Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ida and El Salvador

"Hurricane Ida, the first Atlantic hurricane to target the United States this year."

Remember when the global-warmers told us we were going to get socked with hurricanes.


And it took the Glob long enough to get around to this item
:

"Floods, mudslides kill 124 in El Salvador" by Associated Press | November 9, 2009

SAN SALVADOR - Three days of heavy rains in El Salvador touched off floods and slides that have killed at least 124 people, the government said yesterday.

About 60 people are still missing, and about 7,000 are in shelters, Interior Minister Humberto Centeno told a news conference. Authorities had to use helicopters to reach some of the most severely affected townships, Centeno added. In the capital of San Salvador, authorities reported 61 dead, including a family of four - two adults and two children - who were killed when a mudslide buried their home yesterday morning, Red Cross spokesman Carlos Lopez Mendoza reported. Central San Vicente province was also hit hard, with 23 killed there.

The rest died in other parts of the country, Vice Interior Minister Ernesto Zelayandia said. Most of the victims were buried by slides or carried away by raging rivers....

That is terrifying.

Also see: Slow Saturday Special: Afghan Manhunt

Red Cross spokesman Carlos Lopez said a river in Verapaz overflowed its banks and swamped 300 homes. The rains unleashed massive rock slides from the Chichontepec volcano that buried several houses, Verapaz Mayor Antonio Cerritos told Radio Nacional. Dave Roberts, a Navy hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Hurricane Ida’s presence in the western Caribbean may have played a role in drawing a Pacific low-pressure system toward El Salvador, causing the rains.

--more--"

Update:

PENSACOLA, Fla. - a rare late-season tropical storm....

After a quiet Atlantic storm season....

In Louisiana and Mississippi, officials were concerned about hundreds of people still living in federally issued trailers and mobile homes after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005....

They SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT them!

See: FEMA Knew Katrina Trailers Were Poisonous

FEMA Seeks Immunity for Willful Negligence and Poisoning of Americans

But the government is here to help.

That's why they lie to and deceive you, America.

Earlier, heavy rain in Ida’s wake triggered flooding and landslides in El Salvador that killed at least 130 people....

--more--"

Yeah, let's take a look down there.

Boulders, many weighing more than a ton, littered the cobblestone streets of Verapaz, El Salvador, yesterday. The farming town was hit hard by the landslides.

Boulders, many weighing more than a ton, littered the cobblestone streets of Verapaz, El Salvador, yesterday. The farming town was hit hard by the landslides. (Rodrigo Abd/ Associated Press)

VERAPAZ, El Salvador - Tears streamed down Elsy Portillo’s badly bruised face as she walked yesterday behind coffins carrying her mother and only child in this town buried by a massive landslide, one of a series that killed at least 130 people nationwide.

Portillo’s body was flung repeatedly against the walls as she fought to keep her 7-year-old son from being swept away in the powerful river of mud, boulders, and flood waters overtaking their home in the predawn hours Sunday. The 40-year-old woman survived but said she lost everything she had lived for.

Oh, man!

Days of heavy rains unleashed massive flooding and mudslides across the mountainous Central American country Sunday. Hurricane Ida’s presence in the western Caribbean late last week may have played a role in drawing the rain-packed, Pacific low-pressure system toward El Salvador on the other side of Central America, said Dave Roberts, a Navy hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

No place was harder hit than Verapaz, a poor farming town of 7,000 people on the slopes of the Chichontepec volcano, about 30 miles east of the capital, San Salvador. Boulders, many weighing more than a ton, littered the cobblestone streets yesterday. Cars and homes protruded from the mounds of mud. Dead cows lay on rooftops after being hurled into the air - attesting to the force of the deluge that turned the normally picturesque coffee-growing town into a disaster zone.

Soldiers and townspeople continued digging through rock and debris to search for the 47 people who remained missing yesterday. Collapsed walls and downed power lines prevented heavy machinery from entering. Many used their bare hands. Hopes of finding survivors dimmed with each passing hour....

Portillo was among 200 townspeople who spent the night at a church in the nearby town of San Isidro after losing their homes. Eight of the bodies, including those of her son and mother, were sent in coffins to the church as well. While children slept on the floor, many of the adults passed the night praying and weeping over coffins lined up near the altar. Some would open them to see who was inside. One woman fainted. Small candles were lit and stuck to the coffins.

Portillo said the heavy rain woke her up Sunday. When she saw the deluge coming toward her home, she woke up her son and tried to get them up to the roof. But when she opened her door, they were swept away by the fast-moving current that filled her home. She lost her grip on her son when her body was slammed against one of the cement walls.

--more--"

Btw, Globe, whatever happened in the Philippines, Indonesia, and the rest of South Asia.

Is this going to be forgotten just as quick?