Earth ChangesS


Tsunami

At least 11 dead, 9 missing amid flash floods sweeping various regions in Morocco - a years' worth of rain in 2 days (UPDATE)

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Flash floods in southern Morocco have caused widespread devastation, with the destruction of several homes and many reported missing.

Details from several news reports show that in Tata, 12 people are missing due to the flood that swept through the area.

The region also witnessed the collapse of at least seven houses.

In Douar Smougen, within the Marrakech-Safi region, 12 people have also been reported missing due to floods, while in Tiznit two people have died and two others were rescued.

Tafraout also witnessed the death of an elderly person due to the floods
, and authorities in all affected regions continue search and rescue operations.


Comment: Update September 9

AFP reports:
Moroccan authorities on Sunday said that 11 people died and nine were missing in flooding caused by an "exceptional" climate phenomenon in southern areas.

Interior ministry spokesman Rachid Khalfi said authorities recorded an initial "toll of 11 deaths" after "heavy thunderstorms" that hit "17 prefectures and provinces in the kingdom".

Among the victims, seven died in the province of Tata, some 740km (460 miles) south of Rabat, and two in Errachidia, almost 500km east of Marrakesh, according to Khalfi.

He said one of the victims had foreign citizenship, without providing further details.

Khalfi also said "the volume of precipitation recorded in two days is equivalent to that which these regions normally experience during an entire year".

The floods also caused the collapse of 40 homes and damaged 93 roads, and "affected electricity, drinking water and telephone networks", he added.

Usually arid areas in southern Morocco and Algeria have been drenched in floods caused by massive rainfall since Friday, officials told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

Areas in southern Morocco have been affected "by an extremely unstable tropical air mass", the spokesman for the Moroccan General Directorate of Meteorology, Lhoussaine Youabd, said.

This "led to the formation of unstable and violent clouds" that caused massive rainfall, he said, describing the phenomenon as "exceptional".

As a result, the Ouarzazate region received 47mm of water in three hours, and Tagounite, near the Algerian border, some 170mm, according to the Moroccan weather service.



Cloud Lightning

Super Typhoon Yagi hits Vietnam killing 59, 17 inches of rain in 24 hours (UPDATE)

Water is whipped up by high winds onto the shore of Phuong Luu lake as Super Typhoon Yagi hits Hai Phong
© NHAC NGUYENWater is whipped up by high winds onto the shore of Phuong Luu lake as Super Typhoon Yagi hits Hai Phong
Super Typhoon Yagi uprooted thousands of trees and swept ships and boats out to sea, killing one person, as it made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, after leaving at least 23 dead through southern China and the Philippines.

The typhoon hit Hai Phong and Quang Ninh provinces, packing winds exceeding 149 kilometres (92 miles) per hour, Vietnam's National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said.

In the Hai Duong province, a man was killed when heavy winds brought down a tree as the storm approached landfall, according to state media.

In Hai Phong, AFP reporters encountered streets filled with fallen trees, metal roofing and broken signboards that had been ripped off properties.


Comment: Update September 9

Al Jazeera reports:
At least 59 people have been killed in Vietnam amid landslides and floods triggered by Typhoon Yagi, according to state media reports.

The typhoon was Asia's most powerful storm this year and made landfall on Vietnam's northeastern coast on Saturday, after causing havoc in China and the Philippines.

Among the victims were six people, including a newborn baby and a one-year-old boy, who were killed in a landslide in the Hoang Lien Son mountains of northwestern Vietnam.

Their bodies were discovered on Sunday, a local official told the AFP news agency.

Other victims included a family of four who were killed after heavy rain caused a hillside to collapse onto a house in mountainous Hoa Binh province in northern Vietnam, state media reported.

On Monday morning, a passenger bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province.

Rescuers were deployed, but landslides blocked the path to where the incident took place.

In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed.

Reports said 10 cars and trucks, along with two motorbikes, fell into the river.

Three people were pulled out of the river and taken to hospital, but 13 others were missing.

The Vietnamese government said the storm disrupted power supplies and telecommunications in several parts of the country, mostly in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong in the northeast.

The weather agency on Monday warned of more floods and landslides, noting that rainfall had ranged between 208mm and 433mm (8.2 inches to 17 inches) in several parts of the region over the past 24 hours.

"Floods and landslides are damaging the environment and threatening people's lives," the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said in a report.

Yagi weakened to a tropical depression on Sunday, but several areas of the port city of Hai Phong were under half a metre (1.6 feet) of water and there was no electricity.

At Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 70km (43 miles) up the coast from the city, the disaster management authority said 30 vessels sank after being pounded by strong wind and waves.

The typhoon also damaged nearly 3,300 houses, and more than 120,000 hectares (296,500 acres) of crops in the north of the country, the authority said.



Tornado2

Waterspout spotted off the coast of Quiberon, France

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INCREDIBLE: Waterspout spotted off the coast of Quiberon, Brittany, France this afternoon!


Cloud Lightning

Pony killed by freak lightning bolt on Isle of Wight, UK

GG the pony who died after being struck by lightning.
© Island Riding CentreGG the pony who died after being struck by lightning.
A PONY was killed in a "one in a million" lightning strike — witnessed by restaurant diners — at a popular riding centre on the Isle of Wight.

The pony, named GG, took a freak direct hit at the Island Riding Centre, in Staplers Road, Newport, during this morning's (Sunday, September 8) stormy weather.

Diners at the GG's Bar and Restaurant watched in horror as the pony was struck.

"We are devastated to announce the loss of GG today," said a spokesperson for the centre.

"One of our most popular ponies, she was tragically hit by a one-in-a-million direct lightning strike this morning in the sudden storm.

"Thank you for the support of all of the restaurant diners, who sadly witnessed the tragedy happen, and the riding centre staff who, despite their immediate response, were unable to save her.

"She will be terribly missed by us all."

Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 7 people in Chhattisgarh, India

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Seven people were on Sunday killed and four others injured in a village in Baloda Bazar district in Chhattisgarh after being struck by lightning, officials said.

The incident took place in the village of Mohatara in Baloda Bazar district at around 5.30 pm, police said.

A group of people were sitting under a tree in the village when lightning struck in the particular area, leading to the death of seven people and injuries to four others, officials said.

The injured were rushed to the district hospital at Baloda Bazar.

All the four injured people were now out of danger, Baloda Bazar district chief medical health officer (CMHO) Dr Rajesh Awasthi said.

Tsunami

France's Lourdes grotto reopens to public after flash flooding

Clean-up operations at Lourdes grotto after flooding on Saturday 7th September, 2024. Photo: Lourdes website
© Lourdes websiteClean-up operations at Lourdes grotto after flooding on Saturday 7th September, 2024.
The Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in the Hautes-Pyrénées region reopened to the public on Saturday after flooding earlier in the day caused it to close, the sanctuary said on its website.

"Thanks to the mobilisation of the teams of the Notre-Dame de Lourdes Sanctuary, the grotto was able to be cleaned and reopened to pilgrims," the Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims each year said on its website.

The cave was flooded at around 2am, according to David Torchala, the sanctuary's communications director.

Celebrations have resumed at the usual times "in all the Sanctuary's basilicas and places of worship, starting with the 6pm rosary at the Grotto." the sanctuary added on its website.

The below video shows the situation on Saturday.


Doberman

Man mauled to death by dogs in Oakland, California; dogs' owner charged

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A man is facing charges in a horrific attack by three large dogs that left another man dead last weekend in Oakland, authorities said.

Oakland police said it was investigating a death that happened on September 1 on the 1600 block of 36th Avenue in East Oakland just before noon. Officers arrived to find a victim who had major injuries from multiple dog bites.

Medics arrived but the victim was pronounced deceased at the scene. One person was taken into custody following the dog attack, police said.

Police said the victim's name was being withheld pending notification of his family. However, published reports identified the victim as 53-year-old Robert Holguin and the suspect as 57-year-old Brendan Thomas Burke, a friend of Holguin's. Holguin had been staying at Burke's property at the time of the attack, according to Bay Area News Group.


Comment: 3 days later in the same state: 4 year old dead after dog attack in Visalia, California


Cloud Lightning

Lightning kills 22 in 48 hours in Yemen, 160 killed since start of year

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In the areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, 22 people have lost their lives in the past 48 hours due to lightning strikes. The Deputy Head of the Operations Department of the Emergency Response and Flood Damage High Committee emphasized the need to take measures to prevent further casualties.

In the areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, it has been reported that 22 people have died in the past 48 hours due to lightning strikes. The Houthi-affiliated SABA news agency featured statements from Ammar al-Harib, Deputy Head of the Emergency Response and Flood Damage High Committee Operations Department.

Harib stated that 22 people have died in the past two days due to lightning strikes, and the number of deaths since the beginning of the year has reached 160.

Cloud Lightning

Lightning kills 50 in Cambodia in 8 months of 2024

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Lightning strikes have killed 50 people in Cambodia in the first eight months of the year, down nearly 22% from 64 deaths over the same period last year, a disaster control spokesman said on Saturday.

Besides the fatalities, thunderbolts injured 43 others during this year, said Soth Kim Kolmony, the spokesperson for the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM).

He said the provinces with the highest number of lightning strikes were Siem Reap, Battambang, Prey Veng, Tboung Khmum, and Banteay Meanchey.

"To avoid the danger of lightning strikes, people, particularly those living in rural areas, should stay in their houses or shelters when there is a storm," he told Xinhua.

Seismograph

Shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake hits off Tonga

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An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted 128 km East of Ohonua, Tonga, at 11:39 local time on Sunday (GMT+13; 22:39 GMT on Saturday), the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, Report informs via Xinhua.

There were no immediate reports of casualty or damage.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was determined to be at 21.293 degrees south latitude and 173.720 degrees west longitude, according to the USGS.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue a tsunami warning based on the quake.