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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.8 - 106km SSW of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea


US Geological Survey
Fri, 01 May 2015 19:45 UTC
Kokopo Quake_010515
© USGS
Time
  1. 2015-05-01 08:06:04 (UTC)
  2. Times in other timezones
Nearby Cities
  1. 106km (66mi) SSW of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
  2. 187km (116mi) ENE of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
  3. 310km (193mi) SSE of Kavieng, Papua New Guinea
  4. 428km (266mi) WNW of Arawa, Papua New Guinea
  5. 693km (431mi) NE of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Scientific Data
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Windsock

Waterspout filmed close to Phuket Beach, Thailand


The Phuket News
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 19:20 UTC


The waterspout could clearly be seen for around a minute before decaying into a cloud above.

The last waterspout to be seen in Phuket was in November last year over Patong beach.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains that waterspouts are essentially the same as tornados, but over water.

"Waterspouts fall into two categories: fair weather waterspouts and tornadic waterspouts.

"Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water. They have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.
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Cloud Precipitation

3 die in floods after 'off-the-scale' downpours in Caboolture, Australia: Nearly 11 inches of rain in 3 hours

George Sandeman
The Guardian
Fri, 01 May 2015 17:50 UTC
Image
© Dan Peled/AAP A car is submerged in flood water in Stones Corner, Brisbane.
An eight-year-old boy and two adults have been killed after their car was swept away by flood waters in south-east Queensland.

Police were called to Dances Road in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, just after 5.30pm. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene along with a man in his 70s and a woman in her 30s.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described the deaths as tragic, saying police investigations were under way. "On behalf of all Queenslanders we express our deepest sympathies," she told reporters on Friday night.

She described the storm cell as "off the scale".

Caboolture alone received 333mm of rain from 9am, with 277mm falling within three hours in the afternoon. The average rainfall for Brisbane for the month of May is 74mm but, as ABC weather presenter Jenny Woodward tweeted, the city has received a record amount of 181mm, with the previous mark having been 149mm in 1980. The Bureau of Meteorology has also said that some areas of Queensland experienced winds in excess of 100km/h.

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Attention

Herd of elephants trample woman to death in Bangladesh


The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Fri, 01 May 2015 17:09 UTC
Image
A herd of 16 elephants trampled a woman on a hill of Satkania upazila in Chittagong this afternoon.

"The elephants destroyed a woman's house in the forest, eventually killing her," said Asheem Mollick, a wildlife inspector of Department of Forests.

The deceased has been identified as Ambia Khatun, 50.

Earlier in the day, the elephants were travelling from one hill to another, through the elephant pass.

On their way, they tampered with a recently built electric pole which finally killed a female aged elephant.

The rest of the elephants were still wandering in the forest.
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Binoculars

Migrating birds still delayed by cooler than normal weather in Canada

Bruce Di Labio
Ottawa Citizen
Fri, 01 May 2015 16:50 UTC
Image
© Judith Gustafsson / Ottawa CitizenThe group of Tree Swallows was spotted at Brewer Pond. During cool spells many swallows concentrate in sheltered areas along rivers, ponds and creeks feeding on insects.
The anticipation of spring migrants pouring into Canada's Capital is still just a dream. The continuing cool weather last week slowed north bound migration yet again but with warmer temperatures this past week, truly the dream will slowly become a reality.

How cool is it?

On a recent trip to Algonquin Park on April 28, some lakes were still partially frozen and snow drifts were visible in sheltered areas. What we need is a good dose of southern air.

This past week a few new arrivals were found making their way north in spite of the weather including Ovenbird, Palm Warbler, and Northern Waterthrush. A Blue-gray Gnatcher was seen in the Pakenham area on April 26.
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Arrow Down

Sinkhole big enough to swallow a car opens up in Oxford, Mississippi


The Clarion Ledger
Fri, 01 May 2015 12:29 UTC
sinkhole
© via Twitter

A sinkhole big enough to swallow a car has developed on a busy section of Mississippi Highway 6 in Oxford.

Fortunately, people spotted the hazard and authorities re-routed traffic before anybody drove into it.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports the problem started Wednesday morning in an eastbound lane. The hole was between the exit for Jackson Avenue and one for Chucky Mullins Drive, leading to the University of Mississippi campus.

Comment: Also see:

  • Sinkhole in Breda, the Netherlands: Residents without water after main break
  • Massive 100 metre sinkhole leaves Ukrainian villagers terrified after reports it has swallowed up homes
  • Woman rescued from 35 ft deep sinkhole in Cherokee County, Texas


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Attention

Woman killed by shark off Maui, Hawaii


nbcnews.com
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:38 UTC
Image
A Hawaii woman was killed in an apparent shark attack off the coast of Maui on Wednesday morning, prompting officials to close off beaches and a section of the ocean that includes a popular surfing spot.

Snorkelers near the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve on the southwest coast of the island found the woman's body floating face-down in the water just before 9 a.m., and the injuries are consistent with a shark attack, Maui County government said in a statement.

The woman was only identified as a 65-year-old resident of Kihei, up the coast about 12 miles from where her body was found. Authorities said she was snorkeling with two friends when they became separated, and she was alone when the body was discovered.

Beaches and the ocean from the reserve to Makena State Park to the north, including a surf spot called "The Dumps" were closed until at least noon Thursday, the Department of Land and Natural Resources said.

There have only been two other shark attacks in all of Hawaii so far this year, according to the DLNR, which tracks shark attacks. Neither was fatal.

Until Wednesday, there had been only three confirmed fatal shark attacks in Hawaii waters since 1995, but all three of those occurred off the coast of Maui - two in the past 16 months, DLNR records said.

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Cloud Precipitation

Storm dumps 7 inches of rain in a day on Havana, Cuba

Richard Davies
floodlist.com
Fri, 01 May 2015 10:51 UTC
Image
© Juvenal Balán / GranmaFloods in Havana, Cuba, 30 April 2015.
A storm dumped over 188mm (7.4 inches) of rain on Havana, Cuba, during 30 April 2015, leaving 2 dead and causing several buildings to collapse.

Local media say that one of the victims, an elderly man, drowned in the flood water in the Old Havana District of the city. The other victim was electrocuted after power cables were knocked down by the storm.

Water and power supplies were interrupted during the storm. At least three buildings collapsed and over 20 others were damaged. Building collapses are not uncommon in the older areas of the city, where housing stock is densely inhabited and generally in poor condition. In late November 2013, 2 people died in Havana after a building collapsed as a result of flooding.

The heavy rain flooded many of the city's streets. The municipalities of Centro Habana, Old Havana and Cerro were the worst affected, according to local media. Flood water was over 50cm deep in some areas, causing problems for drivers and pedestrians.

More heavy rain is expected in the country over the next 24 to 48 hours, particularly in western regions. The torrential rains have been caused by thunderstorms that formed rapidly in the Florida Straits, ahead of a cold front, according to Cuba's National Institute of Meteorology (INSMET).
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Umbrella

Severe storms hit Eastern Australia as emergency services put on alert


The Guardian
Fri, 01 May 2015 08:41 UTC
Eastern Australia storms May 2015
© Bureau of Meteorology Storms pass over the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, heading south towards New South Wales on Friday. Reproduced with the permission of the Bureau of Meteorology.

South-east Queensland hit by a deluge, forcing events to be cancelled, and parts of northern NSW warned to expect damaging winds and heavy rainfall

The east coast low battering Queensland is moving south toward New South Wales, with heavy rain and dangerous winds set to hit the northern rivers, mid north Coast and northern tablelands over the weekend.

Queenslanders have been experiencing wind gusts in excess of 100km/hr and extreme flash flooding on Friday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (Bom).

The rugby league Anzac Test between Australia and New Zealand at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night has been postponed due to the bad weather.

The Australia-New Zealand Test will now be played on Sunday at 4pm, with the City-Country match going ahead at 2pm.

All tickets purchased for Friday's match will be valid for the rescheduled match, however those unable to attend will be given a full refund.

Rain had earlier forced organisers to call off the trans-Tasman curtain-raiser - the women's Test between Australia's Jillaroos and New Zealand's Kiwi Ferns - although that will now also be rescheduled for Sunday.

That east coast low is expected to cross the state border early on Saturday morning, when the rainfall in Queensland will begin to decrease and the focus will turn to NSW.

"We're going into the most intense period of rainfall in the next six to 12 hours [in NSW] and with that we'll also see those strong winds too," a Bom spokesman said on Friday afternoon.

Rainfall of around 150 to 200mm is expected for northern NSW during that time, with the possibility of localised falls of more than 350mm.

People living along the coast from the Queensland border as far south as Port Macquarie would be hit with the heaviest rain and strongest winds, with very heavy surf also predicted, according to a statement from the Bom.

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Arrow Down

Sinkhole in Breda, the Netherlands: residents without water after main break

Zack Newmark
NLTimes
Sun, 26 Apr 2015 09:08 UTC
sinkhole breda
A water main break in Breda flooded streets and left area residents without water Sunday, utility firm Brabant Water announced. The break caused a sinkhole on Haagweg, leading the company to send repair crews to the scene.

A traffic detour was set up around Haagweg, to give water crews room to work.

The incident began at about 5 a.m. The area around Haagweg and Gooren, a street 150 meters east of there, is without water until about 8 p.m., the company said less than two hours later.
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