Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 3 March 2018

Storm spares California area previously struck by mudslides

County coast were lifted at aged hundreds of homes.
midmorning. Twenty-one people were
"The worst of the storm has killed and two remain miss-
passed and we are cau- ing.
tiously optimistic that due Other areas impacted by
to a significant amount of the order were Goleta,
pre-storm preparation we Santa Barbara, Montecito,
have come through this Summerland and Carpin-
with minimal impact," said teria.
Rob Lewin, director of the Sheriff Bill Brown said the
county Office of Emergen- evacuation was ordered
cy management. because models of the
Rain fell at a rate of 0.6 storm showed a "risk to life
inch (1.5 centimeter) per and property and risk of dis-
hour and initial assessments ruption to critical services."
showed no damage to Department of Public
electrical, gas or water ser- Works official Tom Fayram
vice, the county said. said there would have
Some minor roadway been problems if not for
flooding occurred, but the work that had been done
region's main highway, to clear channels of debris
U.S. 101, remained open from the January storm.
throughout the storm. A voluntary evacuation
Officials said 87 percent was also lifted in neighbor-
of those in the threatened ing Ventura County, where
areas complied with the debris blocked a rural high-
In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a Carpinteria-Summerland evacuation order, which way.
Fire Deptment fire fighter crosses Arroyo Paredon Creek in Santa Barbara County, Calif., on Friday, was issued because of The storm pressed on across
March 2, 2018. Rain is moving across Southern California, but authorities on the south Santa Bar-
bara County coast say there has not been a repeat of the deadly debris flows that struck during concern the storm could metropolitan Los Angeles,
a January storm. unleash debris flows from where the National Weath-
(Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County FD via AP) mountains burned bare by er Service said there could
wildfires. be flooding near five wild-
By JOHN ANTCZAK ern California early Friday, struck in January. The order encompassed fire burn areas. Heavy snow
Associated Press sparing a strip of coastal Evacuation orders affect- Montecito, where a Jan. 9 was expected in the moun-
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rain communities from a repeat ing up to 30,000 people on storm triggered flash floods tains. It’s also a boon for ski-
moved through South- of deadly mudslides that the south Santa Barbara that destroyed or dam- ers and snowboarders.q

APNewsBreak: US utilities find water pollution at ash sites

By MATTHEW BROWN from Virginia and North being contaminated. We sociated with radioactivity spoke with power com-
SARAH RANKIN Carolina to Washington see that clearly," said Duke in groundwater, he said. pany executives across
Associated Press and Alaska. University professor Avner Duke Energy spokeswom- the country, who warned
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Environmental Protec- Vengosh, who researches an Erin Culbert noted that against misinterpreting the
Major utilities have found tion Agency required the the effects of coal ash and government-sponsored pollution data.
evidence of groundwater plant owners to install test has reviewed some of the research has shown most Generally, they said fur-
contamination at coal- wells to monitor groundwa- new data. coal ash does not have ther studies were needed
burning power plants across ter pollution as a first step to- "The real question is wheth- radioactive elements. She to confirm the ash storage
the U.S. where landfills and ward cleaning up the sites. er it's migrating toward said the elevated radium sites as the source of the
man-made ponds have The future of that effort was people or wells next to levels reported at some contamination and wheth-
been used for decades as cast into uncertainty Thurs- (coal plants)." Duke plants represented er public drinking water
dumping grounds for coal day when the Trump ad- Vengosh added that the raw data that had not supplies were threatened.
ash, according to data re- ministration announced it discovery at some sites been analyzed to deter- U.S. coal plants produce
leased by plant owners un- intends to roll back aspects of radium at levels far ex- mine if the contamination about 100 million tons an-
der a Friday deadline. of the program to reduce ceeding drinking water was naturally occurring or nually of ash and other
Heightened levels of pol- the industry's compliance standards — which can in- came from another source. waste, much of which
lutants— including arsenic costs by up to $100 million crease the risk of cancer — The Associated Press con- ends up in unlined disposal
and radium in some cases annually. were of particular concern. ducted an initial review ponds prone to leak. Some
— were documented at "There's no dispute that the It appears to mark the first of the reports, which were have been in use for de-
plants in numerous states, underlying groundwater is time coal ash has been as- still being filed Friday, and cades. q