3182

Some good news at last. Nobody has been able to reach the village where my mother in law lives yet, but a radio operator managed to make contact last night and confirm she was ok. By now, the majority of the family members have been accounted for.

Such a great relief. Thoughts of the extended family have more turned to support, shipping supplies, tarpaulin and help to survive the next few weeks while the clearing and rebuilding effort starts.

3184

Great news, man. Here’s hoping they get supplies quickly as well, Wendelius.

3185

Excellent news @Wendelius, very happy to hear it. Your wife must be so relieved.

3186

Thanks everyone. My wife is indeed over the moon.

In the absence of any direct communication (still no mobile network), my wife has been sending her mum texts with the names of family members who have reported in. Because her mum is as cut off from the rest of the world (apart what she can hear on a hand crank FM radio) as we are from her. Not a situation you expect so much in 2017.

The hope is that, the moment she gets even a bit of phone signal, she will be reassured as the texts start coming through.

We can’t wait for someone to airlift a sat phone abs get a first hand account of the situation though.

3187

Glad it sounds like everyone is ok. And yeah, it’s crazy to think of in 2017, but even crazier to think of an island the size of Puerto Rico without power for months.

3188

Wonderful news, man! Really glad she made it through okay

3189
3190
  1. That’s pretty crazy.
  2. They might have made the purple a little more distinct in shade from the red.
3191

My mom’s family is in Aguadilla. Looks like they were spared the worst of the rainfall, at least. Still no word from them, but she saw a Facebook post from a friend not too far from there, so perhaps that area is doing okay.

3192

My friend’s family finally got in touch, albeit indirectly. They are more or less okay, but basically trapped in a mountainous area without power, water, or internet, most of the roads up washed out and impassable. But okay.

3194

The upshot of mountains = streams. Apparently her 70+ YO parents are livin it up 1800s style at the moment, grabbing water from pails or wells (I couldn’t quite make out what she was relaying), except when they spare fuel to the generator to do things like boil water for drinking.

3195
3196

thanks for that. Pictures really are worth a 1,000 words. Wow.

3197

The Navy ship is, in the simplest terms, a hospital at sea.

The website calls the Comfort a “medical treatment facility,” whose primary mission is to “provide rapid, flexible and mobile acute health service support to Marine Corps, Army and Air Force units deployed ashore, and naval amphibious task and battle forces afloat.” The 1,000-bed ship’s secondary mission is for disaster and/or humanitarian relief.

It was at the ready last year for victims of Hurricane Matthew.

On Sunday, Hillary Clinton tweeted that "President Trump, (Defense) Sec. (James) Mattis, and DOD (Department of Defense) should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens.”

What is the ship’s current position?

Political activist @@seagal_lori sent out a picture of the Norfolk, Virginia, based vessel with the caption: “What is the ship’s current position?” adding that at around 11 a.m. Monday it was at 36.93361 N/76.33004 W.

On Tuesday, Nathan Potter, of the Naval public affairs office, told The Miami Herald that the vessel was currently docked in Norfolk and had “no plans to deploy.

3198

Clinton’s tweet lacked important context: The Navy already had two amphibious ships off the coast, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Oak Hill, so the few thousand Marines and sailors aboard could launch relief operations. But her call to action took off, with a petition on the federal website Change.org garnering more than 100,000 signatures in three days and critics expressing frustration with the hashtag #SendtheComfort.

Since then, the call for the Comfort has come to symbolize something larger: A call for the Pentagon to send more.
[…]
Facing growing criticism about its response, the Pentagon on Monday argued that its efforts over the weekend marked only the beginning. Army Col. Rob Manning, a spokesman, told reporters the U.S. military was focused near-term on search-and-rescue operations and delivering generators to hospitals. Other plans called for the arrival of eight Army Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell, Ky., a fleet of Air Force jets arriving with supplies, and disaster-assessment teams determining what else is needed.

3200

Edit: Oops, someone shared this in the P&R Climate Disaster thread.

3201

Our turn.

I love how we can make out its eye even on a world-scale radar weather map.

Screen Shot
Screen Shot.png802×463 684 KB

Brr!

3202

If you are headed out tonight in the USA, keep warm! Canada opened up some crazy unauthorized pipeline it seems.

1228_jet-pattern
1228_jet-pattern.png980×551 576 KB

3203

Thanks Obama

3204

I thought we’ve had this for a while. It’s been unseasonably cold in the north east, around 5-10 degrees F since christmas, and should continue for another week plus. The usual average where I live for January is ~ 36F, which I really miss right now…

image
image.png1558×870 89 KB