Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
Hurricane Matthew Damages NASA’s Historic Artifacts
Photos released on Saturday, October 8 show an aerial view of damage to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida from Hurricane Matthew. The typhoon sustained winds of 90 mph (145 km/h) with speed exceeding 105 mph (170 km/h). It struck the Space coast overnight from Thursday to Friday at a speed of 26 miles (42 km) heading out northwards towards the coast of Cape Canaveral.
Pictures show that the 52-storey Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) still intact. Beside the VAB however, a large space shuttle artifact seems to have collapsed. They also show the orbiter access arm that used to be on top of Launch pad 39A on its side in the VAB’s parking lot.
During Hurricane Frances, VAB lost 820 panels on its south wall. In September 2004, VAB lost another 25 panels on its east wall. It was lucky not to receive any damage from Hurricane Mathew. Photos taken on Saturday show no damage done to the wall. The giant US flag and the NASA logo on the south side also looked to have escaped damage.
Adjacent exhibits like the armored M-113 astronaut escape vehicle and the Orion abort system tower replica remains intact.
A number of support buildings in the area lost portions of their roof. The same thing happened to the roof of a 1962 vintage two-story structure called the Beach House. This building served as the astronauts’ hangout prior to launch.
Kennedy Space Center officials wrote in a statement released on Saturday, “It was determined that the center received some isolated roof damage, damaged support buildings, a few downed power lines and limited water intrusion. Teams of inspectors are going from building to building assessing damage.”
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex appeared relatively unharmed. However, the top of Thor-Delta booster rocket was missing. Thor-Delta is one of the seven historic boosters displayed at the popular Rocket Garden.
Officials did not disclose and details on damages on the historic Mercury and Gemini launch pad and facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Nevertheless, on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite imagery, the replica of Mercury-Redstone rocket can be seen standing at Launch Complex 5 (LC-5).
Older buildings from the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, which controls the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, also sustained damage.
Back to business
The Visitor Complex will re-open on October 9, Sunday. NASA will resume tourist sightseeing without bus tours of the Kennedy Space Center along with Apollo/Saturn V Center on NASA’s property. But on Monday it will restart its direct bus service to the moon booster’s building.
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Friday, October 7, 2016
Hurricane Matthew – 400 confirmed dead and body count still rising
The death toll in Haiti caused by Hurricane Matthew – the most devastating hurricane in a decade – has reached 400 and is expected to climb even higher.
It has left a trail of death and destruction in its path with hundreds of thousands of the people on the island left homeless.
Senator Herve Fourcand from southern Haiti says “at least” 400 people are dead with unconfirmed reports putting the death toll at 478.
It has been estimated by aid organisations that at least 350,000 people are urgently in need of assistance throughout Haiti.
Killed
A top priority is to get phone networks back up and running and aid workers are very concerned about a surge in cholera cases, with the sanitation system in Haiti already overwhelmed.
In Sud province 30,000 homes were flattened, the city of Jeremie suffered the destruction of 80% of its buildings and 50 people were reported killed in the town of Roche-a-Bateau alone.
The nearby city of Jeremie saw 80% of its buildings levelled. In Sud province 30,000 homes were destroyed.
Most of those killed lived in fishing villages and small towns around the southern coast where falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers all added to the death toll.
Collapse
Phone coverage and electricity is down in large parts of Haiti, people are running out of food and water and the collapse of a vital bridge combined with torrential flooding is hampering rescue operations.
The Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for $6.9m to provide medical, shelter, water and sanitation assistance to 50,000 people while the US is sending nine military helicopters to help deliver food and water to the hardest-hit areas.
Meanwhile Matthew is currently battering the coastline of Florida with sustained winds of 120mph and this morning it was hugging the Florida coast, about 35 miles east of Daytona Beach.
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have all declared states of emergencies and at least three million inhabitants have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
More than half a million homes have lost power in Florida and the biggest fear now is the possibility of storm surges of 9ft or more.
Exactly what Hurricane Matthew will do next remains uncertain but the latest predictions suggest that it will hug the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before heading out to sea.
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Thursday, October 6, 2016
Hurricane Matthew – State of Emergency in Florida as Governor warns: “This Will Kill You”
As Florida braces itself for the impact of Hurricane Matthew, Governor Rick Scott issued a dire warning to residents: “This will kill you.”
President Obama has already declared a State of Emergency for Florida and the National Weather Service fears that the hurricane could leave parts of the state “uninhabitable for weeks.”
Latest forecast models predict that Palm Beach County will be worst hit by Matthew which has already claimed the lives of more than 100 people.
Reuters said the death toll was at least 102 with 98 of those in Haiti alone – many of which were killed by falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers.
Do not surf
It is unclear exactly what path Matthew will take, but if it does make landfall it will be the first hurricane to hit Florida directly since 2005.
Governor Scott said today: “Do not surf. Do not go on the beach. This will kill you.”He also warned of widespread power outages as the National Weather Service predicted that waves from the storm could reach up to 18 feet and warned of severe coastal surging.
Schools across most of Florida are closed, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is closed as are Orlando’s Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and LEGOLAND.
The National Weather Service warned: “Extremely dangerous, life-threatening weather conditions are forecast.
Extreme
“The center of Hurricane Matthew containing the strongest wind gusts, storm surge and heavy rain squalls will move along or over portions of the east central Florida coastline very early Friday morning and into the afternoon.
It warned that:
- Widespread extensive to devastating wind impacts will be felt.
- Airborne debris lofted by extreme winds will be capable of breaching structures, unprotected windows and vehicles.
- Effects such as these ranging from the coast to well inland have not been experienced in central Florida in decades.
- Local winds will exceed what occurred during the hurricanes of 2004.
- Travel will be strongly discouraged beginning at dusk.
- Expect widespread power outages.
- Failure to adequately shelter may result in serious injury, loss of life or immense human suffering.
A number of mandatory evacuation orders are in effect throughout Florida and tolls have been lifted on all roads necessary for evacuation.
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Americans Flee Coast as Hurricane Matthew Approaches US
President Barack Obama and state governors advised millions to evacuate or brace for a possibly destructive Hurricane Matthew. Residents near the southeast US coast on Wednesday stocked up on groceries, lined up for gasoline and took off inland.
Matthew, considered the strongest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, battered the Bahamas and heads directly for the United States. The US National Hurricane Center said that it would likely hit Florida with heavy rain, powerful winds and storm surges on Thursday.
Obama emphasized in a briefing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that if there’s an evacuation order in their community, people should take it seriously.
FEMA has placed commodities and other supplies in Albany, Georgia and at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. They also positioned personnel to emergency operation centers in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
According to the Miami-based hurricane center, Matthew is a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of about 115 miles per hour on Wednesday night. They added that it was too early to forecast where the hurricane was expected to do the most damage.
Emergency measures
In Florida, Governor Rick Scott appealed to those areas at risk to evacuate as soon as possible. The inhabitants may start leaving even if orders had not yet been issued.
Scott also called for Obama to declare a pre-landfall emergency for Florida. This would bring federal resources such as water, food and tarps, and would augment an already active force of 1,500 National Guard members with an additional 1,500.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s office said he extended a state of emergency proclamation to include 17 additional counties. This brings the total to 30 counties.
Medical staff cleared at least four hospitals as evacuations were proceeding in about a dozen of Florida’s coastal counties, Scott said.
Authorites expect the initial effects of the storm on Saturday morning in South Carolina. At this time drivers at the state already report gridlocks and long delays.
On social media, Floridians said they were stocking up on groceries and setting up their homes with hurricane shutters.
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