#in high school we had a major flood that washed out a certain road and a large percentage of students couldn’t come to school for a week | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hviral · 5 years

Text

Hurricane Dorian Pounds Georgia As It Moves To Carolinas

Powerful Hurricane Dorian whipped the Georgia coast Thursday as it grew in size and strength, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people while flooding parts of downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Dorian on its way north, threatening to become the first Category 3 storm since Fran in 1996 to make landfall in North Carolina and watches were issued as far north as Delaware and Massachusetts.

Tornado watches and warnings were issued in many parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Tropical-storm-force winds were close to 70 mph Thursday morning in Georgia and South Carolina, with hurricane-force winds expected for coastal South Carolina later in the day. Tropical-storm and hurricane conditions are forecast for coastal North Carolina late Thursday.

Residents in Charleston and the entire South Carolina coast were warned to expect the worst to come, with water levels that could near 10 feet.

“Large areas of deep inundation with storm surge flooding accentuated by battering waves. Structural damage to buildings, with several washing away,” the center wrote in its 7 a.m. update. “Damage compounded by floating debris. Locations may be uninhabitable for an extended period.”

The torrential rains were expected along the winds further up the coast. North Carolina’s Outer Banks could get hit with up to 15 inches of rain and coastal Virginia communities such as Hampton Roads could see a storm surge of two to four feet, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Though weakened from the powerhouse category 5 storm that devastated the Bahamas and expected to move toward the northeast, hurricane paths are notoriously difficult to predict, and the Category 3 storm remains a threat to areas as far north as Cape Cod.

Storm surge warnings extended north to Poquoson, Virginia, and a tropical storm warning was put in effect from the North Carolina/Virginia border to Chincoteague, Virginia, and Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point southward.

Nearly two dozen Georgia counties are under emergency declarations, and the state is expected to see the brunt of Dorian’s wrath well into Thursday.

By noon Wednesday, emergency management officials were already receiving reports of downed trees and as Dorian bore down on Georgia.

“Downed trees may mean downed power lines, which are life-threatening,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted. “Be extremely careful.”

Related Coverage Hurricane Dorian Still Stalled, Many Florida Schools Closed Hurricane Dorian Puts More Georgia Counties Under State Emergency Hurricane Dorian: SC Flooding, Evacuations, Airport Closure North Carolina Ordering Mandatory Evacuations In Barrier Islands Better Business Bureau Warns Of Hurricane Dorian Scams

Destructive storm surges of between three and five feet are forecast, according to current models from the National Hurricane Center.

“This storm is a big one, with powerful winds and expected storm surges of 3 to 6 feet,” Kemp warned ahead of the storm, urging residents of his state to take Hurricane Dorian’s threat seriously. “This is a huge storm we’re facing.”

Dorian is moving northward, raising the threat in areas in its path. The storm could make landfall along the coastline of the Carolinas late Thursday and bring widespread devastation, the National Hurricane Center warned.

Eastern North Carolina could begin to see some of the impacts, such as increased rain and winds, as soon as Thursday afternoon.

“Now is the time to make final emergency preparations before the storm’s onset,” the agency said.

The threat of heavy rainfall over eastern South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina prompted a flash-flooding warning for the regions now in effect.

“A high risk exists across portions of the coastal Carolinas, with widespread and significant flooding expected tonight through Friday,” the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said.

Rainfall over Charleston could bring water levels high enough to rank among the top five ever in the coastal city, The Washington Post reported.

Streets were already beginning to flood Wednesday afternoon in Charleston, which is barely above sea level and has a long history of susceptibility to floods, as the city is flat.

Huge numbers of people were fleeing the city, heeding the advice of Gov. Henry McMaster, who has been warning residents of Charleston and other low-lying coastal areas of South Carolina to get out ahead of high winds and life-threatening storm surges.

Florida Returning To Normal

Before Dorian left Florida, residents along the coast dealt with high winds and angry seas, but hurricane warnings and watches and storm surge alerts remained in effect from Daytona Beach to Jacksonville.

“Remain cautious of strong wind gusts and brief bursts of heavy rain in passing squalls today,” the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida, tweeted Wednesday morning. “Conditions at beaches are hazardous from #Dorian. The surf remains high and rough, along with a threat of coastal flooding & beach erosion.”

Relieved Floridians were returning to normal Thursday, though many schools remained closed. Several airports reopened, with Orlando International Airport, Palm Beach International Airport, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood and Melbourne International Airport all resuming normal flight operations. More than 800 flights flights had been canceled this week.

Walt Disney World also reopened Wednesday.

While Walt Disney World prides itself on being open 365 days a year, officials opted to close early Tuesday while Dorian’s path remained uncertain. It’s not the first time the park was forced to close. Two years ago, Hurricane Irma caused Walt Disney World to close for two full days and caused some damage around the resort. The year before that, Hurricane Matthew also caused the parks to close for a day.

To assist those forced to evacuate their homes, Airbnb activated its Open Homes Program to help displaced residents and relief workers deployed to the southeast region impacted by Hurricane Dorian.

The Open Homes program for Hurricane Dorian was first activated on Aug. 28 to assist those in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the new activation area on the U.S. mainland includes the majority of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and parts of Alabama.

‘Apocalyptic’ Damage In The Bahamas

Dorian was packing category 5 winds when it hit the Bahamas, making it “perhaps the worst hurricane ever” to have struck the islands Michael Scott, the chairman of the government-owned Grand Lucayan Resort and Casino on Grand Bahama Island, told The New York Times. The resort was operating as a shelter because many designated shelters were damaged.

As the winds and rain subsided in the Bahamas, rescue crews fanned out to take a full measure of the devastation from the worst hurricane ever recorded in the country mauled Grand Bahama and Abaco islands.

The death toll stood at seven, but was almost certain to rise. Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said the country is “in the the midst of one of the greatest national crises” in its history.

“Right now there are just a lot of unknowns,” Parliament member Iram Lewis told The Associated Press. “We need help.”

“The devastation is unlike anything that we’ve ever seen before,”National Security Minister Marvin Dames said. “We’re beginning to get on the ground, get our people in the right places. We have a lot of work in the days and weeks and months ahead.”

Lia Head-Rigby, who helps run a Red Cross hurricane relief group, told The AP the scene from the air as she flew over was “apocalyptic.”

“It’s total devastation. It’s decimated,” she said. “It’s not rebuilding something that was there; we have to start again.”

-Charity Scam Warnings

Scams could spike along with the storm surge, the Better Business Bureau’s charity arm, Give.org, warned. In past weather disasters, the organization has seen crowdfunding posts from people claiming they’re raising money to deliver and distribute water, food and flashlights to the affected areas.

“Even if they are sincere, such efforts may risk lives, complicate access by professional efforts and potentially divert donations that could be directed in more helpful ways,” Art Taylor, Give.org’s president and CEO, said. “Donors should watch out for newly created organizations that emerge that are either inexperienced in addressing disasters or may be seeking to deceive donors at a vulnerable time.”

From the National Hurricane Center’s 8 a.m. update:

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for:

-Savannah River to Poquoson VA -Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds -Neuse and Pamlico Rivers -Hampton Roads -A Hurricane Warning is in effect for:

-avannah River to the North Carolina/Virginia border Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for:

-North Carolina/Virginia border to Chincoteague VA -Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point southward A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for:

-North of Chincoteague VA to Fenwick Island DE Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point to Drum Point

-Tidal Potomac south of Cobb Island -Woods Hole to Sagamore Beach MA -Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard MA -The Associated Press contributed reporting.

The post Hurricane Dorian Pounds Georgia As It Moves To Carolinas appeared first on HviRAL.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2ZQOk5s

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

memsmedic1 · 7 years

Text

Thwarted mission and new opportunities. 03/30/17-05/02/17

Now I was back at our apartment headquarters in Yangon where I would stay for the next month and I finally had time to get caught up on paperwork and some behind the scenes duties.

Our apartment is four stories high and is built out of unreinforced concrete. We live in a large development of houses and apartments on the northwest side of Yangon.

To the west of us behind our apartment it is very quiet and peaceful because the developer poured foundations for more apartments and then ran out of money, so we have a buffer between us and the rest of the already quiet housing area we live in.

To the east on the front side of the apartment there is a broken down sheet metal and bamboo fence and then directly past that is the constantly loud and active shantytown of bamboo huts and shops and markets and apartments that makes up the majority of residential Yangon.

On our first floor we park our van and also store whatever supplies we can that aren't affected by rats or flooding. The second floor is the kitchen and living room, and the top floors are the bedrooms.

Being back in Yangon also meant that I was back in the mosquito capital of Myanmar! Even now in the hot dry season we are always being attacked by the diurnal Aedes mosquitos that can carry dengue fever and every evening and morning we get swarmed by Anopheles mosquitos that will carry more and more malaria as the rainy season approaches.

Like the rest of the country we don’t have beds and sleep on a bamboo or plastic mat on the floor shrouded by mosquito nets. We also don’t have air conditioning, a washing machine, oven, microwave, hot water, or clean tap water- all the water we drink and cook with has to be purchased since our tap water comes out of the faucet as brown and turbid as river water (I have my suspicions that it may actually be river water from a tributary of the Irrawaddy a mile and a half away).

Handily for us however, we do have electricity, although it fluctuates in strength and there are regular power outages. Even more amazing is that cell service is available although it’s about as reliable as our electricity.

So after getting unpacked and organized I began working on my first priority project of developing and putting together an EMR program syllabus and also starting on the EMT program syllabus. I was also assisting in writing an EMS training proposal to take to the Ministry of Health along with our fully developed EMS program.

The Ministry of Health is trying to raise the standard of prehospital care in Myanmar and wants to initiate a mandatory, uniform, country wide training and certification program to help regulate EMS and hold rescue and ambulance responders accountable to a higher standard of care.

During our last EMR training in Myawaddy one of the students had a question for us. He said that they picked up a patient at a local hospital who was being transferred to Thailand where they might be able to do something to help him. As usual, the hospital staff rush-rushed the crew and wouldn’t give them any of the patients paperwork or even a verbal report. The student said that the patient had a “tube” going down his throat and a nurse was using a BVM on him. After they loaded the patient however, the hospital refused to leave the BVM with the patient (yes they reuse everything over here) and the ambulance crew did not have one or have the ability to get one. So, they just put a NRB over the tube and went on their way. The question was “why did the patient start shaking and foaming at the mouth and bleeding from his nose and go into cardiac arrest?”

So that’s what we’re up against over here- and that’s what the government wants to stop. The Ministry of Health is asking for EMS program drafts and implementation plans from any interested parties and then they will decide which plan they want to use.

We have also started editing, translating, and formatting our EMR textbook into Burmese so our future students will have additional resources to make learning easier.

One week after we finished modifying the Land Cruiser and had it driven north we received word from one of our team members who lives in that area that it had arrived safely at its destination! With that confirmation, we sent a two person team north as well to make another attempt at purchasing property for an operations base/ambulance station. They would be gone for several weeks meeting with state and local officials and searching for land or a building to purchase.

This relative lull in activity compared to the last several months gave me an opportunity to give team-specific medical training to the six other team members that were with me in Yangon.

Every day we would meet on the floor in the living room (the only furniture we have is a stair chair and the bench seat we pulled out of the Land Cruiser) and I would talk about emergency medical responder or remote EMR level topics for a couple hours or so and then we would practice all the applicable skills.

I also started making a dedicated effort to learn Burmese during this time. My translator Khin Chaw Kyi is an excellent teacher and tutors me for a couple hours every day. Unfortunately Burmese is the hardest SE Asian language to learn after Thai so the going is slow.

After the first week of April we began preparing to withstand the siege that is Thingyan, the Burmese water festival that culminates in the celebration of the Burmese New Year. We stocked up on enough food and water to last us for a couple weeks.

Because Thingyan is a national holiday, all businesses are closed. In addition, it’s basically a country wide water fight with singing, dancing, face painting, and everyone except the monks joining together in throwing, squirting, spraying, or dousing as much water on as many people as possible! Anything that can hold water is used such as cups, bowls, buckets, bamboo squirt guns, water balloons, and fire hoses!

This water throwing is a metaphorical washing away of ones sins from the previous year as well as an offering for the spirits, who are unable to drink all year.

Thingyan festival started on April 13th this year and officially lasted for 4 days culminating in the New Year, but the entire rest of the month of April is usually an extremely challenging time to get anything productive done if it requires traveling or going outside. This is because school is out, people are traveling a lot more this month, and the festive spirit from the water festival continues long after the festival is over.

With the water festival starting on the 13th, the first monsoon rains of the rainy season decided to start on April 14th! It was a pleasant change to have clouds and cooler temperatures than we had been having recently, but the first rain of the year also turned into the first cyclone of the year.

Cyclone Maruttha made landfall on April 16 200 miles northwest of Yangon at Thandwe, Rakhine State. It brought powerful winds, storm surges, monsoon rain, and tragically it killed at least 10 people. ————————————-

When our northern team returned to Yangon, their news was far from encouraging; for one, fighting has recently intensified significantly in the region, and the government, afraid that foreigners may give aid to the rebels or be killed in the crossfire, has shrunk the less-restricted area to smaller than the town limits that we would be living in. To get into the area at all, you have to submit for permission, and if granted it is only valid for the length of your visa.

So we would only be able to operate within the town itself which completely cuts us off from the villagers who actually need the help and defeats the purpose of the mission, plus there is no guarantee that we would be allowed to stay if we bought property there.

For another thing, the local group that was interested in working with us and being trained so they can operate on their own if needed, started pulling the old Burmese trick of seeing how much they could get from us for free. When they saw our ambulance (which looks awesome) they asked if we would donate it to them so they could start their own ambulance service, and then they still asked us to come up and give them (free) training so they would know what to do…😑

If that wasn’t enough, this last month the Myanmar government just passed a new law that requires all ambulance personnel to be licensed in order to work on an ambulance. There’s just one problem: Myanmar does not recognize any prehospital medical licenses. The only two medical licenses at all are Doctor and nurse, and of course none of them would be interested in taking a pay cut to work on an ambulance. Because there’s no possible way to certify at the present, Burmese citizens are being allowed to continue working with their foundations and rescue organizations, but foreigners would be a prime target, so at the present we are unable to provide medical care to Burmese citizens unless specifically requested ahead of time.

All of this is terribly disappointing news, we have overcome so many obstacles already in order to accomplish our original goal of operating a remote ambulance service, that we don’t want to give up on the idea and would like to keep pushing ahead. But right now we would just be banging our heads against the wall and getting nowhere, so we are going to focus more on the other projects that have presented themselves, and for the time being just keep our original project in the back of our minds as a possibility for sometime down the road.

So now I am in charge of drawing up another proposal for the Ministry of Health, this one proposing that Myanmar accept paramedics and EMT’s in good standing and with valid medical licenses from certain countries with high training standards and verifiable registries, in the same way they allow foreign doctors to work in the country.

Because of our possible dealings with the Ministry of Health I was also tasked with looking into the possibility of becoming affiliated with an accrediting agency of some kind that would allow us to offer a truly international certification to our students who successfully complete one of our trainings instead of the “international level” training we are currently able to give.

In addition to hopefully giving us an advantage with the government, offering an international certification would make our training courses valuable to anyone who wanted to attend- not just Burmese citizens, and it would allow our trainings to stand out from other, local foundations who also engage in “training” (one group offers a four day EMT class) and have started copying our “international level” wording when they have no such thing.

After some research I came across the AREMT- Australasian Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, which is currently the sole registry of emergency medical licenses for Australia and is accepted in over 20 other countries. Upon finding that they do not yet have any affiliate accrediting agencies in Myanmar I contacted them and after countless emails back and forth set up a meeting with them to see if they were interested in working with us and vice versa.

Through a mutual friend, I was also put in contact with a medical logistics company that I began talking to and feeling out the possibility of a mutually beneficial relationship with. It went so well that we scheduled a meeting for next month in Bangkok to discuss our options in person.

We also took some time off from all of our own duties to help our friends from Z-Rescue teach their first basic first aid class here in Yangon. They had about 60 students and appreciated having us on “their team” to help teach and make them look good!

Afterwards we had a meeting with the Home Minister and talked about our ideas for Myanmar training and our EMS program in development.

One evening we were hanging out in the living room as supper finished cooking when I heard an unauthorized sound in the kitchen. Sneaking over I found a giant sewer rat sitting on our counter eating our food 😡. Until now I had led myself to believe that because there’s a giant swampy abandoned lot behind us and all kinds of open sewers and drainage ditches in front of us, we were a virtual island and that any neighborhood rats would leave us alone in favor of easier pickings. Sadly I was mistaken, but I managed to kill the offending individual by thwacking him on the head with the handle of a reed broom as he sailed past me off the counter towards the door!

April and May are usually the height of the hot season and this year Myanmar took the prize for hottest country in Southeast Asia! We had temperatures that rose to 45 degrees Celsius or 113 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days! And of course the humidity is usually above 90% as well which makes it all the more oppressive.

On April 29 I took the night bus from Yangon to the border and crossed into Thailand again. I had wanted to leave Yangon a couple days sooner so I could visit the orphanage on my way to my meetings in Bangkok but because of all the extra travelers returning home from celebrating the water festival the buses were booked out for two days longer than usual.

I spent a couple days in MaeSot where I happened to run into my friends from Sunshine Orchard anyways completely out of the blue! On May 2 I took a van down to Nakhon Sawan, Thailand where I would transfer to a bus for the rest of the ride into Bangkok.

I knew the van wasn’t going the whole way but when we got to the end of the van route I didn’t realize that we had arrived at where I needed to get off. So, unknowingly I started riding north again back towards MaeSot! Fortunately the driver knew where I was going and after a couple blocks noticed that I was still on board so he kindly took me back to the Nakhon Sawan station where I was supposed to catch my bus.

When I arrived at the counter to pay, the ticket agent wasn’t worried at all about me being a few minutes late but when he walked with me out to where my bus was supposed to be it was gone!

That suddenly made him a lot more energetic and we ran back inside where he had his assistant give me a lift on the back of his motorbike to run the bus down! It hadn’t made it out of town yet so we were able to catch it without any problem, and after getting settled in, the rest of the trip went according to plan.

0 notes