THE ENVIRONMENT

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THE ENVIRONMENT

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JACKSON NEWS

"Tornado confirmed in Jackson, according to National Weather Service"


By Evan Sasiela, esasiela@mlive.com

2 SEPTEMBER 2018 Updated 5:38 PM; Posted 5:30 PM

JACKSON, MI - A funnel Saturday night in Jackson has been confirmed as a tornado, according to the National Weather Service.

An EF-0 tornado was confirmed on the west side of the city of Jackson, per the NWS.

The tornado had winds between 65 and 80 mph.

Details will be available in a few hours, according to the NWS.

This marks the eighth tornado confirmed in Michigan by the NWS this week.

There has been one each in Antrim, Ogemaw and Kalamazoo counties and two each in Arenac and Lake counties.

Storm damage investigations from Sept. 1 are continuing, according to the NWS.

https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/inde ... son_a.html
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NBC NEWS

"Hurricane warning issued as Tropical Storm Gordon takes aim at Gulf Coast"


Daniella Silva and Associated Press and Hasani Gittens

4 SEPTEMBER 2018

Parts of the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts were under a hurricane warning as fast-developing Tropical Storm Gordon swamped South Florida on its way to the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Gordon became a tropical storm after having strengthened rapidly overnight, and late Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning for the mouth of the Pearl River, which divides Louisiana and Mississippi in the central Gulf.


Tropical storm and storm surge warnings were in effect along a long stretch of the central Gulf Coast from Morgan City, Louisiana, including Lake Pontchartrain, to the Alabama-Florida border.

At 8 p.m. ET, Gordon, whose top sustained winds had accelerated to 60 mph, was about 385 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving west-northwest at 17 mph.

The weather service projected that it would turn north in the next couple of days and that it was likely to make landfall as a hurricane somewhere along the central Gulf Coast overnight Tuesday.

The National Hurricane Center said tropical storm-force winds would hit parts of southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi coast by late Tuesday, with hurricane conditions expected in the central Gulf Coast late Tuesday.

The Mississippi coast can expect 4 to 7 inches of rain, with locally higher amounts, it said.

The Mississippi cities of Gulfport, Biloxi and Long Beach ordered mandatory evacuations of their harbors and marinas, and the U.S. Coast Guard said the ports of New Orleans and of Gulfport and Pascagoula in Mississippi could have to be closed if winds get too strong.

All tropical storm warnings were canceled for South Florida and the Florida Keys as Gordon moved away, but not until after it had battered the region with heavy rain and winds.

Authorities across the Gulf Coast urged people to stay out of the water — warnings that beach lovers like Cameron Armstrong and Matthew Ewbanks ignored on their visit to Gulf Shores on the Alabama Gulf Coast.

"We got caught up in the undertow, and we almost died," Armstrong told NBC affiliate WPMI of Mobile on Monday.

Ewbanks said: "It almost pulled us straight underneath."

"I literally had to grab his hand and help him."

"We got out of it barely alive."

Jeff Collier, mayor of Dauphin Island, Alabama, in the Gulf, said the storm was approaching just as the island was finishing up recovery from Hurricane Nate last year.

"We've just about got things cleaned up," Collier told WPMI.

"It's been a good summer, and hopefully this won't do too much damage."

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Florence held steady at just below hurricane strength over the eastern Atlantic Ocean early Monday evening, about 1,000 miles west-northwest of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands.

It was moving west at 15 mph, pushing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph with higher gusts.


Forecasters said that little change in strength was expected and that no coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topsto ... id=HPDHP17
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WEATHERNATION

"Severe Weather Continues to Plague Upper Midwest"


Sep 3, 2018
  
We have continued to see back to back to back days of severe weather across much of the same region.

That includes states like Iowa and Wisconsin.


The risk for isolated severe storms is once again across the Upper Midwest on Tuesday.

The reason for the threat for severe is because of another low pressure system pulling across the area.

Out ahead of the cold front, warm, humid air will be pumped into the region.

This will help to make the atmosphere more buoyant.

Strong to severe storms will be possible along the cold front into the afternoon and evening hours.

Since there will be ample moisture in the atmosphere as well, any of these storms can produce heavy downpours.

Since we will see another few days of showers and storms, rain totals could be adding up to several inches in some spots.

This heavy rain coupled with the already saturated ground means that flash flooding is a major concern for the first half of this week.

Much of southern Wisconsin will receive more heavy rain Tuesday and Wednesday before high pressure slides in and gives the area a break from the constant showers and storms.

Areas like Davenport however could see more heavy rain Wednesday then a break more or less to end the week.

The region could potentially see more heavy rain with the remnants of what is now Tropical Storm Gordon.

For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Kate Mantych

http://www.weathernationtv.com/news/sev ... r-midwest/
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MIAMI HERALD

"Gordon barrels toward the Gulf Coast, and will likely land tonight as a hurricane"


Jenny Staletovich

4 SEPTEMBER 2018

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Gordon continued to barrel across the Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday, headed for the north coast as a likely hurricane and leaving behind a soggy mess in South Florida.

In an 8 a.m. advisory, National Hurricane Center forecasters said the unexpected Labor Day storm should make landfall Tuesday night as a weak hurricane, somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and Louisiana.

Storm surge warnings and watches extended across most of the northern Gulf Coast early Tuesday, along with hurricane and tropical storm warnings.

Gordon was located about 190 east, southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi, moving west, northwest at 15 mph Tuesday morning, with sustained winds of 65 mph.

Tropical storm force winds extend 60 miles from Gordon's center.

As it crosses the Gulf Tuesday, forecasters say the storm will encounter some upper level wind shear, the hurricane-smothering atmospheric winds that up to now have helped keep the season in check.

However, those winds should not be strong enough to keep the storm from intensifying to a Category 1 hurricane.

Throughout the weekend, Gordon defied forecasts by strengthening more rapidly than expected.

Saturday morning, forecasters predicted the system would not form until it passed over Florida and entered the Gulf.

By Saturday evening, however, it had blossomed into a depression and by Sunday morning intensified to a Tropical Storm about 10 miles west of Key Largo.

"Gladly watching Gordon depart Florida," forecaster Eric Blake tweeted late Monday.

"Not too often you see a TS spin up that close to land on radar, basically unexpected."

The storm dumped heavy rain through most of the day, drenching parts of South Florida with up to five inches.

The National Weather Service's Miami office ended a flood watch at midnight, but continued to warn Tuesday morning that a high risk of rip currents remained along the east coast, from Miami to Jupiter.

Forecasters are also keeping watch on Tropical Storm Florence in the central Atlantic.

Tuesday morning, the storm had sustained winds of 70 mph, just below hurricane strength.

It's not expected to strengthen through the day and could slightly weaken Wednesday, but then gain steam as it heads northwest toward Bermuda, far from Florida.

A third system, a tropical wave just east of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa, is also teeing up and should become a tropical depression by the end of the week or over the weekend.

Forecasters gave the system a 70 percent chance of forming over five days as it moves slowly west.


http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topsto ... id=HPDHP17
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Over 300 people evacuated from flooded Kansas college town"


4 SEPTEMBER 2018

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Heavy rain caused a creek to burst its banks and flood the Kansas college town of Manhattan, forcing more than 300 people to evacuate their homes, including some who were ferried to dry land in boats.

Nearly 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain fell from Sunday night into Monday.


Kansas State University's main campus in Manhattan wasn't flooded, but a help center has been set up for displaced students.

Photographs posted on Facebook by the Riley County Police Department show buildings flooded nearly to their roofs.

Only minor injuries have been reported, said Hali Rowland, a police spokeswoman.

She said the number of power outages has dropped from 3,000 to fewer than 200 as of Tuesday.

Crews are assessing the damage but no official count has been released of inundated buildings.

Kirstin Pounds said she awoke around 7 a.m. Monday to the sound of trickling water in her ground floor apartment on the west side of Manhattan.

She said there was water on her floor and her truck was already halfway underwater.

"I got out with the clothes on my back, my phone, my computer and my dog," Pounds said.

She and her dog were among 50 people and 20 pets rescued from the apartment complex, the Manhattan Mercury reports.

Pat Collins, the director of Riley County Emergency Management, told The Kansas City Star that at least 20 people were rescued from their flooded homes by boat.

"It was one of the most significant events that we've experienced in my history here," Manhattan city manager Ron Fehr said at news conference Monday.

"Things got flooded this time that have never been flooded before, even some of the rural areas."

Another 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) is forecast for the area through Thursday, and a flood watch is in effect through 7 p.m. Tuesday, says Brandon Drake, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

He said the creek has receded.

Two emergency shelters were established.

Damage assessment teams from the police, fire and codes department, along with Westar Energy, had already been dispatched throughout the area.

"Really it is our highest priority to make sure things are safe," Fehr said.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/over-3 ... id=HPDHP17
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Big quake hits northern Japan, leaving 9 dead, 30 missing"


6 SEPTEMBER 2018

SAPPORO, Japan — A powerful earthquake Thursday on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered dozens of landslides that crushed houses under torrents of dirt, rocks and timber, prompting frantic efforts to unearth any survivors.

At least nine people were killed, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

Officials said at least 366 were injured, five of them seriously, and about 30 people were unaccounted for after the magnitude 6.7 earthquake jolted residents from their beds at 3:08 a.m.

Nearly 3 million households were left without power by the quake — the latest in an exhausting run of natural disasters for Japan.

It paralyzed normal business on the island, as blackouts cut off water to homes, immobilized trains and airports, causing hundreds of flight cancellations, and shut down phone systems.

In the town of Atsuma, where entire hillsides collapsed, rescuers used small backhoes and shovels to search for survivors under the tons of earth that tumbled down steep mountainsides, burying houses and farm buildings below.

The area's deep green hills were marred by reddish-brown gashes where the soil tore loose under the violent tremors.

Twenty-eight people remained unaccounted for in the town, Atsuma Mayor Shoichiro Miyasaka told public broadcaster NHK.

"We will carry on searching for them," he said.

Miyasaka said the town had emergency meals for up to 2,000 people and that more than 500 had sought refuge in its emergency shelters.

The landslides ripped through some homes and buried others.

Some residents described awakening to find their next-door neighbors gone.


"The entire thing just collapsed," said one.

"It's unbelievable."

The island's only nuclear power plant, which was offline for routine safety checks, temporarily switched to a backup generator to keep its spent fuel cool.

Nuclear regulators said there was no sign of abnormal radiation — a concern after a massive quake and tsunami in March 2011 that hit northeast Japan destroyed both external and backup power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said the quake's epicenter was 40 kilometers (24 miles) deep.

But it still wreaked havoc across much of the relatively sparsely inhabited island.

Many roads were closed and some were impassable.

NHK showed workers rushing to clean up shattered glass and reinstall ceiling panels that had fallen in the region's biggest airport at Chitose.

Japan is used to dealing with disasters, but the last few months have brought a string of calamities.

The quake came on the heels of a typhoon that lifted heavy trucks off their wheels and triggered major flooding in western Japan, leaving the main airport near Osaka and Kobe closed after a tanker rammed a bridge connecting the facility to the mainland.

The summer also brought devastating floods and landslides from torrential rains in Hiroshima and deadly hot temperatures across the country.


Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that up to 25,000 troops and other personnel would be dispatched to Hokkaido to help with rescue operations.

As Japan's northern frontier and a major farming region with rugged mountain ranges and vast forests, Hokkaido is an area accustomed to coping with long winters, isolation and other hardships.

But the blackouts brought on by the quake underscored the country's heavy reliance on vulnerable power systems: without electricity, water was cut to many homes, train lines were idled and phone systems out of order.

In the prefectural capital of Sapporo, a city of 1.9 million, the quake ruptured roads and knocked houses askew.

A mudslide left several cars half buried.

By evening the city's streets were dark and shops closed.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters that the extensive power outage was caused by an emergency shutdown of the main thermal power plant at Tomato-Atsuma that supplies half of Hokkaido's electricity.

The hope had been to get power back up within hours and some electricity was gradually being restored.

However, damage to generators at the plant meant that a full restoration of power could take more than a week, Seko said.

Utilities were starting up several other thermal and hydroelectric plants and power was restored to 340,000 households, but even with those stopgap supplies thousands will still be without electricity for some time.

Authorities sent power generator vehicles to hospitals and other locations and water tanker trucks to communities in Sapporo, where residents were collecting bottles to tide them over until electricity and tap water supplies come back online.

Long lines of people waited to charge their cellphones at the city's regional government office.

The quake's impact was widespread.

To the north, in the scenic town of Biei, residents lined up outside of supermarkets and convenience stores, quickly clearing shelves of water, toilet paper and food.

"Only a few cartons of instant ramen were left," said Mika Takeda, who lives in the town of 10,000.

The one local gas station was limiting customers to only 20 liters (5 gallons) of gas, she said.
___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.

AP writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed from Tokyo.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topsto ... id=HPDHP17
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REUTERS

"Gordon dumps heavy rains, Hurricane Florence barrels toward Bermuda"


By Kathy Finn

6 SEPTEMBER 2018

NEW ORLEANS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Tropical Depression Gordon was expected on Thursday to dump more heavy rains that could cause flooding in central U.S. states as Hurricane Florence, a monster Category 3 storm, churned toward Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Downpours have flooded streets in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi as the storm headed north and threatened to bring heavy rains to the Mississippi Valley and the Midwest over the next few days, the NHC said.

Some areas could get up to 5 inches (13 cm) of rain on Thursday and cause flash flooding, the center said.

The storm, which made landfall late on Tuesday, has caused minimal property damage so far, the NHC said, but a 2-year-old girl died when a tree fell on a mobile home in Pensacola, Florida, authorities said.

As of Wednesday night, more than 2,000 homes and businesses remained without power as utility companies restored service for tens of thousands of customers across the region.

Energy companies and port operators along the Gulf Coast took steps to resume normal operations after Gordon shut 9 percent of the region's oil and natural gas production.

Oil prices fell about 1 percent on Wednesday, after fears about the storm eased.

TRACKING TOWARD BERMUDA

In the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Florence, a Category 3 storm on a five-step scale, barreled toward Bermuda on Thursday, packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (mph) (185 km per hour).

The first major hurricane of the Atlantic season will affect Bermuda's surf by Friday, but it was too early to say whether it would hit land.

"Swells generated by Florence will begin to affect Bermuda on Friday and will reach portions of the U.S. East Coast over the weekend," the agency said.

Florence was 1,170 miles east-southeast of Bermuda on Thursday morning.

Florence will continue to weaken during the next couple of days, but "is expected to remain a strong hurricane for the next several days," the NHC said.

(Reporting by Kathy Finn; Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Dale Hudson)

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topsto ... id=HPDHP17
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Gordon's heavy rains wash away rural Mississippi dam"


By JEFF AMY, Associated Press

8 SEPTEMBER 2018

JACKSON, Miss. — Officials said that a dam is breaching on the edge of Mississippi's Delta region after heavy rains during Tropical Storm Gordon.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for parts of Carroll County downstream from Murdock Lake, where water was eroding an earthen dam late Friday.

The area near Black Hawk, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) north of Jackson, received more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain Wednesday during Gordon according to radar estimates, senior Weather Service forecaster Mike Edmonston said.


Carroll County saw widespread flash flooding with water entering some homes, and some farmers said their crops were significantly damaged.

Dusty Myers, chief of the dam safety division for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, said there's one main breach where water is penetrating through the dam.

"It seems to be holding a lot better than I would expect," Myers said.

However, he said it was still likely that the dam would fully breach.

He said if it didn't wash away, officials would have to dig a trench to breach the dam themselves because it's unsafe.

"There's really not anything we can do as far as preventative action," Myers said.

Three houses have been evacuated in the rural area.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol is blocking off Mississippi 16 and other roads, as water is expected to rise up 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters) on Abiaca Creek by Saturday.

Edmonston said the flash flood would likely dissipate by the time it reached the table-flat Delta, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west.

The dam is one of more than 500 across the state built with federal aid to control flooding and erosion.

Myers said this one is owned by the Abiaca Creek Drainage District.


He said the Department of Environmental Quality had inspected the dam a few weeks ago.

The inspector noted vegetation on the dam, which can create voids that water can travel through.

But Myers said problems appeared minor, noting rain may have pushed water to a record high in the lake.

"Nothing was really a glaring problem that I was aware of that would have alerted us that this dam was going to fail," he said.

Myers said seven to eight dams fail each year in Mississippi, and said rural drainage districts can sometimes have trouble maintaining decades-old structures.

"This is one of the bigger ones in the last few years," Myers said of the 60-acre (24-hectare) lake.

A dam south of Jackson failed in February, sending water and debris rushing across a major four-lane highway.
___

Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at https://www.apnews.com/search/By%20Jeff%20Amy .

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gordon ... id=HPDHP17
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CNN

"Florence is forecast to strengthen again and threaten US East Coast next week"


By Jason Hanna, CNN

8 SEPTEMBER 2018

More and more, Florence is looking like a storm that may give the US East Coast problems as a potentially major hurricane next week.

Tropical Storm Florence, currently in the Atlantic about 1,500 miles from the coast, is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by Sunday, and continue gaining power for days.

And computer models increasingly are showing it could be dangerously close to the United States late Thursday.

The window for the storm to miss the US coast and turn harmlessly back to sea is closing, CNN forecasters said.

"The models are ... really starting to favor a landfall around the Carolinas," though states to the north should watch as well, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar said Saturday morning.

"If you live anywhere in this region (from the Carolinas to the Mid-Atlantic), pay very close attention to this storm."

North Carolina already is on alert.

Gov. Roy Cooper issued a state of emergency Friday and waived certain transportation restrictions so that farmers could harvest and move crops more quickly.

Cooper also urged people to learn what evacuation routes to take, and put fuel in their vehicles in case they're ordered to leave.

"Action today can avoid losses due to Florence," he said.

Why Florence is expected to strengthen

Florence already had been the first major hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic season earlier this week, but wind shear weakened it to a tropical storm.

On Saturday morning, Florence's center had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.

But the shear is abating and the storm is approaching warmer waters -- conditions that could allow Florence to become a hurricane by Sunday and a major hurricane -- meaning a Category 3 storm or greater -- by Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Florence's first impact to Bermuda and the US East Coast could start this weekend with large swells, potentially causing dangerous surf conditions and rip currents.

Two other storms brewing

Behind Florence is two other storms that the National Hurricane Center is monitoring.

Tropical Depression Nine is expected to become a tropical storm later Saturday -- and a hurricane by early next week -- over the eastern tropical Atlantic.

It was more than 1,700 miles from the eastern-most Caribbean islands early Saturday.

Behind it is Tropical Storm Helene, which is expected to pass close to the Cabo Verde Islands off West Africa on Saturday night and become a hurricane Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The three cyclones -- Florence, Tropical Depression Nine, Helene -- come right before the Atlantic hurricane season hits its peak Monday.

The eight weeks around that date often are prime time for the conditions that fuel powerful storms.

CNN's Haley Brink, Brandon Miller and Judson Jones contributed to this report.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topsto ... id=HPDHP17
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FOX NEWS

"Florence strengthens into a hurricane, threatens to hit Southeast US"


Katherine Lam

9 SEPTEMBER 2018

Florence regained hurricane strength Sunday and is expected to "rapidly intensify" into a major storm in the next few days as it continues its path toward the East Coast where residents are preparing for the worst.

Florence could hit the southeastern U.S. coast late this week as a Category 3 or higher and bring upon life-threatening impacts.


The hurricane is expected to make landfall between late Thursday and Friday morning.

"There is an increasing risk of two life-threatening impacts from Florence: storm surge at the coast and freshwater flooding from a prolonged heavy rainfall event inland," the National Hurricane Center said in an update at 11 a.m.

“However, given the uncertainty in track and intensity forecasts at those time ranges, it’s too soon to determine the exact timing, location and magnitude of those impacts,” the center reported.

Florence continues to move west at 6 mph with maximum sustained winds at 75 mph.

The storm is forecast to travel between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Large swells are expected in Bermuda and portions of the East Coast that could cause life-threatening surf and rip currents.

Florence's path shows it will most likely make landfall between Charleston, South Carolina and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Officials in the Carolinas, as well as Virginia, began preparing Friday for the storm’s potential major impact.

A state of emergency was declared in South Carolina and Virginia to give officials and residents enough time to prepare for Florence if it hits the area.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency on Friday and urged residents to use the weekend to prepare.

"We are entering the peak of hurricane season and we know well the unpredictability and power of these storms," Cooper said.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster emphasized Saturday that there's no way to know yet when and where the storm will hit land, or when evacuations might be called.

“We are preparing for the worst and of course hoping for the best."

"Being prepared is always the best strategy," McMaster said.

The U.S. Navy said in a news release Saturday officials are preparing this weekend for its ships in the Hampton Roads area to leave port to avoid storm damage.

The plans could change if forecasts indicate a decrease in the strength or change in the track of the storm.

Along with the Carolinas and Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania could also see large amounts of rain from Florence.

Florence was a Category 4 hurricane last week, the first of the 2018 Atlantic season.

It later weakened to a tropical storm after encountering strong wind shear and cooler waters.

Meanwhile, two other storms -- Helene and Isaac -- were following behind Florence in the Atlantic, but those storms were expected to be less of a threat to the U.S., forecasters said.

Tropical Storm Helene is expected to become a hurricane in the next few days.

Fox News' Rick Reichmuth and Elizabeth Zwirz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topsto ... id=HPDHP17
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