New approach to warning siren activation unveiled

New approach to warning siren activation unveiled

Oakland County officials have announced and implemented a new countywide severe weather warning system that involves activating existing and future tornado sirens before a tornado is spotted in the field or indicated on radar.

County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Emergency Response and Preparedness Director Mike Sturm detailed the sweeping change in the county's outdoor warning siren system on Wednesday, Sept. 10. Under the new approach, sirens will be activated when winds of 70 mph have been recorded in or around the immediate county borders.

"In the past, the sirens have only been activated when a tornado has been sighted or indicated on radar," Patterson said. "Henceforth, the outdoor warning system will be activated when severe thunderstorms with damaging winds at or near 70 mph are in Oakland County or within a 10-mile buffer around the county."

If a 70 mph standard had been in place, Oakland County would have activated warning sirens an additional half a dozen times since January 2006, rather than just the three times the sirens were sounded during the same period of time based on National Weather Service standards.

Sturm said it was felt that any severe weather condition that could result in widespread or severe damage, injury or loss of life or property should warrant activation of the outdoor warning system. He added that winds of 65 mph or more could do as much damage as a low-grade tornado.

The previous outdoor warning system began in 1977. There are 228 sirens in place across the county, with two more about to be installed. The total cost of siren installation is around $20,000, according to county officials.

Last October, three new tornado sirens were slated to be installed in three lakes area communities. Commerce, Highland, and Waterford townships netted the warning devices in the last year after the county received a $68,000 Urban Area Security Initiative Grant — federal money passed to the state and then passed on to the county — that made the purchase and installation of the sirens possible.

WEATHER NOTE

Response agencies scramble to keep up with storm season

For the fourth time in as many weeks federal disaster response officials found themselves shifting gears to address a storm.

As Hurricane Ike barreled toward the Gulf Coast of Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was already moving its rapid response teams into southern Texas in advance of the storm, repeating preparations it made in recent weeks for Hurricane Fay in Florida, Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana, and Tropical Storm Hanna in North Carolina.

A new approach

“The lesson learned is we must plan for these events well in advance of the event,” said Glenn Cannon, assistant FEMA administrator for disaster operations. “We plan for different events and scenarios … so we have the same game plan and are on the same page.”

The ad hoc, independent response that marred FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina is a thing of the past, he said. “We don’t need to relearn that lesson.”

That’s why, since August, FEMA has conducted daily — and sometimes more frequent than daily — videoconference calls to coordinate state and federal response for tasks as diverse as medical evacuations, supply delivery and rescue teams staging, he said.

As the chief coordinator for disasters, FEMA makes sure all local and federal agencies come in with the necessary resources and staffing. FEMA has developed more than 220 prescriptive mission assignments for its partners. The plans contain everything from checklists to draft documents so nobody is starting the process from scratch, Cannon said. Before Katrina, there were fewer than 30 such plans, he said.

The General Services Administration, which supports FEMA’s supplies purchasing, is one of the agencies dialed in on the daily phone call. Its Office of Emergency Response and Recovery, set up after Katrina, is getting its first real test this year with the battery of storms slugging the Gulf Coast.

The daily video teleconferences have allowed agencies on the federal, state and local level to reach out to one another and discuss what is needed and who can provide it, said Joshua Sawislak, acting director of the Office of Emergency Response and Recovery at GSA. The briefings ensure that agencies like GSA, which is responsible for trucking supplies into disaster areas, coordinate with, say, the Transportation Department, which knows which roads are closed, or the National Hurricane Center, which knows where storms are heading.

Role of technology

Technology has also provided real-time situational awareness, Sawislak said. During the evacuation of New Orleans in advance of hurricane Gustav, Customs and Border Protection and military reconnaissance technology helped give responders real-time knowledge of where ambulances transporting patients were and whether additional aircraft were needed to evacuate them, he said.

“Cooperation and communication has made the biggest difference,” Sawislak said. “FEMA can roll in mobile command centers with full capability and show us video of what is going on. … We don’t have to rely on CNN.”

The centralized emergency management office has also helped GSA coordinate internally, Sawislak said. The office is in charge of mobilizing GSA’s regional emergency response teams and reservists to make sure the right people with the right skills are in the right place at the right time, he said.

A deep bench

Although Ike is the second major storm this season to hit areas within GSA’s Fort Worth, Texas region, the regional emergency staff is ready to respond in full force, he said.

GSA staff from California, working with FEMA at the time, had deployed in response to Hurricane Gustav, relieving some of the pressure on the region, he said.

But GSA has a plan in place to supplement people from regions outside of the storm zone in order to give those in the storm zone a break, he said.

“The hardest part is to make sure people understand we’re in it for the long haul, and they need rack time … so they don’t get burned out,” Sawislak said.

At the same time FEMA is planning for the response, it is also working with partner agencies to plan for recovery, Cannon said.

FEMA is already planning for mass feeding and sheltering should Ike wipe out homes in the affected area. The agency is also working to ensure temporary housing is available should anyone be left homeless from the storm, he said.

The Small Business Administration, which administers home and business recovery loans, is also planning for the day after.

The agency has 1,500 of its 3,500-plus reserve staff on call to respond to Ike within 24 hours, said James Rivera, deputy associate administrator for SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance. SBA has trained 3,500 people for its disaster recovery reserve force, which is used to staff up regions during times of emergency.

The reservists process loans, inspect property damage and perform other recovery duties. That reserve staff is 18 times larger than the reserve available during Hurricane Katrina, he said.

Although SBA has been part of the responses to many of this year’s natural disasters, employee fatigue has not yet been an issue, said Sandy Baruah, acting SBA administrator.

“But if Ike packs a punch and we’re dealing with it for a long time, or if it is followed by another serious hurricane, we do have this 3,500-person team of active reservists to work through the system,” Baruah said.

In addition to people power, the agency is also prepared to respond with technology. The agency has beefed up its loan processing system now allows 12,000 users to run cases simultaneous, 10,000 more than were allowed in the system during Katrina, Baruah said. People seeking assistance can also apply for their loans online, a development made in response to the long-distance evacuations after Katrina where many loan seekers couldn’t go to disaster recovery offices in person.

24-hour hurricane center

Whether agencies are involved in the response or the recovery phase, they rely heavily on the forecasts from the National Hurricane Center, which is staffed around the clock, to determine where to stage its crews and when to begin evacuations.

The Hurricane Center has two specialists tracking Ike at any given hour, but while Ike was being tracked alongside Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna, each storm had its own team working overtime, said Bill Read, the center’s director. “It is a bit of a balancing act,” but because hurricanes are the agency’s business, there isn’t a lot of staff shuffling going on, Read said. The agency is always prepared to give officials briefings at any time of the day or night. “For some reason, the storms won’t take off on weekends, so we work weekends,” Read said. “Hurricanes don’t go to sleep at night

World is Now Committed to a Significant Warming

Even if greenhouse gas concentrations would remain constant at 2005 levels for the next century, which is a highly optimistic scenario, according to a group of researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the earth will still warm about 4.3 degrees F (2.4 C) above pre-industrial levels.

According to Climate Sciences professor V. Ramanathan and co-author Yan Feng, 90% of this warming will most likely be experienced in the 21st century.

Below are exerpts from the ScienceDaily article...............

"This paper demonstrates the major challenges society will have to face in dealing with a problem that now seems unavoidable," said Ramanathan. "We hope that governments will not be forced to consider trade-offs between air pollution abatement and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions."

The authors point out that the real problem is not the reduction of air pollution, but it is the lack of comparable reductions in emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to offset the reductions in the surface cooling effect of fog. The paper also offers potential solutions.

NASA Concocts Some Spooky Hurricane Science

There's a special room at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Researchers call it the "Anechoic Chamber" and they love to test their high-tech instruments there. Normal people think it's just plain spooky.

"In here, no one can hear you scream," says engineer Mark James as he opens the door on the surreal:

The door creaks shut behind James and suddenly it's like someone hit the mute button. Dead silence. Pyramids on the wall seem to be closing in. The urge to scream ... hard to resist.

James just gets on with the job. He's lead engineer on a research team using this cavernous facility to test a prototype hurricane sensor called HIRAD. Short for Hurricane Imaging Radiometer, HIRAD is designed to scan large areas of ocean for microwave signals that portend storm strength and dynamics. By collecting and transmitting these data to forecasters, HIRAD could reduce property damage and even save lives.

The Anechoic Chamber is the perfect place to check HIRAD's antenna.

Weird shapes lining the chamber's walls are made of a radio-frequency damping material arranged in a pattern akin to soundproof rooms. The shapes minimize microwave reflections and eliminate electromagnetic interference.

"The electromagnetic quiet allows us to test and fully characterize the HIRAD antenna," explains James. "Lack of sound is just a weird bonus."

A microwave source at one end of the chamber sends signals to the HIRAD antenna at the other end. In this way, engineers can explore the antenna's beam pattern to check that it meets the requirements of the mission ahead.

Using microwaves, "HIRAD will be able to map out wind speeds on the ocean's surface--in particular the hurricane strength within the eye wall and elsewhere," says Tim Miller, HIRAD principal investigator at the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "We can also determine how heavy the rain is and the temperature of the ocean surface, more indicators of hurricane characteristics."

Because of its design, HIRAD can make observations over a wider swath of area than instruments currently used by NOAA. And by using electronic rather than mechanical means to scan and create a two-dimensional image of the storm's dynamics, HIRAD can operate on less power than current wind measuring instruments. It's also smaller, lighter, and relatively inexpensive to build.

"HIRAD's observations will not only give weather officials more and better real-time information on storm strength, but it will also help them determine how the storm will develop and where it will go," says Miller. "All of this adds up to more advanced warnings to the public."

How is HIRAD doing so far in the "bat cave" testing?

"We're still reviewing our test data, but so far HIRAD is passing with flying colors," says Robbie Hood of the MSFC, former principle investigator for the project and still intimately involved in its development.

The next step, she says, "is to build the real thing. This is just a test unit – a laboratory prototype. Ultimately, HIRAD will be more compact and lighter weight than the unit we're testing now."

The team hopes to have HIRAD ready to fly checkout tests onboard an aircraft by fall 2009, and ready for its first hurricane experiment in 2010. HIRAD will have to compete with other candidate instruments for the hurricane experiment.

The whole team feels confident that their instrument is going to succeed. "We've got top-notch personnel working long hours to make it happen," says Miller. "We all know that HIRAD is a valuable instrument, and we want to place it in the hands of weather officials so it can do its work -- saving lives."

The trick, says James with a smile, "is not getting locked in the bat cave."

What?

MARITIME NOTE

Ship with 10 crew sinks off Black Sea coast

SOFIA (Reuters) - A North Korean-registered cargo ship with 10 Ukrainian and Russian crew on board sank in rough waters in the Black Sea early on Saturday, Bulgarian authorities said.

Rescuers have so far failed to find any survivors as stormy conditions hampered rescue operations, said Nikolay Apostolov head of Bulgaria's Maritime Administration Agency. Rescue workers have also not found any bodies.

Efforts to save the crew, which consisted of nine Ukrainian and one Russian seamen, will be halted for the night because of the bad weather, he said.

The Tolstoy, which carried 2,500 tonnes of metal scarp and was sailing from Russia to Turkey, sank at about 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) some 12 miles off Cape Emine on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, officials said. It issued no SOS call, they said.

"We received the exact crew list from the authorities in Rostov (Russia). It shows the ship had 10 not 12 crew, which was the preliminary information," Apostolov said.

He said the vessel was owned by an Ukrainian company and sailed under the North Korean flag.

Nine dead after Indonesian ferry catches fire, sinks

AP, JAKARTA Rescuers were searching yesterday for a missing two-year-old boy after a packed ferry caught fire and sank in eastern Indonesia, killing at least nine people, an official said. The wooden boat, the Usaha Baru, was traveling between two coastal villages in Maluku province carrying 77 passengers and crew when a fire broke out in the engine, local search and rescue agency head Eddy Paays said.

Most of the passengers were Muslims traveling home to celebrate Id al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadhan, Paays said.

Panicked passengers started jumping into the sea after the fire broke out in the engine as the boat traveled on Friday between two coastal villages in the Maluku islands, he said, adding that fisherman helped pluck many from the sea.

Rescuers continued to search for a missing toddler near the fishing village of Salahutu, he said.

At least nine people were killed in the accident and 35 others were being treated at a hospital for burn injuries, Paays said.

Ferries and passenger boats are a major form of transportation in Indonesia.

Maritime Expert Witness On Reconstruciton of Collision

Both Robert LaPointe and Terry Raye Trott apparently violated boating safety rules prior to a fatal boat crash on Long Lake, Maine, last summer, witnesses for the state testified at LaPointe's manslaughter trial Tuesday. Milford Daily News writes:

LaPointe, 39, of Medway, Mass., was going too fast at night and did not exercise care to avoid a collision when he came up on Trott's boat from behind, said Maine Warden Kevin Anderson and boat reconstruction expert William Chilcott.

Trott was in violation because his rear "all-around" light was not working, and he may not have had a sounding device on his motorboat, they said.But both witnesses agreed that under federal navigation rules, LaPointe was at fault for the Aug. 11, 2007, crash. His obligation as the boat coming up from behind superseded the obligation Trott had to maintain proper lighting, they said.

"Mr. LaPointe was driving too fast at night," said Anderson, who conducted a reconstruction of the collision using the salvaged boats. "He wasn't able to avoid the collision. He ran over a boat." Boaters on Maine's lakes are required to obey the navigation rules maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard, and any other state laws or local ordinances specific to each body of water.

Anderson said boaters must travel at speeds low enough to avoid a collision with another boat, a log, a loose dock, a swimmer or any other hazard that might present itself. Anderson estimated LaPointe was going between 40 and 50 mph at the time of the crash, and Trott was going between 10 and 20 mph.

RS

Ike Forces Shutdown of 19% of U.S. Refining Capacity

Ike Forces Shutdown of 19% of U.S. Refining Capacity

By Jordan Burke

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Ike, which made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast today, caused more than 19 percent of the nation's refining capacity to close and may limit fuel deliveries across the country.

At least 13 refineries in Texas shut down as Ike approached. Gulf Coast refineries and ports are the source of about 50 percent of the fuel and crude used in the eastern half of the U.S. Plants operated by Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc were affected.

Gasoline shortages may occur across the southern U.S. up to Washington because of the closures caused by Hurricane Gustav and now Ike, Kevin Kolevar, assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy, said on a conference call yesterday.

``We expect to see constrained supplies of refined products,'' he said. ``The administration will utilize every tool at our disposal to lessen the likelihood of limited fuel supplies,'' including tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Ike smashed into the Texas coast as a category 2 storm with wind speeds of almost 110 miles per hour (175 kph), making landfall in Galveston at 2:10 a.m. local time today. Ike's path toward Houston makes it the first storm to hit a major U.S. metropolitan area since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

Curving Northeast

With winds decreasing to about 100 mph, the center of the storm steered away from the Houston area as of 6 a.m. local time, its eye located 15 miles east-northeast of Houston Intercontinental Airport, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Ike is likely to remain a hurricane through the afternoon as it weakens on its inland path curving toward the northeast toward western Arkansas, the center said.

The storm idled about 98 percent of oil production and 94 percent of natural-gas output in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said yesterday. Gulf fields produce 1.3 million barrels oil a day, about a quarter of U.S. output, and 7.4 billion cubic feet of gas, 14 percent of the total, government data show.

``This is more of a refinery issue than an oil and gas issue,'' said Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist at Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania. ``A storm as massive as Ike has the capacity to generate massive storm surge.''

Gasoline for October delivery rose 2.08 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $2.7696 a gallon yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the refineries closed. Prices rose 3.1 percent this week.

Calls for Conservation

Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy company, urged U.S. consumers outside the Gulf Coast region to conserve gasoline and other fuels to help avert shortages.

The company, in a statement on its Web site, said it's concerned about ``the potential impact of Hurricane Ike and the additional pressure it could have on an already stressed petroleum-distribution system.''

Exxon Mobil shut down its Baytown, Texas, refinery, the biggest in the U.S, with processing capacity of 590,500 barrels of oil a day, and its Beaumont plant, which can process 363,100 barrels a day, according to the company's Web site. Exxon is the world's largest oil company.

Valero, the largest U.S. refiner, closed three Texas oil refineries with a combined capacity of 589,000 barrels a day. They are the 294,000-barrel-a-day Port Arthur refinery, a Texas City plant with a capacity of 210,000 barrels and a Houston facility that can process 85,000 barrels, spokesman Bill Day said in an e-mail.

Port Arthur

The company closed 64 company-operated retail stores out of almost 200 in the Houston region, Day said.

Motiva Enterprises LLC, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabia's state oil company, started shutting down its 300,000-barrel-a-day plant in Port Arthur yesterday, Shell said on its Web site. Shell is also closing its Deer Park plant, which can process 340,000 barrels per day.

Motiva's Beaumont, Pasadena and North Houston terminals are also closed and refined product supplies at those terminals remain at ``safety levels,'' Shell said in a statement. Tank drivers earlier picked up their last loads and are making final deliveries in the region to refuel Shell-branded stations before Hurricane Ike makes landfall.

Citgo Petroleum Corp., owned by Venezuela's state oil company, declined to comment on the status of its refineries in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

``We do not comment on operations,'' spokeswoman Shawn Trahan said in an e-mail.

Memories of Alicia

Planalytics' Rouiller said Ike is similar to Hurricane Alicia in 1983.

``It took them over a year to get their feet on the ground again,'' he said. ``The refineries were down for months. Basically, the whole infrastructure around the Houston metropolitan area was devastated.''

Gasoline supplies across the southern and eastern U.S. may be disrupted by the storm, Rouiller said.

``We could have this capability lost for a long period of time,'' he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard closed the port of Houston, the nation's largest petroleum port. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the biggest U.S. oil-import terminal, stopped unloading vessels.

Texas City, Pasadena

BP is closing its 475,000-barrel-a-day Texas City, Texas, refinery. ConocoPhillips, the second-largest U.S. refiner, said its 260,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Sweeny, Texas, is closing. LyondellBasell Industries is shutting its 299,300-barrel-a-day Houston Refining LP plant.

Conoco's Pasadena, Texas, refined products terminal and Clifton Ridge Marine terminal near Lake Charles also closed earlier today, and all company-operated pipelines in the region are shut down.

LyondellBasell Industries is shutting its 299,300-barrel-a- day Houston Refining LP plant.

Marathon Oil Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. oil company, began to shut its Texas City refinery, which can process about 81,500 barrels of oil a day.

Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, is shutting down its Port Arthur refinery, which can process about 240,000 barrels a day.

``Ike is headed into the heart of the refining industry,'' Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said in an interview. ``The damage is likely to come in flooding, a lack of power for an extended period of time.''

Hurricane Ike hits Texas causing floods, power outages

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hurricane Ike made landfall in southeast Texas around 2:10 a.m. local time Saturday near Galveston, packing winds of 110 miles per hour, just shy of Category 3 strength, shuttering essential oil facilities and threatening to devastate towns along the Gulf of Mexico. The storm was forecast to move northwest at 13 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Newswires reported thousands of homes and government buildings were flooded, roads made impassable by washouts, and widespread power outages affecting about 1.3 million customers. Authorities were reportedly concerned for the safety of an estimated 140,000 people in four counties near where the storm made landfall who had ignored mandatory evacuation orders and opted to stay in their homes. The weather agency warned coastal regions were still being battered by the back end of the storm, with hurricane-force winds and the threat of storm surge still activ

IKE TRACK!

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Texas and surrounding areas

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RS

NOAA Predicts Largest Gulf Of Mexico 'Dead Zone' On Record

NOAA Predicts Largest Gulf Of Mexico 'Dead Zone' On Record

ScienceDaily (July 16, 2008) — NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University are forecasting that the "dead zone" off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be the largest on record.

The researchers are predicting the area could measure a record 8,800 square miles, or roughly the size of New Jersey. In 2007, the dead zone was 7,903 square miles. The largest dead zone on record was in 2002, when it measured 8,481 square miles. The official measurement of this year's dead zone is slated to be released in late July. Researchers began taking regular measurements of the dead zone in 1985.

"The prediction of a large dead zone this summer is due to a combination of large influx of nitrogen and exceptionally high flows from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers," said LSU scientist R. Eugene Turner.

The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters. This low oxygen, or hypoxic, area is primarily caused by high nutrient levels, which stimulates an overgrowth of algae that sinks and decomposes. The decomposition process in turn depletes dissolved oxygen in the water. The dead zone is of particular concern because it threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries.

Research indicates that the nearly tripling of nitrogen levels into the Gulf over the past 50 years from human activities has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the dead zone. Various models are useful in evaluating the influence of nitrogen loads and other factors on the size of the dead zone. The LSU model has a strong track record of accurately predicting the dead zone's size.

"The strong link between nutrients and the dead zone indicates that excess nutrients from the Mississippi River watershed during the spring are the primary human-influenced factor behind the expansion of the dead zone," said Rob Magnien, director of the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research. "This analysis will greatly inform the development of federal, state and local efforts to reduce the dead zone's size."

The forecast is based on a mathematical model developed by LSU through NOAA's long-term research investment by CSCOR's Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems and Hypoxia Assessment. The model incorporates U.S. Geological Survey data on the amount of nitrogen reaching the Gulf of Mexico in May. NOAA has been funding investigations into the dead zone since 1990.

WEATHER NOTE

Tornado sirens questioned on Iron Range

VIRGINIA, Minn. (AP) - Officials in the Virginia area are discussing what should be done about malfunctioning tornado sirens.

During tornado alerts Monday evening, some of Virginia's warning sirens didn't go off. While funnel clouds were reported, no tornadoes reportedly touched down.

Virginia Mayor Steve Peterson says it's a wake-up call for the city. He says city officials and residents are fortunate nothing happened.

Some of Virginia's sirens are more than 40 years old.

Peterson says Virginia will likely have to replace the sirens, because he says it doesn't make much sense to repair such old equipment.

In nearby Eveleth, the sirens did sound. But sirens in Gilbert were silent because of a mixup, and Mountain Iron doesn't have an alarm system

Officials agree that Wisconsin’s disaster laws need an overhaul.

A new panel of legislators, emergency management officials and relief workers will start meeting July 30 to suggest ways to streamline those laws.

They also want to decide what to do if the Legislature cannot meet in Madison.

It would have been almost impossible to hold a session a month ago when floods closed many roads in southern Wisconsin.

It’s been 20 years since the state’s emergency laws have gotten a comprehensive review.

Since then, lots of things have been added piecemeal.

For one thing, the law does not define “homeland security.”

Homelands used to be where our ancestors were from, until President Bush made it part of the post-Sept. 11 lexicon and state and local governments created their own homeland security agencies that seem to include everything under the sun.

Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, chairs the new study panel. He wants to examine the state’s response to recent disasters, including the floods, and the February snowstorm in which thousands of motorists were left stranded for up to 12 hours on Interstate 90 south of Madison.

Jauch also wants to find out if local agencies have the resources they need to recover from emergencies.

MARITIME NOTE

Unsecured cargo may have led to vessel sinking

07/12/2008 | 12:44 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Loose cargo on board the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars may have led to its sinking on June 21 while it was being lashed by typhoon Frank (international codename: Fensheng).

Philip Vasquez, a resident of Cebu and one of 28 people aboard a life raft that was swept to the coastal town of Mulanay in Quezon province, told the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) Friday that he was awakened at about 3 a.m. when waves as tall as the vessel continuously hit the seven-storey ferry.

The sun suddenly came out and the seas became calm at about 8 a.m. and he was sure that they were at the center of the typhoon at that time, said Mr. Vasquez, a graduate of maritime education at the University of Cebu. Thirty minutes later, the weather became worse and the boat eventually sank, taking with it some 500 lives.

When the interisland ferry was being battered by giant waves before noon, he said he heard that the cargo move as the vessel swayed. He said the moving cargo caused the tilting of the ship and led to its sudden capsizing.

His statement was supported by an earlier one made by a maritime expert who said the reason the doomed ferry lost its stability was because of the weight of "unsecured" cargo.

Nelson P. Ramirez, president and chairman of the United Filipino Seafarers, had said some of the vessels of Sulpicio Lines lack the proper equipment to ensure the safety of cargo — an observation made when he joined a team from the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) conducting an inspection to check the ships’ seaworthiness. MARINA is also investigating the possible need to cancel the certificate of public convenience issued to Sulpicio Lines.

Meanwhile, the broker contracted by Del Monte Philippines, Inc. to handle the documents regarding the toxic chemical shipment of Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (DMPI) appeared at the BMI hearing.

Dante Macaisa, CEVA Philippines country manager, told the board that Sulpicio Lines had prior knowledge of the contents of the 40-foot container van. He said the broker had presented several documents indicating that the shipment contained dangerous materials to a representative of the shipping firm.

After giving the local pro-forma bill of lading, Mr. Macaisa said the official stated that other documents were "not necessary" and gave them back to the broker.

Sulpicio Lines spokesperson Ma. Victoria Lim-Florido said there were no acknowledgment receipts executed by the broker.

"If there is an acknowledgment receipt, then that is proof that Sulpicio received [the documents from the broker]. But our position is [that] we never received the ocean bill of lading," she told reporters.

Mr. Macaisa confirmed they did not issue an acknowledgment receipt. In other transactions, Ms. Lim said, they execute acknowledgment receipts, especially as regards dangerous cargo. — Bernard U. Allauigan, BusinessWorld

RS

NOAA Satellites Help Save 23 People in the North Atlantic

NOAA Satellites Help Save 23 People in the North Atlantic

April 11, 2008

In a dramatic distress case yesterday, NOAA satellites helped the U.S. Coast Guard respond to a major engine room fire aboard the merchant vessel M/V Sea Venus 1,200 miles east of Cape Cod, Mass.

The 577 foot Panamanian-flagged vessel, with a crew of 23, was en route from Rhode Island to Belgium when the fire broke out. At about 7:30 a.m., NOAA’s satellites detected a distress signal from an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) onboard the vessel and relayed the ship’s location to search and rescue personnel at the Coast Guard’s Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) in Norfolk, Va. The Canadian Navy, and two other merchant vessels in the area, also provided critical coordination.

NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System called COSPAS-SARSAT. This system uses a network of satellites to quickly detect and locate distress signals from emergency beacons onboard ships and aircraft and from handheld personal locator beacons.

“Yesterday’s incident was a tragedy averted,” said Chris O’Connors, acting program manager for NOAA SARSAT.

In Canada, personnel based at RCC Halifax contacted the Coast Guard at the RCC in Norfolk that they established voice communication with the Sea Venus' crew, who initially reported the engine room fire had been extinguished with the ship's automatic CO₂ systems and no assistance was needed.

But rescue officials received a second distress call from the ship that the fire had re-flashed, the CO₂ system had been depleted, and the crew was fighting the blaze with water and hand-held extinguishers. After regaining control and finally extinguishing the fire, fourteen of the 23 crew members were then safely transferred from the Sea Venus to its sister ship, the Olympian Highway. Nine crew members remain onboard to await a tug from Halifax that is scheduled to arrive on Sunday.

“The SARSAT program worked as designed, especially with the international coordination and teamwork between the U.S. and Canada,” O’Connors said.

Now in its 26th year of operation, COSPAS-SARSAT has been credited with more than 22,000 rescues worldwide, including more than 5,800 in the United States and its surrounding waters.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

WEATHER NOTE

Common Myths About Driving in Dangerous Weather

Prevent Yourself From Making Wrong Decisions During Dangerous Conditions

By JOY CIARCIA-LEVY

April 15, 2008—

You never know where you'll be when severe weather strikes. You could even be in your car. So, when driving gets hazardous, we rely on habit, and tried and true techniques. But how true are they?

Myth #1: You Can Dodge an Oncoming Tornado in Your Car

Let's say you're driving and encounter a tornado. The first reaction of many people is amazement at nature's fury. But then reality sets in, maybe panic. People need to make a split-second decision about what to do. Too often they decide they can outrun the tornado in their car. But automotive expert and former race car driver Lauren Fix says that is pure myth.

"Tornadoes change direction without any notice and you don't know what the road in front of you is gonna look like," Fix said. "There could be debris. You could have a roadway that's blocked. Where are you gonna go?"

"But I've seen this," ABC News' Sam Champion said. "I've seen people in cars out-drive tornadoes."

"You've seen the storm chasers," Fix replied. "These people are professionals and this is not something the average driver should even attempt."

The best advice, Fix said, is "if you see a tornado, find shelter immediately. Your car is a 4,000 pound toy and it can be tossed at anywhere, anytime."

Myth #2: Steer into the Skid

The winter season is filled with myths about snow, ice and freezing temperatures. So, what better place to get to the cold hard truth than about 9,000 feet up in the Colorado Rockies, where places like Steamboat Springs can get 30 feet of snow in a winter season, and it rarely gets above freezing.

That's great for the ski conditions, but for driving ... well, that's something completely different, as Mark Cox of the Bridgestone Winter Driving School knows firsthand.

"If you start to skid on the ice or snow, just realize that it's not the end of the world," he said. "First and foremost, don't panic."

Normally, Cox said, people react by letting go of the steering wheel, yanking on it or jamming on the brakes. "None of these things helps you in correcting a skid," he said.

We're often told to steer into a skid. But is that the right thing to do?

Let's say you turn a corner in the snow or ice, and the car skids. You realize the front end is turning to the right. Many people would believe 'steering into the skid' means turning the car to the right ... big mistake! This is an over-steering situation in which the skid actually happened because the rear wheels skidded to the left. So, if you were to steer into the skid, you'd be steering to the left. But this can get confusing, so Cox tells students, instead of steering into the skid, "Look in the direction that you'd rather have the car be going, and steer that way."

CLICK HERE to see an explanatory diagram from the Bridgestone Winter Driving School.

Myth #3: Always Warm Up Your Car

Another winter driving myth: always warm up the car. But this one simply isn't true. Cox explains that "modern cars deal really well with cold. And you can start it up pretty quickly, and take off right away, within thirty seconds, and it's fine."

In fact, experts say idling the car wastes gas, and that's bad for the environment.

Myth #4: You Can Drive Through a Flooded Roadway

After winter snows, drivers have to deal with April showers. So, if torrential rains flood the roads, don't buy into the myth that you can drive right through, even if you think it's just a puddle. Fix warned, "if it's flooded roadways from a river, a creek, or a lake, you do not want to drive through it because anything that's even a foot deep of water, which is not much at all, can cause your vehicle to float."

Champion's advice to drivers is to "slow down and make a good solid judgment about where the water's coming from, how much water do I think it is before I pursue."

Myth #5: Your Car Provides Protection From Lightning

Those April showers also bring something else ... lightning, and the myth people continue to believe, no matter what they've been told: you're safe in your car if you get struck by lightning because of the rubber in the tires.

Fix said that people believe the rubber in their tires acts as an insulator that will keep them safe from the lightning. But in reality, he said, "if you get struck by lightning, it will travel down to the ground and stop itself. But you will hear a loud bang inside the car, and it's very scary."

The popular British TV show "Top Gear" put this myth to the test with host Richard Hammond as the guinea pig.

"They're going to zap me and this car with 800,000 volts," Hammond said to the cameras during the demonstration. "You might think the tires are going to protect me, by insulating the car from Earth because they're rubber."

Inside the car, he waited and then suddenly, Hammond said, "I'm being hit by lightning!"

He quickly realized, "now it's doing stuff to the car, got error message up on the dashboard."

After the ordeal, Hammond was thankful, yet amazed, to say, "I'm alive."

It wasn't the tires that kept Hammond safe. As this experiment proved, the one thing that will protect you from a lightning strike is your car's metal frame, because the electricity travels around the passenger compartment and down to the ground.

But what happened to the car?

To Hammond's surprise, "it starts, it still works, amazing."

But not everyone is so lucky.

"My poor little car was totaled," said Wendy Allen, a graduate student at the University of Florida, who was struck by lightning as she drove on a rural Mississippi highway a few years ago.

"It was raining very heavily, it was thundering and lightning, and I just saw bright light," she said. "Intense light filled up my car for just a split second. But it was a deafening bang."

Her car antenna was destroyed because that's where the lightning hit, and a tiny scorch mark on the trunk showed where the lightning exited after it fried the car's electrical system. It wasn't the car's rubber tires that protected Allen. It's because she wasn't touching anything metal in the car.

And that, Fix said, is the best advice if you get caught in your car in a thunder storm.

"In the vehicle, there's a lot of plastic and a lot of non-metal components," he said. "Best thing is don't touch anything metal. Keep your hands ... to yourself. Pull over and park in a safe place, if you can. It's absolutely safer to stay in the car than get out of the car."

At the end of the day, Allen admitted, "there is not a doubt in my mind that I'm incredibly lucky to be alive today. My car saved my life."

WEATHER NOTE

National Level Exercise Begins In May

Release Date: April 24, 2008
Release Number: HQ-08-063

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Exercise Program (NEP) will conduct National Level Exercise 2-08 (NLE 2-08) a combined functional and full scale exercise from May 1 through May 8. NLE 2-08 will merge the objectives of U.S. Northern Command's (NORTHCOM) Ardent Sentry 2008 exercise, FEMA National Continuity Program's (NCP) Eagle Horizon 2008 exercise (formerly known as Forward Challenge), and FEMA Disaster Operation's Hurricane Preparedness Exercise (HPE).

The purpose of NLE 2-08 is to exercise national capabilities to prepare and respond to multiple incidents including both natural disasters and terrorist incidents. The exercise was designed to include scenario elements addressing hurricane preparedness and response, national continuity capabilities, and Defense Support to Civil Authorities coordination in response to weapons of mass destruction terrorist attacks. The exercise venues involve a Category 4 hurricane impacting the Mid Atlantic Coast and the National Capitol Region and multiple terrorist attacks in Washington State.

Also during NLE 2-08, the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) will test it's response to an accidental chemical agent release at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon. Canada will also participate through their Staunch Maple Exercise.

The exercise allows Federal officials to implement continuity plans, test communications connectivity, operations and procedures for performing essential government functions from alternate locations, and interagency coordination. Additionally, it serves to demonstrate that essential functions can be effectively conducted during threats and emergencies.

NLE 2-08 is a NEP exercise conducted within the five year exercise schedule. The NEP is the nation's overarching homeland security exercise program, provides the federal government with a national, interagency wide program and a multi-year planning system to focus, coordinate, plan, conduct, execute, evaluate and prioritize national security and homeland security preparedness-related exercise activities.

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

Disaster experts’ advice: Be prepared

Brad Shannon
Disaster-response experts still are drawing lessons from December's flooding that killed a half-dozen people in Washington and caused millions of dollars in damage.

The storms that flooded the Chehalis River basin also forced hundreds of families out of homes. Community groups have received a stream of donations to help victims; United Way of Lewis County alone raised more than $1.1 million.

The single-largest donation came from Olympia-based The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound, which gave nearly $155,000 through two relief funds, executive director Norma Schuiteman said. But the needs are larger than the help, three experts told the foundation's annual meeting in Olympia on Wednesday.

"I figure per capita damages were about $500 per person in Mason County," Martin Best, Mason County emergency management manager, told the crowd of about 85 at Indian Summer Golf & Country Club.

Federal aid to individuals totaled a little more than $1 million, Best said, so "right there we're facing close to a $10 million shortfall for individuals affected by this disaster."

"We ended up taking in more than seven tons of clothing. That actually became the second disaster," said Debbie Campbell, director of United Way of Lewis County, whose efforts at storage were hampered by flooded buildings. "I would recommend you learn how to deal with that."

Be ready

Best, Campbell, and Thurston County Emergency Management director Kathy Estes carried a kindred message: Government and aid groups cannot do it all, and individuals need to be ready for the first days of the next bad storm or earthquake.

"How prepared are you? Are you really ready to spend a week without being able to get to the store? And I encourage you to be. Many people locally found that was a reality for them," Estes said. "Each individual really needs to take care of themselves and their families."

Best said residents should have an out-of-state phone number that family members can call in an emergency, so messages can be relayed among relatives when local phone connections break down.

The foundation distributed its aid through two funds — the Community Foundation Relief Fund and the Boistfort Valley Flood Relief Fund.

Campbell said about 400 Lewis County residents still are waiting to get back into their homes. In Thurston County, nearly 30 families still are rebuilding near the river, said Marcee Stiltner of Rochester Organization of Friends Community Services.

FROM STORM REPORTS

This video was taken by my friend Michael Hester in Portsmouth, Virginia during the Tornado that destroyed the neighborhoods in the nearby city of Suffolk





RS

Napoli sparks boxship crackdown

Napoli sparks boxship crackdown

A SUBSTANTIAL portion of the world’s container fleet has been closely scrutinised for potential structural failure during the investigation into the loss last year of the 4,419 teu MSC Napoli.

A UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch report into the incident reveals that a screening by classification societies of 1,500 ships of the same configuration as the stricken vessel showed 12 large containerships that were identified as requiring remedial action to their structures. A further 10 were described as “borderline”, while another eight are being studied.

The report into the structural failure of the Zodiac-operated ship, which took place on January 18, 2007 as the fully laden vessel steamed westwards out of the English Channel in storm force conditions, reveals five major contributory causes.

It was discovered that the hull did not have sufficient buckling strength in way of the engineroom, which was positioned three quarters of the length from forward. The report also points out that class requirements in force at the time the ship was designed in 1990, only required buckling strength requirements around the midships section.

It was also found that there was an inadequate safety margin between the vessel’s hull design loading and its ultimate strength, while the load on the hull was likely to have been increased by the whipping effect as the big ship steamed into heavy head seas. The report suggests that the ship’s speed — making 11 knots over ground with the engine turning revolutions for 17 knots — was “not reduced sufficiently” for the prevailing weather.

Of the vessel’s final voyage and evacuation, the report notes that the ship, operating on the Europe-South Africa service, was six days behind schedule inbound and had suffered turbocharger failure and problems with the main engine governor, which remained inoperative when the laden vessel sailed outbound from Antwerp.

The need to minimise draught for Antwerp departure had required the vessel to be ballasted forward, exceeding the permissable bending moments, although ballast was moved in the Schelde to just within permissable limits as indicated by the ship’s computer.

The comparison of the vessel’s actual draught with that calculated according to the known ship’s weights and declared cargo showed a difference [the deadload] of 1,250 tonnes, indicating that some container weights were under-declared.

On the morning of the structural failure, the ship was heading out into the western approaches in storm force winds with wave heights said to be up to 9 m when a succession of three large waves were reported. Shortly afterwards, a bilge alarm indicated the first ingress of water. Inspection by the duty engineer revealed substantial quantities of water and the engine was shut down.

The master, looking over the side, found visible damage in way of the engineroom, and believing that the ship’s back had been broken, made arrangements to evacuate. The success of this operation, which saw the 26 crew safely abandon their ship and motor clear in a lifeboat to be rescued by two helicopters, was commended in the report. Good drills and preparation for such an emergency were evident to the inspectors.

The design of the ship, a one-off order from Samsung, revealed a number of issues, notably the discontinuity of the structure, which was longitudinally framed throughout the forward cargo spaces, while there was transverse framing in way of the engineroom, the location of the eventual buckling. This, says the report, was an “inherently weak” structure when under compressive loading.

Initially built to Bureau Veritas classification, the ship fully complied with the rules in force at that time which required buckling calculations only around the mid-length of the ship, where it was assumed, the greatest stresses would arise. The earliest cellular containerships were generally built with the machinery space aft, and underdeck cargo spaces forward of the engineroom.

The MAIB concluded that the class rules which were applicable “have lagged behind the development of containership design, and requires immediate revision”. Buckling checks are required, says the report, along the whole length of the ship.

The report examines design safety margins for hull stresses and suggests that a more objective approach is required. It appeared that it was almost routine for permissable loads to be exceeded for operational reasons, such as the need to minimise draught, yet the ship’s staff, or indeed the terminal planners, could never be sure of the actual weights of boxes being loaded on their vessel.

Following the deliberate grounding of the damaged ship in Branscombe Bay, there was the opportunity to weigh all the unflooded containers taken off the ship by the salvors. Some 600 containers were weighed ashore, 137 of which revealed a weight discrepancy of more than 3 tonnes. The largest difference between declared and actual weight was 20 tonnes.

It was also discovered that 7% of the deck load of containers were not in the position shown on the cargo plan. The MAIB concludes that “the stresses acting upon a containership’s hull cannot be accurately controlled unless containers are weighed before embarcation”. This will have obvious implications for terminal operations.

The structure of the 16-year-old ship was found to be in reasonable condition, with no evidence that the 2001 full-speed grounding of the ship, which saw it ashore on a reef on the Malacca Strait for two months and a requirement for 3,000 tonnes of steel repairs, had any bearing on the final hull failure.

Samples were removed from the wreck for testing, and there was some evidence found of on-board welding repairs that had not been reported.

The inspectors had several observations regarding the speed of the ship in heavy weather, noting that the whipping effect of the hull flexing in the high swells could have contributed to the accident. However, the report points to a paucity of any research into the effects of such dynamic forces in a seaway and it recommends that more research should be undertaken into a subject that clearly has considerable potential impact upon safety and structural strength.

It also notes that research should also be considered into the provision of hull stress monitoring equipment and vessel motion sensing, bearing in mind the relationship between speed and wave loading and whipping effects.

As regards the particular circumstances of this casualty the report notes that while the ship’s speed was considered to be “appropriate” for the conditions, “it is almost certain that a reduction of speed would have significantly reduced the risk of hull failure”.

The identification of over 1,500 containerships which had potentially similar vulnerabilities to that which led to the loss of MSC Napoli was clearly a major exercise involving the classification societies. It is understood that vessels larger than 2,500 teu, with cargo bays aft of the accommodation/machinery space were investigated, particularly seeking out those with structural discontinuities.

Of the 12 identified, it is understood that stiffeners in the engineroom and some operational limitations will be sufficient to keep them safe. The societies involved with these ships are currently in discussion with their owners as to the best way forward.

The MAIB has worked closely with DNV, which took over MSC Napoli after its 2002 repairs and which has undertaken a major analysis of containership structures in recent months.

The MSC Napoli report also gives major emphasis to many of the issues which were raised into the MAIB’s earlier report into a container stack collapse aboard the feeder Annabella. This pointed to the inability of the ship’s staff to intervene in planning and stowage, and the evident problem of determining accurate weights of containers.

Additionally, the Annabella report underlined the lack of any proper safety code for the carriage of containers and the operation of containerships.

This issue was taken up by the International Chamber of Shipping, which, in conjunction with the World Shipping Council is currently working on a code of best practice for the industry.

This is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and subsequently presented to the International Maritime Organization for adoption. Relevant action is also promised by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency which has taken up the issue of container weights and longitudenal strength checks with the Paris MOU Port State Control Committee.

WEATHER NOTE

Always be prepared for a tornado to strike

Staff reports
Published: March 31, 2008

Tornado Preparedness—Do You Have a Plan?<p>

Tornados which appear suddenly and without warning are nature's violent storms. One may often hear or read about "tornado season," a time of year when tornadoes appear frequently. The fact is there is no such thing as a "tornado season." Tornadoes can strike anywhere at anytime. You need to be ready, know the drill and act quickly.

Tornado Watches, Warnings

It is vital that you know the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning.

A tornado watch indicates conditions are favorable for a tornado and a tornado is possible. A tornado warning indicates that a tornado has been sighted or seen by the National Weather Service Doppler Radar and may be headed your way. Take cover immediately!

When conditions are favorable for severe weather, monitor your local weather and news stations for up to date information and changes that may occur rapidly affecting you and your family's safety.

Preparing for a Tornado

When preparing for a tornado, one should become familiar with the terms that are being used, i.e. Tornado Watch vs. Tornado Warning to identify the hazard level and what actions you should take:

• Open buildings (shopping malls, gymnasiums or civic centers): Try to get into the restroom or an interior hallway. If there is no time to go anywhere else, seek shelter right where you are. Try to get up against something that will support or deflect falling debris. Protect your head by covering it with your arms.

• Automobiles: Get out of your vehicle and try to find shelter inside a sturdy building. A culvert or ditch can provide shelter if a substantial building is not nearby—lie down flat and cover your head with your hands. Do not take shelter under a highway overpass or bridge, because debris could get blown under them or the structures themselves could be destroyed.

• Outdoors: Try to find shelter immediately in the nearest substantial building. If no buildings are close, lie down flat in a ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands.

• Mobile homes: Do not stay in mobile homes. You should leave immediately and seek shelter inside a nearby sturdy building or lie down in a ditch away from your home, covering your head with your hands. Mobile homes are extremely unsafe during tornadoes.

Prepare a Home Tornado Plan

• Develop a safety plan for home, work, school and when outdoors. Make sure your family reviews and practices the plan at least once a year and especially on days when severe weather is forecast for your area. If you or a family member are disabled, develop an alternative plan and be sure to include items in your supply kit that will meet their special needs for at least a week or longer (readyvirginia.gov/getakit/index.cfm).

• To learn more about tornado drills and how to protect your family during a tornado visit, vaemergency.com/threats/tornado.

Are you ready?

• Get a kit

• Make a plan

• Stay informed

• Visit readyvirginia.gov

/index.cfm

This column is provided by the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue's Community Relations Team. Send questions or comments to DFR Responding to You, 9250 Lee Ave., Manassas VA 20110

Several TX Homes Destroyed by Severe Storms

Officials near Fort Worth, Texas, say more than a dozen homes have been damaged or destroyed by a severe thunderstorm system. Crews are being dispatched across the state today to confirm reports of possible tornadoes. (April 24)




Monthly Tornado Statistics (Official Text or PDF version)

Number of Tornadoes								Number of Tornado Deaths					Killer Tornadoes
	2008		2007		2006	2005	3 Year Avg.	2008	2007	2006	2005	3 Year Avg.	2008	2007	2006	2005	3 Year Avg.
	Prelim	Actual	Prelim	Actual	Final	Final		Prelim	Final	Final	Final		Prelim	Final	Final	Final
JAN	136	84	29	21	47	33	34	7	2	1	4	2	4	1	1	2	1
FEB	232	?	87	52	12	10	25	58	22	0	0	7	13	3	0	0	1
MAR	151	?	214	171	150	62	128	4	27	11	1	13	3	10	7	1	6
APR	154	?	187	165	245	132	181	?	9	38	0	16	?	3	9	0	4
MAY	?	?	282	251	139	123	171	?	14	3	0	6	?	4	1	0	2
JUN	?	?	152	128	120	316	188	?	0	0	0	0	?	0	0	0	0
JUL	?	?	55	69	71	138	93	?	0	0	0	0	?	0	0	0	0
AUG	?	?	87	73	80	123	92	?	1	1	4	2	?	1	1	3	2
SEP	?	?	63	51	84	133	89	?	0	1	1	1	?	0	1	1	1
OCT	?	?	115	87	76	18	60	?	5	0	0	2	?	3	0	1	1
NOV	?	?	7	6	42	150	66	?	0	10	28	13	?	0	3	5	3
DEC	?	?	22	19	40	26	33	?	1	2	0	1	?	1	2	0	1
Total	673	84	1300	1095	1106	1264	1159	69	81	67	38	62	20	26	25	13	21

Note:? means final number not yet available.
Important! Prelim. numbers represent tornado reports. Columns marked Final represent total tornadoes.
2008 numbers updated through

Storm Reports/SPC Home

MARITIME NOTE

This morning after reviewing the casualty runs for the last 24 hours I noticed that Transocean's Discover Deep Seas reported a engine room fire to the United States Coast Guard in Morgan City, Louisiana. Extent of the damage is unknown and believe to be to one of several thruster engines. The Deep Seas is a drill ship presently located some 200 nm off the coast of Louisiana. There were no reported injuries nor SAR operations. As information develops it will be passed along.

RS

Tornado startles Atlanta!

Tornado startles Atlanta

By PHIL GAST
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/15/08

Visitors, conventioneers visibly shaken

One of the most visible casualties of Friday's weather wrath was the Thomas P. Hinman Dental Meeting. Thousands of attendees were turned away Saturday morning from the Georgia World Congress Center.

Several recounted Friday night's trauma.

"The wind just kept getting faster and faster and louder and louder," said dentist Doug Clepper of Augusta. He and his wife took the fire escape downstairs from their 10th floor room in Omni Hotel.

"It was very surreal. People were dressed up for parties. Women were crying," Clepper said.

The storm was a huge blow to an estimated 24,000 exhibitors, speakers and professionals attending the dental show.

The GWCC roof had heavy damage. Exhibitors faced the task of trying to remove exhibits, some of them large, after the cancellation.

Outside the GWCC, a dozen tables and umbrellas were a tumble of plastic.

Throughout the CNN, Omni and GWCC complex, workers cleared glass and debris. Twenty-foot sections of metal roofing lie twisted in parking lots. Insulation was left hanging in trees outside CNN. Dozens of windows at the Omni were missing.

The CNN atrium was closed Saturday morning.

Outside CNN and the hotel were several parked cars, windows blown out by the force of the winds.

Terrell Brown of Centric Orthodontics of Marietta said the postponement of the Hinman meeting could mean thousands of dollars in lost revenue for companies that sell their products at the show.

"To lose a full day could cost you a third of your projected revenue," Brown said.

Timmi Hagan and Kori Singleton of Macon were attending the Hinman meeting and staying at The Glenn hotel on Marietta street.

They rushed to a closet when the tornado came through late Friday.

"We saw people running," Hagan, a dentist, said. They feared the window to their room would shatter, but it did not.

A building on Nassau Street adjacent to Techwood Drive crumbled onto nearby cars when Centennial Park, CNN Center and the Georgia Dome were damaged. Ben Gray/AJC

Also See More photos: Gallery 2, Latest story | More Weather photos

NWS PEACHTREE CITY, GEORGIA

The tornado that left behind extensive damage packed winds up to 130 mph and was rated an EF-2 storm, said Lance Rothfusz, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City. Story

During Alabama and Mississippi State SEC tournament basketball game a tornado may have hit the Georgia Dome.




MARITIME NOTES

RS