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posted by martyb on Saturday September 23 2017, @12:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the head-for-the-hills dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @02:42AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @02:42AM (#571956)

    As Irma approached, USA.gov -could- have made every Amtrak train and every cruise ship and every military transport available to Florida residents to evacuate them.
    ...but it didn't.

    People in Florida who are wealthy and could pay the price to get out did that.
    ...but, again, in the USA, people who aren't rich don't matter.

    Isn't Capitalist Oligarchy wonderful?

    ...and Puerto Rico isn't even a state.
    It's a colonial possession without even a vote in Congress.

    Isn't empire great?

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday September 23 2017, @02:57AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 23 2017, @02:57AM (#571964) Journal

    Isn't empire great?

    No, not yet.
    Somehow the court's fool has been set on the throne, he needs the empire still weak (but not too weak) if he is to stay there
    Because otherwise he can't justify his existence #MAGAAA

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 1, Redundant) by jmorris on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:28AM

    by jmorris (4844) on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:28AM (#571981)

    What the Hell are you babbling about? The body count in FL was lower than a typical weekend in Chicago. People were inconvenienced but not harmed. The people who needed to evacuate, those in vulnerable spots, weak structures, etc. found shelter. Only a few even needed a rescue.

    Houston was a different problem because that storm developed very suddenly and by the time the danger was apparent there was simply no way to get everyone out in time. It is a very large city with insufficient highway capacity to get everyone to safety. They tried it in the past and the evacuation killed more people than the storm. They are going to need a long term solution to that problem yet they too have affirmative action leadership incapable of it.

    PR also apparently, despite being a failed state Hellhole, has managed to avoid massive casualties. Property damage, yes, human toll, no.

    And until they start building things to withstand the hurricanes they know are going to come by every so often, that is on them. They gambled, they lost, they didn't even have insurance, end of story. A totally expected event should be a bad thing when it finally happens but if it is a "disaster" that is your lack of planning being revealed. I'm tired of FEMA running into these disaster zones and dumping Sagans of cash out of helicopters. Fix the damaged infrastructure, so a little to help people impacted get a loan to rebuild, help with the short term losses and expenses but don't just cover everything, and then get the Hell back out. If there is no pain there will be no learning, meaning we will be asked to bail them out next time.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 23 2017, @01:40PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 23 2017, @01:40PM (#572095) Journal

    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.