Earth Changes

4 cyclones in South Pacific simultaneously: The biggest, Super-Cyclone Pam, is South Pacific's strongest ever

Matangi Tonga
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 13:24 UTC

© NASA
Three powerful tropical cyclones bearing down on Australia and Vanuatu: Olwyn (left), Nathan (center), and Pam (right) were seen by MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite at 2:20 Universal Time on March 13, 2015.

The strongest tropical cyclone on record in the South Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Pam, a Category 5 super storm, hit Vanuatu last night causing deaths and destruction. This morning Pam had a central pressure as low as 899hPa and was gusting up to 335km per hour at its centre.

It is one of four cyclones unusually affecting the South Pacific at the same time.

The Vanuatu Meteorological Services warned very destructive hurricane-force winds of 250 kilometres per hour continued to affect the country's southern provinces this morning. It said the central pressure of the system was estimated at 900 hectopascals, which is among the strongest tropical cyclones on record.

Furthermore, at 8:00 am today, Saturday, the Fiji Meteorological Service reported that Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam (Category 5) was located about 890km West of Nadi.

"It has a central pressure of 899hPa and average wind speeds of 250km per hour close to the centre with gusts up to 335km per hour. It is currently moving South 20km per hour. It is gradually turning southeasterly," Fiji Met stated.

U.S. Geological Survey reports earthquake in western North Carolina

WYFF4.com
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 22:55 UTC

The U.S. Geological Survey has reported an earthquake that shook part of Swain County late Friday night.

The U.S.G.S. tracked the earthquake to Cherokee and said it happened at 11:51 p.m.

According to the U.S.G.S. website, this was a 2.8 magnitude earthquake.

Biocide! 2.9 million whales slaughtered in 100 years

Kevin Heath
wildlifenews.co.uk
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 20:47 UTC

Whales slaughtered.

The first estimate of the number of whales killed during the 2oth century is set to be published in the next edition of Marine Fisheries Review. Researchers hunted through the records and found that between 1900 and 1999 a total of 2.9 million whales were killed.

The scale of modern industrial whaling that took hold in the early and mid 1900's is astonishing. The researchers, Robert C. Rocha, Jr., Phillip J. Clapham, and Yulia Ivashchenko , found that between 1900 and 1962 the number of sperm whales killed equalled the total estimated to have been killed over the previous 200 years.

But the height of the whaling industry was only just beginning. In the following 10 years between 1962 and 1972 the industry managed to repeat the scale of killing.

The researchers estimated that between 1712 and 1899 whaler in small sailing boats managed to kill 300,000 sperm whales. Modern techniques and improved shipping meant whalers killed 300,000 sperm whales between 1900 and 1962. Then the big factory ships were launched and in just 10 years another 300,000 sperm whales were caught.

By the time the International Whaling Commission had effectively banned whaling in 1982 they estimate that at least 2,870,291 had been killed since the start of the century.

School bus gets stuck in sinkhole in Kensington, Philadelphia

philadelphia.cbslocal.com
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:05 UTC

Crews responded to the scene after a school bus reportedly became stuck in a sinkhole in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood.

Officials say the incident was reported around 3:30 p.m. Friday at the 400 block of E. Ontario Street.

Chopper 3 was over the scene where it appears the front wheel of the bus got caught in the sinkhole.

Officials tell CBS 3 Eyewitness News no one inside the bus was injured.

The Philadelphia Water Department responded to the scene. They say a large hole in the sewer is what led to the sinkhole.

Water service has been fully restored to about 20 customers who were affected, according to the Water Department.

C and D Streets will remain closed.

Crews will begin repairs Saturday morning.

Bus ends up stuck in sinkhole in Lackawanna, New York

wkbw.com
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 17:56 UTC

Bus stuck in sinkhole.

No students were injured Friday when a bus got stuck in a sinkhole on a street in Lackawanna.

John Sengbusch shared this picture with 7 Eyewitness News, taken on Modern Avenue.

He says there is a water main break on the street, which likely caused the sinkhole.

A second photo with this story from Sengbusch shows the large crater after the bus was removed.

Massive sinkhole opens up in Southport, UK

Alan Weston
Liverpool Echo
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 17:46 UTC

A sink hole in Churchtown village has caused traffic chaos

A busy road junction in Southport is likely to be closed "for several weeks" after a collapsed sewer caused a large sink hole to appear.

The hole, which is 15ft by 10ft, is at the traffic lights at the junction of the A565 (Cambridge Road) and the A5267 (Preston New Road) in Churchtown.

The sewer collapse caused delays for drivers heading through the village, and motorists commuting from Southport to Preston.

Engineers were on site all day today using tankers to pump water from the hole.

Road closed due to sinkhole in Clarksville, Tennessee

clarksvillenow.com
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 16:32 UTC

A sinkhole has opened on Arrowood Dr. in Clarksville.

Arrowood Dr. will be closed from the back entrance of Wal-Mart to Jordan Dr. off Purple Heart Parkway until further notice.

Officer Natalie Hall with the Clarksville Police Department says any drivers who go around the barricades in place to enter the blocked roadway will be cited.

"The roadway is blocked off in order to keep those in the immediate area safe from injury and to prevent further damage created by the sinkhole," she said.

A large sinkhole opened on the same stretch of road last September.

Huge hillside collapse shuts down road near Yeager Airport, West Virginia

Jared Hunt
Charleston Daily Mail
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 15:04 UTC

Aerial photo by West Virginia National Guard shows the extent of the landslide that’s closed Keystone Drive. Yeager Airport said about a third of the engineered fill beneath its main runway overrun area has collapsed

A worst-case scenario became reality Thursday when a large portion of the Yeager Airport hillside — which began experiencing some disturbing slippage over the weekend — collapsed into the valley along Keystone Drive, destroying at least one house, damaging a church, blocking a creek and forcing the evacuation of dozens of residents.

Now officials are scrambling to mitigate damage as they wait on a man-made mountain to finish its bow to gravity.

"It's a bad situation," said Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. "This is a very serious event."

Airport officials initially sounded an alarm Wednesday when they evacuated six people from two houses along Keystone Drive as a precaution when a portion of the hillside underneath the main runway's emergency overrun area slipped about 6 feet over the weekend. Most of the overrun area, known officially as the Engineered Material Arresting System, or EMAS area, was built about eight years ago atop an engineered fill containing about 1.5 million cubic yards of dirt. It was the back portion of that area that began shifting significantly over the weekend.

During an emergency airport board meeting Wednesday, airport officials and representatives from the airport's consulting firm Triad Engineering said the chance of a landslide was slight, but they couldn't discount the possibility.

"The likelihood of a catastrophic failure and it being down in those houses or on that church is slight, but if there is a risk, you're talking about people's lives and I could never live with myself if we didn't strongly encourage them (to relocate)," airport executive director Rick Atkinson said at the time.

However, that remote possibility became a stark reality a short time after noon Thursday when about a third of the engineered fill area began collapsing into the valley below.

Only 1 year of water left in California, NASA scientist suggests rationing

RT
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 11:35 UTC

NASA's top water scientist says California only has about one year's worth of water left in storage, and its groundwater - often used as a backup for reservoirs and other reserves - is rapidly depleting. He suggests immediately rationing water.

California just had the driest January since record-keeping began in 1895, with groundwater and snowpack levels at all-time lows, NASA scientist Jay Familglietti wrote in a column for the Los Angeles Times. He said the state has been running out of water since before the current years-long drought and storage levels have been falling since at least 2002, according to NASA satellite data.

"California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain," said Familglietti. "In short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis."

NASA Responds to California's Evolving Drought | NASA http://t.co/1LfFxh7r9I #climatechange pic.twitter.com/aprOYQL3qE
— Darryl Howery (@dghowery) March 7, 2015

Comment: Access to water is a basic human right, and is essential for sustaining human life. With extreme weather increasing, will we begin to see people migrating as drought conditions worsen in some areas?

Corporations have been systematically 'sucking dry' this valuable resource, with no meaningful restraints or considerations in place, consumed only by their insatiable thirst for profit.

See also:

Flow: How privatization is accelerating the world's water crisis
Water industry, World Bank pilot new scheme to drive public water into private hands
Coca-Cola and Nestle are sucking us dry without our even knowing, effectively privatizing water supplies

Wolf seen prowling the streets of Kolham, Netherlands

Liam Corcoran
Daily Mirror, UK
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:18 UTC

A bizarre video has emerged in the Netherlands of a lone wolf stalking a city suburb as it hunted for its next meal.

The huge grey wolf was filmed running along a residential street in the northern city of Kolham, which is normally packed with children and family pets.

The 22 second video shows the wolf strutting along the road for around 30 metres, stopping from time to time to look into gardens before continuing on its way.

Although running at a brisk pace, witnesses say that it did not seem dangerous and was possibly looking for a new home.