Sunday, November 09, 2008

Four children rescued from rubble of Haiti school


Cuba survives third major hurricane, this time Paloma (click here)
Aida Perez, 44 years old, was waiting out Hurricane Paloma with her two daughters in a dormitory at the University of Camaguey inland, along with 900 others from Santa Cruz del Sur, a small city on Cuba’s southern coast. Her house was probably gone, she told an AP reporter, “But what’s important is that we are alive.”
In fact, no Cuban died as the third major hurricane to hit the country in seven weeks struck Cuba’s southern coast Nov. 8. The category 4 storm moved northeasterly to exit as a tropical storm. In Santa Cruz del Sur, 9,889 houses were damaged and 1,353 destroyed. A 12-foot wave traveled one mile inland.
Reports on pre-storm preparations underscore the contribution of hard work. When Paloma hit Guayabal, 15 miles along the coast from Santa Cruz del Sur, all 2,032 inhabitants had already been evacuated. Over 48 hours, civil defense services moved 1.2 million people via buses and trains....





Exiles Donate $100K to Hurricane Victims in Cuba, HaitiBrothers to the Rescue, who Cuban MIGs shot down and killed in 1996, sell final plane to fund donation (click here)
MIAMI -- Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue on Tuesday donated $100,000 obtained from the sale of the last of their planes for the benefit of victims of recent hurricanes in Cuba and Haiti.
The organization's president, Jose Basulto, told Efe that the aircraft - a Cessna Skymaster 337H - was acquired by Cuban-American businessman Benjamin Leon, who said he bought the plane because of its historical significance for his countrymen.
Basulto delivered the proceeds of the sale to Miami's Sisters of Charity, which regularly sends food and medicine to Cuba and has redoubled its efforts to collect funds to help victims of the hurricanes and tropical storms that have devastated the two Caribbean countries this year."
The plane was sold to help the victims in both countries and will be preserved for history by Leon, who is also a pilot. He'll keep it in the same condition it's in now and it was in on Feb. 24, 1996, when Cuban MiGs shot (two Brothers to the Rescue) planes" out of the sky, Basulto said....
The strong west to east flow of the jet stream across the U.S. is helping to fuel the early season blizzard across the Dakotas, while at the same time helping to steer Hurricane Paloma away from the Southeast.
The jet stream at this time of year flows from west to east as the winter weather pattern establishes itself.
According to Expert Senior Meterologist John Kocet, not only does the jet have an impact on the intensity of the storms slamming the Plains, it also indirectly influences the path of the sixteenth named storm of 2008.
The Winter Weather Center reports the blizzard conditions will continue into Friday as the core of the storm moves to the east across the Dakotas. More than three feet of snow has fallen in Deadwood, S.D., and across the Black Hills.
Winds topping 60 mph have created extreme whiteout conditions, forcing the closure of Interstate 90 and dozens of other highways and local roads across the western half of South Dakota.
Conditions are just as bad in North Dakota. Interstate 94 is closed west of Bismarck, as are other roads and highways in western North Dakota. As of the late afternoon hours Thursday, Bismarck was being slammed with heavy snow and temperatures tumbling into the 20s. Associated Press reports that the storm knocked out power in parts of southwestern South Dakota and western Nebraska. More than 1,000 customers in Scottsbluff, Neb., were still in the dark Thursday morning.
Snow totals in South Dakota through 10 a.m. Thursday, CST include:
Deadwood: 38 inches
Spearfish: 19 inches
Sturgis: 16 inches
Whitewood: 12 inches
Newell: 12 inches
Ralph: 10 inches
Additional snowfall information is available at the National Weather News Summaries. The snow totals are made worse by the drifting caused by the wind. Drifts as high as ten feet have been reported in Ralph, S.D. Heavy snow fell in the mountains from the Cascades to the Rockies as the storm system blasted out of the Pacific Ocean.
Cars are buried by snow in the parking lot of the Alta Ski Resort in Utah, Wed. Nov. 5, 2008. Phot courtesy of Alta Resort.The snow is good news for ski resort operators.
The combination of the storm and lake-effect snow off the Great Salt Lake has dumped over 3 feet of fresh snow at the Alta Ski Resort in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon. Snow is on the slopes of Keystone and Breckenridge resorts in Colorado, which will open on Friday.
The Severe Weather Center reports that showers and thunderstorms erupted Thursday afternoon in the lower Mississippi Valley. No severe weather was reported with these storms.
On Wednesday, severe storms spread across the central Plains, with Oklahoma the target of the strongest storms. Winds gusted to 60 mph during a thunderstorm in Oilton, Okla., golf ball-sized hail slammed Oklahoma City, and nearly 3.5 inches of rain fell in Guthrie, Okla.
The South Regional News story reports that the severe weather threat will continue to lessen on Friday as the storm system moves east of the Mississippi Valley. Showers and thunderstorms will slowly push through the South into Saturday.
While the winter storm batters the northern Plains, the tropics have become active late in the 2008 Atlantic basin hurricane season. The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center reports that Paloma formed on Wednesday in the western Caribbean.
Paloma is expected to pass near the Cayman Islands Friday and to strike Cuba over the weekend as a hurricane. A hurricane warning is in effect for the Cayman Islands.
Paloma will reach Cuba by Sunday, becoming the latest storm this year to slam the island nation. If Paloma continues to curve to the northeast and perhaps the east, the island of Hispaniola could be threatened. Several named storms this summer led to widespread devastation that killed hundreds in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The westerly flow through the tropics will help to steer Paloma to the south of the Florida peninsula. However, rain bands could reach as far north as the Florida Keys and parts of South Florida.
Nov 16, 2008 3:21 pm US/Mountain
Colorado Couple Shares Stories Of Hurricane Paloma (click here - video)
Reporting Dave Aguilera
DENVER (CBS4) ― Lynn and Linda Martin were looking forward to their dream vacation to the Cayman Islands. They are divers and were excited about two weeks of ocean diving.
But Hurricane Paloma disrupted their plans. The Category 4 storm ended up being the second strongest storm to hit in the month of November.
"They originally said if the hurricane hit, it was going to hit Grand Cayman as a Category 1, so they figured we'd probably be safer on Cayman Brec," said Linda Martin.
The Matins ended up riding out the Category 4 hurricane."
There were a lot of people down there who had been through hurricanes before," Linda said. "They were like, 'you're going to be better off staying here. It's a cement building. It's got boards on the window.'"
The Martins say it was a long night for them.
"I was lying in the bed going 'Please God, please God,'" said Lynn Martin.
The Martins are home now but their pictures show how lucky they were. They show a destroyed island.
"Looking at the pictures brings some sadness," said Lynn. "It's a place that we've really enjoyed. It also brings sadness for the people we knew down there that lost their homes."
Luckily the Martins made it through Hurricane Paloma, but it's a vacation that won't soon forget.
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