Wildfires in Boulder, Colorado

According to the local Sheriff's Office in Boulder, this wildfire that has continued to burn Friday is suppose to weaken overnight because of the low temperatures and higher humidity.  Many residents on the west side of this city were evacuated.  On Friday evening, firefighters had less than five percent contained.  There are some 200 firefighters scheduled to work on the flames today.  Even though the fire is expected to lay down at night, it still has the potential to grow and that would depend on what the area winds do.  All city offices in the downtown area closed Friday afternoon to prepare for power outages.  According to a city spokeswoman, the electric utility was cutting power in lines in the burn area for safety reasons and to assist fire crews conducting back-burn operations.

It seems like this city has a pretty good infrastructure.  They have evacuated people and are keeping them aware of the fires where abouts.  At this point, there seems to be a lot of uncertainty as to what will happen next because they are waiting to see if winds will pick up or not.  Like the swiss cheese model, if the winds do end up picking up, the fire could spread and this could result in something worse than what it currently is. 


http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/29/colorado.wildfire/index.html?iref=allsearch

Wind Storm Sweeping Through the Midwest

 

These are images of what happened in my family's yard when the wind storm passed through my hometown, Green Bay, on October 26.  Luckily, it missed our garage.  My family also told me that it knocked down a cable leading to our house.  They mentioned that they were without power and the phone line was down for a day or two.  The Wisconsin Public Service in Green Bay said there were more than 60,000 without power, but that has been reduced to 32,000 as of Thursday morning.  This wind storm did not cause damage to Green Bay alone, it caused damage throughout Wisconsin.  On Wednesday, the National Weather Service said this wind storm was the most powerful nontropical windstorm measured over the mainland U.S.  This is equivalent to what can be found in a category 3 hurricane.  I agree that this was some strong winds we had passing through.  I remeber some people saying that they felt like the wind was going to blow them away.  What surprises me most about this event is that if it was over the ocean, it would be a category 3 hurricane.  I'm glad to hear that repair teams got out quickly and got people's powers running again.

http://chippewa.com/news/local/article_c2355a06-e2a7-11df-a5e4-001cc4c03286.html

Thailand Floods

Floods in northeastern Thailand have left 17 people dead over the past two weeks.  This flood has caused put entire villages underwater, destroyed crops and disrupted transportation and commerce.  Thailand’s government appears to be caught by surprise with some survivors stranded for days without aid.  This flood has been classified as one of the worst in half a century.  The damage is estimated at more at more than $650 million.  Twenty-eight out of seventy-seven provinces have been affected by this.  According to the government’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, many reservoirs are over capacity and are being forced to dump water downstream.  A school teacher from Lop Buri Province is stranded on the second flood of her house.  She also said no officials or aid organizations had reached her village since the flooding began and that neighbors were delivering food by boat. 

It’s shocking to find out that this area is facing such an event.  I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to be stranded on the second floor of a house!  With this much water, their crops will be destroyed.  This reminds me of a few years ago when the price of rice rose drastically due to heavy rainfall and fields being destroyed.  I’m guessing that the same thing will be resulting soon.  I hope Thailand’s government starts to get things together and reach people who are stranded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/asia/22thai.html

Typhoon headed for southern China

Typhoon Megi that hit the Philippines on Monday killing 20 people is headed for southern China.  Authorities are ordering ships to remain docked as southern China is preparing.  According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the storm’s winds have weakened, but they are expected to strengthen over the next two days and hit China’s Guandong province on Saturday.  In a southern island, people are stocking up on food, vegetables, and bottled water.  In Hong Kong, they are a little bit calmer because their infrastructure has held up well against the annual summer typhoons.  People are urged to make sure their windows are properly bolted and avoid the coastline.  Small vessels are ordered to return to shore. 

It seems like they are preparing quite well for this event.  They have issued warnings and urged people to stay away from the coastline.  This shows their government has a pretty good infrastructure.  With all this preparation, there should not be too much damage in the aftermath.  However, it’s not easy to predict exactly what will happen.  This is not the first time an event like this has hit this area, so the people should be educated on what to do when this event occurs.


http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2010-10-20-china-typhoon_N.htm

Earthquakes in Arkansas

There has been a series of earthquakes in Arkansas this past week.  The largest with a magnitude of 4.4 just hit Faulkner County Friday morning at 5:20.  These two add to the list of over 50 earthquakes in this county.  Sen. Blanche Lincoln recently sent a letter to requesting a report from the USGS assessing recent earthquakes in the area.  According to the county judge, residents have not reported any damage.  They have reported feeling the tremors. 

At this point, these earthquakes have not had much human impact, but I would be concerned and want to find out more information.  Because this is not common for this area, more research will have to be done.  Once more information is gathered, people will have their questions answered.

http://thecabin.net/news/local/2010-10-16/44-magnitude-quake-rocks-faulkner-county

Pakistan Flood Update

The massive floodwater lake in Pakistan showed little sign of abating.  Water levels on the Indus River have fallen throughout the most of the country, with some areas near the coast with high levels.  An image from August of this year showed the Indus River filling the river valley.  The image also showed a development of a floodwater lake west of the river.  An image from this month shows the floodwater lake west of the Indus.  Levees trap this water in and the water is  resting on dry land, leaving nearby communities underwater.  Manchhar Lake seems to have grown to twice its normal area.

It has been like 12 weeks since the first floods of the monsoon season, but the floodwater west of the river basin is still trapped.  I would think that since it's been this long, it would have gone down or someone would have done something.  At least the water levels in the river are down.  However, I feel like it will take Pakistan quite some time to recover since their government doesn't seem like it's doing much at this point.  I feel bad for those whose homes are underwater.

Future Hazards in Haiti

According to a study published online in Nature Geoscience, the earthquake that hit Haiti last January resulted in a significant uplift of the ground surface along Haiti's coastline and involved slip on multiple faults.  This study suggests that because the earthquake did not involve slip near the surface of the earth, it did not release all of the strain that has built up on faults in the area over the past two centuries.  This means that in the future, surface rupturing earthquakes are likely in the region.  A group consisting of Gavin Hayes, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist, along with colleagues from USGS, California Institute of Technology, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the University of Texas at Austin modeled the patterns of surface deformation and were able to assess which fault was responsible for the earthquake.  Their results show that the earthquake may have involved a complex series of faults.

This means a lot! It's quite impressive that by modeling what happened in Haiti, the group found that this may have involved a complex series of faults.  With this information, I'm sure they will try to find ways to prevent a hit like that of January.  At least now they know that something like this can happen in the future again.  I hope that the next time around Haiti will be more prepared and have plans for what to do.

Earthquake in Indonesia

According to the USGS, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit off Indonesia's North Maluku province on Friday.  There is no damage expected because its epicenter was deep in the sea.  Indonesia is where the meeting of continental plates cause high volcanic and seismic activity, and the archipelago is frequently struck by powerful earthquakes. 

I feel like when you live in areas like this, earthquakes are something that you should be aware of.  I think living in Wisconsin there isn't too much to worry about, which I think is a good thing.  We don't have to worry about preparing for such events.  However, the down side of it is that when something like a flood or tornado hits we still have a harder time preparing for it.  Growing up in Wisconsin the only thing I ever really remember happening was having Tornado warnings.  I do recall when I was younger there was a pretty bad flood back in my hometown, where cars could not get around at all because the roads were flooded.

Toxic Sludge Flood in Hungary

A reservoir collapsed on Monday at Ajkai Timfoudgyar alumina plant in the town of Ajka in Hungary.  A toxic-sludge flood hit seven towns, who are now facing contaminated water, fouled fields, and wrecked ecosystems.  Alumina is used in the smelting of aluminum.  There has been reports of seven people who have been killed and many others are missing.  Yesterday, there were warnings about this reservoir collapsing.  Today, experts are estimating that there is an estimated 500,000 cubic meters more of red sludge that could escape from the reservoir.  Tests done show a high concentration of heavy metal in the sludge.  The company that owns this plan has rejected claims that it should have taken more precautions.

I really think that something like this could have been prevented.  The company should be responsible to an event like this.  There should have been warnings about it.  The people working there should have noticed there were cracks and found a way to prevent it from happening.  But now that it has happened, the company will have to come up with something to compensate for it like the BP oil spill.

Update on flood in Pakistan

 Taken October 5, 2010                                                                   Taken October 4, 2009

It's been 11 weeks since the the monsoon floods in Pakistan and according to the United Nations High commissioner for Refugees, 1.6 million residents are still displaced.  The two images above show changes in the landscape wrought by the monsoon that had recently occurred.  One big difference on the images above are near the coast and west of the river.  There are large expanses of flood waters in the these areas from the flood.

I guess when you can compare images from the past to a recent one, you can really see the impact a flood has in a particular area.  This can really help us to better understand how floods affect areas and we can better prepare for the future.