Related: Monday Mudslide
"Death toll rises to eight after massive mudslide; Rescuers enter stricken area in Washington" by Donna Gordon Blankinship | Associated Press March 24, 2014
ARLINGTON, Wash. — Searchers found five more bodies Sunday in the tangled sludge of a massive landslide in rural Washington state, bringing the death toll to at least eight from the wall of debris that swept through a small riverside neighborhood.
Snohomish County sheriff’s Lieutenant Rob Palmer said four more bodies were discovered late Sunday. Earlier in the day, authorities said one body had been found on the debris field. Three people were confirmed dead on Saturday.
More people remained missing, and authorities said the number was ‘‘fluid.’’ Earlier Sunday, they said it was at least 18, but that count came before additional bodies were discovered.
The 1-square-mile mudslide that struck Saturday morning also critically injured several people and destroyed about 30 homes.
Crews were able to get to the muddy, tree-strewn area after geologists flew over in a helicopter and determined it was safe enough for emergency responders and technical rescue personnel to search for possible survivors, Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said Sunday evening.
‘‘We didn’t see or hear any signs of life out there today,’’ he said, adding that they did not search the entire debris field, only drier areas safe to traverse.
Despite that, Hots said crews were still in a ‘‘search and rescue mode. It has not gone to a recovery mode at this time.’’
Before crews could get onto the debris field late Sunday morning, they looked for signs of life by helicopter.
Authorities initially said it was too dangerous to send rescuers out on foot.
Rescuers’ hopes of finding more survivors were buoyed late Saturday when they heard people yelling for help, but they were unable to reach anyone. The soupy mud was so thick and deep that searchers had to turn back.
‘‘We have this huge square-mile mudflow that’s basically like quicksand,’’ Hots said Sunday.
The slide wiped through what neighbors described as a former fishing village of small homes, some nearly 100 years old.
As the search for the missing continued, authorities said some may have been able to get out on their own. The number unaccounted for could change because some people may have been in cars and on roads when the slide hit just before 11 a.m. Saturday, Hots said.
Officials described the mudslide as ‘‘a big wall of mud and debris.’’ It blocked about a mile of State Route 530 near the town of Oso, about 55 miles north of Seattle. It was reported to be about 15 feet deep in some areas.
Authorities believe the slide was caused by ground made unstable by recent heavy rainfall.
Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, described the scene as ‘‘a square mile of total devastation’’ after flying over the disaster area midday Sunday.
He assured families that everything was being done to find their missing loved ones. ‘‘There is a full scale, 100 percent aggressive rescue going on right now,’’ said Inslee, who proclaimed a state of emergency.
Why does he have to lie about it when they turned back because of danger?
The slide blocked the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. With the water pooling behind the debris, authorities worried about downstream flooding and issued an evacuation notice Saturday.
The water had begun to seep through the blockage Sunday afternoon, alleviating some concerns.
Snohomish County officials said Sunday that residents could return home during daylight hours. Even though the evacuation had been lifted, Inslee urged residents to remain alert.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Snohomish County through Monday afternoon.
Shari Ireton, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County sheriff’s office, said Sunday that a total of eight people were injured in the slide.
A 6-month-old boy and an 81-year-old man remained in critical condition Sunday morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said two men, ages 37 and 58, were in serious condition, while a 25-year-old woman was upgraded to satisfactory condition.
Bruce Blacker, who lives just west of the slide, doesn’t know the whereabouts of six neighbors. ‘‘It’s a very close knit community,’’ Blacker said as he waited at an Arlington roadblock before troopers let him through.
Search-and-rescue help came from around the region, including the Washington State Patrol and the Army Corps of Engineers. More than 100 were at the scene.
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The article was an updated rewrite so I let the whole thing slide (pun intended in despair).
And literally right below it:
"Drought spurs push for Calif. dams | Associated Press March 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — California’s drought has sparked a new push by federal lawmakers to create or expand a handful of reservoirs around the state, escalating a political battle that former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger once referred to as a ‘‘holy war in some ways.’’
Government agencies have been studying five major water-storage projects for nearly two decades, with nothing to show for the effort so far.
Meanwhile, the state’s water problems have only grown worse. California has had its third relatively dry winter in a row and court rulings have mandated that more water be released from reservoirs to sustain fish species in Northern California’s delta.
At the same time, the nation’s most populous state, at 38 million residents, continues to grow beyond the capacity of a water-storage and delivery system that was mostly completed in the late 1960s.
It's been the failure to maintain infrastructure that has caused the drought, folks. Government mismanagement because well-connected corporate interests and individuals needed to be serviced first!
This winter is among the driest on record, forcing some communities to ration water and leading farmers to leave fallow thousands of acres that otherwise would be producing vegetables, fruits, and nuts for the nation.
The state Legislature is expected to debate water-storage options this year as it seeks compromise on a multibillion dollar water bond for the November ballot. But California’s congressional delegation has provided a jump-start.
Bills proposed in Congress would authorize a number of projects to expand or create reservoirs. Among the projects are raising the dam at Shasta Lake to store more water in California’s largest reservoir, creating a new reservoir in the Sierra Nevada along the upper San Joaquin River east of Fresno, and damming a valley north of Sacramento.
Wow, it's the 21st-century version of "Chinatown."
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Yeah, despite the rain there is still a drought. You just never mind what was left on the table.
I wouldn't drink the water or eat the fish down in Texas:
"Oil spill cleanup forces Texas ship channel to close; Barge’s contents emptied to limit damage to area" by Michael Graczyk | Associated Press March 24, 2014
TEXAS CITY, Texas — A barge that once carried some 900,000 gallons of heavy tar-like oil was cleared Sunday of its remaining contents, a day after the vessel collided with a ship in the busy Houston Ship Channel and leaked as much as a quarter of its cargo into the waterway.
Coast Guard officials said oil from the ruptured barge had been detected 12 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico as of Sunday afternoon....
Oh no!
Not trying to be a nag, but.... !!!
Officials said they had scattered reports of wildlife damage but no specifics. Some black tar-like globs, along with a dark line of a sticky, oily substance, could be detected along the shoreline of the Texas City dike, a 5-mile-long jetty that juts into Galveston Bay across from a tip of Galveston Island....
Jim Guidry, executive vice president of Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine Corp., the nation’s largest inland barge company and owner of the barge, said, ‘‘We’re focused on cleaning up.’’
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The channel, one of the world’s busiest waterways for moving petrochemicals, was shut for a second day Sunday. As many as 60 vessels were backed up both trying to get out and get in.
Penoyer said at least one cruise ship, initially socked in by fog Saturday, was being allowed to end its trip and return to Galveston. He said others would be handled on a case-by-case basis. Its path into Galveston would take it through a safety zone defining the oil cleanup area.
Related: Canceling This Cruise
There was no timetable for a total reopening of the channel, which typically handles as many as 80 vessels daily.
The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating what happened.
‘‘It will take quite a bit of time, given the complexity of the vessels and a very busy waterway,’’ said Captain Brian Penoyer, commander of the Coast Guard at Houston-Galveston.
The contents of the torn tank, equal to about 4,000 barrels, were lost or displaced into other vacant areas of the barge. Penoyer said currents, tides and wind were scattering the spill.
‘‘Containment was never a possibility in this case,’’ he said.
Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Jim Ritterbusch and Associates in Chicago, said if the bottleneck of vessels in the Gulf eased in a day or so, there probably would not be much impact on fuel prices. A more prolonged backup could push up prices briefly, he suggested.
Crews were skimming oil from the water and deployed some 60,000 feet of containment booms to protect environmentally sensitive areas, the Coast Guard said. The area is home to popular bird habitats, especially during the approaching migratory shorebird season.
Also closed was the Texas City dike, a popular fishing spot that goes out into the Gulf for a few miles. The spill site is 700 yards offshore from the dike....
Not now.
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I just plowed through Texas and that's the first I've seen of the spill.
