The storm system formerly known as Tropical Storm Bonnie is currently hitting Louisiana at less than lethal 30 mph. Gulf of Mexico crews were off the shift of cleanup and drilling a relief well for two days, but the game is back on as hurricane season is hotting up.
"We're going to be playing a cat-and-mouse game for the remainder of the hurricane season," said Thad Allen, the retired Coast Guard Admiral who is the point man in cleanup operations.
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Iowa Storms
At this point, Lousianians, particularly in the north, are actually looking forward to the storm, which is needed for drought relief in the Bayou State. The real trouble in the US right now is the damage from torrential rain and tornadoes in the Midwest, particularly Iowa, where as the Des Moines register laments, "This summer is officially too wet for fish."
The whole state has again been pounded by storms, with flash floods reported in Oelwein, Strawberry Point, and Dyersville and multiple tornadoes reported in the Indianola area. Heavy rains caused a rupture in the Lake Delhi dam, affecting some 8,000 people in the valley of the Maquoketa River.
While no injuries have been reported, The Iowa Department of Transportation issued a very sober statement: "Saturated ground cannot hold any additional moisture and potential exists for flooding to occur even in areas rarely threatened. Iowans are urged to closely monitor conditions and never enter a water-covered roadway. Flood waters can force a vehicle off the roadway."
More Flooding in Border Area
Local officials in South Texas and Northern Mexico are also dismayed at the damage brought on by flooding of the Rio Grande River from Hurricane Alex and a tropical depression that followed it eight days later. The Houston Chronicle claims that a dam in that area emptied the "equivalent of two Olympic-sized swimming pools every three seconds."
While officials on both sides of the border describe the flooding as "inevitable," the loss is no consolation to owners of 130 homes in that region. Still, IBWC Commissioner Edward Drusina said that all parties involved managed the flooding as well as they could under the circumstances.
"It was a huge storm, but we were managing," he said. "All in all, we're meeting the objective and that is to protect the community to the best of these facilities' ability."
Major FBI Bust of ID Theft Ring
In Los Angeles, it wasn't rain or even earthquakes that put itself under the Pameno spotlight, but rather, a major bust that was the work of both the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and The FBI.
Criminal mastermind Albert Gonzalez, 39, was arrested in February for his role in a massive ID theft ring. Following on clues from the case, authorities have arrested 11 more men, and obtained a USB thumb drive with some 20,000 credit card numbers on it.
The task force said that the scheme involved Bluetooth "skimming" of credit card numbers from more than 60 gas stations in the San Fernando Valley.
Earthquake in Iran
A 5.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the coastal region of Iran's Fars Province, damaging 50 to 70 percent of all residences in the town of Lamerd. With one killed and 32 injured, it pales in comparison to the December 2003 destruction of the city of Bam, which killed 31,000, but leeds credence to recent demands by that nation's hardline government to dissipate government offices in capital Tehran to areas throughout the country.
The argument is that Tehran's proximity to two major fault lines puts it at considerable risk in the even of an earthquake. Critics counter that the move is a cynical power play to diminish dissent in liberal Tehran, which is the most opposed to the current regime.
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Oil Spill...No Not That One
The biggest headline of the week however, comes from the unfortunate port city of Dalian, China, recently awarded the title of most livable city in that country.
After two pipelines exploded in an oil depot there, firefighters struggled with a 15 hour fire in the bay itself, as the country mobilized crews to contain an oil slick that has now spread to what Chinese official press describes as "more than 946 square kilometers" or 365.25 square miles. The imperiled Yellow Sea, now the site of China's largest oil spill in history has provided nightmarish photos for the world to sea.
As an American resident, I can't help but struggle with the sad irony that photos continuing to come in from China lack the same censorship that media coverage in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is having to endure.
Ian During is filling in for Ryan Campbell this week. The writer apologizes for the late delay in getting this out, and having to compete with the Sunday talk shows for your attention.
