Earth ChangesS


Attention

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake shakes Northern California


KABC-TV
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 21:34 UTC
California earthquake map
© ABC7

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck in Upper Lake, California at 7:57 p.m., according to the USGS
A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck north of the Bay Area on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck near Upper Lake, California, which is about 130 miles north of the Bay Area, at about 7:57 p.m.

The earthquake was originally reported as 5.0 magnitude by the USGS, but was later upgraded to 5.1-magnitude.

Shortly after the initial earthquake, the USGS reported aftershocks of 3.0 and 2.7 magnitude.

The Lake County Sheriff dispatch reported no damage or injuries and stated firefighters were battling a small wildfire nearby, according to ABC affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco.

KGO-TV said residents and business owners in the region reported swaying light fixtures and scared pets, but no damage or injuries.

Comment: Last week a series of earthquakes rattled Northern California.

Read More...
Alarm Clock

A dozen earthquakes registered overnight in Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka


TASS
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 06:01 UTC
Kamchatka, Russia's land of volcanoes
© Kamchatka, Russia's land of volcanoes

The Russian Emergencies Ministry reports no casualties

About a dozen of earthquakes measuring from 2 to 5.2 points were registered in Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Territory overnight to Thursday, a spokesman for the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Service told TASS.

"All the quakes were registered during the night in the Avachinsky Bay near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The strongest earth tremor was registered at 00:17 local time (15:17 Moscow time). Its epicenter was located 85 kilometers away from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at a depth of 50 kilometers," the spokesman said, adding that this tremor was felt as a magnitude 3 quake in the city.

Two more strong quakes of a magnitude 4.7 and 4.5 were registered at about 05:00 a.m. local time (20:00 Moscow time). These earth tremors were also felt in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, no casualties or damages were reported. No tsunami warning was issued.

Comment: Earlier this year Zhupanovsky volcano in Kamchatka erupted producing an ash plume 10km high.

Read More...
Fire

Wildfires rage near Marseille forcing evacuations and flight diversions


RT
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 21:31 UTC
Fires in France
© Boris Horvat / AFPA picture taken near Vitrolles, southern France on August 10, 2016 shows a fire which has already devastated some 200 hectares.
Several wildfires have affected areas near Marseille, with huge clouds of smoke covering the skies above the southern French port city.

The smoke from the blaze has reportedly caused numerous delays at Marseille airport, with planes being diverted to other sites.

Several separate "significant" fires have been raging on Wednesday in the southern France region of Bouches-du-Rhone, the most densely populated department of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, local media reported.

The flames are reportedly getting close to industrial areas near Marseille, with several roads being closed off in the area. The situation remains "tense" and poses a threat to businesses in the region, France's Midi Libre reported. Hundreds of people and dozens of vehicles have been deployed to fight the blaze.


Comment: According to Marseille's deputy mayor, Julien Ruas, the size of the fire was "absolutely exceptional", and he advised people to stay off the roads. Some reports suggest that more than 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Rhone river delta area.

Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Flooding destroys 5,300 houses in Kano, Nigeria


NAN
Mon, 08 Aug 2016 19:09 UTC
Flooding in Nigeria
© HeraldFlooding in Nigeria
Flood has destroyed over 5,300 houses in six Local Government Areas of Kano State.

Alhaji Aliyu Bashir, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (SERERA), disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Monday.

He said the affected local government areas include Bebeji, Dawakin Kudu, Kiru, Shanono, Bagwai and Garun-Malam.

"In Dawakin Kudu alone more than 2,300 houses were affected, while more than 600 houses in each of the remaining five areas were destroyed by the flood," he said.

Bashir said the officials of the agency had visited all the affected areas with a view to assessing the damage cause by the disaster.

"At the moment we are compiling a comprehensive report on the disaster for onward submission to the Federal and state governments for necessary assistance to the victims," he said.

Read More...
Health

Aggressive beaver attacks 2 swimmers in Killingly, Connecticut

Robert Moore
The Daily Monitor
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 18:19 UTC
Beaver
On Monday night, a couple swimming in the Quinebaug River in Killingly, Conn., was attacked by a beaver. Swimmers are urged to stay out of the waters until authorities track the wild animal.

The couple suffered bite injuries and were taken to the hospital shortly after the attack. Authorities cannot tell whether the animal had rabies but they are sure that it is not normally dwelling in that section of the river.

Local fire crews arrived at the scene of the attack Monday, around 7 p.m. Rescuers said they were dispatched to the couple's boat after a report of an animal attack.

The head of the Dayville Fire Company, Kevin Ide, was told that the animal first attacked the woman and when the man tried to get the beaver off her, the animal bit the back of the man's leg. The 19-year-old woman suffered injuries on her side and finger.

Read More...
Fire

Three dead as wildfire sweeps across the island of Madeira

James Badcock and James Rothwell
The Telegraph (UK)
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 17:58 UTC
People take pictures of the smoke rising from a wildfire at Curral dos Romeiros in Funchal.
© Joana SousaPeople take pictures of the smoke rising from a wildfire at Curral dos Romeiros in Funchal.
Three people have died, including an elderly woman, and more than 1,000 people have been evacuated after a wildfire tore across the Portuguese island of Madeira.

The woman, who has not been named, died after her house in the capital of Funchal caught fire.

Funchal, which has a population of 111,000, is a big tourist destination.

Several buildings were destroyed in the fire include a five star hotel, according to reports, while two people have been seriously injured.

A 24-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, accused of starting the fire deliberately in the mountains of São Roque, just outside Funchal.

Judicial police sources told local media that the suspect "has a criminal record as an arsonist".


A man gestures at a burning house as a wildfire spreads at Bom Sucesso in Funchal.
© Duarte Sa/Reuters A man gestures at a burning house as a wildfire spreads at Bom Sucesso in Funchal.
Read More...
Fire

Seven percent of La Palma destroyed by wildfire in the Canary Islands


Deutsche Welle
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 17:02 UTC
La Palma wildfire
La Palma wildfire
Spanish authorities said they have moved more than 500 more residents from the path of the five-day-old forest fire, which has affected over 4,400 hectares on the volcanic island located off the northwest coast of Africa, the Spanish news agency Efe said late Monday. A 54-year-old forestry worker died on Thursday while helping to fight the wildfire.

About 350 firefighters, supported by four planes and eight helicopters dumping water, are battling the fire but strong winds and high temperatures are making work difficult, the authorities said.

The regional government for the island, part of the Canary Islands archipelago, says the evacuation of two neighborhoods in the town of Villa de Mazo took place Sunday morning shortly after midnight as the fire spread through the hilly terrain. This came only hours after authorities said some of the 2,500 residents previously moved to safety could now return to their homes.


Read More...
Tornado1

Passenger films incredible tornado swirling above a river from aeroplane window over Council Bluffs, Iowa

John Hutchinson
Daily Mail
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 16:37 UTC
Tornado on the ground in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Tornado on the ground in Council Bluffs, Iowa
This is the moment a passenger filmed a tornado from her aeroplane window as the aircraft she was travelling in, came in to land.

The tornado swirled over Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Thursday and could be seen from Omaha, Nebraska, on the other side of the Missouri River
The tornado swirled over Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Thursday and could be seen from Omaha, Nebraska, on the other side of the Missouri River
Erika Morral captured the waterspout stretching to the sky above a body of water, as the aircraft made its descent.

The tornado swirled over Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Thursday and could be seen from Omaha, Nebraska, on the other side of the Missouri River.

Forecasters had warned of storms with damaging winds in parts of southwest and west central Iowa and east Nebraska last week.

It is not known exactly which airport the plane was coming into, but Eppley Airfield is three miles north-east of Omaha, and handles around 75 flights each day.

Waterspouts are like tornadoes, but gather over water rather than land.

They are created by swirling air currents. Waterspouts are common in the tropics, but can occur anywhere in the world where there is a body of water and stormy weather.


Comment: See also this footage taken at ground level: Waterspout forms over Lake Manawa, Iowa

Read More...
Tornado2

New record set as three more tornadoes touch down in Manitoba, Canada

Jim Bender
Winnipeg Sun
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 09:09 UTC
Manitoba tornado
© YouTube/Pow wow Times (screen capture)

Thirteenth tornado of season touches down in Waywayseecappo, flipping bus and putting Manitoba over the top

Manitoba may have unofficially set a rather dubious weather record.

With three more tornadoes touching down on Monday, this year's total has reached a total of 13 to date, Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang confirmed Tuesday.

The highest previous total Lang could find was nine back in 2013.

While early reports said there were actually four tornadoes in Manitoba on Monday, the fourth could not be confirmed, Lang said.

"Sometimes, what people think are tornadoes are land spouts," she said. "And there were a lot of land spouts, not tornadoes, last year."

There were only eight confirmed tornadoes in Manitoba last year, Lang said.

So, why the sudden increase this year?

"It's been a very active year, with more moisture than there was last year," Lang said. "And with that moisture, there is more positive feedback. When the moisture in the ground evaporates, it causes more storms. Crops are also growing better here, which is also giving off more moisture this year than last year when it was very dry.

"Plus the overall patterns from the Gulf of Mexico this year, it's just been too much."

So, whether Manitoba gets even more tornadoes this year will depend on that moisture.


Comment: A couple of weeks ago an "exceptional" storm ripped through Southern Manitoba. The EF 1 tornado produced a "swath of 10 to 20 kilometres wide of straight-line wind damage affecting a significant part of the region" Environment Canada said, with some of the winds gusting up to 140 km/hr.

Read More...
Fire

Over 700 forest wildfires break out in Portugal


abcnews.go.com
Mon, 08 Aug 2016 13:17 UTC
More than 4,400 firefighters battled hundreds of forest blazes across Portugal on Monday, authorities said, as the annual summer wildfire season hit a peak
More than 4,400 firefighters battled hundreds of forest blazes across Portugal on Monday, authorities said, as the annual summer wildfire season hit a peak
More than 4,400 firefighters battled hundreds of forest blazes of varying sizes across Portugal on Monday, authorities said, as the annual summer wildfire season hit a peak.

The National Civil Protection Authority said on its website that by late afternoon almost 1,500 vehicles and 32 water-dumping aircraft were deployed at 702 wildfires, some of which have been burning for days.

It classified eight wildfires in the north of the country as major blazes that were out of control.

The fires spread quickly through mostly pine and eucalyptus forests that are tinder-dry after weeks without significant rain. Daytime temperatures in recent days have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and in some northern cities exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Monday.




The National Civil Protection Authority classified eight wildfires in the north of the country as major blazes that were out of control
The National Civil Protection Authority classified eight wildfires in the north of the country as major blazes that were out of control
Read More...