Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Floods and landslides kill at least 58 in Minas Gerais, Brazil - highest rainfall ever in Belo Horizonte - 40,000 displaced (UPDATES)


Floodlist
Sat, 25 Jan 2020 20:58 UTC
Houses hit by flooding in Minas Gerais state.
© APHouses hit by flooding in Minas Gerais state.
At least 14 people have died after record rain caused flash flooding and landslides in Minas Gerais State in southeast Brazil.

The disaster comes just days after the deadly floods in Espirito Santo on 17 to 18 January, where 6 people died.

Minas Gerais Civil Defence reported 14 people have died in the Greater Belo Horizonte area, including in Belo Horizonte city and the municipalities of Ibirité and Betim. Many of the fatalities occurred as a result of landslides. Civil Defence added that 7 people have been injured and around 3,500 evacuated or left homeless.

Roads were turned to rivers as flood water raged through streets of the Greater Belo Horizonte area. Flooding and landslides damaged or destroyed buildings, including a city hospital. Belo Horizonte Civil Defence said that teams attended over 470 incidents of landslides and flooding across the region on 24 January, 2020.


Comment: Update: Sky News reports on Jan 26th:
Brazil: 30 killed in flooding and landslides after two days of torrential rain

Seventeen people are missing and 2,600 have been evacuated from their homes after 48 hours of heavy rain.

At least 30 people have died after two days of heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in southeast Brazil.

Seventeen people have been listed as missing and 2,600 were evacuated from their houses in Minas Gerais state, which has been buffeted by 48 hours of torrential rain.

Photos show people, including children, swimming through some of the flooded streets.

A child swims through a flooded street in Anama, Amazonas state
A child swims through a flooded street in Anama, Amazonas state
More rain is expected in Minas Gerais as well as other parts of Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Around 2,600 people have been evacuated from their homes

Around 2,600 people have been evacuated from their homes
Around 2,600 people have been evacuated from their homes
On Saturday, the number of deaths stood at 11.

The fatalities were reported in the state capital of Belo Horizonte and in the state's interior.

The governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema, will fly over the affected areas on Sunday to evaluate the damage.

The announcement of the deaths comes the same day as mourners elsewhere in Minas Gerais observe the first anniversary of a mining dam collapse that killed at least 250 people.
Update 2: Xinhua reports on Jan 28th:
Severe flooding in southeast Brazil has left at least 58 people dead and displaced more than 40,000 others, the regional civil defense agency said on Monday.

The worst-hit states are Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo, where torrential downpours have wreaked havoc since late last week.

In Minas Gerais, 47 people have died since heavy rains fell on Friday, with four others missing and 65 others injured, the agency said.

At least 101 towns in Minas Gerais have declared a state of emergency after 14,609 people were driven away from their homes due to flood waters, and 3,386 others were left homeless.

The state's capital Belo Horizonte has registered 13 fatalities, mainly as a result of mudslides.

Nine people were reportedly killed in Espirito Santo, and at least two other deaths were reported in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian government has declared a state of calamity in four towns in south Espirito Santo, where rains have caused major damage.


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Snowflake Cold

Capital Nur-Sultan under state of emergency as powerful winter storm hits Kazakhstan


Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 03:01 UTC
Camel towing car
© YouTube/Мир 24 (screen capture)

Authorities in the Kazakh capital have declared a state of emergency after a winter storm pummeled the city with strong winds and heavy snowfall.

Transportation links to and from Nur-Sultan were cut on January 27, while all schools in the capital remained closed.

The spokesman for Nur-Sultan International Airport, Zhenis Akhmetzhanov, told reporters that all flights were postponed for an unknown period of time for safety reasons.

Nur-Sultan's emergencies department called on residents not to leave the capital before the state of emergency is lifted.

Dozens of highways across the Central Asian country have been closed due to winter storms.

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Black Cat

Leopard mauls boy to death in Tanahun, Nepal - 9th such incident for district

Madan Wagle
The Himalayan Times
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 21:59 UTC
Stock image of leopard
© Getty
A boy was killed a leopard attack at Lohipakha in Bandipur Rural Municipality-4 of Tanahun district, on Monday evening, police said.

According to Police Inspector Jitendra Shrestha at the Area Police Office, Dumre, 10-year-old boy Ishak Sunar was mauled by a wild animal while returning home with his mother after celebrating Chewar festival in a nearby jungle area.

"Police recovered the body some 90 metres away from where the boy was dragged to the river bank in the area," police inspector Shrestha added.
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Attention

Record number of sea turtles arrive at North Carolina rehab center due to cold temperatures


abc11.com
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 21:20 UTC
Cold snap sends over 100 sea turtles to rehab center
Cold sends over 100 sea turtles to rehab center
A cold snap has flooded a turtle rehab center with more animals in need than ever before.

Volunteers at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center said they are treating more than 100 turtles. Forty-seven sea turtles were admitted Friday alone.

The turtles are cold-stunned. They are reptiles, which are cold-blooded. Cold-blooded animals cannot regulate their body temperature. So often when temperatures drop quickly, the animals seize up.

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Rose

Unusually warm January in southern & eastern US has plants budding 2 months early

Chaffin Mitchell
Accuweather
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 18:52 UTC
plant sprout
FILE PHOTO
Nearly a foot of snow could fall in some areas while other locations will see widespread, icy conditions following rain.

Although it's January, you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at a thermometer. Many areas across the eastern U.S. have been experiencing temperatures typically seen during March and April.

Temperatures are typically at their lowest during this time of year in the United States when the days are at their shortest; however, the region has seen an increase in temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees above average.

Comment: Early budding can be devastating to crops because the buds and the resulting produce is ruined by the returning cold.

See also:

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Attention

Possible magma accumulation on Reykjanes peninsula, Iceland

Jelena Ćirić
Iceland Review
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:41 UTC
Possible Magma Accumulation on Reykjanes Peninsula
Authorities have declared a state of uncertainty due to possible magma accumulation on the Reykjanes peninsula in Southwest Iceland. The aviation colour code has been raised to yellow for the region, which includes Keflavík International Airport. An earthquake swarm has been ongoing in the area and inflation has been detected in the last few days.

A statement from the Icelandic Met Office asserts that, while earthquake swarms are not unusual in the area, "[t]he fact that an inflation is occurring alongside the earthquake swarm is a cause for closer concern and closer monitoring." The inflation is occurring just west of Þorbjörn mountain, near the town of Grindavík, and is unusually rapid, around 3-4 mm per day. It has accumulated to 2cm to date and is most likely a sign of magma accumulation at a depth of just a few kilometres. It is not certain that magma accumulation is causing the inflation, but if such is the case, then, according to the Met Office, "the accumulation is very small."
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Cloud Precipitation

Flooding shows no signs of receding in Bandung District, Indonesia with 40,000 affected


antaranews.com
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 15:32 UTC
A motorcyclist attempted to pass by a flood-hit road in Dayeuhkolot area of Bandung District, West Java.
© Bagus Ahmad RizaldiA motorcyclist attempted to pass by a flood-hit road in Dayeuhkolot area of Bandung District, West Java.
Flash floods that inundated more than 11 thousand houses in the subdistricts of Baleendah, Bojongsoang, Dayeuhkolot, and Rancaekek, Bandung District, West Java Province, over the past five days, had not receded until Monday morning.

As a result, some 40,844 residents are still affected by the flooding, Head of Bandung District's Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) for Emergency Logistics Affairs Enjang Wahyudin told journalists in Bandung, Monday.

The flood waters still reached 180 centimeters in depth in certain areas, he said, adding that some roads were also inundated disrupting the mobility of residents.


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Attention

Mount Etna spews lava again after spectacular explosions


Yahoo! News
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:38 UTC
Mount Etna
Mount Etna
Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, is spewing lava again after a number of explosions signalled an increase in volcanic activity.

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Seismograph

Strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes Solomon Islands


FRANCE 24
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 07:00 UTC
Magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes Solomon Islands
© AFP
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The powerful quake struck just after 4 pm (0500 GMT) at a depth of 17.7 kilometres (11 miles) some 140 kilometres (90 miles) southeast of the Pacific nation's capital Honiara, the USGS added.

The Solomon Islands Met Service said there was no tsunami threat from the undersea quake.

Garedd Porowai, marketing team leader for Solomon Islands Tourism, said the tremor was "not the biggest" he had felt but it "gave us quite a jolt here in the office".

There was no visible evidence of damage in Honiara's central business district, he added.
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Wolf

Herder woman saves husband from wolf attack in Mongolia

Wang Yamei
Xinhua
Fri, 24 Jan 2020 19:55 UTC
Wolf
© wikipedia
A herder woman saved her husband from a wolf attack in western Mongolia with an axe, the country's state-owned news agency Montsame reported Friday.

The incident occurred in Nogoonnuur soum in western Mongolia's Bayan-Ulgii province on Wednesday.

"My husband rushed outside when he heard a dog barking and saw a wolf in front of the fence near our livestock animals," the woman, in her 40s, was quoted as saying. "The wolf then attacked him."
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