Natural Disasters

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

In my recent article on the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, I described a monster storm that was one of the worst in history. This gale was also called the Big Blow. It is hard to believe that 11 freighters and 1 barge that sank into the depths of the angry lakes during this four-day fiasco.



Lake Huron was the worst hit with eight shipwrecks. Most of the ships were located in the southern half of the lake. With strong winds blowing from the northwest, bodies of the sailors and pieces of the ship started washing ashore on the Ontario side of Lake Huron.



The locals in Ontario soon discovered which ships sank because the names of the boats were stamped on the life jackets. It must have been a horrible site to see many bodies being washed up on shore. Then there was the gruesome task of trying to identify the bodies.



The most famous shipping disaster on the Great Lakes was the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on November 10th, 1975. It was caught in the heavy snow and wind of a November gale.



Many of these boats were on their last trip of the season before docking over the winter. The forces of nature never gave these boats a chance to reach a safe harbour.

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

Professor Yan Xiao, who is an expert of structural design, has been experimenting with bamboo in construction applications. Not too long ago, he successfully constructed a bamboo truck bridge, the first of its kind in the world.



The day after the earthquake in China, he went to the Sichuan province and then went back to Hunan University to design a prototype of a bamboo house that would be cheap and easy to build.



His house is made out of processed bamboo veneer sheets and is earthquake resistant. It can accommodate a family of four and has provision for a stove or bath plus windows and fans. These modular units are joined by bolts and can be assembled by a crew in four to six hours.



The estimated cost of each house is approximately $50 - $70US. Because bamboo is widely available in China, it is much cheaper to build than the normal relief housing that is made out of lightweight steel.



The bamboo house is much better than tents because it is insulated for heating and residents can lock up their possessions. Bamboo is also fireproof and soundproof. These 240-square foot homes will be able to provide comfortable shelter until permanent houses are rebuilt. With the widespread damage from the earthquake, it may be a long time before people are back in their homes.



The first batch of 20 houses has been donated by Hunan University and is expected to be shipped out soon. After a story was published in the China Press, donations have been coming in for financing the construction of more units.



With the ingenuity of Professor Yan Xiao, homeless people will be able to have decent temporary housing.

Source: Science Daily

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

I’m not a person to keep up with the latest news, unless it’s a natural disaster - of course.

Yesterday, I was walking by the “yellow M” and saw a signs posted all over the place reassuring customers that they are not serving tomato products at the present time. I thought to myself that maybe there was a bad batch distributed in Western Canada. Not until I was looking up a news story for my blog, I saw the saga of the tomatoes with salmonella poisoning. This is an international alert and not limited to my little corner of the world.

Outbreaks have been reported in 17 states and New Mexico and Texas have been hit the hardest. As of May 27, 2008 there have been 167 cases of salmonella poising and 23 people had to be hospitalized. The search for the culprit is difficult because the tainted tomatoes have not been isolated to any specific restaurant or grocery store. The cause of the current outbreak has been identified as a less common type of bacteria called Salmonella Saintpaul.

The most vulnerable people are the elderly, infants and those with weakened immune systems. The symptoms of fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain generally appear within 12 to 72 hours of eating tainted food. Salmonella infections are caused by eating food that has been contaminated by animal feces.

U.S. Investigators have narrowed down the source of tainted tomatoes to Mexico and South and Central Florida.

If it’s not too late this spring, people who are tomato fanatics better start to grow their own because they know where they came from.

Source:

News Daily

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

In my articles about Hurricane Hazel, Hurricane Katrina and the Galveston Hurricane; I mentioned a storm surge. If you watch live hurricane broadcasts on networks such as CNN, you will also hear about storm surge.

What is a Storm Surge?

According to the National Hurricane Center:

It is water that is pushed toward the shore by the force of the winds swirling around the storm. This advancing surge combines with the normal tides to create the hurricane storm tide. It can increase the water level 15 feet or more. In addition, wind driven waves are superimposed on the storm tide. This rise in water level can cause severe flooding in coastal areas especially when the storm tide coincides with the normal high tides.

Why is a Storm Surge Dangerous?

Because much of the United States Atlantic and Gulf coastlines lie less than 10 feet above mean sea level, the danger from storm tides is tremendous.

Why are Some Storm Surges Worse than Others?

The level of surge in a particular area is also determined by the slope of the continental shelf. A shallow slope off the coast will allow a greater surge to inundate coastal communities. A steeper continental shelf will not see as much surge but large breaking waves can still present major problems. Storm tides, waves, and currents in confined harbors can severely damage ships, marinas, and pleasure boats.

Some people think it’s only the wind from hurricanes that does the damage, but the storm surge is just as bad or worse.

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

According to CNN, with the recent killer tornadoes that broke out in the Midwest on May 26th, the death toll is quickly catching up to 1953 where there were 519 deaths recorded. In recent years, the average death rate has been 62. The 2008 death toll is currently the highest since 1998. Scientists predict that 2008 may not be a quiet year for tornadoes.

In a news story from Time on May 27th, scientists dispute the rumor that global warming is causing more tornadoes. If this was true, there would be more twisters in the far north and this is not the case.

Earlier this year, the influence of La Nina which is opposite to El Nino brought in cool air from the Pacific Ocean. This caused a rash of tornadoes in February. For the month of May, scientists believe that the cooler air at high altitudes is colliding with warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.

Meteorologists say that it is much harder to predict tornadoes than hurricanes. Hurricanes start out over the ocean and can be tracked for days. Tornadoes are caused by local weather conditions that can quickly change from day to day. In addition to the short lead-time in detecting tornadoes, the atmospheric conditions must be precise for a tunnel cloud to form.

Another reason for a higher death toll is the increase in people living in mobile homes. In 1970, only 3% lived in mobile homes and now it is 7.6 % with even a higher rate in Tornado Alley and in the Southeast.

We certainly hope that the predictions are not true and 2008 will turn out to be a quieter year for tornadoes.

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

Noises, rumblings and small tremors have been heard from Chaiten along with belches of hot ash and molten rock. Another phenomenon that comes with hot ash is lightning. You can imagine this is quite a sight to see. Since the first eruption on May 2nd 2008, Chaiten has been shooting ash and lahar has been flowing down its slopes.

In the initial eruption, the ash column rose as high as 20 miles but it has reduced by 75% to about 4 miles. The reduction of ash has not mean much because a volcano can change at any time. There was a sizeable eruption on May 7th which was 5 days after the first eruption.

Four days after the initial eruption, 4000 people were evacuated from the towns of Chaiten and Futaleufo. In fact, anybody within a 30 mile radius of Chaiten has been forced to leave. Not only is there a danger of lava and noxious gases, the flow of rock and mud (lahar) are a concern. This has already happened at Chaiten where it caused the flooding of the rivers in the area.

CU-Boulder geological sciences department Professor Charles Stern has concerns about Chaiten. He compares Chaiten to Pompeii where Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. and all residents were buried alive by volcanic material. Thank goodness there has been a mass evacuation. There have been no deaths reported.

The flood waters have receded but deposits of mud, ash and debris remain. The area around Chaiten has been declared off limits for the next three months. With the recent tremors and noises at Chaiten, we will have to see if this period will be extended.

Chile's National Emergency Office, ONEMI is very concerned and is closely monitoring the activity at Chaiten.

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale has caused extensive damage and loss of life especially in the Sichuan province of China.

The epicenter was located was located 60 miles northwest of Chenqdu which is a large city of 3.75 million people. It struck shortly before 2.30 pm local time and according to the USGS, the quake was at depth of approximately 5 miles.

The current report from the official Xinhua News Agency says 8,533 people have died in Sichuan province and more than 200 others were killed in three other provinces. The news agency also reported that 80% percent of the buildings collapsed in Sichuan province's Beichuan County after the quake. The death toll should increase because rescue efforts are still underway.

Because children were still at class, there will be many deaths concentrated in schools. There has been confirmation of 900 deaths in a high school that collapsed in Dujiangyan. This same disaster, a toxic chemical leak occurred. There were additional deaths and injuries when two primary schools were destroyed in Chongqing.

In other reports, a chemical plant in Shifang city has caved in resulting in the burial of hundreds of people and spilling more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia.

In Beijing, the earthquake did not damage any of the Olympic venues that have been built for the upcoming Summer Olympics.

In 2003, the last serious earthquake struck China. It was a 6.8 magnitude earthquake and it killed 268 people in Bachu County. The most deadly earthquake in China was in Tangshan on July 1976 where 240,000 people were killed.

The earthquake was felt throughout Southeast Asia including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Hanoi and Taipei.

This is not the final death toll and updated reports are expected.

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

When writing my article on the Top Ten U.S. Natural Disasters, I realized that ignorance or greed played a role in some of the worst disasters that occurred in America.

The city of Galveston is an island on the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. The city officials knew that Galveston needed a breakwater for protection. They didn’t build one and huge waves during the Galveston Hurricane submerged the city.

New Orleans was in need of reinforcing their levees. They didn’t do it and the levees easily broke when Hurricane Katrina hit and flooded 80% of the city.

The Johnstown flood was caused by man. Some big investors from New York City decided to enlarge the lake in order to create a resort for wealthy families. They had to make the South Fork Dam higher but they used weak material like mud, straw and rocks. In addition, they closed up the vents used for spillways. After a few days of heavy rain, the new part of the dam easily gave way.

The Dust Bowl in the 1930s could have been averted if farmers wouldn’t have plowed up all their land. They cut down trees and left very little of the natural grass that keeps the soil intact. A severe drought caused the topsoil to blow away.

In the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, many parts of the city were bulldozed. The debris was dumped into the bay and new buildings were constructed on top of this landfill. This soil was very unstable and when the next big earthquake hit San Francisco in 1989, these buildings in the Marina District crumbled.

Let’s hope that man has learned his lesson from these past mistakes.

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

According to Science Daily, scientists at the Colorado State University forecast team have amended their early season hurricane forecast. Their findings were announced at the Bahamas Weather Conference held on April 10th 2008.

Their predictions are based on conditions in the Atlantic Ocean and here are their findings which support their prediction of an active season.

• The Atlantic sea surface temperature continues to remain warm due to a positive phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO).
• A weather condition known as the Azores High is predicted to produce weak trade winds this year.
• Weak La Nina conditions are predicted for the Pacific which calls for warmer than normal weather.

These factors are similar to what occurred in active seasons in the past. Higher than normal warm water and warm air creates the perfect conditions for increased hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin.

The 2005 season was 275% above normal and scientists predict the 2008 season will be 160% above average.

Here are their other predictions:

• 69% chance of one major hurricane making landfall in the U.S.
• 45% chance of a hurricane making it’s landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida peninsula
• 44% change of a hurricane making landfall on the Gulf of Mexico

The Prediction Team will issue further forecasts on June 3, Aug. 5, Sept. 2 and Oct. 1.

More details on their forecast can be found at the Colorado State website.

Posted by Maureen K. Fleury

Hurricanes that hit North America are formed in the Atlantic along the coast of Africa and then move westward across the ocean. The waters have to be very warm in order for a storm to form. The hurricane season in North America is during the winter months because the sun is closer to the Southern Hemisphere.

Meteorologists keep a watchful eye for any storm forming in that area. At least we know in advance when a potential hurricane is forming.

The last two Atlantic hurricane seasons have been non-events compared to 2004 and 2005 when we saw the destruction of Charlie and Katrina and a host of others. It seemed for a while that I was watching the hurricane broadcasts on CNN almost every two weeks.

Why are some hurricane seasons worse than others?

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) have found an interesting correlation. In years when there is an increase of dust storms in Africa, there is a reduction of hurricanes.

These dust storms travel off the continent of Africa and westward out to the Atlantic where they cause a dense cover over the water. If the water is not getting full sun, then it will not warm up to the point where a storm is formed. Just one dust storm will not prevent warming but there has to be a series.

So as long as the dust blows in Africa, the winds won’t blow in North America.

Story Source: Science Daily