Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Northern Tasmania faces worst flooding in decades

Tasmania floods June 2016
© Tasmania PoliceLatrobe in Tasmania's north was inundated as the river burst its banks.

Police fear for safety of two people missing in rising waters, while hundreds of people are evacuated in Devonport, Launceston, Wynyard and Deloraine


Northern Tasmania is grappling with the most devastating flooding it has experienced in decades after a severe weather system that devastated Queensland and New South Wales hit the state on Monday.

As night fell, police held grave concerns for two elderly people reported missing in the Tasmanian floodwaters, which continue to rise.

By Monday night more than 100 people in Latrobe in Tasmania had been evacuated by helicopter and boat, including a family of three rescued from the roof of their car. Residents in St Leonards, in Launceston, had also been evacuated.

Evacuation centres have been established in Devonport, Launceston, Wynyard and Deloraine, with 3,500 homes without power and significant livestock losses at dairy farms along the Mersey river.

One 81-year-old farmer near the river was swept away by flood waters as he went to check on his livestock, and was reported missing by his wife on Monday afternoon. Police are still searching for him, along with one other elderly person also missing.


Comment: Yet more flooding continues around the world. See also:

Floods around the world: USA, Mexico, Russia, China, France, Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, Romania


Arrow Down

Massive growing sinkhole raises concern in Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport sinkhole
© KSLA
Shreveport city officials and especially concerned customers who shop right next door.

KSLA news 12 has received several phone calls about the large hole on Grimmett Drive in north Shreveport.

It's a growing hole that until recently few even noticed. Now the leaning columns and cracking cement have made the problem a dead giveaway.

"Right now, I came here and I asked the owner is it going to be safe to continue to come here, and drive across this parking lot, and get gas and shop here," Clyde Simpson said. He believes the sinkhole started small but has grown so quickly he's afraid of what could happen next.

"I come here often, and now I'm thinking the store is going to start to collapse, it's going to make a run for it."

KSLA News 12 was there as city drainage and sewage workers came out to take a firsthand look at the hole at a vacant building next to a convenience store on Grimmett Drive. Workers quickly put up caution tape warning others.

Tornado2

Rare twin tornadoes touch down in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

rare tornadoes in Germany
The weather is going crazy again in Germany! In Schleswig two tornadoes dancing together have been photographed and captured on video. Insane!

After biblical floods, now twin tornadoes in Germany!


Comment: Filmed from another perspective:




Arrow Up

Strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake hits off New Zealand

New Zealand earthquake
© USGSA map showing the location of a strong magnitude-6 earthquake northeast of New Zealand on June 6 2016.
A strong 6.0-magnitude struck Monday almost 90 miles off a remote New Zealand island, the US Geological Survey reported.

The shallow quake occurred at the depth of 6.2 miles southeast of the Kermadec Islands in the South Pacific.

No information about the damage or casualties was immediately available.

Parts of New Zealand lie on the so-called Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped string of volcanoes around the Pacific Rim, where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur.

Bizarro Earth

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake hits Indonesia

Leksula Earthquake
© USGS
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake occurred in Indonesia, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said on Sunday.

The epicenter of the quake was located 132 kilometers (82 miles) southwest of the city Leksula, at a depth of 428 kilometers (266 miles), according to the agency.

There have been neither immediate reports of damages or casualties,. nor a tsunami threat.

Indonesia is located in the so-called Ring of Fire quake zone, where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. Earlier this week, a strong 6.5 earthquake occurred in South Sumatra, a province on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Tornado2

Devastating tornado rips through China's Hainan Province

China tornado
© CCTV News / YouTube
One person has been left dead by a tornado that swept through China's Hainan Province on Sunday. Dramatic footage of the devastating tornado was caught on camera.

The tornado tore the roofs off of houses in areas of Wenchang City according to CCTV News, with nine people so far reported injured. Video of the tornado shows the giant funnel touching down on the city, leaving devastation behind.

Rescue work is currently under way in the city with the area in an orange weather alert for Sunday, with more severe weather forecast.

Red Flag

Diver killed by shark near Perth, Australia; 2nd fatality within week

Shark
© Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
A woman has died after being attacked by a shark reportedly bigger than 5.3 metres off the Perth coast, less than a week after Ben Gerring was mauled near Mandurah.

The woman, 60, was diving about two kilometres off the northern suburb of Mindarie with her 43-year-old diving partner when she was attacked late on Sunday morning.

Three men who were heading out on a fishing trip came to the pair's aid before the woman's companion retrieved her body from the water, between One and Three Mile Reefs.

The woman is believed to have died from her injuries before arriving back at the Mindarie boat ramp near Alexandria Drive shortly before 12pm.


Comment: See also: Shark bites off surfer's leg near Perth, Australia


Wolf

Dog kills 7-year-old boy in Penobscot County, Maine

Dog attack
Few details were available late Saturday, and the attack was still under investigation.

The Penobscot County Sheriff's Office is investigating a dog attack in Corinna that killed a 7-year-old boy.

The sheriff's office, assisted by the Mayo Regional Hospital Emergency Medical Service ambulance, responded around 5:15 p.m. Saturday to a report of a dog attack on Moody Mills Road in Corinna. Deputies found a 7-year-old boy had been killed as a result of the attack.

The attack remained under investigation Sunday.

No other parties were injured in the attack. The dog was impounded.

Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 3 in Odisha, India

Lightning strike
In yet another such incident, two minor boys and an youth were killed in lightning at Pandadihi in Raighar block of Nabarangpur district on Thursday.

According to sources, lightning struck them while they had gone to graze goats in the nearby fields.

In thunder squalls at various parts of the State, such incidents are reported on a daily basis.

Bizarro Earth

More than half of Texas has been under flood watches or warnings during past week

flooding rosharon texas
© AP Photo/David J. PhillipHomes surrounded by floodwaters are shown in this aerial view, Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Rosharon, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings.
The heavy rain that's been hovering over parts of Southeast and Central Texas and caused deadly flooding began to lift Saturday, but officials said the flooding emergency near the Gulf Coast was worsening and Army officials kept up their investigation of a training exercise that turned deadly at Fort Hood.

Only the wheels of an Army transport truck were visible after swift floodwaters washed the 2½-ton vehicle from a low-water crossing on Thursday, killing nine soldiers, Coryell County emergency medical services chief Jeff Mincy told the Killeen Daily Herald. Mincy said he arrived at the scene about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, and that firefighters had already pulled the three surviving soldiers from the rushing waters of usually dry Owl Creek.

"I can't estimate how fast it was flowing, but it was faster than I would have felt comfortable putting anything into the water," Mincy said. "When we did find the vehicle, we could see the tires sticking up out of the water, so in that position where the vehicle settled, it had to have been about 8 feet deep."

The bodies of five soldiers from the Central Texas post were recovered Thursday and four were found Friday, while the three surviving soldiers were discharged Friday from Fort Hood's hospital and returned to duty.