This blog presents Metropolitan Engineering Consulting & Forensics (MEC&F) claim management and claim investigation analyses of some of the typical claims we handle
Water restrictions declared in Union County after fuel spills into the Catawba
Fuel spill result of a fatal wreck in York County, S.C.
Catawba treatment plant supplies Union’s water
Union water customers will be told when risk is cleared
Collision of Honda and logging truck send fuel into Catawba River. WBTV
AUGUST 29, 2015 By David Perlmutt
dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com
Union County, SC residents were asked Saturday to conserve water after fuel from a fatal wreck in South Carolina spilled into the Catawba River upstream from a treatment plant that supplies much of the county’s drinking water.
The wreck took place Friday morning on S.C. 5 in York County after a Honda crossed the center line into a logging truck on a Catawba River bridge that connects York and Lancaster counties.
The driver of the Honda died, and fuel from the truck spilled into the river. The victim was Rock Hill resident Brian Stokes, 30.
S.C. officials say a raw water intake was shut down before any of the fuel emptied into the treatment plant. But the plant won’t be able to draw from the river until the fuel is cleaned up or dispersed and presents no risk.
Saturday, Union County officials set Stage 3 water restrictions in motion.
They sent an automated telephone message to water customers to stop non-essential uses, including spray irrigation, filling pools, water use at construction sites, flushing and testing fire hydrants and serving water in restaurants unless customers request it.
The county said the treatment plant has enough water to last several days – enough to give officials time to clean up the fuel if customers heed the county’s request.
Water customers will get another automated message once the risk is cleared and the restrictions are lifted.
For information, people may call Public Works’ customer service department at 704-296-4210.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article32738742.html#storylink=cpy Rock Hill man dies after crashing head on into logging truck
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Crash reported just after 9 a.m. Friday on a bridge dividing York and Lancaster counties
The driver of the car was entrapped and later died after being airlifted to a Charlotte hospital
A logging truck was involved in the wreck and one person has been transported to a hospital
A logging truck crashed Friday morning on S.C. 5 in Lancaster County. Greg Suskin, WSOC-TV
By Teddy Kulmala
tkulmala@heraldonline.com
LANCASTER, SC
A Rock Hill man was killed after his sedan crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer in Lancaster County on Friday, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol.
Brian Stokes, 30, died from his injuries at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, according to a statement released Friday night from York County Coroner Sabrina Gast.
The crash happened just after 9 a.m. on S.C. 5 near Steel Hill Road, on a bridge dividing York and Lancaster counties.
An eastbound 1996 Honda sedan drifted left of center and struck a tractor trailer head on, said Lance Cpl. Gary Miller, a Highway Patrol spokesman.
Stokes, the driver of the Honda, was the vehicle’s only occupant. He was wearing a seat belt but was entrapped and had to be extricated. He was taken by helicopter to Carolinas Medical Center, where he later died.
The driver of the logging truck was also wearing a seat belt and was injured. He was taken to Piedmont Medical Center.
The gas tank on the truck ruptured and spilled into the river, creating a haz-mat situation, according to The Herald’s news partner, WSOC-TV.
One person is dead after an ATV crash Saturday morning in Forest County, Wisconsin.
According to a press release from the Forest County Sheriff's Office, deputies received a report of an ATV crash in the Township of Wabeno at 10:58 a.m. Saturday.
Upon arrival to the scene, deputies located a single vehicle ATV crash.
As a result of the crash, a 23-year-old Goodman, WI man was pronounced dead at the scene by the Forest County Medical Examiner. There were no other people involved, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The crash is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The name is being withheld pending notification of family members. No other information will be released at this time.
Good Samaritans rescue 7 near Dauphin Island August 29th, 2015
MOBILE, Ala. – Two good Samaritan vessels rescued seven people from an overturned catamaran south of Dauphin Island, Saturday.
The good Samaritan vessel, Sixth Frau, notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Mobile at approximately 11:25 a.m., of an overturned 25-foot catamaran with seven people in the water approximately 17 miles south of Dauphin Island. All seven people were reported to be wearing life jackets at the time of the incident.
The Watchstanders directed the launch of an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans and a 45-foot Response Boat – Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Dauphin Island. The good Samaritans, in a 24-foot Bayliner and a 30-foot Contender, were able to recover the seven individuals and transfer them to the Coast Guard boatcrew, which met them en route to Mobile Bay at 12:12 p.m. The response boat transferred the victims to emergency medical services at the station.
One of the crew was reported unresponsive and was later reported by officials at Providence Hospital to be deceased. There were no other injuries reported.
Damage after a windstorm in Lynnwood on Saturday. (Lindsey Wasson / The Seattle Times)
By Christine Clarridge, Paige Cornwell Joseph O’Sullivan Seattle Times staff reporters
August 29, 2015 A girl in Federal Way and a man in Gig Harbor were killed in a windstorm Saturday that took down trees and power lines, whipped debris into the streets, and left almost a half-million customers without power.
Federal Way police Cmdr. Stan McCall said the 10-year-old Burien-area girl had been staying at a friend’s home in the 2300 block of Southwest 352nd Street. She was playing with other children in a grassy area behind the apartment building when she was hit by a tree branch.
“People saw the accident and rushed to help,” McCall said. “Lifesaving efforts were being administered when our first officer arrived,” but the girl was pronounced dead at the scene.
South King Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Ed Plumlee told The News Tribune of Tacoma that the girl had been a guest at a birthday party.
The 36-year-old Gig Harbor man was killed when a tree fell onto his Subaru station wagon while he was driving on Borgen Boulevard just before 10:45 a.m., according to Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey. The man’s 3-year-old daughter, in the back seat, was not hurt, he said.
The names of those killed were not released.
There was a scare at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Saturday morning, when four people were injured by falling branches during a triathlon, The News Tribune reported.
Around the region, as trees and wires fell on homes and cars and blocked side streets and interstates, 911 operators were overwhelmed, as were transportation crews.
Among the big gusts recorded Saturday: 61 mph at Paine Field in Everett, 66 mph on Lopez Island, and 80 mph on Destruction Island, off the coast of Jefferson County on the Olympia Peninsula, according to Johnny Burg, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The windstorm and intermittent rain halted traffic on some major transportation routes, forcing closures of sections of Interstates 5 and 405, smaller roads throughout the region, a ferry route and the Hood Canal Bridge.
Greg Phipps, spokesman for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) said the closures were “pretty significant” and unusual for summer.
The closures rippled across the Seattle area and into Snohomish County. A fallen tree at one point blocked all lanes of northbound I-5 in Lynnwood, according to WSDOT. Traffic was backed up 3 to 5 miles at 2:15 p.m.
Downed trees blocked three lanes of southbound I-5 near Northeast 145th Street. Eight fallen trees also blocked all lanes of southbound I-405, just south of Highway 527.
Highway 522 in Lake Forest Park was closed because of power lines on the road, according to Phipps.
Ferry service between Port Townsend and Coupeville was suspended because of the windstorm, according to Washington State Ferries.
The Coast Guard responded to more than 10 reports of people in the water and more than 20 reports of vessels unmanned, adrift or dragging anchor in waterways in Washington and Oregon, including Seattle, Tacoma and Bainbridge Island. All of the people were recovered without injury, according to the Coast Guard.
Seattle police worked with city agencies to clear roads. Troopers investigated 47 weather-related collisions in King County between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m., according to the Washington State Patrol.
Transportation officials monitored the Highway 520 bridge, where gusts reached 35 to 40 mph Saturday afternoon, Phipps said.
The normal threshold for closing the bridge would be winds of 50 mph sustained for 15 minutes, and so the bridge remained open, Phipps said.
State troopers and WSDOT stayed in touch and helped each other keep tabs on roads and other infrastructure through the storm, according to Phipps.
Puget Sound Energy says it will take time to turn all the lights back on with the tangle of trees and downed wires that left 230,000 of its customers without power at the storm’s height.
The Snohomish County Public Utility District at one point reported more than 175,000 customers without service Saturday.
Seattle City Light recorded 58,000 people without power, with many of the outages in the Lake Forest Park, Magnolia and Shoreline areas.
The Seattle Public Library’s Central Library and Broadview branch closed Saturday afternoon after losing power, while the Woodland Park Zoo closed around 1:30 p.m. because of concerns for safety amid the wind.
The University of Washington’s Seattle campus reported a campuswide power outage shortly before noon. Power was restored to most of the campus by 1 p.m.
The outage was caused by a tree limb falling onto a primary feeder line, according to UW.
Cable customers were reporting widespread outages, too, leaving many unhappy. Seattle Seahawks fans who wanted to watch the 5 p.m. exhibition game against the Chargers in San Diego scrambled to reach friends with homes that still had cable. Source:http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/weather/one-person-killed-thousands-lose-power-in-windstorm/
A fire at an oil workers' residential compound in Saudi Arabia on Sunday killed two people and injured 105 others of various nationalities, including some who are in a critical condition, the Civil Defence said on its Twitter account.
National oil company Saudi Aramco [SDABO.UL] said the fire broke out in a basement of the Radium residential compound in Khobar.
"At 05:45 today a fire was reported in the basement of the Radium residential compound in Al Khobar which is leased by Saudi Aramco for its employees," Aramco said in a statement.
On Twitter, the Civil Defence said "Cars and furniture caught fire in the basement of one of the towers, heavy smoke bellowed, obstructing rescue and firefighting operations."
Colonel Ali Al-Qahtani, Eastern Province Civil Defence spokesman said evacuation efforts continue to save people from rooftops. Residents said helicopters were seen flying in the area.
According to Aramco's website, the Radium Residential Complex consists of eight six storey buildings and comprises 486 units.
Saudi Aramco is headquartered in Dhahran and has more than 55,000 employees. Saudi Aramco has not identified the nationalities of its employees in the statement but it is believed that the compound houses expatriates
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UPDATE
At Least 11 Die in Fire at Saudi Aramco Residential Compound
Blaze started early Sunday in the basement of a tower in the eastern city of Khobar
Smoke billows from a
residential complex in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday after fire broke
out at the complex used by the state oil giant Saudi Aramco.
Photo:
Associated Press
By
Ahmed Al Omran
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
A large fire at a residential compound of Saudi Arabia’s
state-owned oil giant killed at least 11 people and injured more than
200 on Sunday, officials said. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest
oil company in terms of crude production and exports, operates several
gated compounds for its expat workforce in the eastern region of the
Kingdom.
Sunday’s fire started early in the morning in the basement of a tower in the eastern city of Khobar.
“Civil
Defense and Saudi Aramco fire brigades responded to this incident,” the
company said in a statement. “Fire control and evacuation of residents
is the focus of responders at this time.”
Saudi Arabia’s Civil
Defense said on Twitter that the fire was “under control” and that teams
were searching the towers to ensure that they had been fully evacuated.
Photos
posted online by the Civil Defense showed columns of black smoke
billowing from the building’s windows, it said, as cars and furniture
burned and hindered the search and rescue operation.
The cause of the fire was unknown. Authorities will conduct an investigation to determine what triggered it, Saudi Aramco said.
“The
company will put all means and available resources to assist the
affected families during this difficult time,” it added. Residents of
the compound are currently being relocated to other facilities, it said.
The
Radium Residential Complex, where the fire started, is a gated
community whose eight six-story buildings comprise 486 units, according
to Saudi Aramco’s website. The company employs more than 61,000 workers
from 77 countries, many of whom reside in company housing.
