Earth ChangesS


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4 children killed by landslides after torrential rain in Uganda

John Thawite
New Vision
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 11:06 UTC
The house that was hit by mudslides on Thursday in Kasese
© John ThawiteThe house that was hit by mudslides on Thursday in Kasese
Fresh landslides have buried four more children alive in Kasese district following torrential seasonal rains that have hit the Rwenzori region.

The incident brings to seventeen the number of children so far killed in the landslides in Kasese district since 2011, mostly in Mahango sub-county which has lost eleven children.

The children perished when mudslides struck their sleeping rooms on Thursday in Namuhuga South cell, Bulembia Division, Kasese Municipality and Kyondo sub-county, Bukonzo east constituency.

The four-roomed permanent house in Namuhuga was constructed adjacent to a sharp cliff and above which some agricultural activities were taking place.

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4 metre deep sinkhole opens up in Benoni, South Africa

Nicole McCain
News 24
Sun, 03 Nov 2019 10:46 UTC
A sinkhole has developed on Snake Road in Benoni in Ekurhuleni.
© Jacob MamaboloA sinkhole has developed on Snake Road in Benoni in Ekurhuleni.
Motorists have been warned of a sinkhole on the N12 (Snake Road) near Benoni.

The sinkhole was discovered in the early hours of Saturday morning and by afternoon road closures remained in place. The sinkhole appears to be around four metres deep, according to Gauteng Roads and Transport Department spokesperson Melitah Madiba.

In a tweet, MEC for Gauteng Public Transport and Roads Jacob Mamabolo stated that a detailed geotechnical investigation to assess the situation will be carried out.
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Cloud Grey

Incredible iridescent cloud filmed over Trinidad

Emma Parker
Daily Star
Sun, 03 Nov 2019 08:31 UTC
Iridescent cloud over Trinidad
© PLANET X NEWS/Youtube)
A mysterious cloud spotted above Trinidad has been dubbed a "volcano in the sky" by baffled onlookers.

Villagers were perplexed by the colourful anomaly that turned the sky an iridescent pinky-purple in the town of Tunapuna.

The weather formation appears to be motionless between the clouds and occasionally disappears.

Footage of the floating hue appeared online as witnesses captured it in awe.

The phenomena has left thousands guessing after the video was posted to a popular conspiracy Reddit forum.

Superstitious internet users have said the mass could be the "beginning of the end of the world" while others branded it "heaven on earth."

Others said the unusual light looks as though it is a "volcano in the sky."


Comment: The growing list of phenomena resulting from our changing atmosphere:

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Father and his 3 sons killed when landslide swallows their house in Guatemala

Rory Tingle
Daily Mail
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 20:35 UTC
An image showing the aftermath of the landslide, which saw houses plummet down a cliff
An image showing the aftermath of the landslide, which saw houses plummet down a cliff
A father and his three sons were killed today when a landslide swallowed their house in Guatemala.

Shocking footage shows houses being sucked into a huge hole as the ground gives way in the village of Xenaxicul near the border with Mexico at around 6.30am.

Francisco Mejia Lux, 39, was inside ones of the houses with his three children, aged three, six and ten. Their bodies were recovered from the rubble.

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Seismograph

Shallow 6.1-magnitude quake hits South Sandwich Islands Region


China.org.cn
Sat, 02 Nov 2019 20:01 UTC
Graph
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted 125 km NNE of Visokoi Island, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands at 18:08 GMT on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 55.6919 degrees south latitude and 26.3016 degrees west longitude.

Source: Xinhua
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Cloud Precipitation

10,000 affected by floods in Antioquia, Colombia


Floodlist
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 19:15 UTC
Floods swept through Apartadó, Antioquia Colombia 28 to 29 October 2019.
© Ejército Nacional de ColombiaFloods swept through Apartadó, Antioquia Colombia 28 to 29 October 2019.
Almost 10,000 people have been affected by flooding in Antioquia Department in northwest Colombia.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the San José River broke its banks on 28 October, 2019, affecting areas in Apartadó municipality.

Around 2,600 homes were flooded, with water reaching roof height in some locations. No injuries or fatalities have been reported so far. Shelters have been set up in affected areas to house some of those displaced. Many families have lost material possessions.

Military personnel have been deployed to the area to support relief agencies and mitigate the flood situation.
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Cloud Precipitation

Mono river flooding affects 50,000 in Togo and Benin


Floodlist
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 19:06 UTC
Flooding in Maritime Region, Togo, late October 2019.
© United Nations Resident Coordinator in TogoFlooding in Maritime Region, Togo, late October 2019.
Heavy rain in Togo and Benin during October caused the Mono river to overflow from around 23 October, 2019.

Levels of the Mono river at Athiémé in Benin jumped from 7.8 metres on 19 October 2019 to 8.5 metres on 23 October. Satellite images show around 4,000 hectares of land are under water in areas around either side of the border between the 2 countries.

In Togo areas of Maritime Region, in particular Lacs prefecture, are worst hit. Around 2,000 households (8,000 people) are thought to be affected in the region.
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Blue Planet

A century later, baby tortoises have been discovered thriving on the Galapagos Island of Pinzon


The Hearty Soul
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 07:14 UTC
Tortoises
In the 18th century, an unfortunate incident with stow-away hungry rats from a docking ship led to the depletion of the tortoise population in the Galapagos Island of Pinzon, Ecuador [1]. The species was formerly thriving and basking in their numbers on the island, until the invasion of the rats.

These rodents ate the tortoise eggs and those of other species, disrupting the natural order of the island's ecosystem. Birth rates became so unstable that the tortoises became an endangered species. It was nearly impossible for a baby tortoise to survive out there in the wild.

Rodent infestation, attacks from larger species, and destructive human activities nearly wiped out the baby tortoise population in Pinzon, leading to a 100-year absence from the wild.

Today, more than 500 baby tortoises are thriving in Pinzon, and they were all born and bred in the Island [2]. This wonderful development is a testament to the success of conservation efforts over the decades. The rats were completely cleared out of the island by air-dropped rat poison in 2012, and the tortoise population has been on a steady increase since then.
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Fire

Watch as manhole on a street in Birmingham, England 'burps' flames


BBC
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:32 UTC
birmingham manhole fire
Part of a street in Birmingham city centre was cordoned off after an underground fire reached above the surface in big flashes of flame.

West Midlands Police said the flames seen on New Street shortly before 17:00 GMT were caused by an electrical fault below.

West Midlands Fire Service said it had been liaising with power suppliers to deal with the problem.

There were no reports of injuries, police said.


Comment: There has been a huge surge in underground urban fires in the last decade or so.

This, for example, happened in England in 2015: Film footage shows fireball exploding from underneath street in Shirley, UK

In 2014, the British govt suggested that the increasingly extreme levels of rainfall was to blame, with flooding causing short-circuiting of electrical cables.

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Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Record low temps across much of U.S. threaten to wreck the rest of harvest season

Michael Snyder
End Of The American Dream
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 13:57 UTC
snow
It isn't supposed to be this cold in October. The official start of winter is still almost two months away, and yet the weather in much of the western half of the country right now resembles what we might expect in mid-January. All-time record lows for the month of October are being set in city after city, and this extremely cold air is going to push into the Midwest by the end of the week. Temperatures in the heartland will be up to 50 degrees below normal, and unfortunately about half of all corn still has not been harvested.

Due to unprecedented rainfall and extreme flooding early in the year, many farmers faced extraordinary delays in getting their crops planted, and so they were hoping that good weather at the end of the season would provide time for the crops to fully mature and be harvested. Unfortunately, a nightmare scenario has materialized instead. A couple of monster snow storms have already roared through the Midwest, and now record low temperatures threaten to absolutely wreck the rest of the harvest season.
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