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Natural Disasters - Everywhere These Days


lazarus

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Not looking good for California this summer.

The two largest reservoirs in California are already at 'critically low levels' and the dry season is just starting

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This week, Shasta Lake is only at 40% of its total capacity, the lowest it has ever been at the start of May since record-keeping began in 1977. Meanwhile, further south, Lake Oroville is at 55% of its capacity, which is 70% of where it should be around this time on average.

Shasta Lake is the largest reservoir in the state and the cornerstone of California's Central Valley Project, a complex water system made of 19 dams and reservoirs as well as more than 500 miles of canals, stretching from Redding to the north, all the way south to the drought-stricken landscapes of Bakersfield.
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220506140218-shasta-lake-drought-2021-file-exlarge-169.jpg

Shasta Lake, California's largest water reservoir, is the key source for collecting and delivering large amounts of water through the Central Valley and into the Sacramento River Delta where the California State Water Project (aka California Aqueduct) begins, moving water to Southern California and all regions in between.

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56 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

Not looking good for California this summer.

The two largest reservoirs in California are already at 'critically low levels' and the dry season is just starting

...
This week, Shasta Lake is only at 40% of its total capacity, the lowest it has ever been at the start of May since record-keeping began in 1977. Meanwhile, further south, Lake Oroville is at 55% of its capacity, which is 70% of where it should be around this time on average.

Shasta Lake is the largest reservoir in the state and the cornerstone of California's Central Valley Project, a complex water system made of 19 dams and reservoirs as well as more than 500 miles of canals, stretching from Redding to the north, all the way south to the drought-stricken landscapes of Bakersfield.
...

220506140218-shasta-lake-drought-2021-file-exlarge-169.jpg

Shasta Lake, California's largest water reservoir, is the key source for collecting and delivering large amounts of water through the Central Valley and into the Sacramento River Delta where the California State Water Project (aka California Aqueduct) begins, moving water to Southern California and all regions in between.

That isn't a natural disaster but a man made one, Southern California shouldn't even be inhabited and most definitely not at the current numbers.

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Excellent CCTV of the April 29th tornado in Andover, KS.

The camera view that starts at 1:31 records flashes of sparks on the pavement. Can't see what causes the sparks, even at .25 speed. Best guess would be metal striking the surface at high speed causing the sparks.

The lunch room view at 2:45 is scary watching the window break and seeing various items sucked out. Luckily none of the items were people.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Watching the news just now, looks like we just missed some major damage from thunderstorms last night, by as little as 30 miles or so. Many surrounding areas in 2 provinces are missing power, and at least 9 people died around Ottawa, our nation’s capital. I honestly feel lucky it just missed Montreal

 

 

E541FF63-9DE4-4A82-95F0-EE1C752407C8.jpeg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, almost four weeks later and our local authorities have still not opened up the traffic artery that was blocked with a landslide; local commuters are not amused. I guess there is still a potential for more slippage but you'd think they could at least open one lane and keep monitoring the situation. Meanwhile, there have been smaller slippages along the same series of clay embankments, which are basically the remains of an ancient lakebed dating from the last ice age and have become saturated with water because of last winter's record snowfall - here's one from last week:

284333005_325019429788785_9592.jpg

Webp.net-resizeimage.jpg

And yes, that is our airport sitting on top of this bench but the runways are a long way from the embankments...

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19 minutes ago, maipenrai said:

Well, almost four weeks later and our local authorities have still not opened up the traffic artery that was blocked with a landslide; local commuters are not amused. I guess there is still a potential for more slippage but you'd think they could at least open one lane and keep monitoring the situation. Meanwhile, there have been smaller slippages along the same series of clay embankments, which are basically the remains of an ancient lakebed dating from the last ice age and have become saturated with water because of last winter's record snowfall - here's one from last week:

284333005_325019429788785_9592.jpg

Webp.net-resizeimage.jpg

And yes, that is our airport sitting on top of this bench but the runways are a long way from the embankments...

Looks like the 'powers that be' were smart enough to restrict building at the toe of the slide areas (with a couple of exceptions). 

Beautiful area where you live. I bet there's lots of eagles along the river plain.

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On 5/31/2022 at 6:04 AM, maipenrai said:

Well, almost four weeks later and our local authorities have still not opened up the traffic artery that was blocked with a landslide; local commuters are not amused. I guess there is still a potential for more slippage but you'd think they could at least open one lane and keep monitoring the situation. Meanwhile, there have been smaller slippages along the same series of clay embankments, which are basically the remains of an ancient lakebed dating from the last ice age and have become saturated with water because of last winter's record snowfall - here's one from last week:

284333005_325019429788785_9592.jpg

Webp.net-resizeimage.jpg

And yes, that is our airport sitting on top of this bench but the runways are a long way from the embankments...

Just saw this on FB...is this your slide? Sure looks like it. (Can't find it on YouTube)

Panya Lipovsky and Jeff Bond of the YGS installed a trail camera on the Whitehorse escarpment yesterday near Jeckell St. and 6th avenue with the goal of capturing a landslide in action. Well they picked the right spot! This happened less than 24 hrs after the installation. Thankfully the playground had been fenced off. Please continue to avoid the escarpment area during this period of instability.

https://www.facebook.com/YukonGeologicalSurvey/videos/415171433794480

Capture1.JPG

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8 hours ago, lazarus said:

Just saw this on FB...is this your slide? Sure looks like it. (Can't find it on YouTube)

Panya Lipovsky and Jeff Bond of the YGS installed a trail camera on the Whitehorse escarpment yesterday near Jeckell St. and 6th avenue with the goal of capturing a landslide in action. Well they picked the right spot! This happened less than 24 hrs after the installation. Thankfully the playground had been fenced off. Please continue to avoid the escarpment area during this period of instability.

https://www.facebook.com/YukonGeologicalSurvey/videos/415171433794480

Capture1.JPG

Found the YT video for those that don't do farcebook.

 

Edited by forcebwithu
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18 hours ago, lazarus said:

Just saw this on FB...is this your slide? Sure looks like it. (Can't find it on YouTube)

Panya Lipovsky and Jeff Bond of the YGS installed a trail camera on the Whitehorse escarpment yesterday near Jeckell St. and 6th avenue with the goal of capturing a landslide in action. Well they picked the right spot! This happened less than 24 hrs after the installation. Thankfully the playground had been fenced off. Please continue to avoid the escarpment area during this period of instability.

https://www.facebook.com/YukonGeologicalSurvey/videos/415171433794480

Capture1.JPG

Yeah, good choice of timing and location! 

 

On 5/31/2022 at 6:26 AM, lazarus said:

Looks like the 'powers that be' were smart enough to restrict building at the toe of the slide areas (with a couple of exceptions). 

Beautiful area where you live. I bet there's lots of eagles along the river plain.

This area at the south end of our downtown was originally owned by the historic White Pass and Yukon Route railroad, and contained a roundhouse and various sidings up until sometime in the '50s; it was a great place to go and play when we were kids in the '60s but was eventually sold to the City and was then developed mostly into what the Brits call "council housing" - all of the row housing you see in the photos is low cost gov't housing, and the larger building in the one photo is some kind of gov't social service building as well. Ironically, at the very north end of this escarpment, the City expropriated several properties in the late '70s for fear of slides such as this, which never did happen so they faced criticism for the program later. Over the years there have been a few small slips that nobody took much notice of, but the record snow load last winter has gotten things really moving this year. The railroad followed the bend by the river since being built in 1901 and the road was built alongside about fifty years later; WP & YR used to have to clean clay off the tracks every year until they ceased operations in 1982 and then the City had to take over before it spread to the road.

And yes, it is a very scenic area - the 100 mile drive south to the Alaskan town of Skagway is fantastic when the weather is good like this. We do have a lot of eagles here too  - indeed, there is a nest atop a power pole that was planted for that purpose at a tourist pull-off/info site a mere stone's throw from the original slide that blocked the road. If you want to see quantities of eagles in one spot, just visit our town dump near my neighbourhood, lol - they put up an electric fence some years ago to keep the bears out but they can't do anything about the birds. There's also a canyon not far from my place just off the main route downtown where the eagles and ravens play together in the updrafts on windy days and the aerobatics can be spectacular. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 A washout has severed the main road link north to my part of Canada - the Alaska Highway (or as Americans like to call it, the "Alcan") - in northern British Columbia about 400 miles south of my city; apparently our big stores were busy this morning with panic buyers even though there is an alternate route through northern BC, albeit more remote and less serviced and generally not up to the standards of the main highway. The authorities are not saying when they expect normal travel to resume - it doesn't help that this happened on a holiday weekend - but my guess would be at least a week or maybe more to get some kind of passage restored through this:

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291625467_10166592804260068_6805098957958149291_n.jpg

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