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Natural gas pipeline rupture causes fire on the water in Copano Bay, Texas

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A natural gas pipeline is on fire in Copano Bay. The Rockport Volunteer Fire Department says no one was injured, but it will be up to the pipeline company to turn off the supply.

The scene is a few hundred yards off the Copano Bay Causeway. Witnesses tell us there was a large plume of smoke at first, followed by a large column of fire that is still coming up from underwater.

The Coast Guard and Texas General Land Office will investigate claims a boat was in the area this morning right before the rupture. There is speculation a boat anchor snagged the pipeline.

Flames could be seen for miles around. The last bit of gas burned out just before 2 p.m.

Officials plan on sending a diver down to the bottom tomorrow after everything cools off.

The City of Rockport says the pipeline delivers natural gas to Holiday Beach and Lamar. Residents should expect to be without gas service for the time being.

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Arrow Down

Truck gets stuck in sinkhole, Wellington, New Zealand

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Wellington City Council is urging motorists to avoid the southern end of Main Rd in Tawa on their way home tonight as work continues to fix a burst water main.

This morning, police and the fire service were called to the scene at near Oxford St just after 10am after a rubbish truck got stuck in a sinkhole created by a burst pipe.

The vehicle partially blocked one lane and the road was closed to traffic for a time. A tow truck was called to help remove it.

A council spokesman says both lanes of Oxford St are open, but the speed limit has been reduced to 30kmh while workers repair the broken pipe and the road.

Northbound motorists should consider taking the motorway to Porirua then double back to Tawa.

The water supply is gradually being restored to affected areas, but some properties may not have water back until around 5:30pm.

The truck driver said he noticed a bump in the road and as he drove over it, the back wheels sunk into the ground.

The burst water main sent water gushing into the street.

Arrow Down

Sinkhole shuts street down in Albuquerque, New Mexico

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A sinkhole on Central Avenue near UNM has shut the street down in the area.

Crews need to fix a broken water main before the busy street can reopen, and the Water Authority is working tirelessly to get things patched up.

Central is shut down between University on the west, and Yale on the east.

The Water Authority says it will remain that way for at least through Tuesday evening. They hope to have one westbound lane and two eastbound lanes open for Wednesday morning's rush hour.

The Water Authority found out about break earlier Tuesday afternoon. Someone spotted a sinkhole that looked like one big, awful pothole. The water crews quickly discovered that a 10-inch steel water main -- beneath the surface of the road -- gave way. That's when they shut down Central in both directions.

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.5 - South of the Fiji Islands

Fiji Quake_260314
© USGS
Event Time
2014-03-26 03:29:36 UTC
2014-03-26 15:29:36 UTC+12:00 at epicenter

Location
26.092°S 179.279°E depth=493.1km (306.4mi)

Nearby Cities
448km (278mi) NW of Raoul Island, New Zealand
786km (488mi) SW of Nuku'alofa, Tonga
884km (549mi) S of Suva, Fiji
938km (583mi) SSE of Nadi, Fiji
1071km (665mi) S of Lambasa, Fiji

Technical Details

Map

String of 300 quakes in north has Chileans on edge

earthquakes
© Associated Press File
More than 300 earthquakes have shaken Chile's far-northern coast the past week, keeping people on edge as scientists say there is no way to tell if the unusual string of tremors is a harbinger of an impending disaster.

The unnerving activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake on March 16 that caused more than 100,000 people to briefly evacuate low-lying areas, although no tsunami materialized and there was little physical damage from the shaking.

But the land has not settled down. More than a dozen perceptible quakes were felt in the city of Iquique just on Monday.

"The situation is out of the ordinary. There's a mix of a string of tremors and their aftershocks that make things more complex to evaluate," Mario Pardo, deputy head of the Universidad de Chile seismology center, told the local newspaper La Tercera. "We can't rule out a larger quake."

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded on Earth also happened in Chile - a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.

Cloud Grey

15-20 mile-wide Haboob moves through Phoenix AZ - rare for this time of year

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An oddly timed dust storm is moving into the Valley right now. A Dust Storm Warning remains in effect until 5 p.m. for Maricopa and Pinal County as the massive wall of dust moves north along Interstate 10, and into parts of the southeast Valley.

We're all used to dust storms in the summer -- but rarely do they come in March.

Live video feed

Snowflake Cold

STILL not done - Massive March Nor'easter bigger than Hurricane Sandy expected to bring winds, snow, cold blast to Northeast

March came in like a lion, and it looks like the lion isn't leaving, but you can't blame the "polar vortex" this time.

As a massive winter storm at sea known as a Nor'easter prepares to skirts the Northeast coast of the USA, bringing with it high seas and bitterly cold weather in its wake, Dr. Ryan Maue writes:
Massive Nor'easter will develop a warm-core thru a seclusion process.

Compare previous image w/Hurricane Sandy - same 850-mb Wind speed & MSLP. Nor'easter wind field much stronger/larger.

[It is] maybe 4 times more powerful than Sandy based on integrated KE of wind field.
The image of the storm is quite stunning for it's sheer size.
March Nor’easter
© ECMWF

Attention

BP does it again: refinery malfunction dumps crude oil into Lake Michigan

oil refinery
© unknown
A malfunction at a BP refinery in Whiting, Ind., spilled crude oil into Lake Michigan before it was discovered.

The malfunction was found around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, according to BP spokesman Scott Dean.

The problem caused oil from the Whiting Refinery's "cooling water outfall" to spill into the cove between the wastewater treatment plant and the steel mill.

It is unclear how much crude oil was spilled. No one was injured.

"The discharge has stopped," Dean said, "and BP and its response team have deployed boom, containing the oil to a cove."

Cow Skull

Aurochs horn discovered at beach after storms in Gwynedd, Wales

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Aurochs became extinct when a female animal died in a forest in Poland in 1627
An animal horn thought to be 3,000 years old has been found on a beach in Gwynedd after the recent storms.

Engineer Derfel Hughes from Rhos Isaf made the discovery while walking at Dinas Dinlle, near Caernarfon.

Mr Hughes checked with museum experts who reckon it belonged to giant wild cattle called aurochs which became extinct in the 17th Century.

He gave it to a friend at the Greenwood Forest Park tourist attraction in Y Felinheli where it could go on show.

"Finding it was a total fluke," Mr Hughes told the Daily Post.

"I just happened to be in the right place at the right time

Attention

Earth opening up: 150 Sinkholes in five months in and around Kaski village, Nepal

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Another sinkhole in Armala, locals terrified

The land cave-in that appeared at Thulibeshi Phant of Armala, Kaski, today morning, has further terrorised locals.

The sinkhole has destroyed Krishna Prasad Paudel's cowshed. According to Paudel, the sinkhole appeared suddenly at 4:00 am today. "We evacuated a buffalo to a safe place. Otherwise, it would have been killed," said Paudel.

After a sinkhole appeared on land deemed safe by locals, they have been terrified.

"My family members did their best to fill the sinkhole with soil, but the cave-in has not stopped, Paudel said.

"The cave-in at the upper portion of the land has taken away our sleep," Parbati Acharya said. "The sinkhole has endangered the entire settlement. Wherever we step, there seems to be a cave-in. How can we save our property?" Acharya wondered.