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from the good-time-to-implement-strict-building-codes dept.
At 9PM ET September 20, ABC News reported
The island of Puerto Rico has been "destroyed" after Hurricane Maria made landfall there as a Category 4 storm Wednesday morning, according to emergency officials.
Puerto Rico's office of emergency management confirmed that 100 percent of the U.S. territory had lost power, noting that anyone with electricity was using a generator.
Multiple transmission lines sustained damage from the storm, said Ricardo Ramos, director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Ramos said he hopes to begin launching helicopters by this weekends to begin inspecting the transmission lines.
Telecommunications throughout the island have "collapsed", Abner Gomez Cortes, executive director of Puerto Rico's office of emergency management and disaster administration agency, told ABC News.
[...] Cortes described Maria as an unprecedented storm, adding that the island had not seen a storm of that strength since 1928.
[...] Puerto Rico was still experiencing tropical-storm force winds Wednesday afternoon, forcing emergency services and search and rescue teams to wait before heading out to assess the damage, Cortes said.
More than 12,000 people are currently in shelters, and hospitals are now running on generators, Cortes said. Two hospitals--one in Caguas and one in Bayamon--have been damaged.
No deaths have been reported so far, but catastrophic flooding is currently taking place on the island. Multiple rain gauges have reported between 18 and 24 inches of rain, with some approaching the 30-inch mark over the last 24 hours.
Flooding is the danger "that will take lives", Cortes said, advising residents not to venture out of their homes until Thursday because "it is not safe to go out and observe".
[...] As of 8 p.m. ET, Maria had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained wind of 110 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
[...] Some strengthening is possible now that the storm is back over the ocean, so Maria has potential to become a Category 3 hurricane again.
National Hurricane Center graphics for Maria.
Map of Caribbean Islands.
At 15:20 UTC, Mashable reported
Clips shot in the [cities] of Farjado, San Juan, and Guyama show buildings experiencing extreme structural damage. Doors are being ripped right off their hinges, and windows, walls, and roofs of homes, restaurants, and hotels are being stripped away by the storm's incredible power.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 21 2017, @09:24PM (5 children)
In the late 1800s it may have been the case that people living in the Caribbean knew how to take tropical weather in stride, today with jet travel, easy immigration, and 89 years of no major storms hitting Puerto Rico, they're ripe for a fall - 89 years of sub-code construction and people who have lived in houses "all their lives without a problem" suddenly sunbathing whether they want to or not.
The post-Irma effects around here have been: day 1 standing water, falling trees and no electricity. Day 3, the standing water is gone, but the ants have multiplied by a factor of 10 from their pre-storm populations, apparently they like wet food. Day 5, electricity restored - just as we were getting into a power-free groove that actually worked pretty well. Day 7, the mosquitoes are here - worse than after Matthew which was itself 10x worse than a normal wet season mosquito bloom. It's all pretty easy to take since we still have a roof, windows with screens, working plumbing, etc. Take away the intact house and the whole thing becomes a lot less enjoyable.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 21 2017, @10:19PM (4 children)
They routinely get hit by tropical storms and hurricanes every year. And just with a little googling, I see that hurricane Hugo was cat 3 when it hit Puerto Rico in 1989.
[...]
Ants can't breathe water either. So of course, they're going to be on the surface where there is air, say in that nice dry house, rather than the usual places they go. The mosquitoes are a genuine surge in population. Apparently those eggs can last a while.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 21 2017, @11:17PM (2 children)
Congrats on your research. Around here, our evac plans hinge on whether or not a Cat4 or higher has a reasonable chance of a direct hit. Cat3 and lower wind levels are generally NOT devastating to reasonably good construction even when you get the eyewall. Around 140mph sustained winds the shit hits the fan, especially when you do an eyewall traversal that hits you from one direction and then the other. Almost the whole island of Puerto Rico just got that, and it shows. Do some more research on what the after-effects of Hugo was on Puerto Rico and write a brief comparison/contrast paper on that.
The ants didn't show up in-force until after the sandy soil drained out, it's probably a combined effect - you'd be surprised at how quickly they can multiply. And, they're not in the house, they're all over the yard in much higher density than normal.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Thursday September 21 2017, @11:32PM (1 child)
And how much are you paying me to do that?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 22 2017, @01:41AM
Just as much as I paid you to look up when the last "biggest" hurricane hit Puerto Rico - one internet point. I might even give you a mod+ informative if you get some interesting facts in there.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday September 23 2017, @09:15PM
>Ants can't breathe water either. So of course, they're going to be on the surface where there is air...
Got bored, found this: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2387844?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents [jstor.org]
Irma basically replicated those results in my yard. Areas of dry sand+litter became wet, ants moved in to the newly wet litter and multiplied - remarkably quickly.
At least the mosquito bloom is tapering down, for the moment. Still have 2-3 truckloads of brush to move out, waiting for the insect dominance of the yard to subside a bit more before doing the last of the cleanup.
🌻🌻 [google.com]