Not for long, sorry.
"Search for Washington mudslide survivors grows" by Lisa Baumann and Phuong Le | Associated Press March 25, 2014
ARLINGTON, Wash. — The search for survivors of a deadly Washington state mudslide near the village of Oso grew Monday to include 108 people who are still unaccounted for, raising fears that the death toll could climb far beyond the 14 confirmed fatalities.
Authorities predicted that the number of missing would decline as more people are found to be safe, but the startling initial length of the list added to the anxieties in this former fishing village two days after a mile-wide layer of soft earth crashed onto a cluster of homes at the bottom of a river valley....
From the beginning, rescue crews on the ground have faced dangerous and unpredictable conditions as they navigated quicksand-like mud and debris that was 15 feet deep in some places. Some who went in got caught up to their armpits in the thick, sticky sludge.
The threat of potential flash floods or another landslide also loomed. On Monday, some crews had to pull back because of concern that a hillside could shift....
If I remember correctly, and I do, this happened last year and was never covered.
The spirits of search-and-rescue teams were raised late Saturday when they heard cries for help from the flotsam of trees, dirt, and shattered wood. But no one else has been found alive.
Three people were confirmed dead on Saturday. By Monday, the number had risen to 14.
On Sunday, crews were able to get to the soupy, tree-strewn area after geologists flew over in a helicopter and determined it was safe to search for survivors, Hots said.
They did not search the entire debris field, only drier, safer areas, he added.
The slide blocked the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, which is continuing to back up, officials said. Authorities said Monday at least seven homes are now flooded, and more flooding is expected.
Frequent, heavy rain and steep geography make the area prone to landslides. Less than a decade ago, another slide hit in the same general area. Geologists and other experts said the river probably caused some erosion in the area that was carved by glaciers....
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NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"A scientist working for the government warned 15 years ago about the potential for a catastrophic landslide in the village of Oso."
Pffft!
Related: Monday Morning Deja Vu
Stuff is turning gooey:
"Coast Guard aims to reopen channel after Texas spill; Closure strands ships; cleanup begins on shore" by Juan A. Lozano | Associated Press March 25, 2014
GALVESTON, Texas — As workers in bright yellow suits picked quarter-sized ‘‘tar balls’’ out of the sand along Galveston Bay on Monday, strong incoming tides kept washing more ashore.
Elsewhere, crews lined up miles of booms to keep oil away from the shoreline....
With cleanup well underway, the Coast Guard said it hoped to have the channel open to barge traffic as quickly as possible but....
Officials believe most of the oil that spilled Saturday is drifting out of the Houston Ship Channel into the Gulf of Mexico, which should limit the impact on bird habitats around Galveston Bay and beaches and fisheries important to tourists.
‘‘This spill — I think if we keep our fingers crossed — is not going to have the negative impact that it could have had,’’ said Jerry Patterson, commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, the lead state agency on the response to the spill. The best-case outcome is for most of the slick to remain in the Gulf for several days and congeal into small tar balls that wash up further south on the Texas coast, where they could be removed, Patterson said.
Parts of Galveston Island, a popular tourist destination due to its beaches and parks, were closed to the public Monday....
Great fishing spot has been ruined!
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NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"The Coast Guard has begun unannounced inspections of cruise ships at US ports. The NTSB hearing, held in Washington, follows last year’s fire aboard the Carnival Triumph, which left the ship adrift for days in the Gulf of Mexico, subjecting some 3,000 passengers to squalid conditions."
Maybe you want to cancel that cruise.
If only some hot air would come a dry things out:
"UN blames extreme weather on warming | Associated Press March 25, 2014
GENEVA — The head of the UN weather agency blamed human-induced climate change for extreme weather Monday, citing key events that caused havoc in Asia, Europe, the United States, and Pacific region last year.
(Blog editor's head slumps to chest in absolute pity for these $cienti$ts who now look like clowns. Ever hear of the term pissing in the wind?)
Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said his agency’s annual assessment of the global climate shows how dramatically people and lands everywhere felt the impacts of extreme weather such as droughts, heat waves, floods, and tropical cyclones.
‘‘Many of the extreme events of 2013 were consistent with what we would expect as a result of human-induced climate change,’’ he said.
Then tell John Kerry and Obummer to stop jetting around the world with motorcades in tow, 'kay?!!
The UN agency called 2013 the sixth-warmest year on record. Thirteen of the 14 warmest years have occurred in the 21st century.
The unbelievable boldness and brazen shamelessness is astonishing, folks, flying in the face of all experience over the last decade. The U.N. is thus discredited in total. The fact that they would put that out after a year without a summer and two or three record-breaking winters is beyond fathomable and only validates them a $laves.
I mean, if all this is true why is the heating aid still needed?
A rise in sea levels is leading to increasing damage from storm surges and coastal flooding, as demonstrated by Typhoon Haiyan, Jarraud said. The typhoon in November killed at least 6,100 people and caused $13 billion in damage to the Philippines and Vietnam.
The storms have happened; the rise has not.
Australia had its hottest year on record and parts of central Asia and central Africa also notched record highs. Jarraud drew special attention to studies and climate modeling examining Australia’s recent heat waves, saying the high temperatures there would have been virtually impossible without the emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the burning of coal, oil, and gas.
In other words, COMPUTER PREDICTIONS -- and, NO, I do not want to discuss my NCAA brackets!
He cited other costly weather disasters such as $22 billion damage from central European flooding in June, $10 billion in damage from Typhoon Fitow in China and Japan, and a $10 billion drought in much of China.
Which reminds me, the California drought must have got lost in the muck for there is nothing about it in my Globe today.
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NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"The agency said air pollution is the cause of about one in eight deaths and has become the single biggest environmental health risk."
Air pollution caused by fart-mi$ter spew!
Nothing about the incoming blizzard in my Globe today. What a piece of $hit.
All that aside, I want to know WhenTF it is going to warm up around here! The ground is still frozen, it's literally been freezing or below the whole week, and we are at the end of March (I kid you not, it is 14 degrees fahrenheit here this morning with a snow storm? on the way). The birds are out there chirping up a storm, and I swear I'm hearing them say "What's with the f***in' cold," chirp, chirp. Down to what little exposed ground there is for a quick couple pecks with the beak wondering what the hell is going on!
I don't wonder that when it comes to the agenda-pushing paper anymore; I know they are lying to me; sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but whatever it is, even the most innocuous item (are any of them really innocuous when someone took the time to place them there) are filled with distortions, obfuscations, omissions, or deceptions.
Finally, free of the muck!
