Dangers of the Alaska Way Viaduct

This last week a release of information was obtained, to be able to make public the video of the potential dangers of the Alaska Way Viaduct, and it's projected earthquake failure, should another earthquake of the 7.0 magnitude occur closer to Seattle.

To view this video go to: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1509319618?bctid=46395517001 or read the article in the Seattle Times and watch the video from there: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010140232_webviaduct26m.html

Some call this video scaremongering. I call engineers expectations of what will likely take place as possibly prophetic based on solid factual information. Am I scared? Yes I am and I look at Seattle differently now after seeing the projected possible damage that could occur, based on facts that are irrefutable.

If watching this video does not make you squeamish for traveling this highway, nothing else will likely do so either. If you live and work in Seattle, just make sure you have extra gear in your vehicle. Especially it will be important to have a 72 to 120 hour survival kit in your vehicle and at your home and at your place of employment. Survival is the key to not being afraid. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear"

As for me and my family, I will not be using the Alaska Way Viaduct any more. Heck, after seeing this video, I am also worried about the Pikes Place Market and other restaurants and businesses along the Alaska Way Viaduct.

We are only waiting out the clock for when (not if), the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake of 9 to 9.5 hits off the West coast of Washington, Oregon and Northern California. (For more information, read prior postings on the Cascadia Subduction Zone.)

We also need to be concerned about the newly discovered fault lines that are under Seattle that may make Seattle especially prone to major tremor damage.

Dangers of Hand Sanitizers

First we had "huffing", the intentional inhaling of paint or glue. Now this!...

The following situation involving alcohol poisoning actually occurred in 2007, but is making the rounds again. IF you have not read about the dangers of hand sanitizer and small children, it is good information to be aware of. Especially since we almost all have a bottle or two of hand sanitizer sitting around now to help prevent flu viruses from spreading...

The below article was verified at Truth or Fiction at:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hand-sanitizer.htm, And at Snopes at: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp.

This is not a Joke! It should act as a Warning for all schools and parents of small children!

------------------------

"Yesterday, my youngest daughter, Halle who is just 4 years old, was rushed to the ER by her father for being severely lethargic and incoherent in her classroom. My husband was called to her school by the school secretary who said that she was 'VERY, VERY SICK'!
He told me that when he arrived at her classroom, Halle was barely sitting in the chair. She couldn't hold her own head up and when he looked into her eyes, she couldn't focus them.
He immediately scooped her up and rushed her to the closest ER, and then called me. When he got there, they ran blood tests and did x-rays, and ran every test imaginable. Her white blood cell count was normal. Nothing was picked up as being out of the ordinary.
When I arrived at the ER, the doctor there told us that they had done everything that they could do so they were transferring her to Saint Francis Hospital for further tests.
Right as we were leaving in the ambulance, our daughter’s teacher arrived at the ER and told us that after questioning Halle 's classmates, She had found out that our little girl had licked liquid hand sanitizer off of her hands!!!
Hand sanitizer, of all things. But it makes sense. These days they have all kinds of different scents and flavors and when you have a curious child, they are going to put all kinds of things into their mouths.
When we arrived at Saint Francis' Hospital ER, we told the ER Doctor there to check her blood alcohol level, and yes we did get weird looks, but they did it.
The results showed her blood alcohol level was 0.085% -- six hours after we first took her in... There's no telling what it would have been if a blood alcohol test would have been requested at the first ER. (A blood alcohol level of just 0.10% is considered legally drunk in most states.)
Since then, her school and a few surrounding schools have taken liquid hand sanitizers out of all the lower grade classes, but what's to stop middle and high schoolers from ingesting this stuff?
After doing research on the Internet, we found out that it only takes about 3 squirts of the stuff ingested to be fatal to a toddler.
For her blood alcohol level to be so high, it would be like someone her size drinking120 proof liquor.

Please forward this to your local schools and to all of your family and anyone you know that have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews or cousins. It doesn't matter what age. This could affect any one of them.

-----------------------------------------------

Very Interesting. Heads up Prepper family members!

Flu Attack! How A Virus Invades Your Body by NPR

For an excellent representation of how a flu virus invades the human body go to:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114075029

Howard Hanson Dam Danger

After a huge rainstorm last January the Howard Hanson Reservoir on the upper Green River received more water than engineers desired, causing the Corp of Engineers to classify the dam as unsafe. The worry is not that the dam itself may fail, but instead it is because of the abutment on the right side of the dam has begun seeping water (again) and failure of the abutment could be catastrophic.

A similar problem happened with the Teton Dam Disaster, only it resulted in severe flooding and loss of life from the abutment failure.

In the meantime, less water is being stored behind the dam while repairs are being made. If there is another heavy rainstorm however, before the reservoir's repairs are completed, the Corp of Engineers advised they may have to release a large amount of water downstream. This water might flow over the downstream levees, flooding schools, businesses, and homes in Kent, Renton, Auburn and Tukwila. One of the worst case scenarios is possible flooding of the water sewage treatment plant in Kent downstream.

Contractors are working very hard to fix the leak while the Corps of Engineers designs a more permanent fix — like a concrete wall to seal the abutment once and for all, to the cost of many millions of dollars.


There is a high chance of a major flood this fall or winter. Local cities and both King and Pierce counties are hurrying to move critical infrastructure out of the flood plain and are currently doing lots of sandbagging to beef up the levees, and are notifying businesses and the thousands of residents downstream to prepare for the worst.

Keith Ervin, a Seattle Times Staff Reporter, wrote an article entitled, Rush to finish barrier at Howard Hanson Dam before heavy rains on October 5, 2009. He reports that, "Seepage through a dam or abutment isn't necessarily a problem. But if dirt and rock begin to wash away — as may have happened in January — the result could be catastrophic. Failure of the dam would send a wall of water careening toward homes, schools, warehouses and factories. Six cities would flood, from Pacific to Renton, with peak depths of some 20 feet in downtown Auburn."

So, if you live in the lower areas of these cities, seriously consider making preparations for that 'just in case' scenario of flooding evacuation. At a minimum, 1. Go out and purchase home and or business flood insurance, (if it is still available), 2. Purchase a NOAA weather alert radio, and keep it turned on, and 3. Sign up to be on the flood alert phone notification list.

Remember, time will always be short if a failure does occur. Preparation is the only viable answer to protecting life and property.

Jury Duty Scam!

Jury Duty Scam. Pass this on to your grown children too.

This has been verified by the FBI (their link is included below). This scam started in 2006 but is still out there so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator... If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in multiple states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud..

Check it out here: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm Yep! It's true. Please make sure and pass this on.