International
Severe floods and widespread power outages in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Ernesto
Puerto Rico suffered severe floods and widespread power outages this Wednesday due to the copious rains brought by tropical storm Ernesto, which became a category 1 hurricane when it passed to the north of the island.
The rainfall caused all the rivers on the island to be “close to or above their overflow level,” according to meteorologist Ernesto Morales, of the National Meteorological Service (SNM), said at a press conference.
The weather agency warned from the beginning of the day of sudden floods in most of Puerto Rico and predicted total accumulations of rain of between 6 and 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters).
One of the most affected areas was the northern Toa Baja, at the mouth of the La Plata River, where the authorities had to evict several families because the water reached the homes of neighborhoods such as San José.
Inspector Robert Ramos Rosario, director of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Bayamón area, explained to EFE that Highway 2 was closed for the safety of citizens due to the overflow of the river.
“Every time there is an atmospheric event this happens because the river comes from the mountainous area of Barranquitas, Comerío, Cayey and Naranjito, and flows here,” he lamented.
One of the people who could not cross was Arsenio Inocencio Frías, an employee of the Los Nevarez Cowboy, who tried to challenge police security and take a shorter stretch to attend to the 300 cows that he has to milk twice a day.
“I have to get there,” he told EFE Frías, who assured that in the area these floods “have happened quite a few times.”
The NHC stressed that tropical storm alerts are maintained for the British and American Virgin Islands, as well as for the Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra, according to the 11:00 local time bulletin (15.00 GMT).
At that time the tropical storm was about 280 kilometers (175 miles) northwest of San Juan (Puerto Rico) and about 1,340 kilometers (835 miles) south-southwest of Bermuda.
It is the third hurricane so far in the hurricane season in the Atlantic basin, which began on June 1, and has produced five tropical storms: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby and Ernesto.
Of them, Beryl, Debby and Ernesto were strengthened until they reached hurricanes. Beryl even reached the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the five, causing destruction and death in the Caribbean and in the United States.
This hurricane season in the Atlantic is expected to be one of the most active and intense in decades because up to 25 storms and 13 hurricanes are expected to form.
Hundreds of people are in the shelters set up by the authorities of Puerto Rico, where there are blocked roads and some rivers are overflowing after the passage of Ernesto, who has become a hurricane.
According to data from the Department of the Family, at least 375 people have sought refuge in 72 shelters in different municipalities of the island.
The torrential rains and strong gusts of wind have caused damage to private homes, as well as the fall of trees and some light poles.
Dozens of roads in municipalities in the north, center and east of the island are obstructed by water, trees or landslides.
Some of the most affected areas have been the municipal islands of Vieques and Culebra, for which the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States maintains tropical storm alerts.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden signed an emergency declaration to help Puerto Rico face the consequences of Hurricane Ernesto, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported.
The agency pointed out in a statement that the presidential order authorizes it to coordinate response efforts in order to reduce the difficulties and suffering of the local population.
The objective, according to his note, is to provide adequate support to the 78 municipalities of that Commonwealth to “save lives, protect property, safety and public health and minimize or prevent the threat of a catastrophe.”
The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico resumed air operations on Wednesday after the passage of the tropical storm Ernesto, already turned into a hurricane, which caused the cancellation of 145 flights.
About 80 flights were canceled on this day, in addition to the 65 suspended on Tuesday, according to the statement from Aerostar, the operating company of the airport.
The president of Aerostar, Jorge Hernández, reported that air operations were restarted after a process of inspection of the facilities.
International
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
At least ten people lost their lives this Saturday when a passenger bus fell down a ravine on a highway in the province of Lorestan, in western Iran.
“The bus that left Andimeshk (Juzestan province) to Poldokhtar (Lorestan), went off the road and fell into a ravine so unfortunately at least 10 people have died,” announced the executive director of the Red Crescent of the province of Lorestan, Mohammad Ghadami, reported the Tasnim agency.
The official did not give details about the number of injured in the accident and their state of health.
Ghadami said that four rescue teams were sent to the scene of the incident immediately after it was reported at 12:39 local time (9:10 GMT) this Saturday.
Mortality on roads, one of the highest in the world
Traffic accidents are very common in Iran, where the road mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, with an average of 20,000 deaths per year.
Many of the accidents are due to the poor condition of the vehicles and the poor compliance with traffic rules by drivers.
Last August, at least 28 Pakistani pilgrims died when the bus in which they were traveling overturned in central Iran, in an accident that occurred due to a brake failure.
International
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
Hurricane Helene is one of the extreme climatic events that have starred this 2024 after leaving more than 150 direct deaths and billions of dollars in losses in six states of the southeastern United States, according to preliminary figures.
The deadly Helene, which in the continental United States has only been surpassed by Katrina (2005), ended with more than 150 deaths, at least a hundred in North Carolina, in addition to leaving a path of destruction that reached the mountainous area of that state with special virulence.
After impacting Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula, Helene made landfall on September 26 with winds of 225 kilometers per hour in the Big Bend region of Florida, in the northwest of that state, as the most powerful cyclone in that region since records have been available.
From Florida, where it arrived as a major hurricane, and while it weakened progressively to become a tropical depression, Helene continued on land through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
North Carolina was the one that took the worst part, not only for the number of deaths but for the economic losses, which amount to more than 59.6 billion dollars, according to an update from the state government released this month.
The historic rainfall of up to 76 centimeters caused floods and landslides in this state, which caused serious damage, and long-term, both in homes and in public infrastructure and the agricultural industry.
Million-dollar economic losses
Quantifying at this time the economic losses in all the states impacted by Helene, which generated strong winds and tornadoes, is difficult because there are discrepancies in the damage assessment since it produced “a large-scale disaster,” as Mónica Escaleras, professor of the Department of Economics at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), told EFE.
“The widespread nature of the damage, the diversity of affected sectors and ongoing recovery efforts” are factors that prevent an accurate estimate at present, he added.
Escaleras believes, however, that Helene is a reflection of how in recent years “extreme weather events have become increasingly frequent and intense, altering infrastructure and supply chains.”
A preliminary report from the Institute of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Florida (UF/IFAS) estimates that agricultural losses in this southern state due to Helene can range between 40.3 and 162.2 million dollars, after destroying 6.1 million acres (2.4 million hectares) of arable land.
More hurricanes like Helene in the future
A key factor in Helene’s intensity were the high temperatures in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, whose surfaces were at about 29.4 degrees Celsius when the system began to form.
A preliminary study by the World Weather Attribution network of scientists reflected that this temperature is the result of climate change, which made Helene’s effects worse, responsible for example for 10% more rain.
“It is expected that the growing occurrence of these events will generate higher insurance premiums and may lead to the withdrawal of coverage in high-risk areas, which will affect both the real estate and business sectors,” Escaleras said.
This possible future scenario can, on the other hand, affect unprotected communities more, such as the Hispanic one in the United States. The Climate Power organization revealed last week a report that shows that Latino communities have been the great victims of the extreme weather events that occurred in 2024.
The report in question found that many Latino families in western North Carolina live in trailers flooded or destroyed by the storm, and that not mastering English they had obstacles when it came to receiving information about recovery tasks.
Antonieta Cádiz, executive director of the Climate Power In Action campaign, reminded EFE of the case of the workers of a plastics factory in Erwin (Tennessee) who died after a negligence in their evacuation, which was not carried out due to the imminent effects of Helene, employees who were mostly Hispanic.
The above, he said, is a sample of the disproportionate and “deep inequalities” that affect the Hispanic community when it comes to extreme weather events.
International
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
When the low tide in the Colombian Pacific, a group of women put on rubber boots, take a raft and enter a mangrove forest to collect the piangua, a mollusk that, in addition to providing food to their families, empowers them and gives them a voice in their territory.
They are in the community of La Plata, in the heart of the Uramba-Bahía Málaga National Natural Park, and they have just six hours to work before the sea rises again. Stuck in the mud they sing to liven up their days and regardless of the sun or rain they fill their containers with this mollusk similar to the mussel with which they prepare delicious recipes.
“It is a very important ancestral activity because it allows us to have economic sustainability as women, to be a symbol of resistance to cultural traditions and to take care of our gastronomic traditions,” Matilde Mosquera Murillo, legal representative of the Raíces Piangüeras Association.
Mosquera, 27 years old and a sociologist by profession, took on the challenge of leading that organization created in 2019 and has managed to bring together more than 70 women who are dedicated to this profession in the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, where they play a fundamental role in conservation.
“We monitor mangroves, because we know the importance they have in the ecosystem, they are the cradle of thousands of species. We also make every process sustainable so that all the initiatives we lead allow us to take care of nature,” Mosquera insists.
International recognition
Their work already has international recognition and since 2023 they have held the ‘Meeting of Women of the Colombian Pacific’. In the first edition they asked the National Government to advocate before UNESCO to declare the piangüeo as Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
“We believe in the need for a political strengthening of women, that our voice is heard and that we are part of the decisions that are made in the country so that we have votes in public policies and that they recognize our ancestral work in the world,” she adds.
The environmental richness of the La Plata archipelago is enormous and its 32 islands and islets are the habitat of 1,396 species of birds, reptiles, mammals and felines, as well as 60 classes of frogs, 25 of lizards and 52 of snakes.
There are also eight species of sharks, 22 rays and 348 of fish that have six types of mangroves as their home: red mangrove, born mangrove, ped mangrove, button or button mangrove, bobo mangle and feeder mangle.
Unity and awareness
According to Santiago Valencia, leader of the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, women use a ‘piangüímetro’, a tool that works as a rule that allows them to measure the mollusk when it has already passed its reproductive stage.
“Their organization is as strong as the roots of the mangrove and they even come together to reforest when they see it necessary. This unity has made them look for other alternatives because they see that everything is possible and today they see themselves as what they are: powerful women, businesswomen and nature lovers,” says Valencia.
Currently, women piangüeras work in the search for resources that allow them to access studies to improve and strengthen their processes.
Some of them have already created other ventures for the manufacture of ointments based on medicinal plants from the jungle, ancestral drinks and even think about packing the piangua in a vacuum to export it to other countries.
“When we go to the mangrove we sing as a symbol of power, to express our feelings, it also serves to harmonize our activity and understand that we are important; we will leave this inheritance to our children and it will continue for generations,” concludes Mosquera.
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
Central America4 days agoAmnesty International condemns Nicaragua’s unprecedented repression of dissent
-
Sports4 days agoReal Madrid clinches fourth Intercontinental Cup with 3-0 victory over Pachuca
-
Central America4 days agoEl Salvador’s MARN monitors ongoing seismic activity in La Unión department
-
International4 days agoMexico requests extradition of ‘Mini Lic’ for murder of journalist Javier Valdez
-
International3 days agoThe Court of the IADH rules out measures in favor of Gustavo Petro amid investigations into his campaign
-
International4 days agoMexican government to use church atriums for gun surrender program to combat violence
-
International3 days agoTrump links Mike Johnson’s re-election to meeting his budget requirements
-
International3 days agoThe Constitutional Court of Peru annuls the sentence against the leader of Dina Boluarte’s former party
-
International4 days agoCuba’s government stresses openness to serious, respectful U.S. relations
-
International4 days agoBegoña Gómez defends her actions as investigations into her role at Complutense University continue
-
International3 days agoGuterres calls for “avoiding at all costs” the integration of AI into nuclear weapons
-
International4 days agoNASA delays return of two astronauts stranded on ISS until at least March
-
International5 days agoAustrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
-
International5 days agoHomemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
-
International5 days agoColombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
-
International20 hours agoAt least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
-
International20 hours agoHelene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
-
International4 days agoUkraine’s security a priority as NATO discusses future of conflict with Russia
-
International4 days agoPatient hospitalized with severe avian flu case in Louisiana, CDC reports
-
International20 hours agoAt least 21 dead and 61 injured after Israel’s last attacks in Gaza
-
International3 days agoAn appeals court disqualifies the prosecutor in the election case against Trump in Georgia
-
International20 hours agoMilei closed about 200 areas of the Public Administration in its first year of Government
-
International20 hours agoThe piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
-
International3 days agoThe new French prime minister launches an ultimatum to the moderate parties and the left rejects his offer
-
International20 hours agoNew Syrian leader addresses with the United States the lifting of sanctions for reconstruction
-
International5 days agoEcuador announces debt swap of $1.527 billion to protect Amazon rainforest