Americas News
Tropical Storm Hanna drenches US; Hurricane Ike approaches
Sep 6, 2008, 21:18 GMT
NOAA satellite photo of Hurricane Ike shows the storm near the Bahamas at 1641 EDT on 05 September 2008. Tropical Storm Hanna can be seen over Florida in the upper left of the photo. On a path similar to the one taken by Andrew, the Category 5 monster that devastated South Florida in 1992, Ike could hit Florida by the middle of next week. EPA/NOAA / HANDOUT
Washington - After killing nearly 170 people in Haiti, Tropical Storm Hanna hit states along the US Atlantic coast Saturday, disrupting power lines and throwing flights out of gear.
The storm first drenched the states of South and North Carolina, whirling in with sustained winds of 85 kilometres per hour, before moving further northeast.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre forecast tornadoes in the states of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and New York; as well as storm surges, 'large and battering waves' and heavy rain along the Atlantic Coast.
There were no storm-related deaths reported in the US, but about 10,000 homes in South Carolina and 12,000 homes in North Carolina were without electricity after the storm made landfall.
As a result of Hanna, flights were delayed for up to four hours at major airports in Philadelphia, Newark in New Jersey and John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
But it was nothing like the devastation Hanna unleashed on Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas. With 163 dead and at least 70,000 living in shelters, relief organizations fear that by the end of the year at least 4 million Haitians will be facing famine.
Over the past three weeks, Haiti has been battered by Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna, which uprooted bridges and destroyed roads, making it difficult for aid agencies to reach those most in need.
'The situation is further complicated by the risk of social and political unrest, in a country where a food crisis that led to violent riots in April remains unresolved,' the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, said in a statement Saturday.
It estimated that at least 300,000 children were impact by the back-to-back hurricanes and storms in Haiti.
While UNICEF has mobilized more than 1 million dollars in aid for Haiti, the European Union has allocated 2.8 million dollars in fast- track relief funding. The funds, to be used for vital needs, is in addition to 2.8 million dollars announced on September 1 in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.
NHC forecasters were also tracking two other storms - Ike and Josephine - that have been brewing in the Atlantic Ocean and heading west.
Ike, a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, was swirling with sustained winds of 185 kilometres per hour and forecast to pass just north of Haiti on Sunday, before moving on to Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Knock off the 'kilometres per hour' talk....this isn't Europe here in the US. Make sense and give miles per hour.
i think the last time we were there handing out food they shot at out people back in the clinton days when out military was doing the peace core bit
Crumbs from the United States, Lets keep our CRUMBS AND USE THOSE CRUMBS FOR OUR OWN PEOPLE, AND YES WE DID GET SHOT AT..........................
kanukistaner Says:
''As US and Canadian governments float white elephants in Afghanistan and Iraq for the US, our neighbours in Haiti face famine as they await N. American crumbs. Cheney is pledging one billion $$ dollars to Georgia for another of those white elephants. Something is very wrong with how public money is distributed by our governments''
You bet there is baby! There is something very wrong how public money is distributed anywhere outside of the US when the American taxpayer works for hard earned taxes that gets distributed anywhere else. There is something wrong when public money being handed out by the gov/corporate connection as a freebie anywhere other than the American public that worked to pay these taxes. The Constitution was never written for this kind of cheap taxation trick for outside handouts. Helping other nations in desperation should be in voluntary charity, not forced taxation.
How long do we, the working, overtaxed, under appreciated, get to pay for the wars of other countries...you don't like the USA ? send us our money back...you don't like the USA, don't ask for our help. I'm tired of paying (with my time, money, and the lives of my friends & family), for the failures of other governments, and all the weather related messes..
You don't like the USA, go home to your country.
There is something true about your arguments,except these are not weather related issues,rather climate related issues .In case most of you don't know,hurricanes are getting stronger and stronger as ocean temperatures continue to rise.You might want to save even much more money or your own sake .Unfortunately saving food will prove much more difficult in the future as desertification spreads,rivers dry out ,etc,etc.
Thank you Bush and neocons for refusing to do anything about climate change .Arguments for failing to do so ?Because these measures could be detrimental to the US economy .Climate change obviously is not in his eyes ,perhaps traveling to New Orleans could could you from that silly idea.
Many years later and he place is still a mess.
page: 1
kanukistanerSep 6th, 2008 - 22:16:06
As US and Canadian governments float white elephants in Afghanistan and Iraq for the US, our neighbours in Haiti face famine as they await N. American crumbs. Cheney is pledging one billion $$ dollars to Georgia for another of those white elephants. Something is very wrong with how public money is distributed by our governments.
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