© YouTube/Update News Network (screen capture)
Earth Changes
© Department of Parks and Wildlife
A 12m whale carcass is removed from Geographe Bay in Busselton.
A 12m whale carcass is removed from Geographe Bay in Busselton.
The 10-12m carcass washed ashore about 7am near the Dolphin Road boat ramp in Busselton, prompting a shark alert for Geographe Bay.
It was believed to be the same carcass photographed 45km offshore by Bunbury angler Mark Watkins last week.
Earthmoving machinery was brought in to remove it after it burst open on the beach.
The remains were taken to the City of Busselton's waste disposal facility and buried.
A smaller adult humpback carcass was removed from Honeycombs Beach, north of Gracetown, less than a month ago.
© Mark Watkins
The dead whale in the ocean.
The dead whale in the ocean.
One person drowned and more than 100 others had to be rescued after heavy rains caused "severe" damage in Maryland this weekend.
Six inches of rain fell in Ellicott City in three hours — causing "tremendous devastation," Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said Sunday morning. He said in a statement that 120 people had to be rescued during the flooding.
But one woman in the city was killed when she was swept away by the flood waters, said Howard County press secretary Andy Barth. It's unclear whether she was in a car at the time.
Six inches of rain fell in Ellicott City in three hours — causing "tremendous devastation," Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said Sunday morning. He said in a statement that 120 people had to be rescued during the flooding.
But one woman in the city was killed when she was swept away by the flood waters, said Howard County press secretary Andy Barth. It's unclear whether she was in a car at the time.
The quake's epicenter was located 63 miles (100 km) west southwest of Chania, Crete. It was very shallow, with a depth of 5.6 miles (9 km).
Source: Reuters
© Patrika
Representational image
Representational image
According to media reports, eight deaths were reported from Bhadrak district, followed by seven casualties in Balasore district and five in Khurda.
Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta Mohapatra said they had received reports of several deaths due to lightning.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed his condolences and directed the Special Relief Commissioner to provide ex-gratia as per the State relief code.
Lightning claims over 300 lives in Odisha every year. While 396 people were killed in 2015-16, 308 casualties were reported in 2014-15, followed by 372 in 2013-14, 294 in 2012-13 and 359 in 2011-12.
Comment: Additionally, via this website these fatalities represent the highest one day total for the state:
This is the highest number of deaths due to lightning strikes in one day in the state, according to India's state-run broadcaster, All India Radio (AIR).
© AFP
The fateful pickup van which was swept away in a flash flood, killing the wedding guests.
The fateful pickup van which was swept away in a flash flood, killing the wedding guests.
Twenty-one among the dead were females with 18 of them children. Three more women and two other men died in the accident. All the victims were closely related, most of them from the same family. It was unclear whether the bride and groom were also travelling in the same wagon.
The bodies of the victims were retrieved from the stream by locals and rescuers and shifted to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Landi Kotal. The vehicle was also recovered.
Khyber Agency Political Agent Khalid Mehmood told The Express Tribune the accident took place at around 6:30am in the Sra Shaga area of Zakakhel Bazaar, Landi Kotal.
The pickup truck was travelling on a path along a rainwater stream when a surge of water hit the vehicle. The wagon slipped into the stream and was washed away in the flash flood. "There were no warning signs as most of these nullah's have been dormant for long," Mehmood said.
© Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Baseball-sized hail
Baseball-sized hail
According to the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne, the supercell thunderstorm moved in from the north-northwest and cut almost directly south across the western portion of town, including Frontier Park and Little America Hotel and Resort.
Hail sizes ranged from dime-sized on the outskirts of town to golf ball-sized around Frontier Park, with reports of baseball-sized hail in the vicinity of Interstate 25 and Missile Drive and Little America.
Laramie County Emergency Management is unaware of any major injuries from the hail, but there has been plenty of damage to vehicles and trees, as well as some buildings, though none as severe as what was sustained Wednesday 45 miles east of town in Pine Bluffs.
A large mound of ice is blocking a car ten hours after a strong hail storm hit Colorado Springs.
The city of Colorado Springs witnessed a downpour of aggressive hail that persisted for hours, damaging cars and homes and forcing locals to join forces to remove heaping mounds of ice.
Resident Krystal Taylor told CNN the hail started Thursday afternoon and was strongest around 11 p.m.
"Being in our house, all we could hear were these loud smacks all around our home from (this) tennis-ball size hail being thrown at our house from above," she said. "It was loud crashing all around the house. Lightning, thunder and hail can be a scary mix."
Locals headed outside to alleviate the storm's effects, once it was safe.
"Our neighbors shoveled and worked together to get the hail out of the streets so people in the neighborhood could drive safely," Taylor said. "Despite the storm, it was heartwarming to have nearly the entire neighborhood working together. Without question people were opening their garages and bringing shovels out to help."
As per the report, deaths were reported from Khurda, Balasore, Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Kendrapara and Jajpur districts.
Several trees were uprooted, houses were thatched and electricity disrupted due to heavy rain in coastal belt of Odisha.
© U.S. Navy / Reuters
An analysis of 18 major US military installations — including bases, training or testing areas, infrastructure storage, and housing of military personnel — found that by 2050, projections of moderate sea-level rise could mean that most of the installations will receive more than 10 times the amount of flooding currently experienced.
Based on moderate projections, all but two of the installations analyzed would experience more than 100 floods per year in low-lying areas by 2050, the report, conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), stated.
Comment: We ain't seen nothin' yet!
Comment: A few days ago a rare, huge waterspout hit China. See also: Huge waterspout filmed off Hainan, China