Anxiety and impatience in long wait for Hurricane Dorian in coastal US

VERO BEACH, Fla.  – Two days after storm shutters started going up and people waited in long lines for gas and food in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, the parking lot of a Home Depot a short drive from the beach in central Florida was nearly empty as the sun peeked out behind scattered clouds.

Mike Lafferty boarded up his house near Vero Beach days ago and was at the store to pick up a few more things. The waiting can be bothersome, but it beats being caught unprepared.

The National Hurricane Center has a 60% chance of the area getting hurricane force winds before early Wednesday.

“It’s not overkill. It’s necessity. You don’t know what is going to happen,” Lafferty said. “Electricity is going to go out sometime. You have to be ready for it.”

From Florida to North Carolina, residents and government officials have been preparing for possible impacts of Dorian for days, even as the official forecast has the center of the storm staying offshore.

They started taking action Sunday. South Carolina ordered about 830,000 people to evacuate the state’s coast beginning at noon EDT Monday.

The Category 5 hurricane’s nearly unprecedented strength — the 185 mph (295 kph) winds made it the second strongest storm in the Atlantic Ocean since 1950 — has people aware that even a tiny error in the forecast could be catastrophic.

“We have to be ready for it,” said Neil Baxley, commander of emergency services in coastal South Carolina’s Beaufort County. “We are deep in the error cone.”

The gas lines and people queued up with carts outside grocery stores weren’t seen Sunday along the southeast U.S. coast.

Instead, people were watching and waiting to see the destruction from the northern Bahamas, where Dorian made landfall on the Abaco Islands.

“I’m thanking God now that it has turned a little more to the east. But that’s a forecast. We never know,” said Kevin Browning, who was at the Vero Beach Home Depot looking for supplies after putting up his hurricane shutters Friday. “I feel for the Bahamas and I’m praying for them.”


Florida’s governor suspended tolls on roads to help those seeking to leave.

Farther up the coast, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said state troopers would start reversing lanes on major coastal roads so they all head inland Monday afternoon.

Many of South Carolina’s coastal residents are now evacuating for the fourth time in four years. Just one storm hit the state directly during that time — Matthew in 2016. McMaster addressed the storm weariness on Sunday evening as he announced the upcoming evacuations.

“We can’t make everybody happy. But we believe we can keep everyone alive,” the governor said.

Earlier in the day, McMaster said he understood the frustration with the waiting and uncertainty of Dorian’s path.

“We don’t have a solid prediction as to where it might turn, where it might not turn when it will get here. But we assure you we have the best minds and the most experienced and talented people working around the clock,” McMaster said.

In Florida, it was still the Labor Day holiday weekend, so folks headed to the beach. It wasn’t as crowded as usual at Jacksonville Beach, and members of the American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps were warning people not to go into the water.

“It looks like business as usual, which is a little strange, but a lot of people are here from out of town they don’t want the storm to ruin their Labor Day weekend,” said volunteer lifeguard Mikey Atkins.

Gerry Heister has lived in Florida for 35 years and seen a lot of storms come through Vero Beach. “Frances, Jeanne, Matthew and whatever the heck the others were,” she said Sunday, trying to recall them all.

She said she has learned it is better to be prepared and the worst not happen then to be surprised and not ready.


“You just prepare and then once it’s gone, you get on with the rest of your life,” Heister said. /gsg

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Storm whips up blizzards, dumps snow in Dakotas, Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — Post-holiday travelers were finding driving difficult as a winter storm dumped heavy snow and whipped up gusty winds across parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota on Thursday.

Up to 11 inches (28 centimeters) of snow had fallen in the Moorhead-Alexandria area of western Minnesota by mid-afternoon Thursday, and it was still snowing, said meteorologist Tyler Hasenstein of the Twin Cities National Weather Service.

The line of snow ended just northwest of the Twin Cities around Elk River, Hasenstein said. The snowfall peaked around 3 inches (8 centimeters) at the Minneapolis airport, then rain starting early Thursday melted the snowpack.

Officials in North Dakota issued a no-travel advisory for the eastern part of the state due to icy roads and reduced visibility. Blustery winds were causing blizzard conditions in Jamestown, North Dakota, and in northern South Dakota, where transportation officials reported visibility was down to a quarter-mile along a stretch of Highway 10.

Bus service for Fargo, North Dakota, and neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, was suspended Thursday afternoon because of worsening road conditions. Service is expected to resume Friday with a normal schedule.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for central South Dakota, eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. The storm was expected to drop more than a foot of snow in the region before ending Friday.

The Minnesota State Patrol tweeted that road conditions are poor across much of western Minnesota. Transportation officials said road conditions across much of the central and northern areas of the state are completely covered with ice and snow, with windy conditions causing even more travel issues.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation said it might be better to wait for conditions to improve if travel isn’t necessary.

The weather service said an estimated 18 inches of snow had fallen by early Thursday afternoon near Finland on Minnesota’s North Shore.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol issued a travel alert for parts of North Dakota including Bismarck and Devils Lake due to whiteout conditions. Eastern North Dakota was expected to deal with winds gusting up to 50 mph, creating blizzard conditions mainly in the Red River Valley.

University campuses, courthouses and municipal buildings across North Dakota are among the places closed on Thursday, including the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Millions in US prepare for potentially catastrophic Florence

RALEIGH, N.C. — Millions of Americans are preparing for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the Eastern Seaboard in decades.

Hurricane Florence is carrying winds of up to 140 mph as a Category 4 storm. It is expected to strengthen and possibly become a Category 5 storm Tuesday before closing in on North or South Carolina on Thursday.


Mandatory evacuations have been issued for parts of South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, including the entire coast of South Carolina.

Since reliable record-keeping began more than 150 years ago, North Carolina has been hit by only one Category 4 hurricane: Hazel, with 130 mph winds, in 1954.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Greece in mourning: 16 killed after deadly flood

Greece was in mourning, as rescue crews tried to locate several people missing in a flood that killed 16 people near the capital, with more thunderstorms forecast until the weekend.

Authorities said on Thursday that at least four people were still unaccounted for in Mandra, one of three towns about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Athens hit by a freak flood early Wednesday.

The latest victim, a 50-year-old man, was found in a mud-filled basement. It took rescue crews over a day to reach his home.

The poor weather is set to continue until the weekend, raising concerns for hundreds of people with waterlogged homes.

Late on Thursday, the capital was lashed by another thunderstorm and firefighters in northern Greece said they were called to drain water from over 400 homes.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who declared three days of national mourning after the disaster, said he felt “shock” after touring the area on Thursday.

“This is clearly a rare and extreme weather phenomenon,” Tsipras said in a statement.

“But this extreme phenomenon had these effects because of (decades of) accumulated problems and deficiencies in infrastructure and zone planning,” he said.

Experts have said ill-conceived building in the area – some of it by local municipal authorities – meant this was a disaster waiting to happen.

Corrective drainage works for the area were approved in 2016 but work has yet to begin.

Meteorologists said Wednesday’s heavy rainfall was concentrated on a nearby mountain that had been devastated by wildfires in 2016, facilitating the ensuing mudslide.

Neighboring areas saw much less rain, they said.

“It was like a tsunami,” Evangelos Kolovetzos, a local shopowner, told AFP.

Local resident Spyros Karambikas told ERT television that he saw a man being swept away by the torrent “like the wind blows away a napkin.”

“The water in my house rose to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet),” said Sotiris Loukopoulos, whose pharmacy is the only one still open in Mandra.

“Five pharmacies were destroyed, we are still operating because we are on higher ground,” he told Athens municipal radio, as residents tried to clean their yards with shovels and hoses.

Over a hundred firefighters aided by army machinery were mounting search and rescue efforts in Mandra, Nea Peramos, and Megara – the semi-rural communities west of Athens hit hardest by the deluge.

The operation unfolded alongside gutted, debris-strewn streets, overturned cars, and hundreds of flooded homes and shops as utility crews worked to restore power and water services.

Emergency crews used pumps to drain water as police reinforcements were sent to the area to prevent looting.

Four people were arrested on Thursday after allegedly attempting to steal electrical appliances from a factory, state agency ANA said.

Twelve people are hospitalized, one in serious condition.

Illegal buildings

As a first step, the state will cover the funeral expenses, the interior ministry said.

Food, water and blankets have been rushed to the area, hit by what locals have described as the worst flooding in 20 years.

Some elderly people died inside their homes while other people were trapped in their cars as they drove to work. Two bodies were found at sea.

Parts of the area are without water and electricity for a second day; and much of the damage will take days to repair, though fortunately the sewage system is still functioning, the state water company said.

A 364-cabin cruise ship has been commissioned to shelter some of the homeless if necessary, the merchant marine ministry said.

Over the last 20 years, the once a rural area of Mandra and neighboring towns were rapidly transformed into a logistics hub for factories and warehouses, with the new construction covering riverbeds that would have provided natural drainage.

A prosecutor has ordered an investigation into building violations in the area, where two people had already died in flooding that struck in 1996.

“There is a bad precedent with public works in this country,” Interior Minister Panos Skourletis told Antenna TV.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said: “Illegal building was a response to huge social and economic inequality.”             /kga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

So far, cellphone networks have weathered Harvey

NEW YORK —Roads, refineries and other infrastructure have taken a beating in the Texas and Louisiana regions hit by Harvey — but cellphone networks so far remain largely functional.

One reason: Big carriers brought in supplemental equipment and backup power and turned to drones to diagnose problems.

Four Gulf Coast counties northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, had more than half of their cell towers knocked out earlier in the week, but crews have been able to restore many of them. As of Thursday, one of the most heavily hit areas, Aransas County, reported 32 percent of its 28 towers out.

That’s down from 95 percent right after the weekend’s storm, according to data from the Federal Communications Commission.

Throughout the affected region, slightly less than 4 percent of cell towers were out.

While cellphone services fared well, hundreds of thousands of people lost landline or other wired phone services, according to the FCC. Some 911 centers had to transfer calls to neighboring centers, while some television stations lost broadcast capabilities.

Here’s a look at communications in the affected regions.

Cellphone Services

All told, the devastating storm knocked out fewer than 400 of the 7,804 cell towers in the affected counties; just 296 were down as of Thursday. By contrast, Hurricane Katrina disabled more than 1,000 cell towers in 2005.

Cell towers typically have backup batteries and generators so they can keep operating in a power outage. The problem comes when generators run out of fuel. Verizon spokeswoman Karen Schulz said crews prepared by topping off all generators ahead of the storm. The company also bought spare fuel and had refueling trucks on standby at key locations.

In a few cases, there’s been damage to the fiber lines that connect cell towers to communications centers. In such cases, it might be possible to get a signal, but the data isn’t going anywhere. Schulz said Verizon has microwave technology to temporarily bridge those gaps.

Verizon and AT&T have both sent out drones to assess damage at cell towers. Crews are still necessary for repairs, but the drone inspections allow companies to determine whether a tower simply needs refueling or requires extensive repair. Cellphone companies also sent truck-based mobile cell towers to areas needing greater capacity.

Emergency Services

As of Thursday, only 7 of the region’s 911 centers were out of service, all in Texas, although all were able to reroute calls to neighboring call centers. That’s down from 11 on Wednesday.

Four of those centers still aren’t able to get callers’ location information automatically, which can be a problem if the caller is unable to speak. Earlier in the week, two centers were down completely, but both have since been restored.

The bigger problem is call volume. Many callers in the Houston area were placed on hold until a dispatcher was free, said Trey Forgety of the nonprofit National Emergency Number Association. In a few cases, callers got busy signals.

“We’re part of the telephone era, so if you want to move calls around (to neighboring centers), you have to go physically rewire things,” he said.

Wired Services

The FCC said that at the peak of the outage, at least 283,000 households lost wired phone services — both traditional landlines and internet phones such as cable. That was down to about 270,000 by Thursday, a slight uptick from Wednesday. In comparison, Katrina knocked out more than 3 million phone lines.

People are far less dependent on wired phone services these days. U.S. households with only cellphone service hit a majority for the first time in the second half of 2016, according to a government survey.

Broadcast Services

The FCC said two Texas television stations — KFDM and KBTV in Beaumont — were out of service as of Thursday, one less than the day before. The outages appeared to affect only over-the-air broadcasts, as the stations streamed their channels online.
Several radio stations also lost service — nine as of Thursday, all in Texas. Five stations were down on Wednesday.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Flood warnings issued amid heavy rain in California

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Forecasters issued flash flood warnings Monday throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California as downpours swelled creeks and rivers in the already soggy region.

The National Weather Service said heavy rain could persist into the evening and was expected to cause flooding on the Carmel River in Monterey County and Coyote Creek in Santa Clara County.

In the San Joaquin Valley, residents were patrolling levees for signs of danger, reviewing evacuation plans and filling hundreds of sand bags as the San Joaquin River kept rising.

“Our community is pulling together like real champs,” said San Joaquin River Club resident Paula Martin, who is helping coordinate emergency plans for the private neighborhood of 800 homes.

Martin said the neighborhood has sirens in a clubhouse and church that can warn residents of impending flooding.

The weather service issued snow and wind advisories, including a flash flood warning for the Soberanes burn area in Monterey County. It said winds could reach 60 mph in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Santa Cruz County had seen 2.8 inches of rain in 24 hours and could see up to 8 inches before the storm passes Tuesday. Marin County got 2.3 inches of rain while close to an inch fell in San Francisco.

Forecasters said rainfall in San Francisco has already surpassed the normal annual amount for the wet season that begins in October.

The city has logged 24.50 inches of rain since Oct. 1, said forecaster Bob Benjamin. The average rainfall for the year ending Sept. 30 is 23.65 inches.

A pre-evacuation advisory was issued for a community in Madera County after water discharges from Bass Lake were increased and threatened to swell rivers, officials said.

The Fresno Bee reported (http://bit.ly/2m5S8NG) that the order was issued for several roads near downtown North Fork, about 10 miles from the lake.

The sheriff’s office said residents should be ready to leave quickly if conditions worsen.

In the mountains, the weather service forecast heavy snow in the Lake Tahoe area with a high avalanche danger until Tuesday in an area of the Sierra Nevada from Yuba Pass to Ebbetts Pass.

Forecasters say the winter storm could drop up to 5 feet of snow in areas above 7,500 feet while lower elevations could see between 8 and 24 inches of snow.

Forecasters advised motorists to avoid travel in the area through Tuesday.

Moderate to heavy rain along with snowmelt below 7,000 feet was expected to swell rivers and streams and increase the chance of flooding.

The San Joaquin River was approaching the top of levees and could remain at that level for four days, said Tim Daly, a spokesman with the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services.

“When the water gets that high and more water is coming, there is just too much pressure and levees can break,” Daly said. “They can be topped.”

The Don Pedro reservoir, which captures water from the Tuolumne River, a key tributary of the San Joaquin, was at 97 percent capacity.

The weather service also issued flash flood warnings for the North Bay and Monterey areas as well as south-central Alameda County and southeastern Santa Clara County.

In Alameda County, the weather service reported gauges on Alameda Creek were showing that rapidly rising water levels have surpassed local flood stages in Niles Canyon and a watershed above Sunol Regional Wilderness.

For the first time in more than 10 years, water flowed into  Lake Berryessa’s unique spillway.

The Monticello Dam Morning Glory Spillway, also known as the Glory Hole, operates similarly to a bathtub drain for the northern California lake.

The last time it spilled over was in 2006.

Elsewhere, the water level kept falling at Oroville Dam, where a damaged spillway had raised major flood concerns and prompted the evacuation of 188,000 people a week ago. CBB

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Winter storm slams parts of US, causes accidents, deaths

A winter storm of snow, freezing rain and bone-chilling temperatures socked the nation’s mid-section and East Coast on Saturday, causing hundreds of accidents on icy roads and putting a crimp on Christmas shopping.

At least six deaths were blamed on the slick roads and authorities were investigating a few other traffic fatalities as possibly weather-related. Perhaps the biggest accident happened in Baltimore, when a tanker carrying gasoline skidded off a highway and exploded, authorities said.

Two people died in the 55-vehicle pileup on Interstate 95, Baltimore City Fire Chief Roman Clark said. Hospital officials said nearly two dozen people were treated for injuries including broken bones and head trauma.

“We have nothing but sheets of ice throughout the city, sidewalks,” [Baltimore City Fire Chief Roman Clark] said.

Clark said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.

“We have nothing but sheets of ice throughout the city, sidewalks,” he said.

It was unclear whether the pileup started before the tanker crash or was caused by it. The northbound lanes of I-95 were closed while crews cleaned up the mess.

Winter weather advisories were posted from Denver to Bangor, Maine. Airports reported hundreds of flight delays or cancellations, interstates and toll roads reduced speed limits and authorities urged drivers to use extreme caution.

“My family has a Christmas party … and I was hoping to make it to that tonight, but that’s not going to happen anymore,” the 23-year-old [Luke Perez] said.

The nasty weather put a damper on holiday plans for Luke Perez, who was hoping to make it home to Los Angeles on Saturday for a family party. Perez’s flight out of D.C., where he is in graduate school, was canceled, so he said he’s going to try again Sunday or Monday.

“My family has a Christmas party … and I was hoping to make it to that tonight, but that’s not going to happen anymore,” the 23-year-old said.

There were dozens of crashes in Indiana — two of them involving fatalities — due to freezing rain and ice, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many people were killed. The roads were so slick that authorities had to move motorists stranded on an overpass with a ladder.

In Ohio, a Columbus woman died Saturday when her car skidded off a slick road, authorities said. In another accident in Baltimore, six people were taken to the hospital after a crash on I-695 involving 15 to 20 vehicles, Baltimore County tweeted. In Nebraska, Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies said one person was killed Friday night when his car slid off an icy road north of Omaha, hit a tree and burst into flames.

“I worked for the fire department for 45 years, and we used to call this highway hockey because people keep bumping into each other,” said Kevin Sweeney, of Brighton, a town about 20 miles northeast of Denver. “I think it’s that first big snow thing.”

Temperatures plummeted and people braced for the cold. Temperatures in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area were expected to drop to minus-20 degrees overnight. People were advised to stay indoors for the weekend. The low temperature was expected to reach 4 degrees in Chicago on Sunday.

In Virginia, a Fairfax County fire truck slid off an icy road while responding to a crash, local news media reported. No one was injured.

Meanwhile, more than three dozen crashes and a fatality were reported in the northern part of the state, authorities said. Police said a man was found dead on the side of I-495, about a mile from a 23-vehicle crash. It appears the man was involved in the crash and had walked away from disabled vehicle. It wasn’t immediately clear how the man died.

In Colorado, up to a foot of snow fell in places, snarling traffic. Even weather-hardened locals apparently had trouble driving.

“I worked for the fire department for 45 years, and we used to call this highway hockey because people keep bumping into each other,” said Kevin Sweeney, of Brighton, a town about 20 miles northeast of Denver. “I think it’s that first big snow thing.”

In North Carolina, police and emergency workers reported more than 100 crashes overnight in Raleigh and Charlotte as the drizzle combined with temperatures below freezing to create dangerous icy patches.

Charlotte police reported two people killed in separate fatal crashes early Saturday, although investigators were still trying to figure out if ice caused the wrecks. CBB/rga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

In Hurricane Patricia’s wake, torrential rains move into Louisiana

HOUSTON - Torrential rainstorms battered Louisiana on Sunday, leaving thousands without power, after pounding southeastern Texas as the remnants of Hurricane Patricia converged with a second storm.

The heaviest band of rain moved over the Gulf of Mexico, triggering coastal flood warnings and flash flood watches in southwest Louisiana and soaking New Orleans, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

About 22,000 people were left without power in the greater New Orleans area. Some streets were flooded, while a high tide surge brought some coastal flooding as well.

Rainfall has totaled as much as 7 inches (18 cm) since late Saturday night, and forecasters predicted another 5 inches (13 cm) could fall. The NWS said waterspouts over lakes and tornados over land were both possible into the early morning hours.

"Most of the heavier rain to the west of New Orleans will taper off in the evening ... and for far eastern Louisiana it will probably end closer to midnight," said NWS forecaster Gavin Phillips.

The NWS issued a tornado watch for southeastern Louisiana and coastal Mississippi into early Monday, and warned that severe thunderstorms could develop in the region.

A tornado touched down near the community of Larose, about 45 minutes south of New Orleans, though no serious damage was reported.

Tides along the southern coast of Louisiana were expected to be a few feet above normal at high tide due to sustained winds, likely flooding roads in lower-lying areas, Phillips said.

More than 9 inches (23 cm) of rain swelled rivers and flooded roads around Houston, but no injuries or deaths were reported as flash flood warnings ended.

Petroleum refineries along the US Gulf Coast, which make up more than 40 percent of U.S. capacity, also appeared to be largely undamaged.

In the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin oil fields of south and west Texas, no major production cuts were reported. While the rains were heavy in Houston, they came after a month-long dry spell so flooding was relatively limited.

Texas withstands pummeling

The storms over the past two days drenched a large swath from south of Dallas to the southeast coast, triggering flash flooding in Navarro County, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Dallas, on Saturday.

A Union Pacific freight train carrying cement derailed in Navarro County after a creek overflowed, washing out the tracks. Locomotives and rail cars were pushed on their sides, and a two-person crew was forced to swim to safety.

Repair teams cleared the derailed cars by Sunday morning, but they were not expected to be righted for several hours and the rail line was not due to reopen until Monday at the earliest, Union Pacific spokesman Jeff DeGraff said.

Navarro County was one of the hardest-hit areas. The tiny town of Powell got 20 inches (50 cm) of rain over 30 hours, said meteorologist Brett Rathbun of Accuweather.

Navarro County Sheriff Elmer Tanner reported dozens of rescues from vehicles, homes and businesses since Friday.

In San Antonio, a woman reported her boyfriend was swept into a drainage ditch as he walked his dog early Saturday.

The force of the water washed him out of the underground ditch and he passed out, the San Antonio Fire Department said on Twitter. He later came to and called authorities.

The rain was strengthened by the remnants of Patricia, which was downgraded to a tropical depression after crashing into Mexico's west coast on Friday as a powerful hurricane. —Reuters

Flash floods kill at least 13 on French Riviera

NICE - Flooding caused by torrential rain along part of the French Riviera has killed least 13 people, officials said Sunday.

The downpour hit the Alpes-Maritimes region, which lies at the eastern end of France's Mediterranean coast and borders Italy, on Saturday evening.

Eight people have been found dead and another five are missing, the government's local office said. President Francois Hollande had earlier said there had been at least 12 deaths.

The first victims were three people killed at a retirement home that was flooded in Biot, local officials said.

In the resort town of Cannes, which hosts the annual film festival, the train station was flooded, leading to the interruption of local rail services, while cars were swept along streets by torrents.

The flooding led to the closure of a local stretch of the A8 motorway and left thousands of homes without electricity.

In Nice, a soccer match between the town's team and Nantes for the French first division was abandoned midway due to the rain, while hundreds of people were stranded overnight at a concert venue after attending a show by French rock legend Johnny Hallyday. — Reuters

Severe Antarctic weather slows Australian icebreaker bid to reach stranded ship

SYDNEY - Severe Antarctic weather was slowing an Australian icebreaker's bid to reach a Russian ship trapped in ice since Christmas eve with 74 people onboard, the Australian maritime rescue agency said on Monday.

The Aurora Australis was currently about 11 nautical miles (20 kms) from the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy, said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is co-ordinating the rescue.

"The area is currently experiencing snow showers, resulting in poor visibility. The Aurora Australis is travelling slowly due to the conditions to ensure the safety of all on board," AMSA said in a statement.

AMSA had earlier expected the Aurora Australis to arrive at the scene Sunday evening.

"It is unknown at this time if or when the Aurora Australis will arrive near the Akademik Shokalskiy due to weather and ice conditions," the agency said.

The Russian ship left New Zealand on Nov. 28 on a private expedition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by famed Australian explorer Douglas Mawson.

It is now trapped some 100 nautical miles (185 km) east of French Antarctic station Dumont D'Urville and about 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km) nautical miles south of Australia's southern island state of Tasmania.

The Akademik Shokalskiy's 74 passengers include scientists and tourists, many of them Australian, and what the Russian Foreign Ministry said were 22 Russian crew members.

Chris Turney, an Australian professor who helped organize the voyage on the Russian ship, posted photos of passengers on board, including one of a passenger and a penguin.

"Set up tent on top deck. All well. Aurora making good progress. Waiting game!" Turney said on his twitter on Monday morning.

Ice that has trapped the ship appeared to be cracking up, raising hopes for a rescue, Turney said earlier.

The Australian icebreaker was one of the three vessels sent to try and free the Russian ship.

A Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, has been halted by thick ice within sight of the ice-bound ship, while another French-flagged ship was no longer involved in the rescue.

The Chinese Snow Dragon would remain on standby until the Aurora Australis reaches the Russian ship, AMSA said earlier.

The Snow Dragon has a helicopter on board that can be used to rescue passengers if the Aurora Australis can not break through the ice, the agency said. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Flooding brings chaos to Philippine capital

Manila, Philippines (CNN) -- Fueled by seasonal monsoon rains and a nearby tropical storm, widespread flooding in the Philippines worsened Tuesday, causing a landslide that killed nine members of a family, the national disaster agency reported.

The landslide in the Manila suburb of Quezon City buried two houses, leaving the nine people dead and four others injured, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center.

Three of the dead were children, the state-run Philippines News Agency reported.

The capital city of Manila got 504 millimeters (about 20 inches) of rain Tuesday, PNA reported, with more on the way.

The country's weather service -- the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration -- warned the region's 12 million residents of continued torrential rains and serious flooding through Wednesday.

The national railroad called off service, and many roads were under water. Some dams were beginning to overflow, putting more communities at risk, authorities said.

The flooding has already forced nearly 130,000 people across the country from their homes, the disaster agency said. About 78,000 were staying in emergency shelters Tuesday night, the agency said.

Rescue requests continued to come in early Wednesday, including some people who were using Twitter to contact authorities for help.

"Pregnant woman needs help! Staying on top of a roof," one Twitter user posted, followed by an address. "Please help BORRES FAMILY w/ 2y/o child!!," posted another.

The weather agency warned residents to expect more landslides and flash flooding, and authorities urged residents in low-lying areas to move to higher ground to keep the death toll from the flooding from rising beyond the current 53.

In an effort to save lives and make way for rescue and relief efforts, President Benigno Aquino ordered work suspended at government and private offices around the capital region Tuesday.

Government offices and schools were also to be closed Wednesday, the president's office said.

"It's like a water world," PNA quoted Benito Ramos, head of the disaster agency, as saying of the city.

Deep water in many parts of metropolitan Manila blocked roads, stranded cars and flooded homes. In several areas, the water was waist deep or higher, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said in its Twitter feed.

"Last night it was raining cats and dogs, or even like elephants banging on your roof top," said CNN iReporter Rummel Pinera. "You cannot sleep when it's raining for several hours like this, it was like a deluge."

Another iReporter, Jumar Rejuso, said the downpour was terrifying.

"We had to force ourselves to leave in order to be spared from the wrath of the raging waters," he said. "It was the first time I have witnessed in my entire life a flood as big as that."

Flooding has struck across the Philippines, with high water reported in 46 communities across the country, the disaster agency reported.

Authorities in Marikina City imposed a forced evacuation of areas near the Marikina River, which has risen above critical levels, PNA reported.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the Ambuklao, Binga and San Roque dams were releasing water, putting several cities at a higher risk of flooding. The agency warned residents living near the dams to be on the lookout for rising waters.

U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas said Tuesday that the United States would provide $100,000 for disaster relief.

The rain and flooding are the result of the normal summer monsoon enhanced by the effects of Tropical Storm Haikui, the Philippines weather service said. The storm was about 258 miles southeast of Shanghai, China, on Tuesday, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The country had already been lashed by heavy rain and wind in recent weeks resulting from Tropical Storm Saola, which plowed past it before hitting Taiwan and China at the end of last week.

The country is frequently subjected to flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain. In December, Tropical Storm Washi left more than 1,200 people dead after it set off flash floods that swept away entire villages in the southern Philippines.

source: CNN