Earth ChangesS


People

36,000 more people face urgent evacuation in flood zone as crisis deepens in key cities

Water levels hit record high levels in both Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Tuesday.
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© Alexander KolbinTens of thousands across eastern Russia have been evacuated due to flooding which some experts blame on global warming.
Water levels hit record high levels in both Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Tuesday. 'The water continues to rise in the Khabarovsk territory. The Komsomolsk-on-Amur area is at worst risk', presidential envoy to the Far East Federal District Yury Trutnev told a meeting with prime minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The water level hit the 805-centimetre mark in Khabarovsk by 9 am and 820 cm in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, he said.

'This will make the additional evacuation of 36,000 people necessary', said Trutnev, as reported by Interfax.

Already tens of thousands across eastern Russia have been evacuated due to flooding which some experts blame on global warming.

Snow Globe

Ice delays supply barge for Western Arctic communities

Sea Ice in the Arctic Ocean
© Canadian PressAs much as 30 to 40 per cent of the Arctic Ocean remains covered in ice
Several communities must wait a few more days for fuel resupplies. Ice buildup in the Amundsen Gulf is responsible for barge delays that have many Northern coastal communities running short on supplies.

Normally, a supply barge arrives in the area in early summer to replenish stocks of fuel and other necessities in those communities. But this year, that trip is being held up by ice. As much as 30 to 40 per cent of the Arctic Ocean remains covered in ice.

"We have not seen ice with this type of coverage in quite a few years and I really don't know how far back we might've seen it," says Bill Smith, a spokesman with Northern Transportation Company Ltd., which services the communities.

"It's the opposite of what we've been seeing for the last few years where, generally, ice conditions have been improving from a transportation perspective."

Ice Cube

Tom Coburn: I'm a 'man of science' and the Earth is moving into a 'mini-ice age'

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Even though his state was battered by tornadoes and extreme weather this year, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn (R) is more convinced than ever that global warming is a hoax, and that this Earth is actually due for a "mini-ice age."

In a speech to the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Coburn said that the United States was not growing as fast as it could because "we're not taking advantage of the wonderful natural resources that we have in our country, that we're limiting our capability through over-regulation and interference in the private sector."

Although the Chamber told Raw Story that they were only making Coburn's opening remarks available on YouTube, Tulsa World published a few of the senator's thoughts about climate change from the question and answer portion of the event.

Cloud Precipitation

China floods affect more than 5 million in border province

Heilong River flooding
© (Xinhua/Ma Ling)The Heilong River has swelled since mid-August, with some sections of its middle and lower reaches seeing their worst floods in history.
Floods and heavy rain have affected more than 5.2 million people in the Sino-Russian bordering province of Heilongjiang, local authorities said on Wednesday.

As of Monday, residents from 904 towns and townships have been affected by the floods, and among them, 331,000 people have been relocated, said the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The floods have also caused 18,300 houses to collapse and roads to be temporarily cut off on 1,315 occasions, according to the headquarters, adding that total economic losses for the province are estimated at 19.1 billion yuan (3.12 billion U.S. dollars).

More than 8,000 relief workers are still battling the floods.

The Heilongjiang River has swelled since mid-August, with some sections of its middle and lower reaches seeing their worst floods in history. The water levels of Nenjiang River and Songhua River have also exceeded their warning level for weeks.

The provincial water resource department estimates the water levels of mainstream Songhua River and Heilongjiang River to recede and return to normal after Sept. 20 and 30 respectively.

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - 88km SW of Atka, Alaska

Atka Quake_040913
© USGS
Event Time
2013-09-04 06:27:05 UTC
2013-09-03 18:27:05 UTC-12:00 at epicenter


Location

51.327°N 174.857°W depth=37.0km (23.0mi)

Nearby Cities
106km (66mi) SSW of Atka, Alaska
1559km (969mi) SSE of Anadyr', Russia
1811km (1125mi) E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
1828km (1136mi) E of Yelizovo, Russia
2641km (1641mi) W of Whitehorse, Canada

Technical Details

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.5 - 77km SSW of Atka, Alaska

Atka Quake_040913
© USGS
Event Time
2013-09-04 02:32:33 UTC
2013-09-03 14:32:33 UTC-12:00 at epicenter

Location
51.592°N 174.760°W depth=39.9km (24.8mi)

Nearby Cities
77km (48mi) SSW of Atka, Alaska
1532km (952mi) SSE of Anadyr', Russia
1809km (1124mi) E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
1826km (1135mi) E of Yelizovo, Russia
2618km (1627mi) W of Whitehorse, Canada

Technical Details

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.5 - Izu Islands, Japan region

Izu Quake_040913
© USGS
Event Time
2013-09-04 00:18:24 UTC
2013-09-04 09:18:24 UTC+09:00 at epicenter

Location
29.986°N 138.811°E depth=404.8km (251.5mi)

Nearby Cities
356km (221mi) SSW of Hachijo-jima, Japan
494km (307mi) SSE of Shingu, Japan
514km (319mi) S of Oyama, Japan
515km (320mi) SSE of Owase, Japan
637km (396mi) S of Tokyo, Japan

Technical Details

Cowboy Hat

Idiocracy: Fourth largest fire in California history caused by 'some sort of marijuana-type grove thing'

Todd McNeal
© UnknownFire Chief Todd McNeal
A video of Twain Harte Fire Chief Todd McNeal briefing the community on California's Rim fire surfaced online today, and in it he said that "we know [the fire]'s human-caused, as there was no lightning in the area...and we highly suspect there might be some sort of illicit grove, some sort of marijuana-type grove thing."

The fire started in a remote area Stanislaus National Park known as Jawbone Ridge. The area is familiar to locals not only for the ruggedness of its terrain, but for the recent appearances of "marijuana plantations" in its more inhospitable reaches.

Comment: Yup, it's all down to 'some sort of marijuana-type grove thing'. Pay no attention to the changing weather!


Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - 191km WSW of Bella Bella, Canada

Bella Bella Quake_030913
© USGS
Event Time
2013-09-03 20:19:06 UTC
2013-09-03 11:19:06 UTC-09:00 at epicenter

Location
51.198°N 130.405°W depth=1.0km (0.6mi)

Nearby Cities
191km (119mi) WSW of Bella Bella, Canada
347km (216mi) S of Prince Rupert, Canada
388km (241mi) WNW of Campbell River, Canada
388km (241mi) SSW of Terrace, Canada
592km (368mi) NW of Victoria, Canada

Technical Details

Eye 2

Two record-setting Alligators weighing more than 700 pounds caught in Mississippi

Trammell alligator
© Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks via NBC NewsThe crew with the Trammells held a state record for heaviest male alligator for only about an hour. It was soon broken by another catch.
Open season for alligator hunting in Mississippi began over the weekend with a few record-setting catches.

First-time hunters Beth and Rob Trammell were heading back into shore after a long day of hunting Sunday when they hooked what would turn out to be a state record-setting 723.5-pound male gator, according to The Clarion-Ledger.

"Oh, my gosh. It's the Loch Ness monster," Beth Trammell recalled saying when the beast surfaced after more than an hour of struggle.