Earth ChangesS


Fish

Not a fish tale: Thanks to ocean pollution humans are ingesting plastic

ocean plastic
© Plastic Bag via Shutterstock
Humans generate more than 300 million tons of plastic annually - an amount equal to the combined body weight of the entire global adult human population - and nearly half of the plastic is only used one time before it is tossed away to eventually find its way to the oceans. So it should come as little surprise that by 2050, it is a virtual certainty that every seabird on the planet will have plastic in its stomach.

Recent estimates indicate that upwards of 8 million tons of plastic are added to the planet's oceans every year, the equivalent of a dump truck full of plastic every minute. That is enough plastic to have led one scientist to estimate that people who consume average amounts of seafood are ingesting approximately 11,000 particles of plastic every year.

Comment: A Plague of Plastic


Fire

Explosion in Georgia school bathroom likely due to 'build-up of gases in a sewer line'

Georgia school explosion
© Fox5 Atlanta
Emergency workers, including members of the local bomb squad and the FBI, crowded the Georgia Gwinnett College campus Monday after a curious "explosion" in a women's restroom injured a food-service worker.

The initial investigation by federal officials revealed that a "build-up of gases in a sewer line" appeared to a potential cause of the blast, which happened in Building A near Collins Hill Road, according to school president Stas Preczewski. In underlined type, he stressed "There is no evidence or suspicion of foul play at this time" and no "explosive device" found.

"It may take some time to determine the exact cause, if one can be found," Preczewski said. "In the meantime, we are acting out of precaution by keeping the building closed as inspections and repairs begin."

Gwinnett County deputy fire chief Charles Wells also said authorities hadn't found anything suspicious, but the incident was under investigation.

All students were safe.

Many walked to class as usual late in the morning, passing the emergency vehicles and workers gathered outside Building A, which was cordoned off with yellow caution tape. The building was expected to be closed at least through Tuesday.

Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill six in Manica, Mozambique

Lightning
© A Bola
Six people were killed and one was seriously injured by lightning accompanying the torrential rain which lashed Manica, in central Mozambique, over the weekend.

The six dead, members of three different families, are all female, and were struck by lightning in their homes in the Manhene area, administrative post of Messica. A minor was admitted to Chimoio provincial hospital with serious injuries caused by lightning over the same weekend.

PRM spokesperson in Manica Elcidia Filipe said the police were unaware of any particular circumstance behind the six women being struck.

Source: A Bola

Fire

Wildfires burn across thousands of acres from Kansas to Oklahoma

Kansas wildfire
© KWCH channel 12
Fire crews were working to contain a wildfire burning across at least 75 square miles in rural Oklahoma and Kansas on Wednesday, while strong wind and dry conditions also increased fire threats in neighboring states, authorities said.

The National Weather Service said the fire started Tuesday night near the Kansas border in Woods County, Oklahoma. Wind gusts of up to 30 mph helped spread the blaze into in western Kansas, where about a dozen homes were evacuated. Dense smoke and fire also prompted highway officials to close a 28-mile stretch of U.S. 160 in Kansas.

No injuries have been reported in either state, and none of the evacuated houses in Kansas' Comanche County has been damaged, county emergency management coordinator John Lehman said. But he noted that wind speeds were increasing and complicating firefighting efforts.

"With this kind of wind, it's going to be kind of bad," Lehman said.

Snowflake

From 70s to snow as heavy blizzard pounds Denver

denver snow
© Trevor Hughes/USA TODAYDowntown Denver on Wednesday afternoon, March 23.
Heavy snow pounded the Denver metro area on Wednesday, grinding air traffic to a halt as a springtime blizzard wreaked havoc on the city just a day after temperatures reached 70 degrees.

Denver International Airport halted all air traffic shortly after noon as a result of the conditions. There was no estimated time for flights to resume.

Hundreds of flights at Denver International Airport were canceled or delayed, in part due to gusting winds that also created blizzard conditions on the state's eastern Plains.

Several interstates and major roadways in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska were closed.

Across the Denver metro area, schools and government offices closed and power flickered as the heavy, wet snow rapidly accumulated. More than 80,000 customers are without power from Denver to Fort Collins, AccuWeather said.

Blizzard warnings are in effect for much of eastern Colorado, including the Denver area, as well as small portions of Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas.

Cloud Lightning

Wild weather lashes New Zealand, local state of emergency declared

New Zealand flood
© NZTADouglas Drive at Franz Josef, just before daybreak today
Nearly 200 people have been evacuated on the West Coast, and trees have brought down powerlines in Auckland, as wild weather lashes the country.

Heavy rain caused the Waiho River on the West Coast to breach its bank, the upper North Island has been hit by strong winds and MetService said the bad weather was expected to continue into the afternoon.


A local state of emergency was declared early this morning on the West Coast, after flooding forced the evacuation of nearly 200 people in Franz Josef.

The chair of the Glacier Country Tourism Group, Rob Jewell, said 80 of the tourists were staying in a welfare centre.

Ensuring the welfare of the town's guests was key, he said.

The Waiho River breached its bank near the town about 11.50pm last night.

Authorities said 186 people were evacuated at different stages as the river first made its way to the Scenic Circle Hotel, and moved towards the Top Ten Holiday Park and the Westwood Lodge.

Cloud Lightning

Severe thunderstorms with flash flood risk expected to hit from Texas to Missouri

Texas storm forecast
© AccuWeather
Parts of the central and southern United States will face the return of severe thunderstorms. Some of the storms can cause property damage and flash flooding into Thursday.

Severe weather will erupt as a cold front slices into surging warm air.

Storms will initiate across eastern Texas to part of the central Plains and spread eastward into part of the Mississippi Valley.

A small number of severe storm will extend as far north as southeastern Nebraska and near the Iowa/Missouri border.

"Storms will be capable of producing mainly large hail and damaging winds," AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Storm Warning Meteorologist Alex Avalos said. "However, a tornado or two cannot be ruled out."

Cloud Precipitation

Golf ball size hailstorm kills flamingos, other birds at Fort Worth Zoo, Texas

flamingo fort worth
© Jared L. ChristopherSevere thunderstorms pounded Tarrant County with hail Thursday morning, covering roadways in west Fort Worth and south Arlington, busting out windshields and killing some exotic birds at the Fort Worth Zoo.
The first ice storm of 2016 hit Thursday.

But it wasn't sleet. It was hail, so thick at times it looked like snow.

The surprise hailstorms busted in windshields from Fort Worth to Arlington, killed exotic birds at the Fort Worth Zoo and made for a chaotic Thursday morning commute.

The hailstones varied in size from blueberries to tennis balls.

"The main ingredient was instability in the atmosphere," said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Stalley. "We definitely had been advertising that there could be a few severe storms but they were more widespread than we anticipated."

Question

Dozens of dead birds found on street in Elmira, New York

Dead starling
"It was really bizarre I mean you wonder what could've caused that."

A strange scene on the street of an Elmira neighborhood has some searching for an explanation.

On Saturday March 19, Ryan Keilman observed one dead bird on his lawn between the curb and the road on Davis Street in Elmira and thought nothing of it until he got a phone call from his mom who sounded concerned with the scene she saw while leaving his residence. Upon observing an unsettling scene of dozens of deceased animals just outside of his home, Keilman contacted multiple agencies to get answers.

"My mother, she stopped by when she was leaving she called me and said hey you need to come outside and I went out and she's like did you see all of these and originally I counted 21 but then I ended up double counting it was 25 dead birds," said Keilman.

Cloud Precipitation

Floods leave hundreds stranded in Padang, Indonesia: 370 mm (14 inches) of rain in 24 hours

Floods in Padang, Indonesia, March 2016.
© BNPBFloods in Padang, Indonesia, March 2016.
Floods in the city of Padang and Padang Regency in West Sumatra have left hundreds of people stranded, according to Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

Meanwhile, floods in Magelang Regency in Central Java have left at least 1 person dead and several injured.

Padang, West Sumatra

As much as 370 mm of rain was recorded in Padang in 24 hours between 21 and 22 March 2016. The heavy rain resulted in the Batang Arau river overflowing.

Three districts - Koto Tangah, Padang Utara and Padang Selatan - have been severely affected by floods. BNPB say that as many as 9 villages are under water up to 1 metre deep.

There have been no reports of casualties, although houses, schools and a bridge have been damaged.

Teams from emergency agencies are carrying out evacuations using inflatable boats. However, BNPB says that given the wide areas flooded, not all flood victims could be reached and estimate that there are hundreds who are trapped and not been evacuated, particularly in Koto Tangah district.