Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

6.5 Magnitude earthquake strikes Botswana - Tremor felt as far away as South Africa and Mozambique

Botswana Quake
© Google Maps
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 has struck Botswana, with shaking felt across southern Africa, including South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Only few details were immediately available.

The earthquake, which struck at 7:40 p.m. local time on Monday, was centered about 44 kilometers (27 miles) east of Gope, or roughly 229 kilometers (142 miles) northwest of Gaborone. It struck at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the preliminary magnitude of the earthquake at 6.5, making it the country's largest earthquake ever recorded.

Shaking has been felt across southern Africa, with reports of tremors being felt in the capital Gaborone and neighboring countries, including in Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa. Shaking has also been felt in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Tornado2

2 dead as severe storms batter southern US; deadly tornadoes, damaging winds, flooding

Lightning
© Reuters
From Louisiana to the Carolinas, a round of severe thunderstorms are sweeping through the South. Damaging winds and flash flooding are a definite, as the strong weather moves east, potentially dealing out large hail.

A tornado with peak winds of more than 110 miles per hour (180kph) tore through rural Louisiana west of Baton Rouge on Sunday, killing two people inside a mobile home, according to the National Weather Service.

"It hit the trailer, flipped it and tore its side off," St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Major Ginny Higgins said, according to AP. "There was a mother and daughter inside and both were killed," she added.

Francine Gotch, 38, and her three-year-old daughter were pronounced dead at the scene. The father was at the store and returned to find the bodies and ruined home, according to KLFY.

Seismograph

Shallow magnitude 5.2 earthquake felt across Pretoria, South Africa

Pretoria earthquake
© Earthquake Track. The orange circle indicates where the earthquake was felt.
Social media reports indicated that the earthquake was felt in various parts of Pretoria.

Residents of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom were awaken by an earthquake that occurred 8km south of Stilfontein on Monday morning.

According to Earthquake Report, the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.2 and occurred at about 05:08.

Residents from Parys. Freestate reported on Earthquake Report that they have felt it as well and that it lasted for only a few seconds.

A resident from Klerksdorp said that the noise lasted for a long time. Residents from Sandton said that they had items falling off cupboards. A Pretoria resident also claimed to feel it, but that nothing was damaged.

Various residents on social media confirmed that they have felt the earthquake in various parts of Pretoria. A resident from Garsfontein said that it felt like two earthquakes.

Residents of Pretoria moot also claimed to have felt the earthquake. "We felt it very clearly in Wonderboom south."

Comment: The earthquake originated 5 km below the surface of the earth according to reports.


Wolf

Pack of bulldogs attack terrified shoppers in Bolton, UK

Terrifying footage shows the moment an unleashed pitbull bites a woman's backside (pictured) as the pack rampage through Queen's Park in Bolton
Terrifying footage shows the moment an unleashed pitbull bites a woman's backside (pictured) as the pack rampage through Queen's Park in Bolton
A man is heard shouting "take the dogs away," and "go away with your dogs and they'll follow you"

This is the terrifying moment a pack of "dangerous dogs" let loose in a town centre frightened shoppers so much that they were forced to hold up chairs to defend themselves.

Footage shows a pack of "out of control Pitbull type dogs" running around while a man desperately shouts "take the dogs, take them away," "go away with your dogs and they'll follow you".

The man wearing a high-vis jacket is then seen protecting himself with a chair during the terrifying incident in Bolton.


Attention

Whale carcass found on beach in Puri, India

dead whale
A decomposed carcass of a whale was found at Puri beach early this morning drawing crowd in huge numbers.

This is the second carcass found barely after one and half months after a 40-feet long dead whale of the same species was found at Balukhanda beach in Puri.

Heavy crowd was witnessed near Panth Niwas to see the dead mammal. Many were amused to see the carcass and were busy taking photographs. It is suspected that the whale died after being hit by a ship or vessel and was washed ashore due to heavy sea current caused by southern winds.

Snowflake

Heavy snows will delay opening of North Cascades Highway, Washington

Looking west from Cutthroat Ridge along SR 20 on March 16, 2017.
© WSDOTLooking west from Cutthroat Ridge along SR 20 on March 16, 2017.
The snowpack giveth, and the snowpack taketh away.

An unusually massive accumulation of snow on the North Cascades Scenic Highway corridor will delay the opening of that vital tourism route to motor traffic until possibly as late as June, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) said in a press release last week.

That would make it one of the latest openings in the 45-year history of the North Cascades portion of State Route 20.

The deep snow is good news for local rivers and water supplies this summer, but has made conditions so treacherous for road-clearing crews that the usual starting date for WSDOT work on the highway has been moved from mid-March to April 10.

Road Cone

80-foot long sinkhole ruptures roadway in Castro Valley, California

Redwood road sinkhole
© Alameda County Public WorksAn 80-foot-long sinkhole closed Redwood Road near Lake Chabot on Wednesday, March 29.
A massive road rupture estimated to be more than 80 feet long and more than five feet deep in some spots has closed Redwood Road in both directions near the Lake Chabot campgrounds, officials said Wednesday.

The roadway damage started along the road shoulder on Feb. 22 but continued to deteriorate. It was decided after consultations with engineers to close the road in both directions Wednesday, said John Medlock Jr., deputy director of the county public works Maintenance and Operations Department.

The damage is in the southbound lane and shoulder near mile marker 7.38. Motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians are advised to avoid the area and use alternative routes.

Medlock said there is no estimated time when the road will be repaired and reopened. "We want to get it reopened as soon as possible," he said.

Medlock said the Redwood Road damage is the most to any county road since 1996.

Cloud Precipitation

Update: Colombia landslide leaves at least 254 dead and hundreds missing

Colombia mudslide

Rescue teams scramble to find survivors after heavy rains in Putumayo province cause mud, rocks and gushing waters to engulf city of Mocoa


Colombian rescuers have been searching frantically for hundreds of missing people after the southern city of Mocoa was engulfed on Saturday by a huge landslide of mud, rocks and gushing waters that swept away homes and cars and killed more than 20 people.

The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, arrived in Mocoa on Sunday to survey the crisis. Officials from the national disaster agency had counted 210 dead by Sunday morning, with 62 children among the victims. The government later revised the death toll up to 254.. A further 203 people were injured, many in a critical condition.

A spokesman for the local power utility said it could take two weeks to restore energy in the area. Without power, gas or telephone service and with little clean water, about 600 survivors spent Sunday in makeshift shelters, on high alert for any further rainfall that could trigger another mudslide.

Lists of children who could not find their parents circulated on social media to try to reunite families, while about 1,100 soldiers and police arrived to help the relief effort.

The disaster struck in the early hours of Saturday when the rushing waters of the Mocoa river and its tributaries converged on the capital of Putumayo province, catching many people by surprise as they slept.


Map

Two volcanoes spew ash in Russia's Kamchatka rattled by quakes

Kamchatka's volcano
© Ruptly
Two of Kamchatka's volcanoes - Kambalny and Kluchevskoy - have spewed ash thousands of meters into the air, as eruptions and seismic activity intensified in Russia's far eastern region last week. The ash cloud spread some 100 km into the Pacific.

"According to the satellite data of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) on Monday morning, ash release was recorded on the Kambalny volcano. The height of the ash release was up to 7 thousand meters above sea level," the local Emergency Ministry branch said in a statement, adding that no civilians are at risk.


Cloud Precipitation

Cyclone Debbie batters Australia's east coast

flood damage australia
© Gary Ramage / ReutersAustralian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull looks at damaged and flooded areas.
Australia's east coast is currently being battered by Cyclone Debbie. And with record floods expected, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated as authorities brace for damages of hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming days.

The Insurance Council of Australia has already declared both the Queensland and northern New South Wales regions as disaster zones, with estimated damages of up to Aus$1 billion ($762 million).
Almost 100,000 homes have been left without power and evacuees are unsure of what to expect once the storm finally passes late next week. Many are predicting that Debbie will be the worst tropical storm to hit the area in a century.