Earth Changes
Over 2,500 homes have been damaged and 10,000 people affected in the three regions of Vologda, Tyumen and Sverdlovskaya.
Vologda Oblast
In Vologda Oblast, local authorities say flooding has been reported in 22 towns in the region, mostly in the Veliky Ustyug District, with more than 1900 houses flooded, affecting over 6,000 people.
Regional authorities have called for help from the federal government. Oleg A. Kuvshinnikov, Governor of Vologda Oblast, said in a statement earlier today, "We are counting on federal support for disaster management."
The Puebla airport, directly east of the volcano, has been closed and officials are urging residents to wear masks and avoid inhaling ash covering the city. There are approximately 25 million people who live within 62 miles, or 100 kilometers, of the active volcano.
The eruption of the 17,797-foot stratovolcano, the second highest peak in Mexico, began around 2:30AM, sending ash almost two miles into the sky.
Popocatépetl is the most active volcano in the country, with documented eruptions dating back to the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. It has been active since 1991, after being dormant for approximately half a century. Since 1993, smoke has constantly billowed from the crater.
I want to share with you some footage from Yellowstone that was recorded on Thursday night. In this video, it appears to be as bright as day even though it is the middle of the night, you can see a whole host of geysers steaming violently, and Old Faithful just keeps going off over and over...
Comment: See also:
- Boiling river near Yellowstone National Park raises concerns
- Yellowstone Volcano: "Whole lot a shakin' goin' on"
- Camera at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park captures meteor fireball followed by strange flash of light
- Study emphasizes governments need to prepare for Yellowstone eruption and other potential catastrophes
- Ticking time-bomb: Yellowstone super-volcano could kill millions

Rescue workers conduct a search and rescue operation to a collapsed house at a landslide site caused by earthquakes in Minamiaso town, Kumamoto prefecture.
Roger Bilham, a University of Colorado seismologist, told the Express, "If (the quakes) delay, the strain accumulated during the centuries provokes more catastrophic mega earthquakes."
A total of 38 volcanoes are currently erupting around the world, making conditions ripe for seismic activity in the Pacific area.
The heavy rain began to fall on 15 April 2016, with a peak on Saturday 16 April. According to the Uruguayan National Meteorological Institute (Institudo Uruguayo de Meteorología, INUMET) as much as 180 mm in 24 hours was observed in Rocha, in the east of Uruguay, on the 16 April 2016. The same day 150 mm of rain in 24 hours have been recorded at the San José station and 140 mm in Florida, both of them in the south of the country.
Significant rain has been observed also on Sunday 17 April 2016, with a maximum of 121.5 mm in 24 hours recorded at Pasos de los Toros station in Tacuarembó Department, in central Uruguay.
The last update of the meteorological bulletin issued by INUMET, reports Orange Alert (level 3 of 4) all over the country, with heavy rains and severe wind gusts expected.
Some of the hailstones to hit the area over the weekend were the size of birds' eggs, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The storms have also forced about 5,000 people to evacuate their homes in recent days, state media reported on Sunday.
About 387,000 people had been affected by the extreme weather conditions by noon on Sunday.
About 903 homes had collapsed, according to media reports.
Students at John F. Kennedy High School in Los Angeles got an unusual visitor on Friday when a mountain lion began prowling around the premises during lunch break, causing teachers and students to secure themselves inside the building.
Comment: We're reporting more and more strange and uncharacteristic behaviour by animals each month. For just a few reports so far this month, see:
- 7-foot bull shark bites diver off Singer Island, Florida
- Signs and Portents: Two-headed snake found in Kansas
- Dead Bryde's whale spotted off Thailand coast
- Dingo bites toddler on beach in Western Australia
- Wrong time, wrong place: Lost snowy owl seen in Cornwall, UK
- Pedestrian is kicked to the ground by belligerent monkey
Cars have been left stranded on flooded roads and homes are water-logged after the North Island was drenched in rain.
Many fences are down as farmers wait for the morning to see if livestock in flooded paddocks have made it through the night.
Tellic Evans from White Star Honey at Colville at the northern end of the Coromandel Peninsula said 174ml of rain fell on her farm on Sunday.
A severe weather watch was upgraded to a warning at 6.30pm on Sunday, she said but by then it was too late.

Fishermen were left stunned when they caught this bizarre creature of the deep during a fishing trip in Thailand
Video captured aboard the boat shows the large fish writhing around after it was captured in the fishermen's net.
With razor-sharp teeth and a pale, eel-like body, footage of the animal has now gone viral, leaving viewers baffled as they attempt to guess what species it could be.
In the clip, the fish can be seen squirming and even clamping its gasping jaws around the stick.
Despite being pulled from the sea, the fish survives the ordeal, opening its mouth each time it is poked by the crew aboard the boat.
On April 25th it will be one year ago since that deadly 7.8 earthquake in Nepal resulted in over 9,000 fatalities. But so far 2016 appears to even be more disastrous with seven 7.0 or larger earthquakes and 40 6.0 and larger ones already striking the earth's surface. The epicenters of over half of the most serious earthquakes within the last 30 days have been relatively shallow (within 20 km or less than 12.4 miles from the earth's surface), causing even more violent upheaval and earthly destruction. And all but a couple of the 20 largest earthquakes 6.0 or higher observed within this last month have erupted along the Pacific Ring of Fire in South America, Alaska, but mostly in Asia at a rate not seen in centuries, indicating cataclysmic earth changes currently taking place inside the earth's core and crust that could be reacting to cataclysmic changes occurring within our solar system causing the Pacific tectonic plates to be simultaneously rupturing in multiple locations under intense built up pressures.
















Comment: The flooding is so bad, Russian bombers have been deployed to blow up the ice jams: