2024-09-28 05:46

Sept 27 (Reuters) - Workers at six grain terminals in the Canadian port of Vancouver have reached a tentative deal, ending a strike potentially impacting exports from the world's top canola and number three wheat exporter during the harvesting period. The Grain Workers Union and the Vancouver Terminal Elevators' Association reached the tentative agreement to get Canada's harvest to market, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon posted on X on Friday. The two sides had agreed to MacKinnon's request to resume negotiations alongside federal mediators after workers walked off the job on Tuesday when talks broke down amid a deadlock over benefits. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/vancouver-grain-workers-reach-tentative-deal-end-strike-2024-09-28/

2024-09-28 05:24

At least 47 people reported dead Damage estimated between $95 billion and $110 billion At least 3 million without power FEMA administrator tours Florida coast Thousands of water rescues in affected states ATLANTA, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Authorities across the southeastern U.S. faced the daunting task on Saturday of cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, one of the most powerful and perhaps costliest storms to hit the country, as the death toll continued to rise. At least 47 deaths were reported by early Saturday, and officials feared still more bodies would be discovered across several states. Damage estimates across the storm's rampage range between $95 billion and $110 billion, potentially making this one of the most expensive storms in modern U.S. history, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist of AccuWeather, a commercial forecasting company. Downgraded late on Friday to a post-tropical cyclone, the remnants of Helene continued to produce heavy rains across several states, sparking massive flooding that threatened to cause dam failures that could inundate entire towns. "The devastation we're witnessing in Hurricane Helene's wake has been overwhelming," President Joe Biden said on Saturday. "Jill and I continue to pray for all of those who have lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm." Biden was briefed about the loss of life and storm's impact on multiple states by Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Liz Sherwood-Randall, the White House's homeland security adviser, the White House said. The president directed them to continue to focus on speeding up support to storm survivors and accelerating recovery efforts, including the immediate deployment of additional search and rescue teams into North Carolina, it added. At least 3 million customers remained without power on Saturday afternoon across five states, with authorities warning it could be several days before services were fully restored. The worst outages were in South Carolina with more than 1 million homes and businesses without power, and Georgia where 750,000 were without power. Some of the worst rains hit western North Carolina, which saw almost 30 inches (76 cm) fall on Mount Mitchell in Yancey County, the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center reported. Atlanta was hit with 13 inches of rain, and farmers in South Georgia were assessing the damage to the state's $1 billion cotton crop and $400 million pecan crop now in harvest season. Before moving north through Georgia and into Tennessee and the Carolinas, Helene hit Florida's Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Thursday night, packing 140 mph (225 kph) winds. It left behind a chaotic landscape of overturned boats in harbors, felled trees, submerged cars and flooded streets. Police and firefighters carried out thousands of water rescues throughout the affected states on Friday. More than 50 people were rescued from the roof of a hospital in Unicoi County, Tennessee, about 120 miles (193 km) northeast of Knoxville, state officials said, after flood waters swamped the rural community. 'CHIMNEY ROCK IS GONE' The NWS issued flash flood warnings overnight for a swath of eastern Tennessee covering 100,000 residents, warning them to seek higher ground. The Nolichucky Dam in Tennessee's Greene County was on the brink of failure on Saturday, officials reported, adding that a breach could occur at any time. In western North Carolina, Rutherford County emergency officials warned residents near the Lake Lure Dam that it might fail, although they said late on Friday that did not appear imminent. Multiple people in and around Chimney Rock, North Carolina, described the village's downtown as washed out, with images online showing inches of mud and sediment, uprooted trees and snapped telephone poles and buildings turned into debris. "All right folks, listen up, Chimney Rock is gone, Flowering Bridge is gone," somebody known as Touristpov posted on TikTok, showing videos of the destruction. "I don't know what they'll do to get us out of here." In nearby Buncombe County, landslides forced Interstate Highways 40 and 26 to close and parts of them were washed out, the county said on X. Mountain communities such as Boone and Burnsville, North Carolina, were cut off as highways were clogged with debris or washed out, said Rebecca Newton, who was scrambling to find anyone with cell service in the area who could check on her family home near Mount Mitchell. "Towns are totally cut off," she said after spending her morning making dozens of calls to friends in the area. "They're using helicopters to get people out of Boone and Asheville." "Spruce Pine is gone, nothing but rooftops poking out of water," she said of the mountain community about 50 miles northeast of Asheville. Newton said a friend told her she had watched houses in her neighborhood slide one at a time into a river near Boone. "It's unreal," she said. The Burnsville Hub Facebook page is replete with people desperate to find anyone to check on relatives and friends cut off from telephone service. One poster, Rachel Richmond, wrote, "I need any route that will get me as close as I can. I will walk the rest of the way. I need to get to my parents." WAKING TO DISASTER The extent of the damage in Florida began emerging after daybreak on Friday. In coastal Steinhatchee, a storm surge - a wall of seawater pushed ashore by winds - of eight to 10 feet (2.4-3 meters) moved mobile homes, the weather service said. In Treasure Island, a barrier island community in Pinellas County, boats were grounded in front yards. The city of Tampa posted on X that emergency personnel had completed 78 water rescues of residents and that many roads were impassable because of flooding. The Pasco County sheriff's office rescued more than 65 people. A total of 11 people died in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday, speaking in Perry, Florida, which saw 15-foot storm surges, larger than those seen in hurricanes in recent years. "If you look around here, you can see that some homes are just rubble," he said. "This stuff comes in, it's fierce and it's just unstoppable." FEMA's Criswell joined DeSantis on a tour of storm-damaged areas of the state. She will travel to Georgia on Sunday and North Carolina on Monday, the White House said. "I just want to say on behalf of the president that we extend our deepest sympathies for those families that have lost loved ones," Criswell said. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's office reported 15 storm-related fatalities in that state, while North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said there had been two deaths there. At least 19 people died during the storm across South Carolina, the Charleston-based Post and Courier newspaper reported, citing local officials. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-southeast-faces-daunting-task-cleaning-up-helene-death-toll-rises-2024-09-28/

2024-09-28 01:55

ACAPULCO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Storm John started dissipating over Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday and was downgraded to tropical depression, but its remnants poured a deluge of almost 100 cm (39 inches) of rain on the southern state of Guerrero. Four days of steady rain dousing the home state of major beach resort Acapulco have almost tripled the downpour from last year's devastating Hurricane Otis, Mexican authorities said. Images on social networks showed homes, businesses, roads and vehicles were damaged as rising waters flooded areas in Guerrero and the neighboring state of Michoacan. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that "catastrophic flash flooding and mudslides will continue over portions of southern and south-western Mexico." The head of Mexico's national meteorological service, Alejandra Mendez, said John had soaked Guerrero with more than 95 cm (37 inches) of rain since Monday, while Otis, a Category 5 hurricane, had brought 35 cm (14 inches) of rain. Otis, which last year killed more than 50 and caused damages of about $15 billion, rapidly grew stronger as it neared Acapulco, while John moved much slower, oscillating between tropical storm and hurricane to saturate a wide swathe of coast. Acapulco resident Vianey Reyes spoke to Reuters as relatives and neighbors bailed water from their homes and garages. "We thought there would be some rain, but now we have already seen four or five days of intense downpours," she said. In the neighboring state of Michoacan, authorities said John caused rivers to overflow, bringing flooding and damage in several areas. On Friday afternoon, John was hovering 90 miles (145 km) west of the major cargo port of Lazaro Cardenas, north of Guerrero, while churning northwest at just 5 mph (8 kph), according to the Miami-based forecaster. The slow-moving storm struck Guerrero at hurricane strength twice in one week, after reforming off the coast in a phenomenon meteorologists have called a "zombie" storm. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/tropical-storm-johns-rainfall-over-soaked-mexican-state-far-surpasses-otis-2024-09-27/

2024-09-27 23:56

LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Maritime security and industry groups raised the risk level for ships calling at Israeli ports on Friday, with terminals facing possible missile strikes from Lebanese group Hezbollah in the Mediterranean and Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea. Earlier this week, the Israeli government's port authority issued a letter stating that terminals ranging from the southern port of Eilat on the Red Sea to the major Mediterranean ports in Haifa in northern Israel were operating at normal capacity. But sirens sounded for the first time in months this week in the city of Haifa after missiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon, and a drone launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq militia hit Eilat port, according to British maritime security company Ambrey. In an advisory published on Friday that is closely watched by insurers and shipowners, Ambrey said it assessed the risk to vessels calling at Israeli ports to be "elevated". "Possible further escalatory Israeli airstrikes or an Israeli ground incursion (in Lebanon) would highly likely cause direct operations against Haifa port," Ambrey said. "Simultaneous action by Hamas, Houthi, or Iraqi militants place Israel’s remaining ports (Ashdod, Ashkelon, Hadera, Eilat) at continuous risk of collateral damage in singular long-range targeting operations." The Iran-backed Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. In more than 70 attacks, the Houthis have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers. Shipping and insurance sources said ships calling at Israeli ports faced the broader threat of being targeted by Houthis in open waters in the Red Sea. The world's top ship industry associations said in updated Red Sea guidance published on Friday that ship operators that have called or planned to call at Israeli ports "should limit information access". "Published information could be used by Houthi forces as part of their targeting process," the advisory said. "Companies experiencing incidents on their ships should consider the likelihood the Houthis may target their ships in the future." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/maritime-industry-raises-threat-level-israeli-ports-2024-09-27/

2024-09-27 23:46

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - China and Brazil on Friday pressed ahead with an effort to gather developing countries behind a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's dismissal of the initiative as serving Moscow's interests. Seventeen countries attended a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly chaired by China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, and Brazilian foreign policy adviser Celso Amorim. Wang told reporters they discussed the need to prevent escalation in the war, avoid the use of weapons of mass destruction and prevent attacks on nuclear power plants. "Russia and Ukraine are neighbors that cannot be moved away from each other and amity is the only realistic option," Wang said, adding that the international community should support a peace conference involving both Russia and Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking later, after a meeting with Wang, underscored strong U.S. concerns about China's support for Russia's defense industrial base. Addressing reporters, he said that China, while saying it seeks an end to the Ukraine conflict, "is allowing its companies to take actions that are actually helping Putin continue the aggression. That doesn't add up." Separately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the conflict in New York with his Brazilian counterpart, Maura Vieira, Lavrov's ministry said on its website. As well as Brazil and China, 10 countries from the Global South that were present at the 17-nation meeting, including Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey, signed a communique that Amorim said builds on a six-point plan proposed by Brazil and China in May. Countries would continue to meet in New York under a grouping of "friends for peace," he added. Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a "no limits" partnership deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022, less than three weeks before Russian troops entered Ukraine. Beijing says it has not supplied Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, but Western countries say its companies provide materials that Russia uses in the manufacture of weapons for the war. Zelenskiy, in a speech to the assembly on Wednesday, questioned why China and Brazil were proposing an alternative to his own peace formula. Proposing "alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles" would only give Moscow the political space to continue the war, he said. Asked about Zelenskiy's comment, Amorim told Reuters, "I'm not here to respond either to Zelenskiy or Putin, just to propose a way for peace." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/china-brazil-press-with-ukraine-peace-plan-despite-zelenskiys-ire-2024-09-27/

2024-09-27 22:53

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Storm Helene forced major U.S. electric utilities to shut or slow power plant operations on Friday, with Southern Co (SO.N) , opens new tab taking one of its Georgia nuclear reactors offline and Duke Energy halting output from two coal-fired generating units. Helene, which left more than 3.5 million homes and businesses without power as it weakened to a tropical storm and moved north, downed power lines and battered other parts of the region's electrical grid. Southern Company also reduced output from another nuclear reactor at its Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia after the storm damaged the area's broader power system, the company told Reuters on Friday. The nuclear plant, which is jointly owned by Southern Co subsidiary Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities, was not significantly harmed by the hurricane, the company said. "However, the power grid experienced significant damage from the storm and, to maintain grid stability, we adjusted operations at Plant Hatch," Georgia Power spokesperson John Kraft said. Unit 1 was taken offline and Unit 2 is running at reduced power, Kraft said, adding that the company's larger generation fleet would be able to meet its customers' power demand. The company did not disclose a timeline for restoring full operations. Duke Energy (DUK.N) , opens new tab, meanwhile, took two coal-fired power units offline at its Crystal River energy complex in Florida in preparation for Helene, the company told Reuters on Friday. "This will help prevent equipment damage to ensure the units are available to operate for our customers after the storm," company spokesperson Jennifer Garber said. Tens of thousands of utility workers have been mobilized to assess damage and make repairs to the southeast electrical system, which was beset with high winds and flooding. Duke Energy (DUK.N) , opens new tab, which primarily supplies power in the Carolinas, has said it has been aggressively moving water through the Catawba-Wateree River Basin in North and South Carolina earlier this week in anticipation of Helene's arrival. Even with these preparations, Duke warned that lake levels are expected to rise sharply and may not be able to store excess water from the expected rain and increased inflows from upstream, possibly leading to historic flooding in several areas. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/southern-co-shuts-georgia-nuclear-reactor-wake-hurricane-2024-09-27/