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…1889, over 2,000 people perished when a dam broke sending an ocean of water rushing through Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Great Johnstown Flood!
The story in brief:
Johnstown had been built into a river valley on the Appalachian Plateau. The Little Conemaugh and the Stony Creek Rivers, which ran along the peripheral of the town and merged to form the Conemaugh River at the western end, drained a 657 square mile watershed which dropped in the rivers from mountains 500 feet above. At least once a year, one or both of the rivers overflowed into the streets sending the town’s residents into a scurry to protect what they could of their homes and belongings.
Some of these floods were caused when heavy snows melted too quickly in the spring. And others, at any season of the year, when a heavy rain fell over the area. Whichever, floods were a fact of life to the nineteenth century resident of this industrial community in southwestern Pennsylvania. And, in the late afternoon of May 31, 1889, people were gathered in the upper stories of their homes, waiting out the worst of it, just as they had done many times before.
Even as the residents of Johnstown prepared for their long wait, activity at the South Fork dam, just 14 miles above the city was frantic. The South Fork dam held back Lake Conemaugh, the pleasure lake of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, a prestigious club which included such famed entrepreneurs as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick on its membership rolls. Officials there feared the dam would fail. Since midmorning, they’d worked to avoid this, because they feared the consequences. The lake was a little over two miles long, a little over a mile wide at its widest spot, and 60 feet deep at the dam itself.
Among the attempts were efforts to add height to the dam, then to dig a second spillway to relieve pressure from the breast, and finally to release the heavy screens placed on the overflows to keep the stocked fish from escaping into the streams below. By a little after 3 p.m., when most people in Johnstown were settling in to be marooned for the evening, club officials and the laborers they recruited, as well as a good sized audience from the little community of South Fork just below the dam, watched in dumbfounded horror as the dam “just moved away. ”
Within the hour, a body of water which engineers at the time estimated moved into the valley with the force of Niagara Falls, rolled into Johnstown with 14 miles of accumulated debris, which included houses, barns, animals and people, dead and alive.
Those who saw it coming described it as a rolling hill of debris about 40 feet high and a halfamile wide. But most only heard the thunderous rumble as it swept into the city to add Johnstown to a wake that already included bits and pieces of the communities of South Fork, Mineral Point, Woodvale and East Conemaugh.
Some continued to wait out the disaster in their houses, others were picked up by the flood wave for a wild ride through the town to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s Stone Bridge where debris piled 40 feet high and over 30 acres, then caught fire. Still others were shot down the Conemaugh River to die or be rescued at Nineveh, Bolivar or other communities downstream.
Six-year-old Gertrude Quinn Slattery was one of those caught in the flood wave. Years later she would write about her experience as she was hurled through the torrents on what she describes as a “raft with a wet muddy mattress and bedding.”
“I had great faith that I would not be abandoned,” she wrote. “While my thoughts were thus engaged, a large roof came floating toward me with about twenty people on it. I cried and called across the water to them to help me. This, of course they could not do. The roof was big, and they were all holding on for dear life, feeling every minute that they would be tossed to death. While I watched I kept praying, calling, and begging someone to save me. Then I saw a man come to the edge, the others holding him and talking excitedly. I could see they were trying to restrain him but he kept pulling to get away which he finally did, and plunged into the swirling waters and disappeared.
Then his head appeared and I could see he was looking in my direction and I called, cried, and begged him to come to me. He kept going down and coming up, sometimes lost to my sight entirely, only to come up next time much closer to my raft. The water was now between fifteen and twenty feet deep.
“As I sat watching this man struggling in the water my mind was firmly fixed on the fact that he was my saviour. At last he reached me, drew himself up and over the side of the mattress and lifted me up. I put both arms around his neck and held on to him like grim death. Together we went downstream with the ebb and flow of the reflex to the accompaniment of crunching, grinding, gurgling, splashing and crying and moaning of many. After drifting about we saw a little white building, standing at the edge of the water, apparently where the hill began. At the window were two men with poles helping to rescue people floating by. I was too far out for the poles, so the men called:
‘Throw that baby over here to us.’
“My hero said: ‘Do you think you can catch her?’
“They said: ‘We can try.’”
“So Maxwell McAchren threw me across the water (some say twenty feet, others fifteen. I could never find out, so I leave it to your imagination. It was considered a great feat in the town, I know.)”
The response to the disaster was immediate as over 100 newspapers and magazines sent writers and illustrators to Johnstown to recount the story for the world.
Although not noted for their accuracy, the reports touched the hearts of the readers. People sent money, clothing, and food. Medical societies and doctors and hospitals sent medicines and bandages. Doctors left their practices and hurried to Johnstown to assist. Lumber was sent for rebuilding houses and businesses.
The dead were lined up in morgues throughout the city and in communities further down the Conemaugh River until some survivor in search of a loved one came to identify them. Although damaged itself, the Presbyterian Church on Main Street was the site of one of the morgues. A reporter from the New York Evening Post described the scene there.
“The first floor has been washed out completely and the second, while submerged, was badly damaged, but not ruined. The walls, floors, and pews were drenched and the mud has collected on the mattings and carpets an inch deep. Walking is attended with much difficulty, and the undertakers and attendants, with arms bared, slide about the slippery surface at a tremendous rate. The chancel is filled with coffins, strips of muslin, boards and all undertaking accessories. Lying across the top of the pews are a dozen pine boxes each containing a victim of the flood. Printed cards are tacked to each. Upon them the sex and full description of the enclosed body is written with the name of the known.”
The living set up tents, often near to the places their former homes had been located and began what must of been perceived of as the impossible task of cleaning up and starting life again. Clara Barton and her Washington, D . C . contingent of the Red Cross built hotels for people to live in and warehouses to store the many supplies the community receive. By July 1, stores opened on the Main Street for business. The Cambria Iron Company reopened on June 6. Five years later, an observer would have been hard pressed to imagine the destruction in the valley on May 31, 1889.
Yet no city, county, or state legislation was enacted to protect people from similar disasters in the future. Suits were filed against the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, but in keeping with the times, the courts viewed the dam break as an act of God, and no legal compensation was made to the survivors.
The city would continue to suffer nuisance floods, with water in the streets and in people’s basements especially in the spring of the year. It would be another 47 years, and not until more property was destroyed and more lives lost, until some constructive efforts were made to control the waters that flowed through Johnstown.
Johnstown Flood Facts:
• 2,209 people died.
• 99 entire families died, including 396 children.
• 124 women and 198 men were left widowed.
• More than 750 victims were never identified and rest in the Plot of the Unknown in Grandview Cemetery
• Bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati, and as late as 1911
• 1,600 homes were destroyed
• $17 million in property damage was done
• Four square miles of downtown Johnstown were completely destroyed
• The pile of debris at the stone bridge covered 30 acres
• The distance between the dam that failed and Johnstown was 14 miles.
• The dam was owned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, an exclusive club that counted Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick among its members.
• The dam contained 20 million tons of water before it gave way, about the same amount of water as goes over Niagara Falls in 36 minutes.
• Flood lines were found as high as 89 feet above river level
• The great wave measured 35-40 feet high and hit Johnstown at 40 miles per hour
• The force of the flood swept several locomotives weighing 170,000 pounds as far as 4,800 feet
• $3,742,818.78 was collected for the Johnstown relief effort from within the U.S. and 18 foreign countries
• The American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton and organized in 1881, arrived in Johnstown on June 5, 1889 – it was the first major peacetime disaster relief effort for the Red Cross.
• Johnstown has suffered additional significant floods in its history, including in 1936 and 1977.
XDR TB is a rare type of tuberculosis that is resistant to nearly all drugs used to treat TB disease.
What happened?
CDC is currently investigating a case of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB). The case involves a U.S. citizen with potentially infectious XDR TB who traveled to and from Europe on commercial flights between May 12 and May 24, and then re-entered the U.S. at the Canada-U.S. border via automobile. Since May 25, the patient has been hospitalized in respiratory isolation and is undergoing additional medical evaluation.
Why did the patient travel?
Normally, when a patient has tuberculosis, he or she is influenced through a covenant of trust to ensure that they don’t put themselves in situations where they could potentially expose others. In this case, the patient had compelling personal reasons for traveling and made the decision to go ahead and meet those personal responsibilities.
How did the patient return to the United States and then Georgia?
On May 12, the patient departed Atlanta on and arrived in Paris on May 13 on Air France flight 385. The patient flew to Canada on Czech Air flight 0104 and then entered the United States by car on May 24.
It was not safe for the patient to fly on commercial aircraft, so government resources were used to bring the patient from New York back to Georgia in the safest and quickest possible way. In New York, the patient was put into isolation fairly soon after his arrival and was later flown to Georgia, his state of residence on the CDC aircraft, a step that we were not obligated to take under our quarantine authorities, but one that we felt was fair and appropriate given that he is a citizen of Georgia. His family members are here and his disease does require prolonged treatment.
Did the patient know he had TB before he got on these flights?
Our understanding from the county health officials, who were responsible for managing the patient when he initially presented with TB, is that he was aware of his diagnosis. When he departed, he may not have been aware of the fact that he had extensively drug resistant tuberculosis.
Where did the patient become infected with the extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB?
The source of the patient’s TB is still under investigation. CDC is conducting something called an Epi Aid, which means our epidemic intelligence service officers are actively participating and investigating not only opportunities for exposure to passengers, crew, family members, or others but also looking backward to try to determine where the original infection occurred that is an ongoing investigation.
Why was a federal order of isolation issued?
After the patient had left the jurisdiction, the TB organism was identified as extensively drug resistant. A federal order of isolation under the Public Health Service Act that gives CDC statutory responsibility for issuing quarantine orders was executed to protect the public.
May 5/31/2007 Page 1 of 3
Questions and Answers: XDR TB in Traveler (continued from previous page)
This patient was ordered to be in isolation and is required to stay in isolation until the responsible public health official deems that he is no longer infectious to others. The patient currently is isolated and is undergoing medical evaluation.
Under what circumstances was the federal isolation order executed?
After speaking to CDC authorities, the patient voluntarily drove himself to the isolation hospital in New York City to be evaluated. He was given instructions on how to do that safely without putting public health at risk. He was admitted and served a provisional quarantine order that held for 72 hours while this assessment was going on. The patient was asked if he preferred to remain in New York City for his treatment or if he wanted to come home to Atlanta. He preferred to come home and we ensured the safe transport for that return to Atlanta on Monday via the CDC plane.
He was issued a federal isolation order on arrival in Atlanta to cover the period of time for us to hand over the jurisdiction and public health management of this case to the state and local authorities in Fulton County in the State of Georgia where he is a resident. The order is in effect until it is either rescinded and the responsibility is transferred over to the local jurisdiction or until determined by the CDC Director that he is no longer a public health threat.
Has a federal order of isolation been issued at any other time?
Taking a measure such as issuing an order of isolation is unusual. The last order was issued in 1963.
What was the isolation order that was issued in 1963?
In 1963, the statute was used for quarantine, not isolation, of someone who had been exposed to smallpox. The decision was made to err on the side of caution and implement a federal quarantine requirement for the person until they were outside of their period of incubation.
What row numbers was the patient in?
We are still working with the airlines from the involved countries. On Air France flight 385, the patient was seated somewhere between rows 14 and 57, possibly on row 30. On Czech Air flight 0104, the passenger was seated in 12c.
How many people were on the planes?
The airlines involved in the investigation are large transcontinental airlines and they are generally full of passengers. Air France flight 385 had 433 passengers and 18 crew members and was approximately 13 hours in duration. Approximately 40-50 passengers and the 18 crew members are a priority. The Czech Air flight 0104 had 191 passengers and 9 crew members, and it was longer than 8 hours; around 30 people are a priority for evaluation.
Were public health officials aware that this man was leaving the country?
The local health officials have been involved in the care of this patient with TB from the moment that they were aware of the diagnosis and he was being seen in the clinic. Our understanding, from conversations with the health officials, is that the issue of travel was discussed. The patient was advised that it was not appropriate to travel when you have TB. This situation comes up often when people have TB or other communicable diseases. We have a high success record using voluntary means of information and advice. CDC was not aware that the patient had decided to leave the country.
How many countries are involved?
The number of countries affected by this is large, but the total is not known at this point in time.
What is CDC doing?
May 31, 2007 Page 2 of 3
Questions and Answers: XDR TB in Traveler (continued from previous page)
CDC is working with U.S. state and local health departments, International Ministries of Health, the airline industry, and the World Health Organization to notify and follow up passengers and crew who may be at risk for exposure to XDR TB. Each country involved in the investigation is determining guidance for its own residents.
Who should be tested?
The World Health Organization has guidelines for follow-up and care of persons who may have been exposed to someone with TB during air travel. In accordance with these guidelines, CDC recommends that U.S. citizens and residents who were passengers or crew on these flights be evaluated and tested for TB infection, with the following persons being at highest priority:
Passengers seated in rows 28-32 on Air France # 385/Delta # 8517, departing Atlanta May 12th; arriving in Paris May 13th
Passengers seated in rows 10-14 on Czech Air # 0140, departing from Prague and arriving in Montreal May 24th
Flight crew members working in the same cabin on each of the flights listed above
What is the risk of acquiring TB on an airplane?
The risk of acquiring any type of TB can depend on several factors, such as extent of disease in the patient with TB, duration of exposure, and ventilation. An important way to prevent the spread and transmission of TB is by limiting contact with a person with infectious TB disease.
Who should I contact for additional information?
If you were a passenger on the flights in question, please call CDC Info: 800 CDC-INFO (800-232-4636)
Media inquiries: 404 639-3286 CDC Info (General inquiries): 800 CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) TB testing: Contact your local city or county health department, or
http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tboffices.htm
For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/tb or call CDC at 800-CDC-INFO (English and Spanish) or 800-243-7889 (TTY).
A person with recently diagnosed culture-confirmed, extensively drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (XDR TB) traveled on the following two extended flights (more than 8 hours in duration) in May 2007:
DateFromToAirline / Flight#
May 12/13 Atlanta, Georgia Paris, France Air France #385/Delta #8517
May 24 Prague, Czech Rep. Montreal, Canada Czech Air #104
XDR TB is defined as a subtype of multidrug resistant TB (MDR TB) (i.e., an isolate resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin), with additional resistance to at least two of the most important second-line antibiotics (i.e., a fluoroquinolone and an injectable agent [amikacin, kanamycin, or capreomycin]).
The patient is currently in respiratory isolation in a hospital in the United States, and is receiving medical therapy for XDR TB. He has remained relatively asymptomatic, and his sputum smear results were negative for acid fast bacilli (AFB), both before and after his travel; however, his sputum culture results are positive for XDR TB.
This is the first investigation of a case of XDR TB during air travel. Due to the serious nature of this strain of TB disease, CDC is recommending that all U.S. residents and citizens on these two flights receive evaluation, testing, and follow-up for TB infection.
We are requesting your assistance to perform TB evaluation and testing on any person identified as a contact on one of these flights. The XDR TB Contact Investigation Form is enclosed. Please keep a copy of this completed form for your records, give a copy to the person tested, and also please contact your State or Local TB control office via: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tboffices.htm.
For inquiries related to this investigation, please call your State or Local Health Department. For more information about XDR TB, please see this link: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/XDRTB/default.htm.
We greatly appreciate your assistance on this important international XDR TB contact investigation.
Research Microbiologist, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, CDC
First and foremost, I am concerned about the health and well being of my son-in-law and family, as well as the passengers on the affected flights.
I am the father-in-law of Andrew Speaker, who was recently publicly identified as a person infected with extensively drug resistant tuberculosis. I do work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I have worked at the CDC for 32 years. I´m a research microbiologist in CDC´s Division of Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination, and my work does involve working with a wide range of organisms, including TB. As a research microbiologist, my laboratory work involves identifying the characteristics and features of bacteria.
As part of my job, I am regularly tested for TB. I do not have TB, nor have I ever had TB. My son-in-law´s TB did not originate from myself or the CDC´s labs, which operate under the highest levels of biosecurity.
I wasn´t involved in any decisions my son-in-law made regarding his travel, nor did I ever act as a CDC official or in an official CDC capacity with respect to any of the events of the past weeks.
As a parent, frequent traveler, and biologist, I well appreciate the potential harm that can be caused by diseases like TB. I would never knowingly put my daughter, friends or anyone else at risk from such a disease.
I would ask the media to respect my privacy and that of my family, and I will be respectfully declining all media requests. My thoughts and focus over the next few months will be with my family, and we are hopeful that Andrew will have a fast and successful recovery.
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Somewhere in the innards of Hunt Midwest’s SupTropolis in the Northland, an emergency medical disaster team holds training sessions to deal with disasters such as tornados, hurricanes and floods, as well as the more horrific disasters such as earthquakes and pandemics.
The Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) of Kansas City is part of a federally coordinated system that augments the nation’s medical response capability.
It is one of two such teams in the state. It also operates as a state nonprofit corporation organized to respond to disasters in Missouri, as well as nearby states. A similar disaster team is located in Branson.
The Kansas City facility was officially established in January, and is actively recruiting and training more than 60 volunteers to respond to disasters.
“We hold training sessions once a month in the underground facility, where we occupy 8,700 square feet of space that houses our offices, equipment and medical supplies,” said Steve Hoeger, deputy commander of DMAT Kansas City. “We train doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, biomedical engineers and security personnel.”
The underground facility has all the medical equipment to set up a complete mobile emergency room and is in the process of securing enough state money to set up a 50 to 100-bed mobile hospital.
But because of its unique location in the underground, its main training focus is to respond to a major earthquake in southern Missouri along the New Madrid fault.
“We have several earthquakes in Missouri every week,” Hoeger said. “But they measure between one and two (on a scale of magnitude) and no one notices them.”
But he said seismologists have predicted that Missouri will have a major earthquake measuring between a magnitude of seven to eight.
“That will immobilize both St. Louis, Branson and Springfield so our team would be the one to respond,” Hoeger said. “No one can predict when such an event will occur, but the experts say the big one is overdue.”
The SubTropolis offers the safest place in the event of an earthquake. Hoeger said the facility offers enough protection that DMAT has designated it as the emergency operation center of Missouri.
“The limestone pillars in the caves are three times as strong as concrete, said Eric Ford of Hunt Midwest. “They can easily withstand the tremors from an earthquake.”
DMAT also had a roster of personnel ready to respond to the tornado in Greensburg, Kan., if it was needed, as well as the recent flooding had it intensified.
The role of the DMAT teams is reciprocal.
“If there were a disaster in Branson, we would respond,” Hoeger said. “If there were no longer a hospital there, we would bring one so their medical personnel would have a place to treat the injured. The same holds true for an emergency room. We would also send volunteers to augment their medical staffs.”
Hoeger, while deputy commander, is also a volunteer. If the team is called up for a state emergency, they can plan to be gone for three or four days. If it is called by federal authorities, the volunteers could be gone for up to four weeks.
Business Editor Gene Hanson can be reached at 389-6638 or at ghanson@npgco.com.
…The TB patient, who is being confined under a federal isolation order, has told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he specifically told Fulton County health officials he was planning to leave the country for his wedding in Greece, then a honeymoon tour of Europe. He says they only told him they “preferred” he not travel. When pressed on what that meant, the man said they didn’t say he couldn’t travel.
Speaker was diagnosed with multi-drug resistant TB prior to leaving the country. While that’s serious, an even more serious diagnosis of extensively drug-resistant TB, also called XDR TB, was made after he was in Europe.
While he was honeymooning in Rome, CDC officials asked him to agree to indefinite isolation in an Italian hospital. Instead he fled. Despite the CDC putting the man on airlines’ “no fly” lists and having his passport flagged, the man and his bride were able to elude health authorities and sneak back into the United States by flying to Canada and driving across the border last week.
Fulton County and Georgia state health officials said they believe Speaker was clearly informed that he shouldn’t travel. But they also acknowledge that despite their conversations, as of May 10 they knew he intended to leave the country for his wedding. They also discussed with CDC officials Speaker’s intent to fly for at least two days prior to him boarding a May 12 Atlanta to Paris flight, according to CDC spokesman Tom Skinner and Georgia’s state epidemiologist Susan Lance.
Skinner said Fulton County health officials contacted CDC on May 10 and said that Speaker, who at the time was diagnosed with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, had told them he planned fly aboard airlines. The discussions continued on May 11, Skinner said. “We discussed with them several options to prohibit him from flying,” Skinner said. All of those options involved actions that needed to be taken by state or local health authorities, he said.
Skinner said CDC never heard back from local health officials until May 18 — after Speaker had already left the United States.
Lance said: “They gave us some options on how to proceed, but none of them were basically available,” she said. She did not elaborate on what those options were.
While Georgia health officials can obtain a court order to restrict the actions of a person or to even involuntarily commit them for treatment, Lance said the individual first needs to be served with a medical order telling them what they can and cannot do.
“If they don’t comply with the medical order, then we seek a court order to compel them to comply,” Lance said.
Fulton County health officials have said they tried to hand deliver Speaker a medical order telling him he could not travel, but that his home was vacant and he was not at his office when they tried to serve him with it on May 11.
Lance said state and county health officials thought Speaker was departing at a later date, not on May 12 when he flew from Atlanta to Paris. “I think the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness did their job to the best of their ability,” Lance said, but she added that “there probably needs to be a review” of the state’s laws and procedures governing restricting an ill person’s travel.
At a press conference Wednesday, Dr. Martin Cetron, director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, said health officials are focused right now on the evolving investigation, tracing the man’s movements and identifying what passengers were closest to him on long flights — those over 8 hours in duration — to identify those who may be at risk.
He noted that CDC officials are encouraged that the man continues to be “smear negative” which indicates he is at low risk of spreading the disease, that the man doesn’t have any coughing or symptoms and that his wife continues to test negative for TB.
“I think that is reassuring,” he said. “Those are encouraging findings.”
However, the consequences would be great if the disease were to spread because treatments are so limited, Cetron said, especially for people who are immune compromised. That’s why the CDC took the extraordinary step of isolating the patient and issuing an international health alert while trying to find people with whom he had extended contact.
The CDC is trying to locate approximately 80 passengers and 27 crew members who were on the two transatlantic flights and may have been near the infected passenger, Cetron said.
Passengers who are at highest risk on those flights were sitting within two rows of the man. They are urged to call 1-800-CDC INFO so they can receive a TB test to determine if they have been infected with the TB bacterium.
The man was on Air France flight 385 from Atlanta to Paris on May 12 and on Czech Air flight 0104 from Prague to Montreal on May 24.
On the Air France flight departing Atlanta, he sat in row 30, Skinner said. On the Czech Air flight he was sitting in 12C.
CDC officials said Wednesday they have not yet received a passenger manifest from Air France, and that pinpointing the man’s seat takes time. “This is a cumbersome and challenging process to locate passengers,” Cetron said.
The agency also released details of several short flights within Europe taken by the couple, but said that they were all of short duration and involved less risk.
Cetron has said CDC would be involved in his transport to the Denver facility.
“We’re working on plan to insure the patient can move safely across state lines,” he said.
Source: AP, 5/31/07. The gentleman’s name is Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal injury attorney. What did he know and when did he know it? That’s the question. It may be that that he was faultless in his decision to go abroad.
According to AP, while he was in Europe, he was told not to fly commercially and to be checked out by Italian health authorities. Instead, he flew commercially to Canada. Why? What was his motive for flying to Canada? We’re told border authorities were given his name, but he was able to slip through. Why? Someone foul up?
The local public health who knew advised him not to travel and little else, the patient himself, and the Border authorities have some “’splaining” to do (homage to Desi and Lucy).
Anyway, despite all this, we bid him a complete recovery and hope that we all have learned something from this.
AP, 5/31/07: Colorado State University hurricane researcher William Gray’s revised forecast issued today calls for nine hurricanes this season, five of them becoming intense.The forecast calls for a very active season, with 17 named storms in the Atlantic basin between June 1 and Nov. 30 and a 74 percent chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coastline.
Phil Klotzbach, lead author of the forecast, said the team expects an above-average hurricane season.
The revised forecast is virtually identical to the prediction Gray’s team issued in April. It calls for the same number of named storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes.
It also says there’s a 50 percent chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula. The long-term average is 31 percent.
Boston Globe, 5/31/07: In a scene reminiscent of the Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the Boston area in January, police shut down a strip mall yesterday in the community of Ashland, about 20 miles outside of Boston, after employees at a Bank of America branch mistook a botched fax for a bomb threat.Frustrated shop owners said the branch overreacted to the strange fax, which turned out to be an in-house marketing document sent by the bank’s corporate office.
“The women at the bank should have handled it a little better,” said Nick Markos, owner of Townhouse Pizza and Roast Beef, who estimated that he had lost $1,000 to $1,200 because of the lunch-hour evacuation. “She blew it all out of proportion, and all of us business owners had to pay for it.”
A day-care center with about 30 children and more than a dozen small businesses in Ledgemere Plaza on Eliot Street were evacuated for about three hours after bank branch managers received a fax with images of a crude timer and a hand lighting a bomb, Ashland police Chief Scott Rohmer said. Bank employees told police a suspicious package had arrived around the same time, elevating their fears.
Bank security personnel later determined that a fax machine at the corporate office left off the text alerting employees to Small Business Commitment Week in June, including the words, “The Countdown Begins,” above the bomb.
“It was not a communication that was ever meant to be distributed to customers or anyone externally, and the fax machine malfunctioned, so when it came out of the fax machine, it looked suspicious,” Bank of America spokesman Ernesto Anguilla said.
Anguilla said that branches across the Northeast received the distorted fax and that while other branches also evacuated, none saw law enforcement response as extensive as in Ashland. He would not say how many branches received the fax or how many had been evacuated.
“In Ashland, the situation was compounded by the fact that we had a suspicious package on the scene, as well,” Anguilla said.
Added Rohmer, “I think it was reasonable to assume there was a threat, based on what they saw on the fax.”
Rohmer said that town officials may ask Bank of America to reimburse the town for the cost of the response, which included more than a dozen town officers and firefighters, personnel from neighboring towns, a State Police bomb squad, and police dogs. Anguilla would not comment on whether the bank would be willing to pay for the emergency response.
A reimbursement would add to the similarities to the Cartoon Network scare in January. The guerrilla marketing campaign, in which two artists hung 40 battery-powered light screens around Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, shut down major streets and subways as bomb squads rushed to remove the suspicious-looking devices.
Turner Broadcasting System, Cartoon Network’s parent company, reimbursed local, state, and federal agencies and governments $1 million for the cost of the response and paid an additional $1 million in goodwill cash.
Dawn Frazier, a Holliston resident and owner of the Paul Albert Salon and Spa in the shopping plaza, said she immediately thought of that scare when she learned why she had to evacuate her busy shop.
“It was very disruptive,” she said.
Cristina Valas, owner of The Family Pet Hospital, said it was fortunate that the hospital was not in the middle of a surgery when police ordered the evacuation. They were directed to leave three cats, including one recovering from dental surgery, inside.
“I wouldn’t have taken it as a bomb threat, personally,” said veterinary technician Amy Tatreau. “However, you have to, I guess, treat things seriously these days.”
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