The Final Call

Science and scripture agree, nature's fury on the rise

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Harrisburg, Ill., March 5, 2012 -- As result of the February tornado, Individual Assistance Preliminary Damage Assessment teams are going door to door in storm affected areas of Saline County and this local, state, and federal team is represented by Mike Fedoruk, Small Business Administration Field Specialist, Janet Pate, State Emergency Management Agency Representative, Tina White, FEMA Individual Assistance Specialist, and Sam Ventura, FEMA Media Specialist. This Assessment is required before FEMA can recommend a Presidential Disaster Declaration be issued. Photo: George Armstrong/FEMA

(FinalCall.com) Tornados ravaged the Midwestern and Southern regions of the U.S. March 2 – 3 leaving a path of death and destruction in their wake. Two minor earthquakes shook San Francisco March 5, continuing a consistent pattern of tremors hitting Northern California since 2011 say seismologists. This comes on the heels of 2011’s record breaking year of weather-related disasters in America.

Scientists and weather experts blame global warming for the unusual weather patterns and subsequent atmospheric anomalies gripping the globe. Religious scholars attribute it to something more divine and prophetic. Whether siding with science or religion, both agree that more devastation is on the horizon.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught his followers that the forces of nature are great weapons. His spiritual son, Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches that nothing happens except by the active or permissive Will of Allah (God).

As recent as his historic 2012 Saviours’ Day address delivered to the world Feb. 26, Min. Farrakhan like his teacher before him, warned that the worst is yet to come.

Henryville, Ind., March 8, 2012 -- The American Flag waves over the damaged homes and striped hillside after two tornadoes torn through the community of 1,900 residents in Southern Indiana on March 2. President Obama issued a major disaster declaration on March 9, two days after the Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments were completed in six counties. Photo: fema.gov

Last year proved to be the costliest for disasters in U.S. history. Floods, extreme drought, snow, wildfires and hurricanes made 2011 not only one for the record book but the fallout was also felt in America’s pocketbook.

Fourteen weather disasters across the country alone were in excess of one billion dollars each costing a total of $55 billion according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) eclipsing the previous record of eight set in 2008. Through October of 2011 President Obama had declared 89 disasters, another record.

Having not yet completed the first quarter of a new year, the U.S. has been hit with a near historic outbreak of tornados, across Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and other states. According to one tornado expert at least 80 twisters struck during the two days, exceeding the record for the entire month of March on record of 74 in 2006.

NOAA also reports on its website “warmer-than-average temperatures dominate the Northern and Eastern regions of the country in December, January and February leading to the fourth warmest winter on record for the contiguous United States.” This winter has also been drier than average in the lower 48 states in the West and Southeast but wetter than average in the Southern Plaines, portions of the Ohio Valley and out West observed the NOAA. Min. Farrakhan pointed this out as well.

“Now I know you’re marveling. The temperature’s 51 today and you’re saying ‘oh boy it looks like we’ve gotten through with a soft winter’. It’s not over yet. Did you know that according to scientists they called it an almost biblical onslaught of twisters, floods, snow, drought, heat and wildfire? There has been more weather catastrophes in 2011 then there were in all of the 1980s,” said the Minister.

The lives lost, billions of dollars in property damage and destruction of crops are just a few of the damaging results from weather catastrophe’s that should concern everyone, Nathan Willcox of the Environment America Research and Policy Center told The Final Call.

“What the science says is that if global warming continues unchecked we can expect to see even more severe, extreme weather in the future which will obviously bring even more damage to our communities,” said Mr. Willcox, co-author of “In the Path of the Storm: Global Warming, Extreme Weather, and the Impacts of Weather-Related Disasters in the United States.”

According to experts global warming is a gradual man-made climate change of the earth caused by emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other gases.

The report, released in February points out startling findings including that four out of five Americans were hit by recent weather disasters and that the U.S. has experienced an increase in the number of heat waves over that last 50 years with scientists predicting unusually hot seasons will become more common.

Mr. Willcox said all communities should beware and that preparing for such disasters is key. “Different communities have different degrees of preparedness to respond to extreme weather so the same weather event that causes severe flooding in one community that doesn’t have flooding mitigation systems, the next community over that does have those flood mitigation systems might be much less harmed by the disaster,” he added.

Other parts of the globe have not been spared in 2012. Floods in Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have forced over 13,000 people from their homes, the result of 16 rivers overflowing their banks. Tropical Storm Irina struck parts of Madagascar, an island nation situated off the coast of southeast Africa killing 73 and leaving 21,000 homeless.

This year Europe’s weather has been catastrophic said Min. Farrakhan. “The freezing of the Danube River which cuts through six European countries is beyond anything that Europe has experienced. Record breaking cold is killing livestock,” said the Minister.

“Snow is so high it’s up to the roofs of some of the buildings so that people have had to dig their way out of their homes and some are trapped in their homes and are dying there because nobody can get to them and they can’t get out and they have not prepared for this type of calamity. One hundred thirty one were killed in the Ukraine, 53 have died from exposure in Poland. Heathrow Airport in London has been partially shut down,” added Min. Farrakhan.

You have not seen anything yet the Minister told the world Saviours’ Day. “This year it will be worse. God is not going to let up on America and the world,” said Min. Farrakhan.

“Nature’s Force: What’s Behind Our Severe Weather,” in its introduction to its March 2012 issue notes that among the world disasters in 2011 were the following:

Devastating floods in Sri Lanka;

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Burma;

Catastrophic floods in the Philippines and South Africa;

The largest outbreak of tornados in U.S. history

Unprecedented flooding in the Midwest;

An extreme drought in central and southern China, as well as much of Texas;

A record-breaking tsunami and earthquake in Japan

The publication further asked, “Is this spate of unusually intense natural disasters an anomaly, or is our planet undergoing significant geological and environmental changes that promise years and even decades of bigger, stronger, increasingly fierce storms and other catastrophes?”

City and urban planning experts note that failing roads, bridges and crumbling infrastructures currently found in the U.S. and other parts of the world will make damages sustained from weather disasters even worse.

“There are natural or God-caused disasters and then there are man-made disasters. The man-made disaster is that partisan gridlock in the Congress that has prevented politicians who normally are able to agree on infrastructure transportation in a bi-partisan manner, they aren’t able to do that,” said Robert Muhammad, who holds a master’s degree in urban planning and environmental policy and is working on a doctorate in the same field.

“This gridlock has allowed the further degradation of airports, roads, bridges and rail systems among other areas which are already in serious disrepair,” said Mr. Muhammad, who also serves as the Southwest Regional Student Minister for the Nation of Islam.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers 2009 “Report Card For America’s Infrastructure,” many structures are not faring well and received poor grades including aviation, D, bridges, C, dams, D, drinking water, D-, Energy, D+, hazardous waste, D, inland waterways, D-, levees, D-, public parks and recreation, C-, rail C-, roads, D-, schools, D, solid waste, C+, transit, D, and wastewater, D-.

“America is not only spiritually blind but she’s becoming economically uncompetitive for not investing in the infrastructure and this does not bode well for her citizens,” explained Mr. Muhammad.

Since 2006, weather-related disasters have been declared in every U.S. city except South Carolina and more than 15 million Americans live in countries that have averaged one or more weather related disasters per year since 2006 said the In The Path Of The Storm Report.

“Some types of extreme weather events have become more common in recent years in the United States and worldwide, while science projects that global warming will likely fuel further changes in extreme weather in the years ahead,” said the document.

Science is bearing witness to scripture and the wisdom and guidance taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and more communities and households are realizing the importance of disaster preparedness training.

“Following the warning of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan during Saviours’ Day to watch the weather and to prepare ourselves for God’s judgment is what we need to be found doing in addition to creating our own social infrastructure,” said Mr. Robert Muhammad.

“We need to prepare ourselves for these natural disasters and to do all that we can to warn and teach our people to store food, to put up some medical supplies. We’ve got things that we can do and should be doing,” said Mr. Muhammad.