Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 2, injures 10 in Himachal Pradesh, India

LIGHTNING
Two persons were killed and 10 injured, including two police personnel, in an incident of lightning strike today at Rampur Sub-Division's Khadahan village, around 130 km from here.

The incident took place when a police party along with some people were entering a vehicle with the body of an unidentified person, police said.

Gulshan and Tara Chand, both residents of Khadahan, died on the spot while Station House Officer (SHO) Sanjeev Kumar and Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Hoshiar Singh were injured, they said.

Comment: Lightning strikes also killed another 3 people elsewhere in India.


Seismograph

USGS: 6.1 magnitude earthquake hits near Iran's second-largest city at depth of 10km

Mashhad earthquake map
© USGS
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake has struck 89 kilometers from Mashhad, Iran's second most populous city, the US Geological Survey reported, adding that the tremor had a been registered at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers.

The quake hit northeastern Iran, 89 kilometers from the city of Mashhad, which has a population of over 2.3 million people.

There have been no reports of casualties or damage so far.

Seismograph

Shallow 5.0 magnitude earthquake hits Botswana; second quake in two days

Earthquake graph
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has struck Botswana, two days after a stronger 6.5 magnitude shook the southern African nation. The earlier earthquake was felt in South Africa.

The 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 2:55 a.m. local time (0055 GMT) in a remote part of Botswana north of the capital Gaborone, the US Geological Survey said.

The shallow tremor was only 6.2 miles (10 km) deep.

On Monday, Botswana was struck by its second biggest recorded earthquake when a magnitude 6.5 tremor shook an isolated area 250 km (155 miles) northwest Gaborone. That earthquake was felt in the capital, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

Strong earthquakes are rare in southern Africa.

No immediate information was available as to how the communities fared, but some minor casualties and structural damages were reported as far as 130 kilometers away from the earthquake's epicenter.

Cloud Precipitation

Ex-cyclone Debbie wreaks havoc across North Island, New Zealand

Ex-cyclone Debbie over Tasman Sea
© NASA Terra/MODISEx-cyclone Debbie over Tasman Sea affecting New Zealand on April 4, 2017.
Floods and landslips blocked roads and closed schools across New Zealand's north island on Wednesday after it was swept overnight by the tail-end of powerful Cyclone Debbie, which left a trail of destruction in Australia.

In Auckland, the north island's biggest city, a cliff collapsed on to an apartment block and more than 1000 homes were without power. A state of emergency was declared in two other districts - Whanganui and Rangitikei - as river levels rose amid record rainfall.

No fatalities have been reported but police were investigating reports a person was missing on the Waikato River on Wednesday afternoon.

Floods forced the closure of several country roads and highways throughout the north island, including Auckland. Schools remained closed on Wednesday in Whanganui and Rangitikei, and in Clevedon and Brookby in rural Auckland. Some train and ferry services were replaced by buses due to landslides and flooding.

Comment: In Australia, more than 60 locations in Queensland affected by Cyclone Debbie received the highest amounts of March rainfall ever recorded, in many cases breaking records that had stood for more than 50 years.

Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Dr Jeff Sabburg said the extraordinary rainfall figures could largely be attributed to the low pressure system left over from the cyclone. "What was exceptional in causing the records was the amount of moisture in the air associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie," he said.

Damage from cyclonic winds and flooding has affected thousands of properties across Queensland, with more than 750 homes deemed uninhabitable. Electricity has been restored to about 45,000 people blacked out by Cyclone Debbie but by yesterday morning almost 20,000 homes were still without power.


Tornado2

Water spout filmed on Lake Travis, Texas

In a video, a CBS Austin viewer captured a spotted possible tornado/waterspout in the Spicewood area.
© Matthew ComerIn a video, a CBS Austin viewer captured a spotted possible tornado/waterspout in the Spicewood area.
Overnight Sunday, heavy rain, hail and strong winds hit parts of Texas.

Residents in the Point Venture community are still working to clean up after storms damaged the area along Lake Travis.

In a video, a CBS Austin viewer captured a spotted possible tornado/waterspout in the Lake Travis area.

It happened in Bee Creek, near Rod and Gun Club Road in Spicewood.

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service have not yet confirmed a tornado in the area, but are hoping to piece the puzzle together.


Map

Vermont police investigating source of mysterious booms

Ottauquechee River bridge in Hartland, VT
© Wikimedia Commons
Lisa Paterson was watching television when she heard a succession of "booms" late Wednesday night. The second one was so loud it shook her house.

The incident prompted her to call Vermont State Police, and she soon learned that she wasn't the only Hartland resident to report the noises, which several people said sounded like gunshots and an even louder explosion.

"I have horses, so I was worried about them breaking out," said Paterson, who lives along Route 12 north.

Other than that, she wasn't too frightened, she said, but she certainly was curious about where the noises came from and what they were.

Amy Richardson of Richardson's Family Farm recalled hearing one "low-pitched boom," something akin to fireworks, while walking her dogs near her home on Hartland Hill around 10:45 p.m. She said the sky appeared as if it briefly lit up.

"It definitely startled me," she said.

The explosion, which state police said occurred between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., prompted several people to take to Hartland's Listserv, including Paterson and Richardson's husband, Scott. While Paterson questioned whether others had information about the incident, some posed possible answers.

Comment: A Facebook user also reported that the boom sounded like a jet going through the sound barrier and "shook the hell out of my house" and other users reported window rattling. Tannerite used for target shooting is not likely to cause such an event.


Cloud Precipitation

600 chickens and cow killed by hail the size of tennis balls in Myanmar (Burma)

Chicken
Trees, buildings, and animals were pounded by "hail the size of tennis balls" for about 15 minutes last night in Kyun Hla Township, Sagaing Region. A cow and 600 chickens were killed by the hailstorm.

"We are now compiling a record of the damage," township administrator Than Lwin told Eleven. "Two villages - Hteintaw and Yabin - were damaged. In Hteintaw Village, the roofs of 30 homes, schools, monasteries, and rural healthcare centers were blown away. In Yabin village, hailstones destroyed the roofs of nearly 50 houses. There were no [human] casualties."

Local administrators, police, and members of parliament are now working to secure aid for the ice-battered community.

Health

Teenager punches shark to escape attack off Destin, Florida

Shark attacks
A teenager from Kentucky punched a shark as it bit her while she was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Destin, Florida, authorities said.

Caitlyn Taylor, 17, from Louisville, Kentucky, sustained six puncture wounds from the shark bite, but was able to fend off the shark, the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Tracey Taylor, Caitlyn's mother, told ABC News affiliate KBMT-TV that her daughter was in Florida with her high school softball team during her school's spring break when the incident took place.

"Caitlyn says she turned around and the head of it was coming toward her with a wave and she said she turned to swim back to shore and she says she felt it just grab her and lift her off of the bottom," Taylor told KBMT-TV.

Attention

Whale and dolphins trapped by ice near St. John's, Newfoundland

Trapped whale
© CTV
Residents of a small Newfoundland island tried to carry several dolphins out of thick ice, others watched as a humpback whale was stuck in the icy water.

A hand full of people lifted seven dolphins, one by one, out of the ice, onto a tarp and into a truck to take them to open water.

Wayne Ledwell of the Whale Release and Strandings group says the ice was too thick to navigate with an icebreaker to free the whale that was trapped on Friday. He said they tried everything, but couldn't euthanize it.

Town manager Margie Hopkins said that people tried to reach the whale today, but had no success because of blizzard-like conditions.

A few residents have reported that the whale may have died overnight.

Cloud Precipitation

Huge hailstones and torrential rain destroy crops in Manipur, India

The pre-monsoon rains hit the farmers rather hard. Vast fields growing cabbages, leafy green vegetables and others were destroyed by hailstorm in some of the northeastern states.
The pre-monsoon rains hit the farmers rather hard. Vast fields growing cabbages, leafy green vegetables and others were destroyed by hailstorm in some of the northeastern states.
Farmers in some northeastern states are suffering as the torrential rain and hailstorm in the past four days have destroyed crops, causing them staggering losses.

The rain stopped on Sunday for a few hours after a heavy downpour on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the action committee formed by the Manipur government is yet to make its presence felt.

The pre-monsoon rains hit the farmers rather hard. Vast fields growing cabbages, leafy green vegetables and others were destroyed by hailstorm in some of the northeastern states.