Water overflowing Industrial Canal into Upper and Lower Ninth Ward

USA Today UPDATE on Industrial Canal, Ninth Ward New Orleans:

Update at 11:10 a.m. ET: The Times-Picayune says a railroad bridge was left in the down position, helping boost water levels inside the canal. "What we're seeing is small overtopping, white caps,"Col. Al Lee, the Corps' local commander, tells the paper.

Original posting at 11 a.m. ET: The Times-Picayune just posted a photo that shows water flowing over a levee along the Industrial Canal in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Earlier, the paper reported that three vessels broke loose in that canal.

Mayor Ray Nagin tells WDSU-TV that levees along the Industrial Canal are being overtopped by the Hurricane Gustav storm surge. Water level at the canal was being measured at more than 11 feet high, according to Army Corps of Engineers data. The flood walls there are 11 feet high.

Overtopping levees is much less alarming than levee breaches, Nagin said.








(Photo by Lee Celano, Reuters.)





NOLA.com: Water coming over Industrial Canal floodwall
by The Times-Picayune
Monday September 01, 2008, 9:07 AM

The Army Corps of Engineers confirms that water is lapping over the Industrial Canal floodwall. Water is coming over the top in waves. Levee and Corps officials are assessing the floodwall.

The L & N railroad bridge across the Industrial Canal is in the down position, said Mark Lambert, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation and Development. That bridge is owned by the Port of New Orleans, but Lambert said DOTD has offered to send teams to the area to help raise the bridge.

Engineer Bob Turner, executive director of the East Bank Regional Levee Authority, said the bridge is causing a 3-foot backup of water in the canal. Turner has been in contact with the port and DOTD authorities about raising the bridge but it the controls are underwater.

Bonura said the bridge, built in 1919, is only able to handle winds up to 45 miles an hour, which means it cannot weather a hurricane in an upright position.

"Really, the public safety concern is that if it were raised during hurricane-force winds, the bridge could become unstable and fall on the floodwall or levee," Bonura said.

He also said that at the moment, there is no way to raise the bridge because the controls are under water and equipment can't be moved to the area.

It is the Port's usual protocol to keep these old railroad bridges in the down position during a hurricane, Bonura said. The canal is designed with that factor in mind, he said.

Col. Al Lee, New Orleans district commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, also said the wind is blowing water over the floodwall. "What we're seeing is small overtopping, white caps," he said. "The water is about 1 foot below the top of the wall. They say those walls have been significantly strengthened since Katrina and have slope paving to help prevent erosion."

St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens and Parish President Craig Taffaro were on the Claiborne Avenue bridge, checking the water levels. Water was lapping over the wall on the Upper Ninth Ward side, but had not yet overtopped the side closest to the Lower Ninth Ward.

"It's better than seeing cement collapsing but it's not good," Taffaro said.

"We're worried about the pressure building up on this wall," he said pointing at the corner of the floodwall nearest to the Claiborne Avenue Bridge.

Full article: NOLA.com on water over Industrial Canal by Ninth Ward, New Orleans

NEW Photos of Hurricane Gustav hitting New Orleans; Weather.com, NewOrleans.com links

September 1st, 2008 Hurricane Gustav UPDATE

As of Monday morning, damage in New Orleans was less than expected so far, but Grand Isle is reportedly under seven feet of water, and the storm continues to move west toward western Louisiana and the northeast Texas area. Shell Beach in New Orleans is said to have a 9-foot swell this morning.




Satellite photograph of Hurricane Gustav:













Satellite image showing Hurricane Gustav approaching New Orleans Sunday night:



















Satellite image of Hurricane Gustav Monday 12.20pm EDT 01SEP08:












Here is a view down a main street of New Orleans from CNN.com:











CNN photo from Monday morning in New Orleans:
















Photos from New Orleans traffic cameras Sunday night as Hurricane Gustav approaches








A Sunday night photo of Causeway Blvd illustrating the calm before the storm:














Causeway Blvd Monday morning:





















Photo from New Orleans traffic camera looking along Canal Boulevard Sunday night August 31, 2008:













Monday morning, Canal Blvd:














Traffic camera at Power Blvd in New Orleans Sunday night shows emerging disturbance:














New Orleans interchange 610 and I-10, Monday morning:














New Orleans Clearview Parkway Sunday night:
















Old Man River Cam is located at Poydras St. and Magazine St












Old Man River Cam in New Orleans Monday morning:















Follow the paths of Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Hanna at Weather.com


New Orleans hurricane Gustav news at NewOrleans.com


Links to live cameras operating in New Orleans


Traffic Cameras in Baton Rouge Louisiana

NRDC alleges pesticide clothianidin linked to colony collapse disorder in beehives, sues Feds

Mysterious Honey Bee Disorder Buzzes into Court

From Environmental News Service

WASHINGTON, DC, August 19, 2008 (ENS) - The nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court in Washington DC to force the federal government to disclose studies on the effect of a new pesticide on honey bees.

Studies on the pesticide, clothianidin, were ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from the pesticide's manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, in 2003 when the federal agency granted the company a registration for the chemical.

An NRDC bee researcher and the organization's attorneys believe that the EPA has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious honey bee die-offs reported across the country called "colony collapse disorder," or CCD, that it has not made public.

The connection is important because commercial honey bees pollinate about 90 of the country's crops, valued at $15 billion. Apples, peaches, pears, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, cherries, berries, peppers, squash, soybeans, almonds, cashews, and sunflowers all require or benefit from honey bee pollination.

The EPA has failed to respond to the NRDC's Freedom of Information Act request for agency records concerning the toxicity of pesticides to bees, prompting Monday's legal action.

"Recently approved pesticides have been implicated in massive bee die-offs and are the focus of increasing scientific scrutiny," said NRDC attorney Aaron Colangelo. "EPA should be evaluating the risks to bees before approving new pesticides, but now refuses to tell the public what it knows."

"Pesticide restrictions might be at the heart of the solution to this growing crisis, so why hide the information they should be using to make those decisions?" Calangelo asked.

At an apiary by the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, bees fill the air as beekeepers examine hives for disease. (Photo courtesy Penn State)
The EPA has issued a fact sheet on clothianidin, one of a relatively new class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids that impact the central nervous system of insects.

Full article on ENS-Newswire.com: Natural Resources Defense Council sues government over pesticide link to CCD



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Bees native to Vancouver Island are ultra-efficient pollinators

ORCHARD MASON BEES AND THEIR CARE

from http://www.cvseeds.bc.ca/bees.htm

The Mason Bee can help pollinate our trees and crops

THE MASON BEE

Honeybee populations on Vancouver Island are rapidly being destroyed by mites. Blue Orchard Bees (Orchard Mason Bees ­ Osmia lignaria) are native to our area and are 17 times as efficient at pollination of fruit trees as honeybees. These bees are not available to fertilize later food crops as the parent bees die in early summer.

Mason bees may well be able to take over the fruit tree pollination if we give a little help.

The bees are about 7/16” long and look like blue bottle flies except for having 4 wings rather than two. The male is a little smaller and has two longer antennae. The female has long belly hairs to hold pollen.
Cells for laying eggs

ITS LIFE CYCLE

The bees emerge from their over-wintering nests in the spring after about three days of 14°C (57° F) maximum day time temperature. In nature, they generally have been in beetle-made holes or other similar narrow spaces. The males are the first to appear as they come from the outer portion of the “tube”. They feed briefly and await the females which come from the deeper part of the tube.

The natural emergence of these bees is generally around March locally, but this can vary artificially if the nests are man-made and are kept in cooler temperatures until the plum or early apple trees just begin to break into bloom. The nests are then moved to a warm location.

The females emerge 3-4 days later than the males, and fertilization occurs almost immediately. The males die soon afterwards without doing any pollination. The female gathers a little nectar and about 20 loads of pollen and builds a little pyramid inside a suitable nest site. Then a single egg is laid on its end in that mass of food. She then gathers about 10 loads of clayish soil and builds a wall which seals off the egg with its food supply. Hence the name, Mason Bee. This sequence is repeated until she has provisioned, laid, and walled-off about 30 eggs. The one female will fill two or three 6” holes with eggs.

It is useful to know that she will lay eggs into holes only to a maximum of about 6” deep. She will continue to lay eggs for only 5-6 weeks. Also, as the egg-laying process brings her to the last inch or two near the surface, she withholds sperm from the eggs she lays, thus the last eggs of one hole will develop into males, So males will begin to grow only in the area near the surface, while all the deeper laid eggs will produce females. For our purposes, it is important to understand that if we want a large majority of females to be born, shallow holes such as 3-4” deep, are almost useless—they will predominantly yield males which do not pollinate and are not needed in large quantities for population expansion. Thus, in our efforts to optimize the production of bees, it seems that 6” depth is ideal.

The newly laid eggs hatch into larvae in about three days and they devour their food for the next 25 days. Then they spin a cocoon inside of which they become adults before winter time. It is important that the nest not be moved or even vibrated much between March and the end of September (as the eggs and larvae will suffocate), at which time it can be moved to a garage or other unheated space until next spring.

Full article at:


How to Raise Orchard Mason Bees in BC


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Geothermal Energy offering massive untapped potential

Story from TheStar.com:


Geothermal Power offers huge potential to replace oil and natural gas

Canada has significant `earth energy' potential, but critics say it's not doing much about it

By Tyler Hamilton, Toronto Star Energy Reporter

Canada's obsession with "clean coal" and carbon capture technologies has left it blind to the vast potential of its own geothermal resources, says the head of one of the country's few publicly traded developers of geothermal power.

Gary Thompson, chief executive of Sierra Geothermal Power Inc. of Vancouver, said the neglect has left Canada a laggard among peers who view emission-free geothermal power as a strategic part of their electricity mix.

"We're one of the few countries with significant geothermal potential that's not doing anything about it," said Thompson, adding that the federal government has shown little interest, despite calls for more study. "It's rather disconcerting. They've really been letting Canadians down."

Thompson recently became vice-chair of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association in Calgary. He said he joined because geothermal "is not getting any love" in Canada and he wanted to create more public awareness of the potential.

It's a suggestion Natural Resources Canada disputes. "The Government of Canada supports increased supply of clean electricity from renewable sources, including geothermal," said department spokesperson Héloïse Perron, citing a government ecoENERGY program that supports up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity development from geothermal, wind, solar and other renewable power systems.

Critics, however, say the inclusion of geothermal power under a general program designed around renewables is not akin to specifically backing research and development of the resource.

"It's really a shotgun approach," said Michal Moore, former chief economist at the U.S. National Renewable Laboratory and a senior fellow at the University of Calgary's Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy.

Moore co-authored a study released last week, mostly focused on Alberta, that recommended geothermal be "subject to a co-ordinated and multi-faceted ongoing research program." It concluded that next-generation geothermal technologies could reduce or substitute for proposed clean coal or nuclear plants "at competitive prices."

But Thompson said more groundwork is needed. He said the association's first goal is to have Natural Resources Canada, through the Geological Survey of Canada, invest in a thorough assessment of the country's geothermal potential – something that hasn't been done in more than two decades. It's also preparing a policy white paper that will break down myths that have hindered development of the resource.

"A lot of politicians just don't understand it," Thompson said.

"In their view it has no potential."

Meanwhile, billions of dollars are being put into unproven technologies aimed at giving the oil sands and coal industry a greener image, he said.

Last week, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach announced plans for a $2 billion fund that would accelerate development of carbon capture and storage technology.

The geothermal power plants tap hot temperatures kilometres below the surface to create steam that spin turbines that generate electricity.

Conventional geothermal, or earth energy, facilities tend to be located in countries, including Canada, that lie along the so-called Ring of Fire – a region with shallow heat.

Though out of date, estimates for potential in Canada range from 3,000 to 6,000 megawatts, much higher as drilling and engineering costs fall.

Thompson's company has focused its efforts on Nevada because of U.S. incentives that help fund early drilling costs.

The U.S. also offers a production tax credit of two cents per kilowatt-hour, while Canada offers one cent.

"I had done a lot of research in Canada and after several years ended up banging my head against the wall," said Thompson, recalling the difficulty of getting support.

"We ended up looking at projects stateside."

It's a similar story for Nevada Geothermal Power Inc., Polaris Geothermal Inc. and Western GeoPower Corp., all Canadian-based companies that have done most of their development outside of Canada.

The only commercial geothermal power initiative under development in Canada is Western Geo's South Meager project in B.C.

Germany, on the other hand, is forging ahead with next-generation "enhanced geothermal" that will make it possible to develop the technology in more locations around the world.

In the U.S., the Department of Energy last month pledged to invest up to $90 million (U.S.) over four years into research related to enhanced geothermal systems.


More info: Geothermal Energy Investing

Dengue Fever spreading; early detection and replacement of fluids crucial

Health: INFECTIOUS DISEASES: 'BREAK BONE FEVER'

Dengue fever: spreading and often undiagnosed
Travellers are sometimes unaware they have contracted the illness, leaving them vulnerable to more dangerous subsequent infections

HELEN BRANSWELL

The Canadian Press

July 1, 2008

It goes by the nickname "break bone fever." And after his brush with dengue fever, Phil Day knows why.

Mr. Day, an expatriate Canadian living in Singapore, contracted the mosquito-borne viral disease in 2007 after years of working in cities across Asia. He and his wife, Karen, were both afflicted, struggling through an illness that left them exhausted and in pain.

While they were sick, they needed to be monitored for signs they were developing the severest form of the disease, a life-threatening hemorrhagic fever (neither did). That monitoring required them to go to hospital for daily blood tests. On one of those trips, Mr. Day saw a sight that embodied how he was feeling.

"We were waiting at a traffic light and this old guy, probably 90 years old or so, crossed the street with a cane. He was moving very slowly and every step looked painful," he recounts via e-mail.

"And I turned to my wife and said: 'That's it. That's exactly how I feel.' "

Dengue fever is a disease of warm climes; Canada's cold winters deter the virus from setting up shop here.

But the thousands of Canadians who travel to the wide swaths of the world where the virus does spread are at some risk of becoming infected with a virus that can trigger symptoms ranging from flu-like fatigue and aching joints to a hemorrhagic fever that can kill.

A newly published study looking at trends in dengue infections in travellers notes that the past 20 years have seen a marked expansion of the virus's turf, from Southeast Asia to the islands of the South Pacific, the Caribbean and the Americas. There have even been domestically acquired infections in the United States.

Dengue fever has become a more common diagnosis than malaria for ill travellers returning from tropical regions other than Africa, notes the study, published in the July issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

An analysis of cases reported to the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network, an international collaboration of specialized travel and tropical medicine clinics, shows that from October, 1997, through February, 2006, 522 of nearly 25,000 ill travellers seen at network clinics were diagnosed with dengue or dengue hemorrhagic fever.

While that is only 2.1 per cent, it is also only a fraction of the cases that would have occurred during that period, says one of the study's authors, Kevin Kain. Not everyone who falls sick after a trip will end up at a travel clinic.

"Many people will have ... feverish illnesses that don't progress and they just stay at home," says Dr. Kain, director of the travel and tropical medicine clinic at Toronto's University Health Network.

"Or they present to their GP and no one ever does a confirmation test - no one ever does [blood testing]. So this is the tip of the iceberg, the cases we're seeing."

Anyone who has had dengue fever once faces a much higher risk of developing dengue hemorrhagic fever if they contract the disease again. Nine out of 10 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever occur in people who have previously had dengue fever, Dr. Kain says.

"The first time you get it you feel like you're going to die, but you survive. But it's the subsequent infections [that are dangerous]. So people want to know if they've actually had dengue, because then they're a little more apprehensive about subsequent exposures."

Every year, an estimated 50 million to 100 million people worldwide contract dengue fever, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. And several hundred thousand people come down with dengue hemorrhagic fever.

In Canada, 40 to 50 laboratory-confirmed cases of dengue fever are reported every year, in travellers who have visited parts of the world where the type of mosquito that spreads the virus are found.

Protecting against infection poses real challenges for travellers in these areas. There is no vaccine and, unlike for malaria, no pills that block infection. So it comes down to DEET-based insect repellents and luck.

The disease cannot spread from person to person directly, though mosquitoes become infected by drawing blood from an infected person and then pass the virus along.

The disease typically manifests itself with a high fever, severe headache, backache, joint pains, nausea and vomiting, eye pain and rash. Younger children usually suffer milder disease than older children and adults.

In a portion of cases, though, the hemorrhagic syndrome develops. Blood begins to pool under the skin and there can be bleeding from the nose and gums and even internal bleeding. Blood vessels become leaky, which can lead to blood loss, circulatory system failure, shock and death.

There are no drugs to combat the virus. But with good care - which largely involves replacing fluids - most people will survive. The earlier treatment starts, however, the better.


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