I thought I'd wax a little Biblical today. As many of you know, my very first book was a commentary on Revelations entitled The Noah Syndrome. I was quite struck by the fact that the descriptions given by the alleged "John of Patmos" were so similar to the descriptions of the plagues in Egypt as reported in Exodus and that is what started my research into cataclysms, Earth Changes, etc. That was back in the mid 80s; a lot of water has gone over the dam and under the bridge since then and my most recent book, Comets and the Horns of Moses covers the topic more broadly with scientific backing for what is likely to come on the Earth in the not-too-distant future. Following that volume, my research helper, Pierre Lescaudron, wrote Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection based on certain ideas that had developed in "Comets and the Horns..." which he understood a lot better than I did so I said "you write it!"

Anyway, as the horror increases daily on our planet and I feel more and more like I have awakened into a nightmare because of the rampant psychopathy on an almost global scale; as I observe the back and forth between Israel and the US, Israel and Gaza, the US and Russia, the manipulations of the US in Ukraine; Ukraine against its own people; wars in Africa, ISIS in Iraq; the growing peril of Ebola (and probably worse to come); the onward march of global climate change (not warming, oncoming Ice Age) burning, blasting, destroying; one thing keeps running through my head: Revelations Chapter 18. You see, even if the religious parts of the Bible, all the God said/did stuff, is hokum in my opinion, I still think that there were some fundamental texts that were utilized to create Judaism/Christianity/Islam, and those texts were descriptions of real events - cataclysmic events that we haven't seen the likes of since Rome was destroyed by similar processes. So, even if the book of Revelations might have been written much later, (and I don't think that Jehovah/Yahweh/any other God was doing things, and I think that 'angels' were actually descriptions of comets), I do think that it is possible that the Information Fundament of our reality can inform and inspire writers in ways we don't understand. That is, literary foreshadowing, drawing on unknown characteristics of the Cosmic Information Field, might be a valid channel of real prophecy.

Wellington had an unusually wet morning with parts of the city flooded and firefighters called out to deal with the deluge.

The capital was enjoying clearer skies this afternoon after a wild morning.

The Fire Service said its staff were called out to about eight flooding or rain-related incidents in Wellington today, mostly in relation to surface flooding.

Wellington City Council said it sent staff to tackle surface flooding in Taranaki Street. A video the council posted to Instagram showed fast-flowing water made a manhole "dance" in the road.

MetService said 34.2mm of rain fell in Wellington this morning. Most of that -- 23.2mm -- fell in just the last two hours of the morning.

Parts of a low-lying road in Mt Cook, Wakefield St in Te Aro and the Kent Terrace sidewalk in Mt Victoria were flooded.

Forecasters at MetService expected sunnier spells for the rest of the day.

A powerful 6.8 earthquake has struck off the eastern coast of Japan's Honshu island, USGS and Japan Meteorological Agency report. Shaking has been felt in Tokyo.

The quake struck at 6:13am local time at a depth of almost 50 kilometers. While USGS originally reported the quake at 6.9 magnitude, JMA measured it at 6.6. No casualties or damage have yet been reported.

No tsunami warning was issued by JMA and according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based on all available data a "destructive pacific-wide tsunami" is not expected. No warning has been issued for the US state of Hawaii.

A large sinkhole has opened up in Burnaby near the 4800 block of Albert Street on Monday evening.

Metro Vancouver crews estimate the sinkhole is 16 feet long, six feet wide and three to four feet deep.

An investigation is underway into what caused the road to collapse, says Metro Vancouver spokesman Don Bradley.

"There has been a considerable amount of infrastructure, work performed in the area over the past several years but the investigation will determine the cause and appropriate next steps," he said.

Albert Street is closed for one block between Gamma and Delta Avenues. A security crew will watch over the sinkhole overnight and cleanup crews will be back Tuesday morning.

Channel 7 News has received numerous reports of flooding across the state following heavy rains and storms over the weekend into Monday morning.
The Arkansas River Trail on the North Little Rock side is "basically closed" due to the high water from the Arkansas River. As of 3:30 p.m. Monday, the river is at 15 feet and beginning to encroach on the trails. By Tuesday night the river will be at 21 feet and most of the trails will be completely underwater. Specifically, the trail is closed from the entrance to the Big Rock Quarry to the Big Dam Bridge. The closure is expected to last for at least a few days.

Toad Suck Park in Bigelow, just outside of Conway, was evacuated Monday due to increased flow of the Arkansas River. No flooding has been reported yet, but the Corps of Engineers says it is anticipating flooding overnight into Tuesday.

National Weather Service meteorologists continue to monitor releases from Remmel Dam in Hot Spring County. The water is rushing from Lake Catherine down to the Ouachita River. Officials are warning residents of significant flooding downstream.

In Garland County, officials are also monitoring the waters flowing from Carpenter Dam into the Ouachita River. There are several reports of flooding at Lake Hamilton, with water covering many boat docks and rising over yards. Several county roads have been washed out.

A northern Manitoba community is in shock after an 11-year-old girl was found dead, her body showing signs of a possible bear attack.

Teresa Robinson went missing on May 5. Her body was discovered six days later, on Monday.

David Harper, Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, said Robinson's remains were found near her Garden Hill First Nation home. He told The Canadian Press that it appears the girl was mauled by an animal, and that a bear in the area could be the culprit.

"Bears were seen wandering there Tuesday night on the east side," he said. "It's just awful ... no one's heard of this happening before."

Investigators have yet to release an official cause of death for the girl. Harper said wild dogs also live in the area, and it could be up to 48 hours before it's clear exactly what killed Robinson.

Straddling a dead whale floating on the open ocean as its carcass is ripped apart by three species of shark isn't something you can expect to do every day but it's something Bermudian videographer Choy Aming can now add to his bragging rights.

He received a text on Sunday from a fisherman telling him that there was a dead adult sperm whale floating in the water about 12 miles off shore on the eastern side of Challenger Banks. Within an hour Mr Aming, along with photographer Chris Burville and a small group of friends, were able to watch the drama unfold as about a dozen tiger, blue and dusky sharks made a meal of the 30-35 feet leviathan.

Mr Aming told The Royal Gazette: "I had two sharks within two feet of my face while I was sitting on the back of a dead whale just ripping flesh out of it. I have never been able to get that close. It's not the largest number of sharks I have seen at once but it was just pretty intense over all because the feeding was quite ravenous.

"We were on Chris's boat but once I saw the sharks sticking their heads out of the water I thought, 'I've got to climb on the whale'. I was probably sitting there for 45 minutes with my GoPro camera but it was very shaky and unstable — when the swells came the whale would roll.

Bald Head Island Conservancy officials found a dead whale on shore Monday morning.

According to Assistant Director Poul Lindegaard, his crew came upon the animal in the middle of South Beach and notified officials immediately.

The UNCW Stranded Marine Mammal Team is determining the cause of death.

If California's prolonged dry spell is eventually recognised as a megadrought, no one can say we weren't warned. Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, has hit its lowest level ever. Feeding California, Nevada and Arizona, it can hold a mind-boggling 35 cubic kilometres of water. But it has been many years since it was at capacity, and the situation is only getting worse.

"We're only at 38 per cent full. Lake Mead hasn't been this low since we were filling it in the 1930s," said a spokeswoman for the US Bureau of Reclamation in Las Vegas.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology Tuesday warned the El Nino weather phenomenon, which can spark deadly and costly climate extremes, will pack a punch this year after declaring its onset in the tropical Pacific.

El Nino is associated with drought conditions in Australia and occurs when the trade winds that circulate over waters in the tropical Pacific start to weaken and sea surface temperatures rise.

It is the weather system's first appearance in five years.

"This is a proper El Nino effect, it's not a weak one," David Jones, manager of climate monitoring and prediction at the Bureau of Meteorology, told a media briefing.

"You know, there's always a little bit of doubt when it comes to intensity forecasts, but across the models as a whole we'd suggest that this will be quite a substantial El Nino event.

An El Nino had been predicted to start in 2014 and officials said it was a "near miss", but thresholds have now been hit in the tropical Pacific for the first time since March 2010.