Prophecy, Drought, Earthquakes, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Strange Weather.

[Soldier4Christ]

Low rainfall triggers N.J. drought watch
DEP calls for early conservation measures


A drought watch was declared by the state Department of Environmental Protection yesterday because a lack of rain has left ground water and stream flow levels unusually low this spring.

The watch -- which comes despite predictions of rain for later in the week -- is a precautionary step and urges residents to conserve water before the situation requires "more restrictive and mandatory water-use measures."

 State monitoring shows a decline in key water-supply criteria, including rainfall, stream flows and groundwater levels, DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura said.

"This is the first step before we get to a drought warning, where water use could be more restricted and the DEP could order water purveyors to transport water to different locations," Makatura said.

The final step would be a drought emergency, under which the DEP could order tight, statewide restrictions on water use.

As of yesterday, stream flows were extremely dry in the northeast corner of the state, and groundwater levels were moderately dry across the state, according to the DEP.

The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center has determined that much of the mid-Atlantic region, including the southern half of New Jersey, is under moderate drought conditions.

Under the DEP's drought watch, residents are asked to voluntarily limit lawn watering to twice a week, repair leaky faucets and pipes, turn off faucets when not in use, install water- conserving devices and run washing machines and dishwashers only when full.

But Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club said authorities must to do more to establish long-term protections for New Jersey's water supplies.

"This is the third drought we've had in four years, and the seventh drought in the past 20 years, yet we've done nothing in the state to manage and protect our water resources," he said.

Tittel said the state needs to take immediate steps to protect natural headwaters and recharge areas from development and degradation, mandate year-round water conservation measures and tighten restrictions against pollution discharges into streams.

[Soldier4Christ]

Drought’s grip remains

Meteorologists say the Fayetteville area needs a lot more rain to end the drought.

Sunday’s showers dumped 1 to 2.5 inches across the Cape Fear region, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorolgists say the area needs two to three times more over the next few months.

Since March 1, the Fayetteville Regional Airport has recorded 6.1 inches of rain, which is close to normal for that period, said Rod Gonski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

Fayetteville needs another 6.7 inches — for a total of 15.7 — to get back to normal levels for the year thus far.

Cumberland County is experiencing a moderate drought, according to the N.C. Drought Management Council. Hoke, Bladen, Robeson, Sampson and Scotland counties are in the same drought category. Lee, Harnett and Moore are in a severe drought.

Members of the drought council will examine rainfall totals and other data today to see if any counties are now out of their current drought conditions, said council Chairman Woody Yonts of the North Carolina Division of Water Resources.

Yonts said he did not know whether Sunday’s rain lifted any counties out of the drought, but he did smile as he heard the raindrops pitter-patter Sunday.

“I always feel a lot better after it’s rained,” he said.

The rain was steady and sustained, giving the soil plenty of time to absorb it before the excess ran off into streams and storm drains, Yonts said.

Nevertheless, Yonts still wants people to use water wisely, especially as the summer begins. People use more water for their lawns and pools during June, July and August.

The public water supply appears stable. The level at Jordan Lake, which feeds the Cape Fear River, has remained steady during the drought. On Monday, it stood at 217 feet, one foot above normal, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Sunday’s rain came just in time for many farmers, who were counting on moisture in the soil for their seeds to germinate.

Crops that have already been planted, like corn and tobacco, might sprout a little late because of the lack of rain earlier this season, said Cumberland County Cooperative Extension Agent Colby Lambert.

Farmers were not panicked by the drought, but “it was getting to be a pretty big problem,” Lambert said.

Gonski said he was optimistic that precipitation levels would rise soon. The weather service’s Climate Prediction Center calls for the drought in North Carolina to continue, but improve through July.

As for the rest of this week, more rain is predicted for the area Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, Gonski said. The forecast calls for about half an inch.

[Soldier4Christ]

Fears of widespread drought

ISLAMABAD, 8 May (IRIN) - A severe drought is likely in Pakistan in the coming months, weather experts at the national meteorological department in the capital, Islamabad, warned on Monday, with reservoir levels in some areas already dangerously low after a dry winter and little rain expected in the next two months.

"Moderate drought conditions have already developed in Balochistan and lower Sindh [provinces], which are likely to worsen in the coming months with the possibility of spreading to other parts of the country," Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, head of the meteorological department, said.

Pakistan received 40 percent less rainfall last winter than average levels, while snowfall in many northern areas was also 20-25 percent below normal, according to the weather office.

"This indicates the likelihood of a severe water shortage in the country during the next few months," Chaudhry noted.

At present, Pakistan is classed as a "water-stressed" nation, having about 1,200 cubic metres of water per capita for a population of over 160 million. A combination of factors, including a natural water shortage, high population growth and inappropriate management, is adding to the country's severe water crisis.

If drought comes, provincial irrigation departments would have a hard time achieving sowing targets for cotton, sugarcane and rice in these hot and dry conditions. At the same time, it would also adversely affect livestock, horticulture and human lives throughout the country, say experts.

"Cotton sowing, which is in progress, has faced a near 35 percent water shortage [this season] due to the ongoing dry spell since February, and it has also brought the summer season on early," said Muhammad Khalid Idrees Rana, a research officer at the country's leading water regulatory authority, Indus River System Authority (IRSA), based in Islamabad.

Experts are stressing the weather will always be unpredictable and that better use of existing water needs to be explored. "Only efficient management of available water resources at field, household and institutional level can avert the emerging drought crisis," Dr Ghulam Rasool, agricultural researcher at the meteorological centre said.

Over 2 million people, mostly from the southern provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, were affected by severe drought in Pakistan from 1998 to 2001.

[Soldier4Christ]

Death By Drought A Threat To Millions In Africa

Afro American Newspaper, News Report, Zenitha Prince, May 08, 2006

A fast approaching "hunger season" threatens millions of lives in the Horn of Africa, and world emergency relief donations are far from enough to stave off the coming crisis, humanitarian agencies say.

Over 8 million people face a direct threat and 15 million more are at risk of starvation in the drought-stricken countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, as the traditionally dry months of June, July and August approach, according to the United Nations. And as of May 2, only $95 million of the $443 million requested has been committed, the agency said.

Aid workers on the ground say though the April/May rains have begun, the deluge may be too late to reverse the cumulative effects of a prolonged drought that has scourged the region.

"In Kenya as elsewhere in the Eastern Horn of Africa, the long rains have begun but it is too early to say if they will be enough," said Peter Smerdon, a U.N. World Food Programme representative in Kenya.
Not only may the rains be too little too late, but they may pose other health and sustainability threats to the millions of nomadic herders and subsistence farmers whose livelihoods have already been undermined.

"The start of the rains does alleviate the need for water in the short run, but they don't solve the need for food," Smerdon said. "A lot of rain does not help the herdsmen to restock their herds."

In fact, Smerdon added, "In some ways [the rain] has worsened the situation for people with livestock because as temperatures drop, the animals get sick and die, and because there are so many dead animals lying around there, there is a concern that the water would be contaminated and people would drink it and diseases would increase."

The rains also make it hard for humanitarian aid to reach people in hard to access areas, as the rains flood sand roads turning them into impassable bogs.

The situation makes global contributions even more necessary, relief workers say.

In March and April alone, WFP said it was forced to stop rations of oil and pulses (peas and beans) and to cut back on a high nutrition impact blend of corn and soy because of no funding or late-arriving food contributions.

"Our donors have helped many people live through this drought but it would be a cruel escape, if those who lost the most only suffer more in the months ahead because contributions dry up," said WFP Kenya Country Director Tesema Negash in a prepared statement. "We must stay the course, and help these people recover rather than abandon them because of the rains."

The current situation in East Africa arises from a medley of factors. Climactic changes have resulted in shorter rainy seasons and longer drought seasons. Environmental degradation, whether the cause or the result of these climactic changes, has also ensued, making the fight for space and other resources between farmers and herdsmen even more intense. Faced with a loss of their livelihoods, many herdsmen have been forced to move into the towns. And agro-pastoralists, faced with no funds to buy seeds, have been unable to replant. In addition, many of these countries have had to deal with long histories of war, government corruption, poverty, AIDS and harmful trade policies that have made instituting much needed infrastructure like health facilities, schools, roads and a water distribution system almost impossible.

The UN's Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Kjell Magne Bondevik, said after a recent tour of the region that the governments were making clear efforts towards becoming self-reliant.
But humanitarian workers say sustainability initiatives have been undermined by continual diversions of allocated funds to emergency relief.

"It's difficult to get aid for development because there are so many emergency situations, especially in Africa, and donors are under pressure to save lives," Smerdon said.

But something must be done to support sustainability in this region or it will forever remain a bottomless pit of emergency relief needs, other aid workers said.

"There needs to be a plan to help rebuild lives as well as save them. We risk getting into a pernicious cycle where money for long-term recovery is being diverted to fund emergency relief," said Paul Smith Lomas, head of Oxfam International in East Africa in a May 1 statement. "If long-term projects are raided every time we face a crisis, the region will never progress. Instead of robbing Peter to pay Paul, additional funds should be made available now to support both strands."

In a related story, the World Food Programme recently announced that due to a severe funding shortage, food allocations to millions in Sudan have been cut almost in half in an attempt to stretch food supplies over the hunger season.

As in other emergency aid situations, workers say they have not received the required donations to feed an estimated 6.1 million people in Sudan. In Darfur, the situation is exacerbated by the inaccessibility of roads, by the displacement of millions and by continuing security challenges.

"This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made," said WFP Executive Director James Morris in a prepared statement. "Haven't the people of Darfur suffered enough? Aren't we adding insult to injury?"

[Soldier4Christ]

Drought situation worsening

WESLACO, TX – The drought situation here has some Valley farmers worried.

Farmer Joe Aguilar planted his cotton crop about a month and a half ago, but nothing has grown in the dusty field. “The seed is still in here. The seed never germinated. That's cotton seed right there,” he said.

Aguilar said things are only getting worse. He is concerned about the dry ground. “It's very flaky. It's not hard. It's turning different. It's getting used to staying dry,” he said.

Aguilar says he has already lost half a million dollars this year because cotton, cabbage and onion crops did not come up.

While we haven’t had to worry about reservoir levels as much in the past couple of years, drought conditions on land are getting worse. NEWSCHANNEL 5 Chief Meteorologist Tim Smith said, “So, water supply. While it was fine not too long ago, it's starting to go down pretty fast. Rainfall-wise we're kind of in and out. We've had years way above normal rainfall in the last several years, but for the last few months we've definitely been behind. There's a lot of areas out there starting to remind you of a desert.”

Aguilar says if the landscape doesn’t change to a more fertile one soon, he may have to consider doing something else for a living.

[Soldier4Christ]

Scientists warn of solar storm threat


As the world scrambles to prepare for hurricanes and earthquakes of unprecedented strength, some scientists say the sun poses an equal threat, with predictions calling for a 2012 sun storm of immense proportions.

If the idea of a solar storm sounds too much like the stuff of sci-fi, consider this: a single large solar flare has a million times more energy than the largest earthquake, according to Space.com.

The vast space between the Earth and the Sun is filled with electrically-charged particles, radiation, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic energy that could play havoc with Earth in the event of elevated solar output.

The last great solar super storm was 145 years ago. But, this event provides little context given our very recently-adopted dependence on satellite-based technologies.

Last month, experts convened in Colorado during Space Weather Week (April 25-28) to discuss the issues surrounding the approaching 2012 event. If the storm turns out to be at the same scale as the one in 1859, economic disaster would ensue, with immediate costs around the $20 billion mark.

Sten Odenwald of the QSS Corp., based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt predicts that in the 2012 storm will kill only the oldest of the 300 geosynchronous Earth-orbiting (GEO) satellites. However the storm would likely reduce the life of all the other satellites by five to 10 years.

These longer-term problems would add tens of billions of dollars more over the years, Odenwald says. The GEO satellites alone generate about $97 billion US in revenue each year.

A solar superstorm could also:

· force about 100 low Earth-orbiting spacecraft to undergo earlier-than-normal reentry

· disrupt Global Positioning Systems the world over

· force the International Space Station to lose altitude

[Soldier4Christ]

Wildfire Smoke, Fog Causes Traffic Accidents in Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. — Lightning strikes could possibly spark more flames in areas of Florida where wildfires have consumed more than 8,000 acres and destroyed three homes in New Smyrna Beach, officials and forecasters said Tuesday.

A quarter-inch of rain brought little relief to firefighters battling about 50 wildfires in parched central Florida on Tuesday, and smoke from the blazes was blamed for auto accidents that killed four people.

Three homes and several outdoor structures have been destroyed so far in the fires that started April 21, but no homes were in immediate danger Tuesday.

"That rain is going to be dried up — we didn't get much," said Timber Weller, a specialist with the Florida Division of Forestry. "By the end of today, most of that water will have evaporated between the sun and the winds."

"We still have significant wildfire conditions and need a tremendous amount of rain to get back to normal levels," New Smyrna Beach spokeswoman Shannon Lewis said Tuesday.

"We haven't had any good rain for months ... we sure hope to get some for us pretty soon," added New Smyrna Beach Mayor James Vandergrifft.

The fire was about 70 percent contained early Tuesday, but authorities warned it was far from under control. Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

Smoke from wildfires in Volusia and Brevard counties cleared up enough Tuesday for parts of Interstate 95 to reopen to traffic. Thick black smoke mixed with morning fog caused dozens of car accidents. Two people died and 19 passengers on a bus were injured in four crashes on Monday.

Parts of Interstate 95 and the BeachLine Expressway, which runs from Orlando to the Atlantic coast, will be closed to morning traffic until further notice, officials said.

"There's a lot of fuel all the way around the edge of this fire. If the wind changes, you can have fire again, fast," said Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson.

President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, on Tuesday reminded residents not to throw out cigarette butts with wildfires blazing across the state.

Officials at Fire Station 28 in Sun City Center near Tampa briefed the Bush brothers on the dry, windy conditions that were contributing to about 50 wildfires across the state, including one in the area that was believed to have been started by a spark from a utility line. The brothers then came outside, where dark smoke from one fire could be seen in the distant sky, to talk to reporters.

"Obviously the people need to be real careful, careful about starting fires, be careful about not throwing used cigarettes out," the president said. "They need to be mindful that these are dangerous conditions."

Jeb Bush, also noted that tossing a cigarette butt is a felony in the state.

"We want to make sure that no fires are started because of human error or negligence or malfeasance," he said.

About 1,000 residents were ordered to evacuate Sunday in New Smyrna Beach as the fire approached. Some residents had been allowed to return to their homes on Monday night, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Vandergrifft told FOX News on Tuesday that evacuations in New Smyrna Beach are over and schools are in session. I-95 was closed early Tuesday morning because of heavy fog and smoke.

"Primarily, we're lucky in our area" that the fire only threatened one 915-home subdivision, of which three homes were lost, Vandergrifft said. "W did manage to save all the rest of them so it was a good thing," he added.

Avia Toney was one of the residents allowed to return. She was relieved Monday to find her house had been spared. She fled the neighborhood only when she saw fire approaching through the woods across a nearby golf course.

"It was right at the edge of the woods," she said. "Ashes were falling. It was black and ugly."

Neighbor Mary Bradfield took her cat, Betsy, to safety at a friend's house, but her husband Dick refused to evacuate.

"I didn't want to lose my home," he said Monday. "If it got really dangerous, I would have left."

Officials are tracking about 50 active wildfires throughout the water-parched state, including blazes just south of Daytona Beach that have destroyed three homes and shut down stretches of I-95. State officials believe many of the fires likely started with either human negligence or malevolence.

In Brevard County, all brush fire activity is within the fire lines and there is no threat to structures, county officials said Tuesday, although there is still a significant threat for flare up. The overall fire operation is considered to be 10 percent contained and approximately 6,400 acres have been consumed, officials said.

The governor declared a state of emergency Monday night, deploying aviation units from the Florida National Guard. He also met with some of the 155 firefighters working to contain a fire in New Smyrna Beach that has consumed about 1,300 acres since Sunday and destroyed three homes.

"We are a tinder box right now," said Gov. Bush. "We had a little bit of rain but not enough to give people assurances that we are not going to have more fires."

More than 2,200 wildfires have burned over 44,000 acres in Florida since Jan. 1, according to the state Division of Forestry.

"These fires are consuming everything," said Jim Brenner, the division's fire management administrator. "And it's not over by any stretch of the imagination."

Though portions of I-95 had reopened, smoke could shut it down again if the fires flare up, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller said.

I-95 is a prime target because, The Orlando Sentinel reports, while much of Central and South Florida is very dry to begin with, the corridor along that highway in Volusia and Brevard counties has been particularly parched during the past few months.

Winter and early-spring winds often blow from the west across the Sunshine State, and as those winds get drier, they leave little moisture for East-Central Florida, particularly the coastal areas, according to Deborah Hanley, a forecaster of the Division of Forestry in Tallahassee. The combination of the dryness and upcoming storms propelled by sea breezes makes for a dangerously vulnerable coastal region.

[Shammu]

Katrina-size hurricane would devastate South Florida, scientists say
By Martin Merzer

 MIAMI - Seven feet of sea water swamps 45 miles of coastline from Miami Beach through Fort Lauderdale to Deerfield Beach. Salt water surges through countless houses near the coast. Waist-deep fresh water blankets vast regions of suburbia.

Ferocious winds crush tens of thousands of roofs and gut numerous office buildings. Residents who defy orders to evacuate skyscrapers along the coast and in downtown Miami could be blown out of their apartments. Power outages persist for months.

According to simulations conducted for The Miami Herald by scientists at the National Hurricane Center and to interviews with a wide range of experts, those are realistic sketches of what could occur when South Florida is blasted by a hurricane as strong as last year's Katrina was when it devastated the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, or Wilma when it wrecked portions of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

"It is not inconceivable that hundreds or even thousands of Floridians who fail to take action, and who fail to evacuate if they are in evacuation zones, can lose their lives," said Craig Fugate, Florida's director of emergency management.

The six-month North Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1, but the odds are low that a storm of such intensity and breadth will strike in any given year. Someday, however - maybe this year, maybe next year, maybe during the next decade, but without question someday - such a storm will ravage South Florida.

"We know that it happened in southeast Florida before and there's no doubt in my mind that it will happen again," said Max Mayfield, the hurricane center's director. "I can't tell people when, but I can guarantee that it will happen."

The sketches produced by the experts and simulations offer a glimpse of a historic event that could transform the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area much as Katrina transformed New Orleans.

This article and the graphics and other material that accompany it in print and online aren't intended to frighten readers. They're intended to provide a clear-eyed assessment of how the heightened hurricane activity that's expected in coming decades could affect a densely developed area that's a magnet for people from northern states and South America and for vacationers all over the world.

The scenarios developed for The Miami Herald reflect the likely consequences if South Florida's Atlantic coast were hit head-on by the Category 3 version of Katrina, which slammed New Orleans, or by the slow-moving Category 4 version of Wilma, which ravaged Cancun and other parts of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.

Each storm would produce extensive damage to what engineers call the "exterior curtain wall" of high-rises, which includes windows and their frames, and to tens of thousands of private homes, particularly their roofs.

In the Katrina scenario, "I don't mean just the tiles coming off," said Herbert Saffir, a structural engineer and the co-developer of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, which ranks storms in categories 1 to 5. "I mean the entire roof coming off."

That, along with wind-blown rain penetrating around windows and sliding-glass doors and through other means, would allow substantial amounts of water to enter the buildings, compounding the damage.

"But what we really have to be worried about is the Category 4 or 5 storm that exceeds Katrina," Saffir said.

Which brings us to another Wilma, even more powerful than Katrina. What would residents see after such a storm?

"Block after block after block of stripped buildings," Saffir said. "There would be utter devastation."

"You're looking at major, major, major destruction," said Charles Danger, the director of Miami-Dade County's building department. " . . . You will lose infrastructure and the place where people need to go to do their jobs and work in this economy. You are paralyzing a complete city."

The weaker Wilma that struck South Florida on Oct. 24 severed power to 98 percent of Miami-Dade County and Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale. Electricity to some customers wasn't restored for nearly three weeks.

It can't get much worse than that, right?

Wrong.

"You can get a whole lot worse that that," said Jay Apt, the executive director of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center, a power-industry research group based at the university of the same name in Pittsburgh. "Ninety-eight percent recovered in three weeks beats 98 percent recovered in that many months. That's what you could be looking at - months without electricity."

Experts also worry about the likelihood of widespread flooding in suburban and some urban areas, especially in the Wilma scenario.

"This is probably not a situation with people on their roofs needing to be rescued," Fugate said, "but they will be up to their waists in water in a lot of neighborhoods that don't expect to be."

A particularly macabre fate could await anyone foolish enough to defy orders to evacuate the new residential towers that line many South Florida beaches and downtown streets.

Some are more than 800 feet tall. Hurricane forecaster James Franklin, an expert in calculating hurricane winds, said anyone living above the 30th floor of a building - or about 300 feet from the ground - could endure wind at least 20 mph or more stronger than the wind at the surface.

If the windows in those buildings broke, and many would, people who stayed behind could be picked up by the wind and blown away.

"They will be blown out and you will never find them," Danger said.

[Shammu]

New York warned to prepare for hurricanes

By Martinne Geller Wed May 10, 8:11 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A hurricane with only moderate intensity could wreak havoc in New York City because it has been years since the nation's financial center faced severe weather, government forecasters warned on Tuesday.

"The first time we get hit here with a Category 2, it's going to be disastrous," said meteorologist Michael Wyllie of the
National Weather Service, referring to the scale used to rate hurricane strength.

Wyllie said powerful storms have missed New York in recent years, unlike parts of the Gulf Coast, where periodic storms "thin out the trees and the buildings."

Gloria, the last big storm to hit the New York area, caused about $900 million in economic losses along the East Coast in 1985, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"It's not like we can all run down to Home Depot and pick up these two-by-fours to board up windows," said John Koch, lead forecaster at the NWS forecast office in New York. "What we want people to do is know what they are going to do with their family and their pets."

Koch urged residents to familiarize themselves with the location of evacuation zones and make plans to have extra dry clothes, medicines, batteries, water and copies of valuable documents.

Although evacuation orders might be limited to low-lying areas, Koch said high winds could put tall buildings throughout the city at risk.

"Winds increase with height, so you're going to see much stronger wind on the 30th floor or the 50th floor of a building than you do at the surface," Koch said.

Wyllie said he expects the hurricane season, which starts June 1 and lasts until November 30, to be similar to last year, which saw an unprecedented 28 storms including Katrina.

"If there are more storms out there, odds are you have a higher chance of being hit," Koch said. "It could be this year, it could be five years from now, it could be 10 years from now."

New York warned to prepare for hurricanes

[Shammu]

Tornadoes Tear Through N. Texas, Killing 3

By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago

WESTMINSTER, Texas - Tornadoes swept through rural North Texas after dark, reducing houses to bare concrete slabs in a path of destruction that left three people dead and 10 injured, officials said Wednesday.

An elderly couple were found dead in a destroyed mobile home in the tiny community of Westminster, about 45 miles northeast of Dallas, Collin County Fire Marshal Steve Deffibaugh said. He said a 14-year-old was found dead in a home in neighboring Grayson County.

The twister took many residents "by surprise, totally unaware," Deffibaugh said.

Westminster doesn't have sirens, and the tornado hit too fast for the county's emergency phone-calling system to respond, he said. In Grayson County, officials were going door-to-door Wednesday in a search for anyone still trapped.

"It sounded like a regular thunderstorm, then it went crazy," said Cathy Dotson, who huddled on the floor with her grandchildren when the tornado hit Tuesday night. "I could actually feel my house move. I looked outside my window, and all I could see was gray."

A half mile away, Christy Adame emerged from a closet to find her horse barn gone, one of her horses in a tree and the smell of propane so strong that officials wouldn't let a neighbor shoot his suffering cow, which had been impaled on a two-by-four.

"We realized this was the real thing this time," Adame said. "This was not just a warning."

At least six homes were destroyed in Westminster, a community of 420 people. A tornado also hit nearby in Anna, a town of 6,500 residents, where residents said the sirens sounded.

One couple whose roof was torn off left a sheet of paper held down by two rocks that read "Harry and Mary Donaho are fine" and gave their daughter's phone number.

Jeri Tishmack, of nearby Van Alstyne, said she stayed on the phone with her parents throughout the storm as they crouched in the living room between a sofa and a small table.

"It sounded terrifying," Tishmack said. "All I heard was a really high-pitched sound."

Another tornado in the Texas Panhandle town of Childress knocked down a wall at the local high school, and broken power lines sparked treetop fires, officials said. Gas lines were broken and downed trees blocked roads, but there were no reports of injuries.

In southeast Oklahoma, three tornadoes touched down and the region was pelted with hail, but no severe damage or injuries were immediately reported, officials said. The National Weather Service received reports of a tornado near Olney in Coal County and two others near Stringtown.

Storms also raked Arkansas early Wednesday, toppling trees, damaging roofs and downing power lines.

Students at a Little Rock junior high school were evacuated to a high school next door after a tree fell near fuel tanks, authorities said. A FedEx truck was blown into the median of Interstate 530 near Redfield, Ark., and at Bentonville, the wind speed hit 62 mph.

Tornadoes Tear Through N. Texas, Killing 3

[Soldier4Christ]

Health officials: It's too soon to say whether mumps is slowing

Public health officials said Wednesday that they will carefully monitor the number of mumps cases in Iowa to see if there is a slowdown in a statewide outbreak of the disease.

There has been a ``bit of a dip in the number'' of cases reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Dr. Mary Mincer Hansen, the agency's director, said during an Iowa State Board of Health meeting.

As of Monday, there were 1,609 confirmed, probable and suspect cases of mumps reported, with activity in 76 of Iowa's 99 counties. That was up about 4 percent, or 57 cases, from 1,552 cases on May 3. During a similar reporting period from April 26 to May 1, the number of cases increased about 17 percent from 1,273 to 1,487. Other increases have been as high as 35 percent.

However, Mincer cautioned it's too soon to tell whether the epidemic has slowed.

``We do not want to say that there is something that is causing a wane at this time,'' she said.

Previous years have shown that the number of mumps cases declines from spring to summer, but ``could come back up in the fall,'' Hansen said. That means that Iowans still need to have the recommended doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination.

``It's critically important that you have the two MMRs,'' she said.

The state has been working to get all 18 to 25 years olds immunized by offering free shots in every county. That age group may only have had one dose growing up because that's what was recommended at the time.

Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, the state epidemiologist, said the state worked diligently to get the word out before college students headed home for the summer. The counties with spring classes that have ended are the ones where the some of the greatest decreases in mumps cases are being seen.

``We have seen the slowing down primarily in the areas we have students,'' she said.

Mincer said that all colleges and universities will be urged to require incoming students to have two MMR immunizations. The state's three public universities already have such a requirement.

Mumps is a virus spread by coughing and sneezing. The most common symptoms are fever, headache and swollen salivary glands under the jaw. It can lead to more severe problems, such as hearing loss, meningitis and swollen testicles, which can lead to infertility. It does not respond to antibiotics.

Even with the recommended immunizations, about 10 percent of the population remains susceptible to the illness.

Hansen said that state and local officials continue to focus on mumps.

``We continue to work with local public health about how can we increase the local MMRs that we are doing,'' she said.

[Soldier4Christ]

As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 2,869 confirmed, probable and suspected cases tied to the mumps outbreak in 13 states, including 1,552 in Iowa. Another 1,305 cases are in Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. Twelve isolated, sporadic cases related to travel to the eight states were reported from Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, Arkansas and New York. CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell said that 35 patients had been hospitalized so far for complications from mumps or conditions that may have been caused by mumps.

CDC director Julie Gerberding said last week that the outbreak, which she described as the worst in the United States in 20 years, is expected to continue spreading.

[Soldier4Christ]

Outbreak of whooping cough centered in Hanover-Lebanon area

CONCORD, N.H. --State health officials are warning the public about an outbreak of whooping cough that so far has sickened 62 people in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Doctor Jose Montero, state epidemiologist for New Hampshire, said the outbreak is centered in the Hanover-Lebanon area and that most of the cases are workers at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is a contagious bacterial infection that causes persistent loud coughing. It can be serious, especially in the very young. Vaccines are available and it is treatable with antibiotics.

Montero said the outbreak could spread and has asked medical workers to be on the lookout for patients with the disease.

[Soldier4Christ]

Chickenpox outbreak in Beacon area


BEACON, NY … At least 25 cases of chickenpox have been reported in Dutchess County in the past month, and health officials are urging parents to seek immunizations for their children.

An outbreak continues to escalate in the Beacon area, according to the Dutchess Department of Health. Cases also have been reported in the Wappinger and Pine Plains school districts.

Chickenpox typically is a mild childhood illness, but it can cause complications in pregnant women and people with immune system problems.

Children who haven't received a vaccine should do so as soon as possible, and a second dose is recommended for others, unless they received a shot in recent months.

[Shammu]

Philippines quake leaves 10 million without electricity

Wed May 10, 9:19 AM ET

CEBU, Philippines (AFP) - An earthquake which damaged a transmission tower and shut down four power plants left more than 10 million people in the central Philippines without electricity, officials and residents said.

The relatively mild quake, measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, struck the island of Leyte at 10:02 am (0202 GMT), the seismology office in Manila said, triggering a chain reaction of power generation units shutting down.

One transmission tower in Ormoc city was toppled, said National Transmission Corp. president Alan Ortiz.

No casualties were reported, the civil defense office in Manila said.

The civil defense office as well as residents told AFP the quake blacked out Cebu city, the country's second largest, the rest of Cebu island, as well as the neighboring islands of Leyte, Negros, Panay and Samar islands. The islands are home to 10.8 million of the country's 85 million people.

"Restoration efforts are now being undertaken to bring back power into the Visayas (central Philippines region) grid," Energy Undersecretary Melinda Ocampo said in a statement.

Regional utilities have dispatched crews to inspect possible damage to distribution lines. "We hope to have the power restored within the day," Ortiz added.

The quake's epicenter was near Ormoc and caused the tripping of the Tongonan, Palinpinon, Mahanandong and Malitbog geothermal power stations on Leyte.

These plants supply most of the generation capacity that supplies the central Philippines grid, the energy department said.

Philippines quake leaves 10 million without electricity