USA - CANADA STORMS

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Snow, ice pellets pummel Atlantic Canada
Wed Feb 13, 10:24 AM

PRINCE.EDWARD.ISLAND (CBC) - A blustery mix of snow and rain was forecast for much of Atlantic Canada Wednesday as another winter blast bears down on the region.Winter storm and rainfall warnings were issued for all of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.Environment Canada said a vigorous low pressure system is tracking across the Maritimes.Up to 20 centimetres of snow and ice pellets will fall across much of the region, followed by freezing rain, rain and blustery winds overnight.School boards announced closures across the region as they braced for the wintry mix of precipitation.Saint John running low on deicing supplies.In P.E.I., utility officials kept a close eye on the storm expected to hit the island late Wednesday in hopes of preventing a repeat of the ice storm in late January that left about one-third of island residents in the dark.Saint John officials, meanwhile, were warning residents to expect slippery roads because the city's salt and sand supplies were running out.

Wednesday's storm marked the 10th major winter storm to hit New Brunswick, leaving Saint John's stockpiles of road salt and sand extremely low, said city works director Shayne Galbraith.The storm was expected to push into Newfoundland and Labrador later Wednesday and early Thursday.Severe weather warnings were also in effect for parts of Quebec along the St. Lawrence River, Environment Canada said.Meanwhile in Central Canada, residents began breaking out the shovels after an additional 15 centimetres fell on parts of the already blanketed region.The southern half of Saskatchewan was under a blizzard warning and travel was not recommended in many areas on account of whiteout conditions.There were reports of some cancellations and delays at airports in Ottawa and Montreal, as well as slowdowns in Halifax, but no delays have been reported in Toronto.

Flood warning issued as storm blows through N.B.
Wed Feb 13, 9:42 AM

NEW.BRUNSWICK (CBC) - New Brunswick's Emergency Measures Organization has issued a flooding advisory for the southern part of the province.People living along streams and rivers in southern New Brunswick should be on alert as a storm passes through the province on Wednesday, said EMO officials.Environment Canada has issued weather warnings for all areas of the province.The 10th storm of the winter is expected to bring snow and ice pellets to northern New Brunswick while snow, rain and freezing rain are expected to hit the south Wednesday night.Water levels will rise because of the rain, said EMO, and higher temperatures over the coming days will likely break up ice and increase water flows.The northern part of the province is expected to receive 20 centimetres of snow and ice pellets, while the south could get 50 millimetres of rain.Cancellations of schools, church services and evening activities were occurring across the province on Wednesday.Many businesses and banks were reporting they would close in the early afternoon to allow employees to get home safely.Fredericton Transit has reported that the last buses on Wednesday will depart the city's main hub at Kingsplace at 3:15 p.m.The airports in Fredericton and Moncton were also reporting some delayed and cancelled flights.

10,000 homeless after Angola floods
Tue Feb 12, 1:56 PM

LUANDA (AFP) - More than 10,000 people have been forced from their homes and two thousand makeshift houses swept away by floods after heavy rain pounded parts of southern Angola, authorities said on Tuesday.Some of those displaced were being put up in tents at makeshift camps while others were being housed in schools in the provinces of Cunene, Namibe and Huila. But authorities said they unable to cope with the number of people who need to be rescued from the danger area. Right now there are people still trapped that cannot be rescued. We're sending new police reinforcements to take people from risk areas into safety, Eugenio Laborinho, commander of the National Protection Services, told reporters in the capital Luanda.We have passed from an abnormal situation to a case of calamity.The town of Ondjiva in Cunene Province saw the worst of the floods, with more than 9,000 people displaced.A resident in the area told AFP that the scale of the flooding was unprecedented.The town is under water. You see houses, cars parked in garages all sitting in the water. I have never seen rain like this, said Carlos Txiwissa.The southern provinces of Cunene, Huila, Namibe and Cuando Cubango have been worst hit by the intensive downpours which come after a lengthy drought.

Storms upset Miss. River ships, kill 1 Tue Feb 12, 9:06 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS - Tornadoes and other severe weather raked the Deep South on Tuesday, pushing Mississippi River ships around like toys, damaging homes and killing at least one person. A tornado near a hospital sucked up a woman who had just left after visiting, killing her, officials said.Several river vessels broke loose in the winds, said Port of New Orleans spokeswoman Cynthia Swain. A freighter docked at the Andry Street Wharf was pushed across the river and collided with two vessels downstream.The Coast Guard also said a ship was grounded on the riverbank. There were no indications of serious levee damage, and the ship was not sinking, said Chris Bonura, another spokesman for the port.The river remained open, and there were no reports of injuries, Swain said.

A woman was killed by a tornado after leaving the Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center in Independence, La., at the height of the storm against advice, said Sherre Pack-Hookfin, the hospital's acting administrator.Falling trees damaged more than two dozen vehicles parked at the hospital, and an equipment storage trailer was flipped on its side. The National Weather Service confirmed it was a tornado, one of several reported throughout the afternoon.

A possible tornado damaged a condominium complex in Florida's Cocoa Beach, near Kennedy Space Center, said Brevard County Fire and Rescue. No serious injuries were reported, and shuttle operations were not affected, authorities said.Homes were damaged in Hinds County, Miss., said Lea Stokes, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Thousands of customers lost power at points in Mississippi.The storms follow catastrophic weather last week that produced the deadliest tornado outbreak in years, though that was to the north of Tuesday's track.

Icy storm blows through Northeast By JESSICA M. PASKO, Associated Press FEB 13,08

ALBANY, N.Y. - A powerful winter storm spread more than a half-foot of snow across parts of the Northeast on Wednesday, closing hundreds of schools and switching off the lights for thousands of homes and businesses. The Maine Legislature called off its session for the day and federal agencies opened two hours late in Washington. The Army's Fort Drum in northern New York state canceled all outdoor physical fitness training.The National Weather Service reported 10 inches of snow in Maine at Auburn and Lisbon Falls, 8.5 inches at Fitchburg, Mass., and up to 6 inches in eastern New York state, where ice was up to a half-inch thick. Winter storm warnings were in effect for much of New England and northern New York state, along with flood warnings in wide areas as heavy rain combined with melting snow.Combined snow and sleet accumulations could reach a foot in parts of northern New York, the weather service said.The storm system had been blamed for at least 14 deaths since Monday.The storm pummeled much of the Ohio Valley with ice and snow on Tuesday as it followed a northeasterly track toward New England. Precipitation in New England started as snow, changed over to sleet and freezing rain, and was expected to change completely to rain during the day. Farther south, rain soaked the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to the New York metropolitan area.

I guess we wouldn't be here (the Northeast) if it bothered us, Peter Rossi said as he had breakfast in Albany, N.Y. The big deal with the weather like this is the other guy you have to watch out for on the roads. Everyone's got a different driving style. Utilities reported power outages affecting about 20,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey, more than 8,000 in New York's Hudson Valley, about 21,000 in Connecticut, more than 5,400 in West Virginia, 2,500 in Maine and more than 27,000 in Maryland. More than 10,000 customers still had no power Wednesday in southwest Missouri, where the ice struck on Monday.This snow may be heavy and sticky, and after the changeover there could be significant icing in some areas — this kind of weather can be hard on our system, said Central Maine Power Co. spokesman John Carroll.Many flights in and out of Portland International Jetport were canceled Wednesday morning, and bus services reported cancellations and delays. Philadelphia International Airport reported numerous cancelations and delays, and ice and freezing rain shut down Connecticut's Bradley International Airport at Hartford for nearly five hours during the morning.Weather-related delays averaged nearly five hours during the morning at the New York area's La Guardia Airport and nearly three hours at Newark International Airport, said Arlene Salac-Murray, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Three buildings collapsed under the weight of the wet snow in New Hampshire, but no injuries were reported.The storm was adding to this winter's already impressive snowfall totals in Maine. Through Tuesday, Portland had received 71.5 inches, far above the 43.6 inch average for the date, the weather service said. Last year at this time, only 15.7 inches had fallen in Portland. In far northern Maine, more than 125 inches of snow has fallen this season at Caribou.The storm system had been blamed for one death in Louisiana, one in New Jersey, three in Kentucky, two in Missouri on Monday, six in West Virginia, and one in Philadelphia.Associated Press writers Jim Salter in St. Louis, Ben Dobbin in Rochester, N.Y., William Kates in Syracuse, N.Y. and Karen Matthews in New York City contributed to this report.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Wildfires in rain-starved Carolinas, Va., burn homes, force evactates Sun Feb 10, 9:33 PMBy Page Ivey, The Associated Press

CONWAY, S.C. - Wind-whipped wildfires chased churchgoers from worship, forced hundreds of residents to flee homes and closed highways across the rain-starved Carolinas and Virginia on Sunday. At least one business and an unknown number of homes and small structures were damaged by a blaze near the South Carolina coast, though no injuries were reported, authorities said. About 60 homes were briefly evacuated Sunday afternoon as the blaze sent smoke billowing above Conway, a city of about 11,000 people about 25 kilometres northwest of Myrtle Beach. The flames were at the top of the trees and I could feel the heat, said Lewis Cooper, 37, who fled the fire. In North Carolina, winds gusting up to 100 kilometres an hour in some areas toppled trees and power lines and also fanned brush fires. The Willow Spring Free Will Baptist church in Cleveland, N.C., just south of Raleigh, was holding a worship service when a fire forced it to evacuate, the town's Fire Chief Chris Ellington said. The church was spared any damage as high winds whipped the flames across 20 hectares, burning two empty barns and threatening about 20 homes, Ellington said. No injuries were reported. Hundreds of western Virginia homes were under a mandatory evacuation as wildfires spread. High winds took down trees and knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses.
Gov. Timothy Kaine declared a state of emergency and activated the Virginia National Guard to help fight wildfires. Bedford County issued an evacuation order for the Montvale area after a wildfire grew up to more than 200 hectares by Sunday, said county spokesman Bill Hoy.

Since then, more than 50-kilometre-an-hour winds created so much smoke that gauging the fire's size became impossible. The number of people affected by the evacuation was not immediately known. An elementary school was set up as an evacuation centre. In South Carolina, Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner said the fire burned up to 80 hectares of forest before it was contained just north of Conway. More than 100 firefighters battling the blaze were frustrated by wind gusts of up to 50 km/h that sent the flames jumping over parts of one highway. A fire destroyed a consignment shop before firefighters could douse the flames. Joseph Schell got word about evacuations from one neighbour and, as smoke made it difficult to breathe, told another: Get your dogs, get in your car and get out of here.Schell, 37, drove his wife, three children and husky named Jessica to a Baptist church being used as a shelter. On the way, he said he saw firefighters dousing flames as they swept across yards. Several hours later, after the evacuation order was lifted, the family planned to either get back into their home or spend the night at a friend's motel. Red Cross officials planned to keep the shelter open in case people could not get back into their homes. The North Carolina Highway Patrol reported a brush fire reduced visibility to zero on Interstate 85 in northern part of the state, forcing police to reroute traffic onto a secondary highway.

All of North Carolina was under a red flag warning, meaning outdoor burning is prohibited. The warning stems from the passage of a strong cold front that whipped up the strong winds. The eastern half of South Carolina was under a red flag fire warning Sunday, with winds gusting up to 50 km/h and low humidity, the U.S. National Weather Service said. The ground also is dry, which creates dangerous wildfire conditions. Across South Carolina, 106 forest fires were reported by Sunday evening, state officials said.