Earth ChangesS


Attention

Colorado flood victims urged 'get out now'

Vehicles submerged
© Sky NewsVehicles submerged in floods along the Sough Platte River near Greeley
Rescuers will not return for families who refuse to evacuate immediately as more rain threatens to swell floods, officials warn.

Thousands of people trapped by floods that swept through towns in north Colorado have been warned to leave or risk weeks without food, electricity and running water.

Authorities have carried the message into canyon communities and towns where stranded residents eager to escape the Rocky Mountain foothills used every means possible to attract the attention of rescuers.

Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle warned National Guard helicopters and truck convoys would not go back for people who insisted on staying.

Cloud Precipitation

From extreme drought to extreme rainfall in 24 hours: Six dead, 500 unaccounted for in devastating Colorado flash-floods

colorado flooding
© Cliff Grassmick APRailroad tracks at 9th Street, East of Airport Road, continue to be flooded in Longmont, Colo, on Sept. 14, 2013.
As many as six people are reported dead after historic flooding in Colorado.

At least 482 people remained unaccounted for in Larimer County, Colo., the county's sheriff Twitter feed announced Sunday morning. In Boulder County, there were 431 entries on the county's unaccounted-for list at 9 a.m., local time, but they were reduced to 212 entries by 3 p.m., representing 326 people, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said.

At least one person was killed in a collapsed home due to the flooding. Another life was taken on the 200 block of Linden in Boulder, Boulder Emergency Management officials reported. A third person was found dead in Fountain Creek, Colorado Springs police said. The fourth person died in Boulder, authorities told The Associated Press.

Cloud Lightning

Big storms hit Mexico on opposite coasts; 21 dead

Storm in Mexico
© AP Photo/Bernandino HernandezA man takes a photo with his phone as a car lies on its side after a portion of a hill collapsed due to heavy rains in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2013.Flooding and landslides unleashed by Hurricane Ingrid and Tropical Storm Manuel have claimed at least a dozen lives in Mexico and sparked the evacuations of thousands of people even before the weather systems had made landfall on the country's east and west coasts.
(Acapulco) - The remnants of Tropical Storm Manuel continued to deluge Mexico's southwestern Pacific shoulder with dangerous rains while Hurricane Ingrid weakened to a tropical storm after making a Monday landfall on the country's opposite coast in an unusual double onslaught that federal authorities said had caused at least 21 deaths.

The heaviest blow Sunday fell on the southern coastal state of Guerrero, where Mexico's government reported 14 confirmed deaths. State officials said people had been killed in landslides, drownings in a swollen river and a truck crash on a rain-slickened mountain highway.

Mexico's federal Civil Protection coordinator, Luis Felipe Puente, told reporters late Sunday that stormy weather from one or both of the two systems also caused three deaths in Hidalgo, three in Puebla and one in Oaxaca.

Getting hit by a tropical storm and a hurricane at the same time "is completely atypical" for Mexico, Juan Manuel Caballero, coordinator of the country's National Weather Service, said at a news conference with Puente.

Question

What caused deadly Colorado floods?

colorado flooding
© Cliff Grassmick APRailroad tracks at 9th Street, East of Airport Road, continue to be flooded in Longmont, Colo, on Sept. 14, 2013.
Boulder picked up almost nine times its average September monthly rainfall in about four days.

Colorado is no stranger to devastating and deadly flash floods, due to a lethal combination of geography and meteorology. When unusually heavy rain falls across the region, narrow canyons and steep mountains help funnel raging torrents of water down into the heavily populated foothills to the west and north of Denver.

One of them, the notorious "Big Thompson" flash flood of July 1976, killed at least 144 people north of Boulder. It caused "the worst natural disaster, in terms of documented lives lost, in Colorado state history," according to Boulder's Flood Safety Education Project website.

Boulder, specifically, is considered to be Colorado's "most at risk" city in terms of potential flood damage, notes Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt. This is because it rests against the mouth of a canyon (the Boulder Canyon) from which a creek (the Boulder Creek) bisects the heart of the town.

Cloud Precipitation

Aerial video of devastation by Colorado floods

Updated | Sunday, 12:40 p.m. As my colleagues, Dan Frosch and Jack Healy reported, Colorado's worst flooding in years has killed at least four people, washed away homes and roads and forced thousands of residents from Pueblo to Fort Collins to flee.

Aerial video footage and images captured on Friday by videographer Payton H. Peterson show the extent of the damage in Longmont and Lyons in Boulder County after 12 inches of rain.

Larimar County that Sheriff Justin Smith uploaded onto YouTube aerial video footage showing widespread damage in the area, which includes Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and the Big Thompson Canyon area, where flooding washed away portions of the roadway.


Ambulance

At least 1 dead from flooding in New Mexico

La Union resident
© (AP/The Las Cruces Sun-News)Sept. 13, 2013: La Union resident George Enriquez, left, and Pablo Romero of Las Cruces, N.M. survey the damage along Sentenario Street in La Union, N.M. where Thursday's massive flooding destroyed multiple roads in the small town.
Flood waters broke through dams, inundated neighborhoods and killed at least one person, leaving New Mexico residents with a major cleanup effort.

The massive flooding prompted Gov. Susana Martinez to issue a state of emergency, opening up recovery funding after rivers overflowed because of heavy rains and caused millions of dollars in damage.

State Police Sgt. Emmanuel Gutierrez said the body of a man was found Saturday in his partially submerged vehicle next to State Road 51 in Ash Canyon, about 150 miles from Albuquerque. Investigators believe the man died after his vehicle washed into a ravine covered in mud near the Elephant Butte dam and was washed nearly a miles off roadway, probably Friday during the flooding, Gutierrez said.

The man's name was not released.

Snow Globe Xmas

Earth gains a record amount of sea ice in 2013

Earth has gained 19,000 Manhattans of sea ice since this date last year, the largest increase on record. There is more sea ice now than there was on this date in 2002.
Change in global sea ice area
© Unknown
timeseries.global.anom.1979-2008

Cloud Precipitation

Utah flooding hits schools, homes as wet weather continues

flooding issues near Herrriman High
© Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret NewsCity crews work on flooding issues near Herrriman High School due to heavy rain in Herriman on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013.

Heavy rains caused flooding problems Saturday, particularly in areas of southern Salt Lake County, where water went over roads and into homes and schools.

In Herriman, flooding near 11600 South and 6000 West sent water into two buildings of the Farmgate Apartment complex around 3 p.m., affecting 18 apartment units and displacing 10 people, Unified Fire Authority Capt. Clint Mecham said.

A minimal amount of water also entered nearby Herriman High School, but the water level later abated and crews were working on cleanup efforts. Mecham said it did not appear that the flooding would impede classes from being held Monday morning.

Cloud Precipitation

Sudden massive storm set to slam UK and Ireland as atmospheric pressure plummets

Stormy seas
© The MirrorStormy seas are expected
Met Eireann forecast severe winds and rain "countrywide"


Ireland risks rush-hour disruption today as a 100kph "weather bomb" threatens to topple trees, blocking roads and causing problems for cars, planes and ferries.

Autumn's first storm, which forecasters said was more powerful than usual for September, saw wind gusts hit 83kph at Malin Head, Co Donegal, yesterday morning.

And Met Eireann forecast more fierce wind gusts "countrywide" today after yesterday's severe weather warning for wind gusts up to 100kph in Munster, Leinster, Connacht, and specifically Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan.

Cloud Precipitation

Boulder flooding: Remembering warnings from 'Weather Report'

Rain
© Jonathan Kos-Read (CC BY-ND 2.0)
On Thursday as I was reading about war and peace, headlines about a flash flood in Boulder kept arriving all through the day: "At least 3 dead in Colorado flooding; Boulder 'overwhelmed with water'" (LA Times), "Flood threat still strong as 3 killed in Colorado" (USA Today), "Boulder flood: 2nd death confirmed, county calls in National Guard to assist with rescues" (Boulder Daily Camera), "Boulder Flooding: Deadly High Waters in Northern Colorado Force Evacuations, Cause Mudslides" (Huffington Post), ...

Soon I'll talk about the flood, but first the warning.