Talk about building collapses, bridge collapses, car crashes and the like.
Search at Florida condo collapse site pauses amid concern about the structure that's still standing
Source: CNN
(CNN) Search and rescue work at the site of the collapsed condo building in Surfside, Florida, has been temporarily halted because of structural concerns about the standing structure, the Miami-Dade County mayor said.
"We are doing everything we can and will resume search and rescue as soon as we can," Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Thursday morning. Families of the victims have been informed about the development, she said at a news briefing.
President Joe Biden's visit to Surfside will have no impact on the search and rescue operations today, Cava said.
(Axios) Concrete construction no longer lasts thousands of years, like the Pantheon in Rome. Instead, its lifespan is roughly 50-100 years, thanks to the way in which modern concrete is reinforced.
Why it matters: That means a multi-trillion-dollar bill is coming due right around now, in the form of concrete construction that needs noisy, dirty, expensive repair.
The collapse of a residential tower in Surfside, Florida, is a stark reminder of how catastrophically concrete can fail.
Just as the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa caused Italy to start paying much more attention to remedial infrastructure projects, the Surfside tragedy might help focus America on the urgent need to fix buildings that are nearing the end of their initial lifespan.
The big picture: As Robert Courland explains in "Concrete Planet," modern concrete is poured around steel rebar, which gives it tensile strength. But tiny cracks — found in all concrete — cause water to start rusting the steel, which then expands, cracking the concrete.
Philippine military plane crashes, 45 dead, 49 rescued
Source: AP
By JIM GOMEZ
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine air force C-130 aircraft carrying combat troops assigned to fight Muslim militants crashed and exploded while landing in the south Sunday, killing at least 42 army soldiers on board and three civilians on the ground in one of the worst disasters in the air force’s history.
At least 49 other soldiers were rescued with injuries and survived the fiery noontime crash into a coconut grove outside the Jolo airport in Sulu province, including some who managed to jump off the aircraft before it exploded and was gutted by fire, military officials said. Three of seven villagers who were hit on the ground died.
The aircraft had 96 people on board, including three pilots and five crew while the rest were army personnel, the military said, adding only five soldiers remained unaccounted for late Sunday. The pilots survived but were seriously injured, officials said.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules was one of two ex-U.S. Air Force aircraft handed over to the Philippines as part of military assistance this year.
28 feared dead in plane crash in Russia's Far East
Source: AP
By DARIA LITVINOVA
MOSCOW (AP) — A plane carrying 28 people crashed Tuesday, apparently as it came in for a landing in bad weather in Russia’s Far East, and everyone aboard was feared dead.
Wreckage from the An-26 was found on a coastal cliffside and in the sea near the airport in the town of Palana, according to officials. The plane was on approach for a landing in fog and clouds when it missed a scheduled communication and disappeared from radar, officials from the Kamchatka region said.
The plane “practically crashed into a sea cliff,” which wasn’t supposed to be in its landing trajectory, according to Sergei Gorb, deputy director of the company that owns the aircraft, Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise.
The plane was in operation since 1982, Russian state news agency Tass reported. Alexei Khabarov, director of Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, told the Interfax news agency that the aircraft was technically sound before taking off from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Death toll rises to 32 as Surfside condo collapse rescue effort faces challenges from Tropical Storm
Source: USA Today
SURFSIDE, Fla. – Bands of rain from an approaching tropical storm and a forecast that includes possible tornadoes added to the hurdles faced by rescue workers seeking signs of life Tuesday among the ruins of the Miami-area condominium collapse.
Four more bodies were found, raising the death toll to 32, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Tuesday. She said 26 of the victims had been identified.
Levine Cava said 113 people remain unaccounted for, although "only around 70 of those are people we have been able to confirm were in fact in the building" when it fell.
Authorities remained steadfast in describing the effort as search and rescue, 12 days after the stunning collapse at the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, a few miles north of Miami Beach. Photos of dozens of victims and those missing are displayed nearby on a makeshift Surfside Wall of Hope & Memorial.
17-million-gallon sewage spill prompts closure of beaches from Dockweiler to El Segundo
Source: ABC News
Beaches from El Segundo to the southern end of Playa del Rey were closed to swimmers Monday due to a 17-million-gallon sewage spill.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced the closure on Twitter, writing that a power outage Sunday at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant caused untreated sewage to spill into the ocean. Hahn later tweeted the cause was a "mechanical failure," not a power outage.
Hahn said beaches were closed to swimming from El Segundo north to the Dockweiler RV Park until further notice. Officials were conducting tests on the water, and it was unclear how long the closure would last.
Hyperion Executive Plant Manager Timeyin Dafeta issued a statement Monday afternoon saying that on Sunday afternoon, the plant "became inundated with overwhelming quantities of debris, causing backup of the headworks facilities. The plant's relief system was triggered and sewage flows were controlled through use of the plant's one-mile outfall and discharge of untreated sewage into Santa Monica Bay."
Death toll rises to 92 in blaze at coronavirus ward in Iraq
Source: AP
By ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD and SAMYA KULLAB
NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AP) — The death toll from a fire that swept through a hospital coronavirus ward in Iraq climbed to 92 on Tuesday as anguished relatives buried their loved ones and lashed out at the government over the country’s second such disaster in less than three months.
Health officials said scores of others were injured in the blaze that erupted Monday at al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in Nasiriyah.
The tragedy cast a spotlight on what many have decried as widespread negligence and mismanagement in Iraq’s hospitals after decades of war and sanctions.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi convened an emergency meeting and ordered the suspension and arrest of the health director in Dhi Qar provice, the hospital director and the city’s civil defense chief. The government also launched an investigation.
BEIJING: The Chinese army warned that a stricken dam in the centre of the country "could collapse at any time" after being severely damaged in torrential storms that killed at least 12 people and brought the region to a standstill.
Weather authorities have issued the highest warning level for central Henan province as downpours caused widespread disruption and the evacuation of residents of flooded streets.
At least 7 dead in 20-vehicle accident on Interstate 15 near Kanosh
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
A sandstorm is blamed for impairing visibility on the freeway through Millard County.
By Sean P. Means | July 26, 2021, 1:05 a.m. | Updated: 1:25 a.m.
At least seven people were killed in a multiple-vehicle crash near Kanosh on Sunday, as drivers were blinded by a sandstorm.
The Utah Highway Patrol reported that several people were taken to area hospitals Sunday in critical condition after the series of crashes — which involved at least 20 vehicles.
The collisions happened about 4:30 p.m. on Interstate 15 near milepost 152, between the Meadow and Kanosh exits in Millard County, about 150 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The crashes happened, UHP officials said, when high winds kicked up sand or dust, which impaired drivers’ visibility on the highway.
Traffic was halted in the southbound side of the interstate; on Sunday evening, UHP reported it expected to keep the lanes closed for several hours while it investigated the accident. Motorists diverted at the Meadow exit into Meadow and south on State Route 133 into Kanosh. Traffic was getting back onto I-15 at the Kanosh onramp.
{snip}
This is a developing story, and will be updated Monday morning.
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6 dead in Alaska sightseeing plane crash, U.S. Coast Guard says
Source: Associated Press
A sightseeing plane crashed Thursday in southeast Alaska, killing all six people on board, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The plane's emergency alert beacon was activated around 11:20 a.m. local time when the plane crashed in the area of Misty Fjords National Monument, near Ketchikan, the Coast Guard and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said.
A helicopter company reported seeing wreckage on a ridgeline in the search area, and Coast Guard crew members found the wreckage around 2:40 p.m. A Coast Guard helicopter lowered two rescue swimmers to the site, and they reported no survivors, the agency said.
The identities of those killed in the crash were not immediately released. The Alaska State Troopers and volunteers from the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad will coordinate recovery efforts Thursday and Friday.
(Kyodo News) A cargo ship that ran aground at a port in northeastern Japan before being refloated and anchored off the coast was found Thursday to have broken apart and was spilling oil, the coast guard said.
The freighter, the Panamanian-flagged 39,910-ton Crimson Polaris, ran aground Wednesday morning at Hachinohe port in Aomori Prefecture. All 21 crew members -- eight Chinese and 13 Filipino nationals -- had been rescued without notable injuries, the coast guard said.
Leaked oil was confirmed floating in an area of about 24 kilometers in length and up to about 800 meters in width as of 5 p.m. Thursday, reaching the coastline of Misawa in the prefecture. The coast guard said its officials have been engaging in cleanup work.
About 1,600 tons of heavy oil still remained inside the cargo ship.
The vessel was on course to enter the port on Wednesday morning but ran aground in shallow water as it was carried away by strong winds, according to Nippon Yusen K.K., which is responsible for the operation of the ship.
Mississippi highway collapses, 2 killed, at least 10 injured
Source: AP
LUCEDALE, Miss. (AP) — Two people were killed and at least 10 others were injured when their vehicles plunged into a deep hole where a highway collapsed after Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi.
Torrential rain may have caused the collapse, and the drivers may not have seen that the roadway in front of them had disappeared Monday night, Mississippi Highway Patrol Cp. Cal Robertson said.
“Some of these cars are stacked on top of each other,” he said. Seven vehicles were involved, including a motorcycle. A crane was brought in to lift them out of the hole.
WDSU-TV reports that state troopers, emergency workers and rescue teams responded to Highway 26 west of Lucedale, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of Biloxi, to find both the east and westbound lanes collapsed. Robertson said the hole is around 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 meters) long and 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) deep.
(The Conversation) The good news when Hurricane Ida churned into Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2021 was that levees held up – especially those that were strengthened after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005. The bad news: In many places, power systems failed. Nearly five days later, more than 80% of New Orleans customers were still in the dark, in sweltering heat.
Electricity is critical for health, safety and comfort. Without it, it’s hard to buy groceries, fuel your car or get cash from an ATM. Many medical devices, including power wheelchairs, ventilators and nebulizers, run on electricity. Schools can’t operate without power, and kids can’t attend class online without computers or electricity.
Dramatic images of damaged power lines can make people wonder whether their electricity service might be more secure if those lines were buried underground. But I’ve studied this question for utilities and regulators, and the answer is not straightforward. There are many ways to make power grids more resilient, but they are all costly, require the involvement of many agencies, businesses and power customers, and may not solve the problem.
It’s impossible to completely protect the grid
Ideas for making the electricity grid more resilient to weather and disasters have to acknowledge two unpleasant realities. First, there is no way to completely protect the grid.
Above-ground lines are vulnerable to damaging winds, flying debris and falling trees. But underground lines are susceptible to damage from water incursion driven by storm surges or flooding. So, choosing the location of power lines means choosing which threat is more manageable.
Plane crashes in California neighborhood near high school, at least 2 dead
At least two fatalities, likely more, according to fire department
By Bradford Betz , Louis Casiano | Fox News
A small plane crashed in a residential neighborhood of San Diego County Monday afternoon, damaging some homes, authorities said. In a news conference after the crash, a fireman confirmed that at least two people died in the crash.
"We know there is at least two," a Santee fire official said. "It's a pretty brutal scene."
Authorities said two people have died and two more have been taken to the hospital for burn injuries. The Santee Fire Department said the injuries of the people on the plane are likely "non-survivable."
(CNN) No major injuries were reported when a Boston-bound plane carrying more than 20 people struck a fence and erupted in flames while taking off at Houston Executive Airport on Tuesday morning, officials said.
All passengers and crew managed to leave the plane safely -- two with minor injuries -- before firefighters extinguished the flames engulfing the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 on a field outside the airport, local officials said.
"This is a good day. This is actually a day of celebration for a lot of people," Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Stephen Woodard told reporters at the scene.
One person reported back pain, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon reported via Facebook.
"The information we have at this time indicates that the plane did not attain altitude at the end of the runway and went across Morton Road, coming to a rest in the field just north of the airport, where it caught on fire," the judge said.
CNN indicates that "this is a developing story" and that updates may be forthcoming.
Oil tanker explodes in Sierra Leone, killing at least 92
Source: AP
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — An oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, killing at least 92 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The explosion took place late Friday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown.
The mortuary at Connaught Hospital reported 92 bodies had been brought in by Saturday morning. About 30 severely burned victims were not expected to survive, according to Foday Musa, a staff member in the intensive care unit.
Injured people whose clothes had burned off in the fire that followed the explosion lay naked on stretchers as nurses attended to them Saturday. Hundreds of people milled outside the main gates of the mortuary and near the hospital’s main entrance, waiting for word of their loved ones.
Neighbors react after police find seven dead in Minnesota home
Source: WBAY, ABC affiliate in Green Bay
MOORHEAD, M.N. (Valley News Live/Gray News) – Heavy feelings surround a neighborhood after police found seven dead in a south Moorhead, Minnesota, home Saturday evening.
According to KVLY, the victims included four adults and three children.
Police said there are no signs of violence or forced entry, and there is no known threat to the public.
Massive ferry fire kills at least 39 in southern Bangladesh
Source: AP
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A massive fire swept through a crowded river ferry in Bangladesh early Friday, leaving at least 39 people dead and 72 injured, officials said. Many passengers leapt from the vessel into cold waters to escape the blaze.
It took 15 fire engines two hours to control the fire and another eight to cool down the vessel, according to fire officer Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan, who led the rescue operation. Afterward, the blackened hull of the ferry sat anchored at the river’s edge, and rescuers continued to look for both those who died and survivors.
The blaze broke out around 3 a.m. on the MV Avijan-10, which was carrying 800 passengers, many of whom were traveling to visit family and friends for the weekend, officials said.
“I was sleeping on the deck and woke up hearing screams and a loud noise,” survivor Anisur Rahman told reporters, adding that he saw smoke coming from the back of the ferry. “I jumped into the freezing water of the river in the thick fog, like many other passengers, and swam to the riverbank.”