World Book Blog

Ophelia Harries Ireland

2017-10-20T10:28:00-05:00

On Monday, October 16, tropical storm Ophelia roared through the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, killing three people in Ireland and causing damage in parts of the United Kingdom. Ophelia, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in that part of the Atlantic, was an unusual occurrence. The last such storm to reach Ireland, Hurricane Debbie, killed 11 people on the island in 1961.

Major Atlantic storms typically form in waters off the central and southern coasts of west Africa. Trade winds then carry them westward toward the Caribbean Sea and the southeastern United States. Ophelia began as a cluster of storms farther north, gathering strength near the Azores before driving northeast toward Europe. Classified as a mid-strength Category 3 hurricane, Ophelia was the strongest-ever storm that far east in the Atlantic Ocean. Downgraded to a tropical storm on its jet stream-led course to Ireland, Ophelia remained dangerous. Ireland’s national weather service issued a red alert for severe weather, warning of “violent and destructive gusts” and “potential loss of life.”

The storm made landfall in Ireland on Monday morning with wind gusts of 109 miles (176 kilometers) per hour at Fastnet Rock, the country’s most southerly point. Torrential rains lashed the southwestern counties of Cork and Kerry, where schools, businesses, public buildings, and hospitals were closed ahead of the storm. Public transportation ceased running in much of Ireland, ferries and flights were canceled, and people were warned to stay indoors.

Ophelia quickly swamped all of the Republic of Ireland, whipping Wales hard too across the Irish Sea. Electric power was lost in many areas of both Ireland and Wales, trees were blown down (causing all three of the deaths in Ireland), rooftops were ripped away, and storm surges breached sea walls in many places. Winds and heavy rains then hit Northern Ireland and Scotland as Ophelia raced back out to sea, dissipating but still carrying severe weather as far as Norway. (The United Kingdom is divided among the political divisions of Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England.)

Ophelia affected other areas, too. In Portugal and Spain, strong winds from the storm fanned wildfires that killed 44 people. Ophelia blew smoke from the fires—and dust from Sahara sandstorms—over England, where the London sky turned an eerie smoky orange. Ophelia was the 10th hurricane of a busy and deadly 2017 Atlantic storm season. Ophelia’s rare path illustrates how rising global temperatures are expanding the range of powerful storms around the world.

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Image 1: Tropical storm Ophelia slammed the coasts of Ireland and Wales on Oct. 16, 2017. This photo shows Ophelia-driven waves battering the sea wall at Porthcawl in southern Wales. Credit: © Leighton Collins, Shutterstock

Image 2: This satellite image shows Ophelia coiling over Ireland on Oct. 16, 2017. Credit: NASA

Recovering Puerto Rico

2017-10-18T10:02:00-05:00

On the heels of Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Katia, Hurricane Maria churned through the Caribbean Sea in mid-September 2017. The storm hit the islands of the Lesser Antilles hard, but Maria saved its worst for Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States.

Hurricane Irma skirted Puerto Rico on September 6, causing minor damage and an electric power outage. As Maria approached two weeks later, Puerto Ricans once again took cover—but Maria proved far worse than its sister hurricane. On September 20, Maria struck the island with torrential rains and winds well over 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour. In a matter of hours, record rainfalls drenched the island, with the east-central city of Caguas topping the gauges at nearly 40 inches (100 centimeters). Storm surges and flash flooding submerged large parts of the island, including neighborhoods of San Juan, the capital. Reservoirs and rivers overflowed and dams threatened to burst. Electric power went out—and stayed out—throughout Puerto Rico. Cellular phone service vanished, banks ceased functioning, roads became impassable, and television and radio stations went silent. “Everything collapsed,” said Héctor Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s commissioner of safety and public protection. “Everything collapsed simultaneously.”

Maria left Puerto Rico as quickly as it came, and as the skies cleared, the devastation was evident. Houses and trees were reduced to splinters; cars were scattered and half-buried in water and mud; farm crops lay shredded; and everywhere were broken windows, chunks of rooftops, and street signs twisted into knots.

Tens of thousands of people were stranded, and recovery efforts began immediately. The Puerto Rico National Guard rescued more than 2,000 people in the first 24 hours, and thousands of others found help in the days to come. But for many people, it was already too late. Drowned bodies began appearing, and as of October 18, the death toll on Puerto Rico stands at 48. Many people remain missing, however, and the number could still rise. Weeks after the storm, many areas still lack electric power and phone service, and there is still not enough food, water, medicine, and fuel to help people who have lost everything.

Lagging relief efforts from the mainland United States were heavily criticized, and there was a noted lack of urgency in the reaction of President Donald Trump, who downplayed the seriousness of the disaster. U.S. government aid for its Puerto Rican citizens did eventually kick into high gear, but only after several days of wrangling and indecisiveness on the part of administration officials.

Individual charities and international organizations have brought in millions of dollars worth of aid to Puerto Rico, as have such Puerto Rican celebrities as Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Daddy Yankee. Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, rapper Pitbull, and Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias have also helped significantly.

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Image 1: A Puerto Rican coastal community lies in pieces on Oct. 2, 2017, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Credit: Mani Albrecht, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Image 2: Puerto Rican civilians pass cases of fresh water delivered by a Puerto Rico National Guard helicopter on Oct. 4, 2017. Credit: Spc. Agustin Montanez, The National Guard (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

California Wildfires

2017-10-11T09:47:00-05:00

On Monday, October 9, multiple wildfires swept across northern California, destroying some 2,000 homes and other buildings, killing 17 people and displacing tens of thousands of others. California Governor Jerry Brown declared states of emergency in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma, and Yuba counties, where the destruction is worst. Dozens of people remain missing as the fires continue to burn.

Unusually hot and dry weather this summer has created ideal conditions for wildfires across northern California. At least 15 separate blazes broke out over the weekend, and strong winds whipped the flames across some 114 square miles (295 square kilometers). Napa and Sonoma counties, the heart of California’s wine country, were hardest hit. The status of the grape harvest remains unclear, but damage from fire and smoke is almost certainly widespread. Fires devastated parts of the city of Santa Rosa, where entire neighborhoods have been left in ashes and cinders.

Skies from San Francisco to Sacramento to Eureka remain choked with smoke and haze, and an orange glow illuminates the night. Numerous roads, schools, and business are closed, and several hospitals in the fire zone have been evacuated. Thousands of firefighters and numerous firefighting aircraft—including the massive Global SuperTanker (a converted Boeing 747 airliner)—are battling the blazes. Amy Head, the fire captain spokesperson for Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for fire protection, said the fires were probably linked to a warming climate. “It has been hotter, it has been drier, our fire seasons have been longer, fires are burning more intensely, which is a direct correlation to the climate changing,” she said.

Another state of emergency was declared on Monday in southern California’s Orange County, where a wildfire destroyed several homes in the affluent Anaheim Hills neighborhood and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

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Image: Firefighters hose the flames of a burning home in the Napa wine region of California late on Oct. 9, 2017. Credit: © Josh Edelson, AFP/Getty Images

Central Mexico Shakes

2017-09-21T11:18:00-05:00

Two days ago, on September 19, a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico, collapsing buildings and killing more than 240 people in Mexico City, the capital, and in the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, Oaxaca, and Puebla. The earthquake struck on the anniversary of a catastrophic 1985 earthquake that killed some 10,000 people in central Mexico. The quake followed another deadly temblor that hit southern Mexico earlier in September 2017.

The earthquake’s epicenter was near the small Puebla city of Atencingo, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City. The prolonged tremor hit at 1:14 p.m. local time—just two hours after an annual earthquake drill in Mexico City—shaking buildings and frightening people into the streets. Structures collapsed in several cities, obscuring the panicked survivors in dust clouds amid the blaring din of alarm sirens.

Emergency responders rushed to the first scenes of destruction. Unstable rubble and electric power outages hampered rescue efforts, and widespread damage meant many ravaged places went hours without help. Military personnel and civilian volunteers aided emergency workers as they searched through the night for survivors. Sniffer dogs followed human scents, and workers pleaded for silence, hoping to hear the calls of people trapped beneath the destruction. Many people were saved, but the body count rose quickly as splintered wood, shattered masonry, and chunks of concrete were frantically removed. Many people remain missing amid the devastation, and the disaster’s death toll—245 as of this morning—will almost certainly rise.

In Mexico City, more than 90 people have died, including 21 children and 5 adults killed when an elementary school collapsed in the city’s southern Coapa district. More than 70 people were killed in Morelos, just south of Mexico City, and more than 40 died in the epicenter state of Puebla. On the slopes of Popocatépetl volcano southeast of Mexico City, a church collapsed in the village of Atzitzihuacán, killing 15 people. Throughout the region, scores of buildings fell, ruptured gas lines sparked fires, and falling debris crushed cars on the streets.

Like the earthquake earlier in September in southern Mexico, Tuesday’s temblor struck near the Middle America Trench, a zone in the eastern Pacific Ocean where one slab of Earth’s crust, the Cocos Plate, is sliding beneath the North American Plate—a geological process called subduction. The Middle America Trench is part of the so-called Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity that encircles the Pacific Ocean. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued an orange alert (the second-highest threat level) after Tuesday afternoon’s quake, warning of significant casualties and extensive and widespread damage. The alert was part of the USGS PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) system that informs emergency responders, the media, and government and aid agencies of the scope of a potential disaster.

On Sept. 19, 1985, an 8.0-magnitude temblor killed some 10,000 people in Mexico City and nearby areas. About 400 buildings in the capital were destroyed in that disaster, and thousands of others suffered damage. Since then, Mexico has enacted tougher building codes and safety standards—moves that no doubt saved many lives 32 years later.

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Image 1: Rescue workers call for quiet as they search a collapsed building in the Mexico City neighborhood of La Condesa following a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake on Sept. 19, 2017. The earthquake toppled buildings and killed more than 240 people in the region. Credit: © Alejandro Cegarra, Bloomberg/Getty Images

Image 2: On Sept. 19, 2017, a powerful earthquake hit central Mexico, killing more than 240 people in the Federal District of Mexico City and in the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, Oaxaca, and Puebla. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Irma’s Heavy Impact

2017-09-13T15:41:00-05:00

Last week, on September 6, the massive storm known as Hurricane Irma began ravaging the Leeward Islands of the eastern Caribbean Sea. The storm then roared over Puerto Rico and Cuba before reaching southern Florida on September 10. The storm has since weakened to a tropical depression and dissipated over land, but it continues to bring torrential rains as it passes up the southeastern coast of the United States. Irma’s week of havoc has killed 70 people, leaving a shattered landscape and record flooding in its wake.

Hurricanes are measured using the Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity. The scale is based on wind speed and the height of the resulting storm surge—that is, how much the sea level rises above normal high tide. The scale ranges from Category 1 (weak) to Category 5 (devastating). Irma formed as a low pressure and thunderstorm system over the Atlantic Ocean before consolidating into a massive storm in the eastern Caribbean Sea. As a Category 5 hurricane, Irma devastated parts of Antigua and Barbuda, the islands of Anguilla, St.-Barthélemy, and St.-Martin, and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. Irma’s strength fluctuated as it roared over Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, the Turcs and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas, alternating between categories 3 and 4 before reaching the Florida Keys. The storm weakened to a tropical storm over Florida, but still caused massive wind and water damage. Among the Caribbean Islands, Irma killed 43 people. Twenty-seven more people have died in the southeastern U.S. states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Those numbers will very likely rise.

In the southeastern United States and the Caribbean, hundreds of roads are still blocked by high water, and many airports, schools, and office buildings remain closed. Millions of people have been displaced, and many areas are without electric power or drinking water. Humanitarian and military aid is arriving in the areas hit by Irma, providing shelter, medicine, and food and water, and helping with the beginning of a colossal cleanup. Damage from Irma is expected to top $200 billion, and repairs and reconstruction after the storm could take years. Irma is the strongest storm to hit the region since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Irma followed closely on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, which flooded the Texas coast, and preceded the formation of Hurricane Katia, which hit southern Mexico last weekend. An astounding fourth hurricane, Jose, chased Irma into the Caribbean before spinning off into the western Atlantic Ocean. Water temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea are well above average, and massive storms feed off those warm waters. The expansion of high pressure areas—as well as a superabundance of moisture in the air—are ripe conditions for hurricane creation. They are also consistent with the effects of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change.

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Image 1: The eye of Hurricane Irma centers on the island of Anguilla on Sept. 6, 2017. Emergency precautions on Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (at left) prepared residents for the approaching storm. Credit: CIRA/NOAA

Image 2: On Sept. 11, 2017, the flattened devastation of Jost Van Dyke island in the British Virgin Islands reveals the destructive force of Hurricane Irma. Credit: UK Department for International Development (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

Image 3: Hurricane Irma roared from east to west through the Caribbean Islands. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Mexico’s Terrifying Temblor

2017-09-12T10:20:00-05:00

Just before midnight on Thursday, September 7, a powerful earthquake caused death and destruction in southern Mexico. The 8.1-magnitude quake, the strongest in the region in decades, centered just off the Pacific coast states of Chiapas and Oaxaca. The temblor (another word for earthquake in both English and Spanish) toppled numerous structures and killed 96 people. Many people remain missing, however, and the death toll will almost certainly rise.

The earthquake’s epicenter was in the Gulf of Tehuantepec just off the southern Mexican coast. The coastal city of Juchitán de Zaragoza bore the brunt of the earthquake’s destruction. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed there, and many thousands were damaged, including Juchitán’s historic palacio municipal (city hall). In the early hours of Friday, September 8, emergency crews, federal police, and soldiers began pulling the dead and the living from the rubble of wrecked buildings as aftershocks rocked the area, causing further damage and panic. Since then, many damaged buildings have been cleared, but strong aftershocks continue and many structures remain too unstable to enter. More than 160 area municipalities have declared states of emergency, and many thousands of people still lack electric power, running water, and phone service.

The quake struck near the Middle America Trench, a zone in the eastern Pacific Ocean where one slab of Earth’s crust, the Cocos Plate, is sliding beneath the North American Plate—a geological process called subduction. The Middle America Trench is part of the so-called Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity that encircles the Pacific Ocean. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued a red alert (highest threat level) after Thursday night’s quake, warning: “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread.” The alert was part of the USGS PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) system that informs emergency responders, the media, and government and aid agencies of the scope of a potential disaster.

Last week’s earthquake was felt throughout southern Mexico and neighboring Guatemala. Some 500 miles (800 kilometers) away in Mexico City, the capital, structures swayed and earthquake alarms caused a mild panic. Many of the city’s residents carry vivid memories of the deadliest quake in Mexican history, an 8.0-magnitude temblor in 1985 that killed some 10,000 people in the city and nearby areas. About 400 buildings in Mexico City were destroyed in that disaster, and thousands of others suffered damage. Since then, Mexico has enacted tougher building codes and safety standards.

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Image 1: Emergency crews search the collapsed ruins of buildings in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico, after a powerful earthquake struck the area late on Sept. 7, 2017. At left stand the surviving white arches of the city’s damaged palacio municipal (city hall). Credit: © Pedro Pardo, AFP/Getty Images

Image 2: Late on Sept. 7, 2017, a powerful earthquake caused damage and killed people in the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Tabasco. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Mudslide Disaster in Sierra Leone

2017-08-23T13:41:00-05:00

Wreckage is removed from the Freetown suburb of Regent in the days after a mudslide devastated the Sierra Leone hillside community on Aug. 14, 2017. Credit: © Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Last week, in the early hours of August 14, heavy rains and flooding caused a massive mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, the capital city of the small west African nation of Sierra Leone. The mudslide buried parts of Regent, a settlement perched on the slopes of Mount Sugar Loaf overlooking Freetown. The mudslide destroyed or severely damaged hundreds of homes and other buildings and killed 499 people. The death toll is certain to rise, however, as some 600 people remain missing. Rescue efforts continue a week after the disaster, but there is little hope of finding anyone alive in the mud and destruction.

The population of Freetown and its outskirts has increased sharply in recent years, and makeshift shantytowns have sprung up in Regent and other areas. As land is cleared for homes, however, the deforestationweakens the soil—particularly on the slopes of Sugar Loaf—greatly increasing the risk of land- and mudslides. Environmental groups have planted many trees, trying to replenish parts of the forest, but they can not keep up with the pace of clearing and unregulated development. Climate change, too, is adding to the problem, as more severe and erratic weather patterns bring unusually heavy rains. This summer has been exceptionally wet in and around Freetown, and floodwaters further destabilized the Sugar Loaf hillsides. Torrential downpours saturated the area in the days preceding the mudslide.

The port city of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, sits between hills and the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: © Shutterstock

Entire parts of Regent were buried in the mudslide, which sent mucky waters cascading through other settlements and into the streets of Freetown itself. Some 3,000 people have been left homeless by the disaster, another 10,000 people have been evacuated from areas at risk of further mudslides, and the Sierra Leone government is asking thousands more to leave potentially dangerous areas. Survivors face threats from cholera and other waterborne diseases as the many deaths and destruction have tainted the area’s water supplies. International aid is pouring into Freetown, however, providing clean water, food, shelter, and medical supplies.

Further rains have hampered rescue efforts in Regent, and there is a shortage of heavy equipment to dig through and remove the many tons of mud covering homes and streets. The day after the disaster, Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma declared seven days of mourning as bodies began being retrieved and buried—most of them unidentified—in mass graves at nearby cemeteries. Since then, many survivors have ignored warnings to keep away and returned to the devastation to search for missing family members and retrieve belongings.

On August 16, two days after the disaster in Sierra Leone, a similar mountain mudslide struck the fishing village of Tora on the banks of Lake Albert in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing more than 200 people. There, the disaster was also caused by unusually heavy rains and deforestation for the creation of makeshift housing.

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London’s Grenfell Tragedy

2017-07-20T10:42:00-05:00

The Grenfell Tower burns out of control as firefighters hose the building’s lower floors early on June 14, 2017, in London, England. Credit: Natalie Oxford (licensed under C BY 4.0)

Last month, on June 14, a fire destroyed much of Grenfell Tower, a 24-story apartment building in London, England. The fire, which took place in the city’s Kensington district, killed at least 80 people—the deadliest fire in London since World War II (1939-1945). The tragedy devastated many families and brought harsh criticism on local and national government as well as London’s fire safety laws and emergency response management.

The Grenfell fire started around midnight in a malfunctioning refrigerator freezer on the building’s fourth floor. That small fire ignited the building’s exterior cladding, a protective layer on the outside of the building’s structure. In this case, the cladding consisted of aluminumplates with a polyethylene core and polyisocyanurate insulation. Polyethylene and polyisocyanurate are types of plastic. The flammable cladding accelerated the fire, which quickly engulfed the building’s upper stories. The cladding—which also released deadly cyanide fumes—was blamed for the fire’s rapid outside-in path that trapped so many people, leading to the terrible death toll (people died from cyanide fumes as well as from flames and smoke). The fire burned intensely for many hours, and was not completely extinguished until June 16.

Some 250 firefighters responded to the Grenfell Tower fire, and they were credited with rescuing 65 people. Riot police worked alongside the firefighters, using their shields to protect firefighters from cascades of burning debris. Other police helped firefighters break down doors into locked apartments. Many people remained trapped in the building, however, as intense heat, flames, smoke, and toxic fumes continually forced rescuers to slow or alter their advance. Eighty people are known to have died in the fire. However, full analysis of remains will not be completed for some time, and the death toll is likely to rise.

This photo shows a devastated corner apartment in the burned-out Grenfell Tower on June 18, 2017. Credit: London Metropolitan Police

Grenfelll Tower was constructed in 1974. It had 129 apartments and space for some 600 residents. Grenfell had just one entrance and one staircase, and residents often complained that this could be a problem in an emergency evacuation. British regulations, however, require just one staircase in a building of that size, unlike rules in most countries that require two. Residents also complained of exposed natural gas pipes in the building, and the installation of fire-retardant boxing around the pipes had begun but was not yet completed at the time of the fire. (Several gas lines burst during the fire, which worsened the situation.)

In 2015 and 2016, Grenfell Tower—which also lacked a sprinkler system—was renovated and the new cladding was added to improve the tower’s exterior appearance. Fireproof zinc cladding was passed over in favor of much cheaper aluminum cladding. After the fire, the cladding used at Grenfell—which has long been banned on high-rise buildings in the United States and other countries—failed fire safety tests. The cladding was then banned in the United Kingdom and is in the process of being removed and replaced in hundreds of buildings throughout the country.

The local Kensington council was blamed for ignoring safety complaints from Grenfell, which was populated by largely poor, immigrant, and ethnic-minority tenants in an otherwise affluent area. The British government was blamed for deregulating the building industry and for cutting funding for fire prevention, as well as for its slow response in helping survivors of the fire. A public inquiry into the fire is scheduled to begin in September.

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