Global & Disaster Medicine

Archive for August, 2019

At least five people were killed and 21 people injured Saturday when a gunman in West Texas drove around shooting from his vehicle

CNN

‘…..Midland Mayor Jerry Morales told CNN a Department of Public Safety officer pulled over a vehicle on an interstate highway Saturday.

“That’s when he shot the officer and then took off and started shooting randomly,” Morales said. “Everything happened after that.”…..’

 


An active shooter situation in Odessa, TX on Saturday afternoon: At least 2 were killed and up to 20 others were injured in a series of shootings in West Texas.


FEMA 8/31/2019 SitRep on Hurricane Dorian

Situation • Hurricane Dorian has become a very powerful hurricane, capable of causing life threatening storm surge, extensive wind damage, heavy rain, and significant infrastructure damage to portions of Florida and the Southeast early next week into the middle of next week

Potential Impacts – Southeastern U.S. • Rainfall accumulations: 6-12 inches, isolated 18 inches across southern/central Florida and coastal sections of the Southeast U.S.; may cause life-threatening flash floods • Surf: Swells are likely to begin affecting east-facing shores of southeastern U.S. coast during the next few days; likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions

Local Preparations/Response • FL EOC: Full Activation o Governor declared a state of emergency; National Guard fully activated o Mandatory evacuations ordered for select coastal sections of Brevard County o Voluntary evacuations in effect for areas in Miami-Dade, Hendry, Martin, Osceola, and St Lucie counties o Orlando International Airport scheduled a precautionary closure for 2:00 a.m. Mon, Sept 2 • Seminole Tribe of Florida EOC: Partial Activation; Tribal Chief declared state of emergency • GA EOC: Full Activation: Governor declared a state of emergency

Federal Preparations/Response • Emergency Declaration FEMA-3419-EM-FL approved Aug 30, 2019 • NRCC: Level I, 24/7 with all LNOs and all ESFs • Region IV RRCC: Level I, 24/7 until further notice • Region IV LNOs deployed to FL and GA; Tribal LNO deploying to Seminole Tribe of Florida today • Region IV DCE Emergency Preparedness LNOs deployed to FL EOC, RIV RRCC, Homestead ARB, North Auxiliary Field, Warner Robins AFB, and Maxwell AFB • IMAT Teams deployed: o National IMAT E deployed to FL EOC o National IMAT C available o Region II IMAT demobilizing from USVI, returning to home station o Region IV IMAT-1 to FL EOC o Region IV IMAT-2 to GA EOC o Region VII IMAT deployed to Region IV RRCC o Region VIII IMAT deployed to Region IV RRCC • ISB Teams: Logistics staging teams deployed to AL, SC, GA, and NC • US&R: o Teams deployed to PR and USVI demobilized o Red IST: Relocating to Orlando, FL o 12 Task Forces, 4 Mission-Ready Packages – Water Rescue and 1 HHP activated


Hurricane Dorian remains an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, and will continue westward through the Northwestern Bahamas this weekend. Dorian is then forecast to turn northward as it closely approaches the east coast of Florida early next week. Dorian will bring risks of life-threatening storm surge, devastating hurricane-force winds, heavy rainfall and flooding along its path

cone graphic

[Image of probabilities of 34-kt winds]

[Image of WPC QPF U.S. rainfall potential]


NASA: Amazon fires from Space

ECOSTRESS imagery of fires burning in the Bolivian Amazon

ECOSTRESS imagery of fires burning in the Bolivian Amazon on Aug. 23, 2019. Red areas show regions hotter than the sensor was designed to measure (approximately 220 degrees Fahrenheit, or 104 degrees Celsius). Dark wispy areas indicate thick smoke.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

ECOSTRESS imagery of fires burning in the Brazilian Amazon on Aug. 23, 2019. Red areas show regions hotter than the sensor was designed to measure (approximately 220 degrees Fahrenheit, or 104 degrees Celsius). Dark wispy areas indicate thick smoke.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Hurricane Dorian: Local Preparations/Response & Federal Preparations/Response

FEMA Sit Rep

Hurricane Dorian

Local Preparations/Response

• FL EOC at Full Activation; Governor declared a state of emergency; Emergency Declaration requested

• Seminole Tribe of Florida EOC activated; Tribal Chief declared state of emergency

• GA EOC at Full Activation; Governor declared a state of emergency

Federal Preparations/Response

  • • NRCC at Level I, 24/7 with all LNOs and all ESFs
  • • Region IV RWC returned to Steady State
  • • Region IV RRCC at Level II, 24/7 until further notice
  • • IMAT Teams deployed:
  • • National IMAT East deployed to FL EOC
    • o National IMAT C demobilizing from PR, returning to home station o Region II IMAT to USVI o Region IV IMAT-1 to FL o Region IV IMAT-2 deployed to GA EOC o Region V IMAT demobilizing from PR, returning to home station o Region VII IMAT deployed to Region IV RRCC o Region VIII IMAT deployed to Region IV RRCC

• Region IV LNOs deployed to FL and GA

• ISB Teams deployed: 2 to PR, 2 to USVI, 1 to FL o 1 team from PR is re-deploying to Ft. Bragg, NC o  Both teams from USVI are re-deploying to DC Atlanta, GA • Logistics staging teams deployed to AL, SC, and GA

• US&R teams deployed to PR and USVI demobilized, returned to home station and are available


NASA: Satellite Images of Dorian

GPM image of Dorian

NASA: “This image shows estimated rainfall accumulations for the region affected by Hurricane Dorian over the 24 hour period of Aug.27 11:59 UTC to Aug. 28 11:59 UTC.”

Aqua image of Dorian

“On Aug. 27 at 1:35 p.m. EDT (1735 UTC), the AIRS instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite analyzed cloud top temperatures of Tropical Storm Dorian in infrared light. AIRS found coldest cloud top temperatures (purple) of strongest thunderstorms were as cold as or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 53 degrees Celsius).” Credit: NASA JPL/Heidar Thrastarson


A volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli erupted on Wednesday, unleashing a dramatic plume of smoke in its second explosion in less than two months.


NOAA: Hurricane Dorian, 8/29/2019

Latest Image of the Day from the NOAA 
Environmental Visualization Laboratory


The August 29, 2019, M 6.3 earthquake near the coast of Oregon occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting along the Blanco Fracture Zone

DYFI intensity map

Tectonic Summary

The August 29, 2019, M 6.3 earthquake near the coast of Oregon occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting along the Blanco Fracture Zone, a transform fault marking the boundary between the Pacific Plate to the southwest and the Juan de Fuca Plate to the northeast. Moment tensor solutions show faulting occurred as a result of slip on a steeply dipping fault, either from left-lateral slip on a northeast striking fault or right-lateral slip on a southeast striking fault. Given the moment tensor and orientation of the fracture zone, this event occurred on a steeply dipping, right-lateral, southeast striking fault. At this location, the Juan de Fuca Plate slides past the Pacific Plate at a rate of 49 mm a year along an azimuth of 110 degrees from north. The Juan de Fuca plate ultimately subducts beneath North America along the Cascadia subduction zone about 200 km to the east of today’s event; hence, this earthquake did not occur on the subduction zone, but rather is the result of Pacific:Juan de Fuca plate boundary interactions farther west.

The Pacific-Juan de Fuca Plate boundary offshore of northern California, Oregon, and Washington routinely host moderate size earthquakes. Within 250 km of the August 29th event, there were 21 other earthquakes of magnitude 6 and larger over the preceding 100 years. The largest of these was an M 6.9 earthquake that occurred on July 13th, 1991 that was felt throughout much of western Oregon and northern California. The 1991 event ruptured southeast of the Blanco Fracture Zone, within the Juan de Fuca Plate closer to the coasts of Oregon and northern California. One year prior to this August 29, 2019 earthquake, a similar earthquake in size, location, and mechanism, occurred on August 22, 2019 and was felt along the Oregon coast.

Estimated Fatalities Histogram

Estimated Economic Losses Histogram


Categories

Recent Posts

Archives

Admin