Earth Changes

Flooding kills five in snow-hit Algeria

New Indian Express
Sat, 26 Jan 2019 14:46 UTC

Deep snow in north Algeria, Jan 24th

While the victims were retrieved over the last 48 hours, around 100 people have been rescued in the last 24 hours in more than 17 areas.

Algeria's civil protection unit said on Saturday that five people died after being swept away by flood waters as a cold snap in the Maghreb brought snow to several of the country's regions. "All the victims have been retrieved over the last 48 hours after being swept away by waters in Annaba, El Tarf, Tizi Ouzou and Tipaza," the civil protection body said.

Dozens of out-of-control fires tear through Tasmania, Australia

Cairns Post
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 13:20 UTC

The blaze at Miena has been bought fought by crews on the ground and in the air.

Fire crews in Tasmania are preparing for what is expected to be the most dangerous day for bushfires due to hot and windy weather.

Residents have been told to enact their bushfire survival plans with 29 out-of-control fires burning across the state.

The bushfires have already ripped through more than 66,000 hectares, creating a line of fire more than 800 kilometres long.

A total fire ban remains in place.

Earthquake: 6.2 quake strikes near Taro, Solomon Islands

L A Times
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 13:00 UTC

A deep magnitude 6.2 earthquake was reported Friday evening 22 miles from Taro, Solomon Islands, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 7:51 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 221.8 miles.

According to the USGS, the epicenter was 73 miles from Arawa, Papua New Guinea.

In the last 10 days, there have been no earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.

This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm written by the author.

Large sinkhole in Maasdijk, the Netherlands: 100 households with less to none tap water

Sott.net
Sat, 26 Jan 2019 10:01 UTC

Last Thursday, on January 24th, a 2-meter-wide sinkhole appeared in the Dutch city of Maasdijk. News reports say the cause was a leak in the water pipeline. Water supply to around a hundred households has been cut off as a result.

The water is being pumped out of the sinkhole to try to repair the leak. The sinkhole appeared at the intersection of Korte Kruisweg with Abel Tasmanstraat. A part of the road has been closed. Due to the sinkhole, a lot of sand has been pouring out on the street.

According to news reports, it's unknown what caused the leak. However, as explained in the book 'Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection':

Since none of the invoked causes can explain the sudden appearance of so many new sinkholes in so many different locations, we're left to consider that some new factor must underpin the sharp increase. It makes us wonder if the 'opening up' of the Earth is not this new factor."

It is likely that sinkholes are caused by the slowdown of the Earth's rotation as a result of an increase in electrically charged comet dust surrounding the planet, and the decrease in solar activity. This could lead to the Earth literally 'opening up'.

Comment: See also: Sinkhole appears in the center of Amsterdam

Dam collapse in Brazil leaves 7 dead, 200 missing, floods city with mining waste

Globalnews.ca
Sat, 26 Jan 2019 03:13 UTC

© Leo Drumond/Nitro via AP
A structure lays in ruins after a dam collapsed near Brumadinho, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. Brazilian mining company Vale SA said it didn’t yet have information on deaths or injuries at the dam but said that tailings have reached the community of Vila Ferteco.

A dam that held back mining waste collapsed Friday in Brazil, inundating a nearby community in reddish-brown sludge, killing at least seven people and leaving scores of others missing.

Parts of the city of Brumadinho were evacuated, and firefighters rescued people by helicopter and ground vehicles. Local television channel TV Record showed a helicopter hovering inches off the ground as it pulled people covered in mud out of the waste.

Photos showed rooftops poking above an extensive field of the mud, which also cut off roads. The flow of waste reached the nearby community of Vila Ferteco and an administrative office for Brazilian mining company Vale SA, where employees were present.

″'I've never seen anything like it," Josiele Rosa Silva Tomas, president of Brumadinho resident's association, told The Associated Press by phone. "It was horrible ... the amount of mud that took over."

Seven bodies had been recovered by late Friday, according to a statement from the governor's office of Minas Gerais state.

Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman said he did not know what caused the collapse. About 300 employees were working when it happened. About 100 had been accounted for, and rescue efforts were under way to determine what had happened to the others.

"The principal victims were our own workers," Schvartsman told a news conference Friday evening. He said a restaurant was buried by the mud at lunchtime.

Comment: Rivers rising after record rainfall in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay - almost 20 inches in 3 days with 7 inches in 80 minutes

Spectacular auroras seen over Tromsø, Norway

Space Weather
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 21:04 UTC

A stream of high-speed solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field. Last night, it produced a G1-class geomagnetic storm and a spray of pink auroras over Tromsø, Norway. "Oh yeah!" says Markus Varik, who photographed the display:

"It's pure art to be around Tromsø these days with fantastic Solar Minimum pink auroras dancing above our moonlit snowy landscapes," he says.

Most auroras are green--the color of oxygen atoms being struck by energetic particles from space between 100 km and 300 km above Earth's surface. Pink appears when energetic particles descend lower than usual, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below. Both colors were visible over Tromsø on Jan. 24th.

Deadly floods in Asturias, Spain

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 20:23 UTC

Four dead in freak conditions caused by heavy rains in Northern Spain

Four people have died in landslides and flooding caused by days of heavy rains in northern Spain.

The fatalities occurred in in the Principality of Asturias, a region of northwest Spain. One of the victims was swept away by flooding from an overflowing river in Tineo. The other victims died in separate incidents in Laviana, Mieres and Salas when their vehicles were either swept from the roads or caught in landslides.

The Asturias Emergency Coordination Centre said it received a total of 2,205 calls for assistance during the severe weather. Emergency services evacuated around 40 people from a hospital in Arriondas on Thursday 24 January due to flooding.

Several roads and schools were also closed. On 24 January the Government of Asturias said emergency workers were attending around 160 incidents of flooding and storm damage.

Regional government delegates visited Laviana and Mieres on 24 January to assess the damage.

135-yr-old snowfall record broken in New York

Josh Williams
Daily Messenger
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 20:24 UTC

© Jack Haley/Messenger Post Media
Still cleaning up from the weekend storm in Clifton Springs on Monday afternoon. Heavy winds pushed snow around and filled in driveways and made driving difficult in some spots.

First came the snow, which stormed into the Finger Lakes region Saturday night and left Sunday.

Like an unwanted party guest, the bitter cold stayed behind. A wind-chill advisory was to expire at 7 a.m Tuesday in Ontario, Wayne, Monroe, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties, as a red alert was put in place Monday throughout the area for wind chills around -20 to -25 degrees at times.

But it's still cold.

Looking back, total snowfall added up to 20 inches in parts of Western New York and the entire area has seen more than a foot of total snowfall. A daily record snowfall for Jan. 19 was broken Saturday with 7.8 inches of accumulation, beating the previous record of 6.3 inches set in 1884.

But it could have been worse - the city of Canandaigua only had one weather-related first responder's call.

Draining the swamp? Sinkhole near the White House will keep streets closed for up to a week for repairs

Justin Wm. Moyer
Washington Post
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 19:50 UTC

A sinkhole that opened near the White House on Tuesday and caused street closures will take up to a week to repair, officials said Thursday.

The sinkhole opened at 17th and D streets NW, causing the closure of 17th Street NW between C and E streets.

On Thursday, the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority said in a statement that crews are still working to expose a sewer line that was crushed when concrete fell on it.

Officials said 17th Street between C and E streets and D Street between 15th and 17th streets will remain closed until the repairs are complete.

Pepco is also at the scene to repair power lines, according to a spokeswoman from the utility.

Massive sinkhole opens La Habra, California

CBS News - Los Angeles
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 18:10 UTC

An enormous sinkhole opened up after an underground flood channel collapsed in La Habra, causing trees to collapse and endangering several nearby condos.

The sinkhole formed in a greenbelt between two condominium complexes at the Coyote Creek complex in the 900 block of West Imperial Highway at about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday.

"The whole house shook and it felt like a bunch of cars full on like hit the house," resident Matt Tucker said.

Tucker was at work when he got a call from his wife telling him the ground in front of their home had given way and a tree had slammed into the front.

The gaping maw between the two buildings is 80 feet long and 20 feet deep. The ground surrounding the sinkhole is so unstable, trees are collapsing into the sinkhole.