This is extreme failure. But, I remember many an environmental assessment I prepared or participated in preparing whereby is stated not to develop an area of land. It wasn't because I hated people or loved the natural world more, it was because there was going to be infrastructure failure that could cost lives and at the very least loss of property and hardship. Of course, I was called an extremist and all sorts of names and labels. It is something that a sincerely concerned person ignores after a while as ignorance. But, rarely when I opposed development of land for people who would make millions did I ever regret my opposition. I have yet to be wrong.
This type of failure of land is being seen everywhere in the USA and it is occurring because of the very small size of the soil deposits. The picture to the right is an example of The Citronella Formation which is viewed in the picture below.
When the spaces between the grains fill with water the stability of the land is lost. It isn't just coastal erosion anymore. It isn't just hurricanes. It is water saturation of land that was never expected to be this wet.
The Citronelle Formation (click here) consists of gray to orange, often mottled, unconsolidated to poorly consolidated, very fine to very coarse, poorly sorted, clean to clayey sands.
I strongly recommend mayors and their councils of any city understand the land their municipality is built on and how that will hold up to severe weather. USGS will have their hands full to answer all the questions, but, county meetings throughout a region can help describe how a county and state can react as a community when the worst is expected. Taking responsibility of a city or town or community of people just ain't about politics anymore. Officials should know and understand their importance during these expected events.
In this image provided by Brantly S. Keiek shows several vehicles that
collapsed together with a portion of the Scenic Highway in Pensacola,
Fla., Thursday, April 30, 2014. Heavy rains and flooding have left
people stranded in houses and cars in the Florida Panhandle and along
the Alabama coast. According to the National Weather Service, an
estimated 15-20 inches of rain has fallen in Pensacola in the past 24
hours.
Photo: Brantly S. Keiek, AP
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Valencia Norton (click here) awoke to a neighbor pounding on the windows of the mobile home she shared with a friend. Water had washed away her steps and part of the porch. She grabbed a small bag of clothes and waited.
"I was freaking," said Norton, tears streaming down her face as she recalled the scene. "I don't know how to swim."
A short time later, a firefighter came by and carried her to dry land. It was one of many rescue stories from the single rainiest day ever recorded in Pensacola, and another tale of survival after days of relentless storms across the U.S., beginning with deadly and destructive tornadoes Sunday in the Midwest.
On Monday, the violent winds wrecked parts of Tennessee and Mississippi, but by the time the storm system arrived in the Panhandle, the devastation was all water....
When New Orleans was abandoned by government funding to prepare for the "Big One," former Mayor Ray Nagin told the people of the Ninth Ward to put axes in their attics to cut through the roofs to escape drowning. As crude a recommendation that was, it did save lives. Many still perished, but, many more did not.
Gas lines and unstable subsoil don't mix.
I understand there are now two dead from this gas explosion.
By Eric M. Johnson
(Reuters) - More than 100 inmates and guards (click here) were injured in an apparent gas
explosion at a jail in northern Florida late on Wednesday, a county
official said.
The blast partly leveled the four-story Escambia County Jail's central booking facility, which held roughly 600 inmates, at about 11 p.m., county spokeswoman Kathleen Castro. No deaths or escapees were reported.
"The building is partially collapsed," Castro told Reuters, describing the incident as an "apparent gas explosion".
She said the blast may have been related to severe storms that have hit the southern United States....
What do I say when my predictions come true as cited in an environmental assessment? You've got to be joking. I use every opportunity to state, "I told you so." And then I point to the written record for the people experiencing the loss of property and sometimes lives due to hubris and greed. It is called justice.
Oh, one other thing. When evacuation is called for it isn't up to citizens to decide where, but, the responsibility of government to state WHERE to evacuate to. It is called information that actually saves lives.
If people of a city takes their safety seriously they would not be content with a mayor addicted to drugs or in need of alcoholic rehab. Get for real, please. "Real TV" is not the focus of elections.
By Terrence McCoy
May 1, 2014
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, (click here) the Chris Farley lookalike who admitted last year to smoking crack cocaine during a “drunken stupor,” is in trouble again.
On Wednesday night, a video emerged that appears to show Ford smoking something, allegedly shot by a self-professed drug dealer who says it was crack cocaine. Shortly after reporters from the Globe and Mail confronted Ford, who’s currently running for reelection, he said he was going to take a break from campaigning.
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence,” he said in a midnight statement on Facebook, adding that he’ll “take a leave” from his mayoral responsibilities and the campaign. ”I have struggled with this for some time.”
This type of failure of land is being seen everywhere in the USA and it is occurring because of the very small size of the soil deposits. The picture to the right is an example of The Citronella Formation which is viewed in the picture below. When the spaces between the grains fill with water the stability of the land is lost. It isn't just coastal erosion anymore. It isn't just hurricanes. It is water saturation of land that was never expected to be this wet.
The Citronelle Formation (click here) consists of gray to orange, often mottled, unconsolidated to poorly consolidated, very fine to very coarse, poorly sorted, clean to clayey sands.
I strongly recommend mayors and their councils of any city understand the land their municipality is built on and how that will hold up to severe weather. USGS will have their hands full to answer all the questions, but, county meetings throughout a region can help describe how a county and state can react as a community when the worst is expected. Taking responsibility of a city or town or community of people just ain't about politics anymore. Officials should know and understand their importance during these expected events.
In this image provided by Brantly S. Keiek shows several vehicles that
collapsed together with a portion of the Scenic Highway in Pensacola,
Fla., Thursday, April 30, 2014. Heavy rains and flooding have left
people stranded in houses and cars in the Florida Panhandle and along
the Alabama coast. According to the National Weather Service, an
estimated 15-20 inches of rain has fallen in Pensacola in the past 24
hours.
Photo: Brantly S. Keiek, AP PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Valencia Norton (click here) awoke to a neighbor pounding on the windows of the mobile home she shared with a friend. Water had washed away her steps and part of the porch. She grabbed a small bag of clothes and waited.
"I was freaking," said Norton, tears streaming down her face as she recalled the scene. "I don't know how to swim."
A short time later, a firefighter came by and carried her to dry land. It was one of many rescue stories from the single rainiest day ever recorded in Pensacola, and another tale of survival after days of relentless storms across the U.S., beginning with deadly and destructive tornadoes Sunday in the Midwest.
On Monday, the violent winds wrecked parts of Tennessee and Mississippi, but by the time the storm system arrived in the Panhandle, the devastation was all water....
When New Orleans was abandoned by government funding to prepare for the "Big One," former Mayor Ray Nagin told the people of the Ninth Ward to put axes in their attics to cut through the roofs to escape drowning. As crude a recommendation that was, it did save lives. Many still perished, but, many more did not.
Gas lines and unstable subsoil don't mix.
I understand there are now two dead from this gas explosion.
By Eric M. Johnson
The blast partly leveled the four-story Escambia County Jail's central booking facility, which held roughly 600 inmates, at about 11 p.m., county spokeswoman Kathleen Castro. No deaths or escapees were reported.
"The building is partially collapsed," Castro told Reuters, describing the incident as an "apparent gas explosion".
She said the blast may have been related to severe storms that have hit the southern United States....
What do I say when my predictions come true as cited in an environmental assessment? You've got to be joking. I use every opportunity to state, "I told you so." And then I point to the written record for the people experiencing the loss of property and sometimes lives due to hubris and greed. It is called justice.
Oh, one other thing. When evacuation is called for it isn't up to citizens to decide where, but, the responsibility of government to state WHERE to evacuate to. It is called information that actually saves lives.
If people of a city takes their safety seriously they would not be content with a mayor addicted to drugs or in need of alcoholic rehab. Get for real, please. "Real TV" is not the focus of elections.
By Terrence McCoy
May 1, 2014
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, (click here) the Chris Farley lookalike who admitted last year to smoking crack cocaine during a “drunken stupor,” is in trouble again.
On Wednesday night, a video emerged that appears to show Ford smoking something, allegedly shot by a self-professed drug dealer who says it was crack cocaine. Shortly after reporters from the Globe and Mail confronted Ford, who’s currently running for reelection, he said he was going to take a break from campaigning.
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence,” he said in a midnight statement on Facebook, adding that he’ll “take a leave” from his mayoral responsibilities and the campaign. ”I have struggled with this for some time.”
