© Andrew Holmes
Earth Changes
© Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters
Stranded passengers in a railway station in Kolkata, India, in May after trains were canceled because of Cyclone Fani.
Stranded passengers in a railway station in Kolkata, India, in May after trains were canceled because of Cyclone Fani.
Up to 22m people are estimated to be displaced by the end of the year
A record seven million people were displaced by disasters in the first half of 2019, suggesting that mass displacement due to extreme weather events is "becoming the norm," according to a new report.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, which uses data from governments, United Nations humanitarian agencies, and media coverage to create its reports, concluded that nearly twice as many people were displaced in the first half of the year by weather events than by conflict and violence. The report was compiled before Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas - the numbers affected by that storm are still unclear.
IDMC estimates that the number of new displacements associated with weather events will reach 22m by the end of the year, more than tripling the current number, and making 2019 one of the worst years for climate displacement since records began.
Comment: Watch SOTT's monthly Earth Changes Summary for extreme weather events that are occurring worldwide these days.
SnowReportSA predicted that snowfalls would occur in the Western Cape from Thursday.
Although the snowfalls were confined to the higher peaks, some intrepid snow-followers still managed to find some significant snow-covered areas.
According to SnowReportSA, there won't be any further snowfalls over the weekend, but the current snowfall could last up to two days on the ground if the temperatures remain low.
© MGN
The other two were rushed to a hospital but to no avail. They breathed their last in Sadar Hospital, Garwha on Thursday.
Garwha SDO Pradip Kumar said that it was raining and the youths tried to hide themselves under a tree. The trees are a good conductor of electricity. When the lightning hit it the tree the current was discharged upon the youths hiding under it.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said, "My heart goes out to the families who lost their loved ones." Raghubar Das also announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of the deceased.
© USGS
The quakes have all been within a couple miles of each other near Cherokee, North Carolina, in the Great Smoky Mountains, the USGS earthquake monitoring system shows. None of the earthquakes caused damage or injuries, USGS said.
The biggest quake was a 2.5 magnitude temblor around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday about 2.5 miles southwest of Cherokee, according to the USGS.
- Sept. 7, 8:14 p.m.: 1.9 magnitude, 5 miles south of Cherokee
- Sept. 9, 4:21 a.m.: 1.4 magnitude, 3.1 miles south-southwest of Cherokee
- Sept. 9, 3:08 p.m.: 2.0 magnitude, 3.1 miles south-southwest of Cherokee
- Sept. 11, 8:13 p.m.: 2.3 magnitude, 3.7 miles south of Cherokee
- Sept. 11, 11:03 p.m.: 2.5 magnitude, 2.5 miles southwest of Cherokee
- Sept. 11, 11:14 p.m.: 2.1 magnitude, 3.7 miles south-southwest of Cherokee
Disturbing footage shows the aftermath of a lightning storm on a farm in Texas
Disturbing footage shows the animals, which have scorch marks on their stomachs, lying in a row on a farm in Texas after a thunderstorm.
Rancher Bobby Woody III said it was one of the 'wildest and craziest' things he had ever witnessed.
'When the lightning hit, it had such strong voltage, it basically jolted one cow in the middle of the field,' Woody wrote on Facebook.
Villarrica in Chile
Authorities in the south of Chile are rehearsing evacuation plans amid concern that the volcano could potentially erupt within "days or weeks."
Villarrica, near the popular tourist resort of Pucon around 750km south of the capital Santiago, was upgraded to an orange alert after it began rumbling and hurling lava into the air late on Tuesday.
The orange alert by the National Geology and Mining Service (SERNAGEOMIN) implies a "significant" increase in activity.
Comment: Another similar recent incident in the same country: Huge sinkhole swallows taxi after opening up on Chinese road
A fisherman was yesterday killed by a hippo in Lake Naivasha, bringing to 11, the number of those killed in similar manner this year.
Fishermen and stakeholders near the lake have expressed concerns over the rising number hippos, noting it was time their population was reduced.
In the latest case, the fisherman was in the company of a colleague in the lake when the lone animal attacked them.
During the incident near Karagita beach, the colleague managed to escape while the casualty had his body cut in half.
The extreme weather has caused flooding in other parts of Valencia, as well as in Murcia and Castile-La Mancha. The Clariano river in Ontinyent, a village in Valencia, has also burst its banks, requiring 40 people to be rescued and 150 evacuated from their homes.
A small tornado formed at around three in the morning on Dénia's Raset beach, in Alicante province, damaging the municipal sports center and ripping up trees, traffic signs and roofs. Winds of 104 kilometers per hour were recorded.
Comment: Here's one of the tornadoes, which touched down outside the city of Alicante this morning:
The same front produced an equally spectacular storm over the Balearic Islands yesterday:
This happened in the same region a month ago:
Flash-floods in Valencia Region, Spain after 40mm of rain in less than 1 hour
This happened in the same region in April this year:
The worst April storm in 73 years hits Costa Blanca, Spain - Cities of Valencia and Alicante flooded
Comment: Australia to import wheat for first time in over a decade after the "Worst drought in 116 years"