Earth Changes
Tropical Storm Erin stubbornly held together as it passed through Oklahoma early today, causing heavy flooding in the Watonga area and flash flooding in Lawton and El Reno.
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Several people were rescued from their homes or stalled cars in Watonga and Lawton. Rainfall amounts exceeded 7 inches in those areas, according to the state Emergency Management Department.
Hundreds of camels have died in Saudi Arabia this week from a mystery ailment.
The Agriculture Ministry has said 232 camels died in the space of four days in the Dawasir Valley, 400 km (250 miles) south of Riyadh. King Abdullah has promised compensation for owners, who say the real number of deaths is far higher.
XinhuaSun, 19 Aug 2007 10:23 UTC
More than 900,000 people in south and east China provinces have been relocated to safety as typhoon Sepat is expected to land in Fujian Province on Saturday or Sunday morning.
Sepat made a landfall in Hualien, the central-eastern part of Taiwan around 5:40 a.m. Saturday, with sustained winds of 180 kilometers per hour, according to the China Central Meteorological Center.
KRISTIN M. HALL
APSun, 19 Aug 2007 10:23 UTC
Authorities in Memphis and Alabama reported more heat-related deaths Saturday, bringing the toll in the Southeast and Midwest to at least 49 since oppressive triple-digit temperatures settled over the region last week.
In Memphis alone, heat has been blamed as a factor in 12 deaths, mostly elderly victims, in nine days. A 62-year-old man was found dead in his home Friday, the Shelby County Medical Examiner's office announced. The body of a 77-year-old woman was found Thursday evening in her residence, where the temperature inside was 101.
FRANK BAJAK
APSun, 19 Aug 2007 09:25 UTC
The government sent the army Saturday to stop looting fueled by rising desperation in earthquake-shattered Peru, where tens of thousands were without fresh water and shivering families huddled in makeshift shelters at the center of the devastation.
In a soccer stadium in the port city of Pisco, more than 500 people rushed a lone truck that ran out little packets of crackers, candy and toilet paper, screaming that they had not eaten and accusing rescue workers of keeping supplies for themselves.
AFPSun, 19 Aug 2007 07:13 UTC
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Hurricane Dean bore down on Jamaica early Sunday amid concerns it could become "a potentially catastrophic" category five storm capable of causing death and widespread destruction.
Tourists fled resorts in the path of the storm and island residents battened down as the massive swell skirted the Dominican Republic and plowed towards Jamaica, the Caymans and the Mexican coast.
GROTTAFERRATA, Italy - Patrizia Filippi has no degree in meteorology or any idea how to calculate what scientists call extreme weather change. But the 43-year-old grape picker has been working this area's silky, volcanic soil for nearly three decades, and she knows what she sees:
This is an early harvest unlike anything that Italy, or any generation in her family, has experienced in memory.
The invasive Australian jellyfish, Phyllorhiza punctata, first reported in great quantities in the Gulf of Mexico in 2000, has made a vigorous reappearance this summer in waters from southwestern Louisiana to Morehead City, North Carolina. Beachgoers and boaters are encouraged to report their sightings of these exotic jellies to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's jellyfish website, Dockwatch.
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| ©Dan Martin/Dauphin Island Sea Lab
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| The Australian spotted jellyfish can weigh up to 25 pounds.
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This summer has been the driest in Toronto in almost 50 years, Environment Canada says.
And don't look for the situation to change anytime soon.
Many parts of Ontario, from Kitchener-Waterloo to York Region, are experiencing near-record droughts.
In Toronto, where we've had only 9.2 millimetres of rain since July 20, this summer has been the driest in almost 50 years, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.
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Jean-Marc Le Dorze is confounded by all the honeybees vanishing from his Mission apiary.
Kevin Statham photo.
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What's happening to the bees? The fuzzy little honey-making critters are dying off like the dinosaurs, and no one knows why. In the U.S., according to a congressional report updated in June, up to 36 percent of 2.4 million bee colonies were wiped out last winter. Canadian beekeepers reported losses of one-third of this country's bees during the winter, including a 23-percent loss in British Columbia.