Please Place Evidence of the 7 of 10 Plate Movements Here

Kojima had created small snips of Konstantin's animation of the 7 of 10 Plate Movements.

Here is the full 7 of 10 Animation by Konstantin.

This blog is the place to document ongoing earth changes related to the 7 of 10  plate movements as described by the Zetas.

ZetaTalk: 7 of 10 Sequence
written October 16, 2010


The 7 of 10 scenarios describe plate movements, and for this to occur something has to release the deadlock, the current stalemate where the plates are locked against each other. Once the deadlock is broken and the plates start moving, sliding past each other, new points where the plates are locked against each other develop, but these are weaker locks than the one at present. The current lock, as we have so often stated, is the Indo-Australian Plate which is being driven under the Himalayans. This is no small lock, as the height of the Himalayans attests. Nevertheless, the activity in this region shows this likely to be the first of the 7 of 10 scenarios to manifest. Bangladesh is sinking and the Coral Sea is rising, showing the overall tipping of the Indo-Australian Plate. Now Pakistan is sinking and not draining its floods as it should, while Jakarta on the tongue of Indonesia is also sinking rapidly, showing that the tilt that will allow Indonesia to sink has already started.

Meanwhile, S America is showing signs of a roll to the west. Explosions on islands just to the north of the S American Plate occurred recently, on Bonaire and Trinidad-Tobago, and the Andes are regularly being pummeled. There is a relationship. As the Indo-Australia Plate lifts and slides, this allows the Pacific plates to shift west, which allows S America to shift west also. This is greatly increased by the folding of the Mariana Trench and the Philippine Plate. But it is the Indo-Australian Plate that gives way to incite change in these other plates, and this is what is manifesting now to those closely following the changes. Once the folding of the Pacific has occurred, Japan has been destabilized. We are not allowed to give a time frame for any of these plate movements, but would point out that it is not until the North Island of Japan experiences its strong quakes that a tsunami causing sloshing near Victoria occurs. There are clues that the New Madrid will be next.

Where the N American continent is under great stress, it has not slipped because it is held in place on both sides. The Pacific side holds due to subduction friction along the San Andreas, and the Atlantic side holds due to the Atlantic Rift's reluctance to rip open. What changes this dynamic? When S America rolls, almost in step with the folding Pacific, it tears the Atlantic Rift on the southern side. This allows Africa freedom to move and it rolls too, dropping the Mediterranean floor above Algeria. What is holding the N American continent together has thus eased, so that when the Japan adjustments are made, there is less holding the N American continent in place than before, and the New Madrid gives way. We are also not allowed to provide the time frame between the Japan quakes and New Madrid. Other than the relationship in time between the New Madrid and the European tsunami, no time frame can be given. The sequence of events is, thus:

  • a tipping Indo-Australia Plate with Indonesia sinking,
  • a folding Pacific allowing S America to roll,
  • a tearing of the south Atlantic Rift allowing Africa to roll and the floor of the Mediterranean to drop,
  • great quakes in Japan followed by the New Madrid adjustment,
  • which is followed almost instantly by the tearing of the north Atlantic Rift with consequent European tsunami.

Source: http://www.zetatalk.com/index/zeta584.htm

 

Tipping Indo-Australia Plate with Indonesia sinking,

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-23.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-24.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-25.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-26.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-28.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-30.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-31.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-32.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-34.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-37.htm

Folding Pacific

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-33.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-38.htm

http://www.zetatalk.com/info/tinfx351.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-47.htm

 

South American Roll

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-39.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-40.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-41.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-42.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-43.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-44.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-45.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-47.htm

 

African Roll

http://www.zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-46.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-47.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-48.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-52.htm

 

Japan Quakes

http://www.zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-53.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-54.htm

New Madrid

http://www.zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-59.htm

http://www.zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-60.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-61.htm

http://www.zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-62.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-63.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-64.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-65.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-68.htm

European Tsunami

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-70.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-71.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-72.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-73.htm

http://zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10-74.htm

 

Due to the slowing of the 7 of 10 plate movements by the Council of Worlds the impact of some of the events described above will be lessened.

The Zetas explain:

ZetaTalk: Pace Slowed


Written May 19, 2012

The effect of the thousands of humming boxes placed along fault lines and plate borders can be seen in several incidents that have occurred since the start of the 7 of 10 plate movements. The lack of tsunami during the 7 of 10 sinking of the Sunda Plate is one such example. We predicted at the start of the 7 of 10 scenarios in late 2010 that the Sunda Plate sinking would occur within 2-3 weeks, yet it dragged on through 2011. At the time we had predicted tsunami on the Sunda Plate, in general equivalent in height to the loss of elevation for a coastline. None of this occurred due to the slower pace. 

The pace of mountain building in S America, where slowed, has still resulted in rumpling up and down the Andes, and stretch zone accidents likewise in lands to the east of the Andes. The shape of S America has clearly changed. Will the islands in the Caribbean be spared? At some point, as with the magnitude 7.9 quake in Acapulco on March 2, 2012 a significant adjustment will need to occur, and this will include depressing the Caribbean Plate so it tilts, sinking the islands and lands on that portion of the plate to the degree predicted. But the S American roll will likely continue to avoid the magnitude 8 quakes we originally predicted in deference to slow rumpling mountain building. The African roll was anticipated to be a silent roll in any case, so the slowed pace would not affect the outcome.

Will the slowed pace prevent the 7 of 10 scenarios for the Northern Hemisphere? Bowing of the N American continent has reached the point of pain, with breaking rock booming from coast to coast, but still there have been no significant quakes in the New Madrid area. Yet this is past due, and cannot be held back indefinitely. What has and will continue to occur for the Northern Hemisphere scenarios are silent quakes for Japan, which has already experienced drastic subduction under the north island of Hokkaido where mountain building is occurring as a rumple rather than a jolt. However, the anticipated New Madrid adjustment cannot be achieved without trauma. But this could potentially occur in steps and stages such that any European tsunami would be significantly lessened.

All rights reserved: ZetaTalk@ZetaTalk.com

Source: http://www.zetatalk.com/7of10/7of10109.htm

 

ZetaTalk , Written March 10, 2012

 What happens when the pace of plate movement is slowed? The likelihood of tsunami is definitely reduced, as can be seen in the sinking on the Sunda Plate. The sinking occurred, and is almost complete, yet the possibility of tsunami we predicted for various regions on the Sunda Plate were avoided. The height and force of a tsunami is directly related to the degree of displacement in the sea floor, and if this happens in steps rather than all at once the displacement will be less for any given step.

This bodes well for the European tsunami. If the Council of Worlds is still imposing a slower pace on the 7 of 10 plate movements, this tsunami will definitely be lessened. The tear in the North Atlantic will be slight, each time. The amount of water pouring into this void will be less, each time. And the rebound toward the UK will likewise be less, each time. But our prediction is the worst case situation, and it also reflects what the Earth changes, unabated, would produce.

But what does a slower pace do to land masses where jolting quakes are expected? Does this reduce the overall magnitude of the quakes anticipated? Large magnitude quakes result when a catch point along plate borders is highly resistant, but snapping of rock finally results. Usually there is one place, the epicenter, where this catch point resides and a long distance along the plate border where smaller quakes have prepared the border for easy movement. A point of resistance within the body of a plate, such as the New Madrid, can likewise resist and suddenly give.

There is no way to lessen the resistance at these catch points, though the tension that accompanies such points can be reduced so that the quake itself is delayed. What this means for a slower 7 of 10 pace is that large magnitude quakes will be spread apart in time, and their relationship to our predictions thus able to be camouflaged by the establishment. Where sinking (such as the Caribbean Island of Trinidad) or spreading apart (such as to the west of the Mississippi River) are to occur, these land changes will eventually arrive. But like the sinking of the Sunda Plate, a slower pace unfortunately allows the cover-up time to maneuver and develop excuses.

All rights reserved: ZetaTalk@ZetaTalk.com

Source: http://www.zetatalk.com/ning/10mr2012.htm

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Comment by Khan on November 24, 2015 at 2:32am

Chennai flood — Adrift, as agencies flounder

November 23, 2015

People playing on the Marina beach service road flooded with sea water on the Bay of Bengal. (Photo courtesy: B A Raju)

Life has been thrown out of gear. Schools and colleges have been closed for two weeks now . Floods had invaded many people’s homes, and the spotlight has been on the last wave of construction boom happening in low-lying areas where buildings should not have been allowed, according to some experts.

Source

Comment by Stanislav on November 23, 2015 at 1:32pm

22 November, 2015. Sinkholes in Nayanoripalle, Govt. evacuates villagers

Kadapa District Collector K.V. Ramana inspecting a large sinkhole formed in Nayanoripalle village in Kadapa District on Sunday.

Kadapa District Collector K.V. Ramana and Geological Survey of India officials of Hyderabad visited Nayanoripalle village on Sunday and inspected the multiple sinkholes.

The revenue and police officials of Kadapa exhorted the villagers of Nayanoripalle in Chintakommadinne mandal in Kadapa District to vacate the village and move over to safer places and large sinkholes formed in the village could endanger lives.

Kadapa District Collector K.V. Ramana and Geological Survey of India officials of Hyderabad visited Nayanoripalle village on Sunday and inspected the multiple sinkholes. Earlier, officials of the mining and groundwater departments conducted a survey on the Collector’s directions and detected limestone deposits at a depth of 30 feet.

Heavy rains since a week resulted in dissolving of the limestone and soil sunk to depths of 30 feet, the officials deduced. The villagers were panic-stricken with the formation of sinkholes of a diameter of 25 metres at several places in Nayanoripalle.

Nearly a dozen large sink holes were formed near Sri Bugga Malleswara Swamy temple and a mini-water tank atop a 15-foot high cement concrete pedestal sunk into the ground. A sinkhole was formed in front of the mandal parishad school in Nayanoripalle and the school compound wall, a surface-level water tank and a couple of trees fell into it. The sinkhole formation was coupled with defeaning sounds spreading panic among the villagers.

As sinkholes were forming with deafening sounds, the officials called upon the residents to vacate the village, as continuing to live there could endanger lives. Already over a dozen families left the village to take shelter in the houses of their relatives elsewhere. The revenue and police officials are proposing to evacuate the villagers who are continuing in Nayanoripalle.
Geologist Alok Kumar of GSI told TOI that a detailed study need to be conducted to arrive at the exact reason. "Preliminarily we have noticed the existence of an extinct river. A river once passed through the region. It is now extinct. Moreover, the area has carbonate deposits. The torrential rains led to the dissolution of limestone causing cavities or sinkholes in the ground," he added.

The Cuddapah (Kadapa) super basin is an ancient geological formation with a number of minerals including uranium. According to AP mines department, limestone reserves are about 1000 million tonnes. It also has superior grade clay. Source: thehindu.com

Comment by Stanislav on November 17, 2015 at 7:12pm

India floods (Tamil Nadu)

IAF officials said the evacuation was done from Ashok Nagar and another adjoining area of the city. Source: ndtv.com

A bird view of the flooded farmlands. Source: ibnlive.com

People walk on a dry stretch of land next to the flooded Marina Beach in Chennai, Nov. 13. Associated Press. Source: blogs.wsj.com
A child swims through a flooded street in Chennai, Nov. 9. Associated Press. Source: blogs.wsj.com

An aerial view and a local view.. Chennai floods. Source: twitter.com

Food is delivered to people in pallikaranai through boats. Source: twitter.com

Scene at Thaiyur, OMR near PSB college. OMR can be seen as a line. Source: twitter.com

17 November, 2015. Tamil Nadu floods claim 95 lives

Source: facebook.com

Incessant rains continued to disrupt normal life in Chennai and across Tamil Nadu, with the death toll rising to 95.

Many areas in Chennai have been inundated, road traffic has been severely hit and schools and colleges are shut across Chennai as a result of the inclement weather. Boats are being used in flooded areas to rescue stranded people.

"It has been raining heavily in Tamil Nadu. 11 NDRF teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu with boats and lifesaving equipment to handle flood situation there," Director General of National Disaster Response Force O.P. Singh told the media.

Director of Regional Metrological Department S R Ramanan had earlier said that since the cyclone currently rests near Sri Lanka, heavy rains will continue for the next three days in Tamil Nau.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture out to sea along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining Pudukkottai and Ramanathapuram districts of south Tamil Nadu. Source: kaumudiglobal.com


14 November, 2015. Subways: The first to go under when skies open up

A compelling, though cliched, image of a Chennai monsoon is that of an MTC bus stuck in a flooded subway. Earlier this month, the video of a man rescuing an old woman from the Thillai Ganga Nagar subway went viral. While the man's bravery was lauded online, many lambasted the city corporation's inability to prevent water-logging in the subways.

Though it is a given that subways are prone to flooding because they are 15ft to 20ft below the surface level, the corporation is yet to figure out ways to contain the menace.

A former planner with the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority said subways were inundated because unplanned development and encroachment of small lakes to build residential neighbourhoods have left the city with very few storage points where rainwater can flow in. "The main three drainage channels in the city, Cooum, Adyar and the Buckingham Canal can't drain out the water because of high tide in the sea. In this situation, the water flows into the subways because the lakes have vanished," he said. Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Heavy rain and floods have killed at least 45 people in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Officials say up to 56,000 people have been displaced and moved to relief camps. Most people were killed when flash floods destroyed their homes. Any comment here? Another sign, perhaps, of the upcoming changes leading to the Shift?

India is sinking, the Indio/Australian plate tipping up at New Zealand and plunging under the Himalyas. This is disguised as a rising sea, an increasingly inundating tide, but the land is sinking. This will get far more serious before the pole shift, with sudden adjustments forcing massive evacuations. 

ZetaTalk: GodlikeProduction Live written on Jun 23, 2007

Red 2007; Orange 2008; Purple 2009; Yellow 2012; Green 2013; The map shows the sum of all flooded areas. 

18 November, 2012. Land subsidence confirmed

Severity of the situation will increase in the next few years, expert warns

A spell of heavy rain that followed the Neelam cyclone which resulted in heavy damage to agriculture fields, particularly paddy, has confirmed that exploitation of natural gas has caused land subsidence in the Krishna and Godavari deltas, says a former professor of geology of Andhra University and member of Movement for People Centred Development G. Krishna Rao.
<...>
Coastal area is getting water logged even with a rainfall of 5 cm to 10 cm and for several days. Severity of this situation will increase in the next few years as the land is sinking, Prof. Krishna Rao warned.

Sea water is encroaching on the deltas with further sinking of the land and they would turn into wet lands, a stage preceding complete submergence into sea.

Land subsidence has also affected the canals and made the irrigation system defunct in the delta areas. The solution is to evaluate the changed topographic conditions and establishing the gradients in the entire region.

Appropriate designs are to be prepared for the changed topography for effective flow, suggested Prof. Krishna Rao.

“Stopping the sinking process of the deltas is a pre-requisite”, he asserted. Source: thehindu.com


25 July, 2011. Ganga inundates Sangam
<...>
Similarly, Jayant Kumar Pati another associate professor of the department said that plate tectonics owing to the fallout by the construction of Tehri Dam. "Our observations show that the course of Ganga is shifting towards the north side of Allahabad i.e. towards the Jhunsi side. As a direct implication, it is more unlikely that the annual phenomena of the inundation of the temple would cease to occur. But things do not remain constant, as far as level of water in any given river in concerned and if it has inundated the temple, there is no reason to get surprised," added Pati.

Sharing his view on the issue, Prof S S Ojha of the department of Geography, AU had also said that because of the Plate Tectonic theory, the western part of India is in the on the rise, while the eastern part (lying towards Bay of Bengal), is getting submerged. As an impact, the gradient of rivers flowing in west-east direction will become steep and vice-versa.

He adds that since Ganga in Allahabad flows in the direction of west to east, the river has slightly meandered towards its eastern bank, in this case towards Jhunsi. As a fallout, erosion towards the western bank is showing marginal decrease which would continue in the coming years. "This year too, the volume of water towards the west side of the river is far less than the east bank, which could be easily understand by the fact that the bank towards Jhunsi gets inundated every year, whereas Bade Hanumanjis temple has got inundated after five years," said Prof Ojha. Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com


9 April, 2014. Indian deltas are sinking

Indian deltas are sinking, and no, it is not because of sea level rise. “Humans are sinking deltas four times faster than the sea level is rising,” says American professor of oceanography and geology at the University of Colorado, James Syvitski.
<...>
Here, groundwater mining has led to a significant compaction and subsidence of land over the last 15 years. He concurs with the concept of ‘Anthropocene,’ a term suggesting that human impact on the environment has been so large post industrial revolution that this era can be counted as an entirely new geological epoch. And the submergence of deltas is indeed a case in point, he said. Source: thehindu.com

Malaysia

17 November, 2015. Vehicles submerged and damaged in JB flash floods

Sourcenst.com.my

A two-hour heavy downpour caused massive flash floods in the city here, which resulted in dozens of cars and motorcycles being submerged.

Many of the vehicles belonged to Malaysians working in Singapore, who had parked their vehicles indiscriminately around the city.

The badly-hit areas in the flash floods, which started at about 11.30am yesterday, were Jalan Wong Ah Fook, Jalan Meldrum, Jalan Siu Koon, Jalan Siu Chin, Jalan Siu Nam and Jalan Skudai along Danga Bay. Traffic came to a standstill at all major roads leading into the city.

Some basement carparks in the city centre were also submerged.

In a statement, Iskandar Regional Development Authority said that the floods were not caused by work on the Sungai Segget Rejuvenation Project.

It said the floods were caused by a combination of two factors – the high tide flows into the Johor Baru City Centre coupled with the heavy flow of rainwater as a result of the prolonged rain over the past few days as well as the downpour earlier yesterday. Source: thestar.com.my


17 November, 2015. Flash floods hit Shah Alam

Due to flash floods following heavy rain, several parts of Shah Alam are currently submerged in water. Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) in a tweet confirmed that water levels have increased at KM 15.7 from Sungai Rasau heading to Batu Tiga.

“Both the middle and left lanes of the highway are blocked (due to high water),” tweeted LLM. Some Twitter users also tweeted pictures of Section 13, Shah Alam showing numerous cars submerged by the mud-filled waters.

Today’s episode follows similar ones after the heavy rain yesterday which saw flash floods in several parts of the Klang Valley.

Many were caught in traffic jams for hours after key roads were flooded.

Yesterday’s floods in Shah Alam at 1pm witnessed water rising at Section 13, Section 9, Section U8 and Batu Tig. Source: malaysiakini.com


18 November, 2015. Two dead in flash floods in Jeddah

At least two people have died in flash floods in Saudi Arabia's second city of Jeddah after heavy rain, the country's civil defence said on Tuesday.

It urged residents to stay indoors and said schools would remain closed on Wednesday.

Flooding is politically sensitive in Jeddah, where previous incidents have prompted widespread anger over the perceived failure of local and national government to build suitable defences and to prevent illegal housing developments in risky areas.

Footage and photographs shown on Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television pictured cars being swept along Jeddah streets and people using boats to navigate districts of the city.

The two deaths were caused by electrocution from a lamp post as people attempted to cross a flooded street. Two children have also been reported missing in northern Saudi Arabia.

Heavy rain struck other western, northern and central parts of Saudi Arabia, including Mecca and Medina, Hail and Arar, the civil defence said. Wet weather is forecast to continue in coming days. Source: thestar.com.my

Comment by Khan on November 12, 2015 at 8:00am

Jakarta Flood threat and Promises Ahok

November 12, 2015

Last week, heavy clouds began to envelop Jakarta and surrounding areas. After a long wait, the rain began to fall. Uninvited guests began to arrive, and Jakarta to be ready. Although only a momentary rain, flooding began to greet the citizens of Jakarta.    According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), the potential for rain of moderate intensity will begin to occur in all regions of Jakarta began..........

More info

Comment by Stanislav on October 28, 2015 at 4:08pm

If in the beginning of October were storms and Supermoon event (when the tides were held in many parts of the world), now it is inexplicable.

Southeast U.S.

The media is blaming tropical storm Debby but what is the real reason that caused all these sinkholes in Florida? 
http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blogs/florida-sinkhole-opens-up-...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhW2jwiPSk8
http://www.zetatalk7.com/info/tinfx085.htm 
[and from another]Sinkhole Opens up at Ocala Townhome Complex June 25, 2012 http://www.local10.com/news/Sinkhole-opens-up-at-Ocala-townhome-com...A sinkhole at a Florida apartment complex forced the evacuation of several families Monday morning.

We have described the bowing process for S America, during the 7 of 10 S American roll, as one where the east coast of S America is pulled taut, stretched, and thus drawn down, losing elevation. This also happens in Africa, during the 7 of 10 African roll, where elevation is lost in the African Rift Valley. This is certainly the case then in N America, where the N American continent is bowing under the stress of having Mexico pulled west during the compression in the Pacific, while the top part of the continent remains firmly in place. The southeast of the US is being pulled down as the Atlantic Rift pulls apart. It is being pulled down due to the bowing of the N American continent. It is absolutely in the stretch zoneand this is being expressed in many ways.

ZetaTalk Chat Q&A for July 7, 2012

Severe flooding in Louisiana. Associated USA flood around Gulf of Mexico with 7 of 10? I do not know why but I think it is a loss of height. [and from another] http://www.disasternews.net/news/article.php?articleid=4510 Flood waters submerged parts of southern Louisiana Tuesday after heavy rains caused flash flooding and forced hundreds of rescues. The National Weather Service estimated 12 to 18 inches of rain fell across the region, with totals reaching up to 20 inches in some areas. Among the hardest hit areas in Lafayette Parish was Carencro, where reports indicated water was as high as high as 8 feet on some roads.

Just as the bowing in the S American Plate has produced stretching and consequent sinking in the swath of land from Rio to Buenos Aires, the bowing in the N American Plate has produced stretching and consequent sinking along the eastern seaboard and land bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Stretched land has only so many options. It can rip open to form a crevasse or a landslide or a sinkhole, or rock layers can pull apart so that train rails zip and zag and cause derailments and bridges pull from their moorings. In this case there is an adjustment in certain places, a pulling apart, which relieves the stress. 

Stretched land also almost invariably drops in elevation, because the crust is thinned. This may not be apparent on the surface if the rock layers are pulling apart deep underground or under a river bed. But the underlying rock cannot spread out and thin without some evidence of this process above. For Florida, this evidence is the increasing number of sinkholes swallowing houses. Lopsided buildings, drooping roadways, and swamps extending their borders are other such symptoms. Drainage is invariably affected, as water lingers where it formerly drained. Rains and tides thus confuse the issue, with high tides blamed for much flooding, when sinking due to stretching is the cause.

ZetaTalk Chat Q&A for March 17, 2012

ZetaTalk blog - THE STRETCH ZONE, THAT SINKING FEELING

13 January, 2014. The Flood Next Time

Rising Sea, Sinking Land

Tide gauges along the East Coast show a long-term increase in relative sea levels, in part because the ocean is rising and in part because areas of the coast are sinking.

Sources: American Geophysical Union; Rutgers University; NOAA; USGS The New York Times

The little white shack at the water’s edge in Lower Manhattan is unobtrusive — so much so that the tourists strolling the promenade at Battery Park the other day did not give it a second glance.

Up close, though, the roof of the shed behind a Coast Guard building bristled with antennas and other gear. Though not much bigger than a closet, this facility is helping scientists confront one of the great environmental mysteries of the age.

The equipment inside is linked to probes in the water that keep track of the ebb and flow of the tides in New York Harbor, its readings beamed up to a satellite every six minutes.

While the gear today is of the latest type, some kind of tide gauge has been operating at the Battery since the 1850s, by a government office originally founded by Thomas Jefferson. That long data record has become invaluable to scientists grappling with this question: How much has the ocean already risen, and how much more will it go up?

Scientists have spent decades examining all the factors that can influence the rise of the seas, and their research is finally leading to answers. And the more the scientists learn, the more they perceive an enormous risk for the United States

Much of the population and economy of the country is concentrated on the East Coast, which the accumulating scientific evidence suggests will be a global hot spot for a rising sea level over the coming century.

The detective work has required scientists to grapple with the influence of ancient ice sheets, the meaning of islands that are sinking in the Chesapeake Bay, and even the effect of a giant meteor that slammed into the earth.

The work starts with the tides. Because of their importance to navigation, they have been measured for the better part of two centuries. While the record is not perfect, scientists say it leaves no doubt that the world’s oceans are rising. The best calculation suggests that from 1880 to 2009, the global average sea level rose a little over eight inches.

Tide gauges along the East Coast show a long-term increase in relative sea levels, in part because the ocean is rising and in part because areas of the coast are sinking.

That may not sound like much, but scientists say even the smallest increase causes the seawater to eat away more aggressively at the shoreline in calm weather, and leads to higher tidal surges during storms. The sea-level rise of decades past thus explains why coastal towns nearly everywhere are having to spend billions of dollars fighting erosion.

The evidence suggests that the sea-level rise has probably accelerated, to about a foot a century, and scientists think it will accelerate still more with the continued emission of large amounts of greenhouse gases into the air. The gases heat the planet and cause land ice to melt into the sea.

The official stance of the world’s climate scientists is that the global sea level could rise as much as three feet by the end of this century, if emissions continue at a rapid pace. But some scientific evidence supports even higher numbers, five feet and beyond in the worst case.

Scientists say the East Coast will be hit harder for many reasons, but among the most important is that even as the seawater rises, the land in this part of the world is sinking. And that goes back to the last ice age, which peaked some 20,000 years ago.

As a massive ice sheet, more than a mile thick, grew over what are now Canada and the northern reaches of the United States, the weight of it depressed the crust of the earth. Areas away from the ice sheet bulged upward in response, as though somebody had stepped on one edge of a balloon, causing the other side to pop up. Now that the ice sheet has melted, the ground that was directly beneath it is rising, and the peripheral bulge is falling.

Some degree of sinking is going on all the way from southern Maine to northern Florida, and it manifests itself as an apparent rising of the sea.

A look at the growing threat of coast flooding in a time of climate change; the stenographer in the doctor's shadow; reconstructive surgery of all kinds for what ails your pet.

The sinking is fastest in the Chesapeake Bay region. Whole island communities that contained hundreds of residents in the 19th century have already disappeared. Holland Island, where the population peaked at nearly 400 people around 1910, had stores, a school, a baseball team and scores of homes. But as the water rose and the island eroded, the community had to be abandoned.

Eventually just a single, sturdy Victorian house, built in 1888, stood on a remaining spit of land, seeming at high tide to rise from the waters of the bay itself. A few years ago, a Washington Post reporter, David A. Fahrenthold, chronicled its collapse.

Aside from this general sinking of land up and down the East Coast, some places sit on soft sediments that tend to compress over time, so the localized land subsidence can be even worse than the regional trend. Much of the New Jersey coast is like that. The sea-level record from the Battery has been particularly valuable in sorting out this factor, because the tide gauge there is attached to bedrock and the record is thus immune to sediment compression.

Perhaps the weirdest factor of all pertains to Norfolk, Va., and points nearby. What is now the Tidewater region of Virginia was slammed by a meteor about 35 million years ago — a collision so violent it may have killed nearly everything on the East Coast and sent tsunami waves crashing against the Blue Ridge Mountains. The meteor impact disturbed and weakened the sediments across a 50-mile zone. Norfolk is at the edge of that zone, and some scientists think the ancient cataclysm may be one reason it is sinking especially fast, though others doubt it is much of a factor.

Coastal flooding has already become such a severe problem that Norfolk is spending millions to raise streets and improve drainage. Truly protecting the city could cost as much as $1 billion, money that Norfolk officials say they do not have. Norfolk’s mayor, Paul Fraim, made headlines a couple of years ago by acknowledging that some areas might eventually have to be abandoned.

Up and down the Eastern Seaboard, municipal planners want to know: How bad are things going to get, and how fast?

One of the most ambitious attempts to take account of all known factors came just a few weeks ago from Kenneth G. Miller and Robert E. Kopp of Rutgers University, and a handful of their colleagues. Their calculations, centered on New Jersey, suggest this is not just some problem of the distant future.

People considering whether to buy or rebuild at the storm-damaged Jersey Shore, for instance, could be looking at nearly a foot of sea-level rise by the time they would pay off a 30-year mortgage, according to the Rutgers projections. That would make coastal flooding and further property damage considerably more likely than in the past.

Even if the global sea level rises only eight more inches by 2050, a moderate forecast, the Rutgers group foresees relative increases of 14 inches at bedrock locations like the Battery, and 15 inches along the New Jersey coastal plain, where the sediments are compressing. By 2100, they calculate, a global ocean rise of 28 inches would produce increases of 36 inches at the Battery and 39 inches on the coastal plain.

These numbers are profoundly threatening, and among the American public, the impulse toward denial is still strong. But in towns like Norfolk — where neighborhoods are already flooding repeatedly even in the absence of storms, and where some homes have become unsaleable — people are starting to pay attention.

“In the last couple or three years, there’s really been a change,” said William A. Stiles Jr., head of Wetlands Watch, a Norfolk environmental group. “What you get now is people saying, ‘I’m tired of driving through salt water on my way to work, and I need some solutions.’ ” Source: nytimes.com


4 September, 2014. Reuters great analysis. As the seas rise, a slow-motion disaster gnaws at America’s shores

Part 1: A Reuters analysis finds that flooding is increasing along much of the nation’s coastline, forcing many communities into costly, controversial struggles with a relentless foe.

Tidal waters worldwide have climbed an average of 8 inches (20 cm) over the past century, according to the 2014 National Climate Assessment. The two main causes are the volume of water added to oceans from glacial melt and the expansion of that water from rising sea temperatures.

In many places, including much of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, an additional factor makes the problem worse: The land is sinking. This process, known as subsidence, is due in part to inexorable geological shifts. But another major cause is the extraction of water from underground reservoirs for industrial and public water supplies. As aquifers are drained, the land above them drops, a process that can be slowed by reducing withdrawals.

WATER EVERYWHERE (from left): Seepage of seawater into coastal marshes is believed to cause ghost forests like these on Assateague Island, Virginia. “Nuisance flooding” inundated the historic City Dock in downtown Annapolis, Maryland, several times this spring. NASA has had to invest tens of millions of dollars into seawalls and replenished beaches to protect launch pads and other infrastructure at its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque; Mary F. Calvert; Kevin Lamarque

The coastal flooding is often minor. Its cumulative consequences are not. As flooding increases in both height and frequency, it exacts a toll in closed businesses, repeated repairs, and investment in protection. In effect, higher seas make the same level of storm and even the same high tides more damaging than they used to be.

In Charleston, a six-lane highway floods when high tides prevent storm water from draining into the Atlantic, making it difficult for half the town’s 120,000 residents to get to three hospitals and police headquarters. The city has more than $200 million in flood-control projects under way.

In Annapolis, home to the U.S. Naval Academy, half a foot of water flooded the colonial district, a National Historic Landmark, at high tide on Chesapeake Bay during rainstorms on April 30, May 1, May 16 and Aug. 12. Shopkeepers blocked doorways with wood boards and trash cans; people slipped off shoes to wade to work in bare feet.

Tropical storm flooding has worsened, too, because the water starts rising from a higher platform, a recent study found.

<...>

When Tropical Storm Nicole struck Maryland in 2010, it was no stronger than storms in 1928 and 1951 that were “non-events,” said the study’s author, David Kriebel, a Naval Academy ocean and coastal engineer. Nicole, by contrast, swamped downtown Annapolis and the Naval Academy. “It’s partly due to ground subsidence,” Kriebel said. “Meanwhile, there’s been a worldwide rise in sea level over that period.”

In tidal Virginia, where the tide gauge with the fastest rate of sea level rise on the Atlantic Coast is located, a heavy rainfall at high tide increasingly floods roads and strands drivers in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.

Coastal flooding already has shut down Norfolk’s $318 million light rail system several times since it opened in 2011. Mayor Paul Fraim said he needs $1 billion for flood gates, higher roads and better drains to protect the city’s heavily developed shoreline.

Source: Reuters.com - Interactive graphics

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The latest wave of explosive seaside growth has occurred in the four decades since the state enacted laws to temper coastal development, protect the beaches that are Florida’s most treasured natural resource, and curb the rising costs of damage from tropical storms. During that time, the need to protect the coastline has only intensified.

As Reuters detailed in the first installment of this series, rising sea levels are not just a future threat: They are already here, a documented fact. The oceans have risen about eight inches on average over the past century worldwide. The rise is two to three times greater in spots along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean because of subsidence, a process whereby natural geological movements and extraction of underground stores of water, oil and gas cause the ground to sink.

Higher water levels compound the effects of storms and regular flooding, hastening erosion. Hurricanes slam into Florida more than anywhere else in the nation; more than a dozen of them have resulted in major disaster declarations since 1990.

Yet, as Huckabee’s example in Walton County shows, the law has done little to discourage growth in harm’s way. Out of 3,302 applications for permits to build residential structures on Florida’s 825 miles of beaches since Jan. 1, 2000, just 114 have been denied, a Reuters analysis of state records shows.

<...>

Even without storms, rising seas are chewing away at the island’s unprotected beaches at a rate of two to 11 feet a year. The tide gauge at the city’s Pier 21 has shown a rise in relative sea level of 25 inches since 1908 – the largest increase over the past century at any of the scores of gauges monitored by NOAA.

About one-third of that rise was from oceans rising globally as water warms and polar ice melts. The remaining two-thirds resulted from land sinking due to subsidence, which happens when the removal of underground water, oil and gas causes the land to pancake.

Galveston Island is far from the only thing at stake. Between it and the mainland is Galveston Bay, connected to Houston by the 50-mile Houston Ship Channel, home to one of the world’s busiest ports. The entire area, once marshy wetlands, is lined with suburbs and at least $100 billion in oil refineries, chemical plants and related infrastructure. Metro Houston accounts for about 26 percent of U.S. gasoline production, 42 percent of base chemicals production, and 60 percent of jet fuel output.

A 25-foot storm surge pushing into the bay and up the ship channel would cause “economic catastrophe” to the nation and poison the bay in “the worst environmental disaster in United States history,” according to Rice University’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters Center. The Ike surge was just shy of that scenario.

<...>

Source: reuters.com

Around the world, the biggest increases were in Asia, reflecting the greater impact in that region of subsidence, the process by which geological forces and the extraction of groundwater cause the land to sink. Near Bangkok, Thailand, a tide gauge showed an increase of nearly 3 feet since 1959. In Manila, the Philippines, the sea level rose about 2.7 feet.

As the rising waters take a worsening toll, European governments and local authorities are forced to ask: What’s our coastline worth? And can we afford to defend it all?

<...>

Flooding from overflowing rivers and canals in the area is at least an annual event that forces Rahmawati and the rest of the kampong to evacuate to public buildings nearby. High-water marks from the last big flood, in 2013, are still visible on the walls of the kampong.

“WORST SINKING CITY”

Jakarta is sinking because of a phenomenon called subsidence. This happens when extraction of groundwater causes layers of rock and sediment to slowly pancake on top of each other.

The problem is particularly acute in Jakarta because most of its millions of residents suck water through wells that tap shallow underground aquifers. Wells also provide about a third of the needs of business and industry, according to city data.

“It’s like Swiss Cheese underneath,” the World Bank’s Fook said. “Groundwater extraction is unparalleled for a city of this size. People are digging deeper and deeper, and the ground is collapsing.”

The effect is worsened by the sheer weight of Jakarta’s urban sprawl. Economic development in recent decades has transformed the city’s traditional low-rise silhouette into a thickening forest of high-rise towers. The weight of all those buildings crushes the porous ground underneath.

Previous articles in this series have focused on rising seas, which are climbing as the warming atmosphere causes water to expand and polar ice to melt. Ocean levels have increased an average of 8 inches globally in the past century, according to the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

But in many places – from metro Houston, Texas, and cities on the U.S. East Coast to the megacities of Southeast Asia – the impact of subsidence, due mainly to groundwater extraction, has been greater. Manila is sinking at a rate of around 3.5 inches a year. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is subsiding 3 inches a year, and Bangkok around an inch.

<...>

Source: reuters.com


2 February, 2015. Letter: It's not global warming that's causing floods

EDITOR: Recent letters to the editor on climate change have been one-sided. There have been none that give an opposing or skeptic view. Why is that?

The L.A. Times refuses to publish articles that provide a skeptical view of climate change or that claim that man-made global warming is not significant. Its reasoning is that the science is settled. Science is never settled. Is the Daily Herald of the same mindset?

A recent article stated that warming is causing the oceans to rise at an alarming rate. It is currently causing flooding of multiple areas of Florida and other coastal areas. While it is true that the oceans are rising, warming is not the major cause along most of the East Coast states. Instead, the cause is the subsidence of the land. That means the coastal lands are sinking faster than the oceans are rising. Some of the causes of subsidence include the fact that the high population density along the coasts has required a high demand for water. When water is drawn from underground aquifers it creates a zone of depression. That means sinkholes and other land movement takes place.

There have been numerous articles written about sinkholes in the Florida area. There are 17,000 square miles affected by subsidence in 45 states of the U.S. and the sea level rise is 3 to 4 times faster along the East Coast due to subsidence than in other U.S. coast lines Source: wausaudailyherald.com


25 June, 2012. Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe. Source: finance.yahoo.com

Comment by Stanislav on October 28, 2015 at 4:08pm

27 October, 2015. Rising tides in Brunswick  Brunswick Police Department. Source: firstcoastnews.com

Flooding in Brunswick. Submitted to First Coast News. Source: firstcoastnews.com

Flooding in Charleston, South Carolina, during the morning high tide on October 27, 2015.  (Steve Petyerak/The Weather Channel). Source: weather.com

Source: nbcmiami.com

28 October, 2015. Relief comes slowly to flood-weary coastal residents

For a third day in a row, what locals call "Lake Road" in Madisonville lived up to its name.

Lake Pontchartrain and the Madisonville boat dock became one as the lake spilled over the newly-built seawall and poured into the marsh. A no-name storm system - not quite tropical in nature - flooded Madisonville and other South Louisiana coastal towns with persistent south winds.

Finally, on Tuesday, relief started to come as winds shifted direction and water slowly receded.

"I think we had maybe four or five feet of surge out here," said Mike Benjamin, owner of T-Rivers Bar on the Tchefuncte River. "It filled up everything pretty good."

Benjamin uses an old military vehicle to access the bar during the frequent periods of high water. However, seldom does the water rise to the level experienced since Sunday. A couple of tourists from Boston hopped a ride, hoping to snap a picture of the Tchefuncte River Lighthouse.

"The lighthouse is beautiful, but the flooding is amazing, nothing like we'd ever see in Boston," said Nicole Giambro.

Floods along low-lying areas are more commonplace, as portions of the coast experience subsidence and rising sea levels.

"People underestimate the power of the lake and the wind," Benjamin said, "and how much the tide and the lake will affect the North Shore." Source: fox8live.com


27 October, 2015. “King Tide” floods parts of the peninsula

Unusually high tides made a mess of the peninsula Tuesday.

Many road closures were lifted as the water receded, but the intersection of Wentworth and Barre street still remained flooded even in the evening.

Residents in Harleston Village are no stranger to flooding and call this week’s the highest they had seen in decades. “This one block where I live is the one block in this area where it doesn’t flood,” said Will Schutze while picking up garbage spilled out from floated trash bins. “It finally got us today.”

Schutze along with other Harleston Village neighbors spent their day cleaning up debris. “It felt like it was a little bit of a sneak attack,” said Ham Morris, another resident. “The last couple of days it’s been getting higher and higher than all of the sudden it came in like a river.”

Morris with other neighbors anticipate Wednesday’s king tide will be the worst of the week and are taking the precaution of putting sandbags around their entryways. “It’s a good time to be in the sandbagging business,” laughed Henry Fielder of Hughes Lumber.

Wednesday morning’s high tide is expected to peek at 9:03 AM.

The city of Charleston has opened up its city owned garages to residents wishing to avoid the tidal flooding. Neighbors can park in the garages for free until Thursday, October 29. Source: counton2.com


27 October, 2015. Police: 'This is one of the highest tides we've seen in Brunswick'

9th Street this morning in Brunswick  Viewer Stephanie Allen McIntyre.

Rising tides have caused wide spread flooding in and around Brunswick on Tuesday.

According to One Hundred Miles, a coastal conservation group for Georgia's 100-mile coastline that's based in Brunswick, the unusually high tides and strong winds are to blame for the floods now troubling the low-lying regions of the Georgia town.

Employees for One Hundred Miles reportedly had to wade through calf-deep water just to get to work.

The Brunswick Police Department reported the tide to be 9.7 feet high.

Be sure to take care when driving through these waters. Remember as well that the water on the roads is salt water and can damage your car. Source: firstcoastnews.com


27 October, 2015. Homes Damaged From Highest Tides in Decades Along Parts of Georgia, South Carolina

Incredible images from Sean Compton of the coastal flooding out on HWY 80. Source: twitter.com

Persistent onshore winds coupled with the monthly spring tides led to the highest tides in decades Tuesday morning along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts, driving coastal flooding into Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas.

At least 20 homes, including two businesses, were damaged by the high water at Edisto Beach, South Carolina, according to a local storm report from the National Weather Service.

Coastal flooding closed several streets and intersections on the Charleston peninsula Tuesday morning, according to the Charleston Police Department.

Tide levels at Charleston's harbor topped out at 8.686 feet above mean lower low water level, the location's fourth highest tide on record, dating to 1921.

Only three events produced higher tides at Charleston Harbor: Hugo on Sep. 21, 1989 (12.56 feet), an August 11, 1940 hurricane (10.27 feet) and a New Year's Day 1987 coastal storm (8.84 feet) produced higher tides at Charleston Harbor.

Tuesday's tide level was 4-5 inches higher than the peak measured during the historic South Carolina flooding and coastal flooding event earlier in October. Fortunately this time, there wasn't 17-27 inches of rainfall occurring at the same time.

Flooding inundated roads in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, including Palm Boulevard, 41st and 25th Streets. Water flowed under waterfront homes and a condominium complex, according to the National Weather Service.

Tidal flooding was also reported in Folly Beach, Hilton Head, Beaufort, Edisto Beach, Kiawah Island and North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

A restaurant was flooded on Hilton Head Island and a golf course was partially submerged.

Floodwaters swamped several homes on Fripp Island, between Charleston and Hilton Head Island. The nearby Hunting Island State Park campgrounds were flooded, as well. Traffic was not allowed on the island due to widespread flooded roads, there.

Along the Georgia coast, tidal flooding at Ft. Pulaski National Monument east of Savannah was the highest since the 1940s and third highest on record dating to 1935, topping out at 10.427 feet.

Again, only two hurricanes -- Oct. 15, 1947 and Aug. 11, 1940 -- produced higher tides above mean lower low water level at Ft. Pulaski.

U.S. 80, the only road from Savannah to Tybee Island and Ft. Pulaski was flooded and closed Tuesday.

We mentioned earlier, there was no tropical storm, hurricane, or even bullish coastal low-pressure system associated with this event.

Instead, the pressure gradient between strong high pressure centered over the Northeast U.S. and low pressure over the northern Gulf Coast set up the persistent east to northeast winds driving water ashore.

Together with that were the monthly spring tides, the highest tides of the month corresponding to this month's full moon, known as the Hunter's Moon.

South Carolina and Georgia weren't the only ones dealing with coastal flooding. Minor flooding inundated some streets around high tide Tuesday morning in Miami Beach, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach.

High tides swamped docks on Perdido Key, Florida, Monday. Source: weather.com


27 October, 2015. King tide causes flooding in parts of South Florida

Earler this month, high tides left Northeast 32 Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, just east of the Intracoastal, under water. Robert Owen Courtesy of. Source: miamiherald.com

Julian Cohen watched the water rise Tuesday morning from the backyard of his Miami Beach home with his dog Kimbo.

Kimbo couldn't go for his usual morning walk because their house, which is on a canal, was marooned after the king tide swamped his street and driveway.

"It's double-waterfront," Cohen said, peering out from his front porch as cars splashed by just north of the Miami Beach Golf Club.
Tidal floods were expected Tuesday morning and will continue through Wednesday as the annual king tide causes saltwater to seep up in low-lying areas of South Florida.

From Fort Lauderdale to the Keys, flood-prone areas should plan for soggy conditions at high tide.

In Hollywood, where Robin Rorapaugh stacked 150 sandbags to keep her house dry, water bubbled up from storm drains to flood Buchanan Street and into her yard. Rorapaugh, who has lived in her 1923 house since 2000, said flooding has gotten progressively worse, with streets flooding after two inches of rain.

Miami Beach officials are entering the second year of a five-year plan to install dozens of pumps through the city to push water out into Biscayne Bay.

It's an aggressive push to combat high tides and the long-term effects of sea level rise. Miami-Dade County and other governments are in the planning stages to develop a strategy for contending with future sea rise.

This week's rising tides are commonly known as the king tide, which occurs every fall. South Florida got a preview of this in late September, when a supermoon-fueled high tide caused similar flooding. Another seasonal high tide is forecast for Nov. 24 through Nov. 27. Source: miamiherald.co

Comment by Stanislav on October 28, 2015 at 4:05pm

Philippines

28 October, 2015. After ‘Lando,’ Pampanga, Bulacan fight floods

WITHOUT rain for days, much of Central Luzon has turned dry land more than a week after Typhoon “Lando” (international name: Koppu) made landfall in Casiguran town in Aurora province on Oct. 18.

In the coastal towns of Pampanga and Bulacan, however, people still battle with floods as water from 30 or so major rivers in Central Luzon—starting from Pantabangan River in Nueva Ecija province to the waterways along the 260-kilometer meandering route—drains downstream of the Pampanga River before emptying into Manila Bay.

People in Candelaria have no dike to run to for safety whenever the Pampanga River overflows. Far down are six communities of Masantol town or what survived of these when the government widened the mouth of the river from 75 m to 750 m in 1998. Farther south are the Hagonoy and Calumpit towns of Bulacan.

Geologists and engineers refer to this area as the Pampanga Delta or downstream of the Pampanga River.

“It’s been almost a week now,” Pangilinan, a councilman, said of the flood. Thirty families in his neighborhood evacuated to the second floor of San Francisco Elementary School in Candelaria. They buy food in nearby Calumpit by banca.

“They don’t want to go to the other side of the river [to get to Macabebe town proper]. They’re afraid [because] water is high and the current is strong,” said Pangilinan, 53, an owner of a small fishpond.

But as floodwaters rise and linger—citing the successive Typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” in 2011, the “habagat”-triggered rain in 2012 and Lando of late—Pangilinan does not harbor any thought of leaving Candelaria although the risks of living there have grown.

But engineering interventions are not enough to minimize the risks of flooding, according to geologists Dr. Kelvin Rodolfo and Dr. Fernando Siringan.

In a paper published in 2006, they said groundwater extraction should be slowed down and regulated to curtail subsidence that worsens flooding.

“Unlike an earthquake or volcanic eruption, the worsening floods are gradual and permit temporary, stopgap solutions. Optimism is rampant during the flood-free half of the year when people want to forget the wet and discomfort,” they said. Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Comment by Stanislav on October 27, 2015 at 2:37pm

Philippines 

Click to view full resolution - Landsat 8 (Source: earthexplorer)

24 October, 2015

[22 October, 2015]

[23 October, 2015]

[18 August, 2015] (Source: MODIS Subsetsworldview.earthdata)

25 October, 2015. Ground swallows 4 houses in Itogon

Four houses crumpled and fell into a gaping hole that gave way beneath a community in Benguet’s mining town of Itogon on Thursday, a day after Typhoon “Lando” (international name: Koppu) left the country.

Results of initial geological investigation, however, discounted speculation that the hole was part of an old tunnel once used for a mining operation there.

Fay Apil, a geologist and Cordillera director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), said the houses were dragged down the side of a hill and swallowed by the hole in Virac village.

Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said the families living in the collapsed houses managed to flee after they felt their houses were shaking.

He said the hole gave way gradually. The first evidence of subsidence was detected by residents at 10 a.m. on Thursday. The hole began to grow wider in the afternoon.

The displaced families, as well as 32 other people, were relocated to Virac Elementary School.

Apil said at least 100 families were evacuated from the area. “The police worked quickly to clear these houses,” she said, after she and a team inspected the ground subsidence and helped identify the endangered houses.

Palangdan said engineers of the mining company came to check on the ground movement on Saturday. “But they did not show us any plans of action yet,” he said.

Apil said geologists and the mining company’s engineers inspected two underground mine structures which run beneath the subsidence area in Virac.

She said the old “Vegas” tunnel was the closest, having been part of the company’s tourist-drawing mine tours. But the team found no evidence of collapse there when it visited the tunnel.

Apil said the team also inspected the old “Diversion Tunnel No. 1,” which is being used to discharge water. On the surface, the length of this diversion channel is equivalent to an 80-meter stretch from the road.

But the team, accompanied by Virac village chief Noel Bilibli, checked the tunnel outlet and concluded that the volume of discharge was unhampered and the quality of water was clear, she said.

The diversion tunnel had not been compromised, she said, adding that the team and local officials would enter the tunnel on Oct. 27.

She said the MGB is working on another theory: The void underneath might be the result of operations of illegal small-scale miners. She did not elaborate.

Itogon is home to some of the country’s first mining companies, most of which were established when the country was ruled by the American colonial government. Vincent Cabreza and Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon. Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Comment by Stanislav on October 21, 2015 at 5:49pm

Philippines floods:

The Philippines is sinking! Certainly the buoys to the east of the Philippines indicate action, as the sea flood is dropping there, water on the rise! The buoys above New Guinea, in the Pacific, likewise indicate a rising sea level. What could this mean?

There is indeed a relationship between the high waves and flooding in the Philippines in those towns along the eastern coastline and inland with access to the sea. The Philippines have begun to sink, though such sinking is never such that an entire land mass or large island sinks uniformly, so can be deceptive. There is an additional influence from the tilting of the Philippine Plate and continued compression out in the Pacific, so that water is heaped to the east of the Philippine Islands, and is washing over their eastern shores during equalization of the water level. However, this latter is a relatively small influence. The issue with flooding is absolutely due to a dropping in elevation for some parts of the Philippines.

ZetaTalk: Philippines Sink

In this photo provided by the Philippine Air Force, floodwaters inundate homes and rice fields in northern Philippines Tuesday Oct. 20, 2015. Tropical Storm Lando (international name Koppu) finally blew away from the main northern Philippine island Tuesday, after leaving several dead over the weekend and forcing tens of thousands of villagers into emergency shelters and destroying rice fields ready for harvest. Staff Sgt. Roldan L. Medina, Philippine Air Force - PIO 410th maintenance wing via AP. Source: philstar.com

An aerial shot taken with a drone helicopter by Bayan Patroller John Ryan Domingo shows the extent of the flooding on Macapagal Avenue, Diversion Road in Tuguegarao City on Monday. Photo by John Ryan Domingo, BMPM. Source: abs-cbnnews.com

‘Lando’ submerges ricefields in Pangasinan and Tarlac towns. Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

After typhoon ‘Lando’ left a swath of destruction in Northern and Central Luzon, government authorities and local residents have started to pick up the pieces with bulldozers starting to clear a path at a highway in Carangalan, Nueva Ecija, that has been inundated with mud and rocks. Source: mb.com.ph

20 October, 2015

16 September, 2015

11 September, 2015. Enhanced flooding in Metro Manila: Water rising, ground sinking according to scientists

Flooded areas brought by the heavy downpour in the past few days left traffic at a standstill along major roads in Metro Manila.

Could Metro Manila be sinking?

Possibly, scientists are saying that over-pumping of groundwater can cause some areas to sink 5 to 6 centimeters yearly.

“Ang pagkuha ng sobrang tubig, the faster that it can’t be replenished.. ang lupa naging compact which causes subsidence,” said Narod Eco of University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman National Institute of Geological Sciences.

Land subsidence or sinking can produce higher tides that reach farther inland and floods that recede more slowly.

For cities in Metro Manila - Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela - areas are sinking fast, reason why flood waters rise and flow inland quickly.

Areas in Muntinlupa and nearby provinces like Cavite, Pampanga, Bulacan and Laguna are also sinking because most of their soil is made of clay.

If the sinking continues, what could be the worst case scenario?

“In 10 to 20 years most likely mga lugar na coastal areas ngayon maging permanently underwater like sa Venice,” said Eco.

Climate change is making problems worse. As the world's glaciers melt and oceans expand, water levels are rising.

Manila Bay is now higher than Manila, which has areas that are already below sea level. Source: cnnphilippines.com


30 September, 2011. Sinking lands behind worsening floods

Aside from global warming causing stronger cyclones and rising oceans levels, sinking lands in Metro Manila and Central Luzon are causing floods to worsen, scientists have warned.

Lands are sinking because of the natural compaction of soil and rapid withdrawal of groundwater, according to Dr. Fernando Siringan of the Marine Science Institute at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Siringan, in a post-"Ondoy" assessment paper, said land subsidence is the least understood but very important cause of flooding.

Typhoons, southwest monsoon not to blame

The study said typhoons should not be immediately tagged as the cause of worsening floods in the areas.

"The southwest monsoon and typhoons annually deliver approximately 2,000 millimeters of rain to the region, but the amounts have been decreasing since 1900 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1995; Jose et al., 1996) and cannot be blamed for the worsening floods," the paper said.

Dr. Greg Bankoff, an associate professor in the School of Asian Studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, also identified sinking lands as one of the primary causes of severe flooding in northern Metro Manila and parts of Pampanga and Bulacan.

"The extent of flooding has also been considerably aggravated in recent decades by land subsidence," he said in a study published by the International Institute for Asian Studies.

"Sediments that underlie river deltas have a high water content that is 'squeezed' by the weight of succeeding deposits, a process that is greatly accelerated when groundwater is extracted faster than it can be replenished by natural recharge from rain seeping back into the ground," he explained.

Sinking land, higher sea level

"As the land around Manila Bay sinks and the level of the sea rises, flooding has become more prevalent not only in the city but also in the surrounding provinces," Bankoff said. Source: abs-cbnnews.com


13 August, 2012. Kelvin Rodolfo, an eminent Filipino geologist, gave a good perspective of what happened last week. Here is Dr. Rodolfo’s reaction to a New York Times account of last week’s floods:

“Just finished reading 35 comments...this abnormal rainfall event may be blamed on climate change induced by global warming, but sea level rise from global warming is not to blame. Far too few people know that a major cause of Metro Manila’s worsening floods is that the land there is sinking several inches a year -- more than ten times faster than sea level rise.

“Meanwhile, pious Catholic politicians are saying that God is punishing the Philippines with the floods because its congress is considering a Reproductive Health bill. How very sad...” Source: philstar.com

21 October, 2015. 246 villages still submerged

At least 246 villages in four Central Luzon provinces and in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, remain submerged in floodwater even as typhoon ,” now downgraded to a tropical storm, finally blew away from the landmass of Northern Luzon yesterday, leaving at least 20 people dead and forcing 70,000 villagers into emergency shelters and destroying rice fields ready for harvest.

Likewise, disaster officials said floodwaters also swamped 15 towns in Cagayan, affecting 20,000 people.

Disaster-response agencies also warned that there was still a danger that rains dumped by “Lando” (international name: Koppu) in mountain areas may flood rivers and put hundreds of downstream villages at risk.

President Aquino had earlier warned that a lot of this rainfall that fell on the northern portion of Luzon will be coming down and will be affecting all of these barangays near the major river systems.

Aquino, who flew to hard-hit Nueva Ecija last Monday to check on the flooding and distribute food packs, said there were still worries that up to 800 villages could be threatened if rivers become overwhelmed by rainwater flowing down from northern mountain provinces.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said “Lando” will continue to bring moderate to heavy rains, and to at times intense rains over Northern Luzon, particularly the western section until today, while Central Luzon will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rains. Source: mb.com.ph


19 October, 2015. Lando floods 'worst in this lifetime' for Nueva Ecija

Residents of flooded farming villages in the Philippines were trapped on their rooftops on Monday and animals floated down fast-rising rivers, as deadly Typhoon Lando (international name: Lando) dumped more intense rain.

Lando, the second strongest storm to hit the disaster-plagued Southeast Asian archipelago this year, has killed two people and forced more than 60,000 people from their homes, authorities said. After making landfall on Sunday morning on the east coast of Luzon, the Philippines' biggest island, the slow-moving typhoon has brought heavy rain to some of the nation's most important farming areas.

"I've never seen anything like this. It's the worst flood I've seen in my entire life," farmer Reynaldo Ramos, 68, told AFP as he walked through knee-deep water in Santa Rosa, about two hours' drive north of Manila.  Military, government and volunteer rescue units equipped with rubber boats were trying to help residents in dozens of flooded villages, according to Nigel Lontoc, a regional rescue official.

"The floods are rising fast and some people are now on their rooftops," Lontoc told AFP, but added there were not enough rescuers and he did not know how many have been rescued.

Lontoc said many thousands of people may be stranded in those villages, although it was too early to determine an exact number Source: gmanetwork.com


19 October, 2015. Typhoon Lando: 'Worst floods' in Cabanatuan history

STRANDED. Many Cabanatuan City residents spent the night of Monday, October 19, sleeping on roofs. Photo by Naoki Mengua/Rappler

The morning of Monday, October 19, saw Cabanatuan City slowly rising from the depths of muddy flood waters brought by Typhoon Lando (international name Koppu).

“First time ever sa kasaysayan ng Nueva Ecija. Akala ko nga 4 years ago yung Pedring na yung pinaka mataas pero hindi pala, ito talaga,” said Joanne Guevarra, a resident of barangay Aduas Norte

(This is the first time ever in the history of Nueva Ecija. I thought 4 years ago Pedring had the highest floods but no, it’s this storm.)

This sentiment was among the first to be voiced out by rescued residents as they boarded the truck.

“We never experienced these kinds of floods before,” said 59-year-old Anna Mateo of Aduas Centro village in Filipino.

Though rescue operations began the previous night amid heavy downpour, rescue teams were still rushing the next morning to heed requests for help in villages that remained submerged.

Those still under head-high floods as of Tuesday morning include the barangays Aduas Norte, Aduas Centro, Aduas Sur, Sumakab, and Isla.

Separated, reunited

Thirteen-year-old Raprap Guevarra spent the entire night on top of a metal roof on the second floor of his friend’s house in Aduas Norte.

His mother, Joanne, was up all night as well, desperately contacting rescue teams from the Padre Gregorio Crisostomo Elementary School evacuation center. She had been separated from Raprap and had no means to fetch him herself.

“Talagang naghi-hysterical na nga ako kasi nga syempre ang bilis ng taas ng tubig, baka abutin na yung tinutungtungan nila, wala nang kakapitan,” she told Rappler.

(I was hysterical because the water was rising fast, it could reach where they were standing, they would have nothing to hold on to.)

She almost lost hope when by 11 pm, she noticed there were fewer rescue personnel. She had been told that a team was sent to the area where her son was stranded but they were not able to cut through because of the strong floods.

Unexpected flood heights

Residents said they were not prepared for the speed at which flood waters rose.

Areas which before could expect floods to subside after reaching the knee were inundated by waters that went beyond their heads.

This lack of preparation was one reason why many got stranded in their homes.

“Hindi nga siya nakabalik dahil napakabilis ng pagtaas ng tubig. Within 30 minutes, hanggang dibdib,” said Guevarra, referring to Raprap who had promised to follow her to the evacuation center.

(He was not able to go back because because the water rose so fast. Within 30 minutes, it reached the chest.) Source: rappler.com

Comment by Kojima on October 11, 2015 at 6:23am

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