More than fifty dead as Hurricane Ida batters the American east coast.

More than fifty people have now died in the US in incidents linked to Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday 29 August 2021. The majority of the deaths occurred in northeastern states, which historically have not suffered many such events and were poorly prepared, with the highest number of deaths was recorded in New Jersey, where at least 23 people have died, mostly of drowning after becoming trapped in cars or flooded apartments, although the state was hit by at least one tornado generated by the hurricane, which is reported to have destroyed its largest dairy farm. 

 

Flooding in Manville, New Jersey, on Thursday 2 September 2021. Andrew Mills/NJ Advance Media.

At least fourteen people, including a two year old boy, have lost their lives in New York City, with eleven victims confirmed to have drowned after becoming trapped in flooded basements. The city was forced to temporarily close its streets to non-emergency vehicles to enable rescue work to be carried out, the subway network was closed due to flooding, and thousands of homes were left without power. 80 mm of rain fell in an hour in Central Park, surpassing a previous record of 49 mm, set only a month ago by another tropical storm that hit the city.

 

Flooding in New York linked to Hurricane Ida. AP.

Nine people are reported to have died in storm-related events in Louisiana, including at least one person who drowned, and three who died of carbon monoxide poisoning. However, the fact that the death toll was not much higher has been hailed as a vindication of the billions of dollars that have been invested in the leve system protecting the city of New Orleans following the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Katrina sixteen years ago. The city, which was directly in the path of the storm, suffered wind damage as it was battered by 240 km per hour winds, but only a limited amount of flooding. A plan to evacuate large parts of New Orleans in the event of it being hit by another major hurricane was not put into place because of the rapidity with which the storm formed, developing over the Caribbean Sea only four days before making landfall as the fifth largest storm ever to hit the US coast.

 

Buildings demolished by high winds as Hurricane Ida swept over New Orleans. Brandon Bell/Getty Images.

Elsewhere, at least five people have died in Pennsylvania, two each in Mississippi and Alabama, and one death each in Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia. Many officials in the US, including President Joe Biden, have linked the storm directly to global warming, noting that the average storm hitting the US today does seven times as much damage as in the 1970s, that 'hundred year' storms now happen several times a decade, and that states formerly to the north of the hurricane zone are now regularly hit by these storms.

 

Floodwaters in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, associated with Hurricane Ida. Pittsburgh Post Gazette/AP.

Tropical storms, known as hurricanes in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific, are caused by solar energy heating the air above the oceans, which causes the air to rise leading to an inrush of air. If this happens over a large enough area the inrushing air will start to circulate, as the rotation of the Earth causes the winds closer to the equator to move eastwards compared to those further away (the Coriolis Effect). This leads to tropical storms rotating clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere. These storms tend to grow in strength as they move across the ocean and lose it as they pass over land (this is not completely true: many tropical storms peter out without reaching land due to wider atmospheric patterns), since the land tends to absorb solar energy while the sea reflects it.

 

The formation of a tropical cyclone. Natural Disaster Management.

Despite the obvious danger of winds of this speed, which can physically blow people, and other large objects, away as well as damaging buildings and uprooting trees, the real danger from these storms comes from the flooding they bring. Each drop millibar drop in air-pressure leads to an approximate 1 cm rise in sea level, with big tropical storms capable of causing a storm surge of several meters. This is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, since warm air over the ocean leads to evaporation of sea water, which is then carried with the storm. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by tropical storms.

 

The formation and impact of a storm surge. eSchoolToday.

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Tornadoes kill at least eight in Mississippi and Arkasas.

At least seven people have died as a series of tornadoes swept across Mississippi on Sunday 12 April 2020, with another person having lost their life in a storm in Arkansas. The storms also hit Louisiana, where over 200 homes were destroyed, as well as Florida, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. As well as the obvious wind-damage the storms caused widespread flooding, and disruption to power distribution networks, with about 750 000 people across ten states losing electricity supplies.

The remains of a house in Monroe City, Louisiana, where between 200 and 300 homes were destroyed by a tornado on Sunday 12 April 2020. Monroe City/Facebook.

Tornadoes are formed by winds within large thunder storms called super cells. Supercells are large masses of warm water-laden air formed by hot weather over the sea, when they encounter winds at high altitudes the air within them begins to rotate. The air pressure will drop within these zones of rotation, causing the air within them so rise, sucking the air beneath them up into the storm, this creates a zone of rotating rising air that appears to extend downwards as it grows; when it hits the ground it is called a tornado. 

Tornadoes can occur anywhere in the world, but are most common, and most severe, in the area of the American mid-west known as 'Tornado Ally', running from Texas to Minnisota, which is fuelled by moist air currents from over the warm enclosed waters of the Gulf of Mexico interacting with cool fast moving jet stream winds from the Rocky Mountains. Many climatologists are concerned that rising temperatures over the Gulf of Mexico will lead to more frequent and more severe tornado events.

 Simplified diagram of the air currents that contribute to tornado formation in Tornado Alley. Dan Craggs/Wikimedia Commons/NOAA.

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Asmodochelys parhami: A new species of Ctenochelyid Turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Alabama and Mississippi.

Sea Turtles, Chelonioidea, are the most ancient group of living Marine Tetrapods, with s fossil record dating back about 90 million years. However, the exact age of the group is debatable, as it is not clear which fossil species should be included within the Crown Group Turtles (i.e. the group that includes everything descended from the last common ancestor of all living Sea Turtles), and which species represent Stem Group Turtles (i.e. members of groups which branched off from the main Turtle lineage before the last common ancestor of all all living Sea Turtles, and which may therefore represent separate invasions of the marine environment. In particular the position of the Protostegids, a group of marine Turtles that appear in the fossil record around 30 million years before any other marine Turtle group, is considered highly problematic, as the Protostegids appear 30 million years before any other Marine Turtle group.

In a paper publishd in the journal Royal Society Open Science on 18 December 2019, Andrew Gentry of the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Department of Collections at the McWane Science Center, and Jun Ebersole and Caitlin Kiernan, also of the Department of Collections at the McWane Science Center, describe a new species of fossil Turtle from the Late Cretaceous Demopolis Chalk of Alabama and Mississippi.

The Demopolis Chalk outcrops across a wide area of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and comprises calcareous marine sediments laid down in the outer part of the Mississippi Embayment during the Campanian Stage (roughly 80 to 75 million years ago). The formation produces a range of vertebrate fossils, including Dinosaurs, Marine Reptiles, Sharks, and Bony Fish.

The new species is named Asmodochelys parhami, where 'Asmodochelys' means 'Asmodaios-Turtle', in reference to Asmodaios, a Demon in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic mythology who is associated with the sin of lust, and who, according to Islamic legend, was entombed in stone on the sea floor by King Solomon, and 'parhami' honours James Parham, former Curator of Palaeontology at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The species is described from three partial Turtle shells, the most complete one (MSC 35984) coming from Alberta in Wilcox County, Alabama and the others from Sumter County in Alabama (MSC 40935), and Oktibbeha County in Mississippi (MMNS 3958).

The Wilcox County specimen comprises the nuchal, four neurals, two epineurals, eight left peripherals, five right peripherals, a partial first suprapygal, two costals of the left side, two costals of the right side, and approximately half of the left hyoplastron (all scutes of the shell), plus one cervical vertebra, while the Sumter County comprises one complete costal, three medial peripherals, four posterior peripherals, three neurals, two epineurals, the first suprapygal and the left xiphiplastron, and the Oktibbeha County specimen comprises two left peripherals, one neural, one epineural, both suprapygals and a complete pygal. These Turtles are reconstructed as having been between 1.0 and 1.5 m in length.

Representative elements and composite reconstruction of Asmodochelys parhami. (a) Nuchal, first and second left peripherals, and first right peripheral (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (b) Third right peripheral (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (c) Second right costal (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (d), (e) Fourth neural and second epineural (MSC 35984) in dorsal (d ) and left lateral (e) views. (f) First and second neural (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (g) Fourth right costal (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (h), (i) Fifth right peripheral in posterior (h) and dorsal (i) views. (j), (k) Fourth left peripheral (MSC 35984) in dorsal (j) and posterior (k) views. (l), (m) Seventh right peripheral (MSC 35984) in posterior (l) and dorsal (m) views. (n), (o) Fifth left peripheral (MSC 35984) in dorsal (n) and posterior (o) views. (p), (q) Sixth neural and third epineural (MSC 35984) in dorsal ( p) and right lateral (q) views. (r,s) Sixth left peripheral (MSC 35984) in dorsal (r) and posterior (s) views. (t) Fifth left costal (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (u) Seventh neural (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (v) First suprapygal (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (w) Sixth right costal (MSC 35984) in dorsal view. (x) Suprapygals and pygal (MMNS 3958) in dorsal view. (y) Tenth left peripheral (MMNS 3958) in posterior view. (z) Eighth–tenth right peripherals (MMNS 3958) in dorsal view. Dashed lines represent scute sulci. Gentry et al. (2019).

Asmodochelys parhami is condired to be a member of the Ctenochelyidae, a group characterised by a laterally serrated shell, extensive costal and plastral fontanelles, and the presence of epineurals positioned at various intervals along the neural series. A phylogenic reconstruction for the group including Asmodochelys parhami suggests that the Ctenochelyidae are the sister group to the Crown Group Chelonioidea, with the Protostegids being the sister group to the Ctenochelyidae plus the Crown Group Chelonioidea.

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Three killed in tornado outbreak in southern United States.

Three people have died in an outbreak of tornadoes that swept across the US states of Alabama, Lousiana and Mississippi on Monday 16 December 2019. In Alabama two people were killed and several more people were injured when a tornado hit the town of Town Creek in Lawrence County' the two people who died are described as a couple, and one of the injured is reportedly their seven-year-old son, who is described as having critical injuries. Elsewhere in the state three more people were injured and two moble homes destroyed when a tornado hit the settlement of Salt Well in Marengo County. It Lousiana a 59-year-old woman, identified locally as Betty Patin, was killed when her mobile home was destroyed near Rosepine in Vernon Parish. In Mississippi seven people were injured when a home was destroyed in the town of Sumrall in Lamar County, and two people were injured by flying debris in Franklin County.

A tornado near Foxworth, in Marion County, Mississippi, at about 7.00 pm local time on Monday 16 December 2019. Jason Bedo/Twitter.

Tornadoes are formed by winds within large thunder storms called super cells. Supercells are large masses of warm water-laden air formed by hot weather over the sea, when they encounter winds at high altitudes the air within them begins to rotate. The air pressure will drop within these zones of rotation, causing the air within them so rise, sucking the air beneath them up into the storm, this creates a zone of rotating rising air that appears to extend downwards as it grows; when it hits the ground it is called a tornado.

Tornadoes can occur anywhere in the world, but are most common, and most severe, in the area of the American mid-west known as 'Tornado Ally', running from Texas to Minnisota, which is fuelled by moist air currents from over the warm enclosed waters of the Gulf of Mexico interacting with cool fast moving jet stream winds from the Rocky Mountains. Many climatologists are concerned that rising temperatures over the Gulf of Mexico will lead to more frequent and more severe tornado events.

 Simplified diagram of the air currents that contribute to tornado formation in Tornado Alley. Dan Craggs/Wikimedia Commons/NOAA.

However tornadoes are typically summer events, with occrences as late as December being exceptionally rare. It is possible that this week's storms are linked to a developing El Niño syste,, which can bring warmer, wetter air to the southerb US than is typical for the time of year.

The El Niño is the warm phase of a long-term climatic oscillation affecting the southern Pacific, which can influence the climate around the world. The onset of El Niño conditions is marked by a sharp rise in temperature and pressure over the southern Indian Ocean, which then moves eastward over the southern Pacific. This pulls rainfall with it, leading to higher rainfall over the Pacific and lower rainfall over South Asia. This reduced rainfall during the already hot and dry summer leads to soaring temperatures in southern Asia, followed by a rise in rainfall that often causes flooding in the Americas and sometimes Africa. Worryingly climatic predictions for the next century suggest that global warming could lead to more frequent and severe El Niño conditions, extreme weather conditions a common occurrence.

 Predicted changes to North American weather patterns during an El Niño event. NWS/NCEP Climate Prediction Center/NOAA.

  

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Tropical Storm Gordon makes landfall on the Gulf Coast of the US, causing one death and widespread flooding.

Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall about 50 km to the east of Biloxi, Mississippi, on Wednesday 5 September 2018, bringing with it winds of slightly under 115 kilometres per hour (the point at which it would be upgraded to a hurricane), and widespread flooding, along the costs of Lousiana, Mississipi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. One person has been reported dead due to the storm, an as yet un-named child killed in Escambia County, Florida, by a tree falling onto a mobile home, and about 50 000 people were left without power, mostly in Alabama.

Emergency services in Escabia County, Florida, attend the scene of the only known fatality associated with Tropical Storm Gordon, a child killed when a falling tree hit a mobile home. WCCO.

Tropical storms are caused by the warming effect of the Sun over tropical seas. As the air warms it expands, causing a drop in air pressure, and rises, causing air from outside the area to rush in to replace it. If this happens over a sufficiently wide area then the inrushing winds will be affected by centrifugal forces caused by the Earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect). This means that winds will be deflected clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, eventually creating a large, rotating Tropical Storm. They have different names in different parts of the world, with those in the northwest Atlantic being referred to as hurricanes.

Despite the obvious danger of winds of this speed, which can physically blow people, and other large objects, away as well as damaging buildings and uprooting trees, the real danger from these storms comes from the flooding they bring. Each drop millibar drop in air-pressure leads to an approximate 1 cm rise in sea level, with big tropical storms capable of causing a storm surge of several meters. This is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, since warm air over the ocean leads to evaporation of sea water, which is then carried with the storm. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by tropical storms.

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Trapped workers feared dead after landslide at Mississippi gravel quarry.

Two workers at a quarry in Copiah County, Mississippi are feared dead after they were buried by a landslide on Friday 3 June 2016. The men were driving separate vehicles at the Green Brother Gravel Co. quarry in Crystal Springs when part of a wall collapsed onto them, burying them under 3-4 m of gravel and clay. A rescue operation involving the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and Mining Safety and Health Administration, as well as several fire departments, have been working to free the men, who could potentially have received some protection from the vehicles they were in, but as time passes hopes of recovering the men alive are fading.

The scene of the 3 June 2016 Mississippi gravel pit landslide. WJTV12.

The landslide came after a period of heavy rain which has caused flooding in parts of Texas and Louisiana and problems as far east as Florida. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

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At least 32 dead as tornados hit Arkansas, Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma.                                                 Thirty two people are known to have died in the southern and...

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Storms and floods kill at least 43 people in the US over Christmas period.

AT least 43 people have died across the southern and midwest United States over the past week as the country has been hit by a series of severe floods and storm events. Multiple deaths have been recorded in Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee and Illinois, and severe storm and flood damage in New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama.

The remains of a home destroyed by storms in Roundaway, Mississippi, on 23 December 2015. Troy Catchings/The Press Register/AP.

The highest death toll has been recorded in Texas where a series of nine tornadoes touched down to the northeast of Dallas on Saturday 26 December, damaging or destroying around 140 homes, as well as toppling trees and power lines and killing at least eleven people. The worst affected area was the community of Garland in Dallas County, where around 600 homes have been destroyed, at least eight people have died, three of them in vehicles thrown from in interstate highway, and at least fiftenn more have been injured. Twenty three people have been reported in the town of Rowlett, also in Dallas County. Three further deaths have been reported in Collin County. In addition heavy snowfall has been reported across much of the north of the state, with snow in excess of 50 cm deep closing many roads and cutting off smaller communities.

Homes destroyed by a tornado in Garland, Texas on 26 December 2015. NBC.

In Missouri six people have died in two separate incidents involving vehicles on flooded roads in the southern art of the state, four soldiers from another country stationed at Fort Leonard Wood for training who died in Pulaski County and two other people in Green County. Two other deaths have been reported from the state, and several more people are missing, though details of these are not yet clear, and many people have been evacuated from homes in low-lying areas.

Flooding in Kendricktown Missouri on Sunday 27 December 2015. AP.

In Mississippi ten people including a seven-year-old boy died in a series of tornadoes that swept across the northern part of the state on Wednesday 23 December. In the worst event a single tornado stayed on the ground for over 200 km, leaving a trail of destruction across six counties, and killing four people in the small community of Holly Springs in Marshall County.

A tornado that touched down near Clarksdale, Mississippi, on 23 December 2015. Mike Prendergast/TV Weatheroom.

In Tenassee at least six people died in storms on Wednesday 23 December including three teenagers found dead in a car submerged in a creek Maurey County. Further deaths have been reported in Perry County, where an elderly couple were blown off a road in their car and in Rhea County where a 22-year-old man died when his car was caught in a flash flood. This has been followed by a drop in temperature that has brought ice storms, sleet, snow and freezing rain to areas where many people have lost their homes and many more have damaged homes and/or have lost electricity supplies.

Storm damage near Linden, Tennessee, following the 23 December storms. Mark Humphrey/AP.

Illinois was hit by a series of blizzards and flash floods on Saturday 26 December, and five people including two children are reported to have died when their car was caught in a flash flood in Marrion County. Flood warnings remain in place across much of the south of the state, particularly close to the Mississippi River, with evacuations being carried out in some low-lying areas.

Flooding in the LaRue Pine Hills in southern Illinois. Nathan Speagle/The Southern Illinoisan.

Eastern New Mexico has been hot by severe winter storms with more than 50 cm of snow falling in places and drifts in excess of 3 m. At least one person has died of hypothermia in Albuquerque and around 10 000 homes have been left without electricity due to downed power lines. A large number of vehicle accidents have been reported as drivers struggle to cope with unfamiliar conditions.

A road traffic accident to the south of Albuquerque in New Mexico on Saturday 26 December 2015. Roberto Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal/AP.

In Louisiana high winds and tornadoes have damaged and destroyed homes across large areas of the state, as well as toppling many trees, which have blocked roads and brought down power lines; about 19 000 homes were without power on the morning of Monday 28 December. The state is on high alert from expected flooding, with a number of levees already reported to be under strain.

Damage caused by a tornado in Rapides Parish, Louisiana on Monday 28 December 2015. KALB.

In Arkansas a woman was killed when a tree was blown onto her house on Wednesday 23 December and a man has died in a flooding in Pope County on Monday 28 December, after his car was washed off a road in a flash flood, and several other people have been reported missing. Flooding has been reported across much of the northeast of the state, while tornadoes have been reported in Ouachita, Calhoun and Lee counties.

Storm damage caused by high winds in Sharp County, Arkansas, on 23 December 2015. Brenda Harris/TVH11.

In Oklahoma two people are known to have died in flooding on Monday 28 December, and at least one more is missing; a third death in the state is being attributed to hypothermia. About 50 people have been admitted to hospitals with storm-related injuries. High winds, heavy rainfall and snow have brought disruption to much of the state, with About 200 000 people being left without electricity, and several cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have been reported as people without electricity have tried to warm their homes with little-used fireplaces, only to find that ventilation has been blocked. 

Flooding in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 28 December 2015. Mike Simons/Tulsa World/AP.

In Alabama heavy rain began to fall on Christmas Day bringing flooding to the Birmingham area, and has continued for much of the following week, leading to flooding across much of the state. Three people are known to have died, two in Coffee County and one in New Hope. Flooding has forced many people from their homes, and a series of tornadoes has caused further problems in the Birmingham area.

Flooding at Harvest in Madison County, Alabama. Penny Bright/AL.com.

The storms and flooding has been widely linked to the El Niño weather system currently affecting the Pacific Ocean, a phenomenon that typically brings high levels of rainfall to the southwest United States, starting around the beginning of December, although this year the area has been suffering floods since the middle of October. 

 Predicted changes to North American weather patterns during an El Niño event. NWS/NCEP Climate Prediction Center/NOAA.

The El Niño is the warm phase of a long-term climatic oscillation affecting the southern Pacific, which can influence the climate around the world. The onset of El Niño conditions is marked by a sharp rise in temperature and pressure over the southern Indian Ocean, which then moves eastward over the southern Pacific. This pulls rainfall with it, leading to higher rainfall over the Pacific and lower rainfall over South Asia. This reduced rainfall during the already hot and dry summer leads to soaring temperatures in southern Asia, followed by a rise in rainfall that often causes flooding in the Americas and sometimes Africa. Worryingly climatic predictions for the next century suggest that global warming could lead to more frequent and severe El Niño conditions, extreme weather conditions a common occurrence.

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