Archive | August 5, 2015
TYPHOON SOUDELOR BARRELS TOWARDS TAIWAN
The latest infrared satellite animation of Soudelor from NOAA
Typhoon Soudelor has weakened since becoming the strongest tropical cyclone so far in 2015. However, restrengthening is expected and the storm poses a significant risk to Taiwan, the southern Ryukyu Islands, and China over the coming days. Significant swell from Soudelor will continue to impact the region through the second half of the week and into the weekend.
Courtesy of surfline.com
Fire Causes Chemical Leak in Istanbul Industrial Zone
A fire has caused a chemical leak in an industrial zone in the east of Istanbul, local media reported Wednesday
Some 14 tons of nitric acid, known to cause serious chemical burns, leaked from the Tuzla Organized Leather Industrial Zone, releasing brown and yellow dust into the air, the Turkish Dunya newspaper reported.
Workers and employees of the factory and other nearby premises were evacuated, while several fire engines and ambulances were dispatched to the scene, the newspaper added.
The chemical smoke reportedly did not cause any physical harm to the people in the area, the newspaper reported.
The police closed off the roads leading to the factory.
No information about the causes of the fire has been made available as yet.
Courtesy of sputniknews.com
Emergency declared in Japan as heatwave leaves 55 dead and 35 thousand hospitalized
The heat wave that has held Japan in its grip since April 27, has killed 55 people. In the last week, 11,672 people were hospitalized for symptoms caused by excessive temperatures. 35,428 since April. The data provided so far by the department for the management of fires and disasters is the worst since 2008.
Yesterday was the fifth in a row with temperatures of 35 degrees in the center of Tokyo, the longest period in months. Humidity reached 90%. The Tokyo prefecture has reported the largest number of people suffering from heat stroke, 1,095, followed by Aichi (989) and Saitama (805).
Double the number of people are hospitalized compared with the same period last year, 48.7% of which are over 65. On Sunday alone, August 2, 2571 people were transported to hospitals around the country.
The Tokyo Fire Department has advised people to stay indoors as much as possible and with the air conditioning turned on. Interior Minister Sanae Takaichi said that 800 thousand leaflets with instructions to prevent heat stroke were distributed to the population.
Courtesy of asianews.it
Heatwave on the way to Lithuania
This year’s biggest heatwave is expected in Lithuania this week, weather services said
Meteorologist Margarita Kirkliauskaitė told BNS that Saturday temperatures may surge to +35 degrees Celsius, i.e., the highest temperature reported this year. “We should wait until Saturday – we may not reach the +35 degrees, but the probability is high,” she added. The heatwave may subside for a while on Thursday, but the hot and dry spell will return in the following days. “The further tendency is that very warm weather will continue. We may not reach the +35 degrees but temperatures may be around +30 degrees. We do not see a stronger cool-down of +20 to +23 degrees, which was the case for the major part of the summer,” said the meteorologist.
Courtesy of en.delfi.lt
At least 100 drown as the severe heatwave of 40C (104) hits Turkey very hard
Thousands of people in Istanbul have been flocking to coastal spots to escape some extremely hot weather, which has seen temperatures reach a scorching 40C (104 Fahrenheit), according to meteorology officials.
However, at least 100 people have drowned across the country in the last three weeks in lakes, pools, and at sea while trying to cool off.
Tiredness, cramps, seizures and heart attacks can all lead to drowning says Dr. Gürkan Ersoy from the Medical Faculty Emergency Department at Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir.
Those having a chronic illness should be watchful when swimming, he adds, warning that it is dangerous to drink and swim or to go into the sea with a full stomach.
Istanbul Governor’s office issued a warning on Wednesday about swimming, saying there had been an increase in the drownings in the city, especially at weekends.
The city’s water and sewer utility, ISKI, already released a warning in July saying approximately 900 people drown each year in Turkey, especially in reservoirs and rivers.
One such incident happened on August 2, when two sisters aged 12 and 10 drowned while playing in İmali Dam Lake on a family day out in the Türkoğlu district of southern Kahramanmaraş province.
Another 10-year-old child drowned on Wednesday in Turkey’s touristic Bodrum district of western Muğla province while playing in an aqua park.
In northern Bartin province, 47-year-old Hüseyin Işık died on Monday while he was trying to rescue his aunt, who got into difficulties while swimming.
On Tuesday, 30-year-old Mustafa Fidan went missing while swimming in Istanbul’s Şile district. Rescue teams found his body after a day of searching.
A preventive action plan called ‘Safe Seas’ has been prepared by Marmara and Straits Coast Guard Regional Command in order to bring the tragedies to a halt.
Teams have been assigned Istanbul territorial waters as a precaution and for search-and-rescue operations, the city governor’s office said on Wednesday.
Helicopters will also be flying to check for any possible drowning risk around the city’s Şile and Kilyos areas, which are home to many popular resorts.
Courtesy of national.bgnnews.com
Landslide caused by severe rainstorm kills 3 in Italian Alps
Three people were killed when a severe rainstorm in the Italian Alps caused a landslide that swept down a mountain and across roads and parking lots, authorities said on Wednesday.
The landslide occurred late on Tuesday near San Vito di Cadore, close to the ski resort town of Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The corpses of a Polish man as well as a teenage girl and another man whose nationalities were not given were dug out of the debris on Wednesday, said Luca Cari, spokesman for Italy’s national fire department. No one is known to be missing.
“We are continuing the search, but we hope we don’t find any other bodies,” Cari told Reuters.
Italy’s hills and mountains are prone to landslides. Last year there were 211 major slides that claimed 14 lives, according to agriculture lobby Coldiretti.
Courtesy of uk.reuters.com
Severe storm leaves downed trees, power failures in its wake in Massachusetts, USA
A large Oak Tree fell on a house at 20 Alice Road in Raynham due to the early morning storm that came through the area on Tuesday August 4, 2015
A series of intense thunderstorms that rolled through southeastern Massachusetts on Tuesday morning, leaving destruction, downed trees and power failures in their wake.
In Raynham, the storm’s strong winds splintered a tree in half, sending the lumber crashing through a fence and onto Brian Oldfield’s home at 20 Alice Road.
Oldfield said the tree, which was located in his neighbor’s yard, landed on his three-season room, ruining it. It also caused significant damaged to the roof of his home.
The Raynham man said he was on his way home from work when tree fell, but his wife and 5-year-old son, Michael, were both home at the time of the incident.
“My son was real shaken up. He thought the house was going to fall down,” Oldfield said. “He was just getting out of bed when he heard the crash.”
Oldfield said that his family was unable to stay in the house Tuesday night because officials had not been able to thoroughly inspect the area to make sure there was no structural damage. He added that a crane was scheduled to remove the tree from the property on Wednesday, at which point an assessment of the property’s structural integrity would be made.
While Oldfield was contending with the tree that had fallen on his home, residents in Bridgewater were seeking cover from a barrage of lightning strikes that was crashing down on the area.
Bridgewater Fire Chief George Rogers said his firefighters responded to lightning strikes at five houses and an apartment building and provided mutual aid at a two-alarm fire, all within a one-hour period Tuesday morning.
The lightning struck houses on Satucket Trail, Dominique Circle, Easy Street, Pheasant Lane and Pleasant Street and an apartment building at Waterford Village.
At Satucket Trail, lightning splintered a 40-foot pine tree then traveled underground into the house, blowing holes in the walls, Rogers said.
On Dominque Circle, lightning struck a shed and then traveled into the house, where it tripped the breakers, he added.
As the lightning rained down from the sky in Bridgewater, 3,000 Brockton residents lost their power Tuesday morning during the storm.
The blackouts in Brockton were on the northeast side of the city near Raintree Circle, East Ashland Street, Pomona Drive and Oberlin Drive, according to the Brockton Emergency Management Agency.
Residents in west Abington, Rockland, Whitman and Easton also lost power.
By 11 a.m. Tuesday, a spokeswoman for National Grid said that power had been restored to nearly all of the residents in the affected area.
Courtesy of raynham.wickedlocal.com
Water rationing as severe drought deepens after arid July in Puerto Rico
San Juan received only 1.6in (4cm) of rain in July, the fourth-driest month on record. Photograph: Alvin Baez/Reuters
Other Caribbean islands also are struggling with a drought, including Jamaica, St Lucia and the Dominican Republic
A deepening drought in Puerto Rico that has affected 2.5 million people forced the government to extend severe water rationing measures to more communities that are already struggling with an economic crisis.
Another 180,000 customers will now receive water only every third day, raising the total facing 48-hour cuts in service to 400,000, as the US territory’s main reservoirs continue to shrink, according to the island’s water and sewer company.
“We have to keep the water that’s available under control,” said Alberto Lázaro, the company’s executive director, on Wednesday.
Nearly 13% of Puerto Rico is under an extreme drought and another 39% under a severe one, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
July was the fourth-driest month on record in San Juan since 1898, with only 1.6in (4cm) of rain, said Carlos Anselmi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
So far this year, it has rained as much as 12in (31cm) less than usual in San Juan, and as much as 20in (51cm) less in some areas at the Carraizo reservoir, he said.
Forecasters blame the El Niño phenomenon, a warming of the tropical Pacific that affects global weather and has led to a quiet Atlantic hurricane season, which began in June and ends in November.
The lack of rain has forced some businesses in Puerto Rico to temporarily close, while others, such as motels, have reported a slight increase in customers.
The drought comes as Puerto Rico is struggling through a nearly decade-long economic slump that has led authorities to raise sales taxes, even on bottled water.
Olga Rodríguez, a 62-year-old San Juan resident who lives with her elderly father, has received water only every third day for more than a month now. She worries it will only worsen.
“May God help us all, because we need it,” she said in a phone interview.
The rationing measures began when the governor declared a state of emergency in mid-May, and government officials have said customers might see cuts of more than 48 hours if dry conditions persist.
Other Caribbean islands also are struggling with a drought, including Jamaica, St Lucia and the Dominican Republic.
Courtesy of theguardian.com
Winter storm due in South Island, New Zealand
A winter storm is expected to bring heavy rain, strong winds and snow to parts of the South Island over the next three days.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said motorists should take extra care on South Island roads, particularly in Canterbury and the West Coast.
Canterbury West Coast Journey Manager Lee Wright said, despite a recent spell of warm days in Canterbury with temperatures above 20°C, winter was not over yet.
Courtesy of radionz.co.nz
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