Flash Flooding in England

Flash floods and landslides hit England Wednesday, a result from heavy rains in the area.  This is being considered a major incident as there are several places with flooding that has trapped people and disrupted travel.  This relates to what we have been talking about it class because it was reported that the flooding started almost out of no where.  One store owner reported one minute he was dry and the next he was up to his waist in muddy water.  Also like we have discussed most deaths in floods occur from people in cars.  Luckily no one has been harmed but there are rescue teams out looking for people stranded in their cars.  Also a rail system has been shut down due to a landslide that occured.  This goes to show how  these events can be devastating as there is literally no way to get to these flooded areas except by helicopter.  One of the reasons I believe this flash flooding has occured is the fact that the area is so flat as seen in the picture below.


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Residents look out into the muddy water filled streets.  Notice the sandbags in place to try to prevent water damage.

Another Deadly Blast

Mount Merapi in Indonesia erupted once again today.  The eruptions which started on October 26 has killed a total of 206 and displaced over 400,000.  After todays blast rescue crews recovered more dead bodies.  The worst is considered over but like we have learned in class there is still a threat from the ash that has spewed out of the volcano as shown in the picture below.  Because of this threat there is still a 20 kilometer radius danger zone. In total 140 million cubic meters of magma has flowed out of Mount Merapi, a record.  This blast today was not the strongest but still was devastating because of the earlier flows which destroyed a lot of vegetation.  Since trees and other obstacles have already been destroyed there has been nothing to slow down the magma of today's flow.  The odd thing about this volcano is that it is one of the most active volcanos in Indonesia and yet it is also highly populated.  It would make more sense to live as far away from this volcano, as it killed over 1,300 in a blast in 1930.




Rescue workers have there faces covered to prevent ash from getting in their eyes and lungs, as they search for bodies in a barren ash filled area.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/indonesia.volcano/index.html?hpt=T2

Sinkhole in Germany

Last week residents in the German town of Schmalkalden awoke to a giant sinkhole in their neighborhood.  Twenty three nearby homes were quickly evactuated for fear of the 20 meter wide 40 meter long sinkhole getting bigger.  As you can see in the video, hours after the the sinkhole formed damage to a garage continued as walls collasped.  Luckily no one was hurt in this event but one car was taken into the hole along with a section of a road.  You can see debris in the pictures but everything is buried underneath dirt so you can only imagine what would have happened if somebody was sucked into this sinkhole.  Sinkholes are usually formed by the natural process called suffosion.  This is where groundwater dissolves the carbonate cement that holds the ground together creating a cavern underneath the ground.  At any time then the surface may collaspe.  Since this sinkhole happened on a road it leaves me to believe that the weight of the road definitly influenced how fast the sinkhole formed.  What makes a sinkhole like this one so dangerous is its location.  Ironically it was probably a good thing this sinkhole occured in the middle of the night.  If during the day there would have a been a greater chance for traffic, and if there were people driving I would assume they would have lost their lives.  Also this happened in a neighborhood.  They are lucky that it did not form underneath a house which could have demolished it in mere seconds.  







This video shows how fast a sinkhole occurs and how dangerous it can be.

Volcanic Ash Takes Its Toll

The volcanic eruptionns in Mount Merapi, Indonesia, have  killed 138 people and now is feeling the after effects of the eruptions.  Volcanic ash has covered the area, causing flights to be cancelled.  This obvisouly has made relief efforts in the area harder.  As we have learned in class volcanic ash can travel far distances in eruptions.  One of the biggest problems is there is very few respirators available for the area.  In  the area closer to the volcanoe the main concern is the mudflows.  These mudflows, which can flow up to 60 mph, are expected to flow to lower elevations so hopefully everyone in the area has listened to the warnings and evacutated.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101106/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia_disasters

Deadly Landslide

Early this morning in San Antonio De Escazu, Costa Rica, a rain sodden hillside collasped on homes killing 20 and leaving 14 dead.  The landslide happened while most were still sleeping.  This is one of the main causes for the casualities, because its difficult for people to react quickly enough a fast event such as this.  This landslide was not a surprise as a massive storm hit Costa Rica yesterday.  In two hours Costa Rica received over six inches of rain and over a foot of rain in total.  Many people evacuated the area but obviously some did not.  To no surprise this happened in a poor community where people might not be educated enough to leave.  After the initial landslide many people came to help to try to find people but they were turned away in fear of additional landslides.  This is a good idea, because as we have learned in many times there is more than one event in a disaster.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101105/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_costa_rica_landslide

Deadly Blast

This morning the most powerful volcanic blast of the week occured in Indonesia.  This blasts comes in the same week that a tsunami hit killing 413.  Because of the two events happening in the same week the emergency response crews have been pushed to the limit.  Some problems that they are having are things we have talked about class.  Some people returned to their houses to check on crops and livestock to only be hit by another eruption.  They have warning systems and once a warning has gone off soldiers have been put in place to evacuate those, especially the reluctant ones, who live on the mountainside.  The biggest concern is that there will be a more powerful blast soon like we have learned about in many disasters.  That is people think that once there is a powerful event it is safe, while a more powerful event can easily occur.  Educating these people is very important has disasters like this are high risk because of the location on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101030/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia_disasters

Strong Winds in Wisconsin

The storm that passed over Wisconsin and the rest of the Midwest this week was similar to a hurricane.  The National Wheather Service said that the systems pressure was an all time record low on Tuesday.  This pressure was worst than the worst storms of the last century including the storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald freighter.  This storm had the force of a blizzard and I got to experience it first hand.  The storm made our football practice almost unbearable as temperatures dropped into the 30's with winds up to 50 mph that led to horizontal rain.  While the worst part of the storm was the wind, it is nothing to take lightly.  As many know a Notre Dame student was killed this week as he filmed practice on a high rise that tipped over in the storm.  Attached is a link about the Notre Dame accident.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5742081