June 2008

Signicant River Flooding Outlook 14-19 June 2008

Signicant River Flooding Outlook 14-19 June 2008

-- Source/larger view (or click on graphic):
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
nationalfloodoutlook/index.html

ERRI emergency service analyst comment:

Even though it may sound like the water levels are lessening in certain parts of Iowa, it should be remembered that the water must go someplace...and it most certainly will flow downstream and eventually into the Mississippi river. Even without more rain, the danger of flood crests will continue progressively downstream from the current locations...with the consequential danger of flooding in other communities. Bottom-line, and like many kinds of disaster...it ain't over 'til its over.

Quincy declares state of emergency; Memorial Bridge may close by Friday

By EDWARD HUSAR, Herald-Whig Staff Writer

QUINCY, IL: The city of Quincy has declared a "state of emergency" while Adams County has declared a "state of disaster" as local governments begin mobilizing for the region's biggest flood-fighting effort since 1993.

With the latest National Weather Service forecasts now predicting a Mississippi River crest of 29.9 feet in Quincy next Wednesday -- just 2.3 feet below the record level set in 1993 -- the city of Quincy announced plans to launch a sand-bagging effort, probably starting Friday but definitely taking place Saturday and Sunday.

Mayor John Spring said the sandbagging will take place at the parking lot on the south side of the Oakley Lindsay-Center. In case of bad weather, the sandbagging operation will move inside the OLC.

Volunteers from throughout the community will be asked to help pitch in. Spring said this effort will be directed at providing sandbags for "wherever they're needed" in the region. However, the immediate focus will be on fortifying the levees protecting local industries near Quincy's riverfront and the Fabius River Drainage District.

The Fabius levee protects the U.S. 24 highway approaches to both Quincy Memorial Bridge and Quincy Bayview Bridge -- a key transportation link for this region. Keeping bridges open so commerce can continue moving between Missouri and Illinois is a major priority, Spring said...

-- Source/continues: http://www.whig.com/story/
Disaster-2-THUR-MAKEOVER

Cedar Rapids hospital evacuates; river expected to crest higher now

updated 1 hour ago (10:40 CDT)

Iowa river still rising -- at 2 inches an hour

Cedar Rapids hospital evacuates; river expected to crest higher now

Jeff Roberson / AP

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA: Officials evacuated patients from a Cedar Rapids hospital on Friday as the rising waters from the Cedar River confounded the city's best efforts to secure the downtown area. Much of the Midwest remained under threat of more severe weather, with yet another storm front moving through Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin.

In Cedar Falls, officials early Friday had hoped the Cedar River would crest Friday at about 31.8 feet, but NBC's Kevin Tibbles later reported from the city that officials now fear it won't crest until the weekend, with a predicted crest of 33 feet.

The water has been rising about two inches an hour, Tibbles added.

The river was at 30.9 feet early Friday. In a 1993 flood, considered the worst in recent history, it crested at 19.27 feet.

"We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring," said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. "We're in uncharted territory -- this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine..."

-- Source/continues at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25020185/

Additional Reference/FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/info.shtm

Heat Wave: A Major Summer Killer

Heat Wave: A Major Summer Killer

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
0315 AM EDT MON JUN 9 2008

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT TUESDAY.

A LARGE BERMUDA HIGH WILL REMAIN OVER THE REGION TODAY AND TUESDAY... RESULTING IN VERY HOT AND HUMID WEATHER. HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY SHOULD APPROACH 100, THEN HIGHS ON TUESDAY WILL BE IN THE UPPER 90S. HOWEVER, TUESDAY WILL BE A BIT MORE HUMID THAN TODAY. THEREFORE, THESE TEMPERATURES COMBINED WITH A HUMID AIRMASS MEANS HEAT INDEX VALUES WILL BE AT OR A BIT ABOVE 105 EACH AFTERNOON...

Heat is the number one weather-related killer. On average, more than 1,500 people in the U.S. die each year from excessive heat. This number is greater than the 30-year mean annual number of deaths due to tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lightning combined. In the 40-year period from 1936 through 1975, nearly 20,000 people were killed in the United States by the effects of heat and solar radiation.

In the disastrous heat wave of 1980, more than 1,250 people died. In the heat wave of 1995 more than 700 deaths in the Chicago, Illinois area were attributed to this event. And in August 2003, a record heat wave in Europe claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.

North American summers are hot; most summers see heat waves in one section or another of the United States. East of the Rockies, they tend to combine both high temperature and high humidity although some of the worst have been catastrophically dry. Additional detail on how heat impacts the human body is provided under "The Hazards of Excessive Heat" heading...

-- Source/continues: http://www.noaawatch.gov/themes/heat.php

7 dead in stabbing spree in downtown Tokyo

7 dead in stabbing spree in downtown Tokyo

Jun 8, 6:15 PM (ET)

By SHINO YUASA

TOKYO, JAPAN (AP/MY WAY): A man plowed into shoppers with a truck Sunday and then stabbed 17 people within minutes, killing at least seven of them in a grisly attack that shocked a country known for its low crime rate.

The lunchtime violence in the Akihabara district, a popular electronics and video game area, sent thousands of people fleeing.

The assault, which occurred on the seventh anniversary of a mass stabbing at a Japanese elementary school, was the latest in a series of knife attacks that have stoked fears of rising violent crime in Japan.

A 25-year-old man, Tomohiro Kato, was arrested with blood on his face.

"The suspect told police that he came to Akihabara to kill people," said Jiro Akaogi, a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. "He said he was tired of life. He said he was sick of everything," Akaogi said.

The violence began when the man crashed a rented, two-ton truck into pedestrians. He then jumped out and began stabbing the people he had knocked down with the truck before turning on horrified onlookers, police said.

Police confirmed seven deaths - six men and one woman - but they could not say whether the victims had died of injuries from the truck or were stabbed to death...

-- Source/continues at: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080608/D9165LBO0.html