Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

16,000 pigs drowned after monster rainstorms in China

Daniel Miller and Edward Chow
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:33 UTC
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Catastrophe: Some farmers in the region were able to get their livestock to safety, but at the pig farm in Dahua Yao the water rose too fast
Thousands of pig carcasses have been washed up on farmland in southern China after days of continuous and torrential rain sparked devastating flash floods.

Health and safety authorities in south China's Guangxi region are removing and sterilizing an estimated 16,000 pig carcasses after filthy, algae-filled floodwater swamped the large farm, drowning most of its animal inhabitants, according to People's Daily Online.

The pig farm is situated in a valley in the autonomous county of Dahua Yao walled by steep mountains on either side which caused the water levels to rise rapidly following the relentless downpour.

Pictures of the remote valley with the farm buildings flooded have been quickly shared on Chinese social media showing thousands of pig carcasses floating among the rubbish and debris.


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Aftermath: A total of 16,000 pigs drowned at the farm in south China's Guangxi region after heavy rainstorms caused devastating flooding
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Cloud Precipitation

Tropical Storm Bill dumps rain on Texas, raising fear of floods

Phil Helsel
nbcnews.com
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:15 UTC
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Texas Storm: A tropical storm in Texas raises fear of flood
There was flooding in Texas Tuesday as Tropical Storm Bill made landfall on the southeastern part of the state, and dumping more than two inches of rain on a region that was hard hit by flooding last month, officials said.

Tropical Storm Bill is the first tropical storm to hit Texas in seven years. Nearly 2 1/2 inches of rain fell in Baytown, and there were reports in Houston to the west, according to the National Weather Service.

The tropical storm hit Matagorda Island, near Corpus Christie, just before noon and was located about 45 miles northeast of Victoria as of 10 p.m. local time, according to the National Hurricane Center. A tropical storm warning remained in place from Port Aransas to south of Galveston Tuesday.

Nearly 5 1/2 inches of rain fell in Bay City in Matagorda County, southwest of Houston, between midnight and 6 .m., a carport was damaged in Edna, Texas, and a car was blown off the road in Morales, according to NWS reports.

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Binoculars

Black bear spotted in Indiana for the first time in over 140 years

Brendan O'Brien
Reuters
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 22:36 UTC
black bear Indiana
Wildlife officials say a wandering Michigan black bear has arrived in Indiana.
A black bear has been spotted in Indiana for the first time in more than 140 years, state wildlife officials said on Tuesday.

Paw prints and a scat pile found in northwest Indiana were left behind by a young male black bear that likely walked into the state from Michigan within the last week, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said in two statements.

"It's quite unusual and exciting for a Michigan lakeshore black bear to move this far south," said Mitch Marcus, an Indiana DNR wildlife official.
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Attention

Elephant gores man to death at beach side restaurant in Thailand

Euan McLelland
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 13:44 UTC
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The five-year-old elephant is led away after causing the death of a man who was out eating with friends
A man died in hospital after being gored through the chest by an elephant that was being used to beg for money on a beach in eastern Thailand.

Weeranat Yoodee succumbed to his brutal injuries yesterday following the Monday night attack as he ate dinner with friends at a seaside restaurant in the tourist hub of Rayong, south of Bangkok.

The 28-year-old was speared by the four-ton animal's tusk after it was spooked by nearby commotion - thought to be loud music and passing traffic.

In doing so, it rammed Yoodee and charged into the telecoms worker's friend, Thongpoon Boonraksatrakul - leaving him with severe bruising to his chest and rib cage.

Police rushed to the scene in Tambon Noen Phra, with the two men taken to Krungthep Rayong Hospital.

Yoodee died on Tuesday.

The elephant's keeper - known as a mahout - was identified locally as Surin native Wittawat Aundoungdee, 21. He's been charged with violating animal welfare legislation, recklessness causing death and injury, transporting animals without permission, and using animals in inappropriate work.

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Black Cat

Georgia police in Tbilisi shoot tiger that killed man after zoo escape

Andrew North
The Guardian
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 13:30 UTC
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Animal that escaped in Tbilisi after severe flooding is shot dead but officials say other animals might be on the loose
Police in Tbilisi say a tiger that broke loose after severe flooding at a zoo in the Georgian capital over the weekend has been shot by marksmen after it killed a man and wounded another..

It has now emerged that other animals may still be on the loose, amid conflicting statements from the government and zoo officials.

The man who died is believed to be in his 40s. The tiger reportedly attacked him around midday as he and two others entered a flood-damaged building near Tbilisi's central Heroes Square, a few hundred metres from the zoo.

It brings to 20 the number of people killed in the disaster, with most of the casualties residents of homes that were flooded by the sudden deluge on Saturday night. At least six people are still reported to be missing.

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Snowflake Cold

Record summer cold in the Netherlands

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 13:17 UTC
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Last night weather station Twente measured minus 4,1 Celsius. It has never been that cold in the Netherlands at this time of year, summer.

For the coming night night frost is expected, too.

Normally there is no night frost after the Ice Saints (May 11 -15).

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis, Hans Schreuder and JJM Gommers for these links
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Attention

Toxic algae bloom may be largest ever off West Coast

Sandi Doughton
The Seattle Times
Mon, 15 Jun 2015 12:39 UTC
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© NOAAA close up of the diatom that produces the marine toxin domoic acid.
A team of federal biologists set out from Oregon Monday to survey what could be the largest toxic algae bloom ever recorded off the West Coast.

The effects stretch from Central California to British Columbia, and possibly as far north as Alaska. Dangerous levels of the natural toxin domoic acid have shut down recreational and commercial shellfish harvests in Washington, Oregon and California this spring, including the lucrative Dungeness crab fishery off Washington's southern coast and the state's popular razor-clam season.

At the same time, two other types of toxins rarely seen in combination are turning up in shellfish in Puget Sound and along the Washington coast, said Vera Trainer, manager of the Marine Microbes and Toxins Programs at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
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Arrow Down

Sinkhole forces residents to evacuate in Illawong, Australia

Kate Aubusson
The Sydney Morning Herald
Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:31 UTC
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The sinkhole in Illawong that opened up about 4pm on Monday.
More than a dozen people have fled their homes at Illawong in Sydney's south after a sinkhole swallowed a backyard on Monday afternoon.

The three-metre deep hole opened up about 4pm, forcing police and firefighters to evacuate a row of townhouses on Osprey Drive.

One man was asleep on his couch when he heard a loud crack in his garden outside, the man's friend, Hisham Bashir said.

"He looked outside and the tree had collapsed and the ground started to sink," Mr Bashir said.

"Dirt had sprayed up all over his backyard and on the trampoline. There was dirt all over the windows.

"It's pretty scary, but these things happen," he said.
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Fish

Ice age warning? Ocean near Iceland unusually cold, no mackerel

Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir
Iceland Review
Wed, 10 Jun 2015 20:37 UTC
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© Páll Stefánsson. A West Iceland beach.
The Icelandic Marine Research Institute's annual spring expedition from May 18 to 30 concluded that the ocean temperature off Iceland has not been lower in 18 years, or since 1997. The number of krill is below average and not a single mackerel was caught.

"In the past years we have always caught some mackerel, and especially last year. But now we didn't see any," Guðmundur J. Óskarsson, one of the institution's specialists, who took part in the expedition, told Fréttablaðið.

Guðmundur stated that the ocean temperature from Southeast Iceland to the West Fjords has dropped by one to one-and-a-half degree Celsius. However, it can quickly increase if the air temperature increases substantially, he added.

Last month was the coldest May in Iceland in decades.

The expedition is part of the institute's long-term study of the condition of the ocean around Iceland, the vegetation, krill and fish which exist there. Samples were taken in 110 locations.
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Fish

More dead fish wash up on shore in Riverhead, New York

Kristin Thorne
WABC
Tue, 16 Jun 2015 16:23 UTC
Dead Fishes
© WABCFor the second time in weeks, a large number of dead fish have washed up to the shoreline in Riverhead.
There's a dead fish mystery on Long Island.

For the second time in weeks, a large number of dead fish have washed up to the shoreline in Riverhead.

"Just look, the smell, oh my God, it's terrible," a resident said.

And that's putting it mildly.

"It's just a shame. A lot of guys who own these boats they don't even want to come down here now because of the smell. And the flies, you got flies, you got all kinds of bugs down here now," said Dan Battaglia, of Moose Lodge 1742.

It's just the latest massive fish die off around Riverhead. Just two weeks ago, thousands of the same bunker fish washed up around Flanders Bay.

And a few weeks before that there were more than 100 diamondback terrapins found dead around the same area. And now there's this die off along the Peconic River.
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