TV News LIES

A powerful storm doused California with heavy rain on Friday, prompting evacuation warnings as the state braced for the potential of floods, mudslides, thunderstorms and even the chance of a tornado over the weekend.

More than 4in of rain fell over coastal Santa Barbara county as the storm moved south toward Los Angeles, according to the National Weather Service.

Communities in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties – especially those near burn scars where there are higher risks for mudslides and debris flows – could be in for a dangerously wet weekend, with two surges of rainfall expected through Sunday.

As communities prepared for Saturday’s expected storm surge, evacuation warnings were issued through Sunday morning in areas affected by recent wildfires, including those by the major blazes in Los Angeles in January.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned that roads and highways would likely see flooding along with debris flows that could block thoroughfares and damage infrastructure. “In creeks and rivers, the flows will be heavy with anyone in or near those channels at risk of being swept away,” officials wrote in a Friday morning update.

More...

The US Senate rejected an effort on Wednesday to halt a contentious US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) plan to kill nearly half a million barred owls in order to save their cousin, the northern spotted owl.

John Kennedy, the Republican senator from Louisiana, had hoped to block the proposal by bringing the matter to a vote with a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act. The effort failed with 25 votes to 72 votes.

“The barred owls are not hurting anybody. They’re just doing what nature teaches them to do. We’re going to change nature?” Kennedy said in a speech before the Senate. “We’re going to control our environment to this extent? We’re going to pass DEI for owls?”

Barred owls have been expanding their habitat west, increasing competition for the spotted owl. The more aggressive barred owls come from eastern North America and are slightly larger and better able to adapt than the spotted owl. The spotted owl has been imperiled over the years, facing major habitat loss as logging and development destroyed old growth forests in the Pacific north-west.

More...

As Hurricane Melissa crept closer to Jamaica on Monday, Oct. 27, the island nation braced for what could be its worst hurricane in recorded history, evacuating parts of its capital,More... closing airports and opening hundreds of shelters.

Melissa, a Category 5 storm, is expected to slam into Jamaica's southern coast on Tuesday morning, Oct. 28, with catastrophic consequences. It's also set to approach Cuba as a major hurricane and cross the central and southeastern Bahamas, forecasters said. Melissa poses no direct threat to the United States.

At 8 p.m. on Oct. 27, the National Hurricane Center reported Melissa was centered was about 155 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and 335 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, and had turned toward the northwest, moving at only about 2 mph. Its maximum sustained winds were estimated at 175 mph.

Melissa is forecast to make landfall along the southwestern coast of Jamaica on the morning of Oct. 28 near the Black River, then move inland, with the heaviest storm surge and rainfall along the coast to the east of the eyewall, the hurricane center said. Within the eyewall, "total structural failure" of buildings is likely, particularly at higher elevations and on the windward side of hills and mountains, where wind speeds could be up to 30% stronger than at the surface, the center reported.

More...

Thanks to the dire condition of the Earth's coral reefs, the planet has now reached its first tipping point for human-caused climate change, according to a new report by scientists in Europe.

The second Global Tipping Points Report, released Oct. 13, said warm-water coral reefs – on which nearly 1 billion people and a quarter of all marine life depend – are "passing their tipping point."

According to the report, widespread coral dieback is taking place and – unless global warming is reversed – extensive reefs as we know them will be lost, although small refuges may survive and must be protected.

What is a 'tipping point'?

A “tipping point” occurs when a small change tips a system into a new state, causing significant and long-term transformation. With the climate, these points of no return are specific moments when the planet has warmed so much that certain effects become irreversible.

More...

 

 

Dr Jane Goodall, who died today at 91, devoted her life to the study and conservation of chimpanzees and the other great apes.

Through her pioneering new ways to study them, Goodall discovered that chimps used tools, created complex societies and could be so aggressive they could even kill one another.

This suggested that chimps and humans are likely to have common ancestors - and was ground-breaking information.

Goodall’s work made waves amongst her fellow researchers, and the public enthusiastically responded to her revelations.

The idea that chimps and humans were related spurred debates about what it means to be human, inspiring a rethink on animal rights. Her books were so widely read that when one of Jane’s subjects Flo died in 1972, The Sunday Times ran an obituary.

Goodall remained active until the days before her death, engaged on a speaking tour of the US, and travelled the world widely to discuss her life and campaign to better understand the natural world.

More...

In the wake of the deadly flash floods in Texas on July 4, Texas leaders are betting on the lifesaving potential of flood warning sirens.

"What can we do better looking forward? We need sirens," said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in an interview this week with NBC 5 in Dallas-Fort Worth. The floods killed at least 120 people.

Weather warning sirens are installed outside on tall poles and make a loud wailing sound to warn people in the area when water levels rise, signaling an imminent flood. Some also broadcast spoken warnings and directions about how to get to safety. These types of sirens are widely used in the United States to warn people about tornadoes and tsunamis but are much less common in areas that flood.

"If you had sirens blasting," Patrick said, "and if people had known 'if you hear a siren get to high ground,' maybe that would have saved some lives."

More...

 

 

A series of earthquakes struck the northern California coast on Thursday morning, rattling communities and activating emergency alerts for both shaking and tsunami risks just before 11am local time.

The largest, registered as a magnitude 7.0 and originating near the historic and picturesque town of Ferndale in Humboldt county, could be felt in San Francisco more than 260 miles (418km) away. Roughly 1.3 million people felt the shaking, according to initial estimates provided by the US Geological Survey (USGS), which also reported that risks to human life remained low.

Cellphones buzzed throughout the region, warning of the incoming shaking and offering ample time to brace and cover. Tsunami alerts also rang out for at least 5.3 million people on the California coast and into Oregon, warning of large waves, strong currents and coastal flooding that could persist through the afternoon.

Following the alert, Bay Area Rapid Transit trains were held as underground stations were cleared, as major delays were announced throughout the system, and the San Francisco fire department began clearing the beaches. The tsunami warning was withdrawn shortly after noon as officials announced the highest risks had subsided.

More...