If You Need A Heartwarming Weather Story, Here's Two: Baby In A Hurricane And Wedding In A Haboob

Dr. Juan Gershanik rescuing little
baby Christian Stewart from
Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago.
The two have kept in touch 
ever since. 

Christian Stewart of Houston, Texas just celebrated his 20th birthday. 

That shouldn't at first glance be a big deal. Plenty of people celebrate birthdays and you probably don't know Christian Stewart.  

But he's alive today against long odds.  Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina almost killed him. Except a kind, brave doctor saved him.

Stewart was born in New Orleans, nearly three months premature in July, 2005.  He weighed just one pound, 12 ounces at birth. He was still in the NICU at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans when hurricane Katrina hit on August 28, 2005. 

The hospital was swamped with water. The emergency generators clicked on, but the water began to go after those, too. If the backup generators failed, Stewart's mechanical ventilator would stop, and he would die.

Enter Dr. Juan Gershanik, who rescued Stewart via a harrowing helicopter ride to Baton Rouge. 

The obvious spoiler is that Gershanik saved Stewart's life.  The good doctor has been attending Stewart's birthday ever since. 

For the full story in a video, click on this link, or if you see the image below, click on that. Then, below the video, Story #2 starts. 

THE WEDDING HABOOB

Things can get a little dusty with events this time of year in Arizona. Just ask a particular pair of newly weds

As ABC 15 Arizona reports:

Bekka and Jamie Ham just married amid a haboob
near Phoenix Arizona. Photo by Madisen Ruehle

"After a decade together, Bekka and Jamie Ham finally decided to tie the knot. They planned nothing too fancy - just a courthouse ceremony followed by some photos with their photographer and friend Madisen Ruehle to remember the day."

The courthouse ceremony in Chandler, Arizona, just southeast of Phoenix, was quick and flawless. It was the photography afterward that got tricky. 

"'We leave the courthouse and we just see a wall of dust coming. I didn't realize how fast it was coming - we were right in the middle of the dust storm,'" Ruehle said. 

The dust slammed into the couple and the photographer, but a rescuer was nearby.  Paul Roupas was getting ready for the grand opening of his new Aristocrat Coffee Roasters shop in downtown Chandler when he saw the couple in distress.

He hustled them into his shop and made sure they had a memorable if off the cuff wedding reception. Roupas brewed up some heart-shaped lattes, and had the couple pick out music for their first dance on a vintage vinyl record player. He didn't have Champagne, so their first toast to their married life was in the form of his and her ice cream cones. 

Outside, the dust turned into a muddy rain, then a cleaner, but gusty torrential downpour. But the newlyweds were safe inside to start their married life. 

Ruehle put the event on social media, where of course it went viral. She said her favorite comment on her post was:  "If a wet knot is harder to untie, then let it rain."

Here's the news video: Click on this link to watch, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

FEMA Is AWOL After St. Louis, Kentucky Tornadoes

Crews and volunteers start cleanup in front of badly
damaged homes in St. Louis in the wake of last
Friday's big tornado. FEMA has been notably absent
from both St. Louis and the Kentucky
tornado disaster zone.

 The Trump administration has vowed to get rid of FEMA, but officially, it still exists.

But apparently FEMA is in no hurry to help after the latest disasters.  

ST LOUIS

A week after an EF-3 tornado ripped through St. Louis, killing 5 people and causing an estimated $1 billion in damage, FEMA is nowhere to be found in the Gateway City

FEMA typically shows up within a few days after a disaster to start helping with immediate aid to help people just get through the days after the storm.  

With a disaster this big, presidents usually declare a federal disaster soon after the calamity hits. By now, FEMA should at least be mobilizing. But this time, crickets.

A few FEMA officials have joined state and federal teams to begin assessing damage, but there certainly has not been any full blown immediate aid yet. Nobody from the federal government is actually handing out aid. 

Missouri officials are beseeching the Trump administration to declare a disaster. On Monday, Missouri Gov Mike Kehoe, a Republican to issue a federal emergency declaration.

Also Sen. Josh Hawley, (R-MO) a staunch supporter of Trump, on Tuesday pushed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to get an emergency declaration for Friday's storm ASAP.

FEMA and Trump have also not responded for pleas for help in Missouri for a series of floods and tornadoes in March and early April.

KENTUCKY

In Kentucky, five days after tornadoes killed at least 19 people and left huge swaths of destruction in part of the state, Kentuckians had still not heard from FEMA.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear asked for federal help on Saturday, just hours after the tornadoes swept through.  He said he spoke with Noem on Saturday.  "They vowed to help...They showed real empathy for our people."

But so far, there's been little tangible help in Kentucky from FEMA.  Usually FEMA swoops in shortly after a disaster to meet immediate needs, like helping with food distribution or putting tarps on damaged roofs so that rain won't cause added damage to the homes. 

FEMA did say a deadline for applying for aid after devastating February floods in Kentucky is May 25. And survivors of a second serious flood in the state in April have until June 25. But no mention of the tornadoes last Friday in Kentucky. 

Beshear said President Trump called him on Saturday, but other than that, we haven't heard a peep about the tornadoes from Trump.  In the past, if a disaster was big enough, he'd visit the town or city that was victimized. If the president didn't visit the disaster site, he'd make public remarks saying victims are in his thoughts, that the federal government would do everything it can to help and all that stuff. 

I guess Trump has better things to do lately, like debating whether Taylor Swift is still "hot," or battling Bruce Springsteen because The Boss dared to sharply criticize the Trump regime. 

St. Louis and Kentucky are giving us an early view of what disaster response will be like in the coming years. FEMA still exists, so some help is coming to those two disaster zones.

Future disaster victims might not be so "lucky." If Trump gets his wish, FEMA will cease to exist, and states and local governments will be on their own. Or, people will lose their homes and the federal government will just shrug its shoulders, say "tough luck" and move on to giving additional tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.

By the way, hurricane season is just around the corner. NOAA on Friday issued a seasonal hurricane prediction that forecasts another busier than normal season in 2025.

The United States is getting more dystopian by the day. 

 

Helene Update: Death Toll Soars As Aid Tries To Come From All Over, Including Vermont

Debris that used to be peoples' homes and businesses 
completely cover the surface of this lake outside
of Asheville, North Carolina, 

 Horrifying damage videos and images have been emerging from western North Carolina all day as more and more people access the region to offer aid, and begin to help at least some of the people traumatized by what has been an incredible disaster.  

At last count this afternoon, at least 132 people have died in the storm. That includes 40 in the North Carolina county that includes Asheville, according to the Associated Press. 

At least 600 people are still regarded as missing, but the thought and the hope is that most of them are OK, but isolated by washed out roads and a lack of telephone and cell service. 

The AP continues:

"A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and a lack of power and cellular service line up Monday for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive."

Since the roads are in such bad shape, what aid is trickling in is being delivered via helicopter and even mules. 

Vermonters, no stranger to devastating floods and receiving aid from other states, are trying to return the favor. 

Members of Vermonts Urban Search and Rescue Team have been in Florida, combing through wrecked buildings to ensure they've reached everyone. They've performed swift water rescues near Pensacola and the Tampa Bay areas, WCAX reports. Through Sunday night, the team has searched through 41,000 buildings. 

When they get done in Florida, the team will move on to North Carolina.

About 50 people with Green Mountain Power are also in the region trying to help restore power. 

 

Monday PM Vermont Flood Update, This 'N That Edition. And Yes, Sigh, We're Under ANOTHER Flood Watch

For a change, sunny skies in Vermont today, but as
you can see in the photo, the haze from Canadian
wildfire smoke also returned. 

 The weather this Monday has been much calmer, albeit smoky in Vermont. Quite a change from exactly a seek ago, with the cataclysmic torrents and chaos we experienced. 

So it's a good chance to hit on a few things that have been interesting with our Flood Summer Of Discontent.

By the way, we're under yet ANOTHER flood watch, which is just unbelievable. More details on Tuesday's risks further down in this post. 

ANOTHER VERMONT FLOOD DEATH

I don't know if this qualifies as a second death caused by Vermont's flood, but no matter how you look at it, this is really tragic. 

Katie Hartnett, 25, of Burlington died Friday after she fell into the Huntington River in Richmond, Vermont, just upstream from the notorious Huntington Gorge. 

She apparently slipped on rocks and fell in sometime Friday. Her body was recovered Saturday. The river was running quite high on Friday, both from Monday's historic flood and torrential thunderstorms on Thursday evening that reinforced the power of the river's water. 

Not that it matters all that much, but Hartnett's passing might or might not be declared a disaster-related death. Much depends on the result of an autopsy and how FEMA defines the time period of the flood disaster, says VTDigger.

The popular Huntington Gorge is infamous for its treacherous currents. No fewer than 26 people have died there since 1950.

The other Vermont Summer Flood of '23 death was a 63 year old man who drowned in his Barre home. 

AN AWESOME FACEBOOK FLOOD HELP PAGE

Lots of people want to help with Vermont's flood recovery. Volunteers have been showing up in droves to help. It's heartwarming to see.

However, well-intentioned people sometimes don't have the experience to help in the way they want, and can just innocently get in the way.  Or they donate stuff that's not needed. Or the stuff is needed, but not in the location where people want to donate. Or somebody in some remote town or back road needs tons of help but nobody knows about the need.

Vermont Public's "Vermont Edition" noontime talk and call in show today highlighted an awesome resource. It's a Facebook page called VT Flooding 2023 Response and Recovery Mutual Aid.

The beauty of this new and now huge resource is it allows people to specifically target how and where help is needed. People can go on the page and ask for help. Such as "Hey, I live on such and such back road and need the mud dug out of my basement. Can anyone help?"

It's also great for people who have specific ways to help. "Hey, I have three dehumidifiers lying around my house in X Town.  Anyone down the road want to borrow them? If so, contact me."

And so forth.   

The Facebook page also has a whole bunch of local chat pages for specific towns and organizations. So if you live in, say Cabot and either want or need help, go to that chat page and find what you need.

The Response and Recovery Mutual Aid Facebook page already had 7,300 members (including me!) as of mid-afternoon Monday.  What a great idea this is!

AIR QUALITY

The air in Vermont has been getting steadily worse all day and I can see out my windows in St. Albans, Vermont the smoke and haze .

The air quality index was in the 90s around noon, which is considered "moderate" and just under the threshold of "unhealthy for sensitive people"

By 1:30 pm. it was firmly in the 120s and indeed unhealthy for those sensitive folks.  It kind of leveled off from there. 

This smoke will probably last well into Tuesday. Luckily, it won't get nearly as bad as the June 25-26 smoke attack in Vermont. That one brought the air quality index to around 200, which is quite unhealthy for everyone and arguably the worst pollution in Vermont history.

THE BURLINGTON RAIN HOLE

There appears to be just one place in Vermont that's gotten an unremarkable amount of rain so far this month That's Burlington.

Through Sunday, Burlington had received 3.69 inches of rain so far this month. For this point in the month, that's still less than an inch above normal. Judging by maps I saw total, I would say at the very least 95 percent of Vermont has seen four or more inches of rain so far this month. 

Click on map to make it bigger and easier to see.
Yellow on map depicts four inches or less of rain
so far this month. Only the Burlington, Vermont area
is in that category. Pink dots are areas with a whopping
10 inches or more of rain so far this month. 

Burlington received 0.97 inches of rain Sunday.  Williston, just one town over, reported 2.42 inches.  As a torrential thunderstorm approached Chittenden County last night, the National Weather Service in South Burlington promptly issued a flood warning for the area, including Burlington.

They knew this storm would be trouble. They were right. Except the trouble came everywhere except where they measure rainfall at the Burlington International Airport.  

The airport only got 0.23 inches out of that storm.  Meanwhile, less than two miles away, Shelburne Road in South Burlington was swamped by flooding. And pretty serious flash flooding hit places like Richmond and Bolton from that evening storm. 

Compare Burlington to Montpelier:  The Capital city has been drowned under 9.85 inches of rain so far this month, compared to the 2.22 inches they should have gotten by this point in July.

There's actually a very small but real chance that Burlington will come in below its normal July precipitation total of 4.06 inches. 

I don't have a great explanation as to why that happened. Although very humid air smacking into the Green Mountains is forced to go up and over the mountains, which wrings out extra moisture and heavier rain. 

UGH! NEW FLOOD WATCH!

The rain returns Tuesday. So does the risk of at least a few pockets of flash floods.  A new flood watch is in effect for all of Vermont, going from early Tuesday afternoon through late night. 

Expected rainfall rates could reach one inch per hour. That's a helluva lot, but less than the two inch per hour rates we saw in parts of Chittenden County Sunday evening. 

Still, one inch per hour can cause a lot of havoc when the ground is so saturated it can't absorb any more rain. Any rain we get Tuesday and Tuesday evening will just run off. 

We also do have a possibility of some severe storms Tuesday as well.  They won't be as widespread as they were Thursday. However some towns could experience damaging winds and some hail.  Not everyone will get nailed, but a handful of people might. 

It's way too soon to figure out who gets the potential severe weather and who doesn't. It's just like the potential flooding. The luck of the draw, basically. 

Much like Sunday, it looks like some downpours could come through Vermont between 1 a.m and a little after dawn Tuesday. Those early rains will only cause at most very isolated flood trouble. Then we get a break, only to see more scattered downpours break out in the late afternoon and lasting well into the evening.

Those late day storms are the ones we have to watch for localized flash floods. Computer models have trended a little upward since this morning regarding the amount of rain in the forecast. 

There are some actual glimmers of hope in the forecast beyond tomorrow night. 

One forecast I saw had something I have seen in ages: Two consecutive days in Vermont without rain. If that holds, and that's a big if,  the dry period would come Wednesday and Thursday, before we run into the risk of heavy rain Friday. 

There could be another dry period  Sunday or Monday. It's a long way off, so don't count on it. Still, nice to see! 

Another happy thing: We might, maybe, could be in for a bit of a break in the constant humidity. Wednesday won't be too bad, humidity wise. But i'll still get up into the low 80s. That's still warm-ish. 

We have a shot at a brief period of near or even slightly below normal temperatures over the weekend. Highs in many areas could stay below 80, and the humidity looks manageable then, too. 

Burlington has a chance of dipping below 60 degrees for the first time since June 23. We've had 245 consecutive days in which it's constantly been above 60 degrees.

That's 24 day stretch isn't the longest on record, but it's probably in the top 10 longest streak.  

Long range forecast suggest that any coolish period will be brief, and it will then turn very warm and probably humid again.  Those long range forecasts still call for some above normal rainfall, but those same forecasts are less bullish on those rain chances than they have been lately. 

Updates From Colorado Fire: People Missing, Count of Homes Burned Rises

A person combs through the wreckage of a fire-destroyed
home in Colorado after last week's fires. At least two
people remain missing and 991 buildings were destroyed. 

In the initial aftermath of that big, horrific wildfire in Colorado last week, I was hoping for a miracle.  Preliminary reports seemed to indicate nobody died in the fire.  

Alas, that was not to be. At least two people are missing and are presumed to have died in the fire.  

Officials say 991 buildings were destroyed and 127 damaged. The vast majority of these structures were homes. News9 reports that's not the final total but will be close to it.

Speculation initially indicated downed power lines caused the fire.  But later, utility workers could not find any downed wires near where the fire started.  People driving by the area when the fire was starting reported seeing a shed on fire amid strong winds. 

The shed is on land owned by Twelve Tribes, a fundamentalist religious sect.  Authorities executed a search warrant on the property, but it's unclear whether any criminal charges are coming, or even if the devastating fire started at the shed or spread to it from a nearby area, the Daily Beast and New York Times reported. 

If human negligence was involved, then criminal charges could result, News9 reported.

As in most other big disasters, there's been an outpouring of help headed to Boulder County, Colorado. That's from next door neighbors whose homes managed to survive, to people across the U.S.  Obviously, the Biden administration is providing federal aid, too. 

Some of the efforts are sad, but creative and moving. 

A local woman's clothing boutique in the area called Due South was undamaged in the fire.  So the owner, who lost her own home to fire 28 years to the day of this wildfire, gave 41 women who lost everything a $500 free shopping spree in the store. 

Other volunteers have build sifters, boxes with wire screens on the bottom, so that fire victims can go through the ashes of their homes to find belongings like rings, other jewelry coins and small metal heirlooms. 

One of the volunteers, Erin Moe, said her group made 90 sifters for the people who lost their homes. 

If you want to help Colorado fire victims, click on this link from News9 to know which is the best way to handle this. 

Video: An insider look taken by a firefighter as other firefighters struggle to deal with dozens of burning houses amid extreme winds and a lack of water to fight the flames.  Click on this hyperlink or view video below by clicking on arrow, then YouTube logo.