Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Update: Lightning strikes kill at least 120 in eastern India


Sputnik
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 13:07 UTC
Lightning
© AP/Channi Anand
Repeated lightning strikes have killed as many as 120 farmers in the eastern parts of India forcing workers to demand strong action from the authorities.

The monsoon season and incessant rainfall sweeping several parts of India were accompanied by deadly lightning strikes. Though the exact death toll is yet to be ascertained, at least 120 people, mostly farm-workers, are believed to have been killed and women and children are also among the casualties. Another unspecified number of people were injured.

"Lightning strikes are common during monsoons, but there have been more strikes than usual this year," said Vyas Ji, a senior government official in Bihar, where the most number of deaths occurred. Several others were killed in other states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

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Tornado2

Rare powerful tornado strikes eastern China; at least 98 reportedly dead


BBC
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 05:00 UTC
Tornado damage in China
© AFPThe winds were powerful enough to pick up vehicles

A tornado and hailstorm have killed at least 98 people and injured nearly 800 in the east Chinese province of Jiangsu, according to state media.

Accompanied by torrential rain, the tornado struck the outskirts of the city of Yancheng on Thursday afternoon.

Counties on the city's outskirts saw winds of up to 125km/h (78 mph).

The search for survivors in debris has now been completed with a clean-up under way, the head of the provincial fire corps told state media.

President Xi Jinping had ordered "all-out rescue efforts" after what the Xinhua news agency said was one of the worst disasters ever to hit Jiangsu.

It was also the worst tornado to hit China in half a century, it said.

On Friday, rescuers were carrying injured villagers into ambulances and delivering food and water to others, said Xinhua.

Heavy rain and the possibility of more hailstorms and tornadoes had further complicated rescue efforts.

More than 1,300 police officers had been mobilised to help, while tent and other emergency supplies were being sent from Beijing.


Comment: Study: Extreme tornado outbreaks are increasing

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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake magnitude 5.9 strikes off the coast of Japan


Sputnik News
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 05:56 UTC
Earthquake in Japan
© Sputnik News
Moscow - A 5.9-magnitude earthquake has occurred off the coast of Japan, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reports. The earthquake struck at around 21:05 GMT on Thursday, about 102 kilometers (63 miles) southeast of Yonaguni, the westernmost inhabited island of Japan.

The epicenter was located at a depth of around 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), USGS said.

In April, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck to the east of Kumamoto city (the capital of Kumamoto Prefecture) on Japan's Kyushu Island.

It was followed by multiple aftershocks, including a 7.0-magnitude earthquake. Over 40 people were killed as a result of the natural disaster and more than 2,000 people were injured.

Japan is a seismically active region. In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake triggered a 46-foot tsunami that hit Japan's Fukushima nuclear power, leading to the leakage of radioactive materials and the shutdown of the plant. The accident is considered to be the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
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Black Cat

Two hurt in bobcat attack in New Scotland, New York


cbs6albany.com
Wed, 22 Jun 2016 18:36 UTC
Dead Bobcat
"Never heard of it! I've lived here all my life and I'm not telling you how old I am!" said Eleanor Devellis, a New Scotland resident.

Longtime residents on Rock Hill road have never heard anything like it. Albany County Sheriff says a couple was visiting this home to pick up tables for a garage sale - when they were attacked.

"Wife was sitting outside on a few rocks playing with the family dog, heard a hissing noise and turned around and there was a bobcat," said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.

Apple says the animal bit the woman a few times and then the dog attacked the bobcat. Her husband then tried to get the animal way and was also bitten.

"The homeowner and the husband pinned the bobcat down while the homeowner gets a gun and shoots the bobcat," he explained.
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Health

Shark takes a chunk out of surfer's leg; fourth attack off Brevard, Florida coastline in 2016

Kiri Blakeley
Daily Mail
Wed, 22 Jun 2016 16:11 UTC
Shark attacks
A man was bit by a shark while he was wading in the waters of Pelican Beach Park in Satellite Beach in Florida.

The unidentified man, who was surfing, had 'wounds indicative of a small shark bite or similar toothed sea creature,' according to Florida Today, quoting Brevard County Fire Rescue's spokesperson.

Despite the deep and gory marks shown in photos taken on the beach, the surfer declined to go to the hospital. He was reportedly bitten on the calf, according to TrackingSharks.com.

Lifeguards first responded to the man around 2:55pm and said he was in the water when the injury occurred.

Images from the scene show paramedics treating the man's leg injuries, including the bloody bite mark on the unlucky swimmer's calf.

The waters in the area are populated with bull, lemon and other shark species. They generally latch on quickly, thinking a human leg is fish food, and then swim away.

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Bizarro Earth

Contagious cancer is spreading among marine life


Phys.org
Wed, 22 Jun 2016 00:00 UTC
Cancers shellfish
© 1. Annette F. Muttray; 2. and 3. David Iglesias Left to right:1. Mussels (Mytilus trossulus) at Copper Beach in West Vancouver, Canada 2. Cockles (Cerastoderma edule) collected in the ria of Arousa in Galicia, Spain3. Golden carpet shell clams (Polititapes aureus) collected in the ria of Arousa in Galicia, Spain
The oceans are home to innumerable and diverse species of marine life. A new paper, published in Nature, suggests that the watery medium that nourishes and protects this life may also promote the spread of certain cancers, both within and across species.

The study, performed by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, with collaborators in Canada and Spain, examined a variety of mollusks harboring a form of cancer known as disseminated neoplasia, a leukemia-like disease that affects populations of bivalves in many parts of the world. The team has discovered that in several species, cancer cells themselves were spreading from animal to animal as a contagious clonal cell line.

"Our results suggest that direct transmission of cancer among marine animals may be much more common than once thought," said senior author, Stephen Goff, PhD, the Higgins Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Bbiophysics and the Deparment of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University Medical Center.
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Cloud Lightning

London flooding: Flash floods cause chaos in the capital

Ross Lydall, Ben Morgan and David Churchill
Evening Standard
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 14:52 UTC
Rescue bid: The firebrigade rescues a family from a flooded street in Romford
© Paul WoodRescue bid: The firebrigade rescues a family from a flooded street in Romford
Firefighters used rescue boats to free Londoners trapped in their homes as torrential rain brought chaos to the Tube, road and rail network.

London Fire Brigade attended more than 400 incidents after receiving 550 calls - almost two days' worth of 999 calls - in a couple of hours as extraordinary thunderstorms deluged the capital overnight.

Emergency services asked people only to dial 999 if life was at risk.

Fire crews helped residents to get to work or to polling stations to vote in the EU referendum after 60 homes in Romford were flooded when the River Rom burst its banks.


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Cloud Precipitation

Streets flood in Bangkok, Thailand after 7 inches of rain; highest rainfall for 25 years

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Wed, 22 Jun 2016 14:12 UTC
A factory worker in Bang Pu Industrial Estate in Samut Prakarn province is ferried to safety in a large bucket yesterday after the area is inundated in up to 60 centimetres of water.
A factory worker in Bang Pu Industrial Estate in Samut Prakarn province is ferried to safety in a large bucket yesterday after the area is inundated in up to 60 centimetres of water.
Wide areas of Bangkok, Thailand, were flooded on 21 June after a period of heavy rain across the city.

The flooding brought traffic to a standstill forced some schools and businesses to close. Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Director-General Chatchai Promlert said that heavy rains during the evening of 20 June caused flooding in 36 areas of Bangkok, leaving streets under 60cm of water in some areas.

Bangkok Governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra said that although the rain was short lived, the rainfall was as much as 200 mm and the highest for over 25 years.

Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) had reported that a low pressure area over northern Vietnam and Cambodia would result in heavy rainfall in Thailand's northeastern, central and southern regions on 21 June 2016.

Bangkok floods
Bangkok floods
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Eye 2

Man attacked by alligator in Bushnell, Florida

Tom Liddy
abcnews.go.com
Tue, 21 Jun 2016 13:52 UTC
Alligator
© Sumter County Sheriff's OfficeAlligator
An alligator attacked a man in Florida Tuesday evening -- about an hour away from where a boy was killed by a gator outside a Disney resort, according to the local sheriff's office.

The attack in Bushnell, Florida, happened around 6:30 p.m. and left the 58-year-old man with injuries to his right leg, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.

The man's condition was not immediately known, but he was airlifted to Ocala Regional Hospital.

Police said that the gator was 8 1/2 to 9 feet long.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning casualties increasing in Bangladesh with 261 deaths this year; on track to beat 265 total of 2015


Shanghai Daily
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 13:29 UTC
Lightning
Bangladesh has seen a near-record number of deaths this year from a phenomenon that appears to be worsening with climate change: lightning strikes.

So far this year, 261 people have died from lightning in the country, putting the South Asian nation on track to beat last year's 265 deaths. Most lightning deaths usually occur during the warm months of March to July.

India has seen a similar surge in lightning deaths, with 93 people killed just in the past two days.

The problem has prompted Bangladesh's government to add lightning strikes to the country's list of official types of disasters, which includes floods, cyclones and storm surges, earthquakes, drought and riverbank erosion, among others.
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