San Francisco – A Californian boat captain has recorded a rare video of a brilliant shell of greater than 2,000 dolphins which might be injured on the Monterey Bay coast, including the harder to know Northern Right Whale Delphin.

Northern Right Whale Dolphins are sometimes further removed by the shore and deeper waters, but Evan Brodsky, a captain and video with the private boots tour, Monterey Bay Whale Whale, fell on the mammals about 11 miles from the harbor last week. The dolphins are one in all two forms of dolphin with no dorsal fin.

“They are all smooth,” said Brodsky and joked. “When they jump, they look like the eyebrows.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVV-5VGBxDy

“We were so excited that it was difficult to keep our emotions. We had the biggest grin from ear to ear, ”he said, adding that one in all his employees can have shed a tear on the sight.

After the non-profit whale and dolphin reservations, dolphins with northern right whales live in Schoten of 100 to 200 dolphins. They are sociable and really social and infrequently mix with other dolphin species, including Rissos dolphins, from which Brodsky was included in drone videos last month.

Adults are about 3 meters long and weigh over £ 200 (90 kilograms), said Brodsky.

People come from all around the world to attempt to see a Northern Right Whale Delphin within the bay deep underwater gorges, said Colleen Talty, a marine biologist at Monterey Bay Whale Whale. Monterey is about 193 kilometers south of San Francisco.

She said the dolphins could group to ward off predators, to eat from the identical food or to make contacts.

“We don't always see baby dolphins,” she said, “so that's pretty nice.”

Originally published: February 26, 2025 at 6:15 a.m. PST

A big a part of the long private country on the lost coast of northern California is now planned for public access.

The 5-square-mile package called Lost Coast Redwoods was acquired this month by the Bureau of Land Management, three years after Save the Redwoods League bought the country from the parent of the Timber Company Soper Wheeler.

In the BLM deal, the property was bought with $ 56 million with $ 44 million in federal and state subsidies. It was compiled over 8 miles of the ocean front from several country purchases by Save the Redwoods League from 2008, said Sam Hodder, President of the League.

The purchase of Save The Redwoods 2021 for 36.9 million US dollars has been known as the most important deal Coastal Land Preservation in Northern California for greater than 20 years.

At that point, The league said: “We hope to work with partners of the general public agency (and tribal nations within the region) in an effort to develop public access to this forest and a piece of the lost coast, which has been private for greater than a century Opportunity to increase the lost coastal path to the south.

The 58-mile trail, a legendary backpack route on the beaches and the coastal bluffs, now ends at Shady Dell, which is marked by the hiker symbol on the map.

After the transfer of this month, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management told The Ukiah Daily Journal that the agency “is working on public access and recovery plan for the property”, including paths and campsites.

The area of ​​the Redwoods with old and second growth currently has no publicly accessible roads or paths. It is situated on the southern end of the lost coast, where the Highway 1 between Rockport and Eureka cuts approx. 100 miles inland.

The Lost Coast Redwoods property was for the primary time within the Eighteen Eighties. Sofer Wheeler, who called Devilbiss Ranch, had owned it since 1963, in accordance with Save The Redwoods.

Originally published: January 29, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. PST

For the primary time in nearly 50 years, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts went on strike Tuesday, a move that can cut off most trade through a number of the busiest U.S. ports and will slow the economy.

“Without us, nothing will move – nothing,” Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen's Association, told picketers outside a port terminal in Elizabeth, New Jersey, early Tuesday.

The United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port employers, didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Companies are currently facing a period of uncertainty. Trade experts say a brief strike would do little lasting damage, but a weeks-long strike could lead on to shortages, higher prices and even layoffs.

“If we're talking about a two- to three-week strike,” said J. Bruce Chan, transportation analyst at Stifel, a Wall Street firm, “then the problem starts to get exponentially worse.”

The prospect of great economic damage from a strike puts President Joe Biden in a bind five weeks before the national election. Before the strike, he said he wouldn’t use federal labor to force an end to a port closure – something President George W. Bush did in 2002 – but some labor experts said he could use that power if the strike began to strain Business.

Dock staff move containers from ships, sort them and cargo them onto trucks or trains, and likewise transport bulk cargo. About three-fifths of the nation's container shipments go through ports on the East and Gulf Coasts, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, the nation's third-largest, and fast-growing ports in Virginia, Georgia and Texas.

A strike can even halt the movement of cars and heavy machinery through the Port of Baltimore, where operations were limited for a lot of the spring after a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Automakers said they were monitoring the strike but it surely was too early to say how it could affect them.

Cruise ship operations will not be affected by the strike and military deliveries will proceed. Rick Cotton, the manager director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Monday that about 100,000 containers can be stored on the port throughout the strike and that 35 ships arriving next week can be anchored offshore.

“The stakes are very high,” Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said at a news conference Monday. “The potential for disruption is significant.“But she also tried to reassure consumers by saying that food and medicine shortages were not expected.

There is no practical alternative to ports for transporting large quantities of goods in and out of the country. And ports cannot operate without longshoremen, giving them powerful leverage in labor negotiations.

The ports on the west coast are open. Dock workers there belong to a different union and agreed to a new contract last year that includes a significant wage increase.

Under the contract, which expires Monday, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts earned a top wage of $39 an hour. The ILA wants a salary increase of $5 an hour in each of the six years of a new agreement, a 77% increase over the life of the agreement. On Monday, Allianz said its latest offer to the union would increase wages by “nearly 50%” over the lifetime of the contract.

With time beyond regulation and shift work, many longshoremen earn well over $100,000 a 12 months, putting them ahead of other staff and not using a college degree. But they are saying they work many more hours than staff in other jobs with similar incomes, often in harsh or dangerous conditions.

The high inflation of recent years has reduced the purchasing power of their wages. And longshoremen claim they’ve a right to a share of the increased profits that their employers – including some major global shipping firms – made throughout the pandemic trade boom in 2021 and 2022.

Knowing that a strike was possible, many firms began shipping in goods before Tuesday, including a lot of the consumer durables they planned to sell throughout the holiday shopping season. But even a brief strike could hurt importers of perishable goods like fruit.

Daniel J. Barabino, chief operating officer at Top Banana, a fruit retailer based on the Hunts Point Produce Market within the New York City borough of the Bronx, said a strike could cause it to find yourself running out of bananas, its important product, next week . “Everyone in the region will be affected, all banana importers – no one will have fruit,” he said.

Barabino added that transporting fruit by air is just too costly. And he said he couldn't make up the deficit by selling products aside from bananas. “They pay the coffee bill, maybe the bottled water bill,” he said, “but they don’t pay the electric bill, the rent, the truck leases or employee salaries.”

The last time the ILA invaded all ports on the East and Gulf Coasts was in 1977, bringing container shipping to a standstill for greater than six weeks. The agreement that ended the strike included wage increases well above employers' proposals, increased contributions to pension plans and steps to handle ILA concerns that recent technologies could lead on to job losses.

The ILA remains to be fighting against automation. It broke off talks with the Maritime Alliance in June, saying a port in Mobile, Alabama, was checking trucks using technology not permitted under its employment contract. (The technology has been in use because the port opened in 2008, a source aware of the operation said.)

Under the expired contract, port operators were allowed to make use of “semi-automated” technology, but not equipment that works “without human interaction.” The Maritime Alliance said it had offered in recent discussions to translate that commitment right into a recent contract.

Recently, other unions have gotten much of what they asked for in collective bargaining, and labor experts said the ILA hopes to capitalize on that victory.

“The union has shown that it is fighting hard,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor emerita on the University of California, Berkeley, who focuses on labor and trade. “The employers’ association is also clear that the strikes have broadly helped the unions over the last year or so.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Originally published: September 30, 2024 at 10:02 p.m

The Tropics have been very energetic since Monday, with the National Hurricane Center monitoring five systems within the Atlantic basin. That includes one that would grow to be a significant hurricane by Friday and one other that would move into the Gulf just like Hurricane Helene.

Meteorologists are warning residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast to closely monitor the potential Gulf system.

There's a 40 percent likelihood it is going to grow to be a tropical system inside every week, and that would occur in almost the identical area as Hurricane Helene was created every week ago – within the gap between Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the western tip of Cuba.

As of 11 a.m. Monday, it was moving generally northwestward and was expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico toward the top of the week. It continues to be too early for forecasters to declare potential Forecast track.

Far within the eastern Atlantic, Tropical Storm Kirk could grow to be a “terrible” major hurricane by Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Kirk, situated about 700 miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands, has winds of 45 mph and is moving west at 8 mph as of 11 a.m. Monday. By the top of the week it could turn out to be a significant hurricane with winds of 120 miles per hour.

Long-term forecasts show the storm moving northward from the Caribbean, but forecasters warn that confidence within the long-term path forecasts is low.

Meanwhile, one other disturbance off Africa could turn out to be a tropical depression, forecasters said Sunday. There is an 80% likelihood of it developing in the subsequent seven days.

As of 11 a.m. Monday, Isaac had strengthened from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone. It was situated about 515 miles north-northwest of the Azores with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and moving east-northeast at a speed of 24 mph.

The forecasts for the trail of Hurricane Helene were incredibly accurate. Here's why.

Isaac is anticipated to proceed to weaken over the subsequent few days.

Joyce, a system about 910 miles east-northeast of the Caribbean Sea, was downgraded to a tropical depression with sustained winds of 35 mph, moving very slowly northwest at 2 mph. The system poses no danger to landing.

Forecasters expect it to ease over the subsequent two days.

Originally published: September 30, 2024 at 10:20 am

Today is Saturday, August twenty fourth, the 237th day of the yr 2024. There are 129 days left within the yr.

Today in history:

On August 24, 1932, Amelia Earhart launched into a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, becoming the primary woman to fly solo and nonstop from coast to coast.

Also on this date:

In 1814, through the War of 1812, British troops invaded Washington, DC and set fire to the Capitol and White House, which were still under construction, in addition to other public buildings.

In 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty got here into force.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, which banned the Communist Party within the United States.

In 1981 Mark David Chapman was sentenced to twenty years to life imprisonment in New York for the murder of John Lennon.

In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett banned Giamatti (juh-MAH'-tee). Peter Rose was disqualified from the sport because he had bet on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.

In response to an attempted coup by radical communist leaders searching for to regain control of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian parliamentarians voted in 1991 to adopt a declaration of independence for the state of Ukraine.

1992 Hurricane Andrew hit in Florida; the storm claimed 65 lives and caused over $26 billion in damage in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union stated: Pluto was not a full-fledged planet and was subsequently downgraded to the status of a “dwarf planet”.

In 2012, a Norwegian court found Anders Behring Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder. Double attacks on July 22, 2011, through which 77 people were killed; he received a 21-year prison sentence, which could be prolonged if he is taken into account a danger to society.

In 2018, the family of the Arizona Senator was … John McCain announced that he had stopped medical treatment for an aggressive type of brain cancer; McCain died the next day.

In 2019, police in Aurora, Colorado, responded to a report of a suspicious person and used a chokehold to subdue Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man. He suffered Cardiac arrest on the option to hospital He was later declared brain dead and life support was discontinued.

In 2020, Republicans officially nominated President Donald Trump for a second term on the opening day of a scaled-down convention. During a visit to the convention city of Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump told delegates: “ The only way they can take this election away from us is if it is rigged. ”

Today's birthdays:

• Composer and musician Mason Williams is 86.
• R&B singer Marshall Thompson (The Chi-Lites) is 82.
• WWE co-founder Vince McMahon is 79.
• The writer Paulo Coelho is 77.
• Actress Anne Archer is 77.
• The writer Alexander McCall Smith is 76.
• The composer Jean-Michel Jarre is 76.
• The writer Orson Scott Card is 73.
• The poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is 72.
• Actor Kevin Dunn is 69.
• Former Arkansas governor and political commentator Mike Huckabee is 69.
• Actor and writer Stephen Fry is 67.
• Actor Steve Guttenberg is 66.
• Cal Ripken Jr., a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is 64.
• Actor Jared Harris is 63.
• Talk show host Craig Kilborn is 62.
• Actress Marlee Matlin is 59.
• Reggie Miller, member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is 59.
• Film director Ava DuVernay is 52.
• Actor and comedian Dave Chappelle is 51.
• Actor James D'Arcy is 50.
• Actor Carmine Giovinazzo (jee-oh-vihn-AH'-zoh) is 51.
• Actor Alex O'Loughlin is 48.
• Author John Green is 47.
• Actor Chad Michael Murray is 43.
• Actor Rupert Grint is 36.
• Basketball player Kelsey Plum is 30.

PEBBLE BEACH – Picture this. About 170 vintage cars line up on the starting line in Pebble Beach, start their engines and drive a scenic route of nearly 70 miles along Highway 1 back to home base. How difficult can or not it’s to arrange? Considerably.

Especially when among the older cars run out of air and others malfunction. Or when gusts threaten the steadiness of a vintage automobile, or a piece of the highway along the coast breaks off and slides into the ocean. Fortunately, after 25 years of putting on this spectacle, the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance crew has learned to predict conditions, pivot, and placed on a successful parade.

Preparing for and executing Thursday's Tour d'Elegance “requires a lot of communication throughout the year between the Pebble Beach Company, the California Highway Patrol, Big Sur partners and other members of the community,” said Tour d'Elegance Director Sean Jacobs, who also serves as vice chairman of business development for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. “We have a close relationship with the CHP. We work closely with them, as well as local authorities and surrounding communities, to plan the best route for the safety of spectators and traffic, and the enjoyment of participants. We also rely heavily on our large team of amazing volunteers to help us organize the tour.”

Certainly, several aspects have influenced the tour's route over time, says Jacobs, particularly the closure of Highway 1 in recent times.

“Getting the tour to Big Sur has always been a priority,” Jacobs said, “but in the years when Big Sur wasn't an option, we got creative and used additional roads through Pebble Beach and the 17 Mile Drive, as well as scenic routes through Monterey. Even so, our cars kept breaking down, requiring the help of our support vehicles to get them back to home base. Last year, we were able to avoid many of those breakdowns by streamlining the route.”

On March 30, a big portion of Highway 1 southbound collapsed just past the Rocky Creek Bridge, cutting off the community of Big Sur from the northern a part of the county.

“Immediately after Highway 1 was closed,” Jacobs said, “we began looking at the best ways to reroute the tour. We are currently planning to recreate last year's tour route, driving down to Ripplewood Resort in Big Sur, our annual turnaround point, and back. They are a very friendly and hospitable tour partner.”

Back to route

Both Sean Jacobs and the tour participants are aware of what a luxury and privilege it’s to arrange a driving tour in probably the most beautiful places on this planet, with Pebble Beach as an anchorage and the rugged coastline and sky-blue sea as a backdrop.

“In addition, thanks to access to major highways throughout the Monterey Peninsula, there are many great options to choose from if you're planning a Tour d'Elegance route that is both scenic and inspiring, and accessible to vintage cars.”

The Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance, presented by Rolex, was created in 1998 by Craig Davis, who answered questions on the roadworthiness of the Concours d'Elegance participants.

“Basically, these cars are 'Trailer Queens' and in a way they're art,” Davis said, “but not static art; they should be ready to drive. So I said, 'Why don't we start a tour, get the cars on the road and show that they're mechanical parts that can and should be ready to drive.'”

Besides the pomp, there may be also a powerful incentive for owners to participate within the Tour. If two cars are tied of their class at Sunday's Concours d'Elegance and one automobile took part within the Tour and the opposite didn’t, the Tour participant wins.

Today, 26 years later, the tour is a everlasting fixture on the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and offers a rare opportunity to see lots of these classic cars in motion. The tour begins in Pebble Beach and travels along 17 Mile Drive, past The Lodge at Pebble Beach, then travels along the Big Sur coast and back to Pebble Beach, where participants enjoy a lunch hosted by Mercedes-Benz.

This yr, unlike previous years, the event will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday and return to Pebble Beach at noon. “Because we worked with the CHP and relied on their route knowledge,” Jacobs said, “we took their recommendation to streamline the route and start a half-hour later to alleviate commuter traffic issues, which benefits everyone.”

Originally published: August 14, 2024 at 7:07 am

Lake Tahoe has long been a destination for ski lovers and sun worshippers, but through the years – and with a bit of help from friends in Hollywood – the vibe has modified. Of course, there are still loads of rustic chalets and beachside restaurants here, but renovated lodging options and a few glamorous recent restaurants have added a bit of more glitz to the scene in Stateline and South Lake Tahoe.

Big names have breathed recent life into a few of Lake Tahoe's more desolate corners. Harvey's Lake Tahoe Hotel & Casino provided some glitz and glamour due to “Real Housewives” and “Vanderpump Rules” star Lisa Vanderpump and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

Ramsay opens Hell's Kitchen here just before the pandemic, serving his signature Beef Wellington and other steakhouse fare to the Stateline crowd. But the resort received one other glitzy infusion in April when Vanderpump expanded her partnership with Caesar's Entertainment to Harveys and moved into the space next to Hell's Kitchen.

Vanderpump is an experienced restaurateur – and not only on TV. She and her husband Ken Rodd own several restaurants, including the one in West Hollywood ON Restaurant & Loungewhich is the main target of Bravo-TV's dramatic reality series “”.Vanderpump rules.”

“Scandolaval” isn’t on the menu – or so we hope – in the brand new Wolf from Vanderpump, which showcases the over-the-top aesthetic Vanderpump is known for, with a flair that is distinctly Tahoe. The wolf theme plays off the surrounding wilderness, and the place exudes all the elegance you'd expect from the brand. So. Lots. Chandeliers.

The menu doesn't disappoint, either. Try the fried goat cheese and spicy honey appetizer made famous by “Vanderpump Rules,” then dig into giant shrimp tacos and herb-dusted wild salmon. The cocktails here taste as good as they look, including perfectly pink pumptinis—vodka, St-Germain, grapefruit, raspberry and lime—as well as Vanderpump wines and a particularly good espresso martini.

The celebrity influence doesn't end there, though. Late last year, the hotel, located between Heavenly Village and Harveys, was transformed into a Margaritaville resort after the hotel chain inspired by Jimmy Buffett's music and lifestyle gave the all-suite property a mountain paradise-style makeover.

The Parrothead's vibe fits the Lake Tahoe clientele of yesteryear, and the all-suite resort's remodel has yielded a fun, inviting space with plenty of bells and whistles and some very entertaining dining options. Reserve a table at the new JWB Prime Steak and Seafood, or stop by LandShark, a more casual dining concept with live music on the patio.

The elegant Edgewood Tahoe Resortwhich opened in 2017, offers lakeside dining, a spa and Tahoe's only lakefront golf course. But these days, you can also add a MasterCraft excursion to your lake experience, with luxury charters starting at $1,125 for a half-day, plus kayak ($75 per hour) and stand-up paddleboard ($55) rentals.

The resort recently opened its Brooks' Bar & Deckoverlooking the golf course. The casual eatery is known for its sophisticated comfort food – steak and fries and a BLTP sandwich that adds pimento cheese to the usual ingredients – as well as lake views and cozy fire pits when the weather gets cooler.

Of course, a little bit of sparkle comes naturally. Some of Lake Tahoe's most coveted dining reservations may not be new, but they offer sunsets so spectacular that we just have to mention them.

From its vantage point on Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Friday's Station Steak and Seafood Grill offers beautiful views of pink and orange skies over sparkling turquoise waters. And the menu of steakhouse classics ranges from oysters to grilled swordfish and filet mignon.

Across the street from Harveys, the Sage Room Steak House offers a different atmosphere – rustic and western – but similarly impressive lake views and steakhouse classics like prime rib and lobster tail.

When you go

Harvey's Lake Tahoe: Find Wolf by Vanderpump, Hell's Kitchen and Sage Room Steak House at this Stateline resort on Highway 50 at Stateline Avenue; www.caesars.com/harveys-tahoe.

Margaritaville Resort Lake Tahoe: Find JWB Prime Steak and Seafood and LandShark Bar & Grill at this South Lake Tahoe resort at 4130 Lake Tahoe Blvd.; www.margaritavilleresorts.com.

Edgewood Tahoe Resort: Find Brooks' Bar & Deck and other restaurants at this Stateline resort at 180 Lake Parkway; www.edgewoodtahoe.com.

Harrah’s Lake Tahoe: Find Friday's Station Steak and Seafood Grill at 15 Highway 50 in Stateline; www.caesars.com/harrahs-tahoe.

The idle hour: Open daily at 3351 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe;
www.theidlehourlaketahoe.com.

Originally published: August 5, 2024 at 9:00 a.m.

The French Broad River winds through the mountains of western North Carolina, fed by dozens of mountain streams, and passes through the town of Asheville. At over 2,000 feet above sea level and greater than 250 miles from the coast, it's unlikely that anyone here would wish to organize for a hurricane.

Nevertheless, through the years, the remnants of several hurricanes have swept through this region, causing the region's rivers to overflow their banks.

When these storms Back to back fightthe devastation may be enormous. In September 2004, for instance, the remnants of hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne All of them brought excessive rainfall to western North Carolina inside a matter of weeks, overwhelming the French Broad and other rivers within the Asheville area.

The history of western North Carolina is only one example of the risks posed by inland tropical cyclones.

In 1955 Connie, closely followed by Dianecaused a few of the worst flooding within the inland waters of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. Diane became generally known as the primary billion-dollar storm. The combined impacts prompted Congress to fund extensive studies of hurricane meteorology and mitigation measures.

Vermont was hit by Tropical Storm Irene in 2001, which destroyed a whole bunch of homes. In 1998, Tropical Storm Charley moved nearly 200 miles up the Rio Grande Valley and Flooding within the dry landscape of Texaswith devastating consequencesThe remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2022 caused nearly $84 billion in damage as its heavy rains caused flooding in states from Louisiana to New York.

I’m a historical geographer of flood hazards and the way communities exacerbate and reply to risk. With the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, expected to be exceptionally eventful, storms like this one are a reminder for mountain communities and other inland regions across the United States to organize.

Hard lessons from the mountains of North Carolina

Western North Carolina is a vital case study of a hurricane risk that could appear rare but can have catastrophic consequences, and the way some communities are starting to reply.

In July 1916, the Asheville area inundated by successive tropical storms River bridges and roads were torn apart, shops washed away and enormous parts of the town were flooded.

The first tropical storm reached Mississippi and moved into the southern Appalachians. While it lingered over western North Carolina, 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of rain fell within the mountains, which drained into streams after which rivers, including the French Broad.

Every week later, a second tropical storm made landfall, this time in South Carolina, heading toward the already saturated bottom of the French Broad River basin, dropping 12 to fifteen inches of rain near Brevard. Weather Bureau meteorologists wrote: saturated soils allowed 80% to 90% of the brand new precipitation flows from the mountains into the tributaries of the French Broad River.

In Asheville, the river rose to 23.1 feet – a record high, greater than 5 feet higher than any previous or subsequent crest. The water washed away bridges and damaged most businesses and industries within the flood plain.

Dozens of individuals died within the floods and trade was disrupted for weeks. The Santee River, which flows from the Blue Ridge Mountains toward the ocean, destroyed around 280,000 hectares of farmland in South Carolina.

The response to the storms of 1916 was not sufficient

After the storms there was We are talking about replacing some destroyed buildings were replaced with flood-resistant structures. However, the importance of railroad service and limited land for business and industrial use necessitated reconstruction near the river. Congress authorized a flood control study in 1930, but no structural protections were built. Revised constructing codes and land use restrictions to scale back the impact of flooding got here much later.

In September 2004, the region was again hit by a series of tropical storm disasters.

Hurricane Frances reached Florida and eventually moved over the Blue Ridge Mountains into western North Carolina. Remnants of the hurricane dropped 8 to 12 inches of rain near Asheville. Black Mountain received 15 inches of rain, which flowed right into a tributary of the French Broad River and caused widespread flooding where the rivers converge. The storm severed a water principal and cut off drinking water supplies to Asheville residents.

Shortly after Frances arrived, Hurricane Ivan raced onto the Alabama coast and moved inland, bringing one other 4 to 12 inches of rain to the French Broad Basin inside three days. Saturated soils on the mountain slopes lost their footing and caused quite a few landslidesand parts of Asheville and Brevard were flooded. Remnants of Hurricane Jeanne brought more rain to Western North Carolina a couple of days later.

It shouldn’t be enough to make use of the past to plan the longer term

Traditionally, officials planning for hazards equivalent to hurricanes have relied on records of past events to guide their decisions. However, this approach assumes that the climate is stable, and that is just not the case.

Warmer temperatures allow the air to carry more moisture, meaning tropical cyclones – and inland thunderstorms – can bring more rain.

This may be particularly problematic when huge storms move inland and cause streams and rivers to overflow their banks. Back-to-back storms may be much more destructive. New development in areas that weren’t previously subject to such severe flooding could turn out to be more vulnerable because the climate warms.

Some communities are starting to take into consideration how the risks might worsen in the longer term.

In the Asheville area, Buncombe County’s hazard reduction plan now explicitly addresses hurricane risks and recognizes that “future events are likely.”

After the 2004 flood, the county modified using a water reservoir to permit for floodwater storage as well. It now requires that latest buildings constructed within the 2004 flooded areas be 2 feet above the bottom flood elevation. The city of Brevard, 30 miles south of Asheville, restricted construction activity in flood-prone areas to limit future losses.

Asheville has Green spaces along the French Broad River and has made efforts to extend stormwater retention behind dams on tributaries. But modifying stormwater drainage systems is dear when existing systems are designed for historical rainfall levels slightly than the rainfall levels that climate change will bring.

Extreme weather events, including mountain and inland flooding, have gotten a more common problem within the United States. I consider they should be more widely considered in disaster planning in any respect levels. For communities, preparing for these future risks means Learning from the floods of the past But we must also remember that future storms could cause flooding of previously unimagined proportions.

An endangered right whale was spotted in a unprecedented sighting off the coast of Marin County on Friday, astonishing scientists.

Fewer than 40 of this species, which is one in every of the rarest whales on this planet, are thought to have survived.

“It was amazing,” said research ecologist Jan Roletto, who observed the whale about three miles west of Point Reyes National Seashore aboard a research vessel for Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies.

The weather on Friday was rough, with strong winds whipping up waves 12 to 14 feet high. The goal of the research team's week-long trip was to check wildlife as a part of a partnership between Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries and Point Blue Conservation Science.

But the whale was unmistakable.

“It appeared right in front of us” after which stayed there for nearly 20 minutes, said Roletto, research coordinator for the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries.

As they stood together on the ship's commentary deck, Roletto and marine ecologist Kirsten Lindquist immediately turned and checked out one another.

“We both knew immediately what it was,” said Roletto. The identification has since been officially confirmed by the NOAA Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle based on photos and videos.

The whale had a particular V-shaped blowhole. It was broad and jet black, with no dorsal fin. And on its head was at the very least one cluster of telltale “calluses,” rough, white patches of skin.

“It seemed to be resting,” Roletto said. “It wasn't feeding. It wasn't traveling. It moved a little bit and then sank.”

Like other whales, the species was nearly worn out by business whaling. But unlike other whales – akin to humpbacks, gray whales and blue whales – it has recovered way more slowly. Right whale populations are larger within the Atlantic and the Southern Hemisphere.

North Pacific right whales were favored by hunters because they swim slowly near shore and float on the water's surface after death. By the tip of the nineteenth century, as much as 40,000 North Pacific right whales had been slaughtered.

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling banned business hunting of right whales within the North Pacific in 1937, and their numbers began to rise.

However, illegal whaling by the Soviet Union within the northern Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea within the Nineteen Sixties again brought the species to the brink of extinction.

They have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1970. Although whaling now not poses a threat, the species continues to be threatened by human activities, akin to entanglement in fishing nets and marine debris, ship collisions, the consequences of climate change, oil and gas extraction, and ocean noise.

North Pacific right whales are baleen whales that feed by filtering large amounts of seawater through their comb-like baleen, catching copepods and other zooplankton.

Because they’re so rare, little or no is thought concerning the movements, migration, reproduction or calving of this North Pacific species, said Jim Scarff, an independent whale researcher in Berkeley. Tagging is difficult and unsuccessful, he added.

“There is remarkably little knowledge about their distribution,” he said.

According to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, surveys by the National Marine Fisheries Service have discovered a small variety of North Atlantic right whales within the Gulf of Alaska in a small area called Barnabas Trough. Twelve individuals were discovered within the southeastern Bering Sea.

Over the past decade, there have been a handful of discoveries off the coast of British Columbia and Washington state.

In March 2023, stalk watchers sighted one near shore at Pt. Pinos in Monterey Bay. In April 2022, a fisherman reported a sighting near Point Ano Nuevo in San Mateo County.

“It's always a single animal, often in the spring,” Scarff said. “And then it's never seen again.”