OHNOES: If I had your phone number before, I don't anymore. My phone died. Email me your number! <3
Tornado destroys and kills at Boy Scout camp in Iowa.
BLENCOE, Iowa Boy Scouts who came to each others' aid after a tornado that killed four of their comrades and injured 48 people were hailed as heroes Thursday for helping to administer first aid and search for victims buried in their flattened campsite. Labels: boys, disasters, weather
Iowa rescue workers cut through downed branches and dug through debris amid rain and lightning Wednesday night to reach the camp where the 93 boys, ages 13 to 18, had huddled for safety through the twister. They and 25 staff members were attending a weeklong leadership training camp.
Lloyd Roitstein, an executive with the Mid America Council of the Boy Scouts of America, reminded reporters at a news conference Thursday that the Boy Scouts motto is "Be Prepared."
"Last night, the agencies and the scouts were prepared," he said. "They knew what to do, they knew where to go, and they prepared well."
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver praised the boys for "taking care of each other."
The tornado through the scout camp killed three 13-year-olds and one 14-year-old, Roitstein said. A tornado siren went off at the camp, but the scouts had already taken cover before the siren sounded. There was no time to remove them from the isolated retreat, he said.
The boys had been in two groups when the storm hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the Loess Hills. One group managed to take shelter, while the other was out hiking.
Boy Scout officials identified the dead as Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa and Josh Fennen, 13, Sam Thomsen, 13, and Ben Petrzilka, 14, all of Omaha.
At least 42 of the injured remained hospitalized Thursday morning, with everything from cuts and bruises to major head trauma, said Eugene Meyer, Iowa's public safety commissioner.
Three were flown to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa, and a fourth was taken there by ambulance. All were listed in serious condition.
All the scouts and staff were accounted for, Meyer said, adding that searchers were making another pass through the grounds to make sure no one else was injured. The camp was destroyed.
Thomas White, a scout supervisor, said he dug through the wreckage of a collapsed fireplace to reach victims in a building where many scouts were seeking shelter when the twister struck at about 6:35 p.m.
"A bunch of us got together and started undoing the rubble from the fireplace and stuff and waiting for the first responders," White told KMTV in Omaha, Neb. "They were under the tables and stuff and on their knees, but they had no chance."
The nearest tornado siren, in nearby Blencoe, sounded only briefly after the storm cut power to the town, said Russ Lawrenson of the Mondamin Fire Department.
Taylor Willoughby, 13, said several scouts were getting ready to watch a movie when someone screamed that there was a tornado. Everyone hunkered down, he said, and windows shattered.
"It sounded like a jet that was flying by really close," Taylor told NBC's "Today" on Thursday. "I was hoping that we all made it out OK. I was afraid for my life."
Ethan Hession, also 13, said he crawled under a table with his friend.
"I just remember looking over at my friend, and all of a sudden he just says to me, 'Dear God, save us,'" he told "Today." "Then I just closed my eyes and all of a sudden it's (the tornado) gone."
Ethan said the scouts' first-aid training immediately compelled them to act.
"We knew that we need to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We knew we need to apply pressure and gauze. We had first-aid kits, we had everything," he said.
Ethan said one staff member took off his shirt and put it on someone who was bleeding to apply pressure and gauze. Other scouts started digging people out of the rubble, he said.
The injured were taken to Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Alegent Health Clinic in Missouri Valley and Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha.
The 1,800-acre ranch about 40 miles north of Omaha includes hiking trails through narrow valleys and over steep hills, a 15-acre lake and a rifle range.
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Five quick hits
1. Don't eat tomatoes. Apparently they're lethal. Labels: Elf, health news, personal, shotalicious, weather, yaoi
2. It's really fucking hot today. Like makes me feel ill hot.
3. Work manages to suck more every day. How is this possible?
4. Thanks for the comments on my hair. I'm actually growing to like it somewhat. I think a rebleach/redye is still in its future. Perhaps Elf can save it. He used to have blue hair you know.
5. You're running out of time to download Papa to Kiss in the Dark OAV 2 over on shotalicious.org. The next featured video isn't exactly rare, but is a yaoi classic involving corn.
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Photos from last night's tornado.
Labels: local news, weather
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200,000 Chinese (each as unique as the snowflakes stranding them) stuck in a train station.
Driving sleet, freezing temperatures and a blanket of snow across southern China have paralysed trains and aircraft, stranding tens of millions of people trying to get home for the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar. Labels: China, disasters, Elf, weather
The worst weather in 50 years pummelled swaths of central, southern and eastern China as migrant workers and students, business travellers and officials assigned to provincial postings battled for tickets to join their families for the lunar new year holiday.
The human tide strains public transport every year even though the authorities pull dozens of extra trains into service and lay on additional flights to try to cope. With new year's day falling on February 7 this year, the bad weather has swept China just as the number of travellers is reaching its peak.
The China Meteorological Administration issued a red alert warning of more snowstorms and blizzards in central and eastern China, particularly around Shanghai, the country's commercial hub. It placed a notice on the central forecast website that said: Cut unnecessary outdoor activities.
Among the worst-hit cities is southern Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province that borders Hong Kong. The province is one of China's most important manufacturing regions, with thousands of factories making everything from T-shirts to electronics staffed by millions of migrant workers from poorer inland provinces.
Hundreds of thousands of those workers, many with young children, found themselves stranded at the Guangzhou railway station after snowstorms snapped power lines to passenger trains from neighbouring Hunan province, an important hub for trains on the main line between Guangzhou and Beijing.
Officials struggled to control an estimated 200,000 travellers at the station a number expected to swell to 600,000 over the next couple of days. Temporary shelter was being arranged for the migrant workers in schools and conventions centres. Soldiers were deployed to stand guard around the station and police barked orders through bullhorns to try to maintain order.
Notice boards inside the station were a sea of red, showing that almost every train had been cancelled. Radio announcements urged people not to go to the station since most trains had been cancelled and tickets were no longer being sold until new year's day.
Liu Si, who hoped to travel back to the western metropolis of Chongqing, had been stuck at the station for days. The number 1059 train to Chongqing didn't go on the 26th, it didn't go on the 27th and there's no way it's going today on the 28th.
With officials warning that it could take until the end of the week to work through the backlog of passengers, Mr Liu was not optimistic of spending the festival with his family. I've been in Guangdong a decade. I've never spent a Chinese New Year here. This year I might have to. It just won't feel right.
The freakish weather has already affected 67 million people and economic losses so far have been placed at 18.2 billion yuan (£1.3 billion).
Chinese New Year sees the biggest human migration on earth, with an estimated 2.47 billion journeys over the holiday season this year almost double the entire population of 1.3 billion.
More than a dozen airports around the country were closed because of icy conditions, including one of China's busiest airports the Hongqiao hub for domestic flights serving Shanghai.
In a sign of official anxiety that the travel chaos could trigger social unrest, Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local officials to mobilise all possible resource to ensure people get home. He said: More heavy snow is expected. All government departments must prepare for this increasingly grim situation and urgently take action.
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Water woes may spread to theme park industry.
Three popular Six Flags Over Georgia water rides may get shut down this season because of the drought. Labels: local news, weather
A Cobb County Water System official discussed the possible restrictions during a meeting Tuesday with Six Flags officials, according to Six Flags spokeswoman Hela Sheth.
The rides discussed were Skull Island, Splashwater Falls and Thunder River.
"We were informed of the possibility we may not be able to operate those three rides," Sheth said Wednesday.
Cobb officials did not mention any other attractions during the meeting, Sheth said. Cobb officials would only say general scenarios about park restrictions were discussed at the meeting, which was sought by Six Flags representatives.
Officials did not discuss when a decision would be made about whether Six Flags can operate the three rides. The county is looking to the state's Environmental Protection Division for guidance under the drought restrictions imposed in September, according to Cobb spokeswoman Aik Wah Leow.
Six Flags also operates the White Water theme park in Marietta.
Bob Lewis, general manager of Marietta Power & Water, which supplies the water-ride park, said the utility has not had any discussions with Six Flags about whether the park would be affected by the state's drought restrictions on 61 North Georgia counties.
The Six Flags Over Georgia park in southwest Cobb is scheduled to open weekends beginning March 1 and daily on May 23, the start of the Memorial Day weekend.
It is Cobb's eighth-largest employer, employing 2,715 at its peak last year, according to the county's Chamber of Commerce.
Sheth said Six Flags will cooperate with whatever water officials decide.
"We want to be good corporate citizens," she said.
Sheth did not have data Wednesday on how much water the three rides use each day. Each year, about 2 million people visit Six Flags Over Georgia.
The drought has forced local and state officials to put a damper on how metro Atlantans play.
Saying it would take too long for lawns to recover properly after a large event, Atlanta officials announced earlier this month they would not allow events that draw more than 50,000 people on the grass of any city park.
Such events include the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Atlanta Pride Festival and the Peachtree Road Race.
State officials, meanwhile, have banned the filling or topping off of outdoor swimming pools in North Georgia.
Six Flags voluntarily closed Splashwater Falls and Thunder River last September in response to Gov. Sonny Perdue's statewide watering ban.
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More snow! More snow!
ATLANTA -- A winter storm watch was issued for metro Atlanta and much of north Georgia, according to WSB-TV Channel 2 Chief Meteorolgist Glenn Burns. Labels: local news, weather
Some areas could see "waves and waves of snow through lunch time and even into the evening," said Burns.
"What we're dealing with is low temperatures tonight, mainly in the low to mid-30's," Burns said Friday. "The precipitation will likely begin as rain and then quickly change into snow as cold, arctic air plows into it."
Snow could start falling in Georgia early Saturday morning. Burns said he expects Atlanta to stay in the mid-30's for most of the day Saturday. "North of I-85 and 985 and north of I-20 that's where we're going to find all snow at 6 in the morning," said Burns.
Burns said as the day goes on into the noon hour, downtown Atlanta will also be experiencing snow and south of downtown will be getting a wintry mix. Snow is expected to hit the entire metro area, including south of the city, by 5 p.m. Saturday.
Travel problems are possible, especially in the north Georgia mountains.
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Snow outside pixie's house
Labels: local news, weather
EDIT: Sadly the snow ended shortly after nightfall and it's all rain right now at nearly 11pm.
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Snow whitens Deep South
Labels: local news, weather
And thanks to the wonders of Web 2.0, one local television station has hooked up a live chat along side their dopplar radar. You can check that out here.
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Parched Piedmont Park forces changes to huge events, including Pride Weekend
Rain-starved Piedmont Park is off-limits this spring and summer for some of Atlanta's biggest annual events, the city announced Friday morning. Labels: gay news, local news, pride, weather
The Atlanta Dogwood Festival, the Atlanta Pride Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Peachtree Road Race will not be staged on the 185-acre Midtown park's grounds, the toll the grounds would take and the city's outdoor watering ban.
Said Greg Pridgeon, chief of staff for Mayor Shirley Franklin's office, "I know that it is uncomfortable for our festivals and the people who like to attend them, but we don't have another alternative other than to allow the parks to be damaged severely."
The announcement impacts festivals that draw as many as 300,000 visitors all the way down to gatherings of just 75 people.
The decision has left event organizers scrambling for alternatives and new dates:
Atlanta Pride executive director Donna Narducci said her organization hopes to move its three-day event to the Atlanta Civic Center. The date would be moved from June to July 4, Narducci said Friday.
Atlanta Track Club executive director Tracey Russell, organizer of the 38-year-old Peachtree Road Race, said the world's largest 10-kilometer road race will "look a little different" this year but "the race will still go on."
Brian Hill, executive director of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, said this is only the second time the event will take place away from Piedmont park since it started 72 years ago. That was when it was cancelled during World War II.
Hill said the city informed him Wednesday the event, set for April 4-6, would likely have to be moved out of the park. Festival organizers quickly submitted plans for a scaled-down version that would be held only on the park's hard scape mainly sidewalks and parking areas. The city denied the new plan and said the event would not be held in the park.
The festival will go on at another location. Hill said "a handful" of alternate sites were being considered, but would not name them.
The festival, one of Atlanta's oldest, attracts tens of thousands of people to the park each spring to take in hundreds of booths featuring art, food, music and of course dogwood trees.
"We think we can pull this off," Hill said shortly after Friday morning's announcement. "After all, they went around the world in 80 days and that's exactly how long we have."
Sarah Schmitz, a spokeswoman for Turner Classic Movies, sponsor of the popular film series, said in an e-mail that, "We are aware of the announcement and are evaluating options for SOTG (Screen on The Green)."
Organizers for the Jazz Festival, which is operated by the city, could not be reached immediately.
The city itself provided organizers of the four major events with a list of options, including the Atlanta Civic Center, Atlanta Underground, HiFi Buys Amphitheatre and Turner Field, among others.
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Drought continues on in Dixie
ATLANTA -- The commissioner of Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management made a plea for conservation today because of the severe drought that has forced restrictions on 61 counties in north Georgia. Labels: local news, weather
Robert J. Hunter called it a drought "of historic magnitude." He said everyone must come together to protect and conserve limited water resources.
The storage for Atlanta's water supply is Lake Lanier, located north of the city. Hunter said it provides water for one-third of the residents of Georgia.
He said that now there is enough water in Lanier to serve the area for 121 days.
Hunter joined Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin at a news conference at City Hall to urge citizens in Atlanta and the surrounding area to do everything possible to conserve water.
The 61 counties were placed under Drought Restriction Level Four on September 28 by the director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which essentially is a ban on all outdoor watering. Hunter said a level four is called "exceptional, which is beyond extreme."
Both Hunter and Franklin strongly endorsed better use of water in the home, such as having a plumber check for leaks. Franklin said the city is steadily making improvements on an outdated city water system, averaging about 700 repaired leaks a month.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor survey released today shows the drought is getting worse. Basically, the eastern half of Alabama remains under the worst drought conditions on the scale -- that's approximately 58 percent of the state under D-4 condition. All the state is under D-1 status or worse.
61 percent of Tennessee is under D-4 or exceptional condition. In Georgia, 27 percent of that state is under the worse category. Other states under D-4 classification includes parts of Kentucky, North and South Carolina and Virginia.
The long range forecast calls for the drought to persist in much of the region through December.
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No Snow Blow
Stone Mountain Park shut down its snow-making equipment Wednesday, following an avalanche of criticism over plans to use more than a million gallons of water to transform the Memorial Lawn into a winter sledding attraction amid a historic drought. Labels: controversial, local news, weather
Park spokeswoman Christine Parker released a statement Wednesday morning saying the park, in conjunction with the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and DeKalb County, "has made the decision to cease snow making for its new winter attraction, Coca-Cola Snow Mountain, effective at 10 a.m."
"While the park is considered a commercial entity and had all required approvals to develop and open this attraction, we understand the concerns of our local citizens," the statement said. "We will explore all options for how we can continue to bring this snow park to Atlantans."
The move comes after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the park had started making snow Tuesday for the "Coca-Cola Snow Mountain" attraction.
The plan has been to create a 400-foot-long slope of ice and snow that could be used as a sledding and play area. The attraction had been scheduled to open on Nov. 10, prior to the controversy over the water usage involved.
Dozens of readers at ajc.com excoriated the park and Coca-Cola for moving forward with the project at a time when Georgia residents are being asked to stop watering lawns and shrubs, and even to shorten their showers.
Coca-Cola spokeswoman Susan Stribling said Wednesday the company did not demand that Stone Mountain stop making snow, but she said the company endorses the decision.
"We are pleased that Stone Mountain has taken quick action and we support their efforts to address this situation," Stribling said.
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Snow blow.
As northern Georgia suffers through a monumental drought and the toughest water restrictions ever imposed, Stone Mountain is using up to 38 gallons of water a minute for 12 to 18 hours a day for the next month to make snow. Labels: controversial, local news, weather
On the day Gov. Sonny Perdue took the state's water conservation efforts indoors and declared October "Take A Shorter Shower" month, the park was embarking on a whole new way to burn through the state's shrinking supply of H2O.
They started making snow Tuesday in 80 degree weather. It will take more than a million gallons of water to complete the job.
By opening day Nov. 10, working night and day, crews at the park will have built what's billed as Coca-Cola Snow Mountain on the lawn behind Memorial Hall. Where crowds gather during the summer to watch the park's laser show, kids and families will be tubing down a 400-foot-long slope of ice and snow.
It didn't matter Tuesday that the temperature was about 50 degrees above freezing, said Albert Bronander, president of Snow Magic, the company that has partnered with the park to produce the snowy wonderland. The key is to make the snow faster than mother nature can melt it and use lots of water. With machinery that can produce 200 tons of snow a day, that's not a problem, said Bronander, motioning at a 5-foot-tall hill of the slushy white stuff.
At maximum production, the snow maker will use 38 gallons of municipal water a minute. The machinery will operate 18 hours a day. In 30 days, the 1.2 million gallons of water will produce a 2-foot-thick layer of ice to form the slope's base.
Bronander said the park is using water drawn from DeKalb County's water lines instead of pulling it from the park's lake as is the park's golf course because "we want the water to be pure white." The snow-making venture comes at a time when, across town, Six Flags Park last week closed two of its water rides Splashwater Falls and Thunder River in response to the governor's statewide watering ban.
Park marketing manager Ryan Kilpatrick said Tuesday when Six Flags closes for the season at the end of October, its water use will be cut 80 percent. He declined to say how much water the park uses during peak summer season.
Jeff Bollig, spokesman for Lawrence, Kansas-based Golf Course Superintendents Association of America said that the amount of water the park is using a day to produce snow about 41,000 gallons is a fraction of what golf courses in Atlanta use during the average summer day when restrictions aren't in effect, as they are now (courses are limited to watering greens).
"Georgia courses use about 215,000 gallons a day," Bollig said. "But we like to put that into perspective. On the average day, this country uses 408 billion gallons of water. What golf course uses is less than one half of one percent of that." Also, the vast majority 86 percent of golf courses supply their own water instead of taping into municipal drinking water.
Christine Parker, public relations manager for Stone Mountain, said the park is abiding by watering restrictions and doing what it can to conserve. The Coca-Cola Snow Mountain attraction has been in the works for almost a year.
"We've already sold tickets, and we can't just stop," she said. "That would be like a water park just deciding to turn off the faucets."
In his declaration for the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority's waterSmart program, Gov. Perdue said people who take shorter showers can save 3-7 gallons of water per shower. That adds up to more than 2,000 gallons per person over the course of a year or 52 minutes worth of snow making at Stone Mountain.
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Instant hurricane, just add, uh water.
Fastest on record, Humberto sideswipes Texas and heads east dumping mostly nuisance rain. One person did die as the hurricane prepped the area for surprise buttsex. You can read all about it here. Labels: weather
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My name is Tropical Storm Humberto. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
MIAMI (AP) - Tropical Storm Humberto formed Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico, and officials issued warnings for parts of the Texas and Louisiana coasts where heavy rain could cause flooding. Labels: weather
Rain was already falling along the Gulf Coast at 2 p.m. EDT, with Humberto's center still about 70 miles south-southwest of Galveston, Texas, the National Hurricane Center said.
The eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and was expected to move ashore later Wednesday. Forecasters warned of storm surge flooding of 2 feet to 3 feet near where the storm's center makes landfall.
About 5 to 10 inches of rain was expected along the middle and upper Texas coast and in southwestern Louisiana, with some areas getting as much as 15 inches, senior hurricane specialist Jack Beven said.
Humberto formed from a depression that developed Wednesday morning. A depression becomes a named tropical storm when its sustained winds reach 39 mph, and a hurricane when those winds reach 74 mph.
Another tropical depression also formed Wednesday far in the open Atlantic, about 1,130 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. It had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph and was moving west-northwest at about 12 mph. Forecasters said it could become a tropical storm later Wednesday.
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Hurricane Dean about to score direct hit on Jamacia.
Jamaica opened shelters nationwide on Saturday and Cuba declared a ``state of alert'' as the Caribbean's warm waters fueled a strengthening Hurricane Dean, with forecasters predicting the storm could grow to a powerful Category 5. Labels: disasters, international news, weather
Now a Category 4 storm with sustained winds at 150 mph, Dean was expected to pass south of Hispaniola but dump as much as five inches of rain to the two countries on the island -- Haiti and the Dominican Republic -- which are both prone to devastating floods and mudslides.
As dark clouds rolled in from the south and a light rain began to fall, residents of the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, calmly ran errands at stores with fully stocked shelves, despite government advisories about heavy rains and possible flooding.
``Nothing's going to happen here -- a lot of water of nothing else,'' said Pedro Alvajar, 61, as he sat in a doorway selling lottery tickets.
Dean killed three people and devastated banana and sugar crops a day earlier as it crossed small eastern Caribbean islands. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said its winds could surpass 155 mph as it approaches the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico on Monday.
By Thursday, there is a chance Dean could threaten the U.S., though it is expected to lose some strength as it travels over the Yucatan.
NASA shortened the last spacewalk for astronauts aboard the shuttle Endeavour and scaled back the mission, to allow the spacecraft to return to Earth on Tuesday -- a day early -- if the storm appeared to threaten the Houston home of Mission Control.
In Jamaica, which expected to take a direct hit Sunday, tourists including Shante Morgan of Moor Park, Calif., began lining up outside the Montego Bay airport before dawn to book flights out ahead of the storm.
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Heat wave also in Land of Rising Sun
TOKYO (AP) - Japan sizzled through its hottest day on record Thursday as a heat wave claimed at least nine lives and threatened power supplies strained by a recent earthquake, authorities and media reports said.
The mercury hit 105.6 degrees in the western city of Tajimi in the afternoon, breaking a previous national record of 105.4 degrees set in the Meteorological Agency said.
In the Hachioji region of Tokyo, temperatures reached 101.7 degrees, breaking the previous record of 101.3 degrees for August.
Nine people died from heatstroke, including an 84-year-old man and a teenage boy who had been taken to hospital two days ago in Tokyo, Kyodo News agency reported. Three others died from heatstroke Wednesday, it said. Many were hospitalized.
Tokyo Electrical Power Co. warned of a power shortage as people turned up air conditioners.
The company has been firing up old thermal power stations and buying electricity from rivals after a strong earthquake in mid-July ravaged its largest nuclear power reactor, reducing its electricity output by more than 10 percent.
Across the country, vacationers sought refuge indoors at the height of the summer holidays.
Rail tracks were bent out of shape in the sun, and authorities struggled to deal with fire alarms set off by rising temperatures, according to news reports.
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Take that, paradise!!!
Hurricane Flossie weakened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 126 mph (202.7 kph) as it roared toward Hawaii, but it was expected to pass by the islands.
Forecasters earlier Monday had said cooler weather would weaken the storm to a Category 1 hurricane, with sustained wind of at least 74 mph (119 kph), by the time it passes about 90 miles (144.8 kilometers) south of the Big Island of Hawaii late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
But on Monday, forecasters said they now expected a Category 3 hurricane, with little change in strength when it passes the island.
"The intensity has remained stronger than what was originally forecast, but the track has been pretty much right on," said Jim Weyman, the National Weather Service's meteorologist in charge in Honolulu.
The Central Pacific Hurricane Center said Flossie "remains a dangerous hurricane with a clear well-defined eye and good outflow. ... It must be noted that Flossie has been surprisingly resilient to cooler ocean temperatures so far."
The weather service placed the Big Island under a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning. A flash flood watch was also issued for the island through Wednesday, with possible flash flooding in areas.
Governor Linda Lingle signed an emergency disaster proclamation, which authorizes the state to activate the Hawaii National Guard and provides access to emergency money.
At 0000 GMT, Flossie was about 365 miles (587.4 kilometers) southeast of Hilo, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said. It was moving west-northwest at about 15 mph (24.1 kph).
Meteorologists cautioned that even a slight change of course in the unpredictable storm could take it closer to land.
"If Flossie misses us, that's great. But we're still in hurricane season," said Ray Lovell, spokesman for the state Civil Defense Agency.
The last time a hurricane hit Hawaii was in 1992, when Iniki ravaged Kauai, killing six people.
Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The islands get an average of 4.5 tropical cyclones a year; only about one every 15 years is powerful enough to be a hurricane.
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Hot. Hot. Hot.
It's OVER 9000 degrees!!! Labels: /b/, local news, weather
Actually it's only 97 but dayum that's hot. Sure, I do live in Atlanta, GA which is the deep dirty south. Oh, and it is August. But dayum that's hot.
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Complete Town Gone After Torando
Labels: weather
GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) - Searchers went back to work after daylight Sunday, looking for anyone who might have been trapped since a tornado wiped most of this south-central Kansas town off the map.
"At this point, it's still a search and rescue mission," Kansas state trooper Ronald Knoefel said. "We don't want to give up hope."
At least nine people were known dead from the Friday night storm - eight in the Greensburg area and one in a nearby county.
The town remained off limits to its residents Sunday morning. Knoefel said a new storm that went through the area late Saturday blew debris from Friday night's tornado back into the streets.
"We'll let people back in when it's safe," Knoefel said.
That second round of severe weather late Saturday brought another wave of tornadoes across the Plains, with numerous tornadoes reported from South Dakota south into Oklahoma. The National Weather Service said it had reports "well into the double digits" of twisters touching down late Saturday in six southwest Kansas counties.
President Bush declared parts of Kansas a disaster area, freeing up federal money to aid in recovery.
"It's going to take a long time for the community to recover," Bush said Sunday, referring to Greensburg, after attending a morning service at a church in Washington. "And so we'll help in any way we can."
"There's a certain spirit in the Midwest of our country, a pioneer spirit that still exists, and I'm confident this community will be rebuilt," Bush said.
U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius planned to tour the storm-damaged area Sunday.
"We need support," said Greensburg Administrator Steve Hewitt. "We want everybody to know this is a huge catastrophe."
Kansas Adjutant Gen. Tod Bunting told CNN on Sunday that in some places searchers looking for survivors have to deal with rubble that is 20 to 30 feet deep.
"We're not going to rest until we know for sure," he said.
Among the few structures that survived was the Bar H Tavern. It was briefly converted into a morgue. Command operations for rescue efforts were moved into the town's courthouse, which was damaged but also still standing. The massive concrete silos of a grain elevator still towered over what was left of the town.
All the churches were destroyed. Every business on main street was demolished. The town's fire engines were crushed and other crumpled vehicles were thrown around. Tree trunks stood bare, stripped of most of their branches.
The fate of the town's claim to fame - the world's biggest hand dug well - was unknown because it was buried under a mountain of debris; the gift store at the well had disappeared.
For decades, meteorite hunters from throughout the world have been drawn here to hunt for meteorites. The town's extensive meteorite collection, including one weighing 1,000 pound, was one of the casualties of the storm.
"It is very scary right now," said Hewitt, who lost his home in the storm.
Hewitt estimated 95 percent of the town of 1,500 was destroyed and predicted rescue efforts could take days as survivors could be trapped in basements and under rubble.
"This is one of the most devastating tornadoes we have had in Kansas," said U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran.
At a shelter in neighboring Haviland, Cheryll Behm said her home in Greensburg is probably repairable, unlike the rest of the town.
"I am concerned Greensburg never will be built," said Behm, a nurse's aide at the Greensburg hospital. "There is no place to go back to work to. All of Main Street is gone."
Scores of injured people were sent to hospitals as far away as Wichita, 110 miles away.
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Bishonen are gonna have a really *hard* time with this one.
Singer Sheryl Crow has said a ban on using too much toilet paper should be introduced to help the environment. Labels: bizzare news, celebrity non news, controversial, weather
Crow has suggested using "only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required".
The 45-year-old, who made the comments on her website, has just toured the US on a biodiesel-powered bus to raise awareness about climate change.
She teamed up with environmental activist Laurie David for the shows.
The pair targeted 11 university campuses to persuade students to help combat the world's environmental problems.
"I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming," Crow wrote.
"Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating.
"I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting."
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Al Gore is pissed!
It was very fleeting, no doubt, but tonight as I was outside on the patio of The Heretic here in Atlanta, there was indeed snow flurries wisping about.
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Can we name one Yuki? Everyone else is named after him apparently.
DENVER - The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season should be "very active," with nine hurricanes and a good chance that at least one major hurricane will hit the U.S. coast, a top researcher said Tuesday. Labels: weather
Forecaster William Gray said he expects 17 named storms in all this year, five of them major hurricanes with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater. The probability of a major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coast this year: 74 percent, compared with the average of 52 percent over the past century, he said.
Last year, Gray's forecast and government forecasts were higher than what the Atlantic hurricane season produced.
There were 10 named Atlantic storms in 2006 and five hurricanes, two of them major, in what was considered a "near normal" season. None of those hurricanes hit the U.S. Atlantic coast only the 11th time that has occurred since 1945. The
National Hurricane Center in Miami originally reported nine storms, but upgraded one storm after a postseason review.
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New Buttons. New Banner.
Spring brings feisty weather in the United States. Storm chasers are always up for the ultimate rush when they dive into the action. Lightning, hail, torrential downpours, and tornadoes! Stay out of the suck zone! Labels: pixiesticks, weather
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