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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: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 23 2017, @01:40PM
Well, Pal, as you have deduced, this is the USA. All those people had options, before the hurricane hit. They could move a few miles inland, to stay with friends or relatives. They could have moved a lot of miles inland, and stayed with a distant relative in Kentucky, or Kansas, or even Montreal. They could have spent some money on weather-proofing their homes. They could have vacationed in Paris until the storm was over - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris%2C_Texas [wikipedia.org] Some may have preferred to vacation in Mexico - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico%2C_Missouri [wikipedia.org] or even Moscow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow%2C_Pennsylvania [wikipedia.org]
But, a LOT of people just hunkered down, and made the best of it.
You know, people are free to do that here, if they want. I mean, who wants the gubbermint to come in, kidnap you at gunpoint, bus you halfway across the nation, keep you under guard for weeks, then bus you back, only to find that your home was first blown to shit, then pilfered?
Personally, I'm staying home if a disaster hits. I want the opportunity of shooting some looters. It's not often that hunting humans is legal, after all.