Saturday, February 18, 2017

There can be confidence in the vigilance given the dam.

People were aware of danger before it could happen. That is something to value.

February 18, 2017
By Benjamin Oreskes, Shelby Grad

The Big One: (click here) A storm that forecasters billed as the most powerful in years barreled into Southern California with a vengeance on Friday, flooding multiple freeways, triggering dramatic mudslides and downing hundreds of trees and power lines. The deluge created surreal scenes: Cars trapped by rising waters along the 5 and 110 freeways, churning mud flows ripping through canyon and high-desert roads, and a massive landslide. To the north in Santa Barbara County, communities were battered by up to an inch of rain an hour, turning the Santa Barbara Airport into a lake with small aircraft playing the role of boats. Los Angeles Times

Watch: Check out this wild footage captured by San Bernardino County firefighters of the moment a massive landslide the length of three football fields crumbled down a mountain. Los Angeles Times

Some risks are worth it: Living below the Lake Oroville dam has never been simple. It requires a great deal of “faith in the engineers who designed the nation’s tallest dam and the construction workers who built it more than a half century ago, and faith in the government agencies that maintain and operate it.” Los Angeles Times

A scary thought: The state’s water agency advised five years ago that, if the Lake Oroville dam were to fail, residents living downstream wouldn’t have time to evacuate. Associated Press...

Green Beret Shawn Thomas, 35

February 19, 2017

A heartbreaking video (click here) shows the moment a widow met her Army veteran husband's coffin on the airport tarmac, leaving a plane full of passengers in tears.
Green Beret Shawn Thomas, 35, an Oklahoma native and father of four who was based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, died earlier this month after a vehicle accident while serving in Niger, Africa.
His flag-draped coffin was brought back to Raleigh-Durham International Airport and the fallen warrant officer's remains will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He had two Bronze Stars and four Good Conduct Medals, as well as other decorations for the time he served abroad, according to the Army Times, the Daily Mail reports....