Black Sea storm causes ecological disaster

http://www.weatherunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=861&tstamp=200711
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At least five ships sunk and five others ran aground yesterday during a fierce storm that swept through the Black Sea, by Russia and the Ukraine. Five sailors drowned and as many as 17 others are missing. The Volganeft-139, an oil tanker loaded with nearly 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil, sank in the Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, dumping over 1/2 million gallons of fuel into the water. The oil spill is a major environmental disaster for the area, and will foul local shores for years to come. The spill is about 1/20 the size of the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989.

Looks like Bangladesh will be spared Tropical Cyclone Sidr.
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The Bay of Bengal has seen the world's deadliest tropical cyclones, and November is one of the region's most dangerous months. On November 12-13, 1970, a Category 4 cyclone struck Bangladesh, causing the greatest tropical cyclone disaster in world history. An estimated 350,000-550,000 people died when a devastating 34-foot storm surge funneled northwards through the Bay of Bengal into Bangladesh. The path of Tropical Cyclone Sidr beyond Wednesday is highly uncertain, with the NOGAPS and ECMWF models taking the storm northwards over a region of high oceanic heat content and into Bangladesh.

on BBC's Hardtalk this morning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/progs/07/hardtalk/klaus_12nov.ram
Don't miss this madness.

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