Floods in Mexico; weather chaos elsewhere

Chaos as floods submerge Mexico's Acapulco, death toll rises

Yahoo,

17 September, 2013

Mexico's famous beach resort of Acapulco was in chaos on Tuesday as hotels rationed food for thousands of stranded tourists and floodwaters swallowed homes and cars after some of the most damaging storms in decades killed at least 55 people across the country.

Television footage showed Acapulco's international airport terminal waist deep in water and workers wading out to escape floods that have prevented some 40,000 visitors from leaving and blocked one of the main access routes to the city with mud.

A torrential, three-day downpour cut off several roads into the Pacific resort of 750,000 people, which was a magnet for Hollywood stars in its heyday, but had the highest murder rate in Mexico last year amid a surge in drug gang violence.

The flooding has disrupted deliveries of supplies, piling fresh misery on a city heavily dependent on tourist spending. The entrance to a main hillside tunnel into Acapulco was completely blocked with mud.

The rains were spawned by two major storms that converged on Mexico from the Pacific and the Gulf, triggering flash floods that washed away homes and landslides in eastern Mexico.

Tropical Depression Manuel had faded but was strengthening again on the Pacific coast on Tuesday, moving northwest toward the Baja California peninsula. It was expected to become a Tropical Storm again late on Tuesday or early Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Much of Acapulco's upscale Diamante district was flooded, and tourists were unable to take cash out of bank machines due to lack of power. Fast food outlets were also without power, and insisted on payment in cash.

"I had to go to a pawn shop to leave some jewelry to get money to be able to eat and pay for accommodation," said Cristina Dominguez Navarro, who rented an apartment in Acapulco with her family.

"We came with just enough money for three days and now we have been here for five," she said. "I don't know what we'll do if they don't open the motorway soon."

Some large hotels offered stranded guests a free night of accommodation. But conditions were tough.

"They've started to ration food here," said Pedro de la Torre, a 53-year-old graphic designer from Mexico City who was stranded in a hotel in Acapulco. "People are starting to get annoyed. I lost two cars, total write-offs."

Outside the hotel, guests waded to their waterlogged vehicles in the hope of recovering whatever they could.

Since the weekend, the rains have killed at least 55 people in the states of Veracruz, Guerrero, Puebla, Hidalgo, Michoacan and Oaxaca, according to regional emergency services.

Guerrero, which is home to Acapulco, was the hardest hit with at least 34 people killed in the state, emergency services said. Some streets in the state capital if Chilpancingo became rivers of mud and its mayor, Mario Moreno, said the city had "collapsed."

"The panorama is one of devastation," said Alejandro Hernandez, a 40-year-old landscape gardener on vacation from Mexico City, holed up in an Acapulco hotel with his wife and 3-year-old daughter.

"The hotel is no longer functioning as a business. The staff is starting to leave. They have closed the front desk, switched off the computers," he said. "All they have done is caused panic by saying they are going to start rationing, turn off power and cut water."

Hundreds of people lined up outside supermarkets in Acapulco waiting to buy food. Store shelves were empty in some other areas of Guerrero state as residents stocked up and town mayors called on the government to send emergency supplies.

President Enrique Pena Nieto said via Twitter he had ordered a "house by house" census in Guerrero and told the federal transport ministry to establish an air bridge to Mexico City.

Officials had considered using the airfield in nearby Pie de la Cuesta to restart flights but airline officials said services started to resume from the city's airport after rains abated.

The chaos began late last week when tropical storms Ingrid and Manuel converged from the Atlantic and the Pacific, drenching Mexico in massive rainfall that has hit around two thirds of the country, according to the interior ministry.

Though both of the storms have dissipated, rain is still falling in much of country and more than 1 million people have so far been affected by flooding.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said rain caused by the remnants of Ingrid could still produce life-threatening floods and mud slides in a large part of eastern Mexico.

Landslides have buried homes and a bus in the eastern state of Veracruz. Thousands were evacuated from flooded areas, some by helicopter, and taken to shelters.

State oil monopoly Pemex evacuated three oil platforms and halted drilling at some wells. A spokesman for the company said output and exports had not been affected.

The rain has caused more than 5 billion pesos ($387 million) in damage in the state of Guerrero, the local government said.

Rare twin storms batter Mexico, 34 dead

Space Daily,

16 September, 2013

Authorities scrambled to rescue people stranded in flooded homes in Mexico's resort of Acapulco Monday after twin storms slammed opposite coasts in a rare one-two punch that has killed 34 people.

Hurricane Ingrid weakened to tropical storm strength as it made landfall on the northeastern coast in the morning while the Pacific coast reeled from the remnants of Tropical Storm Manuel, which dissipated after striking on Sunday.

Thousands of people were evacuated as the two storms set off landslides and floods that damaged bridges, roads and homes.

The last time the country was hit by two tropical storms in the span of 24 hours was in 1958, officials said. Never before has it been struck by a hurricane and another storm at the same time.

"More than two-thirds of the national territory has been affected," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told a news conference.

At least 12 people died when a landslide hit a bus and workers removing earth that had previously fallen on a road in the eastern state of Veracruz, a civil protection official said after federal officials reported 22 deaths elsewhere.

At least 15 people have died in the southwestern state of Guerrero where Acapulco is situated, said national civil protection chief Luis Felipe Puente.

Six more people died in the central states of Hidalgo and Puebla and one in the southern state of Oaxaca. Guerrero state officials reported six deaths in a road accident, but Puente did not include them in his account.

Around 50 towns were affected in Guerrero, with some 238,000 people seeing various levels of damage to their homes, Puente said, adding that dozens of shelters had opened for some 20,000 people.

The highway linking Acapulco to Mexico City was closed due to landslides while the resort's airport was shut down, with some 100 people stranded on the terminal's second floor. Authorities hoped to reopen both later Monday.

With waters rising as high as three feet (one meter) in some neighborhoods, soldiers used boats to pluck around 100 people who took refuge on upper floors or the roofs of homes.

The flooding brought out crocodiles, complicating the rescue work, officials said, while Manuel's remnants were still producing rain. Those rescued were taken to an auditorium that was converted into a shelter.

At least 11 deaths were reported in Acapulco, including a family of six whose home was crushed by a landslide.

"There's no power and we are surrounded by water," said Carlos Alvarez, who lives near a neighborhood where around 50 two-level homes were flooded.

Residents used inflatable boats to evacuate around 40 people stuck on roofs, he said, complaining that neither helicopters nor troops guarding the area were not helping.

Authorities are working to create an air lift in the town of Pie de la Cuesta to transport people, state Governor Angel Aguirre told Televisa television.

Some 2,500 tourists were stranded at the Fairmont Hotel, according to employees there.

The storms forced authorities to cancel independence day celebrations in several towns.

In the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, hundreds of people were evacuated as Ingrid made landfall near the town of La Pesca and its maximum sustained winds slowed to 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour as it moved inland, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

The storm was bringing heavy rainfall to the region, the Miami-based center said.

"We have to be very alert in the northern states. It just started raining and the damage will be seen in the next few hours," said National Water Commission head David Korenfeld.

Several communities were cut off by rising waters in Tamaulipas, while authorities rescued two power company workers whose truck was dragged away by a swollen river.

State-run energy firm Pemex, meanwhile, evacuated three oil platforms off the Gulf coast.

Record rainfall soaks New Mexico, prompts rescues – More than 11 inches fell in a 24-hour period, which forecasters describe as ‘unbelievable’

Lubbock Online,

13 September, 2013

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico National Guard and other rescue crews evacuated dozens of campers and residents who were stranded by floodwaters along the Pecos River as New Mexico was drenched Thursday by another round of record rainfall.

While the welcomed moisture is helping the state out of an unprecedented drought, the runoff was threatening an RV park near Brantley Lake and had pooled up around the community of Lakewood. Crews were using boats and helicopters to bring about 70 people to dry land, where they were checked by medical personnel and bussed to a shelter in Carlsbad.

National Guard officials said they were concerned floodwaters could breach a channel above the lake and spread out into an old lake bed, flooding the area and posing “life-threatening events.”

Empty reservoirs along the Pecos River were filling up with muddy water Thursday afternoon, as northern New Mexico braced for its share of the moisture. Officials said areas with recent wildfire burn scars and mountain slopes — and places downstream from those areas — would be particularly vulnerable to mudslides and flooding.

“The rainfall totals from when this event began are going to be record-breaking, they already have been,” said Kerry Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Albuquerque.

Jones said it’s likely some areas could see 6 to 10 inches of rain by the weekend. In one spot in the Guadalupe Mountains of southern New Mexico, more than 11 inches fell in a 24-hour period, which forecasters described as “unbelievable.”

The rain-soaked plains of eastern New Mexico were shedding runoff into arroyos that were draining into the Pecos River. At Avalon Dam just north of Carlsbad, federal water managers reported flows of 6,000 cubic feet per second. There’s typically no to little flow through the area at this time of year.

Authorities issued a plea for people to stay away from the river and the dam.

Another concern was the floodwaters flowing down the river and combining with runoff coursing through a large canyon near the southern edge of Carlsbad. By Thursday evening, the river’s flow had reached about 13,000 cubic feet per second.

“We’re watching everything very closely,” said Mary Perea Carlson, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation.

Although water levels in all reservoirs along the Pecos have significantly increased in the last 24 hours, Perea Carlson said plenty of storage space remains and all structures remain sound.

The city of Carlsbad closed a bridge along U.S. 285 as a precaution.

Volunteers with the American Red Cross were manning shelters in Chaves and Dona Ana counties to help motorists and residents affected by floodwaters.

Officials at Carlsbad Caverns National Park closed the park Thursday and asked all employees and visitors to leave due to the potential for flooding along the park’s main road. They planned to reopen the park today.

Near Alamogordo, two rain-caused rock slides on both sides of a tunnel on U.S. 82 closed the highway briefly Wednesday.

Scotland experiences four seasons in a day: lashed by 100 mph wind gusts

SCOTLAND experienced all four seasons in one day yesterday, as the first storm of autumn swept across the country, bringing chaos to the country’s roads

the Scotsman,

16 September, 2013

Torrential rain, accompanied by gale-force winds, gave way to sunny periods, before the wet weather returned.

The Cairngorms were hit by gusts of 100mph, with snow anticipated last night, and the Forth Road Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles after wind speeds of 69mph were recorded.

However, not everyone was bemoaning the gales. The weather was perfect for Scottish Windfest, at Barassie Beach in Troon, where windsurfers and kitesurfers were competing.

Last night, the Met Office issued a blanket “yellow” warning, forecasting blustery winds continuing into today.

They said high-altitude jetstream winds from the Atlantic pushing 200mph – almost twice the usual – triggered the storm.

It brought torrential rain yesterday morning, which flooded Nitshill Road and Thornliebank Road, in the south of Glasgow, with motorists in Dumfries suffering the worst driving conditions in the country with heavy spray on main roads.

The weather also caused severe disruption to Caledonian MacBrayne’s ferry timetable on the west coast, where dozens of sailings were either delayed or cancelled.

Worst affected were the routes between Oban, Coll and Tiree, the new link between Ardrossan and Campbeltown, and the Tarbert to Portavadie crossing.

A spokesman for Cal Mac said: “Ferry services across the network have been badly affected by high winds.

“The bad weather is expected to continue into Monday and ferry travellers are advised to check our website (www.calmac.co.uk) for the latest information.

“We apologise for any inconvenience and are grateful for everyone’s patience and understanding.”

Traffic Scotland warned motorists of high winds on the Skye, Friarton, Tay and Erskine bridges.

And there was rail disruption on west coast northbound routes, after a tree fell on to overhead lines between Lockerbie and Carstairs.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued flood warnings in Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway and west central Scotland.

The CairnGorm funicular railway was closed all morning yesterday as 100mph winds blasted the area, but it was opened by midday.

Paul Nixon, CairnGorm’s customer manager, said: “We’ve just been keeping a close eye on the weather today, making sure that visitors can come back down.

“We’re expecting some snow tonight, but it’s unlikely to lie and will be restricted to the very top of the mountain.

“This sort of weather usually does mark the start of winter for us really. In the past there has been skiing in October, and people are anticipating a very good season.”

Tom Morgan, of the Met Office, said: “Scotland is only half-way there with the severe wind problems.

“The rain may have turned to squally showers but most of Scotland will see a very windy day on Monday.

“The worst gales will be felt on the west coast and around the Glasgow area and will last well into the evening or night.”

Record Cold in the Northeast

44F in Boston

the Scotsman,

16 September, 2013

Many of you slept through it but earlier this morning the temperature bottomed out at 44 degrees in Boston establishing a new record low…the old one was 45 degrees set back in 1986.

Much of interior New England, especially across the low-lying countryside saw the first frost of the season too. Cold high pressure is settling in from Canada so these next 24 hours will feel more like October…in fact, for many, tonight will be colder than last night. Because of that, Frost Advisories have once again been posted for Interior New England and may need to be expanded perhaps into MetroWest. I don’t expect Boston to be colder however thanks to the urban heat island effect…buildings and pavement absorb the sun’s energy and radiate it all night long like a camp fire.

That same chilly Canadian High will become the bearer of a great stretch of weather as it parks itself over the Northeast through the end of the week. The air mass will be given an opportunity to moderate and the nearly full sun will boost daytime temps back into the 70s Thursday through Sunday.

Our next chance of rain will come sometime over the weekend with an approaching cold front. Given the very strong ridge of high pressure and it’s unwillingness to relinquish control I think that showers will hold off until Sunday and perhaps even until the afternoon.