Happy New Year!

The Lifeboat Hour - 12/29/2013

This is a must-listen show from Mike Ruppert.

He lists the three things that are threatening life on the planet and why nothing else is of any more than relative importance. He also explains why he is pulling away from day-to-day involvement with Facebook

He is joined by Mimi German of Radcast who gives the clearest exposition of what is happening because of Fukushima and everything that anyone wants ot know about reading radiation levels where you live.

She provides the clearest contextualisation that I have heard on this subject.

Mike Ruppert and Mimi German -

Radiation 101

On Tonight’s LIFEBOAT HOUR at 9 PM (Eastern) -- Mimi German of Radcast will be my guest for a very important show which we have called RADIATION 101.

What's the difference between CPM and millisieverts and what they mean for your body? What do Geiger counters measure and what don't they measure? How can you know what elevated readings imply for your area? Does a Geiger counter give you any clue as to what's happened to the radiation that has been released non-stop for 33 months? What effects might exposure produce in your body from Cesium? Plutonium? Strontium? Radio Iodine? Or any of the many radioisotopes released from Fukushima or ANY of the multitude of ageing and failing nuclear facilities around the country and the world?

What sites are reliable for readings and why is Radcast with it's coming interactive map and radioactive history database different. How can you get involved and assist in building a reliable and competent citizen-based network to help fill the criminally negligent voids left by government, medicine and the nuclear industry.

Mimi is one of my favorite people out there with my full confidence.

PLUS -- A message explaining and clarifying my recent self-imposed exile from Facebook.

- Mike Ruppert

Fukushima Reactor # 3

Reposting - 

Steam coming from Fukushima Unit 3 reactor building — Observed multiple times this week

ENENews,

27 December, 2013

Tepco (translation), Dec. 27, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 27, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated. Have not been identified abnormal plant conditions of 54 minutes at 7:00 am the same day, the indicated value of the monitoring post (meteorological data of 50 minutes at 7:00 am, 5.1 ℃ temperature, 93.1% humidity).

Tepco (translation), Dec. 25, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 25, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated. Have not been identified abnormal plant conditions of 8:00 am the same day time, the indicated value of the monitoring post (meteorological data of 50 minutes at 7:00 am, 2.8 ℃ temperature, 76.7% humidity).

Tepco (translation), Dec. 24, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 19, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated. Have not been identified abnormal plant conditions of 55 minutes at 7:00 am the same day, the indicated value of the monitoring post (meteorological data of 40 minutes at 7:00 am, 5.6 ℃ temperature, 93.7% humidity). Then, in 58 minutes around 7:00 am December 24, steam is no longer observed. It should be noted, have not been identified abnormal plant conditions in a 3-minute time at 8:00 am the same day, the indicated value monitoring posts, etc. (meteorological data of 50 minutes at 7:00 am, 4.1 ℃ temperature, 74.9% humidity).

3 months ago: Steam observed 5 of previous 6 days at Fukushima Unit 3; Lasted for 24 hours straight at one point -- Nuclear Expert: There could be pockets of corium still in molten state; Nobody quite understands what’s going on (AUDIO)

Refections on plutonium and Reactor #3

Direct Threat To All Life!! Fuku Unit 3 Reactor & Radiation Report (Video)

Susan Duclos

Beforeitsnews,

29 December, 2013

On December 24, 25 and 27, 2013, TEPCO, the Fukushima plant operators reported that there was steam seen coming from the Unit 3 reactor again, without being able to provide an explanation, or unwilling to do so, via ENENews which links to TEPCO for all three announcements.

Dec. 25, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 25, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated. Have not been identified abnormal plant conditions of 8:00 am the same day time, the indicated value of the monitoring post (meteorological data of 50 minutes at 7:00 am, 2.8 ℃ temperature, 76.7% humidity).

A quick reminder that in September  2013, steam was observed 5 out of 6 days from the same unit and at the time the headline read “Lasted for 24 hours straight at one point — Nuclear Expert: There could be pockets of corium still in molten state; Nobody quite understands what’s going on.”

One of the major pieces of news though, in my opinion, is another ENENews headline, dated December 28, 2013 : “Engineer: 6 experts say nuclear explosion at reactor is possible — NRC: Fukushima Unit 3 explosion had 3 loud bangs, much larger than Unit 1 blast — Tokyo professor’s presentation adds question mark: “Hydrogen explosion of Reactor #3?”

Update- In the first video below, BeautifulGirlByDana explains how Fukushina is a Direct Threat To All Life On Earth.

In the second video below, PinkSapphiret goes over the Fukushima Radiation Report which includes the headlines and articles above as well as others.

Mox fuel from Fukushima reactor #3

Fukushima Mox Fuel Turning Pacific Ocean into Giant Reactor

The Mox fuel in melted reactor 3 is two million time more deadly than any other kind of reactor on earth . All the fuel is melted and gone into a uncontrollable chain reaction , its like two million reactors into the ocean every second of every day . if that is not enough for you two other reactors have melted down . Reports: Highly significant quantity of fission products are flushed into environment by water used on Fukushima molten fuel, including plutonium and curium — Radioactivity to recirculate for many generations in ocean food chain . 

Latest from Arnie Gundersen

Fukushima Daiichi: Why It’s So Hard To Clean Up

Fukushima Daiichi: Why It’s So Hard To Clean Up, Fairewinds Energy Education, Dec. 20, 2013:

Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds chief engineer:  (1:30 in) At Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear fuel is in contact with the groundwater, because the groundwater has leaked into the bottom of the containment building and it’s gotten into other buildings that surround the containment. That makes Fukushima Daiichi  much more expensive to solve and much more difficult to contain [compared to Chernobyl].

Gundersen: (2:15 in) We need an underground sarcophagus to prevent the groundwater from entering the Fukushima reactors. I think once that’s accomplished, there’s no need to decommission these power plants and turn them back to the ground they are in. The reason for that is the exposure to young brave Japanese workers is going to be way too high for almost 100 years. Because of the explosions and because of the fact that the groundwater has moved parts of the nuclear fuel out into surrounding buildings, the risk to the workers is way too high. It’s time to contain the groundwater, cover-up that site, and walk away for 100 years. The Japanese government doesn’t want that to happen because they want their population to think that this is a solvable problem. It isn’t. The best thing for the Japanese to do is to admit that they’re going to have to live with radioactive rubble at the Fukushima site for over 100 years.

http://enenews.com/gundersen-nuclear-fuel-has-been-moved-by-groundwater-below-fukushima-reactors-its-time-to-walk-away-from-plant-for-next-100-years-once-an-underground-sarcophagus-is-built-much-more-difficult

Steam emanating from Fukushima Reactor #3

** NEWS FLASH -- URGENT ** STEAM SUDDENLY EMANATING FROM FUKUSHIMA REACTOR # 3 - WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA SHOULD BEGIN PREPARATIONS FOR POSSIBLE RADIATION CLOUD WITHIN 3 TO 5 DAYS

Turner News,

28 January, 2013

Persons residing on the west coast of North America should IMMEDIATELY begin preparing for another possible onslaught of dangerous atmospheric radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site in Japan. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says radioactive steam has suddenly begun emanating from previously exploded nuclear reactor building #3 at the Fukuishima disaster site in Japan. 

TEPCO says they do not know why this is happening and cannot go into the building to see what's happening due to damage and lethal radiation levels in that building. Experts say this could be the beginning of a "spent fuel pool criticality (meltdown)" involving up to 89 TONS of nuclear fuel burning up into the atmosphere and heading to North America..

Nuclear energy experts have told TRN that the ONLY way this could be happening is if radioactive material previously ejected from the reactor explosion in March, 2011 has mixed together with other materials and has begun its own self-sustaining reaction(s), also known as a "criticality." Put simply, another "meltdown" may be taking place.

There are basically two possibilities if another meltdown is in progress:

1) Pellets of radioactive fuel, ejected when the reactor exploded, have mixed together and "mini" meltdowns are taking place with those small clumps of pellets.

This would not be a horrific problem and may be manageable, OR;

2) Pellets of radioactive fuel, ejected when the reactor exploded, went into the spent fuel pool located above the reactor and have begun melting down so seriously they are boiling off the water in the spent fuel pool.

Since steam is visible, experts tell TRN that Scenario #2 above is is the most likely scenario and if so, it would be an absolute nightmare -- WORSE than the original Fukushima disaster! 

 The Spent Fuel Pool was situated on the fourth floor above Reactor #3, and if this is the source of the steam, the situation could escalate rapidly out of control.

The As shown in the diagram at left, the spent fuel pool is not a contained structure; it is literally a "pool" filled with water, to keep old fuel cool. (The metal radioactive fuel, once removed from a nuclear reactor, remains hot enough to melt itself for two to three YEARS after being removed from a reactor.) The experts tell TRN that if steam is coming out of reactor building #3 this could very well be the start of a much worse radiation release because once the spent fuel pool begins its own reactions, all of it will be uncontrolled and uncontrollable.

To provide insight into how much trouble this could be, the chart below proves that, according to TEPCO, reactor #3 was loaded with 566 fuel assemblies. The spent fuel pool in reactor building #3 contains 514 assemblies; about 89 TONS. If that "goes critical" there's nothing to contain the radiation which will go directly into the air.

The video below was taken several months ago by TEPCO. It shows that the roof is totally blown off reactor building # 3 and shows a robotic crane being operated by remote control, trying to clear debris from the Reactor # 3 spent fuel pool. TEPCO is forced use robotic cranes operated by remote control because the area is so contaminated, anyone entering the area would die from radiation within one hour.

Imagine, now, 89 tons of nuclear fuel boiling away that spent fuel pool water and releasing 89 tons of deadly radioactive fuel directly into the air. Two to three days later, the west coast of north America would be "fried" by levels of airborne radiation and "hot particles" which could kill

PREPARATIONS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER ( We do **** NOT **** sell any of the products suggested below )

1) Keep up-to-date on developments via the Internet. The mass-media is not reliable because like the government, they want to avoid any mass panic. While that is a noble goal, withholding information as was done previously when the Fukushima disaster struck in March, 2011, allowed people to get exposed to radiation which could kill them now - or years from now. TRN believes people have a right to know, so as to make an informed decisions about whether to protect themselves or not.

2) Go immediately (RIGHT NOW) to your local home improvement or hardware store for rolls of plastic, Duct tape, WIDE masking tape and a couple rolls of self-adhesive weather stripping. You want to have a roll or two of the type of plastic that is used by painters; (the kind they use to cover your floor and furniture in case paint drips) and a roll or two of Duct tape. Don't deploy this yet, but if the radiation arrives, you'll HAVE what you need and won't be battling a million other people trying to get some when the danger actually hits. You can use the plastic and duct tape things to cover the insides of your windows, doors, AC electric plugs, light switches, bathroom exhaust vents, stove exhaust vents, -- even ceiling vents, to TRY to keep out radiation particles once you know they're arriving. (NOTE: this may not be 100% effective. Houses have loads of nooks and crannies which allow air from the outside to get inside. If you cover the largest ones, you're at least giving yourself and family a fighting chance.) These supplies are available immediately at: Home Depot Lowes Walmart TrueValue Ace Hardware and many other retail stores.

3) If radiation is identified as heading toward your area or has arrived in your area:

a) Cut sheets from the roll of plastic, large enough to cover your windows, window frames/woodwork, sliding glass doors, doggie doors, etc., and do so on the INSIDE of your house. Once the sheets are cut to size, secure that plastic to your inside walls using Duct tape. You want to cover things inside not outside so the weather doesn't cause the plastic to make noise or perhaps rip off during high wind, rain or snow. The duct tape should cover 100% of the edge of the plastic, making a good seal AROUND the window, sliding glass doors, doggie doors, etc. It is important to note that the plastic should go AROUND the woodwork on the inside the window/door and NOT merely around the inner perimeter of the window itself. Gaps between the window assemblies and exterior walls might not be air-tight; especially in older homes where the silicone weather sealant around windows/doors is worn or in earthquake prone areas where the shaking has loosened-up window/door seals. This will help seal out radiation particles in the air so they shouldn't be able to get inside your home. Those of you in private homes should do this sealing on EVERY opening to the outside (doors, windows, vents) on every floor of your home, from the basement to the attic. Those of you who do not have basements, will usually find vents along the slab foundation which are designed to naturally ventilate under the house. SEAL THESE from the outside as best you can. Similarly, those of you without full attics, will usually see vents of some type for the roof rafter area. SEAL THESE as best you can too. (PLEASE don't fall off any roof or off any ladder. Be careful!)

b) Cut smaller sheets from the roll of plastic to cover electrical outlets and light switches inside the house. Those outlets and switches are breaks in the walls to the inner structure of the house. The inner structure gets naturally ventilated under the eaves and awnings of the house. While the air flow is not generally a lot, it IS there; you want to seal it out. As with the windows, use Duct tape to hold the plastic a full inch or two around the entire perimeter of the light switch our electrical outlets.

c) Cut sheets from the roll of plastic to cover vents: Bathrooms, stoves. 

Remember, this is just a TEMPORARY situation and the radiation will usually blow-over or dilute within a week or so. While none of us likes the smell in the bathroom after it is used, it's better to put up with that for a few days than have radiation in there from the vents. BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU CHOOSE TO COVER A STOVE EXHAUST VENT; YOU DON'T WANT THE PLASTIC GOING ON FIRE IF YOU'RE COOKING.

d) DO NOT use duct tape or plastic over your main entry/exit door. If, God forbid, there's a fire, you want to be able to exit fast and not be battling duct tape to get out. Instead, maybe check to see the weatherstripping around the door is in good shape or at worst, add a layer of new weatherstripping to what's already there. The bottom of the door sill can be covered with a rolled-up towel if necessary,to prevent drafts at the bottom of the door.

NOTE: Duct tape, when removed, may damage the surface of the wall it was stuck to. It may peel off paint or even the paper covering of Sheetrock when you remove it. If this is a concern, you may wish to utilize WIDE masking tape instead. We do not recommend masking tape, but it may be viable if you are concerned about peeling off the duct tape when the emergency is ended.

4) Get a minimum "NIOSH N100-certified" filter mask for yourself and each member of your family. NIOSH stands for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) which is an agency of the US Government. They rate protective gear for various industries and the lowest possible level of mask with any hope at all of filtering out radiation particles must be rated by NIOSH as N100. The masks cost about $30 on Ebay and look like the one in the image at left below.

SERIOUS NOTE: There are TIME CONSTRAINTS on the use of the N100-rated mask in a hostile environment. Having such a mask is not a license to go out and have fun. It is a limited mask, with limited capability for a limited time period, to help protect you in this type of emergency.

Of course, you can go all-out and get some super-mask for several hundred dollars, but the minimum you need is an N100 rated mask.

Whatever you do, don't try to get "cute" and figure you can "get away with" a mask that is rated N95 or lower. An N95 mask will NOT filter out the tiny particles involved here and you will be fooling yourself if you buy any mask rated less than N100.

It is important to understand that a "hospital mask" normally used by Doctors, WILL NOT PROTECT YOU AT ALL from radioactive particles. The particles are so small, they can fit right through a typical surgical mask used by doctors. If you breathe-in any "hot Particles" of radiation, they will wreak havoc on your lungs and cause very rapid deterioration of your health. Cancers, Leukemias, Hemorrhaging . . . . you get the idea.

5) About your job and going to work during a radiation emergency . . . .

Those of us with jobs can't simply call-in and tell the boss we can' come to work today because we're afraid of the radiation. So start discussing this situation with your bosses first thing TODAY. See if the company as a whole is willing to develop some type of strategy to deal with taking time off due to a radioactive plume coming onto the west coast of north America from Japan, making things unsafe for a few days. Start the conversation. Don't wait until things spiral out of control and people are panicking.

6) If you HAVE to go out, clothing will get contaminated; be prepared to protect yourself

Wear an NIOSH N100 mask at all times when you are outside your house during the plume's arrival and presence. Yes, you're probably going to feel like a jerk; especially when the uninformed, the ignorant and those "in denial" about the real danger, start poking fun at you. Just remember you'll have the last laugh.

A VERY helpful tool for this situation is a disposable TYVEK suit and booties. You can get them at most home improvement stores and on EBAY for about $8. Tyvek coveralls are one-piece garments, usually white, commonly worn by mechanics, painters, installation installers, and laboratory and cleanroom workers where a disposable, one-time use coverall is needed. They are also used for some light HAZMAT applications, such as asbestos and radiation work but do not provide the protection of a full hazmat suit. Wear it to work, when you get inside, take it off right at the doorway and throw it away in a garbage can near the door. It's done. Don't touch it again. Then go wash your hands and face to wash away whatever may have accumulated on them. These suits are also available at the retailers listed above (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.).

If you simply refuse to walk outside dressed-up like a Bunny, you must realize that Clothing worn while you are outside will have contamination on it. This is unavoidable. Once you've been outside and enter your job, remove your outerwear and place it as close to the door as you can. You may want to pack a change of clothing in a tightly closed gym bag, to change-into at work. Having a change of clothes for when you get to work might not be a bad idea. The change of clothes ought to include FOOTWEAR.

When you're outside, your footwear is going to be picking up the contamination that fell onto the ground. This is unavoidable. What you CAN do, is take those shoes off once you get where you're going, and thereby not track the radiation into wherever you are. You may want to get "Disposable Plastic Shoe Covers" to help avoid at least SOME of the radiation getting onto your shoes. These shoe covers are cheap, and you throw them away as soon as you get inside your destination.

For Eye protection, we suggest a cheap pair of Swimmer's Goggles. They vary in cost from 99 cents to about $10 on Ebay - or your local sporting goods store. The purpose of this is to prevent radioactive particles from landing on your eyeballs. Swimmer's goggles will fit the bill pretty well and you can wash them off once you get to where you're going, and use the goggles again the next time you go out. Radiation washes off with soap and water.

7) IN AND OUT OF YOUR HOUSE

The same procedures listed above for going to and from work, should be used by you and your family when going to/from home. After all, you don't want to bring radiation into your house on your clothes, shoes etc, or walk-it-through the whole house once you arrive. Put a coat rack just-inside the entry door. Put a shoe rack too. First thing everyone does when they walk in the door - ditch the outerwear and shoes right then and there. YOU DO NOT want to be tracking radiation into and all over your house, then spewing it up into the air when you vacuum and it comes out with the vacuum exhaust air. You want to stop the radiation as close to the door as you can. If you prefer, put a clothes hamper -- LINED WITH A PLASTIC LAWN-AND-LEAF-SIZE BAG just inside the front door and change your clothes the moment you get in. When the hamper is full, seal-up the bag, take it to the washer and wash the radiation away.

8) Wash obsessively during the emergency

External radioactive material washes off with soap and water. When you consider that everything you touch and all the air that touches you OUTSIDE can be contaminated, it is important to WASH exposed body parts (face & hands) with soap and water often. When you get home from your daily routine and get out of potentially contaminated clothing, take a shower before anything else. A SHOWER, NOT A BATH. Showering will allow the radiation to fall off you and go down the drain whereas a bath could possible allow the radioactive materials to cling to your body as you leave the bathwater. Sadly, this brings us to one, final, MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR problem: Water comes from reservoirs and reservoirs are out in the open; radiation has and will continue to fall into our water supplies.

LOCAL OFFICIALS CAUGHT DELIBERATELY CONCEALING RADIATION IN DRINKING WATER

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists the maximum safe levels and government-approved methods for removing, radiation in water. Yet according to KHOU-TV in Texas, local and state officials in that state deliberately conspired for YEARS to alter the results from their municipal water tests, to deliberately CONCEAL high levels of radiation in municipal water! If local and state officials in one state have already been caught deliberately concealing radiation in water, can any rational person believe they aren't doing it now in other states -- or won't do it (again) in the future? You can read that story and watch the KHOU-TV news video HERE.

In fact, KHOU-TV found that the radiation in local water was so severe, that it made the underground water pipes and the water heaters inside homes radioactive; in some cases 11 times more radioactive than allowable by law! The pipes and water heaters were so radioactive that none of those things could be scrapped in a junk yard! You can read this separate KHOU-TV story and watch the video HERE.

Given the irrefutable proof above we suggest equipping your sinks and shower head(s) with a water filter. Now, getting radiation out of water is NOT simple. Paper filters do nothing in that regard.

Granular Activated Carbon filters have shown SOME ability to remove SOME types of radiation. Reverse-Osmosis has shown good ability to remove other types of radiation. ION Exhange is the final method which has shown good ability to remove radiation. Yet getting all these types of filters in ONE system is not easy and it is considerably expensive. As such, we suggest that having a filter of some type is better than having no filter at all. Of course, once the filters become saturated with pollutants, they're useless, so expect to change-out those filters PRECISELY in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendation or even more frequently. Yes, this will cost a few bucks, but this is an extraordinary situation calling for extraordinary response. What good is all the safety you exercise with the steps above, if you then eat, drink and bathe-in contaminated water?

The suggestions above are just that SUGGESTIONS. What you choose to do - or not do - is, of course, up to you. One thing is clear, though: Fukushima is acting up again and when it does, the wind and, later, the sea will carry the results to North America within days.

Bald eagle deaths

Bald eagle deaths in Utah alarm and mystify scientists

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sauk Valley.com,

29 December, 2013

SALT LAKE CITY — Bald eagles are dying in Utah — 20 in the past few weeks alone — and nobody can figure out why.

Hundreds of the majestic birds — many with wing spans of 7 feet or more — migrate here each winter, gathering along the Great Salt Lake and feasting on carp and other fish that swim in the nearby freshwater bays.

Earlier this month, however, hunters and farmers across five counties in northern and central Utah began finding the normally skittish raptors lying listless on the ground. Many suffered from seizures, head tremors and paralysis in the legs, feet and wings.

Many of the eagles were brought to the mammoth Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah, where Buz Marthaler — a longtime animal caretaker — and other handlers tried to save the birds. Within 48 hours most were dead.

“It’s just hard to have your national bird in your arms, going through seizures in a way it can’t control — when you can see it’s pain but don’t know what’s happening to it,” said Marthaler, 56, co-founder of the facility in Ogden.

“As a human being, you just have problems with that. And when you lose one, it just grabs your heart.”

State wildlife specialists are also baffled. For weeks, officials have sent birds for necropsies at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., hoping the results would offer clues.

They began to rule out obvious possibilities: The birds were not shot by hunters, and officials don’t believe the birds were poisoned. “There doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious in that regard,” said Mitch Lane, a conservation officer with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, who has responded to numerous reports of downed or sick eagles.

At first, the agency’s disease scientists guessed that the illness could be encephalitis, which is caused by the West Nile virus, but later ruled out that possibility. And although many sick eagles tested positive for lead, researchers did not think that it was killing the birds.

Officials suggest the eagle die-off is possibly connected to the deaths of thousands of eared grebes that began in Utah in November. Eagles are known to prey on the small shore birds. Because the grebes are thought to have died from avian cholera, many scientists theorize that the eagles became sick from feeding on infected grebes. Officials still don’t know why the shore birds became sick.

“We’re getting closer to an answer,” Lane said, adding that officials would meet this week to continue investigating the mystery.

Meanwhile, a new ailing bald eagle surfaces almost daily.

Scott Isaacson, 59, an attorney who lives in the town of Farmington, said he was feeding his chickens one night this month when he spotted an eagle on the ground under a cottonwood tree where he was used to seeing seven or eight birds perched in the branches. “I’ve never seen one on the ground,” he said.

He called wildlife officials, who told him to approach bird; if it was healthy, it would fly off. The bird skittered into a nearby pond.

“It was really sad to see this graceful creature, with its beautiful white head, its wings spread out in the water,” he said.

Wildlife officials later nabbed the bird, which was hissing and clawing as it was scooped up in a net.

Bald eagles were removed from the endangered species list in 2007. Utah officials say 700 to 1,200 winter here each year. “Everybody here loves the eagles,” Isaacson said. “Our school is named Eagle Bay Elementary and our church is the Eagle Shore Church.”

Many sick eagles were brought to Marthaler’s facility in dog carriers. Workers handled them with Kevlar-lined gloves to avoid being sliced by the powerful talons.

“In an average year, we might get one or two, but we’ve received nine so far, and five of those have died,” Marthaler said. “The other four are still in our care.”

Some days have been especially hard on the staff. “Every bird would come in more paralyzed than the one before it,” Marthaler said. “They couldn’t move their legs. Their wings were weak. Their heads would jerk with tremors. It was difficult to watch.”

The retired Air Force member said it’s often difficult to determine the ages of adult eagles. “With their plumage, they can be 5 or 20; it’s hard to tell,” he said.

Officials at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center have their own theories about the sickness. Some point to radiation from Japan after the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. “We aren’t ruling out anything,” Marthaler said. A call from Idaho shed new light: A wildlife official said bald eagles there were also getting sick, suggesting that the birds were arriving in Utah already in bad heath.

The most recent eagle to arrive with Marthaler was a juvenile. “He was in the worst condition of all of them,” he said. “He wasn’t even able to stand. When we left for the night, he was lying down and you had to look close to see if he was still breathing.”

The next morning, the bird was standing again. “He’s still with us,” Marthaler said. “And that gives us a bit of hope.”

World weather

BBC News Review 2013 - The Weather Year

Predictions of more extreme weather in Britain

Gales and heavy rain forecast to prolong Christmas weather misery

Flood warnings remain in force for parts of Wales, England and Scotland as 80mph gales are predicted for south-west England

The Guardian,

28 December, 2013

A day of frost and sunshine on Sunday may prove to have been merely a brief respite from storms, with the Met Office warning that more gales and heavy rain will sweep in from the south-west to disrupt the Monday morning commute.

Although engineers restored power to thousands of homes over the weekend, around 600 remain without electricity, and some have been cut off since Christmas Eve.

One power company boss, Basil Scarsella, the chief exectuive of UK Power Networks, which owns electricity lines and cables in the south-east, admitted to the Mail on Sunday: "We could not have avoided the damage caused by the storm, but we could have responded to it better."

Many places are threatened with further flooding if heavy rain falls on ground that is already saturated.

Yellow severe weather warnings for both gales of up to 80mph and heavy rain have been issued for parts of south Wales and south-west England, and flood warnings remain in force for parts of Wales, England and Scotland. It has also warned of the danger of ice patches in the south-west on Monday night as temperatures drop to below freezing.

An icy morning on Sunday forced the closure of a section of the M69 motorway in Leicestershire after black ice led to a series of collisions.

George Goodfellow, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, said: "Normally, we would say this is a typical winter storm but because we're still recovering from a string of other storms it is likely to cause more disruption and flooding." He said the south-west would continue to bear the brunt of the storm.

Some 1,300 properties have been flooded during the recent storms in England, the Environment Agency (EA) said.

In Kent Power Networks sent catering vans over the weekend to one of the worst affected villages, Yalding, where on Friday prime minister David Cameron was greeted with angry complaints that the village had been abandoned, with many houses both flooded and without power. The firm also pledged to boost compensation payments from the regular £27 to £75 for anyone who had been without power for more than 48 hours including Christmas Day – with larger payments for those cut off for longer than 60 hours.

In Kent, Surrey and Sussex more than 300 properties were still without power on Sunday, but the firm said that engineers had worked late into the night and resumed early in the morning to restore supply, and that the vast majority of supplies were back to normal. Most of those still without power were single isolated properties.

After his encounters, the prime minister tweeted on Saturday : "I've asked the Dept for Communities & Local Govt to ensure councils have robust plans in case of bad weather and flooding over New Year."

In Edinburgh the organisers of the Hogmanay celebrations, which bring thousands of tourists to the city, will be keeping an anxious eye on the forecasts: although they went ahead last year, bad weather forced last-minute cancellations on several occasions in recent years. Further gales are forecast for New Year's Eve, and heavy rain on New Year's Day.