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Sea and Waves Roaring

“And there shall be signs•Strongs 4592: semeion, say-mi´-on; neuter of a presumed derivative of the base of 4591; an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturally: — miracle, sign, token, wonder. in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed the sea and the waves roaring•Strongs 2278: echeo, ay-kheh´-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: — roar, sound.;”
—Luke 21:25

Winds calmed Monday, allowing work crews to make progress cleaning up after last week’s wind storm that damaged homes across Southern California. But as thousands remained without power late Monday afternoon, a second wave of winds was expected Monday night, with gusts up to 45 mph.
At 8:30 p.m. ET, a wind advisory remained in effect until Tuesday afternoon for an area extending from north of Paso Robles to the southern part of the state.
Red-flag warnings — signaling wind and dry conditions that create a “critical” danger of fires — extended from north of Santa Barbara to south of Anaheim.
Almost 30,000 customers still had no power late Monday afternoon, Southern California Edison said. Large trees and other debris were blocking access to equipment, hampering repairs by the 273 SCE and contract crews working to restore service, it said.
“We’ve been working 24/7 to restore power from last week’s major winds,” SCE spokeswoman Lois Pitter Bruce told NBC station KNBC by email. “If all goes well, we should have 99.9 percent of customers restored by about 8 p.m. tonight.”
More local coverage of the winds on NBC Los Angeles
The blackouts were the result of last week’s unusual Santa Ana winds, which gusted up to 97 mph Wednesday and Thursday, knocking down trees and power lines in much of the region. The San Gabriel Valley and the Northeastern parts of Los Angeles were particularly hard hit.
In Pasadena, more than 42 buildings were red-tagged because of damage from the winds, meaning that they unsafe to live in.
“I have been with the city for over 32 years here, and I have never seen it to this degree — the widespread damage throughout the city,” Pasadena Fire Chief Calvin Wells said. “It was getting out of hand at times, hard to keep up with.”
NBC station KNBC-TV of Los Angeles contributed to this report by msnbc.com’s Alex Johnson.

Hurricane-force winds which have closed schools and cut off power to tens of thousands of homes were described as a “weather bomb” as they battered Britain.

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Sea and Waves Roaring

“And there shall be signs•Strongs 4592: semeion, say-mi´-on; neuter of a presumed derivative of the base of 4591; an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturally: — miracle, sign, token, wonder. in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed the sea and the waves roaring•Strongs 2278: echeo, ay-kheh´-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: — roar, sound.;”
—Luke 21:25

The ferocious winds hit top speeds of 165mph recorded on the summit of the Cairngorms in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the Met Office said.
A 100 metre-high wind turbine burst into flames in North Ayrshire yesterday and in a separate incident another crashed to the ground in Coldingham in the Scottish Borders.
Experts said the fierce conditions were the result of a phenomenon where pressure plunges more than 24 millibars in 24 hours – a huge amount in meteorological terms.
Jonathan Powell, senior forecaster at Positive weather Solutions, said: “These gusts are really off-the-scale, and surpass hurricane-force. The criteria for what we have seen would fit the weather-bomb scenario.”
Met Office forecaster Helen Chivers, described the phenomenon as “an explosive development where the pressure drops dramatically in a very short time leading to these sorts of conditions”.

Scotland and northern England have so far borne the brunt of the storms but forecasters are expecting some respite today, with the worst of the winds confined to north-east Scotland and the Shetland Isles.
Thousands of schools across all but six of Scotland’s 32 local authorities were shut by lunchtime yesterday, while police urged motorists to avoid the roads altogether.
Strong winds forced the closure of every major bridge in the country: the Forth Road Bridge between Edinburgh and Fife; the Erskine Bridge, which connects Renfrewshire and Dunbartonshire; the Skye Bridge; and Tay Road Bridge.
At one point, the BBC’s Lorna Gordon became an instant sensation on Twitter following a “hilarious” live TV weather broadcast for the 6pm news. The reporter was battered so hard by winds that she could barely stand.
Further south, two people were rescued by the RAF from a partially-submerged car near Aysgarth, North Yorkshire, and airlifted to hospital after being trapped in rising water from a swollen river.
Meanwhile Cumbria also saw heavy rain, with motorists becoming stuck in floodwater in Ambleside, Windermere, Troutbeck and Selside. The Environment Agency issued seven flood alerts at different locations on 12 rivers and lakes in the county.
Last night, ScottishPower said it had reconnected more than 18,000 customers who had lost power because of over 100 individual faults. Some 50,000 homes across the country are still believed to be affected.
However, forecasters expect the worst of the weather to ease throughout the day with temperatures ranging between freezing and 5C in Scotland, between 3C and 6C in northern England, and between 6C and 9C elsewhere.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings – for the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, north-west England, Northern Ireland and much of Scotland – advising people to be aware of icy conditions this morning.

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Sea and Waves Roaring

“And there shall be signs•Strongs 4592: semeion, say-mi´-on; neuter of a presumed derivative of the base of 4591; an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturally: — miracle, sign, token, wonder. in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed the sea and the waves roaring;”
—Luke 21:25

A draft summary of an international scientific report obtained recently by the Associated Press says the extremes caused by global warming could eventually grow so severe that some locations become “increasingly marginal as places to live.”

The report from the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change marks a change in climate science, from focusing on subtle shifts in average temperatures to concentrating on the harder-to-analyze freak events that grab headlines, hurt economies and kill people.

“The extremes are a really noticeable aspect of climate change,” said Jerry Meehl, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “I think people realize that the extremes are where we are going to see a lot of the impacts of climate change.”

The final version of the report from a panel of leading climate scientists will be issued in a few weeks, after a meeting in Uganda. The draft says there is at least a two-in-three probability that climate extremes have already worsened because of greenhouse gases.

The most recent bizarre weather extreme, the pre-Halloween snowstorm that crippled parts of the Northeast last weekend, cannot be blamed on climate change and probably isn’t the type of storm that will increase with global warming, according to four meteorologists and climate scientists.

Experts on extreme storms have focused more closely on the increasing number of super-heavy rainstorms, not snow, NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt said.

By the end of the century, the intense, single-day rainstorms that typically happen once every 20 years will probably happen about twice a decade, the report said.

The opposite type of disaster – a drought such as the stubbornly long dry spell gripping Texas and parts of the Southwest – could also happen more often as the world warms, said Schmidt and Meehl, who reviewed part of the climate-panel report.

Studies have not yet specifically tied global warming to the continuing drought, but it is consistent with computer models that indicate current climate trends will worsen existing droughts, Meehl said. Scientifically connecting a weather disaster with global warming is a complicated and time-consuming task that can take more than a year and involve lots of computer calculations.

Researchers have also predicted more intense monsoons with climate change. Warmer air can hold more water and impart more energy to weather systems, changing the dynamics of storms and where and how they hit.

Thailand is now coping with massive flooding from monsoonal rains, an event that illustrates how climate is also connected with other man-made issues such as population growth, urban development and river management, Schmidt said.

In fact, the report says, “for some climate extremes in many regions, the main driver for future increases in losses will be socioeconomic” rather than a result of greenhouse gases.

The panel was formed by the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization. In the past, it has discussed extreme events in snippets in its report. But this time, the scientists are putting them all together.

The report, which needs approval by diplomats at the mid-November meeting, tries to measure the confidence scientists have in their assessment of climate extremes both future and past.

Chris Field, one of the leaders of the climate-change panel, said he and other authors declined to comment because the report is still subject to change.

The summary chapter did not detail which regions of the world might suffer extremes so severe as to leave them only marginally habitable.

The report does say scientists are “virtually certain” – 99 percent – that the world will have more extreme spells of heat and fewer of cold. Heat waves could peak as much as 5 degrees hotter by midcentury and 9 degrees hotter by the end of the century.

From June to August this year in the United States, blistering heat set 2,703 daily high-temperature records, compared with only 300 cold records during that period. That made it the hottest summer in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl of 1936, according to Weather Underground Meteorology Director Jeff Masters, who was not involved in the study.

Scientists expect future hurricanes and other tropical cyclones to have stronger winds, but they won’t increase in number and may actually decrease.

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season will be even more active than feared, leading U.S. forecasters said on Wednesday as they predicted 10 hurricanes, five of them major, with a 76 percent likelihood that a major hurricane would hit the U.S. coastline.

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Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

Divided Nation

“But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom•Strongs 932: basileia, bas-il-i´-ah; from 935; properly, royalty, i.e. (abstractly) rule, or (concretely) a realm (literally or figuratively): — kingdom, + reign. divided•Strongs 1266: diamerizo, dee-am-er-id´-zo; from 1223 and 3307; to partition thoroughly (literally in distribution, figuratively in dissension): — cloven, divide, part. against itself is brought to desolation•Strongs 2049: eremoo, er-ay-mo´-o; from 2048; to lay waste (literally or figuratively): — (bring to, make) desolate(-ion), come to nought.; and a house divided against a house falleth.”
—Luke11:17

“Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”
—Isaiah 1:4

Sea and Waves Roaring

……”the sea and the waves roaring;”
Luke 21:25b

The outlook from the Colorado State University team follows predictions by U.S. government scientists for an intense season that could disrupt efforts to contain a huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill and also batter earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Increasing a previous estimate for a “very active” season, the leading CSU storm research team founded by hurricane forecast pioneer William Gray said the six-month season beginning on June 1 would likely see 18 named tropical storms.

Of these, CSU saw 10 becoming hurricanes, with five becoming major Category 3 or higher hurricanes with winds above 110 miles per hour (177 km per hour).

The CSU scientists increased their forecast from an April 7 prediction of 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

“The probability of a major hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coastline is 76 percent compared with the last-century average of 52 percent,” said forecaster Phil Klotzbach, who works with Gray.

The CSU team saw a 51 percent chance that a major hurricane would make landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula, and a 51 percent chance that one would hit the Gulf Coast, from the Florida Panhandle to Brownsville, Texas.

It put the chance of a major hurricane tracking into the Caribbean at 65 percent.

The expected extreme hurricane season this year is seen posing a threat to efforts to control and clean up oil spewing from a ruptured Gulf of Mexico well owned by BP Plc, described by President Barack Obama’s administration as the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Experts warn that a storm surge in the Gulf of Mexico — an abnormal rise in sea level created by a hurricane — could whip the oil slick and chemicals used in trying to disperse it out of the Gulf and ashore on beaches, vegetation and even homes.

HAITI QUAKE SURVIVORS SEEN VULNERABLE

“If the storm tracks to the west of the oil, there is the potential that the counter-clockwise circulation of the hurricane could drive some of the oil further toward the U.S. Gulf Coast,” Klotzbach said.

But he added the forecasters did not see the huge, fragmented oil slick itself having much of an impact on any tropical storm or hurricane passing over the area.

There are fears too about how a major hurricane sweeping through the Caribbean over Haiti would affect around 1.5 million homeless survivors of the January 12 earthquake who are camping out in the streets under tents and tarpaulins.

Quake survivors living in the makeshift camps are seen as highly vulnerable to the tropical rains, flooding and landslides which have killed thousands of Haitians in the past.

Detailing weather conditions seen favoring the formation of hurricanes, Gray said the CSU team increased its forecast “due to a combination of a transition from El Nino to current neutral conditions and the continuation of unusually warm tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures.”

Warmer waters contribute to the development of hurricanes and dissipation of the El Nino weather phenomenon over the Pacific Ocean reduces the probability of wind shear — caused by a clash between prevailing upper-levels winds out of the west and lower-level easterly winds out of Africa — that can tear apart hurricanes or break up their circulation.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week predicted one of the more active hurricane seasons on record, forecasting 14 to 23 named storms, with eight to 14 becoming hurricanes, nearly matching 2005′s record of 15.

The Gulf Coast may see a repeat of the 2005 season when a record 28 storms formed, which killed nearly 4,000 people and caused an estimated $130 billion in damages. The list included Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Mohammad Zargham)

MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines declared a nationwide state of calamity on Friday as a “super typhoon” bore down a week after flash floods killed nearly 300 people in and around Manila.

……”the sea and the waves roaring;”
Luke 21:25b

Typhoon Parma, about 150 km (100 miles) east of Luzon, was gaining strength as it churned west-northwest toward the mainland, bringing heavy rain.

It was expected to make landfall in or near the northeastern province of Isabela on Saturday. The area is mountainous and not heavily populated, but Parma was likely to lash Luzon with rain over the next two days, making life worse in flood-hit regions.

“We’re concerned about the effects of more rain on the relief work in flooded areas because the water level could rise again,” Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in a briefing aired live on national television.

The Asia-Pacific region has been hit by a series of natural disasters in recent days, including Typhoon Ketsana which killed more than 400 in the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Tens of thousands were also displaced in southern Laos and flash floods were reported in northern Thailand.

Two powerful earthquakes rocked the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with the death toll likely to be in the thousands, and a tsunami battered American and Western Samoa, killing nearly 150.

In Taiwan, authorities identified 12 villages for mandatory evacuation ahead of Parma and another storm in the Pacific, Typhoon Melor.

The Taiwan government came in for heavy criticism after a deadly typhoon in August killed as many as 770 people.

In the Philippines, harsh criticism of the slow response to last week’s floods could affect the chances of Teodoro in next May’s presidential election, where he seeks to replace President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Teodoro, also the head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, has placed the military and police on alert and ordered civilian agencies to stockpile food, water, medicine, fuel and other relief supplies.

Arroyo declared a state of calamity across the country, which will allow local governments access to emergency funds for relief work.

She also ordered provincial governments to evacuate people living in low-lying areas in the path of Parma, by force if necessary.

Airlines also canceled about 26 domestic flights to four destinations in typhoon-affected areas in the central Philippines from 1 p.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday, airport authorities said.

The weather bureau said Parma, with gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph) at the center, will be the strongest typhoon to hit the country since 2006.

“It’s still very much possible that we will raise signal number 4 as it closes in on northern Luzon,” Prisco Nilo, head of the weather bureau, told reporters.

At signal number 4, residential and commercial buildings may be severely damaged, large trees uprooted, and power and communication lines may be cut.

Last week’s storm, Ketsana, left hundreds of thousands homeless in and around Manila and areas around a lake near the capital remain submerged under 2-3 meter floodwaters. It also damaged or destroyed more than $108 million in crops, infrastructure and property.

The Philippines is hit by frequent typhoons in the summer which often continue on their track to hit Vietnam, China and Taiwan before weakening over land.

(Additional reporting by Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi, Ralph Jennings in Taipei, Martin Petty in Bangkok and Manny Mogato)

(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Jerry Norton)

Sea and the Waves Roaring

“……….the sea and the waves roaring;”
—Luke 21:25b

At first light, it was unclear how many may have perished, and authorities mobilized for a huge search-and-rescue operation to reach the more than 100,000 people who ignored warnings that any attempt to ride the storm out could bring “certain death.”

“The unfortunate truth is we’re going to have to go in … and put our people in the tough situation to save people who did not choose wisely. We’ll probably do the largest search-and-rescue operation that’s ever been conducted in the state of Texas,” said Andrew Barlow, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry.

With the winds still blowing, authorities in some places could not venture outside to get a full look at the damage, but they were encouraged that the storm surge topped out at only 13.5 feet — far lower than the catastrophic 20-to-25-foot wall of water forecasters had feared.

The storm, nearly as big as Texas itself, blasted a 500-mile stretch of coastline in Louisiana and Texas. It breached levees, flooded roads and led more than 1 million people to evacuate and seek shelter inland.

“Every storm’s unique, but this one certainly will be remembered for its size,” said Benton McGee, supervisory hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s storm surge center in Ruston, La.

Of greatest concern were the more than 100,000 people in coastal counties who ignored mandatory evacuation orders, including thousands of residents of Galveston, the low-lying barrier island where Ike crashed ashore at 3:10 a.m. EDT.

“We don’t know what we are going to find,” Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said. “We hope we will find the people who are left here alive and well.”

Officials in Houston and along the coast reported receiving thousands of distress calls overnight but they were unable to respond because of the dangerous hurricane conditions. Emergency responders were fanning out Saturday morning from the Reliant Center in Houston to take stock of the damage and rescue any holdouts who needed help

“This is a democracy,” said Mark Miner, a spokesman for Perry. “Local officials who can order evacuations put out very strong messages. Gov. Perry put out a very strong warning. But you can’t force people to leave their homes. They made a decision to ride out the storm. Our prayers are with them.”

Ike passed directly over downtown Houston before dawn, blowing out windows in the state’s tallest building, the Chase Tower. Behind splintered shards, desks were exposed to the pounding morning rains, metal blinds hung in a twisted heap from some windows, and smoky black glass covered the streets below.

Documents, marked “highly confidential,” were strewn across nearly empty streets.

“It sounded like ice or something hitting the window but really it was glass,” said Santa Montelongo, 53, who took refuge inside her office at a nearby building. “We could see it fly by. It got really spooky.”

Fires burned untended across Galveston and Houston. Brennan’s, a landmark downtown Houston restaurant, was destroyed by flames when firefighters were thwarted by high winds. Fire officials said a restaurant worker and his young daughter were taken to a hospital in critical condition with burns over 70 percent of their bodies.

Mindful of the deadly chaos that ensured in 2005 when the nation’s fourth-largest city emptied out ahead of Hurricane Rita, Houston officials evacuated only the lowest-lying areas of the city and told some 2 million others to “hunker down” and ride out the storm at home. Ike was the first hurricane since Alicia in 1983 to land a direct hit on Houston.

“From the beginning, we knew this was going to be a big storm, a frightening situation,” said County Judge Ed Emmett, who urged residents to stay inside, even if they think the storm has passed. “Those of us who were around 25 years ago when Alicia came through, we know what it’s like to listen to those winds and that rain. But from where we now stand, as the storm goes through and clears our area, we are going to see our community at its very best.”

As Ike moved north later Saturday morning, the storm dropped to a Category 1 hurricane with winds of around 80 mph. At 11 a.m. EDT, the center was about 20 miles north-northeast of Huntsville, Texas, and moving north at 16 mph. It was expected to turn toward Arkansas later in the day and become a tropical storm.

Because Ike was so huge, hurricane winds pounded the coast for hours before landfall and continued through the morning, with the worst winds and rain after the center came ashore, forecasters said.

“For us, it was a 10,” Galveston Fire Chief Mike Varela said. Varela said firefighters responded to dozens of rescue calls before suspending operations Friday night, including from people who changed their minds and fled at the last minute.

Six feet of water had collected in the Galveston County Courthouse in the island’s downtown, and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was flooded, according to local storm reports on the National Weather Service’s Web site.

“I’m drained. I’m beat up,” said Steven Rushing, a commercial fishmerman who tried to ride out the storm with his wife and several family members, including his pregnant 17-year-old daughter, in their one-story brick home on Galveston Island. Early Saturday, he loaded his family into a 17-foot ski boat and headed for safety. The boat ran aground and the Rushings sprinted for safety, guided by lights from police responding to a 911 call made from the boat.

“My family is traumatized. I kept them here, promising them everything would be alright, but this is the real deal and I won’t stay no more.”

More than 3 million customers lost power in southeast Texas, and thousands more in Louisiana. Suppliers warned it could be weeks before all service was restored. The only parts of Houston with power were downtown and the massive medical center section.

Because of the hurricane’s size, the state’s shallow coastal waters and its largely unprotected coastline, forecasters said the biggest threat would be flooding and storm surge.

Earlier forecasts said Ike would hurl a wall of water two stories high — 20 to 25 feet — at the coast. But Wilson Shaffer of the National Weather Service said Saturday that storm surge peaked at 13 1/2 feet.

“The storm itself changed a little bit. I think it tightened up more and more of the energy went into the center,” Shaffer said.

He said the surge at Galveston, where Ike made landfall, was about 11 feet, half of what was predicted.

There was other good news: A stranded freighter with 22 men aboard made it through the brunt of the storm safely, and a tugboat was on the way to save them. And an evacuee from Calhoun County gave birth to a baby girl in the restroom of a shelter with the aid of an expert in geriatric psychiatry who delivered his first baby in two decades.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said more than 5.5 million prepackaged meals were being sent to the region, along with more than 230 generators and 5.6 million liters of water. At least 3,500 FEMA officials were stationed in Texas and Louisiana.

The oil and gas industry was closely watching Ike because it was headed straight for the nation’s biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. Wholesale gasoline prices jumped to around $4.85 a gallon for fear of shortages.

___

Juan A. Lozano reported from Galveston. Chris Duncan reported from Houston. Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno and Jay Root in Austin, Eileen Sullivan in Washington, Schuyler Dixon and Paul Weber in Dallas, John Porretto, Monica Rhor and Pauline Arrillaga in Houston, Michael Kunzelman in Lake Charles, La., Brian Skoloff in West Palm Beach, Fla., April Castro and Andre Coe in College Station, and Allen G. Breed and video journalist Rich Matthews in Surfside Beach also contributed.

Sea and the Waves Roaring

“……….the sea and the waves roaring;”
—Luke 21:25b

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands – Gustav swelled to a fearsome Category 3 hurricane early Saturday with winds of 115 mph as it approached western Cuba on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast three years after Hurricane Katrina.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami called the storm “dangerous” and said it had reached the status of a major hurricane, the second one of this Atlantic season after Bertha in July.

Gustav, which killed 71 people in the Caribbean, rolled over the Cayman Islands Friday with fierce winds that tore down trees and power lines. It was expected to cross Cuba’s cigar country Saturday and head into the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday.

Gustav first struck Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, the smaller easternmost “Sister Islands” in the chain. Storm surge and heavy rains flooded the streets.

Two people were knocked down by huge waves as they tried to take pictures of the storm on Little Cayman, but there were no other immediate reports of injuries, said Hemant Balgobin, disaster manager for the Red Cross in the British territory.

There were reports of damaged homes in Cayman Brac and flooding throughout the islands but authorities had not yet fully assessed the situation, said Balgobin, who was on Grand Cayman, the largest in the chain.

“Things weren’t really as bad as they could have been,” he said.

More than 1,100 people spent the night in government shelters in the three islands as high waves and heavy winds battered the chain, the National Emergency Operations Center said in a statement. Most people hunkered down in private homes or hotels.

By 5 a.m. EDT Saturday, Gustav’s eye had left the Caymans behind and was about 255 miles east-southeast of the western tip of Cuba. It was moving northwest near 12 mph.

Caymans authorities did not impose a curfew but urged people to remain indoors to avoid interfering with emergency workers.

Hotels asked guests to leave and, after the airport closed, prepared to shelter those who remained. Chris Smith, of Frederick, Maryland, said his hotel handed out wrist bands marked with guests’ names and room numbers so that “if something happens they can quickly identify us.”

“That was a little bit sobering,” he said, standing outside the hotel with his luggage.

The storm killed four people in a daylong march across the length of Jamaica, where it ripped off roofs and downed power lines. About 4,000 people were displaced from their homes, with about half relocated to shelters. Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the government sent helicopters Friday to rescue 31 people trapped by floods.

At least 59 people died in Haiti and eight in the Dominican Republic.

Gustav could strike the U.S. Gulf coast anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Texas, but forecasters said there is a better-than-even chance that New Orleans will get slammed by at least tropical-storm-force winds.

As much as 80 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil and gas production could be shut down as a precaution if Gustav enters as a major storm, weather research firm Planalytics predicted. Oil companies have already evacuated hundreds of workers from offshore platforms.

Retail gas prices rose Friday for the first time in 43 days as analysts warned that a direct hit on Gulf energy infrastructure could send pump prices hurtling toward $5 a gallon. Crude oil prices ended slightly lower in a volatile session as some traders feared supply disruptions and others bet the U.S. government will release supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Gustav was projected to hit Cuba’s Isle of Youth, then cross the main island into the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday. Cuban state television announced that effective Saturday, all buses and trains to and from Havana will be suspended until further notice.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna was projected to curl westward into the Bahamas by early next week. It had sustained winds near 50 mph early Saturday.

Along the U.S. Gulf Coast, most commemorations of the Katrina anniversary were canceled because of Gustav, but in New Orleans a horse-drawn carriage took the bodies of Katrina’s last seven unclaimed victims to burial.

President Bush declared an emergency in Louisiana, a move that allows the federal government to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance in storm-affected areas.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said an evacuation order was likely, though not before Saturday, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it expects a “huge number” of Gulf Coast residents will be told to leave the region this weekend.

“……….the sea and the waves roaring;”
—Luke 21:25b

THE death toll in cyclone-ravaged Burma could hit 500,000 – more than TWICE the total killed by the Boxing Day Tsunami.
Last night’s warning came as it emerged that 17 Britons, including ex-pats and backpackers, were still missing.

Sources said 200,000 people were already dead or dying.

But the figure could rise to HALF A MILLION through disease and hunger if the nation’s hardline army rulers continue to block aid for the devastated lowlands of the Irrawaddy Delta.

That would dwarf the 230,000 deaths across South East Asia in the 2004 catastrophe.

Nyo Ohn Myint, of exiled opposition party The National League for Democracy, told The Sun at a border crisis centre: “Much of this will be a man-made disaster, caused by the military regime.

“The bodies need to be collected and burnt as soon as possible or disease will claim many more lives. But the government has organised nothing and its 400,000 soldiers are doing nothing while undistributed aid piles up.

“They are hoping bodies will be washed out to sea so the final count is smaller – but it could kill half a million people within a matter of weeks. The world must know what is going on.”

Local doctor Aye Kyu told how families clung to trees as their homes were swept away.

He said: “I asked survivors how many there were left. They said about 200.”

A spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid said: “The entire lower delta region is under water.

Teams are talking about bodies floating around. This is a major, major disaster.”

The UN World Food Programme said up to a million may have been left homeless in the vital “rice bowl” farming region alone.

In the city of Bogalay, 95 per cent of homes are thought to have been destroyed.

In the township of Dedaye, south of the main city Rangoon, desperate kids scavenged among the debris of their homes for anything useful to survival.

On the outskirts of Rangoon forlorn families, including a mother cradling her screaming baby, queued for emergency handouts of rice.

In Britain, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander told MPs the situation was “grave”.

The UK has so far pledged more aid than anyone, announcing a £5million package to be channelled through the UN.

Charities Save the Children, Oxfam and the British Red Cross have also swung into action.

But most of the aid is yet to be distributed because of the secretive Burmese junta, led by ruthless General Than Shwe.

His isolationist regime is paranoid an influx of foreigners might have a political impact on a national referendum due tomorrow, set to strengthen the army’s grip still further.

Just four of the air force’s 80 helicopters have been used to move food, water and medical shipments.

Meanwhile, many desperately needed supplies remain in neighbouring countries awaiting clearance, along with aid workers denied visas.

Aid packages which have made it to Rangoon Airport were still on the tarmac.

There were fears that some could be stolen and sold on by corrupt officials.

Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, insisted: “We can’t wait for them any more.

“The Security Council must pass a resolution for aid delivery now.

“We need to see the British, French and US navies begin delivering assistance. Every extra day lost is causing the deaths of yet more innocent victims.”

The Burmese embassy in London claimed aid workers were not being allowed in because of fears for their safety.

An official said: “The Irrawaddy Delta region is hard to travel at the best of times. Once it is safe, we want more in the country as soon as possible.”

“……….the sea and the waves roaring;”
—Luke 21:25b

Corpses floated in salty flood waters and witnesses said survivors tried desperately to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails. The U.N. said some 1 million people were homeless in the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma.
“Basically the entire lower delta region is under water,” said Richard Horsey, Bangkok-based spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.
“Teams are talking about bodies floating around in the water,” he said. This is “a major, major disaster we’re dealing with.”

But a massive international aid effort was being kept on hold by Myanmar’s military rulers. Internal U.N. documents obtained by The Associated Press showed growing frustrations at foot-dragging by the junta, which has kept the impoverished nation isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control.
“Visas are still a problem. It is not clear when it will be sorted out,” according to the minutes of a meeting of the U.N. task force coordinating relief for Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday.
It said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “will contact Myanmar” Wednesday to arrange a meeting with high-ranking officials on the issue.
State media in military-ruled Myanmar said more than 22,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis blasted the country’s western coast on Saturday and over 41,000 others were missing. But Horsey predicted the number of fatalities could rise “dramatically.”
Local aid workers started distributing water purification tablets, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting and basic medical supplies. But heavily flooded areas were accessible only by boat, with helicopters unable to deliver relief supplies there, Horsey said.

A few shops opened Wednesday in the delta but were quickly stormed by people, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in Bangkok, quoting his agency’s workers in the area.
“Fist fights are breaking out,” he said.
The U.N. World Food Program says as many as 1 million people may have been left homeless, with some villages nearly destroyed and vast rice-growing areas wiped out. The Irrawaddy delta is considered Myanmar’s rice bowl.
The military junta normally restricts the access of foreign officials and organizations to the country, and aid groups were struggling to deliver relief goods.
“Most urgent need is food and water,” said Andrew Kirkwood, head of Save the Children in Yangon. “Many people are getting sick. The whole place is under salt water and there is nothing to drink. They can’t use tablets to purify salt water,” he said.

Save the Children distributed food, plastic sheeting, cooking utensils and chlorine tablets to 230,000 people in Yangon area. Trucks were sent to the delta on Wednesday, carrying rice, salt, sugar and tarpaulin.
A Yangon resident who returned home from the area said people are drinking coconut water because of lack of safe drinking water. He said many people were on boats using blankets as sails.
Local aid groups were distributing rice porridge, which people were collecting in dirty plastic shopping bags. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared getting into trouble with authorities for talking to a foreign news agency.
In Geneva, the United Nations said Myanmar has authorized an airplane to bring U.N. aid supplies to cyclone victims.
But permission is still pending for a U.N. coordination team to accompany the flight, which was set to take off Wednesday. U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said U.N. staff in Bangkok also were awaiting approval of their visas so they can go to Myanmar and assess damage.

Relief teams and aid material are waiting to deploy from Thailand, Singapore, Italy, France, Sweden, Britain, South Korea, Australia, Israel, U.S., Poland, Japan, according to minutes from a U.N. relief meeting in Geneva that were obtained by The Associated Press.
However, Myanmar has accepted aid from traditional friends China, India and Indonesia. A group from Malaysia also was granted visas, according to the minutes of the meeting.
Britain offered about $9.8 million to help the crisis, and the U.S. offered more than $3 million in aid. President Bush said Washington was prepared to use the U.S. Navy to help search for the dead and missing.
However, the Myanmar military, which regularly accuses the United States of trying to subvert its rule, was unlikely to accept U.S. military presence in its territory.
The U.S. military started positioning people and equipment as it awaited word from Myanmar’s government. An Air Force C-130 cargo plane landed in Thailand and another was on the way, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said Wednesday morning at the Pentagon.

“When they accept, or if they accept – and we know what supplies they need – those planes will be there to transport those,” she said.
The Navy also has three ships participating in an exercise in the Gulf of Thailand that could help in any relief effort – the USS Essex, the USS Juneau and the USS Harper’s Ferry – but Navy officials said they are still in a holding pattern.
The Essex is an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 that are capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, as well as more than 1,500 Marines.
Because it would take the Essex more than four days to get into position for the relief effort, the Navy is considering sending some of its helicopters ahead, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was still in the planning stages. The aircraft would be able to arrive in a matter of hours, and the Essex could follow, he said.
In Yangon, many angry residents say they were given vague and incorrect information about the approaching storm and no instructions on how to cope when it struck.

Officials in India said they had warned Myanmar that Cyclone Nargis was headed for the country two days before it made landfall there.
The state-run Indian Meteorological Department had been keeping a close watch on the depression in the Bay of Bengal since it was first spotted on April 28 and sent regular updates about its progress to all the countries in its path, department spokesman B. P. Yadav said.
State television news quoted Yangon official Gen. Tha Aye on Wednesday as reassuring people that the situation was “returning to normal.”
But city residents faced new challenges as markets doubled prices of rice, charcoal and bottled water.
At a market in the suburb of Kyimyindaing, a fish monger shouted to shoppers: “Come, come the fish is very fresh.” But an angry woman snapped back: “Even if the fish is fresh, I have no water to cook it!”

Electricity was restored in a small portion of Yangon but most city residents, who rely on wells with electric pumps, had no water. Vendors sold bottled water at more than double the normal price. Price of rice and cooking oil also skyrocketed.
The cyclone came a week before a key referendum on a proposed constitution backed by the junta.
State radio said Saturday’s vote would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta. But it indicated the balloting would proceed in other areas as scheduled.
A top U.S. envoy to Southeast Asia said Wednesday that Myanmar’s military junta should be focusing all its efforts on helping victims of a devastating cyclone, not pressing forward with a planned constitutional referendum.
“It’s a huge crisis and it just seems odd to me that the government would go ahead with the referendum in this circumstance,” said Scot Marciel, who was appointed last week as the first U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Its government has been widely criticized for suppressing pro-democracy parties such as the one led by Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained in September when the military cracked down on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks and democracy advocates.

“……….the sea and the waves roaring;”
—Luke 21:25b

“The basic message was that they believe the provisional death toll was about 10,000 with 3,000 missing,” a diplomat present at the meeting told Reuters in Bangkok.

(Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler)