Archive | January 9, 2015
Hurricane-force winds of 113mph batters Scotland, UK
Up to 85,000 homes in Scotland are left without power as heavy winds from an Atlantic jet stream batter parts of Britain.
Hurricane-force winds have brought gusts of around 110mph to Scotland as extreme weather from across the Atlantic reached Britain.
A gust of 113mph was recorded at Stornoway, the strongest there since records began in 1970.
The ferocious gales have been stirred up by an extra-powerful jet stream triggered by plunging temperatures in the US hitting warmer air in the south.
The winds brought down power lines and caused travel disruption.
Sky News’ North of England Correspondent Becky Johnson reported: “A group of salmon farmers in Oban Bay abandoned plans to go out fishing, saying safety had to come before business.
“Many ferries on routes out of Oban were cancelled, with local skipper Brendan McGuckin telling Sky News: ‘Not many passengers would want to travel anyway when the water’s like this.'”
She added: “Businesses round the bay had sandbags lining their doors as waves lapped over the harbour wall at high tide.”
Hundreds of engineers throughout Scotland battled the strong winds to repair power lines as up to 85,000 properties were left without power.
ScotRail suspended some of its rail services “for safety reasons” as Network Rail staff went out to inspect the tracks.
The Forth Road Bridge was closed for some hours when a van blew over and Aberdeen Police said a number of trees had been blown down on Aberdeenshire and Moray roads.
Police in Inverness said several roads and bridges, including the Skye Bridge and Dornoch Bridge, had been closed in northern Scotland and travel conditions in the Highlands and Islands were “hazardous”.
The winds followed Met Office amber warnings for northern and central Scotland, where flood warns were also in place.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland were included in Met Office yellow “be prepared” warnings.
The bad weather led to delays to CrossCountry trains running between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Newcastle, while in Kent a broken-down train at Westgate-On-Sea caused hold-ups to services between Margate and Chatham.
Lashing rain is expected to continue along the west coast and over the weekend as a second storm is predicted to bring more gale-force winds on Saturday.
Forecasters say conditions could rival the weather that battered parts of southern England at the end of 2013.
The current storm brought travel disruption to the Irish Republic with Dublin airport suspending arrivals and departures on Thursday night, and one flight being forced to abort its landing.
Courtesy of Sky News
Landslide shuts down Highway 97 in Beauty Bay, Idaho, USA
State Highway 97 is expected to open late Thursday afternoon after landslide sent boulders and dirt crashing down onto the roadway, shutting it down for most of the day. The landslide happened around 9 a.m. in the Beauty Bay area.
Courtesy of Topix
Severe rainfall causes flooding and landslides in Surigao del Sur, Philippines
FLOODED AIRPORT. Continuous rain floods the Tandag airport grounds. Photo by Jofel Perez Patrimonio/Tandag City LGU
Classes and work were suspended in several towns in Surigao del Sur on Friday, January 9, after continuous rain caused flooding and landslides in the province.
Tandag City Mayor Roxanne Pimentel suspended classes in the elementary level, both in public and private educational institutions on Friday morning, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-Surigao del Sur said.
Pimentel also declared work suspension in government and private institutions as the rain caused flooding in the city including at the Tandag Airport.
The Surigao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said classes in all levels were suspended in Cortes town and in the elementary level in Madrid town.
The local government of San Miguel town suspended classes on all levels while elementary and high school classes were also suspended in the towns of Lanuza and San Cantilan.
Low-lying villages including the poblacion area in San Miguel town are now flooded after the Tago River overflowed because of the heavy rain, the PIA said.
As the bad weather continues to bring heavy rain to the province, the national highway between Tandag City and Cortes town were declared impassable after landslides occured in the villages of Matho and Balibadon, Surigao del Sur PDRRMO Abel de Guzman said.
As of posting, the road between Lanuza and Cortez town is not accessible after a series of landslides – 4 in all – hit the area.
Government responders are now in the area to clear the road from the debris caused by the landslide.
No casualty has been reported as of posting.
Courtesy of Rappler
Huge landslide kills at least two people with many still missing in the Peruvian Amazon
A landslide in the Peruvian Amazon killed at least two people, while three remain missing.
A huge block of stones and mud broke off from a hill and fell on a group of workers cleaning a rural dirt road in the Huanuco region, around 484 kilometres from the Peruvian capital Lima. Peruvian police and rescue workers are still searching for survivors.
Villagers interviewed by local media said more people are feared to be buried beneath the landslide.
Courtesy of Independent TV Network News
Landslide search recovers four bodies in Kachin State, Myanmar
Four bodies were recovered in the search following a landslide at a jade mine in Kachin State as of yesterday evening, according to Than Shwe, a local village leader.
“We can confirm that we found four dead bodies following the incident. Two of the deceased are from Sittwe, one was from Kyauktaw and one from Twente. No one has reported missing people yet. The women working in the jade extracting areas were hawkers. When the incident occurred, about 20 people were working in those areas. We have already informed the respective townships to report missing people,” he said.
“The dug land-pile was 1200 feet long, 30 feet wide and 500 feet high, and it was still soft at the bottom. It broke down due to wet weather,” he said.
The victims were 20-year old Nay Lin (male), 23-year old Myo Naing (male), 21-year old Kyi Pyar (female) and 35-year old Sein Htay (female).
Those who escaped from the incident claimed that there could be more bodies trapped underground because the landslide area was large.
According to reports of the Phakant Police Station, total of 23 landslide cases were recorded in the area in 2013,19 of which occurred from January to August of last year, resulting in 33 total deaths.
The main causes of landslides in Kachin State are triggers by experienced workers, many of whom are immigrants, and bad weather.
Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar
Landslide and heavy snow hits Keda, Georgia
Landslide hit highly-elevated Keda district of Adjara region. Traffic movement has been restored for the time being.
The movement was restricted at Batumi-Akhaltsikhe section during several hours. Road cleaning works with heavy vehicles lasted during last night.
Courtesy of 1tv
Cyclone expected to develop off Queensland coast this weekend
The first cyclone of the season could develop off Queensland this weekend.
One of two weak lows, one south of Papua New Guinea and the other over the Solomon Islands, could form into a cyclone this weekend or early next week.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said there was a moderate chance the lows could develop on Saturday, and a more than 50 per cent chance on Sunday.
They are embedded in a monsoon trough that is expected to drift south over the weekend but was expected to remain offshore of the Queensland coast in the short term.
BoM senior forecaster Jonty Hall said if one of the lows developed it would be called Lam.
He said there was a possibility that one of the lows could make landfall in the middle of next week, but it is unclear if it would have the intensity of a tropical cyclone at that stage.
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said the Local Disaster Management Group was prepared if the storms became a threat.
“I believe we’re ready to go if literally the button is pushed,” she said.
“We can only say to people, look, we ask you to be prepared. At this point in time I don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about but you’re better to be prepared, not panicking.”
Courtesy of WeatherZone
Huge dust storm in Bahrain triggers rush to hospital
A huge dust storm blew over Bahrain yesterday causing more than 200 people to seek medical treatment.
Doctors at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) were bombarded with cases throughout the day as asthma patients and the elderly struggled to cope with the high levels of dust in the air, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
The storm also adversely affected driving conditions as a thick blanket of dust settled over the country.
Traffic police told the GDN that 80 accidents had been reported from 6am to 4pm, far higher than the rate on an average day.
However, no major delays were reported at Bahrain International Airport – with most flights departing on time despite visibility falling to as low as 600 metres in some areas because of Shamal winds from the north-west, according to a Civil Aviation Affairs meteorology affairs official.
The Meteorological Directorate has cautioned that the dust haze is set to continue today, with strong winds possible.
The Coastguard has also urged seafarers to be on their guard because of high winds and dust.
Courtesy of TradeArabia News Service
MAGNITUDE 4.0 OKLAHOMA, USA
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=421331
Subject To Change
Depth: 5 km
Distances: 343 km N of Dallas, United States / pop: 1,197,816 / local time: 00:44:16.6 2015-01-09
41 km N of Oklahoma City, United States / pop: 579,999 / local time: 00:44:16.6 2015-01-09
5 km S of Guthrie, United States / pop: 10,191 / local time: 00:44:16.6 2015-01-09
MAGNITUDE 5.1 PACIFIC ANTARCTIC RIDGE
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=421307
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 3982 km SE of Wellington, New Zealand / pop: 381,900 / local time: 13:04:56.3 2015-01-09
4235 km SE of Avarua, Cook Islands / pop: 13,373 / local time: 14:04:56.3 2015-01-08
4261 km S of Papeete, French Polynesia / pop: 26,357 / local time: 14:04:56.3 2015-01-08
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