Warning issued over possible surface flooding, slips and fast-rising water levels

Infonews.co.nz Monday 21 March 2011, 9:55AM
By Environment Waikato
WAIKATO

Waikato Civil Defence is warning people to be aware of the dangers posed by heavy rain expected to hit the Coromandel later today, while a weather watch is also in place for the rest of the Waikato.

Emergency management officer Greg Ryan said the MetService had advised that up to 180mm was expected for the Coromandel Ranges from 4pm, with up to 100mm elsewhere on the Peninsula.

“Up to 50mm of rain could fall in an hour and this heavy rainfall has the potential to cause surface flooding, as well as slips on some of the Coromandel’s rural roads,” Mr Ryan said.

“Due to the intensity of this rainfall storm water drains could struggle to cope. The community can help minimise the impact of surface flooding by clearing debris and rubbish from drains and gutters.

“Motorists should ensure their headlights are on, so other road users can see their vehicles in the rain. Drivers should also reduce their speeds and increase their following distances to minimise their risk of a serious crash.

“The combination of the heavy rainfall, strong on-shore winds and higher than normal tides could also lead to flooding in low-lying areas.”

Mr Ryan advised water users to always check conditions prior to entering the coastal areas and adhere to all warnings.

He also reminded members of the public that the impact of the rainfall on rivers and streams would not be realised immediately and people should not endanger their lives by entering either flood waters, or swollen rivers or streams.

The Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group is working closely with Environment Waikato to monitor the region’s rainfall and river levels.

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I wrote for Investigate Magazine from 2000-2005, then decided to invest my energy in the alternative media, when I became aware of the rise of fascism that was being concealed from the public under the guise of hoaxes, such as the "war on terror," by the mainstream media.

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Nuclear Power Reactors Do Not Belong On The Surface of the Earth

As the frightful nuclear crisis in Japan unfolds, with the ultimate outcome far from certain, a brief pause  in the mad rush to pursue mass construction of nuclear power reactors can be witnessed. However, with the emergence of major new economic actors in the global economy, in particular China, India and Brazil, the world’s demand for energy, especially electrical power generation, will continue to rise, and probably revive the policymakers’  receptiveness towards atomic energy. In this drive, they are being increasingly joined by a strange new ally; environmentalists, those who classify themselves politically as left-leaning progressives, who see nuclear power as an emissions-free alternative to other forms of feeding the insatiable electrical grids of the global economy, most of which are major emitters of green house gases, believed to be the major contributor to climate change.

In 1956, the Director  of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Alvin Weinberg, said that, ” there is an understandable drive on the part of men of good will to build up the positive aspects of nuclear energy simply because the negative aspects  are so distressing.” His point underscored a perception by many of the leading scientific minds involved in the creation of the nuclear arsenal and militarized nuclear reactors to provide propulsion for the submarines carrying the nuclear tipped missiles that comprised the ultimate deterrent of the major powers. While supporting  and contributing towards making nuclear power and atomic weapons available to military forces highly disciplined and skillfully trained in their maintenance, they harbored great reluctance to see this technology disseminated freely throughout the civilian economy. The risks of such technology being managed by civilian organizations, especially privately-owned utilities, were far too grave, in their estimation.

The uranium 235 fuel utilized in a nuclear reactor is enriched to 20 percent, unlike  nuclear weapons, which require a minimum of 80 percent enrichment. This means that in an accident, an atomic detonation would not occur. However, virtually all the other evil consequences of a nuclear blast can occur in a catastrophic accident involving a nuclear power reactor. A plethora of toxic radioactive isotopes, some with a highly persistent half-life, are released into the atmosphere, soil and aquifers of surrounding areas, with frightful consequences for human beings. The economic damage resulting from widespread nuclear contamination can also be  severe and long-lasting.  In effect, a nuclear power reactor located within twenty or thirty kilometers of a major population center is the ultimate radiological bomb. Its promise of cheap, safe and supposedly clean electricity exists only in a parallel universe, where human failings and mistakes do not occur, terrorism is non-existent and natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis do not happen. In our world, such a promise is illusory, as already demonstrated in the past at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and now so terrifyingly underway in Japan.

Dr. Edward Teller was the inventor of America’s hydrogen bomb, a weapon thousands of times more devastating than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. He was politically a rightwing hawk during the Cold War, and strongly supported the buildup of America’s nuclear arsenal, including the development of nuclear reactors for military purposes. However, this genius of nuclear physics had a far different view when it came to building nuclear reactors as a means of generating electricity for widespread civilian use. In 1965 Teller stated, “In principle, nuclear reactors are dangerous…In my mind, nuclear reactors do not belong  on the surface of the earth. Nuclear reactors belong underground.”

global economic crisis Dr. Edward Teller, japan nuclear crisis, japan nuclear meltdown, nuclear power

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