Flooding
Kills 24 in Malaysia and Thailand
Nearly
160,000 have been left homeless since the flooding began
Time,
28
December, 2014, 12:54 PM ET
Flooding
in Malaysia and Thailand has killed 24 people and left nearly 160,000
homeless since mid-December, in the deadliest regional flood season
in a decade, according to recent reports.
Malaysian
authorities said the rain is expected to last at least another week,
Reuters reported.
The news comes as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak visited sites of the flooding following his return from Hawaii on Friday. Razak had been criticize
I
am left wondering if the AirAsia crash might be an abrupt climate
change -induced air accident
Thunderstorms
in Vicinity as AirAsia Plane Goes Missing Between Indonesia and
Singapore
An
AirAsia Indonesia flight from Surabaya to Singapore went missing on
Sunday, local time, and a massive multi-nation search is underway.
28
December, 2014, 4:19 PM ET
Air
traffic controllers lost contact with Flight QZ8501 at 7:24 a.m.
Sunday after takeoff from the Juanda International Airport in
Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, the
airline said on its Facebook page.
There
were thunderstorms along the flight path, AccuWeather.com
Meteorologist Dave Samuhel said.
"It's
very active this time of year. December and January are the wettest
times of the year in Indonesia," Samuhel said.
There
were thunderstorms along the flight path of the AirAsia flight that
went missing en route to Singapore on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014.
Search
and rescue crews from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia were
searching for the aircraft on Sunday. However, the search for the
missing passenger jet was suspended on Sunday night due to darkness
and as thunderstorms erupted in the region once again.
Thunderstorms
will continue to be scattered across the original flight path through
the middle of the week. Search and rescue efforts are scheduled to
resume Monday morning, local time.
The
aircraft was on its submitted flight plan route and the pilot asked
for permission from air controllers to fly at a higher altitude due
to weather, Bloomberg.com
cited Indonesian officials as saying.
It had been flying at an altitude of 9,753 meters (32,000 feet).
According
to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, "The
storms in the area were capable of producing severe turbulence,
strong wind shear, frequent lightning and icing."
Wind
shear is a rapid change in wind direction and speed over a short
distance.
"It
is for these reasons that pilots may request permission to deviate
from their flightpath by going around or above the weather,"
Sosnowski added.
The
aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with 162 people on board, AirAsia
said in a statement.
AirAsia
CEO Tony Fernandes said he was on his way to Surabaya where many of
the passengers live.
The
aircraft was delivered to AirAsia from the production line in October
2008, Airbus
said in a statement.
It had about 23,000 flight hours in nearly 13,600 flights.
French Alps hit by massive snowfall, thousands of cars stranded
RT,
28
December, 2014
Massive
snowfall, aggravated by strong winds and ice in the French Alps, has
trapped thousands of holidaymakers, with up to 15,000 people forced
to spend Saturday night in emergency accommodation centers in the
Savoie region in southeastern France.
Conditions
remained difficult on Sunday, a spokesman for the Savoie prefecture
said. Authorities set up shelters in a dozen towns for stranded
tourists in the area.
The chaos on Saturday left nearly 2,000 passengers stranded at Chambery airport in southeastern France. A spokesman for the Savoy region, which comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps between Lake Geneva in the north and Dauphiné in the south, said: "We have not estimated the number of people who spent the [Saturday] night in their cars."
According to the prefecture, a number of travelers were taken care of in emergency shelters that became almost 100 percent full. "There were 83 shelters open," Transport Minister Alain Vidal said on Sunday on Europe 1.
The chaos on Saturday left nearly 2,000 passengers stranded at Chambery airport in southeastern France. A spokesman for the Savoy region, which comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps between Lake Geneva in the north and Dauphiné in the south, said: "We have not estimated the number of people who spent the [Saturday] night in their cars."
According to the prefecture, a number of travelers were taken care of in emergency shelters that became almost 100 percent full. "There were 83 shelters open," Transport Minister Alain Vidal said on Sunday on Europe 1.
Snow fall as vehicles move
bumper-to-bumper along the motorway near Albertville, on December
27, 2014 as they make their way into the Tarentaise valley in the
heart of the French Alps, home to many of the famous French ski
resorts. (AFP Photo / Jean-Pierre Clatot)
Neighboring
departments, Hautes-Alpes and Haute-Savoie, also opened several
hundred beds in Gap, Briançon, Annecy and Cluses under emergency
accommodation plans over Saturday and Sunday nights, Le Dauphiné
Libéré reported.
Early Saturday morning, the traffic along the Tarentaise Valley, a key path into a number of popular resorts, was disrupted.
Early Saturday morning, the traffic along the Tarentaise Valley, a key path into a number of popular resorts, was disrupted.
Thousands
of cars were blocked because of the terrible weather. "We
just made 130 km in 10 hours,"Kevin
Clavel told told Le Dauphiné Libéré, as he was stuck in his
vehicle with four other passengers on A410 highway between
Albertville and Chambery.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Secretary of State for Transport Alain Vidal praised "the coolness and sense of responsibility" of drivers, asking all those, who still can, to postpone their trips and to exercise "the utmost caution."
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Secretary of State for Transport Alain Vidal praised "the coolness and sense of responsibility" of drivers, asking all those, who still can, to postpone their trips and to exercise "the utmost caution."
"Getting
to the ski stations is still pretty tricky and snow chains are
mandatory. The advice is that all those who can should delay their
journey,"
the Transport Ministry also said in a statement.
Due
to heavy snow and significant wind gusts, 19 departments were placed
on the country's second-highest "orange
alert"
in northeast France and the Northern Alps on Saturday.
In northern France, wind gusting at nearly 160 km/h led to the closure of the port of Calais, interrupting ferries to England, and traffic restrictions on the A16 motorway along the coast. In Ile-de-France, the gardens of the Château de Versailles also had to be closed to the public because of the high wind, Le Monde reported.
In northern France, wind gusting at nearly 160 km/h led to the closure of the port of Calais, interrupting ferries to England, and traffic restrictions on the A16 motorway along the coast. In Ile-de-France, the gardens of the Château de Versailles also had to be closed to the public because of the high wind, Le Monde reported.
Heavy
snow and ice caused the greatest disruption in the east of the
country. At midday on Saturday, a 27-year-old man was found dead in
his car after his vehicle slid into a gorge in the Belledonne
mountain range in the Isère region. The accident was "probably
due to snow,"
the police said. The car did not have snow tires, Le Figaro reported.
A female passenger in the car was slightly wounded and taken to
hospital in Grenoble.
Cold weather warning for motorists as temperatures fall to -10C in parts of UK
No
further significant snowfall expected in the coming days but drivers
advised to beware of icy conditions
Large
parts of Britain are expected to wake up to severe weather conditions
on Monday, with temperatures forecast to drop below freezing
overnight and to as low as -10C in rural areas.
Although
further significant snowfall is not expected in the coming days, the
RAC is warning people to be prepared for icy conditions on the roads.
The Met Office said the west of Britain was most likely to suffer
from lingering patches of freezing fog.
Over
the weekend travellers on the roads and railways faced testing
conditions. The Office of Rail Regulation said it was launching an
investigation after the biggest rail maintenance programme in years
over-ran, forcing the cancellation of services at King’s Cross in
London on Saturday.
Trains
stopped prematurely at Finsbury Park a few miles north, and the far
smaller station soon became overwhelmed by the crowds, leaving
thousands of passengers queuing for hours in the cold.....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/28/cold-weather-motorists-uk-snow-ice
Arctic Air Invasion | Late December/ Early January: Continental US Wind Chill Projections
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