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california state of emergency

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California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in a suburb of Los Angeles over the leaking of methane gas from an underground storage field.

The governor ordered “all necessary and viable actions” be taken to stop it.

More than 2,000 families have been moved from their homes and many people have reported feeling ill because of the leakage, which began in October.

It stems from a vast underground storage field in Porter Ranch, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Gas is spewing into the atmosphere at a rate so fast that the well now accounts for about a quarter of the state’s total emissions of methane – an extremely potent greenhouse gas.

The well is situated in a mountainous area more than a mile away from residential areas, but residents have complained of health effects like headaches, nausea, vomiting and trouble breathing.Porter Ranch methane leak

Methane – the main component of natural gas – is a very strong greenhouse gas, capable of trapping solar radiation in the atmosphere.

It belongs to a category of gases called short-lived climate pollutants.

While methane and other short-lived pollutants remain in the atmosphere for a relatively short time compared to other gases, the California Air Resources Board says that “when measured in terms of how they heat the atmosphere, their impacts can be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide”.

Residents have been complaining of nausea, headaches and other symptoms, but the utility company says that “scientists agree natural gas is not toxic and that its odorant is harmless at the minute levels at which it is added to natural gas”.

Health officials in the area have said the long-term effects of being exposed to the gas are unknown.

The utility company is providing temporary accommodation or funds for the displaced residents, and several thousand people in Porter Ranch have been relocated while the gas continues to leak and repairs take place.

Only 2,200 families have been relocated even though 6,500 have applied for help, CBS News reports.

“You have kids going to school outside their neighborhoods, families that are living in hotels,” says Paula Cracium, president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council.

“The longer this goes on the more stress there is.”

California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency after wildfires forced thousands of people to flee their homes in the north of the state.

He said the fires had destroyed buildings in the Napa and Lake counties and threatened hundreds of others.

More than 1,300 people fled Middletown, north of San Francisco, as their homes were consumed by the flames.

Four firefighters who were badly burned are receiving treatment in hospital.

The fires across northern California are being blamed on high temperatures and years of drought.

California spent $212 million fighting the flames in July alone, California’s forestry and fire protection department spokesman Daniel Berlant told the AFP news agency.California wildfires 2015 state of emergency

Daniel Berlant said more than 275 homes and other buildings had been destroyed and the Red Cross is opening emergency shelters for evacuated residents.

One blaze, the Valley Fire, which started on September 12 in Lake County, is said to have burned 40,000 acres.

It was reported to have reached the center of the small town of Middletown on September 13. Its 1,500 residents had already been ordered to evacuate.

The fire spread quickly and witnesses saw flames reach up to 200ft in the air, according to local news reports.

Further east, in Amador and Calaveras counties, around 4,000 firefighters are battling the Butte Fire, which broke out on September 9.

That blaze has so far destroyed around 65,000 acres along with 86 homes and 51 outbuildings. It is only 15% contained and threatens more than 6,000 other buildings, officials say.

Further south, beyond Fresno, firefighters have been tackling the largest of the blazes, the so-called Rough Fire, which has claimed 128,800 acres since it began in late July.

Nearly 3,000 firefighters are tackling that blaze, which is now said to be 29% contained.

They have evacuated the Kings Canyon National Park and working to protect the park’s famous grove of Giant Sequoia trees.