British Coast Evacuees Urged to Avoid Contact with Flood Waters

Communities returning to the Coast of Britain after evacuation, as a result of the most devastating tidal surge in 60 years, were urged to avoid contact with floodwater and to be aware of rats that have entered some of the evacuated houses. The thousands of returning evacuees will be assessing damage to their houses for the first time following the tidal surge. Additionally, The Environmental Agency said that 1,400 homes were flooded. Suffolk police warned returning evacuees to prevent children from playing in flooded areas or playing with toys that were contaminated from flood water. Most of the flooding receded during the previous night causing the Environmental Agency to remove some 200 flood warnings. As a result, emergency services downgraded risk levels allowing the majority of evacuees to return home. So far, there have been two confirmed deaths as a result of the Atlantic storm. Despite the destruction and deaths associated with the environmental hazard, improved flood defenses in Britain stopped the North Sea surge from causing even more chaos by protecting at least 800,000 homes. Although the defenses were a vital protection, Environmental Agency teams have plenty of damage to inspect and repair over the coming days. A particular example of the devastation can be seen from residents in Hemsby, Norfolk who watched their cliff-top homes disappear into the sea as the tidal surge hit Thursday night.

Furniture sits in the garden of a house that fell into the sea during a storm surge in Hemsby, U.K.

A resident sits on the stairs of an appartment deep in flood water in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Video of aftermath of storm surge on affected areas in Britain.

Article: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/07/floodwater-storm-warning-home

Photographs: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10497522/UK-weather-warning-live.html

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSlQXN2fB1g

Heavy Rains Batter Scotland and Eastern Europe

On Thursday, December 5^th, Scotland and Eastern Europe were hit with strong wind and heavy rain. This disrupted rail and road traffic as a series of significant storms traveled across northwestern Europe from the North Atlantic and North Sea, So far there has only been one death associated with the Storm surges. Police in Scotland said the man was a truck driver whose truck overturned and struck other vehicles. According to the Environmental Agency, England was facing coastal tidal surges that were larger than any recorded in the last sixty years. As a result, Residents in some towns and cities on the Norfolk coast were being evacuated to safety. The Environmental Agency even stated that “In some areas, sea levels could be higher than those during the devastating floods of 1953.” According to the British Met Office, that storm surge killed approximately 1,800 people in the Netherlands and at least 300 people in the UK. The ScotRail train service in Scotland was forced to suspend all services as tracks were flooded or covered with debris. The spokesman for Network Rail in Scotland, stated that Glasgow Cetral Station was evacuated after debris damaged the buildings glass roof. Additionally, motorists and some flights were disrupted. Even though the worst of the storm later passed, a British Train Operator of Network rail was quoted as saying “It will be many hours yet before services return to near normal levels, and so the network in Scotland and the north of England will continue to be severely impacted by today’s storm.”

A man works to remove a tree that was blown over by the wind December 5, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The tide rushes over a sea wall in Blackpool, England, on December 5.

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/05/world/europe/europe-weather/

Photographs: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/06/east-coast-flood-threat-environment-secretary

Powerful Storm Hits the Western United States and Continues Southeastward

A deadly wave of cold temperatures continues its way across the United States as of Monday, November 25th. Approximately 300 flights were canceled, as of Sunday, for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, alone. Beyond causing havoc for thanksgiving travel, the storm is blamed for at least eight deaths as it makes its way through California and the Southwest with heavy rains, floods, snow, and sleet. So far the storm has left 1 to 4 feet of recorded snow in the Four Corners area where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico share a border. The storm has caused roofs to collapse and hundreds of rollover car accidents, prompting the closing of roads as well as events. A particularly hard hit area was Flagstaff, Arizona, which saw at least 11 inches of snow. According to meteorologist and satellite imagery, the large storm system is likely to slog through the Southeast while bringing rain and thunderstorms to Georgia and states along the Gulf Coast. Due to the danger of the storm, winter storm warnings and weather advisories were put into effect for much of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. The National Weather Service stated that “If the storm hugs the coast and develops to its full potential, it could be a nightmare, not only for travelers in the East but also throughout the nation.” The storm is set to spread heavy rain across the South Tuesday through Wednesday, which will further threaten traveling via roads and planes.

Snow and ice created hazardous driving conditions throughout the West, and were a factor in a four-vehicle crash in central Montana.

News Report on the storm with imagery and  further information on its movements.

Article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/11/24/winter-storm/3690877/

Photograph: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/winter-storm-west-us-safety-warnings-residents

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDZRU8WT6aQ

Struggle to Rebuild After Haiyan

Typhoon Haiyan was not only lethal towards human lives and structures in the Philippines, but also created a huge impact on family farms in the affected area. Family coconut farms received significant damage as a result of the natural disaster wreaking havoc on the livelihoods of many of the eastern Philippine farmers that will be felt long after the disaster fades from attention. The displaced famers have a hard choice to uproot themselves from their province to seek work elsewhere or remain in the hopes that they can return to the fields once the land is capable of being tilled once again. If they remain, tenant farmers will have an arduous task of clearing flattened trees and replanting. Farmers in the region have been quoted as saying that even the still standing trees will most likely have to be uprooted since their cores are damaged. Duma, a Philippine tenant farmer, stated that “If we get seeding, we can plant again next year. We will really go into hard times if the government cannot support us.” Beyond just farming for coconuts, the fronds are used as roofing, husks as flooring, and the flesh for food. The necessity of the tree in the life of people living in the Philippines compounds the disastrous effects of losing so many of the cash crop.

Photograph of downed cocunut trees on tenant farm plot in the eastern Philippines.

Photograph of a decimated coconut famring plot in the eastern Philippines.

Video of Cocunut farmers and their Difficulties.

Article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/29/typhoon-haiyan-philipines-leyte-call-centres

Photographs: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25104584

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGDTqJemM7o

Cost of Post-Haiyan Rebuilding

The devastated Philippines, post typhoon Haiyan, is appearing to require extremely high rebuilding costs that could reach upwards of $5.8 billion according senior officials. This is not surprising considering the extent of the damage to homes, businesses, public facilities, and infrastructure due to the fierce winds as well as powerful storm surges of the typhoon. This is further exacerbated by the more than 3,974 deaths. 1,186 missing, and approximately four million displaced. Arsenio Balisacan, the economic planning secretary, stated that "I would not be surprised if it can go as high as 250 billion [pesos]." Luckily for the Philippines, The United Nations Development Program pledged $5 million to help clear the debri that is interfering with the relief efforts. However, according to the program’s administrator, it would require four times the amount given to clear all the rubble required in the affected provinces in order to begin the first phase of work. Despite the financial difficulties involved in the process, the United Nations Humanitarian Chief, Valerie Amos, said that "It looks completely different to when I came in last week." Additionally, the government told reporters that nearly 25,000 personnel, 104 ships, and 163 aircraft had been deployed as well as over 90 medical teams. Despite the relief efforts that are in place, remote villages such as those in the Eastern Samar province were still desperate for relief supplies to the point that they waved signs in the air stating “Help us. We need food.”

Corpses are collected and loaded on trucks by workers to be taken to the mass graves on Saturday in the typhoon-ravaged city of Tacloban in the Philippines.

Typhoon survivors walk in a street in Tacloban, Leyte's devasted capital, on Sunday. Towns in the Phillipines are starting to rebuild after the massive Typhoon Haiyan.

Video footage of Post-Haiyan Phillipines.

Article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/19/typhoon-haiyan-rebuilding-cost-philippines

Photographs: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/philippine-town-rebuilds-bodies-head-mass-grave-article-1.1519762

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG45HsZoZkA