Archive for the 'Disaster' Category

DONNER RESCUE BEGAN THIS DAY IN 1847

Johanne Ludwig Christian Keseberg (1814-1895) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members
of the
Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded
by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In the summer of 1846, in the midst of a Western-bound fever
sweeping the United States, 89 people—including 31 members
of the Donner and Reed families—set out in a wagon train from Springfield,
Illinois.

After arriving at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the emigrants decided to
avoid the usual route and try a new trail recently blazed by
California promoter Lansford Hastings, the so-called “Hastings
Cutoff.” 

After electing George Donner as their captain, the party departed
Fort Bridger in mid-July.
 

The shortcut was nothing of the sort: It set the Donner Party back
nearly three weeks and cost them much-needed supplies. After
suffering great hardships in the Wasatch Mountains, the Great Salt
Lake Desert and along the Humboldt River, they finally reached the
Sierra Nevada Mountains in early October.

Despite the lateness of the season, the emigrants continued to press
on, and on October 28 they camped at Truckee Lake, located in the
high mountains 21 kilometers northwest of Lake Tahoe. Overnight,
an early winter storm blanketed the ground with snow, blocking the mountain pass and trapping the Donner Party.

This Day in History: Apr 25, 1847: The last survivors of the Donner ...


Donner Party Monument at Donner Memorial State Park
Truckee, California.

World of Mailman: Shelters of the Donner Party

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,DEATH,Disaster,HISTORY,Memorial,Rescue and have No Comments

HELP THE HAWAIIAN WILDFIRE VICTIMS

Hawaii wildfire devastation    
    
Hawaii wildfires: Joe Biden declares 'major disaster' - as mass ...   
 Donate Now – HI Wildfires | American Red Cross

posted by Bob Karm in American Red Cross,CURRENT EVENTS,Disaster,Donation and have No Comments

A MINING VILLAGE DISASTER ON THIS DAY

See the source image  
   

On the morning of October 21, 1966, a landslide of coal waste
crashed into a small Welsh mining village, killing 116 children
and 28 adults. The accident left just five survivors and wiped
out half the town’s youth. The Aberfan disaster became one
of the UK’s worst coal mining accidents.

The landslide sent 140,000 cubic yards of coal waste in a tidal
wave 40-feet high
hurtling down the mountainside where Merthyr
Vale Colliery stood, destroying farmhouses, cottages, houses
and part of the neighboring County Secondary School.

The avalanche is thought to have been the result of shoddy
construction and a build-up of water in one of the colliery’s
spoil tips—piles of waste material removed during mining.

See the source image

See the source image

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,DEATH,Disaster,HISTORY,Mine,Village and have No Comments

THE ‘BIG BLOW’ HIT 60 YEARS AGO TODAY

See the source image


On the morning of Friday, October 12, 1962—Columbus Day—a
massive storm hit the coast of northern California. The storm had originated several days earlier in the Pacific Ocean, about five
hundred miles north of Wake Island. 

Re-energized by a combination of unusual meteorological
conditions, the storm moved north with the gathering force
of a Category 3 hurricane. Originally named Typhoon Freda by meteorologists and called the Big Blow by many, it may have
been the most powerful extratropical cyclone ever to hit the
western United States.

Oregon experienced the full brunt of the typhoon and suffered
more damage than any other state. In addition to substantial
damage to thousands of buildings— residential, commercial,
and civic—and to miles of power lines, the severe winds
toppled countless trees in western Oregon’s forests.

The storm outranks all other natural disasters in the state in
terms of destruction and cost, including the 1903
Heppner
Flood
. 

The intense winds left over a million people in Oregon without
electrical power, some of them for weeks.

The Oregon Encyclopedia Logo

Damage in Junction City.

See the source image

Jim Johnston of Portland stands next to storm damage of his home.

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,DEATH,Disaster,Historical Society,HISTORY,NEWSPAPER,PORTLAND'S PAST,Storm and have No Comments

HISTORY WAS MADE ON THIS DAY

today in history

Camilli-Bohannon-ap1      AP-Logo1
CAMILLE
BOHANNON

  See the source image

See the source image

See the source image

See the source image

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept
through the central parts of
London from Sunday, 2 September
to Thursday, 6 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval
City of London inside the old Roman city wall. The death toll is
generally thought to have been relatively small, although some
historians have challenged this belief.

The fire started in a bakery shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September, and spread rapidly.

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,Civil war,DEATH,Disaster,Disaster at sea,Fire,HISTORY,Surrender,WAR and have No Comments