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US weather

Multiple tornadoes tear across US south-east causing deaths and wreckage

March 26, 2021 by Staff Reporter

Blaring tornado sirens and howling winds roared across parts of western Georgia early on Friday as severe storms pounded southern states.

In Alabama at least five people died, and at least one person has died in Georgia, in twisters that wrecked homes, splintered trees and crumpled businesses.

Almost two dozen tornadoes whipped across the US south-east late on Thursday and into the early hours of Friday, including 17 in Alabama alone. More severe weather is forecast for the region and up into Tennessee over the weekend.

The multiple twisters sprang from a so-called “super cell” of storms that later moved into Georgia, said John De Block, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham.

A large, dangerous tornado swept through Georgia’s Atlanta-area Coweta county just after midnight on Friday, sparking a tornado emergency for the city of Newnan and surrounding communities. There were several reports of downed trees and power lines.

Newnan police asked residents to “get off the roads” in a Facebook post, explaining that emergency officials were surveying the area.

Newnan Utilities said the storm knocked out its phone and internet services. Hours later, general manager Dennis McEntire said the phone lines returned. He urged residents to follow the utility on social media for any updates.

McEntire said the damage from the storm was severe and it will “take several days, with the help from outside crews, to put the system together again”.

Keith Brady, Newnan’s mayor, said no fatalities were immediately reported.

Many had to be rescued as the winds ripped roofs off houses and caused many homes simply to collapse.

Mary Rose and Larry DeArman were trapped under wreckage and were taken to hospital after they struggled out from their flattened home.

“When that happened it was just like a roaring, there was no train … it was a roaring,” she said, adding that the “house started shaking and then everything caved in on us”.

The couple returned later and neighbors helped salvage some items from the home, with Mary Rose saying she was only bothered about “necessities”.

Then her handbag was found. “That’s it, that’s the purse,” she told ABC’s Good Morning America as a small blue bag was handed to her while she stood under an umbrella, with a face mask, shaken but safe.

The strong storm followed a series of tornadoes that ripped through Alabama on Thursday, including one that authorities said traveled roughly 100 miles across the state.

In east Alabama, the Calhoun county sheriff, Matthew Wade, said five people died in a twister that cut a diagonal path across the county, striking mostly rural areas – something that probably kept the death toll from being higher.

“Our hearts, our thoughts and our prayers go to the families, and we are going to do our best to let them know we love them,” Wade said at an evening briefing.

Schools in several districts were closed or openings delayed on Friday due to the damage. Vast areas of Shelby county near Birmingham were badly damaged.

The Meanwhile, well-known TV weatherman James Spann in Birmingham learned on air that the tornado was heading directly for his home and his family.

He stepped off screen briefly, then came back live within 15 minutes to report: “We had major damage at my house. I had to be sure, my wife is OK, but the tornado came right through there and it’s not good. It’s bad. It’s bad.”

In the city of Pelham, James Dunaway said he initially ignored the tornado warning when it came over his phone. But then he heard the twister approaching, left the upstairs bedroom where he had been watching television and entered a hallway, just before the storm blew off the roof and sides of his house. His bedroom was left fully exposed.

“I’m very lucky to be alive,” Dunaway, 75, told Al.com.

Earlier, Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey, issued an emergency declaration for 46 counties, and officials opened shelters in and around Birmingham.

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Filed Under: POLITICS, US Tagged With: Alabama, Georgia, Tornadoes, US news, US weather

US storm slams the Rocky Mountains, leading to airport and road closures

March 14, 2021 by Staff Reporter

A powerful late winter snowstorm intensified over the central Rocky Mountains on Sunday with heavy snow and wind leading to airport and road closures, power outages and avalanche warnings in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

The National Weather Service in Wyoming called it a “historic and crippling” winter storm that would cause extremely dangerous to impossible travel conditions through at least early Monday.

Major roads south-east of a line that crosses diagonally from the south-west corner of Wyoming to its north-east corner were closed Sunday, including roads in and out of Cheyenne and Casper.

Over 2ft (61cm) of snow had fallen just outside Cheyenne by 9.30 am Saturday, the weather service reported, while other areas around the city had seen 16 to 19in. A SNOTEL site at Windy Peak in the Laramie range reported 52in of snow in a 24-hour period ending Sunday morning, the weather service said.

A person who answered the phone at the Love’s Travel Stop in Cheyenne, but declined to give a name, said 98 trucks were stranded there. They were taking fuel out a can at a time to fill up generators on the trucks to keep their refrigerators or freezers running, he said.

Interstate 80 was closed across southern Wyoming and into the Nebraska panhandle, where a foot (30cm) of snow was reported just north of Kimball, Nebraska. Interstate 25 was closed north from Fort Collins, Colorado, to its end at Buffalo, Wyoming.

Flights cancelled

At Denver international airport (DIA), the runways were closed just before noon Sunday due to blowing snow and poor visibilities. “Many flights have already been canceled so the runway closures have minimal impacts,” airport officials said in social media posts.

A foot of snow fell at DIA on Saturday and another foot was expected Sunday.

The Northern Colorado regional airport that serves the Fort Collins and Loveland areas was closed Sunday morning after also receiving a foot of snow, according to the airport’s social media accounts.

An avalanche warning was in effect Sunday for the Rocky Mountains west of Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs where “intense snowfall will cause large and destructive avalanches”, Colorado avalanche center said.

The center warned that avalanches could happen in unusual locations and recommended against traveling in the backcountry. An avalanche blocked Colorado highway 14 in north-central Colorado on Sunday, the Department of Transportation said.

Nearly 32,000 Excel Energy customers were without power Sunday in north-central Colorado, while smaller outages were reported in the same area by the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association. Rocky Mountain Power in Wyoming has reported several outages.

At one point overnight, service was interrupted to nearly 2,600 customers in Casper and Glenrock and 2,800 customers in Lander. Just under 1,000 people were without power in the Casper area on Sunday.

The power company expects more service interruptions as the storm continues. “Heavy snow and drifting conditions from wind is expected to make travel and repair work increasingly difficult today,“ Curt Mansfield, vice-president of operations for Rocky Mountain Power said in a statement Sunday.

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Filed Under: POLITICS, US Tagged With: Colorado, Nebraska, US news, US weather, Wyoming

Powerful snow storm with high winds headed toward western US

March 13, 2021 by Staff Reporter

A powerful spring snow storm was expected over the next three days to blanket parts of the US Rockies and central high plains where forecasters warned of whiteout conditions, power outages and avalanches.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued blizzard warnings for parts of Wyoming and western Nebraska, where quickly accumulating snowfall of up to 2ft (61cm) and fierce winds reaching 65mph (105km per hour) could cause dangerous conditions from Saturday through Monday.

The weather service told travelers who must be on the road to carry emergency supplies and flashlights. It also warned that strong winds and the heavy snow could cause extensive damage to trees and power lines.

“We’re preparing for a potentially historic winter storm to impact south-east Wyoming,” Mark Gordon, Wyoming’s governor, said on Twitter. “The best option is to stay off the roads this weekend.”

To the south in Colorado, conditions were forecast to deteriorate throughout the day on Saturday. The I-25 urban corridor, where five million people live in cities such as Denver, was expected to get 2ft of snow and 35mph winds throughout the weekend.

In Denver, rain turned to snow late Saturday morning as temperatures dropped to near freezing. A drier air pattern moving over the city in the afternoon temporarily slowed the rate of snowfall, the NWS said on Twitter.

“However, more intense snow will return by late afternoon/early evening and into Sunday,” the weather service said.

At Denver International Airport, 1,979 weekend flights in and out of the nation’s fifth busiest airport were cancelled ahead of the storm, according to aviation tracking web site Flight Aware.

Utility company Xcel Energy said this week that it was “ramping up the number of crews” to respond to any possible power outages caused by the heavy, wet snow.

The NWS warned travelers and skiers in higher elevations that avalanches could be easily triggered as snow totals could rapidly accumulate, while Jared Polis, Colorado’s governor, activated the state’s National Guard to respond to search and rescue requests over the weekend.

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Filed Under: POLITICS, US Tagged With: Colorado, Denver, Nebraska, US news, US weather, Wyoming

Hawaii governor declares emergency after floods and landslides

March 10, 2021 by Staff Reporter

Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, declared an emergency in the US state after heavy rains brought floods, landslides and fear of dam failures, and authorities ordered the evacuation of several thousand people from communities threatened by rising waters.

The move came after a dam overflowed on the island of Maui, forcing evacuations and destroying homes, with the dam’s “unsatisfactory” condition leading to it being scheduled for removal this year, the land department has said.

“The emergency proclamation makes state general funds available that can be used quickly and efficiently to help those impacted by the severe weather,” Ige said on Tuesday.

Poor weather was expected to run until Friday, he added, and flood advisories stayed in place for a second day.

The emergency declaration covers the counties of Hawai’i, Maui, Kalawao, O’ahu and Kaua’i, the governor’s office said in a statement, while the disaster relief period runs until 8 May.

The Honolulu department of emergency management directed people to leave Haleiwa, a community of a few thousand people, to the north of state capital, Honolulu. About 4,000 have left the area, according to KITV4. Rick Blangiardi, the mayor of Honolulu, warned the flooding near the city was “life-threatening”.

Hawaii News Now reported that two people were swept away in raging waters on Tuesday. One of them, a 27-year-old man, was rescued by authorities. A search for the other would resume on Wednesday, according to the report. There were no other immediate reports of injuries or casualties.

In Maui, heavy rains damaged roads, leaving them impassable, with one bridge completely washed out and another displaced, the governor’s office said.

A mudslide leaves Kamehameha Highway coated near Pokole Point on 9 March. Photograph: Craig T Kojima/AP

State emergency management officials had said the rains led to the cresting of the Kaupakalua dam in the northern region of Haiku, prompting authorities to open evacuation shelters and urge people not to return home. Six homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, said the Maui mayor, Michael Victorino.

The climate crisis is causing changes to Hawaii’s rainfall patterns, according to scientists, with overall levels falling but downpours becoming more extreme when they do arrive. The state is also vulnerable to rising sea levels and more intense storms, which bring flooding and saltwater inundation of freshwater supplies.

“Coastal flooding is a widely recognized threat to low-lying areas,” stated a US federal government climate assessment from 2018. This will pose a “clear threat to communities’ existence” in parts of Hawaii, it added.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Filed Under: POLITICS, US Tagged With: Extreme weather, Hawaii, US news, US weather, World news

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