Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Pennsylvania girl, 11, hit by lightning on sunny afternoon


Associated Press
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:08 UTC
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Canonsburg, Pennsylvania - An 11-year-old western Pennsylvania girl is recovering after she was struck by a bolt from the blue.

Lisa Wehrle tells the Observer-Reporter newspaper of Washington, Pa., that the sun was shining when her daughter, Britney, was struck by lightning Friday, apparently from a storm several miles away.

Lisa Wehrle says, "There was no rain. It was a beautiful day. All she heard was some thunder."

The lightning hit Britney as she was walking down a hill in North Strabane Township with a friend about 2:30 p.m. that day. The bolt hit her on the left shoulder, leaving a burn-like mark and exited her wrist, where it left another mark.

She was treated at a Pittsburgh hospital. Doctors discovered her arm was broken, but otherwise she's OK.
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Cloud Lightning

US, Iowa: Record rainfall, flash flooding and fires in Dubuque

Mike Verlo
WREX
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:10 UTC
10.92 inches of rain fell in Dubuque overnight and rain continues to fall over eastern Iowa. That's a record for the day in Dubuque, and the most of any July day in history. There were unofficial reports of 12 inches in Galena and Peosta.


The rain caused widespread flash flooding, which covered parts of Highway 20 and forced officials to shut down both directions of traffic. Highway 20 was closed between Epworth and Peosta and also from mile marker 313 to the Illinois border. Highway 52 was closed from mile marker 51 to 52.

There were tornado warnings earlier in the evening Wednesday, but there have been no confirmed reports of tornado touchdowns or damage.

Dubuque County emergency responders were busy all night long helping people stranded in vehicles and putting out fires started as a result of the weather.
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Phoenix

US: Unusual Lightning Strike Sparks Three Minnesota Fires


Duluth News Tribune
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:57 UTC
Lightning hitting a tree caused three fires on East Ninth Street in Duluth this morning, extensively damaging one house.

The fires were reported at 4:10 a.m. Firefighters arrived on the scene to find the front of the house at 21 E. Ninth St. fully involved. That fire was causing the siding on the house at 19 E. Ninth St. to melt and burn.

Three people living at 21 E. Ninth St. escaped the burning building.

The exterior fire at 21 E. Ninth St. was knocked down but could not be completely extinguished due to a gas-line break at ground level under the deck at the front of the house. Interior operations were delayed until it was determined that there was not a danger of an explosion. After that, firefighters entered the building to attack the blaze. The burning gas under the deck burned for more than an hour after the main fire was extinguished while city crews worked to find valves to stop the flow of gas to the building.
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Nuke

Fukushima Long Ranked Most Hazardous Plant

Chisa Fujioka and Kevin Krolicki
Reuters
Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:35 UTC
Fukushima
© Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co/HandoutWorkers are seen around the 2nd cesium adsorption systems which are to be installed to treat highly radioactive water pooled at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, July 26, 2011.
Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant ranked as one of the most dangerous in the world for radiation exposure years before it was destroyed by the meltdowns and explosions that followed the March 11 earthquake.

For five years to 2008, the Fukushima plant was rated the most hazardous nuclear facility in Japan for worker exposure to radiation and one of the five worst nuclear plants in the world on that basis. The next rankings, compiled as a three-year average, are due this year.

Reuters uncovered these rankings, privately tracked by Fukushima's operator Tokyo Electric Power, in a review of documents and presentations made at nuclear safety conferences over the past seven years.

In the United States -- Japan's early model in nuclear power -- Fukushima's lagging safety record would have prompted more intensive inspections by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It would have also invited scrutiny from the U.S. Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, an independent nuclear safety organization established by the U.S. power industry after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, experts say.
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Stop

Australia: Hendra virus still mystery for scientists

Belinda Tasker
The Sydney Morning Herald
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 08:48 UTC
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© Unknown
The deadly Hendra virus was first detected in Australia nearly two decades ago but it still baffles scientists.

So far, they know that fruit bats carry the virus which can infect horses, dogs and humans.

But they do not know exactly what causes it, how it spreads or why it is so deadly.

There is also no known treatment.

Hendra virus first rang alarm bells in Australia with the sudden deaths in Brisbane of 14 horses, prominent race horse trainer Vic Rail and one of his stablehands in September 1994.

Initially called equine morbillivirus, scientists later renamed it Hendra virus (HeV) - after the Brisbane suburb where the first outbreak was detected - when they discovered it was a completely new genus of the paramyxoviridae family, which includes measles, mumps and canine distemper.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Tropical Storm Don Moving Across the Gulf of Mexico Toward Southeastern Texas


Washington Post
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:21 UTC
Miami - Tropical Storm Don is over the central Gulf of Mexico but the system is not expected to become a hurricane as it moves toward southeastern Texas.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Don's maximum sustained winds Thursday were 45 mph (75 kph) with gradual strengthening forecast in the next 36 hours.

The storm is expected to make landfall on the Texas coast late Friday or Saturday.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast from Port Mansfield to San Luis Pass.

The storm is centered about 425 miles (684 kilometers) east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, and is moving northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).
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Cloud Lightning

Philippines: Tropical storm 'Juaning' triggers floods, landslides, accidents

Alexis Romero
The Philippine Star
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:00 UTC
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© Manny MarceloA passenger bus lies on the service road after it crashed and fell from the Skyway in Sucat, Parañaque yesterday. The driver and two passengers were killed.
At least 10 people died and four others were reported missing as tropical storm "Juaning" (international codename Nock-Ten) intensified further and moved closer to the country yesterday, officials said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said storm warning signal no. 2 was hoisted over

Camarines provinces; Albay; Catanduanes; Pangasinan; Nueva Ecija; Zambales; Pampanga; Tarlac; Bulacan; Bataan; Rizal; Cavite; Laguna; Batangas; Quezon; Polillo Island and Metro Manila as of 5 p.m. yesterday.

Signal no. 1, meanwhile, was up in Ilocos Norte; Ilocos Sur; Apayao; Cagayan; Abra; Kalinga; Isabela; Mountain Province; Ifugao; La Union; Benguet; Nueva Vizcaya; Quirino; Aurora; Mindoro provinces; Lubang Island; Marinduque; Romblon; Burias Island; Masbate; Ticao Island and Sorsogon.

Citing field reports, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Benito Ramos said all the fatalities were residents of the Bicol region.

Raffy Alejandro, civil defense director for Bicol, said seven of the fatalities were from Albay province. He said two persons were reported killed in Catanduanes while one died in Camarines Sur.
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Radar

US: 3.6 magnitude earthquake hits southern Idaho


The Herald Journal
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:13 UTC
A 3.6 magnitude earthquake struck southern Idaho on Monday evening.

The United States Geological Survey reported that at 9:38 p.m. a shallow quake hit about 11 miles northeast of Franklin.

The quake measured about 0.2 miles beneath the surface. Its epicenter was about 4 miles north of the Utah/Idaho border in the mountains. Residents in the Bear Lake area and northern portion of Cache Valley reported feeling the tremor.
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Info

US, California: 3.3-magnitude earthquake shakes Sonoma County

Randi Rossman
Petaluma 360
Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:55 UTC
A 3.3-magnitude earthquake bounced southern Sonoma County Monday morning, followed by three smaller quakes in the same area, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

The quake was felt at least north to Santa Rosa. Some folks in the south county said the first quake was a sharp, quick jolt. There was no report of any damage.

At Kenilworth Junior High School in Petaluma, Jackie Watt was working in the kitchen at the time.

"It almost sounded like a plane landed on the roof," said Watt.

Her rolling work chair shifted a few inches and her computer screen jiggled back and forth.

"It got louder and louder," Watt said. "Everything rattled in the kitchen."
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Radar

US: Powerful 5.8 Magnitude Shallow Earthquake Hits Gulf Of California

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather
Tue, 26 Jul 2011 07:56 UTC
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© Google Earth
The Gulf of California, a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland, was struck by a powerful shallow earthquake Tuesday morning.

The 5.8 magnitude quake struck at 11.44a.m. local time. The epicentre was situated 86 km (53 miles) southwest of Los Mochis, Sinaloa; 138 km (85 miles) north-northeast of La Paz, Baja California Sur; and 142 km (88 miles) west-southwest of Guamuchil, Sinaloa (Mexico).

The US Geological Survey (USGS) measured the seaquake depth at a shallow 10.2 kilometres (6.3 miles).
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