent, leaving some to question the effort’s chances of success.

“We all understand the urgency that this situation requires, and what is at stake,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “I applaud the Los Angeles City Council for their action today in earmarking a necessary initial investment that helps launch my comprehensive plan to tackle homelessness.”

According to figures released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, homelessness has increased 12% since the mayor took office two years ago.

“It’s time to get real, because this is literally a matter of life and death,” said Councilman Mike Bonin, whose Westside district is home to many of the makeshift sidewalk encampments that are an increasingly glaring symbol of the problem across the city. He spoke of a “collective failure of every level of government to deal with what has been a homeless crisis for generations and is exploding and exacerbating now.”

Los Angeles has one of the largest unsheltered populations in the country, and more than an estimated 25,000 homeless residents.

Locust Plague Threatens Parts of Southern Russia

A plague of locusts has struck large areas of southern Russia, threatening to destroy crops and even darkening skies in some places.

A video shot in the town of Achikulak showed tens of thousands of locusts flying through the sky and blanketing the ground.

The regional agriculture ministry for the Stavropol region said the waves of locusts began to invade the region around July 20th.  The government officials claim that they have locusts every year but they’re usually destroyed before they hatch.

Vasilli Yegorov, deputy agricultural minister, told ABC News that this year the locust came from neighboring regions.

The region is one of Russia’s major agricultural areas.

A state of emergency has been declared in three regions near Stavropol.  The locusts have been found from Chechnya to the Caspian Sea.  In one part of Stavropol, one effort to eradicate the locusts covered over 350 miles.

Nebraska Declares State of Emergency Due To Bird Flu

Nebraska’s governor has declared a state of emergency because of a bird flu strain that has contributed to the termination of 33 million birds in 16 states.

Governor Pete Ricketts declared the state of emergency on Thursday after federal officials said a second farm in the state had tested positive for the avian flu virus.  The declaration is the fourth by governors after Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

The action by the governor would allow emergency funds to be release to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and other state agencies tasked with stopping the spread of the flu virus.

Experts say the H5 strains post little threat to human health but are on the verge of record levels in the U.S.

“Having a second farm in Nebraska confirmed to have HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is unfortunate but not completely unexpected,” said Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Greg Ibach.  “This follows the pattern we’ve seen in other states when it comes to the spread of the virus.”

Ibach said that 1.8 million birds will be destroyed.  The state’s first case resulted in the destruction of 1.7 million.

Minnesota Declares State of Emergency Over Bird Flu

Minnesota has declared a state of emergency because of a strain of avian flu that has led to the elimination of 7.3 million birds.  It’s the second state to declare the emergency over the bird flu following Wisconsin.

The highly infectious strain of H5N2 bird flu has been found in 46 different Minnesota farms in 16 counties.  The disease has hit around 2.6 million birds.

State health officials are rushing doses of Tamiflu to farm workers or anyone else who has been in contact with the infected birds.  As of April 24th, no humans have been confirmed to have been infected with the H5N2 strain.

“There’s no reason for anybody in the state of Minnesota to be concerned about their own health,” Governor Mark Dayton said at a press conference on Thursday after declaring the state of emergency.

The H5N2 strain is so deadly to birds that an entirely infected flock will die within 48 hours.

Two bird flu strains have been discovered in the United States this year. The H5N2 strain is in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. It has also been identified on farms in Ontario, Canada.  The other strain, H5N8, was found in California and Idaho.

The top U.S. egg producing state, Iowa, reported the virus in a farm that has 3.8 million hens.

National Guard Called In To Ferguson Area

Missouri’s governor is preparing for violence in the wake of the release of a grand jury’s decision on the Michael Brown case by deploying the National Guard and declaring a State of Emergency.

Governor Jay Nixon said the troops would only play “a backup role to police” in response to protesters breaking the law if they are dissatisfied with the grand jury’s actions.

Police in Ferguson had been criticized for their response to the violent protests following the death of Brown because some felt they acted in a too “militarized” manner.

St. Louis aldermen were upset about the declaration of the governor.

“The National Guard is called in when policing has failed. Military presence in my city will mark a historic failure on the part of (government),” Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman, said on Twitter. “This is not a war. There is no military solution.”

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said the city’s police force will handle any issues and that they will wear normal police attire unless “conditions become violent.”

Toledo Water Too Toxic To Drink For Two Days

Residents of Ohio’s fourth-largest city endured a weekend when the water coming from their taps was nothing but toxic trouble.

Officials with Toledo, Ohio announced early Saturday morning that the 400,000 residents of the city needed to avoid drinking, bathing or cooking with the water because of the amount of toxin in the water from an algae bloom in Lake Erie.  The city obtains its water from a pipe two and a half miles into the lake.

Mayor D. Michael Collins announced the ban just after 3 a.m. Saturday.  He said an algae bloom that normally does not move into the area of the water intake at this time of year was pulled in because of high winds and waves.  A satellite image of the lake showed the algae bloom centered right around the water intake.

The Ohio National Guard brought filtration systems and large shipments of bottled water into Toledo for residents. Governor John Kasich declared a state of emergency that ended Monday morning when the water was determined to have a safe level of algae related toxin.

Water plant operators along western Lake Erie have been concerned about the amounts of phosphorus going into the lake for years.  They have been able to compensate for blooms in past years but this year’s early blooming was unexpected.

The city was dealing with reports of price gouging.  One Toledo television station found a discount store selling bottled water at twice the normal price.

Tornadic Storms Kill 11 On Second Day

A tornadic storm system that killed 18 people across Arkansas, Oklahoma and Iowa Sunday killed an additional 11 people in the deep south on Monday.

Officials say that the storm also left tens of thousands without power from Kentucky through Georgia.

Massive damage was reported in Tupelo, Mississippi when a twister carved a two-mile long path that destroyed all the buildings in its path.  Officials estimate the tornado was likely an EF-3 but final determinations will have to be made by the National Weather Service.

Another twister struck Louisville, MS, 90 miles northeast of Jackson, MS.  The Winston Medical Center in the city sustained tornado damage and patients in the area have to be triaged on the ground.

States of emergency were put in place for Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.