A massive dust storm accompanied by strong winds lashed Delhi on Saturday evening leading to trees falling in some areas and disrupting traffic in several parts of west and south Delhi.
The dust storm, which came after showers in the morning in the city, was again followed by rain as well as hail in some parts of Delhi. However the minimum and maximum temperatures remained above average.
Traffic police officials said they received calls about falling of trees in Rohini and Pitampura in north Delhi, which led to congestion on roads. Some vehicles were also damaged when the falling trees fell on them. The dust storm resulted in traffic snarls between 4 p.m. to 7.30 pm in many parts of west Delhi including Azadpur, Jahangirpuri and Punjabi Bagh. In south Delhi, the affected areas included Moti Nagar and Vasant Vihar.
Commuters tweeted about the dust storm. "Delhi, this is one big storm coming. Get yourself in people," Shikha Gautam tweeted. "Heavy rain and hail storm in Delhi, leads traffic chaos," Arpit Pal said.
Water to Plateau residents to be cut tonight as work begins between Pine Ave. and Carré St-Louis
Laval Street between Pine Avenue and Sherbrooke Street will be blocked to traffic until next week due to a large sinkhole that appeared this morning.
The Plateau—Mont-Royal borough blamed the major sinkhole on the north side of Laval Avenue and Carré St-Louis on a 125-year-old water main bursting.
Borough officials said it happened around 8 a.m. this morning and there is a smell of gas in the area. The sinkhole is estimated to be at least six metres by four metres. Residents said they aren't surprised by the pipe bursting.
"It seems to be so endemic of the entire city. It seems like work maybe wasn't done properly years and years
and years ago," Laval Street resident Terri Howard said.
"They do spend a lot of money on things like festivals. I think they need to put it in infrastructure. The city needs to go back to basics," another area resident, Louise Makovsky, said.
City of Montreal and Gaz Métro workers are at the scene. Repair work will begin Thursday evening, with water being cut off for a short time this evening between Pine Avenue and Carré St-Louis.
Major sinkhole at Carré St-Louis caused by water main break this morning. Pipe was 125 years old. Smells like gas. pic.twitter.com/aiZVLix6qy— Emily Brass (@EmilyBrass) March 10, 2016
The sandstorms are expected to continue though unseasonable temperatures will decrease starting Monday
A sandstorm hit the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian governorates followed by heavy rains, lightning and thunder on Sunday evening, with weather still unstable across the country.
The sandstorms were reported in Greater Cairo as well as other governorates, limiting visibility for drivers.
Thousands of small sardine-like fish have been found dead in lake Alalay, but no one is completely sure what caused oxygen levels in the lake to drop so dramatically
Thousands of dead fish have washed up onto the shores of a lake in Bolivia.
Just before they died, some of the fish had just hatched from their eggs in lake Alalay, in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba.
No one yet knows the number of dead fish, but they have stockpiled five cubic metres (177 cubic feet) so far, so it's possible there is over a tonne of dead fish in the lake.
According to local media reports, the most affected species was the "platincho" fish which is similar in appearance to sardines.
The fish carcasses were taken to a local dump.
Authorities believe low oxygen levels in the waters of Lake Alalay, due to the the highly polluted water, in addition to the last heatwave in 2015, led to the massive fish kill, but the exact cause of the conditions were unclear.
Sinkholes swallowing cars and people, meteor fireballs raining down, and volcanoes erupting all over the place - for the shortest month of the year, February 2016 sure was eventful...
Last month, there were many spectacular volcanic eruptions in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Indonesia and Japan. Elsewhere, the Earth literally opened up to kill a man in Arizona, while a giant fissure swallowed a river in southern Mexico. Major earthquakes included a 6.4 magnitude tremor in Taiwan that toppled buildings and killed 33 people, while another strong quake (5.9M) struck Christchurch, New Zealand, which is still rebuilding after a devastating earthquake struck the South Island city in February 2011.
A lot of spectacular meteor fireballs were caught on camera last month. On just one day, February 6th, there were 3 notable meteor events: NASA recorded a massive overhead explosion in the South Atlantic Ocean; a second meteor shook homes when it exploded over Denmark and sent meteorites to the ground; and a third meteor did likewise in southern India, killing a man who had the misfortune of becoming the first official case of 'death-by-meteor'. The bolide that exploded over the South Atlantic was the largest to hit the planet since the Chelyabinsk event, almost three years to the day.
Those strange 'sky sounds' were heard in North America last month, notably in the US Northeast and Quebec. Deluges brought flash-flooding to Mauritius, Fiji was flattened by its strongest ever storm, Peru was hit by devastating mudslides, and there were heavy snowfalls in parts of the US and Pakistan. Ottawa, Canada received its biggest single-day snowfall in over 100 years.
An increasingly erratic Jet Stream coupled with a record-strong El Nino brought weather extremes to the US, with the US Southwest experiencing a record heatwave for this time of year, the US Northeast experiencing record cold temperatures mid-month, and the US South experiencing both unseasonal tornado outbreaks and blizzards. In what appears to be an increasing trend, sea life continues washing ashore in droves on beaches around the world. We also have several clips of animals going on the rampage, including the somewhat symbolic sight of a bear attacking people in Turkey.
These were the signs of the times in February 2016...
Carolanne Wright Wake Up World Fri, 11 Mar 2016 15:40 UTC
As if it wasn't bad enough to have fracking operations in our backyards — destroying local ecosystems, human health and property values — the oil and gas industry has expanded into public lands, with many national parks now under threat. Not only does fracking for petroleum and natural gas promote ecological and climatic changes, but it also destroys the water we drink and the air we breathe. Not to mention the practice has been linked to an increase of earthquakes. Moreover, waste generated by the industry is exceptionally toxic and difficult to dispose of safely — to the point where municipalities are resorting to spraying it on roadways, and other acts of insanity. Keep in mind fracking fluid contains a slew of hazardous chemicals and is oftentimes radioactive.
To date, over 34 million acres of public land in the U.S. has been leased to fracking companies, with another 200 million acres in danger because the land overlays oil and gas deposits. Public outcry has fallen on deaf ears, as corporations and the government plow ahead with their agenda, which is nothing short of greed and environmental destruction. National parks like Arches and Canyonlands in Utah, Chaco Culture in New Mexico, Glacier in Montana, Sequoia and Kings Canyon in California, are just a few examples of public land under threat. What will it take to stop this rampant destruction of America's most cherished natural spaces?
A shocking video has emerged of a bus disappearing into a sinkhole in Guiyang, south-west China's Guizhou province.
The bus was pulling into a bus station in the town when it was suddenly swallowed by a massive sinkhole in a matter of seconds.
According to Chinese media, the driver and two passengers were trapped inside for around 40 minutes while rescue teams tried to free them.
In the footage, a man can be seen coming out of a taxi smoking a cigarette.
The bus pulls into a bus stop nearby him and the next minute the bus is tipped up and then disappears into a giant hole.
Passersby can be seen rushing to the scene.
And the man who witnessed the entire ordeal can be seen phoning for emergency services.
According to Chinese media, the two passengers and the driver were taken to hospital for treatment. and the road administration arrived on the scene for the cleanup operation.
An experienced astronomer says he has caught on camera the "very rare" sight of light pillars in the night sky above south Wales. The phenomenon, caused by atmospheric ice crystals reflecting light, was captured by Allan Trow above Rhigos mountain, Rhondda Cynon Taff.
He said light pillars were more common in polar regions. Mr Trow, who has been stargazing for 20 years, said the sighting on Friday night was "spectacular". The director of astronomy education company Dark Sky Wales was on the mountain near Treherbert with two other experienced astronomers and a group of amateur stargazers when the bright lights appeared at about 21:50 GMT.
"Between the three astronomers there, we have 80 years experience but it was the first time we had seen anything like it," said Mr Trow.
"We immediately went onto Facebook and Twitter and consulted with our astronomy friends to see what they could be. We discounted ideas such as as aurora and a meteor. But the conditions were right for light pillars.
"We were astonished. I've seen pictures of them from Scandinavia and Alaska but nothing from the UK."
He said his fellow astronomers believed the light reflected in the light pillars - which were visible to the naked eye - could have come from the Port Talbot steelworks which are just over the other side of the mountain.
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 has struck off Atka Island in the Andreanof Islands, which are part of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska, seismologists say. No tsunami alerts have been issued.
The earthquake, which struck at 9:06 a.m. local time on Saturday, was centered about 51 miles (82 km) south of Atka, which is a small town located on the eastern side of Atka Island. It struck about 19.9 miles (32 km) deep, making it a shallow earthquake.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center said the earthquake was not strong enough to generate a tsunami, and no tsunami alerts have been issued, but the earthquake was likely felt on islands across the region.
Other details about Saturday's earthquake were not immediately available, and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the sparsely-populated region.
At least 15 were confirmed dead in the Brazil's financial capital and largest city, São Paulo, according to Reuters. Half a dozen people died as a result of the flooding elsewhere in São Paulo state after 24 hours of steady rain, local media report. Most died as a result of mudslides and building failure in the city's poorer peripheral neighborhoods, where houses are often built on or along hillsides. State and local government agencies scrambled to address the crisis. Some local news outlets captured footage of drivers marooned on the roof of their cars being rescued by helicopters.
"The priority is to locate missing people and remove [everyone] from hazardous areas. We have more than 150 firefighters working," said São Paulo Gov. Geraldo Alckmin Friday afternoon, after announcing an emergency fund to pump millions of dollars into communities affected by the floods.
The city of São Paulo froze all day, as commuters stayed home. Flooding spoiled stocks of fruits, forcing warehousers to fill dump trucks with watermelons and pineapples, according to Folha . Police stations filled up with brown water. Some residents lost power. Others found themselves stuck at the São Paulo airport, which closed for 12 hours overnight.
If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.
- Hunter S. Thompson
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She needs to dump that GP post haste. That's the modern mentality of these wokie scum. Government can not err and people should have no right to...
Comment: For more information on this phenomenon see: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth