ALERT: Natural and industrial disaster emergencies

[Mr. Bill]

Please use this topic for brief announcements of natural and industrial disaster emergencies (including severe weather, wildfires, earthquakes, chemical leaks, etc.) that are currently in progress.

Urgent announcements only -- please discuss the details in a separate topic.

[FreeLancer]

Rapidly moving Blue Cut Fire started a couple hours ago in the Cajon Pass and has closed the I-15 in both directions, stranded a freight train, thousands of people evacuated.  Hot, dry, windy conditions.

[Cedar]

New wildfires prompt evacuation notices in southern Oregon, near Sunriver
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/08/new_wildfire_prompts_evacuatio.html

Thread http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=58565.0

Cedar

[FreeLancer]

6.2 earthquake in central Italy.  Numerous buildings leveled and several deaths.

[FreeLancer]

Link to Italy quake thread: http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=58600.msg690200#new

[Chemsoldier]

5.6 earthquake in Oklahoma.  I felt it here in Manhattan KS.

 Earthquake shakes swath of Midwest from Nebraska to Texas | Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/03/earthquake-shakes-swath-midwest-from-missouri-to-oklahoma.html

[TheRetiredRancher]

A broken petroleum pipeline leaves the East coast with limited gasoline and diesel supplies for at least a week.  If you are travelling in the mid-south or up along the Atlantic coast, don't let your gas tanks get to low.  The largest pipeline supplying this area broke in Shelby county AL and it is estimated to take at least a week to repair.  Tankers are being dispatched to haul gasoline and diesel from Houston and New Orleans to the east coast, but they will take a few days to get there and cannot handle the total flow carried by the pipeline.  Alabama and Georgia have already declared states of emergency.  This will also affect the chemical producers that rely on petrochemical feed stocks.  Look for shortages to appear in a few weeks time.

Isn't our supply system amazing, when it works.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/16/investing/gasoline-prices-shortage-pipeline-leak/index.html?iid=hp-toplead-dom

[DWSDVSE]

TN Governor has similarly declared a state of emergency this evening. People are acting like morons and swamping gas stations. I filled up our empty spare gas cans this evening before it was cool to do so. My wife saw a guy on her way home attempting to fill a clear plastic gallon jug with gas...I'm sure that's a winning idea.

Prices, at least in the Nashville area are not crazy...people are just trying to drain the tanks.

[Cedar]

Officials say a massive sinkhole in Florida has allowed millions of gallons of radioactive water to pour into one of the world's most productive aquifers. This aquafer us the drinking water for millions of Floridians
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/17/sinkhole-causes-980-million-litres-of-radioactive-water-to-leak/

Cedar

[Mr. Bill]

Officials say a massive sinkhole in Florida has allowed millions of gallons of radioactive water to pour into one of the world's most productive aquifers. This aquafer us the drinking water for millions of Floridians
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/17/sinkhole-causes-980-million-litres-of-radioactive-water-to-leak/

The contaminant is phosphogypsum.  From Wikipedia:

Phosphogypsum is a side-product from the production of phosphoric acid by treating phosphate ore (apatite) with sulfuric acid...

Phosphogypsum is radioactive due to the presence of naturally occurring uranium and thorium. ...

...the marine-deposited phosphate ore from central Florida is weakly radioactive, and as such, the phosphogypsum by-product (in which the radionuclides are somewhat concentrated) is too radioactive to be used for most applications. As a result, there are about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked in 25 stacks in Florida...

[DWSDVSE]

As if we need more weird things to come out of Florida! 

[TheRetiredRancher]

Power outage in Puerto Rico.  Puerto Rico just lost its island wide electrical grid due to a fire at a single switch or switching station.  15 fires have been reported due to faulty back-up generators including at one upscale resort.   The article reports that power may be back up this morning, but if I was in Puerto Rico, I would be preparing for an extended outage just in case as the public utility that runs the electrical system in Puerto Rico is bankrupt and the availablility of parts may be questionable.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/09/21/puerto-rico-hit-with-islandwide-blackout-after-fire-erupts.html

[Chemsoldier]

The State of South Australia has no power following storms combined with network problems.

SA weather: State without power as massive storm hits - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-28/sa-weather-south-australia-without-power-as-storm-hits/7885930?pfmredir=sm
 

[TheRetiredRancher]

I am surprised no one has even mentioned Hurricane Matthew yet.  Perhaps the largest ever evacuation in US history.  It is predicted to cause up to $200 Billion damage as it hits as a Major level 4 hurricane and stay at least a 3 into Georgia.  It will just skim the coast from Miami up to Charleston South Carolina.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/06/hurricane-matthew-could-inflict-200-billion-in-damage-to-coastal-homes.html

Moderators, please create a independent thread to refer this to off of this main disaster section.

[Mr. Bill]

Hurricane Matthew

[Smurf Hunter]

Not yet a disaster, but the pacific northwest is facing an epic storm. 

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/10/warming-major-storms-threaten-pacific.html

 
“A true monster storm, potentially as strong as the most powerful storm in NW history (the Columbus Day Storm of 1962) will be approaching our area on Saturday.  The UW WRF sea level pressure forecast for 5 AM Saturday morning shows the approaching cyclone.   The central pressure is an amazing 961 mb, with an unbelievably strong pressure gradient around it.”

[Mr. Bill]

Not yet a disaster, but the pacific northwest is facing an epic storm.

Cedar started a thread for this storm in the Region Eight board:
High wind warning October 11-14 for OR and WA

[nkawtg]

Preliminary 7.3 mag quake strikes off the coast of Fukushima. Tsunami warning issued for 3 meter waves.

[Cedar]

7am Pacific time
6.8 quake off the coast of Ferndale California just occurred
No tsunami expected at this time

Cedar

[RitaRose1945]

7am Pacific time
6.8 quake off the coast of Ferndale California just occurred
No tsunami expected at this time

Cedar

Just got the alert from the USGS on my phone while I was reading this.


According to them, they're calling it a 6.5 now (which is still REALLY large) and it's 157 km west of Ferndale (about 100 miles off the coast).


Ferndale is about 150 miles west of Redding and about 250 miles north of San Francisco.

[nkawtg]

And predicted by Dr. Ben Davidson.

http://www.suspicious0bservers.org/

https://twitter.com/TheRealS0s

[Cedar]

Just now -- 8.0 quake just occurred near the Solomon Islands.
Tsunami alert just issued for Hawaii

Cedar

[nkawtg]

This one scores as a miss for Dr. Davidson, his forecast was for yesterday.

This from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC)
http://ptwc.weather.gov/?region=2&id=hawaii.TSUHWX.2016.12.08.1748

000
WEHW40 PHEB 081748
TSUHWX
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-081948-
/O.CAN.PHEB.TS.Y.0001.000000T0000Z-000000T0000Z/
/O.NEW.PHEB.TS.A.0001.161208T1748Z-000000T0000Z/

BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER   1
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
748 AM HST THU DEC 08 2016

TO - EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WATCH

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE AT
0748 AM HST.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

   ORIGIN TIME - 0739 AM HST 08 DEC 2016
   COORDINATES - 10.7 SOUTH  161.4 EAST
   LOCATION    - SOLOMON ISLANDS
   MAGNITUDE   - 8.0  MOMENT

EVALUATION

 BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY
 THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON COASTAL AREAS EVEN
 FAR FROM THE EPICENTER. AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE
 IF THERE IS A TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

 IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THE ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL OF
 THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

                     0256 PM HST THU 08 DEC 2016

FURTHER MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS
WARRANT UNTIL THE THREAT TO HAWAII HAS PASSED.

[TheRetiredRancher]

Multiple tornados hit New Orleans.  2/7/17  -  at least 3 tornados touch down around new Orleans.  Nasa/Lockheed Martin campus hit.  Serious damage. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/02/07/this-monster-tornado-just-rolled-through-new-orleans-major-damage-reported/?utm_term=.c60dd148e724

[albaprep]

Extratropical cyclone hits New Zealand North Island. States of emergency declared. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39585868

[TheRetiredRancher]

Tunnel collapse at the Hanford Nuclear site causes workers to shelter in place take precautions against radioactive releases. 

http://www.king5.com/news/local/hanford/breaking-tunnel-at-plutonium-finishing-plant-collapses-in-hanford/438116235

[Mr. Bill]

Tunnel collapse at the Hanford Nuclear site causes workers to shelter in place take precautions against radioactive releases. 

http://www.king5.com/news/local/hanford/breaking-tunnel-at-plutonium-finishing-plant-collapses-in-hanford/438116235

That link contains the latest Tweet direct from Hanford.  Also available here:

http://www.hanford.gov/c.cfm/eoc/?page=290

This does not appear to be a major incident, just a precaution.  If the tunnel collapses, any release of contamination would be very localized.  The site is quite a distance from populated areas and farmland.

Looks like mostly an issue for workers in that specific area.

[Mr. Bill]

More details from the local newspaper (which does a pretty accurate job of covering Hanford issues):

Emergency declared at Hanford nuclear reservation

[Mr. Bill]

09 May 2017
10:54 AM --

Latest Information

Responders are on the scene and are reporting the soil has subsided in an area approximately 20 feet by 20 feet over one of the tunnels next to the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Facility, also known as PUREX. There is no indication of a release of contamination at this point. Responders are getting closer to the area where the soil has subsided for further visual inspection. The subsidence of soil was discovered during a routine surveillance of the area by workers. The tunnels are hundreds of feet long, with approximately eight feet of soil covering them. The depth of the subsidence of soil appears to be into the tunnel.

The tunnels to the PUREX facility are located to the east of the facility, extending south. There are two tunnels, one is approximately 360 feet long and the other is approximately 1,700 feet long. The tunnels were used beginning in the 1950s to store contaminated equipment. The 20 foot wide by 20 foot long cave-in is in an area where the two tunnels join together.

[Mr. Bill]

Current Hanford situation: shelter-in-place order has been lifted, all non-essential personnel have been sent home, ditto for tonight's swing shift.  Gonna take 'em a while to figure out how to deal with this.

Anyway, the immediate emergency is over, and the problems now become long-term: how to fix the hole, and how this will impact other work (e.g., construction of the Waste Treatment Plant) which is being done within a mile or so of the incident.