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Tag: Coastlines and beaches

  • Rain-soaked California still at risk of floods and high surf

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    WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. — A strong storm system that brought relentless winds, rain and snowfall to California this week was expected to ease Friday, but there was still a risk of high surf along the coast, flash flooding near Los Angeles and avalanches in the Sierra Nevada.

    Waves near the San Francisco Bay Area could reach up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) Friday, parts of Southern California were at risk of flooding, and avalanches could hit the Lake Tahoe area, officials warned. Residents were told to be ready to evacuate the mountain town of Wrightwood about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles because of mudslides.

    Atmospheric rivers carried massive plumes of moisture from the tropics during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. The storms were blamed for at least two deaths earlier in the week.

    The system brought the wettest Christmas season to downtown Los Angeles in 54 years, the National Weather Service said.

    Roads in the 5,000-resident town of Wrightwood were covered in rocks, debris and thick mud on Thursday. With power out, a gas station and coffee shop running on generators were serving as hubs for residents and visitors.

    “It’s really a crazy Christmas,” said Jill Jenkins, who was spending the holiday with her 13-year-old grandson, Hunter Lopiccolo.

    Lopiccolo said the family almost evacuated the previous day, when water washed away a chunk of their backyard. But they decided to stay and still celebrated the holiday. Lopiccolo got a new snowboard and e-bike.

    “We just played card games all night with candles and flashlights,” he said.

    Davey Schneider hiked a mile and a half (1.6 kilometers) through rain and floodwater up to his shins from his Wrightwood residence Wednesday to rescue cats from his grandfather’s house.

    “I wanted to help them out because I wasn’t confident that they were going to live,” Schneider said Thursday. “Fortunately, they all lived. They’re all okay — just a little bit scared.”

    Arlene Corte said roads in town turned into rivers, but her house was not damaged.

    “It could be a whole lot worse,” she said. “We’re here talking.”

    With more rain on the way, more than 150 firefighters were stationed in the area, said San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Shawn Millerick.

    “We’re ready,” he said. “It’s all hands on deck at this point.”

    A falling tree killed a San Diego man Wednesday, news outlets reported. Farther north, a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy died in what appeared to be a weather-related crash.

    Areas along the coast, including Malibu, were under a flood watch until Friday afternoon, and wind and flood advisories were issued for much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters), with even more in the mountains, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said.

    More wind and heavy snow was expected in the Sierra Nevada, where gusts created “near white-out conditions” and made mountain pass travel treacherous.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom declared emergencies in six counties to allow state assistance.

    The state deployed resources and first responders to several coastal and Southern California counties, and the California National Guard was on standby.

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    Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Oakland, California, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

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  • Judge upholds Hawaii’s new climate change tax on cruise passengers

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    A federal judge’s ruling allows Hawaii’s new tourist tax, which includes a levy on cruise ship passengers, to take effect in 2026

    HONOLULU — A federal judge’s ruling has cleared the way for Hawaii to include cruise ship passengers in a new tourist tax to help cope with climate change, a levy set to go into effect at the start of 2026.

    U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake denied a request Tuesday that sought to stop officials from enforcing the new law on cruises.

    In the nation’s first such levy to help cope with a warming planet, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed legislation in May that raises tax revenue to deal with eroding shorelines, wildfires and other climate problems. Officials estimate the tax will generate nearly $100 million annually.

    The levy increases rates on hotel room and vacation rental stays but also imposes a new 11% tax on the gross fares paid by a cruise ship’s passengers, starting next year, prorated for the number of days the vessels are in Hawaii ports.

    Cruise Lines International Association challenged the tax in a lawsuit, along with a Honolulu company that provides supplies and provisions to cruise ships and tour businesses out of Kauai and the Big Island that rely on cruise ship passengers. Among their arguments is that the new law violates the Constitution by taxing cruise ships for the privilege of entering Hawaii ports.

    Plaintiff lawyers also argued that the tax would hurt tourism by making cruises more expensive. The lawsuit notes the law authorizes counties to collect an additional 3% surcharge, bringing the total to 14% of prorated fares.

    “Cruise tourism generates nearly $1 billion in total economic impact for Hawai‘i and supports thousands of local jobs, and we remain focused on ensuring that success continues on a lawful, sustainable foundation,” association spokesperson Jim McCarthy said in a statement.

    According to court records, plaintiffs will appeal.

    Hawaii will continue to defend the law, which requires cruise operators to pay their share of transient accommodation tax to address climate change threats to the state, state Attorney General Anne Lopez said in a statement.

    The U.S. government intervened in the case, calling the tax a “scheme to extort American citizens and businesses solely to benefit Hawaii” in conflict with federal law.

    Plaintiff and Department of Justice attorneys filed motions Wednesday seeking to maintain the status quo pending appeal. Otake denied the motions.

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  • As reefs vanish, assisted coral fertilization offers hope in the Dominican Republic

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    BAYAHIBE, Dominican Republic — Oxygen tank strapped to his back, Michael del Rosario moves his fins delicately as he glides along an underwater nursery just off the Dominican Republic coast, proudly showing off the “coral babies” growing on metal structures that look like large spiders. The conservationist enthusiastically points a finger to trace around the largest corals, just starting to reveal their vibrant colors.

    Del Rosario helped plant these tiny animals in the nursery after they were conceived in an assisted reproduction laboratory run by the marine conservation organization Fundemar. In a process something like in vitro fertilization, coral egg and sperm are joined to form a new individual.

    It’s a technique that’s gaining momentum in the Caribbean to counter the drastic loss of corals due to climate change, which is killing them by heating up oceans and making it more difficult for those that survive to reproduce naturally.

    “We live on an island. We depend entirely on coral reefs, and seeing them all disappear is really depressing,” del Rosario said once back on the surface, his words flowing like bubbles underwater. “But seeing our coral babies growing, alive, in the sea gives us hope, which is what we were losing.”

    The state of corals around the Dominican Republic, as in the rest of the world, is not encouraging. Fundemar’s latest monitoring last year found that 70% of the Dominican Republic’s reefs have less than 5% coral coverage. Healthy colonies are so far apart that the probability of one coral’s eggs meeting another’s sperm during the spawning season is decreasing.

    “That’s why assisted reproduction programs are so important now, because what used to be normal in coral reefs is probably no longer possible for many species,” biologist Andreina Valdez, operations manager at Fundemar, said at the organization’s new marine research center. “So that’s where we come in to help a little bit.”

    Though many people may think corals are plants, they are animals. They spawn once a year, a few days after the full moon and at dusk, when they release millions of eggs and sperm in a spectacle that turns the sea around them into a kind of Milky Way. Fundemar monitors spawning periods, collects eggs and sperm, performs assisted fertilization in the laboratory, and cares for the larvae until they are strong enough to be taken to the reef.

    In the laboratory, Ariel Álvarez examines one of the star-shaped pieces on which the corals are growing through a microscope. They’re so tiny they can hardly be seen with the naked eye. Álvarez switches off the lights, turns on an ultraviolet light, and the coral’s rounded, fractal shapes appear through a camera on the microscope projected onto a screen.

    One research center room holds dozens of fish tanks, each with hundreds of tiny corals awaiting return to the reef. Del Rosario said the lab produces more than 2.5 million coral embryos per year. Only 1% will survive in the ocean, yet that figure is better than the rate with natural fertilization on these degraded reefs now, he said.

    In the past, Fundemar and other conservation organizations focused on asexual reproduction. That meant cutting a small piece of healthy coral and transplanting it to another location so that a new one would grow. The method can produce corals faster than assisted fertilization.

    The problem, Andreina Valdez said, is that it clones the same individual, meaning all those coral share the same disease vulnerabilities. In contrast, assisted sexual reproduction creates genetically different individuals, reducing the chance that a single illness could strike them all down.

    Australia pioneered assisted coral fertilization. It’s expanding in the Caribbean, with leading projects at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Carmabi Foundation in Curaçao, and it’s being adopted in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica, Valdez said.

    “You can’t conserve something if you don’t have it. So (these programs) are helping to expand the population that’s out there,” said Mark Eakin, corresponding secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired chief of the Coral Reef Watch program of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    But the world must still tackle “the 800-pound gorilla of climate change,” Eakin said, or a lot of the restoration work “is just going to be wiped out.”

    Burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal produces greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, driving up temperatures both on Earth’s surface and in its seas. Oceans are warming at twice the rate of 20 years ago, according to UNESCO’s most recent State of the Ocean Report last year.

    And that’s devastating for corals. Rising heat causes them to feel sick and expel the algae that live in their tissue and provide them both their striking colors and their food. The process is known as bleaching because it exposes the coral’s white skeleton. The corals may survive, but they are weakened and vulnerable to disease and death if temperatures don’t drop.

    Half the world’s reefs have been lost since 1950, according to research by the University of British Columbia published in the journal One Earth.

    For countries such as the Dominican Republic, in the so-called “hurricane corridor,” preserving reefs is particularly important. Coral skeletons help absorb wave energy, creating a natural barrier against stronger waves.

    “What do we sell in the Dominican Republic? Beaches,” del Rosario said. “If we don’t have corals, we lose coastal protection, we lose the sand on our beaches, and we lose tourism.”

    Corals also are home to more than 25% of marine life, making them crucial for the millions of people around the world who make a living from fishing.

    Alido Luis Báez knows this well.

    It’s not yet dawn in Bayahibe when he climbs into a boat to fish with his father, who at 65 still goes to sea every week. The engine roars as they travel mile after mile until the coastline fades into the horizon. To catch tuna, dorado, or marlin, Luis Báez sails up to 50 miles offshore.

    “We didn’t have to go so far before,” he said. “But because of overfishing, habitat loss, and climate change, now you have to go a little further every day.”

    Things were very different when his father, also named Alido Luis, started fishing in the 1970s. Back then, they went out in a sailboat, and the coral reefs were so healthy they found plenty of fish close to the coast.

    “I used to be a diver, and I caught a lot of lobster and queen conch,” he said in a voice weakened by the passage of time. “In a short time, I would catch 50 or 60 pounds of fish. But now, to catch two or three fish, they spend the whole day out there.”

    Del Rosario said there’s still time to halt the decline of the reefs.

    “More needs to be done, of course … but we are investing a lot of effort and time to preserve what we love so much,” he said. “And we trust and believe that many people around the world are doing the same.”

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    Follow Teresa de Miguel on X at @tdemigueles

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    Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Japan issues tsunami advisory after 6.7 magnitude quake in country’s northeast

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    TOKYO — Japan on Friday issued a tsunami advisory after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook the country’s northeast, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

    The quake occurred off the east coast of Aomori prefecture, in the north of Honshu, the main Japanese island, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) at 11:44 a.m. local time, JMA said.

    The Pacific coast of Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures could see a tsunami of up to 1 meter (3.2 feet), the agency added.

    Damage and injuries weren’t immediately clear.

    An advisory is a lower level of caution than a warning.

    Friday’s quake followed a 7.5 magnitude earthquake earlier this week in the north that caused injuries, light damage and a tsunami in Pacific coastal communities.

    At least 34 people were injured in that quake on Monday off the coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan’s main Honshu island. A tsunami more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) above tide levels was measured in Kuji port in Iwate prefecture before all tsunami advisories were lifted. Power was knocked out for hundreds of homes but was mostly restored Tuesday morning.

    Authorities had warned of possible aftershocks.

    Officials said after Monday’s quake there was also a slight increase in risk of a magnitude 8-level quake and possible tsunami occurring along Japan’s northeastern coast from Chiba, just east of Tokyo, to Hokkaido. The agency urged residents in 182 municipalities in the area to monitor their emergency preparedness in the coming week, reminding them that the caution is not a prediction of a big one.

    The quakes occurred in the coastal region, where a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011 killed nearly 20,000 people and destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

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  • Canada’s prime minister and Alberta’s premier sign pipeline deal

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    TORONTO — TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premier of Canada’s oil rich province of Alberta agreed Thursday to work toward building a pipeline to the Pacific Coast to diversify the country’s oil exports beyond the United States, in a move that has caused turmoil in Carney’s inner circle.

    The memorandum of understanding includes an adjustment of an oil tanker ban off parts of the British Columbia coast if a pipeline comes to fruition.

    Carney’s support for it led to the resignation Thursday of one of his cabinet ministers, Steven Guilbeault, a former environment minister and career environmentalist who has been serving as the minister of culture.

    Guilbeault said in a statement he strongly opposes the agreement with Alberta, noting the pipeline could cross the Great Bear Rainforest and that it would increase the risk of a tanker spill on the coast. But he said he understands why Canada needs to remain united and said he will stay on as a Liberal Member of Parliament.

    Carney said he was glad Guilbeault is staying as a Liberal lawmaker.

    Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment.

    Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the agreement will lead to more than 1 million barrels per day for mainly Asian markets so “our province and our country are no longer dependent on just one customer to buy our most valuable resource.”

    Carney reiterated that as the U.S. transforms all of its trading relationships, many of Canada’s strengths – based on those close ties to America – have become its vulnerabilities.

    “Over 95% of all our energy exports went to the States. This tight interdependence – once a strength – is now a weakness,” Carney said.

    Carney said a pipeline can reduce the price discount on current oil sales to U.S. markets.

    He called the framework agreement the start of a process.

    “We have created some of the necessary conditions for this to happen but there is a lot more work to do,” he said.

    Carney said if there is not a private sector proponent there won’t be a pipeline.

    The agreement calls on Ottawa and Alberta to engage with British Columbia, where there is fierce opposition to oil tankers off the coast, to advance that province’s economic interests.

    Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved one controversial pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the British Columbia coast in 2016 but the federal government had to build and finish construction of it as it faced opposition from environmental and aboriginal groups.

    Trudeau at the same time rejected the Northern Gateway project to northwest British Columbia which would have passed through the Great Bear Rainforest. Northern Gateway would have transported 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific to deliver oil to Asia, mainly energy-hungry China.

    The northern Alberta region has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, with about 164 billion barrels of proven reserves.

    Carney’s announcement comes after British Columbia Premier David Eby said lifting the tanker ban would threaten projects already in development in the region and consensus among coastal First Nations.

    Eby said he knows the federal government could impose this pipeline if they wished.

    “What this is about is the fact that this project has no company that’s advancing it. It’s got no money. It’s got no coastal First Nations support,” he said.

    Eby said the agreement is a “distraction” to real projects.

    “We have zero interest in co-ownership or economic benefits of a project that has the potential to destroy our way of life and everything we have built on the coast,” Coastal First Nations President Marilyn Slett said.

    The agreement pairs the pipeline project a proposed carbon capture project and government officials say the two projects must be built in tandem.

    The agreement says Ottawa and Alberta will with work with companies to identify by April 1 new emissions-reduction projects to be rolled out starting in 2027.

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  • Archaeological site in Alaska that casts light on early Yup’ik life ravaged by ex-Typhoon Halong

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    JUNEAU, Alaska — A fragment of a mask that was preserved for hundreds of years in permafrost sat in the muck of a low tide in the western Alaska community of Quinhagak. Wooden spoons, toys, a fishing lure and other artifacts were strewn, in some cases for miles, along the beach.

    The Yup’ik community near the edge of the Bering Sea was spared the widespread devastation wrought by the remnants of Typhoon Halong on its neighbors further west earlier this month. But it suffered a different kind of blow: The lashing winds and storm surge devoured dozens of feet of shoreline, disrupting a culturally significant archaeological site and washing away possibly thousands of unearthed artifacts.

    About 1,000 pieces, including wooden masks and tools, were recovered in Quinhagak after the storm ravaged parts of southwest Alaska on Oct. 11 and 12. But many more pieces — perhaps up to 100,000 — were left scattered, said Rick Knecht, an archaeologist who has worked on the Nunalleq, or old village, project for 17 years. That’s roughly the number of pieces previously recovered from the archaeological site.

    Meanwhile, freezing temperatures and ice have settled into the region, stalling immediate efforts to find and recover more displaced artifacts on searches done by four-wheeler and foot.

    Knecht called what happened a major loss. The site has yielded the world’s largest collection of pre-contact Yup’ik artifacts. Much of what’s known about Yup’ik life before outsiders arrived stems from the project, said Knecht, an emeritus senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

    “When there are holes or disturbances in the site, it’s like trying to read a book with holes in the pages. You’re going to miss a few things,” he said. “And the bigger those holes are, the weaker the story gets. There’s a few holes in the book right now.”

    While the name of the original village isn’t known, it was attacked by another village and burned around 1650, he said. Knecht has worked with elders and others in Quinhagak to combine their traditional knowledge with the technology and techniques used by the archaeology teams to study the past together.

    Quinhagak has about 800 residents, and subsistence food gathering is critically important to them.

    The storm dispersed artifacts from a site long preserved by permafrost, Knecht said. A longstanding concern has been the threat that climate change — melting permafrost, coastal erosion, the potential for more frequent or stronger storms — has posed to the site, he said.

    It poses risks to the community itself. Erosion threatens major infrastructure in Quinhagak, including a sewage lagoon, homes and fish camps. Thawing permafrost is also unsettling and undermining buildings, according to a 2024 report from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

    The excavation project itself began after artifacts began appearing on the beach around 2007. Part of the site that washed out had been excavated previously.

    “There was a big chunk where we’d only gone about halfway down and left it for later because we prioritized parts of the site that were most at risk from marine erosion,” Knecht said.

    When he left in July, there was a roughly 30-foot buffer to the sea. The storm took out the buffer and another 30 feet of the site, he said. It also left what Knecht described as piano-sized clumps of tundra on the tidal flats.

    Knecht didn’t recognize the site at first after Halong.

    “I just drove right by it because all the landmarks I’m used to on the beach and at the site were gone or changed,” he said.

    Work to preserve the rescued artifacts has included soaking the marine salts from the wood and placing the pieces in special chemicals that will help them hold together when they dry out, he said. If one were to just take one of the wooden artifacts off the beach and let them dry, they’d “crack to pieces, sometimes in a matter of hours.”

    There is a lab at the museum in Quinhagak where the artifacts are kept.

    Archaeologists hope to return to the site next spring for a “rescue excavation” of layers exposed by the storm, he said. In some ways, it feels like when teams saw the site in 2009: “We’ve got this raw site with artifacts popping off in every way,” he said. “So we’re starting from scratch again.”

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  • Sea cucumbers wash ashore by the thousands

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    Thousands of sea cucumbers have washed up on the beach in the Oregon coastal town of Seaside thanks to a combination of heavy surf and low tide.

    The partially translucent, pink gelatinous creatures are called skin breathing sea cucumbers. They normally burrow into the sand along the low tideline and farther out. But on Tuesday, they were scattered across more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of Seaside Beach, said Tiffany Boothe, the assistant manager of the Seaside Aquarium.

    “They are literally littering the tideline,” Boothe said. They’re about a half-inch (1.3 centimeter) long but can grow to about 6 inches (15 centimeters.)

    The phenomenon can occur whenever surf and tide conditions coincide, which can mean a few times a year or once in a few years. Sometimes a few will be scattered here and there on the shore but there were large groupings on the beach during this latest episode.

    The sea cucumbers aren’t capable of returning to their natural habitat on their own so they will dry up and die, Boothe said. They’ll provide nutrients for the beach hoppers, beach fleas and other invertebrates living along the tideline that will feast on them. Birds don’t eat them.

    Whatever remains will likely dry up quickly and blend in with the sand. Booth suspects they’ll be gone by Wednesday or Thursday.

    The scientific name for the cucumbers is Leptosynapta clarki. They live along the coast from northern California to the Gulf of Alaska.

    Seaside is about 80 miles (129 kilometers) northwest of Portland, Oregon.

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  • Hurricane Kiko is weakening and expected to bypass Hawaii, forecasters say

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    HONOLULU (AP) — The risk of direct impacts from Hurricane Kiko decreased Monday as the tropical cyclone showed signs it would pass to the north of the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said.

    Kiko was a Category 1 hurricane and was expected to lose intensity throughout the day, according to an advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center.

    With maximum sustained winds around 85 mph (140 kph), Kiko was centered roughly 350 miles (560 kilometers) east-northeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and about 515 miles (830 kilometers) east of Honolulu.

    The hurricane was traveling northwest at 15 mph (24 kph).

    Kiko could still send large swells to eastern-facing shores in the island chain, with possible life-threatening surf and rip currents, forecasters said.

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  • 5 homes collapse into the surf of the Outer Banks as hurricanes rumble in Atlantic

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    Five unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean Tuesday as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumbled in the Atlantic, the National Park Service said, marking the latest private beachfront structures to fall into the surf there in recent years.

    The homes, once propped on high stilts, collapsed in the afternoon in Buxton, a community on the string of islands that make up the Outer Banks, said Mike Barber, a spokesperson for the park service.

    No injures were reported, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a post on social media.

    In videos shown by the local station 13News Now, homes teetered on stilts battered by the waves before plunging into the surf. The shoreline was clogged with debris, two-by-fours, cushions and an entire home as wave after wave rolled in from the Atlantic.

    The post said that more collapses were possible given the ocean conditions, and urged visitors to avoid Tuesday’s sites, including areas several miles south to stay clear of debris.

    North Carolina’s coast is almost entirely made up of narrow, low-lying barrier islands that have been eroding for years as the sea level rises. Seventeen privately owned houses have collapsed on Seashore beaches since 2020, the park service said.

    The first 15 were north of Buxton in Rodanthe, but a Buxton home fell into the surf two weeks ago.

    The threat to these structures often builds when storms affect the region, as is the case with the two latest hurricanes, even as they headed further out in the Atlantic.

    Portions of eastern North Carolina were subject to coastal flood advisories and warnings, the National Weather Service said, while dangerous surf conditions were expected in the area through the rest of the week.

    Ocean overwash on Tuesday also prompted the state Transportation Department to close a portion of North Carolina Highway 12 on Ocracoke Island. The ferry connecting Ocracoke and Hatteras islands also was suspended Tuesday, the department said.

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  • UNESCO designates 26 new biosphere reserves amid biodiversity challenges and climate change

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    An Indonesian archipelago that’s home to three-fourths of Earth’s coral species, a stretch of Icelandic coast with 70% of the country’s plant life and an area along Angola’s Atlantic coast featuring savannahs, forests and estuaries are among 26 new UNESCO-designated biosphere reserves.

    The United Nations cultural agency says the reserves — 785 sites in 142 countries, designated since 1971 — are home to some of the planet’s richest and most fragile ecosystems. But biosphere reserves encompass more than strictly protected nature reserves; they’re expanded to include areas where people live and work, and the designation requires that scientists, residents and government officials work together to balance conservation and research with local economic and cultural needs.

    “The concept of biosphere reserves is that biodiversity conservation is a pillar of socioeconomic development” and can contribute to the economy, said António Abreu, head of the program, adding that conflict and misunderstanding can result if local communities are left out of decision-making and planning.

    The new reserves, in 21 countries, were announced Saturday in Hangzhou, China, where the program adopted a 10-year strategic action plan that includes studying the effects of climate change, Abreu said.

    The new reserves include a 52,000-square-mile (135,000-square-kilometer) area in the Indonesian archipelago, Raja Ampat, home to over 75% of earth’s coral species as well as rainforests and rare endangered sea turtles. The economy depends on fishing, aquaculture, small-scale agriculture and tourism, UNESCO said.

    On Iceland’s west coast, the Snæfellsnes Biosphere Reserve’s landscape includes volcanic peaks, lava fields, wetlands, grasslands and the Snæfellsjökull glacier. The 1,460-square-kilometer (564 square-mile) reserve is an important sanctuary for seabirds, seals and over 70% of Iceland’s plant life — including 330 species of wildflowers and ferns. Its population of more than 4,000 people relies on fishing, sheep farming and tourism.

    And in Angola, the new Quiçama Biosphere Reserve, along 206 kilometers (128 miles) of Atlantic coast is a “sanctuary for biodiversity” within its savannahs, forests, flood plains, estuaries and islands, according to UNESCO. It’s home to elephants, manatees, sea turtles and more than 200 bird species. Residents’ livelihoods include livestock herding, farming, fishing, honey production.

    Residents are important partners in protecting biodiversity within the reserves, and even have helped identify new species, said Abreu, the program’s leader. Meanwhile, scientists also are helping to restore ecosystems to benefit the local economy, he said.

    For example, in the Philippines, the coral reefs around Pangatalan Island were severely damaged because local fishermen used dynamite to find depleted fish populations. Scientists helped design a structure to help coral reefs regrow and taught fishermen to raise fish through aquaculture so the reefs could recover.

    “They have food and they have also fish to sell in the markets,” said Abreu.

    In the African nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, a biosphere reserve on Príncipe Island led to restoration of mangroves, which help buffer against storm surges and provide important habitat, Abreu said.

    Ecotourism also has become an important industry, with biosphere trails and guided bird-watching tours. A new species of owl was identified there in recent years.

    This year, a biosphere reserve was added for the island of São Tomé, making the country the first entirely within a reserve.

    At least 60% of the UNESCO biosphere reserves have been affected by extreme weather tied to climate change, which is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gas, including extreme heat and drought and sea-level rise, Abreu said.

    The agency is using satellite imagery and computer modeling to monitor changes in coastal zones and other areas, and is digitizing its historical databases, Abreu said. The information will be used to help determine how best to preserve and manage the reserves.

    Some biosphere reserves also are under pressure from environmental degradation.

    In Nigeria, for example, habitat for a dwindling population of critically endangered African forest elephants is under threat as cocoa farmers expand into Omo Forest Reserve, a protected rainforest and one of Africa’s oldest and largest UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. The forest is also important to help combat climate change.

    The Trump administration in July announced that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO as of December 2026, just as it did during his first administration, saying U.S. involvement is not in the national interest. The U.S. has 47 biosphere reserves, most in federal protected areas.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Another beachfront stilt house collapses into the surf on the Outer Banks

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    BUXTON, N.C. — A beachfront stilt home along the Outer Banks in North Carolina has collapsed into the surf, bringing the total number of houses claimed by the Atlantic Ocean to 12 in the past five years.

    The two-story, wood-shingled home at the north end of Hatteras Island collapsed Tuesday afternoon, littering the sand with nail-studded debris. The house was unoccupied, said Mike Barber, a spokesman for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

    “Seashore staff are out today, cleaning up the beach to the south of the collapse site,” Barber said in an email Wednesday. He said the homeowner has also hired a contractor to “work primarily near the house collapse site to remove the bulk of the remaining house structure and nearby debris associated with the collapse.”

    The previous 11 home collapses since May 2020 were all in the tiny village of Rodanthe, the eastern-most point in North Carolina, and made famous by novelist Nicholas Sparks. During the state’s recent brush with Hurricane Erin, many locals were watching two beachfront houses there, but they survived the surf.

    The latest house to succumb was less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the famed Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which was moved 2,900 feet (884 meters) inland in 1999 to save it from erosion.

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  • Swimmers face fecal contamination at beaches along US coastline

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    OGUNQUIT, Maine — Thousands of Americans will head to beaches for one last summer splash this Labor Day weekend, but taking a dip might be out of the question: Many of the beaches will caution against swimming because of unsafe levels of fecal contamination.

    Beaches from Crystal River, Florida, to Ogunquit, Maine, have been under advisories warning about water quality this week because of elevated levels of bacteria associated with fecal waste. The advisories typically discourage beachgoers from going in the water because the bacteria can cause gastrointestinal illness, rashes and nausea.

    There have been closures this week at some of the country’s most popular beach destinations, including Keyes Memorial Beach in the Cape Cod village of Hyannis in Barnstable, Massachusetts; Benjamin’s Beach on Long Island in Bay Shore, New York; and a portion of the Imperial Beach shoreline near San Diego. Even on the pristine, white sand beaches of Hawaii, the Hawaii State Department of Health is warning of a high bacteria count at Kahaluu Beach Park on the Big Island.

    It’s a longstanding and widespread problem. Nearly two-thirds of beaches tested nationwide in 2024 experienced at least one day in which indicators of fecal contamination reached potentially unsafe levels, conservation group Environment America said in a report issued this summer.

    The group reviewed beaches on the coasts and Great Lakes and found that 84% of Gulf Coast beaches exceeded the standard at least once. The number was 79% for West Coast beaches, 54% for East Coast beaches and 71% for Great Lakes beaches.

    The report also said more than 450 beaches were potentially unsafe for swimming on at least 25 percent of the days tested. A key reason is outdated water and sewer systems that allows contamination from sewage to reach the places where people swim, said John Rumpler, clean water director and senior attorney with Environment America.

    “These beaches are a treasure for families across New England and across the country. They are a shared resource,” said Rumpler, who is based in Boston. “We need to make the investment to make sure that literally our own human waste doesn’t wind up in the places where we are swimming.”

    Other factors have also played a role in contaminating beaches, including increasingly severe weather that overwhelms sewage systems, and suburban sprawl that paves over natural areas and reduces the ecosystem’s ability to absorb stormwater, Rumpler said.

    But many people plan to jump in the ocean anyway. Despite a two-day warning of elevated fecal indicator bacteria last month at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, beachgoer Yaromyr Oryshkevych was not concerned.

    “I really don’t expect to be in any kind of danger of fecal contamination,” said Oryshkevych, a retired dentist. He said he didn’t think Rehoboth was close enough to notable pollution to be concerned, and he expected the ocean’s natural currents to take care of any problems with contamination in the area.

    Dana West, a federal worker visiting Rehoboth Beach, recalled an instance earlier this year where a dozen members of his vacationing party experienced gastrointestinal issues. The symptoms occurred after they went on a snorkeling excursion, an activity that increases the likelihood of swallowing seawater, off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

    It was an unpleasant experience, but he doesn’t expect a repeat this weekend in Delaware.

    “But generally, I have no concerns about the level of fecal and bacterial matter,” said West while admiring Rehoboth’s shore. ”I assume the local authorities will tell us if there are higher levels than normal.”

    Despite West’s confidence, some beaches in the area of Rehoboth, including nearby Rehoboth Bay and Dewey Beach bayside, were indeed under water advisories this week. Such advisories are not always posted on public signs.

    Environment America assessed beach safety in its report by examining whether fecal bacteria levels exceeded standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that trigger an alert to avoid the water. Fecal bacteria at those levels can cause illness in 32 out of every 1,000 swimmers.

    In North Carolina, five beaches were under advisories in late August because of elevated levels of fecal bacteria. The beaches are open, but swimmers are advised that going in the water could be risky, said Erin Bryan-Millush, environmental program supervisor with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

    Hurricane Erin caused extensive erosion and storm surge in some coastal areas, according to the Department of Environmental Quality. Heavy rain events this summer also exacerbated the contamination problem in some areas, Bryan-Millush said.

    “Those storm drains carry everything,” Bryan-Millush said. “It could be really bad for someone who is immune compromised.”

    ___

    Lau reported from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

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  • Beaches reopen in New York and North Carolina after Hurricane Erin

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    NEW YORK — New York and North Carolina have begun to reopen beaches that had been closed due to Hurricane Erin, which sent strong winds and dangerous waves across the U.S. East Coast.

    Erin’s outer bands brushed North Carolina on Wednesday, but the storm never made landfall and caused no widespread damage to infrastructure despite being twice the size of an average hurricane. After progressing north in the Atlantic, it weakened into a post-tropical cyclone Friday, far from land.

    In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Highway 12 on Hatteras Island opened at noon Saturday for residents, property owners and workers, according to North Carolina’s Department of Transportation. All restrictions will lift at 5 a.m. Sunday.

    Beachgoers can also swim again at Jones Beach State Bark in New York and wade at Robert Moses State Park, but there are still restrictions at other beaches as conditions remain rough. Both beaches had been closed Thursday and Friday.

    The Outer Banks — essentially sand dunes sticking out of the ocean a few feet above sea level — are vulnerable to erosion. Storm surges can cut through them, washing tons of sand and debris onto roads and sometimes breaking up pavement and creating new inlets. The dunes took a beating by Erin but there were no new inlets or significant structural damage to homes or businesses.

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  • Hurricane Erin never hit land or caused major damage, but endangered turtle nests weren’t so lucky

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    As Hurricane Erin pelted North Carolina’s barrier islands with strong winds and waves this week, it destroyed many nests of threatened sea turtle, burying the eggs deep in sand or washing them out to sea.

    On Topsail Island more than half the 43 loggerhead turtle nests were lost in the storm, according to Terry Meyer, conservation director for the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

    “I didn’t anticipate the water table being so high and the eggs being just literally sitting in water when we got to them,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve seen that on such a wide scale.”

    Erin never made landfall and caused no widespread damage to infrastructure despite being twice the size of an average hurricane. But the turtles were not so lucky.

    Loggerheads, which are known for their large head and strong jaw muscles, are threatened in the U.S. due to fishing bycatch, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are the state’s primary sea turtle and nest every two to three years between May and August, with each nest containing about 100 eggs.

    Meyer said that in the big picture, the devastation of dozens of these nests will not have a significant impact on the species. But for the many volunteers who spend every summer helping to monitor each nest on the 26-mile (42-kilometer) beach, it’s heartbreaking.

    “When you’re digging up a nest that’s got 100 dead, fully developed, ready-to-go hatchlings — I’m old and jaded, but that can be pretty tough to handle,” she said.

    About 33 miles (53 kilometers) to the northeast, the storm likely wiped out eight of the 10 remaining loggerhead turtle nests on Emerald Isle, said Dale Baquer, program coordinator and president of the Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol.

    One survived when the turtles managed to hatch Wednesday night, while another one likely made it safely through the storm because of its higher location on the dunes, according to Baquer. But there is little chance for the others, though it will not be known for sure until about 75 days into the incubation cycle.

    “They really suffered a lot of damage. A lot of high tides and a lot of sitting water. But we’re just going to remain optimistic,” she said.

    Both organizations tried to get ahead of the storm by picking up signs or extra stakes or fencing that could be washed out or cause other problems for the turtles.

    But there is little they can do given North Carolina’s strict laws about keeping the sea turtle hatching process natural.

    Baquer said the only time the group can obtain state permission to help a nest is if it knows it has already hatched or possibly if the tide hits the nest and the eggs are washing out.

    “It’s stressful and of course it’s not something you ever get used to, but I think we all have a science mindset that this is nature and this is what’s going to happen,” she said.

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  • Strong winds and waves batter Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard as Hurricane Erin moves out to the sea

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    RODANTHE, N.C. — Strong winds and waves battered Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard and dangerous rip currents threatened from the Carolinas to New England as Hurricane Erin made its way farther out to sea.

    The storm was forecast to cause possible coastal flooding into the weekend along the East Coast but was also expected to lose strength gradually. The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported early Friday that Erin had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph), and was located about 425 miles (680 kilometers) south-southwest of Halifax, Novia Scotia.

    Despite being twice the size of an average hurricane, Erin so far has managed to thread the needle through the Atlantic between the East Coast and several island nations, limiting its destructiveness.

    On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, waves breached dunes in the town of Kill Devil Hills on Thursday evening, and water and sand pooled on Highway 12.

    Although damage assessments were still underway, the low-lying islands appeared to have dodged widespread trouble.

    A tropical storm warning was lifted for Bermuda, where residents and tourists had been told to stay out of the water through Friday. Warnings along the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia were also discontinued.

    Communities along the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coast could see tropical storm-force wind gusts through early Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

    The National Weather Service issued coastal flood warnings for places as far north as the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts, saying that some roads could be made impassable.

    Beaches were closed to swimming Thursday in New York City, but more than a dozen surfers still rode waves at Rockaway Beach in Queens. Scott Klossner, who lives nearby, said conditions were great for experienced surfers.

    “You wait all year round for these kinds of waves. It’s challenging, really hard to stay in one place, because there’s a heavy, heavy, heavy rip,” he said. “But this is what surfers want — a hurricane that comes but doesn’t destroy my house? I’ll take that.”

    The Outer Banks — essentially sand dunes sticking out of the ocean a few feet above sea level — are vulnerable to erosion. Storm surges can cut through them, washing tons of sand and debris onto roads and sometimes breaking up pavement and creating new inlets.

    The dunes and beach took a beating the last two days, but Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said there have been no new inlets with Erin or significant structural damage to homes or businesses.

    “All in all it’s not as bad as it could have been,” Outten said. “Hopefully the worst of it is behind us.”

    On Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, where sustained winds reached 45 mph (72 kph), dozens of onlookers snapped photos of the huge waves crashing into the structure amid driving rain.

    “This is nature at her best,” Nags Head resident David Alan Harvey said. “I love this. I love these storms.”

    Erin has fluctuated in intensity since forming nearly a week ago but remained unusually large, stretching across more than 600 miles (965 kilometers).

    So-called Cape Verde hurricanes like Erin, which originate near those islands off the west coast of Africa, cross thousands of miles of warm ocean and are some of the most dangerous to North America.

    ___

    Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Julie Walker in New York; and Leah Willingham in Boston contributed.

    ___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • More frozen shrimp recalled for possible radioactive contamination

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    More packages of frozen shrimp potentially affected by radioactive contamination have been recalled, federal officials said Thursday.

    California-based Southwind Foods recalled frozen shrimp sold under the brands Sand Bar, Arctic Shores, Best Yet, Great American and First Street. The bagged products were distributed between July 17 and Aug. 8 to stores and wholesalers in nine states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington state.

    The products have the potential to be contaminated with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope that is a byproduct of nuclear reactions.

    Walmart stores this week recalled packages of Great Value frozen raw shrimp sold in 13 states because of potential radioactive contamination.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert after federal officials detected Cesium-137 in shipping containers sent to four U.S. ports and in a sample of frozen breaded shrimp imported by BMS Foods of Indonesia.

    The FDA advises consumers not to eat the recalled products. Traces of Cesium-137 are widespread in the environment including food, soil and air. The primary health risk is through long-term, repeated low-dose exposure, which can increase the risk of cancer.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • What to know about powerful Hurricane Erin as it heads past the US East Coast

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    Hurricane Erin is creating potentially deadly water conditions all along the U.S. East Coast days before the largest waves are expected, with high winds and waves anticipated in North Carolina by Wednesday night.

    Erin lost some strength Tuesday and dropped to a Category 2 hurricane as it moves northward roughly parallel to the East Coast. However it could get stronger again on Thursday before finally weakening by Friday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) as of Wednesday morning.

    The hurricane was about 400 miles (640 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and 560 miles ( 901 kilometers) southwest of Bermuda as of Wednesday morning. Forecasters said Erin was moving north-northwest at 13 mph (21 kph).

    Although the weather center was confident Erin would not make direct landfall in the United States, authorities have warned that water conditions along the East Coast remain dangerous. Beachgoers were cautioned against swimming due to life-threatening surf and rip currents.

    Officials on a few islands along North Carolina’s Outer Banks issued evacuation orders and warned that some roads could be swamped by waves of 15 feet (4.6 meters).

    In the Caribbean, heavy rainfall was forecast for parts of the southeast Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the weather center said.

    Here is what to know about Hurricane Erin:

    Erin poses the biggest threat to the barrier islands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency Tuesday in advance of the storm, delegating powers to government officials to mobilize workers and equipment along the coast.

    The governor said the storm is expected to bring tropical storm force winds, dangerous waves and rip currents to the state. Tropical storm conditions were expected to begin Wednesday.

    At least 75 people were rescued from rip currents through Tuesday in Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington, North Carolina, officials said.

    Evacuations were ordered on Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks. The orders come at the height of tourist season on the thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands that juts far into the Atlantic Ocean.

    There are concerns that several days of heavy surf, high winds and waves could wash out parts of the main highway running along the barrier islands, the National Weather Service said. Some routes could be impassible for several days.

    Warnings about rip currents have been posted from Bermuda and Florida all the way up to the New England coast.

    Nantucket is the closest spot in New England to Erin’s anticipated path and was likely to see the strongest winds, gusting about 25 to 35 mph (40 to 55 kph) at peak with waves potentially reaching a height of 10-13 feet (3-4 meters).

    Citing treacherous waters, officials prohibited swimming at all beaches in New York City as well as some in Long Island and New Jersey through Thursday.

    Bermuda won’t feel the full intensity of the storm until Thursday evening, and the island’s services will remain open in the meantime, acting Minister of National Security Jache Adams said. Storm surge could reach up to 24 feet (7.3 meters) by Thursday, Adams said.

    Already this year, there have been at least 27 people killed from rip currents in U.S. waters, according to the National Weather Service. About 100 people drown from rip currents along U.S. beaches each year, according to the United States Lifesaving Association. And more than 80% of beach rescues annually involve rip currents.

    Storm surge is the level at which seawater rises above its normal level.

    Much like the way a storm’s sustained winds do not include the potential for even stronger gusts, storm surge doesn’t include the wave height above the mean water level.

    Surge is also the amount above what the normal tide is at a time, so a 15-foot storm surge at high tide can be far more devastating than the same surge at low tide.

    A year ago, Hurricane Ernesto stayed hundreds of miles offshore from the Eastern Seaboard yet still produced high surf and swells that caused coastal damage.

    Erin’s strength has fluctuated significantly over the past week.

    The most common way to measure a hurricane’s strength is the Saffir-Simpson Scale that assigns a category from 1 to 5 based on a storm’s sustained wind speed at its center, with 5 being the strongest.

    Erin reached a dangerous Category 5 status late last week with 160 mph (260 kph) winds before weakening.

    Although Erin is the first Atlantic hurricane of the year, there have been four tropical storms this hurricane season already. Tropical Storm Chantal made the first U.S. landfall of the season in early July, and its remnants caused flooding in North Carolina that killed an 83-year-old woman when her car was swept off a rural road.

    And, at least 132 people were killed in floodwaters that overwhelmed Texas Hill Country on the Fourth of July.

    Just over a week later, flash floods inundated New York City and parts of New Jersey, claiming two lives.

    ___

    Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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  • Hurricane Erin’s massive waves threaten to isolate North Carolina’s Outer Banks

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    There’s a popular T-shirt on Hatteras Island on the North Carolina Outer Banks that says: “One road on. One road off (sometimes)” — poking fun at the constant battle between Mother Nature and a thin ribbon of pavement connecting the narrow barrier island to the rest of the world.

    Mother Nature is probably going to win this week. Hurricane Erin is forecast to move hundreds of miles offshore from the islands but the massive storm is still sending waves 20 feet (6 meters) or greater crashing over vulnerable sand dunes.

    Officials have ordered evacuations of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands even without a hurricane warning because that tiny ribbon of highway called NC 12 will likely be torn up and washed out in several places, isolating villages for days or weeks.

    The 3,500 or so Outer Bankers who live there have handled isolation before. But most of the tens of thousands of vacationers have not.

    “We haven’t seen waves of that size in a while and the vulnerable spots have only gotten weaker in the past five years,” said Reide Corbett, executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute, a group of several universities that study the Outer Banks.

    In a basic sense, they are sand dunes that were tall enough to stay above the ocean level when many of the Earth’s glaciers melted 20,000 years ago.

    The barrier islands in some places are as far as 30 miles (48 kilometers) off mainland North Carolina. To the east is the vast Atlantic Ocean. To the west is the Pamlico Sound.

    “Water, water everywhere. That really resonates on the Outer Banks,” Corbett said.

    The most built up and populated part of the Outer Banks are in the north around Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills, which aren’t under the evacuation order. South of the Oregon Inlet, scoured out by a 1846 hurricane, is Hatteras Island, where the only connection to the mainland is the NC 12 highway. South of there is Ocracoke Island, accessible only by boat or plane.

    The first highways to reach the area were built more than 60 years ago. And the Outer Banks started booming, as it went from quaint fishing villages to what it is now, dotted with 6,000-square foot vacation homes on stilts.

    On a nice day, what look like snowplows and street sweeper brushes wait on the side of NC 12 to scoop and sweep away the constantly blowing sand.

    When the storms come, water from the ocean or the sound punch through the sand dunes and wash tons of sand and debris on the road. In more extreme cases, storms can break up the pavement or even create new inlets that require temporary bridges.

    It cost the North Carolina Department of Transportation more than $1 million a year in regular maintenance to keep NC 12 open during the 2010s. They also spent about $50 million over the decade on repairs after storms.

    But the state estimates Dare County, which includes most of the Outer Banks, brings in $2 billion in tourism revenue a year. So the cycle of clean up and repair continues.

    It can take time to fix things. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 both cut inlets into Hatteras Island and ferries were needed for two months. It can still take days to get NC 12 back open even after more routine Nor’easters.

    It’s not just storms that impact the island. As the planet warms and polar ice melts, rising ocean levels threaten the Outer Banks. In a place where most of the land is only a few feet above sea level, every inch of sand counts.

    In Rodanthe, which sticks the farthest out into the Atlantic, the churning ocean has swallowed up more than a dozen homes since 2020. Officials think at least two unoccupied homes are likely to be lost if the waves from Erin are as strong as predicted.

    Shelli Miller Gates waited tables on the Outer Banks to earn money as a college student in the late 1970s. She remembers houses with no air conditioning, televisions or phones. And she adored it.

    “I love the water. I love the wildness of it. It’s the way I want to live my life,” the respiratory therapist said.

    It’s a lifestyle embraced by many. The area’s shorthand “OBX” shows up in many places as a source of pride, including the first three letters on license plates issued by the state.

    The isolation contributes to a sense of community. Gates has seen people band together countless times when their connection to the outside world is severed. And there is always the allure of getting to live someplace where others just get to visit.

    “There’s things everywhere. There’s earthquakes and lizards and floods. Looks at the poor people out in western North Carolina,” Gates said. “There are so many things that can happen to you. I feel like you have to find the place that feels like home.”

    ___

    Associated Press Journalist Ben Finley contributed to this report.

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  • Cubans struggle as power not fully restored days after blackout and hurricane hits island

    Cubans struggle as power not fully restored days after blackout and hurricane hits island

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    HAVANA — Many Cubans waited in anguish late Sunday as electricity on much of the island had yet to be restored days after an island-wide blackout. Their concerns were heightened as Hurricane Oscar slammed into Cuba’s eastern coast, lashing the island with heaving rain and wind.

    Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a press conference he hopes the country’s electricity grid will be restored on Monday or Tuesday morning.

    But he recognized that Oscar, which hit the island’s eastern coast Sunday evening, will bring “an additional inconvenience” to Cuba’s recovery since it will touch a “region of strong (electricity) generation.” Key Cuban power plants, such as Felton in the city of Holguín, and Renté in Santiago de Cuba, are located in the area.

    Some neighborhoods had electricity restored in Cuba’s capital, where 2 million people live, but most of Havana remained dark. The impact of the blackout goes beyond lighting, as services like water supply also depend on electricity to run pumps.

    People resorted to cooking with improvised wood stoves on the streets before the food went bad in refrigerators.

    In tears, Ylenis de la Caridad Napoles, mother of a 7-year-old girl, says she is reaching a point of “desperation.”

    The failure of the Antonio Guiteras plant on Friday, which caused the collapse of the island’s whole system, was just the latest in a series of problems with energy distribution in a country where electricity has been restricted and rotated to different regions at different times of the day.

    People lined up for hours on Sunday to buy bread in the few bakeries that could reopen.

    Some Cubans like Rosa Rodríguez have been without electricity for four days.

    “We have millions of problems, and none of them are solved,” said Rodríguez. “We must come to get bread, because the local bakery is closed, and they bring it from somewhere else.”

    About half of Cuba was plunged into darkness on Thursday evening, followed by the entire island on Friday morning after one of the plants failed.

    Besides the Antonio Guiteras plant, whose failure on Friday affected the entire national system, Cuba has several others, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether they remained functional.

    The blackout was considered to be Cuba’s worst in two years after Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 3 storm in 2022 and damaged power installations. It took days for the government to fix them. This year, some homes have spent up to eight hours a day without electricity.

    Cuba’s government had said on Saturday that some electricity had been restored after one of the country’s major power plants failed. But the 500 megawatts of energy in the island’s electricity grid, far short of the usual 3 gigawatts it needs, had quickly decreased to 370 megawatts.

    Even in a country that is used to outages as part of a deepening economic crisis, Friday’s collapse was massive.

    The Cuban government has announced emergency measures to slash electricity demand, including suspending school and university classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling nonessential services.

    Local authorities said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residential air conditioners. Later, the blackout got worse because of breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained, and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.

    Cuba’s energy minister said the country’s grid would be in better shape if there had not been two more partial blackouts as authorities tried to reconnect on Saturday. De la O Levy also said Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Russia, among other nations, had offered to help.

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Hurricane Oscar made landfall on Cuba’s eastern coast after striking the southeastern Bahamas earlier in the day.

    The hurricane center said the storm’s center hit Cuba’s province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening. Its maximum sustained winds were 75 mph (120 kph).

    The system is expected to move across eastern Cuba Sunday night and Monday. Forecasters said 6 to 12 inches (15.2 to 30.5 centimeters) of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through early Wednesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 18 inches (45.72 centimeters). A storm surge of up to 3 feet (0.91 meters) in some areas of Cuba’s north shore in the area was possible, the center said.

    Oscar was expected to weaken over eastern Cuba before making a turn to the northeast and approaching the central Bahamas on Tuesday, the center said.

    The storm’s center late Sunday was located about 20 miles ( kilometers) west of the eastern tip of Cuba and about 45 miles (75 kilometers) east of Guantanamo. It was heading west-southwest at 6 mph (9 kph).

    Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua island in the Bahamas earlier Sunday.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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  • A wind turbine is damaged off Nantucket Island. Searchers are combing beaches for debris

    A wind turbine is damaged off Nantucket Island. Searchers are combing beaches for debris

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    NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — Offshore wind developers have sent teams to search for debris on the beaches of Nantucket Island, a popular summer tourist destination, after one of their turbine blades suffered damage.

    Vineyard Wind said Tuesday it is mobilizing teams on Nantucket to recover debris on south-facing beaches. The development said a “blade damage incident” took place Saturday.

    Vineyard Wind said it’s also working with the U.S. Coast Guard to maintain a safety zone of 500 meters (1,640 feet) around the affected offshore turbine. It said that the debris consists of nontoxic fiberglass fragments and that any washing ashore will be pieces of one square foot or less.

    “Vineyard Wind is fully committed to a swift and safe recovery of all debris, with an unwavering focus on community safety and environmental protection,” it said in a statement.

    Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and said no personnel or third parties were near the turbine when the damage occurred. It said in a statement that blade manufacturer and installation contractor GE “will now be conducting the analysis into the root cause of the incident.”

    The development’s massive wind turbines began sending electricity to the grid this past winter. It said it will deploy trained individuals to collect the debris for the next several days.

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