SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
As if the onslaught of hurricanes Irma and Maria were not enough, the National Weather Service in San Juan is reporting that a major dam is failing in Puerto Rico and that 70,000 people are being evacuated by bus. From CBS:
The National Weather Service in San Juan said Friday that the northwestern municipalities of Isabela and Quebradillas, home to some 70,000 people, were being evacuated with buses because the nearby Guajataca Dam was failing after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory.
Maria poured more than 15 inches of rain on the mountains surrounding the dam, swelling the reservoir behind it.
Details remained slim about the evacuation with communications hampered after the storm, but operators of the dam reported that the failure was causing flash-flooding downstream. The 345-yard dam holds back a man-made lake covering about 2 square miles and was built decades ago, U.S. government records show.
"Move to higher ground now," the weather service said in a statement. "This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order."
"Act quickly to protect your life," it added. "Buses will be evacuating people from these areas."
Wikipedia has a page about Guajataca Dam
NWS report on Twitter; also at Al Jazeera and BBC.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday September 23 2017, @04:17AM (4 children)
Just how many carrier battle groups do you think the US Navy keeps stationed in the Caribbean? The Spanish Main has not been a hot spot in a very long time. Blackbeard ain't coming back. Several are currently in the Korea area, several more in the Middle East. A couple will be in port at any particular time but probably can't be instantly put back into service. In case you haven't bothered to look, the world is NOT at peace right now. If we had a couple of spare carriers they would be deployed already.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @05:47AM
So, to be clear, "Defense" Department is complete hogwash.
USA.gov militarism is all about aggression on the other side of the planet.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Saturday September 23 2017, @05:56AM (2 children)
> If we had a couple of spare carriers they would be deployed already.
How much good are they sailing the Gulf, the Med, or the China Sea, when there are Americans in danger at home?
Is it ten or eleven Navy carriers? How many Marine and helicopter ones?
The French have their biggest active ship (their lone carrier is in dry dock) stationed by St Martin, to help less than 100k people. How many .mil ship helped in TX, FL, PR, where millions needed/need assistance?
Quite a few, for sure. But nowhere near as massive a response as the most powerful country on the planet should muster for its own people, because they're too busy getting into someone else's business 100 degrees of longitude away.
(Score: 4, Informative) by jmorris on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:14AM
We don't station carriers near the U.S. because you don't need a carrier anywhere near U.S. waters for any mission. We have land bases. When there is working infrastructure to support it we can fly craploads of cargo directly from the mainland to PR, it will just be a lot more expensive than trucks. Get a clue. Carriers project air power to places where we have few or no airfields.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday September 23 2017, @08:03AM
Trust me, I'm not sending an armada. Getting ready to destroy #NoKo & #OCare! 🇺🇸