Weather complicating holiday travel

Heavy rain and high wind gusts didn't do anything to help throngs of travelers making their way to be with family and friends for Thanksgiving, as airports reported delays and traffic jams clogged major thoroughfares.
Rain was forecasted Thursday for coastal areas from the Mid-Atlantic to New England. Freezing rain was possible in higher elevations of Pennsylvania and New York. A wet Thanksgiving also was expected in many areas of the Northwest. Snow was expected in parts of Washington, Oregon, western Montana and Wyoming.

A flatbed truck jackknifed, spilling 55-gallon drums of acetone and rubbing alcohol and shutting down one side of one of Southern California's busiest freeways near Los Angeles International Airport.

On Wednesday, long lines formed at airports well before daybreak, and some drivers in the South saw winter hit the roads early as millions of Americans made the annual dash home for Thanksgiving.

The AAA estimated that 38.3 million people would travel 50 miles or more for Thanksgiving — up a million from last year.

Moderating gas prices may be one reason for the increase, said the automobile association's Robert Sinclair.

Since peaking above $3 per gallon in early August, gasoline pump prices have dropped by around 80 cents per gallon nationwide in the past three months. Wednesday's nationwide average gas price was $2.23 a gallon, according to AAA.

Thanksgiving air travel was expected to surge, too. AAA predicted 4.8 million travelers will fly to their Thanksgiving destination. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey anticipated 1.6 million passengers — about 2% more than last year — would pass through LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International airports.

By late afternoon Wednesday, the strains were evident, with airports reporting delays, and traffic jams on major thoroughfares. The National Weather Service predicted heavy rain and winds in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — conditions that promised to further aggravate travel conditions.

At LaGuardia, arrivals were delayed about two hours, and departures about an hour and a half, said Steve Coleman, Port Authority spokesman. Kennedy Airport had 30-minute delays on arrivals and departures, while Newark Liberty International Airport had an average hour-long delay on arrivals.

Traffic was moving smoothly at several other major airports, including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

"I expected it to be a lot worse than it is, but the day is still young," said Steve Miller as he waited for relatives arriving from Fort Myers, Fla.

At Boston's Logan International Airport, wait times at security checkpoints were averaging less than 10 minutes and there were no long lines at ticket counters at midday.

Drivers in parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia faced high winds and flooded roads Wednesday as an early winter storm swept across the South.

The weather slowed traffic between the Carolinas on Interstate 95, one of the main arteries for East Coast travel. Some ferry service along North Carolina's coast was halted on Wednesday due to the storm; the state Department of Transportation said it would likely not resume until Thanksgiving Day.

In Virginia, a tunnel between Norfolk and Portsmouth was shut down because of high water, and high winds prompted operators of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to limit vehicles crossing the span to cars and pickups.

Motorists along Interstate 40, an east-west highway that spans more than 2,500 miles, were seeing more than just fall colors along the route: State troopers will be posted every 10 miles.

The coordinated effort between state police in the eight states the highway passes through — California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina — is aimed at reducing accidents and fatalities Wednesday and Thursday.

One of Southern California's busiest freeways was shut down on one side for hours when a flatbed truck carrying hazardous materials jackknifed, spilling 55-gallon drums of acetone and rubbing alcohol.

Southbound traffic on Interstate 405 in Hawthorne became so backed up some drivers were directed to travel in the wrong direction to the nearest exit to help ease the gridlock. The truck's driver and another motorist were hospitalized with minor injuries, the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported.

In New York, scores of people packed the train waiting area at Pennsylvania Station by noon, including Sandra Clifton. Her flight last year to Pittsburgh took so long — 27 hours thanks to flight cancellations and delays — that this year she was taking the train to see different relatives outside Philadelphia.

"It broke my mother's heart," said Clifton, 39. "I love my family. I just can't always get to them."

SOMALIA-KENYA: Threat of disease outbreaks as flooding persists

NAIROBI, 23 November (IRIN) - Two cases of cholera have been reported in southern Somalia, aid officials said on Thursday, amid fears that the devastating floods that have hit the Horn of Africa could lead to further outbreaks of water-borne diseases and malaria.

The two cases were reported in a village near the town of Jilib, close to the Juba River, which breached its banks after torrential rainfall, James Lorenz, communications officer for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said.

According to MSF, lack of clean drinking water was the main problem in southern Somalia because 70 percent of the shallow wells on which residents depend for water had been contaminated. Shortages of charcoal and firewood meant people did not boil drinking water and were therefore exposed to water-borne diseases.

There were also food shortages as many families along the Juba and Shabelle river valleys in southern Somalia had lost food stocks due to the floods, MSF said in a statement. Flooding had also destroyed crops due for harvest in December. Shelter materials were also required.

Fears of water-borne diseases were also expressed in neighbouring Kenya where villages in Northeastern Province, the Tana River delta and the coastal region have been submerged after heavy rainfall.

"With the collapse of latrines we fear there will be outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases and malaria," said James Kisia, director of health at the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS).

There were also fears that the polio virus could spread through the use of contaminated water, Kisia said. One polio case was reported in October in the Dadaab refugee camps sheltering more than 160,000 people, most of them from Somalia.

Poliomyelitis ('polio') is caused by the polio virus, which enters the body orally, infecting the intestinal lining and leading to paralysis.

Kisia said the KRCS, which estimates that 300,000 Kenyans have been affected by the floods, had sent teams to the Northeastern Province to help with hygiene awareness campaigns in an effort to prevent disease. The agency had also supplied water treatment tablets and mobilised its volunteers to ensure they were ready to cope with any outbreaks.

The KRCS was also preparing relief supplies for western Kenya amid meteorological reports that rainfall would intensify in the area, which is also prone to flooding, according to Kisia.

Flooding in Kenya has damaged many roads and bridges, particularly in the Indian Ocean coastal region, hampering relief efforts. The army and the Ministry of Public Works have been repairing the roads and bridges in the Coast Province. In Northeastern Province, however, most of the main roads remained impassable.

On 17 November, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, approved requests for funding through the Central Emergency Relief Fund submitted by UN agencies in Kenya. An amount of US$11.8 million was allocated to Kenya for emergency support in food and nutrition, logistics, protection, health, water, refugee and livestock sectors. The money will fund relief work by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization.

The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also provided an emergency cash grant of $50,000 through the UN Development Fund to the Kenya Red Cross Society for non-food items, health and water interventions.