Fuel shipments normally take place during autumn from departure ports such as Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. However, last fall saw a sudden freeze-up and quickly accumulating sea-ice on the Northern Sea Route, including the Kara Sea. Of the two rescued barges, one contained 7,000 tons of diesel fuel, while the other was loaded with 170 tons of kerosene.
Quickly accumulating sea ice along the Northern Sea Route is creating a potentially critical situation along Russia’s east Arctic coast. For several weeks, a number of ships have been trapped in thick sea ice. Several ships have also been waiting to sail into the area.
Several roads have been closed as a result of landslides and flooding.
Conditions at a Canadian pump station improved over night after they officials issued an evacuation order that had Whatcom residents concerned of more flooding.
Since 7 a.m. on Monday, crews in Vancouver responded to reports of flooding in 46 locations. Average annual cost of property damage or losses due to severe weather has increased from about $400 million before 2009 to about $2 billion annually in the last few years.
All 275 people were expected to be rescued by the end of Monday, said B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, adding that there had been no reported fatalities. The Agassiz fire department was credited with saving 12 people Sunday night in “treacherous conditions,” as their vehicles filled with debris and water.
Extreme rain swamped rivers and farmland across southern B.C. and triggered mudslides that blocked every major highway connecting the Lower Mainland to the rest of the country in November 2021. This is a timeline of the first week of the crisis.
“It got very cold the day we got there, it got down to like single digits and ice came out of the mountains and rivers and sloughs everywhere,” said Allyn Long, general manager of Alaska Logistics.
A tornado watch was issued around 5:30 p.m. and rescinded less than an hour later, but the storm caused considerable damage on the University of British Columbia campus. The school is located on a peninsula not far from the airport.
A storm that hit Southcentral Alaska on Saturday night led to flooding in Girdwood, a landslide on the Sterling Highway and left thousands of homes without power throughout the region on Sunday morning. More than a foot of rain fell in Girdwood by Sunday.
“The ice was so thick flowing down the river. It was forming so fast. It was freezing so fast. Just amazing. I’d never seen anything like that," one of the hunters, Rex Nick, said.
Strong winds whipped across Ketchikan Thursday evening and Friday morning, and a strong morning gust snapped power lines and severed Ketchikan’s connection to the Swan Lake hydropower reservoir.
A second glacial outburst flood began in the eastern Skaftá ice cauldron under Vatnajökull glacier late Saturday evening, RÚV reports. This flood follows a smaller one that originated in the western Skaftá ice cauldron and is expected to do as much damage to local communities and farmland as the last glacial outburst flood on the Skaftá river in 2018.
The mammoth storm sparked torrential rain, flash floods and tornadoes that pummeled the region.
Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida's floodwaters to safety Monday and utility repair crews rushed in, after the furious storm swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the stifling, late-summer heat.
A handful of fires burning east of Humboldt continued to grow overnight with minimal containment, bringing air quality and travel impacts. Parts of State Route 36 have reopened to controlled traffic. Overall hot, dry conditions are expected to complicate fire suppression efforts.
Alaska transportation officials believe there’s a low risk that anyone could be harmed in an outburst, but they say they’re acting swiftly to prevent another road closure.
According to police sources, flow in the region’s swollen rivers dropped slightly overnight, but that this is likely explained because the air temperature usually drops overnight. Flow is expected to increase again today.
Westfall thanked his training with the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association to help him maximize his odds for survival.
Heavy rainfall caused the Quibá river to overflow in the village of Guineales, municipality of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán in Sololá department.
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