God is the Most Powerful.
The Most Powerful.
The Most Powerful.

Revelation 18:8
She will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.


A huge vortex caused by the wind swept fire, just moments after the fire jumped Lockwood Valley Road, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006, in Ventura, Calif.

Firefighters aim to surround huge blaze

OJAI, California (AP) -- Firefighters were in the final stage Sunday of surrounding one of the biggest blazes in state history, which has burned 254 square miles of brush and timber since erupting September 4.

"There are still six miles of fire lines to build, but this fire is under control," said Faith Nielson, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

The fire was 87 percent contained, and officials expected to have it fully surrounded by Monday.

Scores of weary firefighters have been leaving the fire front and heading home. More than 3,300 crew members remained overnight but an additional 1,200 were scheduled to be released Sunday, fire officials said.

Calm winds and higher humidity at the end of the week slowed the spread of flames as crews built containment lines.

The fire, ignited by someone burning debris, has blackened 162,547 acres, mainly in the Los Padres and Angeles National forests, making it the fifth biggest fire in California history. At one point, it threatened the Ventura County communities of Ojai, Santa Paula and Fillmore.

The fire destroyed one rural Lockwood Valley home and damaged another. It also burned a handful of structures that included barns, sheds, an unoccupied cabin and a camping trailer.

Firefighting costs have been estimated at more than $67 million.

Typhoon hits central Vietnam, at least 10 dead

HANOI, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A typhoon ripped off roofs, felled trees and cut power lines on Vietnam's central coast on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and damaging thousands of homes, officials said.

Typhoon Xangsane, which hit Vietnam after slamming into the Philippines, killed at least 10 people, injured 99 others and damaged more than 10,000 homes in central provinces before weakening as it moved inland, state-run radio quoted the government as saying.

The casualties were caused by lightning, flying debris, electrocution and drowning in floodwaters, officials said.

The resort city of Danang, Vietnam's fourth largest with about 1 million people, and the nearby UNESCO-heritage town of Hoi An appeared to have taken the brunt of the typhoon when it crossed the coast at about 9 a.m. (0200 GMT).

Hoi An was flooded and about 500 houses there lost roofs, officials were quoted as saying on state-run Vietnam Television.

"The damage is very, very big. We cannot tackle it right now," an unidentified police official in Hoi An was quoted as saying.

Hoi An was scheduled to a host a meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum tourism ministers in two weeks' time.

Heavy wind and rain also hit the nearby historic city of Hue, north of Danang.

Officials said the typhoon had skirted important coffee-growing areas in the Central Highlands, but they said the region had suffered torrential rain and landslides. Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee grower after Brazil.

Fishing vessels were recalled to shore, Vietnam Airlines grounded domestic flights and the north-south train service was halted ahead of the storm.

It was too soon to estimate the cost of the damage of the typhoon, which moved westward across Laos and into Thailand as authorities in communist-run Vietnam began a clean-up.

Earlier on Sunday, Vietnam TV footage showed debris flying from buildings and collapsed trees in Danang. Rescue workers were filmed carrying people to safety from battered houses.

Every year tropical storms or typhoons kill thousands of people and cause millions of dollars in damage to the centre of the mostly rural, densely populated country of 83 million.

The typhoon killed 76 people and injured 81 in the northern and central Philippines on Wednesday and Thursday. Officials said 69 were missing and nearly 105,000 in evacuation centres.

Xangsane, which means "elephant" in the Lao language, spurred Vietnamese authorities into a massive evacuation of 200,000 people in the central region to safer areas. (Additional reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam and Ho Binh Minh)

Dam collapse washes away 1,000 homes in Nigeria

GUSAU, Nigeria, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Flood water from a burst reservoir dam in northern Nigeria has made 1,000 families homeless, but about 40 people earlier feared dead have been found alive, the state governor said on Sunday.

Local media had reported Zamfara State Governor Ahmed Sani saying that at least 40 people died after heavy rainfall swelled the reservoir to critical levels, causing the dam to collapse and send a barrage of water through villages.

"All those missing were later found safe and alive," Sani told Reuters.

"We have over 1,000 families affected and property over 3 billion naira ($23 million), but there is no loss of life."

The reservoir was the main source of drinking water for Zamfara state capital Gusau.

Residents pass by a big tree that fell on the street Friday, Sept. 29, 2006 in suburban Pasay City, south of Manila, as trees and electrical posts block streets rendering it impassable to traffic. Typhoon Xangsane battered the city as it cut across the northern Philippines, hitting the capital with gale-force winds and pounding rain and leaving at least 28 people dead amid widespread floods and damages. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)

Ecuadoreans learn to live with volcanos

BILBAO, Ecuador - On a once-lush landscape made wasteland overnight by the Tungurahua volcano, five members of the Meneses family raised picks and hoes in unison to strike at ash-encrusted earth.

The land looks like concrete and is almost as hard. The Meneses returned home to replant their crops, only to find it takes backbreaking work just to crack a furrow in the hardened gray shell.

"I am not giving in," said Antonio Meneses, sprinkling a neat row of corn kernels into one narrow crack. "Success or death."

Meneses, 52, acknowledged he may not be able to pay back the $5,000 in loans he took out before the eruption to plant his crops. "We took a risk planting here," he said. "Now we will test our luck. Let us hope this harvest will not fail."

The Meneses were among the first to try to resume their lives in Bilbao, a village just below the crater of Tungurahua, which covered the area with incandescent rocks, ash and lava in a catastrophic explosion in August. Many others are still living elsewhere as refugees.

They are not alone. All across the volcano-dotted landscape of this Andean nation, millions of people have become accustomed to living in the shadow of mountains that can lay waste to their villages and farms in a matter of hours.

"We have suffered the unspeakable," said Meneses' 26-year-old daughter, Ximena. "But we are not going to leave."

Some 55 volcanos — 17 of them active — are strung along Ecuador's northern Andean spine for 190 miles, known as the "Avenue of the Volcanos."

Tornado sweeps along Sussex coast


Pete Machin photographed the tornado over Brighton's Palace Pier.

Coastguards put out a warning to shipping after a tornado was seen sweeping along the South Coast just after dawn on Sunday.
Ambulance crews also had calls alerting them to the tornado as it moved from West to East Sussex.

It is thought to have dispersed by the time it reached Telscombe Cliffs.

Eyewitness Peter Machin, who lives on Brighton seafront, said he watched the tornado for 10 to 15 minutes. "I was absolutely gobsmacked," he said.

"I was woken up early because there was a party going on upstairs and I looked out and saw a black cloud with the funnel underneath.

"It was moving towards Peacehaven and seemed to be getting bigger and bigger as it got closer."

Solent Coastguard said its warning was issued as a precaution but there were no reports of ships in trouble.

Hurricane Isaac strengthens in Atlantic


Hurricane Isaac appears on the right side of this infrared satellite image taken Saturday at 4:45 p.m. ET.

MIAMI - Hurricane Isaac strengthened slightly in the Atlantic east of Bermuda on Sunday, forecasters said, and a tropical storm watch was issued for southeastern Newfoundland.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Isaac had top sustained winds near 80 mph, up from 75 mph on Saturday, when it became the fifth hurricane of the Atlantic season.

The ninth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered about 275 miles east-northeast of Bermuda and moving north-northwest near 9 mph. A turn to the north was likely in the next 24 hours, and some weakening was expected in the next day, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The Canadian Meteorological Service issued a tropical storm watch for Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, including the cities of Cape Race and St. Johns.

Hurricane-force winds extend 25 miles from Isaac's center, while tropical storm-force winds extend up to 115 miles from it.

The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

Suspected tornado, severe thunderstorm cause damage in Maryland


Severe storms uprooted a tree in front of a house in Severna Park, Md., Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006.

SEVERNA PARK, Md. (AP) — About 9,700 customers remained without power Friday morning after a severe storm swept through Maryland Thursday evening, uprooting trees, damaging homes and spawning at least one suspected tornado.
Most of the customers still without power were in Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties, according to the utility's website.

The suspected tornado also was in Anne Arundel County, near Severna Park, said James Brotherton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. It touched down about 6:35 p.m.

Pam Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County Emergency Operations Center, said a tornado touched down on either side in Cattail Creek in Severna Park.

Damage was reported in the lower Magothy Beach area of Severna Park, according to Rhonda Wardlaw, a spokeswoman for Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens. At least five homes were struck by downed trees in that vicinity, police said.

"We have two confirmed touch downs (of tornadoes)," Wardlaw told The (Baltimore) Sun. "We don't know the extent of the damage."

At the Severna Park MarketPlace shopping center, shopping cart corrals were blown apart or crumpled, and the carts scattered.

Two teenagers were riding in a car south on Ritchie Highway said they saw a funnel cloud form.

"I could see the transformers blowing out as it touched down," James Porter, 19, told The Sun.

Porter said he wanted to follow it, but the driver, Chris Hawkins, thought better of it.

"I was freaked out," said Hawkins, also 19. "I didn't want the wind to pick up my car."

In Prince George's County, Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady said Bowie sustained the worst damage in the county, with about two dozen homes with minor to moderate structural damage.

A spotter's equipment recorded a wind gust reaching 66 mph at 6:09 p.m. near U.S. 50 in Bowie, where dime-size hail also was reported, the weather service said.

A NWS survey team will visit Severna Park on Friday to attempt to confirm that a tornado hit, said Calvin Meadows, a weather service spokesman.

"It's a nightmare on Elm Street"

NORTH BERWICK, Maine (AP) — Dozens of homeowners had weekend cleanup chores in the aftermath of a Friday tornado.
About 40 homes felt the effects, but only two sustained major damage, according to Bob Bohlmann, director of the York County Emergency Management Agency. No one was injured.

Bohlmann estimated that damage to roofs, windows and other property totaled between $100,000 and $125,000.

The intensity of the tornado, which hit around 3 p.m. Friday, was classified as a strong F1 on the Fujita scale, with maximum winds on touchdown estimated at between 100 and 110 miles per hour, according to John Jensenius of the weather service office in Gray.

The weather service said a path of damage extended for more than a mile, with a maximum width of about 200 yards.

"It's a nightmare on Elm Street," said Connie Lee on Saturday after a night without power.

Trees on her 60 Elm St. property were upturned and a small shed was upside down.

"We had the most beautiful yard," Lee said. "Years of work."

At its widest point, the tornado cut a 200-yard path, according to John Jensenius, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service who surveyed the area Saturday and found debris scattered in opposite directions.

Residents said the impact was sudden.

"I guess it happened so quick that I didn't have time to be scared," said Don Staples.

The National Weather Service said Maine averages about two tornadoes a year.

Wet from a passing storm, the Maine Turnpike was backed up for miles late Friday afternoon following a chain-reaction accident involving more than 15 vehicles.

Maine State Police said about 15 cars and four tractor-trailers were involved in the accident, according to Maine Turnpike Authority spokesman Dan Paradee.

No major injuries were reported.