-
-
Food Relief in Haiti
Residents of Haiti were already facing food shortages and rising inflation rates when triple natural disasters hit.
Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike drenched Haiti during the last few weeks causing widespread flooding, massive mudslides and hundreds of fatalities.
To help those displaced by the floodwaters, Operation Blessing has teamed up with long-time German partner, Humedica, to provide disaster relief, medical care and food.
To learn more about our relief effort in Haiti, visit: www.ob.org Residents of Haiti were already facing food shortages and rising inflation rates when triple natural disasters hit. ... more -
Hurricanes may be associated with sunspots
A recent study suggests that hurricane intensity may be linked to the number of sunspots on the Sun. A decrease in the number of sunspots may be related to an increase in hurricane intensity. After examining the past 100 year hurricane records of the United States and Caribbean, James Elsner and Thomas Jagger of Florida State University in Tallahassee conclude that their intensity may be linked to 10 to 12 year solar magnetic activity cycles. Data from the National Hurricane Center, Miami, Florida was used in the study. A recent study suggests that hurricane intensity may be linked to the number of sunspots on the Sun. A decrease in the number of sunsp... more
-
Islanders who insisted on staying died in Ike
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- The final hours brought the awful realization to victims of Hurricane Ike that they had waited too long. This storm wasn't like the others, the ones that left nothing worse than a harrowing tale to tell.
George Helmond, a hardy Galveston salt, watched the water rise and told a buddy: I was born on this island and I'll die on this island.
Gail Ettenger, a free spirit who adopted the Bolivar Peninsula as her home 15 years ago, told a friend in a last phone call: I really messed up this time.
Within hours, the old salt and the free spirit were gone as the powerful Category 2 hurricane wracked the Texas Gulf Coast on Sept. 13, flattening houses, obliterating entire towns and claiming at least 33 lives.
The dead - as young as 4, as old as 79 - included lifelong Galvestonians firmly rooted on the island and transplants drawn by the quiet of coastal living.
Seven people drowned in a storm surge that moved in earlier and with more ferocity than expected. Nine others died in the grimy, sweaty aftermath, when lack of power and medicine exacted its toll. Eleven people were poisoned by carbon monoxide or killed in fires from the generators they used in their own attempts to survive.
Hundreds of people remain missing three weeks after Ike's assault on Texas. Local and city officials are no longer keeping their own count of missing residents, and the estimate varies wildly from one agency to another.
According to the nonprofit Laura Recovery Center, about 300 people are missing. Of those, about 200 from Galveston. However, the number "goes up and down by the minute" as people call in to remove or add names, cautioned executive director Bob Walcutt. GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- The final hours brought the awful realization to victims of Hurricane Ike that they had waited too long. This... more -
Two weeks after Ike, more than 400 are still missing
Gail Ettenger made her last phone call at 10:10 p.m. She was trapped in her Bolivar Peninsula bungalow with her Great Dane, Reba. A drowning cat cried outside. Her Jeep bobbed in the seawater surging around her home.
Ettenger, 58, told her friend she was reading old love letters by flashlight. "I think I really screwed up this time," she said, according to Monroe Burks, Ettenger's neighbor who had evacuated to Houston.
That was Friday, Sept 12. On Wednesday — 12 days later — her nearly nude body was found face down by a huge debris pile in a remote mosquito-ridden marsh in Chambers County, about 10 miles inland from where her gray beach house once stood.
Two weeks after Hurricane Ike swept through the Texas coast, 400 people remain missing, mostly from Galveston County, according to an analysis of calls logged to a hot line set up by the nonprofit Laura Recovery Center to assist local authorities.
Until Wednesday, Ettenger was one of them.
About 60 of the missing lived on the Bolivar Peninsula, stripped bare by the storm surge that felled beach houses like a bomb. More than 200 were listed as missing on Galveston Island itself, according to a city-by-city analysis of the data conducted for the Houston Chronicle by Bob Walcutt, executive director of the recovery center in Friendswood.
Hot line and rescue workers hope that many people, especially on Galveston Island, will be reunited with family and friends as hurricane recovery efforts continue. More than 145 already have been located through blogs, media Web sites, Red Cross shelter lists, endless phone calls, welfare checks and sometimes dramatic rescues led by the Galveston County Sheriff's Office and other agencies.
Yet disturbing tales told by survivors from Bolivar communities like Gilchrist, Crystal Beach and Port Bolivar suggest some may never return.
"There's still lots of people who are not accounted for," said Capt. Rod Ousley, of the State Parks & Wildlife Service, which is helping to search for survivors or bodies in remote corners of several coastal counties. "We don't know if they got washed out to sea, or buried in the sand or in debris piles. We just keep looking until they come up ... we're just going to keep trying." Gail Ettenger made her last phone call at 10:10 p.m. She was trapped in her Bolivar Peninsula bungalow with her Great Dane, Reba. A dr... more -
Hurricane Kyle spreads rain, wind
State hit by glancing blow before storm makes landfall in Nova Scotia
MACHIAS, Maine - Fishermen moved boats to shelter from a rare burst of tropical weather along Maine's rugged eastern coast Sunday as a weakening Hurricane Kyle spun past on its way to Canada, delivering a glancing blow equivalent to a classic nor'easter that made locals yawn.
As darkness fell, the storm produced winds hard enough to jiggle road signs, cause scattered power outages and rip early-autumn leaves from trees while lashing the Maine coast with a third straight day of heavy rain. Flooding closed roads as the storm sped up the Bay of Fundy, which separates Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick from Nova Scotia.
Kyle made landfall Sunday night in southern Nova Scotia as a marginal Category 1 hurricane and was later downgraded to a tropical storm by the Canadian Hurricane Centre. Some 12,000 power outages were reported in the province. State hit by glancing blow before storm makes landfall in Nova Scotia ... more -
Kyle spreads rain, wind in Maine on way to Canada
MACHIAS, Maine (AP) -- Fishermen moved boats to shelter from a rare burst of tropical weather along Maine's rugged eastern coast Sunday as a weakening Hurricane Kyle spun past on its way to Canada, delivering a glancing blow equivalent to a classic nor'easter that made locals yawn.
As darkness fell, the storm produced winds hard enough to jiggle road signs, cause scattered power outages and rip early-autumn leaves from trees while lashing the Maine coast with a third straight day of heavy rain. Flooding closed roads as the storm sped up the Bay of Fundy, which separates Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick from Nova Scotia.
Kyle made landfall Sunday night in southern Nova Scotia as a marginal Category 1 hurricane and was later downgraded to a tropical storm by the Canadian Hurricane Centre. Some 12,000 power outages were reported in the province.
Maine emergency responders had braced for wind gusts as high as 60 mph and waves up to 20 feet, but as the storm edged eastward it became clear that the state had escaped a direct hit.
"This was a run-of-the-mill storm. It had the potential to be a real problem and it all sort of went away. That shift to the east did wonders for Maine," said Michael Hinerman, director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier Sunday, a hurricane watch for Maine was discontinued, but a tropical storm warning remained in effect from Stonington, on the central Maine coast at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, to Eastport on the Canadian border, the National Hurricane Center said.
Officials had once expected the eye to hit at the Maine-New Brunswick border, but with the storm fading to the east, the state closed its emergency operations center in Augusta Sunday night. There were no evacuations in Maine, but more than 500 customers lost power because of the gusty winds.
Still, as much as 7 inches of rain had fallen in three days along some coastal areas. Flood watches were lifted for the southern two-thirds of New Hampshire and southern Maine but remained in effect for the Down East coast. MACHIAS, Maine (AP) -- Fishermen moved boats to shelter from a rare burst of tropical weather along Maine's rugged eastern coast ... more -
Hurricane Kyle forms in open ocean, Maine on watch
National Hurricane Center forecasters say Hurricane Kyle has formed in the Atlantic Ocean and it's expected to pass near eastern New England.
Kyle had top sustained winds near 75 mph Saturday afternoon. The storm is moving north in the open Atlantic at 23 mph and could make landfall anywhere from Maine to Nova Scotia.
A hurricane watch is in effect for the Maine coast from Stonington north to Eastport. Hurricane conditions are possible in that area within 36 hours.
A tropical storm warning is in effect from Port Clyde south to Cape Elizabeth, an area that includes Portland.
At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm's center was located about 315 miles west-northwest of Bermuda.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
EASTPORT, Maine (AP) - A rare hurricane watch was posted for part of the Maine coast on Saturday as Tropical Storm Kyle roared north toward the region with a threat of conditions similar to one of New England's nor'easter storms.
"Hurricane season isn't over, " said Maine Emergency Management Agency director Rob McAleer. "It's been a very active season."
It was Maine's first hurricane watch in 17 years, the National Weather Service said. Elsewhere in New England, a hurricane warning was posted for Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts in September 1996, according to the weather service office in Taunton, Mass.
Two to 4 inches of rain had already fallen along some coastal areas by midday Saturday and the storm was expected to deliver an additional 2 to 4 inches, said Eric Schwibs of the weather service in Gray.
At 2 p.m. EDT, Kyle was centered about 300 miles west-northwest of Bermuda and 550 miles south of Nantucket, the National Hurricane Center said in Miami.
The storm had top sustained wind near 70 mph and the potential to grow to hurricane strength. It was moving north over the open Atlantic at 20 mph, up from 15 mph during the morning. National Hurricane Center forecasters say Hurricane Kyle has formed in the Atlantic Ocean and it's expected to pass near eastern ... more -
Groups ask Texas Gov. Rick Perry to extend voter deadline for Ike victims
AUSTIN — Several citizen groups are asking Gov. Rick Perry to extend Texas' Oct. 6 voter registration deadline by one week in the 29 counties that have been declared major disaster areas.
Fred Lewis, of Houston Votes, said hurricane victims dealing with the loss of their homes, lack of power and other problems are not thinking about registering to vote. The organization has been registering people in Harris County.
''It would be a horrible thing if people ended up not being able to vote for president, for senator, for their county officials because of the hurricane,'' Lewis said.
He said he believes Perry has authority to extend the deadline, although he could not find any language in Texas laws or constitution addressing the issue.
''I think the governor has inherent constitutional authority to protect the franchise, and I also think he has statutory authority under the emergency powers to suspend laws, if necessary to protect the public,'' Lewis said.
Houston Votes and several other groups, including the League of Women Voters of Texas and Common Cause, are joining in the effort to extend the deadline. They also want the governor to appropriate emergency funds to assist county registrars in processing applications.
Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Perry, said the governor would not consider a request to extend the deadline unless it came from a county official or the secretary of state.
''We've not been asked by any county officials to extend the deadline,'' she said. ''We're working with the secretary of state, and they've not given any indication there's a problem.''
There still is plenty of time to register, Castle said. People don't have to be in their home county and can register by downloading a form from the secretary of state's Web site or picking up an application at a post office or library.
The deadline for the forms to be postmarked is Oct. 6. AUSTIN — Several citizen groups are asking Gov. Rick Perry to extend Texas' Oct. 6 voter registration deadline by one week in the... more -
Hurricane Ike Aftermath
My friend Christa and I (Dave) killed some time after the hurricane by entertaining the crowd that past by the bar we work at. It actually took ten days to get power at my apartment. Yeah I know with my good looks it probably should have taken a month to get it back. We sat outside with the sign for a good six hours. People needed a laugh that day. My friend Christa and I (Dave) killed some time after the hurricane by entertaining the crowd that past by the bar we work at. It act... more
-
Ike lays bare immigration paradox
Debate rages on fate of undocumented workers in hurricane-hit areas
-
$6 billion storm? Ike delivers a punch
Hurricane shut down Galveston boom; tourism, seafood industry hit hard
-
Galveston residents to return in stages
Residents to be allowed back in stages; life inches to normalcy after Ike
-
820,000 Texans still without power
NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than 820,000 customers in Texas remained without power Monday, nine days after Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast before cutting a destructive path all the way to New York.
[more at link] NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than 820,000 customers in Texas remained without power Monday, nine days after Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Co... more -
Survivors of hurricane Ike share shelter with rescued lion
A small group of Hurricane Ike survivors on Texas' Bolivar Peninsula sought refuge in a church with a full-grown lion. The cat's owner had rescued the massive feline from a local zoo and was trying to drive to safety when he saw flood waters rising and people being stranded. Stopping at a nearby Baptist church, the pair were invited in.
As the storm bore down, the church flooded, bringing water up to residents' waists, but the lion reportedly stayed calm. "They worked pretty well together, actually," said the lion's owner, Michael Ray Kujawa. "When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating nobody." A small group of Hurricane Ike survivors on Texas' Bolivar Peninsula sought refuge in a church with a full-grown lion. The cat�... more -
Bush to visit hurricane-struck Texas
Scheduled to go to Gulf Coast Tuesday to express sympathy for Ike victims
-
Bush warns of 'disaster fatigue'
President skips political fundraisers to assess damage along Gulf Coast
-
Services bring comfort to Texas coast - Hurricane Ike- msnbc.com
Church services provide more than a respite from Hurricane Ike cleanup
-
Difficult homecoming looms for Ike evacuees - Hurricane Ike- msnbc.com
Now they've been given a new warning: Going home won't be easy
-
$6 billion storm? Ike's economic impact felt - Yahoo! News
GALVESTON, Texas - Shrimpers and oystermen lost their boats to the muck. Tourist areas on the coast that should be bustling at the start of convention season are flattened. Lingering power outages are keeping offices empty and restaurants closed from Texas through the Midwest.
It will take months or more to tally Hurricane Ike's financial toll, but one thing is clear: Almost nobody in its path escaped unscathed. GALVESTON, Texas - Shrimpers and oystermen lost their boats to the muck. Tourist areas on the coast that should be bustling at the sta... more -
Midwest also sees long Ike relief lines - Hurricane Ike- msnbc.com
CINCINNATI - Facing a third straight day without power, residents across the Midwest snapped up batteries, generators and coolers as they waited for crews to restore electricity knocked out by the remnants of Hurricane Ike.
In other parts of the Midwest, residents warily eyed rising rivers while other waterlogged communities began cleaning up the wet, stinky mess left behind by floodwaters. Flood warnings remained in effect Wednesday across the region.
As much as 10 inches of rain fell in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri after Ike hit Texas over the weekend. Hurricane-force wind blew in Ohio and Kentucky and a tornado in Arkansas damaged several buildings. CINCINNATI - Facing a third straight day without power, residents across the Midwest snapped up batteries, generators and coolers as t... more
-
related topics
Hurricanes
Contributors (252)
Hurricanes
