STRANDED

STRANDED

Have you ever been stranded?

Have you ever got stuck anywhere?

Has bad weather ever upset your plans?

How does a volcano work?

 

Awesome power of Iceland volcano

The volcano first …………. (erupt) on Monday, sending thick black smoke and ash heading towards continental Europe. Since then, Grímsvötn volcano ……………..(produce) a steady stream of ash and lava, with explosions sending ash up to 12,000m (40,000ft) in the air.

It is ……….. (think) to have been caused by drainage of a lake under the glacier.

“ As the lake drained, this pressure was released, allowing magma to rise to the surface. It was like ………..(lift) the lid off a pressure cooker ” Dr Matthew J Roberts, Icelandic Meteorological Office

Officials say people or homes are not at risk from the eruption of Grímsvötn, which is in an unpopulated area of the island. But ash from the eruption under Vatnajökull glacier - Iceland's biggest - has landed in Norway, Sweden and Finland. The eruption ………..(be) also violent enough to set off earth tremors. The ashfall in Iceland …………….(cause) some problems for wildlife in the area. Farmers …………………..(bring) their sheep inside to prevent them from grazing on land covered with shards of abrasive "glass-like" material deposited by the eruption.

Oli Thor Arnarsson, of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said a change in the wind could send the cloud toward central Europe. "We are speculating that the eruption should be clear tomorrow. But if there ………..(be) more eruptions, we may have ash over central Europe," he ………. (say).

 

Cancelled flights

Trans-Atlantic flights had been diverted south of Iceland to avoid the ash cloud, and domestic flights to the northeast of Iceland were cancelled. Dutch airline KLM said it …………….. (cancel) 59 flights, stranding hundreds of passengers at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, because of the cloud of ash hanging above Europe. "Because of company rules we can't fly below it and we can't fly above it," said airport spokesman Frank Houben.

In addition to visibility problems, abrasive particles released into the air by the volcano can get inside aircraft engines. "It's the equivalent of sandblasting an aircraft engine with grit," Dr Matthew J Roberts of the Icelandic Meteorological Office in Reykjavik, Iceland, told the BBC News website.

"As the aeroplane draws in large quantities of air, suspended particles cause abrasion inside the engine that can result in the aircraft stalling."

This …………..(happen) once in 1989, when a 747 ……………. (fly) through an ash cloud from an eruption of the Redoubt volcano in Alaska, US. The engines …………. (stop), causing the plane to lose several hundred metres in altitude. Luckily, the pilots …………… (manage) to restart the engines after several attempts, averting a catastrophe.

 

Can you imagine the world without airplanes?

Finish the sentence: If there were no planes,

Do you think it was necessary to cancel all the flights?

What are other consequences of the eruption?

What would you do if you were stranded?

What problems do the stranded people experience?

How do they feel?

Is there anything positive about the situation?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stranded by volcanic ash

BBC London viewers have been emailing in about their nightmare journeys of getting back to the capital or being stranded abroad. Read a selection here.

Martyn Parsons: I drove to Prague on Friday evening to collect mother and father-in-law. Thirty-hour round trip, 1500 miles. No traffic lights. No roundabouts. It was great fun, honestly! 

Tony Powell: I have been stranded in Rome over the weekend and was able to reach Milan by train on Monday morning but there I have to stay. The recent reports on improving cross channel transport systems coming out this evening are missing the point, rail travel inside Europe has now reached maximum capacity with no rail travel possible to northern Europe until Friday. There can be as many Eurostar trains and ferries as they like but people cannot get to Paris or the channel ports to use them.

Oliver Kelly: I am currently stranded in Toronto and have been here since the 11th April with a trip only intended for four days. I am now up to eight days with rising cost. All these plans that are appearing are for people in Europe, what about the rest of us in Canada, the States or on the other side of the world? Nothing has been said to us or offered. Some mention of ideas for over here would be great as well.

 Jonathan Rohrer:I am an NHS doctor currently stranded in Toronto in a group of about 40 doctors who had been over here for a conference. If there are no flights this week Air Canada have said they cannot rebook me on a flight back to London until late May or June. The British Consulate are not taking people's names. There does not seem to be much help being provided for people stranded here.

 

Natalie Twell: My parents and my little sister are stranded in Tenerife. They flew with Ryanair and were due to come home on Saturday morning (17/04), now the earliest flight they have been allowed to book home is for this Saturday (24/04). They desperately want to come home. My father has his own fruit and vegetable wholesale business and is worried about the effect another week away will have. My mother will lose pay for missing the time off work and my little sister should be back in school today. Meanwhile they are having to pay for additional accommodation, food, etc which has not been budgeted for and which they are unlikely to be able to claim back from their insurance company. I know people are talking about the effect this will have on the economy as a whole but in terms of individual families in already difficult times this is a real blow. I spoke to my mother this morning and she was in tears. My father had been up since 5am just pacing up and down outside in frustration. I feel so helpless, they just want to come home and I can't really do anything to help. I know if you have the money there are ways to get home but I just don't have the cash to be able to do that. And the thought of them trekking across cities and spending days on trains or boats is heartbreaking. What a terrible way to end a holiday. I will be so glad to have them home safe and sound.

 

 

Talk with your partner(s) about being stranded in the situations below. Rank them in order of the worst. What would you do in each situation? Share your ideas with others.

a.    _____ outside a railway station for days in freezing conditions

b.    _____ alone on a desert island

c.     _____ in the middle of the jungle with no map

d.    _____ at a railway station far from home with no money

e.    _____ in your car in the middle of the desert

f.     _____ in life with no mobile phone

g.    _____ in a foreign country with no passport, credit cards or money

h.    _____ in life, alone, without love