Cyclone Yasi, pictured here, is expected to cost more than $2 billion in damages in Australia. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Australia was nearly paralyzed as Cyclone Yasi slammed into the northeast coast of Queensland recently. The Category Five storm devastated coastal areas of Queensland, already heavily damaged from heavy flooding. The damage from Cyclone Yasi is expected to be more than $2 billion.

Agricultural areas decimated by Cyclone Yasi

Just after the Australian state of Queensland had experienced the worst flooding in a century, Cyclone Yasi slammed into the region. The cyclone strengthened from a Category Four to a Category Five just before making landfall. Initially the size of Hurricane Katrina, the storm grew to nearly the size of the United States, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Queensland is one of the chief agricultural areas in Australia, and damage is thought to be near catastrophic. The agricultural losses are already thought to be at least $1 billion, with another billion in damaged property. An estimated 30 percent of the sugar cane crop in Australia is expected to be lost, which could cost as much as $500 million. The Australian banana crop has also been severely affected, with 75 percent thought to be lost.

World food prices skyrocket

As news of the pending cyclone and possible loss of crops spread, world food prices began to rise, according to Reuters. Losses of banana and sugar cane crops in Australia, combined with loss of wheat from the Midwest snow storms in the U.S. are likely to send the price of bread, sugar and bananas sky high. American wheat prices already have begun rising in the wake of the winter storm, which has been nicknamed “Stormageddon.” Nearly half of the United States is covered in snow and ice, with freezing temperatures setting in after the snow storm.

Heavy damage from La Nina

Weather this year has been chiefly attributed to the weather pattern known as “La Niña,” according to The Telegraph. The phenomenon results in lower ocean surface temperatures and atmospheric pressure, which is the opposite effect that an El Niño has. Results of La Niña periods are often wetter, colder winters in the United States and Canada along with milder summers. In the southern hemisphere, the rainy season usually has heavier rainfall and stronger cyclones.

Sources

Christian Science Monitor

Reuters

The Telegraph

Cyclone Yasi, a storm the size of Hurricane Katrina, is about to slam into Queensland, Australia. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The northeast coast of Australia is bracing for the landfall of Cyclone Yasi. Yasi is a tropical storm heading for the already battered state of Queensland, which recently experienced some of the worst flooding on record. The storm has roughly the same force as Hurricane Katrina.

Cyclone Yasi about to batter coast of Queensland

The state of Queensland, which comprises the northeast corner of Australia, is bracing for flooding and rain in anticipation of the impact of Tropical Cyclone Yasi, according to The Telegraph. The storm will be making landfall sometime by Wednesday, Feb. 2, and bring with it winds of 175 miles per hour and deadly flash flooding. The area that could be affected by the storm is roughly the size of England, Scotland and Wales combined. The storm was recently upgraded to a Category Four storm and is so large that the it could take more than an hour for the eye of the storm to pass overhead. The last cyclone of similar size was Cyclone Larry in 1996, which caused more than $1.5 billion in damage.

Storm the size of Hurricane Katrina

The cyclone is roughly the size of Hurricane Katrina, which battered the Gulf Coast of the United States and wreaked havoc in the city of New Orleans in 2005. Yasi is almost 300 miles wide and could affect an area larger than 400 miles across and up to 600 miles inland from the Queensland coast, according to Reuters. Industrial centers, mines and schools have been closed. More than 9,000 people have been evacuated. Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland, has described the storm as “life threatening.” The storm is also expected to devastate the sugar cane and banana crops of Innisfail, a major agricultural center. Australia is currently the third largest exporter of sugar cane in the world.

Queensland still recovering from flooding

The state of Queensland is still recovering from December flooding that killed 35 people and left almost two-thirds of the area waterlogged. Those floods have already caused more than $5 billion in damage, according to the Christian Science Monitor, and were exacerbated by Tropical Cyclone Tasha, which came along with a far wetter than normal monsoon season that caused severe flash flooding throughout the state of Queensland.

Sources

The Telegraph

Reuters

Christian Science Monitor

Hurricane Earl is building in the Caribbean, and may upgrade to a Category Four by Labor Day. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans was recently observed, but on that most auspicious occasion, another tropical storm is currently building off the Gulf Coast. Tropical storm Earl was re-dubbed Hurricane Earl, as it has graduated to a hurricane force storm system. The hurricane is building in the Caribbean, and it is now a Category Three storm. It is unknown exactly where it might land if it hits the coast of the United States, but it is anticipated it may hit the coast of North Carolina.

Hurricane Earl to hit Puerto Rico

First in the Hurricane Earl projected path is Puerto Rico. According to ABC, the islands of Vieques and Culebra have been issued storm warnings. The storm has already caused damage in Antigua and caused flooding in the Leeward Islands. The Leewards are part of the Lesser Antilles, a large group of islands east of Puerto Rico and north of South America. The Leeward Islands include the U.S. Virgin Islands, which have experienced flooding due to Hurricane Earl. Hurricane warnings are in effect for the rest of the Leewards as well. It isn’t known what the extent of any Hurricane Earl Puerto Rico damage will be.

Hurricane Earl 2010 may hit U.S. coast

Currently, a Hurricane Earl projected path is unclear. The storm could easily become a Category Four. According to CNN, it is unknown whether the Hurricane Earl path will include the United States. However, it is projected that some of the effects of the storm will hit the shores of North Carolina by Labor Day weekend. It’s anticipated that North Carolina will experience large swells, and some ocean currents, but no major damage. However, Hurricane Earl 2010 might dissipate within days, or get worse and hit the Atlantic coast hard.

Hurricane Danielle downgraded

Hurricane Danielle, previously Tropical Storm Danielle, has begun to dissipate. There will likely be little more effect from that storm system than some wind and rain. However, the 2010 hurricane season isn’t over.

UPDATE

Hurricane Earl has become a Category Four hurricane. It has headed towards the coast of the United States. According to Fox News, the storm will briefly hit the coast, and then head back out to sea. Flooding is a major possibility and FEMA is mobilizing early.

Further Reading

ABC

CNN

(photo: Paula Burch)

In times of trouble, it takes resiliency and determination to pick up the pieces of a shattered existence and rebuild it better than it was before. If you have budget problems, a cash advance or cash loan can help you avoid danger and begin to rebuild your credit in the process. When it comes to something more serious – like a natural disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina – rebuilding is tough.

But just as Dr. Regina Benjamin did for her health care clinics in Alabama and New Orleans, now she’ll be at the forefront of the effort to help rebuild Americans’ faith in their healthcare system. She’ll be in that unique position because according to Reuters, President Obama has called her name to be the next Surgeon General of the United States of America.

Calling Dr. Regina Benjamin, M.D.

A family doctor from Alabama, Regina Benjamin helped rebuild a rural clinic there that had been destroyed by hurricanes. In New Orleans, Benjamin’s sterling work won the favor of the MacArthur Foundation. They gave her a genius grant for her efforts with the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic. That place was ripped to shreds by nature two times (Hurricanes Georges and Katrina), but Benjamin found ways to pick up the pieces.

A diverse slate of problems tackled

“Despite scarce resources, Benjamin has painstakingly rebuilt her clinic after each disaster and set up networks to maintain contact with patients scattered across multiple evacuation sites,” reads the foundation’s biography of Benjamin. “She has established a family practice that allows her to treat all incoming patients, many of whom are uninsured, and frequently travels by pickup truck to care for the most isolated and immobile in her region.”

“Benjamin is skilled, as well, in translating research on preventive health measures into accessible, community-based interventions to decrease the disease burdens of her diverse patient base, which includes immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, who comprise a third of Bayou La Batre’s population,” the MacArthur Foundation said.

Rebuilding for change

Cost cutting and addressing the needs of a diverse population are goals the Obama administration has with its comprehensive healthcare reform package. Those two qualities are things that Obama sees in Benjamin. To be able to rebuild after a hurricane when resources are scare is quite a challenge. Obama would love to see that same resourcefulness applied to the healthcare issues that will ignite the political landscape for some time.

A more active surgeon general?

(Photo: Jim Young/Reuters)

Traditionally, the surgeon general takes a broad stance on health policy. Their public interaction generally involves health advice on how people should take care of themselves, and when they should seek medical assistance.  But this time around, the head of the Public Health Services Commissioned Corps could be taking a more active role in pushing for the changes President Obama wants.

The critics are going to talk

Sure, the critics of Obama’s health plan are out in full force. They’re afraid that when the government takes over the system, they aren’t going to have any choice in the matter of what doctors and hospitals they can use. However, the president has continually assured that if people are satisfied with their current health care plan, they will be able to keep it. This is for the underinsured and uninsured, primarily. And none of this suggests in any way that Regina Benjamin is not qualified for the position. If she dug her way out of Katrina with a cash advance here or a cash loan there, I think she’s more than qualified to take the lead for Americans.

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