Earth ChangesS


Attention

Dead baleen whale found off the coast of Portland, UK


Bournemouth Echo
Fri, 02 Sep 2016 13:26 UTC
baleen whale
A dead baleen whale has been spotted off the coast of Portland.

The whale, spotted in the sea on August 31, was seen floating at the top of the water.

Dorset Wildlife Trust are asking people to contact them if they find the whale washed ashore.

Baleen whales range from six metres to 34 metres.

When a whale dies in the sea, its carcass usually eventually sinks to the bottom and can become home to a new ecosystem as other fish and sea animals eat off the meat.

However, sometimes whales are known to wash ashore.

It comes after a spotting of what the Dorset Wildlife Trust believe could have been a minke whale last week on August 23.

DEAD WHALE
© Dorset Wildlife Trust
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Cloud Lightning

Car hit by lightning, catches fire near Afton, Oklahoma


news9.com
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 12:57 UTC
Car hit by lightning
© Catoosa Fire Department
A car burst into flames after being struck by lightning on the Will Rogers Turnpike Tuesday afternoon.

Verdigris and Catoosa fire departments responded to a driver requesting an ambulance.

Catoosa Fire Chief Denus Benton said the driver was going down the turnpike when his 2016 Toyota Prius was hit by lightning on the right mirror.

Benton said the driver originally called an ambulance to make sure he was okay, but when Verdigris Fire Chief Mike Shaffer arrived, he saw the Prius was smoking under the hood.
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Windsock

'Life-threatening' Hurricane Hermine approaches Florida, first in over a decade

Feliks Garcia
The Independent (UK)
Fri, 02 Sep 2016 02:39 UTC
Hurricane Hermine
© CNN

The National Hurricane Centre says winds have reached 80 miles per hour and will surge when Hermine reaches the coast

Floridians await the arrival of the first hurricane in more than a decade heads toward land at "life-threatening" speeds.

The National Hurricane Centre said violent winds from Hurricane Hermine reached 80 miles per hour Thursday night, and will likely increase by the time it hits the shore early Friday morning.

Hermine is expected to strike in the Big Bend area on the northeast edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

Florida Gov Rick Scott urged residents to move inland before Hermine reached land, warning of dangerous wind speeds, downed trees, and power outages, reminded people to make sure they were equipped with supplies, like food, water, and medicine.

"This is a life-threatening situation," Mr Scott said in his address. "It's going to be a lot of risk. Right now, I want everybody to be safe."

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Wolf

Boy dies after attack by two dogs in Western Cape, South Africa; third death in a month for the region

Ilze-Marie Le Roux
Eyewitness News
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 18:37 UTC
Dog attack
The dogs reportedly jumped over a garden fence next to the Vlei where the boy & his cousin were swimming.

A Stellenbosch boy has died after he was attacked by two dogs.

The dogs reportedly jumped over a garden fence next to the Vlei where the six-year-old and his cousin were swimming.

Earlier this month, two children, aged one and four, were also killed in separate dog attacks in the Western Cape.

The Police's Andre Traut says, "The circumstances surrounding the death of a six-year-old boy are being investigated and a death inquest docket has been registered following an incident on 26 August."
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Seismograph

Powerful 7.1 earthquake strikes off New Zealand coast, tsunami warning issued


RT
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 17:55 UTC
new zealand quake
© earthquake.usgs.gov
A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of New Zealand, 167km northeast of the town of Gisborne, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Officials have urged people along the coast to evacuate to higher ground.

The USGS did not issue a tsunami warning following the earthquake, and has downgraded the magnitude from an initial 7.2 to 7.1, at a depth of 30.7km.

There have been no reports of casualties or damage to buildings as yet. New Zealand's GeoNet reported that it was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter located at a depth of 55km.

Almost 800 people live within a 100-km zone around the epicenter, local media report. The town of Gisborne, with a population of 34,274, lies 167.9km away.
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Attention

Elephant kills two including child in Sri Lanka


Colombo Page
Sat, 27 Aug 2016 16:12 UTC
Charging elephant
© GettyCharging elephant
A wild elephant attack on a passenger van in early morning hours of Saturday in northwestern Sri Lanka has killed two people including a five-year-old child.

The elephant had attacked the van, plying on the Puttalam-Anuradhapura Highway, near the Mee Oya Bridge at Karuwalagaswewa area in the wee hour of the morning after the van had collided with the elephant on the road, according to the police.

One passenger was killed at the scene while the five-year-old boy, who was critically injured, succumbed to his injuries after he was transferred to Colombo National Hospital from Puttalam Base Hospital.

Two women and seven men injured in the attack were admitted to the Puttalam Base Hospital while a four-year-old child who was in critical condition was later transferred to the Colombo National Hospital.

State-run television reported the passengers, in the van were residents of Jaffna and they are on their way from Jaffna to the Katunayake Airport.

The Karuwalagaswewa Police are conducting further investigations.
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Tornado2

5 waterspouts, 3 funnel clouds form in one hour in Marquette County, Michigan

Rachel Droze
TV6 FoxUp
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 05:12 UTC
Waterspout over Lake Superior
© Erica Taylor
The National Weather Service confirmed five waterspouts and three funnel clouds formed between noon and one o'clock Wednesday afternoon in areas around Marquette County.

They were spotted between Little Presque Isle and Harvey. One waterspout lasted roughly 20 minutes.

Mike Tapolcai, a Harvey resident, was in Marquette Township Wednesday when he noticed rotation in the sky.

"I was leaving the mall parking lot, I looked to the east and saw a funnel in the sky," Tapolcai said. "It caught my attention so I snapped a shot as quick as I could before I pulled out of the parking lot and pulled onto the highway. I then looked north and saw another funnel."
Funnel clouds in MI
© Michelle Grunert
Jessica Glomp, a Negaunee Township woman, was also in Marquette Township Wednesday with her husband when they saw three different funnel clouds.

"We saw the two that were right next to each other for about five minutes, but then it was blocked by the Menards building," Glomp said. "The longer one, we watched it for at least five to 10 minutes before it started to dissipate."
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Attention

Second dead dolphin in a week found near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina


nbc4i.com
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 15:40 UTC
Dead dolphin
Officials discovered a mature dolphin found deceased on the beach at 17th Avenue North Thursday.

North Myrtle Beach spokesperson Pat Dowling told WBTW that the city's beach patrol notified the SC Department of Natural Resources and Coastal Carolina University and the city's sanitation division collected the animal and kept it on ice until a professor from the marine sciences department at CCU could collect it to perform a necropsy.

Dowling did not know the name of the professor.

This is not the first dolphin to be found dead this week on the SC coast. According to the South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts Facebook page, volunteers retrieved a dead female neonate bottle-nosed dolphin off of South Litchfield at Midway Inlet Tuesday.
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Attention

Whale beaches and dies on beach in Volusia County, Florida


fox35orlando.com
Sat, 27 Aug 2016 15:09 UTC
Whale beaches self
© Volusia County Beach SafetyWhale beaches self
A sperm whale beached itself Saturday afternoon in Volusia County, near Ponce Inlet.

Officials say members of the Volusia County Marine Mammals Stranding Team responded with help from the Hubbs-SeaWorld team to try and rescue the whale.

Unfortunately, the whale could not be saved and died on the beach.

It's unclear what caused the whale's death, but its body was taken away for tests.
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Attention

'Intense' shallow 3.5 earthquake strikes southern Spain

Mark Hodge
The Sun (UK)
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 14:37 UTC
The small but intense shake rocked southern Spain terrifying locals and holidaymakers
The small but intense shake rocked southern Spain terrifying locals and holidaymakers
Emergency services were swamped with hundreds of calls as terrified locals felt walls move

An intense earthquake rocked southern Spain to its core last night causing a shopping mall and a cinema to be evacuated near Gibraltar.

Emergency services were swamped with hundreds of calls from terrified locals living in the usually quiet Campo de Gibraltar.

The earth-shattering quake, which measured 3.5 on the Richter scale, rattled southern Spain - causing walls to move and plates to rattle.

The Bahia Plaza and the local cinema in the town of Los Barrios were evacuated by fearless fire crews.
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