Earth ChangesS


Question

Flocks of birds found dead in public water reservoirs in Baligubadle, Somalia.

Geeska
The Horn, Somalia
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 03:41 UTC
The District Officials of Baligubadle of Hawd Region, issued a public awareness message to district-residents to refrain from drinking water from the public water reservoirs were flocks of birds have been discovered dead

These birds, which are a kind new to Somaliland, are believed to have been on their migration-and, somehow resulted in this unfortunate circumstance. The Somali-State of Ethiopia also issued a similar message to residents of Harshin, where a similar occurrence took place.
Image

In an exclusive interview with the Mayor of Baligubadle, he spoke on the flock of birds found dead in the water reservoirs.
"We contacted the Ministry of Health as well as The Ministry of Livestock, there have also been public awareness messages on Radio Hargeisa urging citizens to refrain from drinking from those specific locations".
The Mayor of Baligubadle also added that the number of birds found in the reservoir were of tremendous numbers.
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Bizarro Earth

Unprecedented: Sockeye salmon at dire historic low on Canada's Pacific coast - "We think something happened in the ocean" - "The elders have never seen anything like this at all"


ENE News
Mon, 12 Aug 2013 08:56 UTC
Sockeye Range
© NMFS Office of Protected Resources
Aboriginal people in British Columbia who rely on Skeena River sockeye are facing some extremely difficult decisions as sockeye salmon returns plunge to historic lows.

Lake Babine Chief Wilf Adam was on his way to Smithers, B.C., on Monday for a discussion about whether to entirely shut down the food fishery on Lake Babine, something he said would be drastic and unprecedented [...]

Last month, the department noted returns for the Skeena River sockeye run were dire. [...]

[Mel Kotyk, North Coast area director for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans] said department scientists don't know why the return numbers are so low. "[...] we think something happened in the ocean."

"[...] We've never seen anything like this in all these years I've done this. I've asked the elders and they have never seen anything like this at all." [said Chief Wilf Adam]

Source: Associated Press
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Arrow Down

Part of road collapses in Kersaw County, South Carolina

Tony Santaella
WLTX
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 19:13 UTC
kersaw sinkhole
Road crews are trying to fix a portion of road that collapsed in Kershaw County.

The hole is along the edge of Wildwood Lane, which is near Lugoff-Elgin High School.

Crews say water along the road caused a tree on the side of the road to sink in, taking a portion of the roadway with it.

Traffic is being diverted in the area. Crews says it could take days to repair the road.
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Map

Another sinkhole opens up in Shenzhen, China: swallows two vehicles!

Kevin McGeary
The Nanfang Insider
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 19:00 UTC
Shenzhen sinkhole
© Southern MetropolisNow for the clean-up operation
Shenzhen has had a startling number of sinkholes in recent months, and now it has another to add to the list: the latest opened up in Yantian District on Saturday morning (Aug. 17) swallowing two vehicles. Fortunately nobody was seriously injured. This one was 30 square metres in size and five metres deep and, like the last sinkhole in Shenzhen at the start of this month, locals had previously warned authorities that something similar was liable to happen and were ignored, Southern Metropolis Daily reports.

Local residents near the scene of the sinkhole on Yankui Road had noticed several road signs had been collapsing in recent weeks and that sediment had slid onto a nearby basketball court from the road.

Comment:
March 27 2013: Shocking video captures moment man is swallowed by 52-foot deep sinkhole in China
May 21 2013: Huge sinkhole swallows and kills FIVE factory workers in Shenzhen, China

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Fish

Pacific herring in Canada bleeding from eyeballs, faces, fins, tails, baffle biologist: 'I've never seen fish looking this bad'


ENENews
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:33 UTC
herring
© Alexandra Morton via Vancouver 24 hrs
The Globe and Mail, Aug 13, 2013 Independent fisheries scientist Alexandra Morton is raising concerns about a disease she says is spreading through Pacific herring causing fish to hemorrhage. [...] "Two days ago I did a beach seine on Malcolm Island [near Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island] and I got approximately 100 of these little herring and they were not only bleeding from their fins, but their bellies, their chins, their eyeballs. [...] "It was 100 per cent ... I couldn't find any that weren't bleeding to some degree. And they were schooling with young sockeye [salmon]"
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Telescope

Astronomer captures incredible footage of noctilucent clouds and Northern Lights together in Scottish night sky

Ellie Zolfagharifard
The Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:32 UTC
  • Maciej Winiarczyk, 41, captured the images in Caithness, Scotland
  • Noctilucent, or 'night-shining', clouds are normally too faint to be seen
  • Half way through the video the clouds are joined by a spectacular aurora
A stunning time-lapse video of a rare celestial show has been captured dancing across a night sky.

The recording gives a rare glimpse of rolling noctilucent clouds and dancing aurora glimmering across the horizon.

The astronomer witnessed the famous Northern Lights and 'night clouds' earlier this month, over a single night above Caithness, Scotland.

It is unusual to see either phenomena, and incredibly rare to see both simultaneously.


Noctilucent - or 'night-shining' - clouds are made of sunlight-reflecting ice crystals and are normally too faint to be seen from the ground.

The clouds are the highest in atmosphere at around 50 miles above the Earth's surface.

They are often photographed from aircraft in flight, from the International Space Station.

Comment: While it was once rare to see noctilucent clouds, it's becoming quite common these days due to increased comet dust in the upper atmosphere:

Global dust veil: Dust belt from the overhead cometary explosion in Russia raced around the world in just four days

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Phoenix

Fires sweep trough Madeira


NASA.org
Tue, 20 Aug 2013 11:59 UTC
Image
© Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC.
Fires have been burning out of control on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The fire that broke out in the early hours of the morning on August 16, 2013 above the village of Monte became stronger towards noontime as intense heat and the wind made the flames spread.

News outlets have been reporting that up to eleven houses were destroyed over the weekend. Firefighters have been battling to control the flames which reached the outskirts of the capital Funchal by Friday night. The hospital in Funchal had to be evacuated, according to reports. The original fires are reported to be largely extinguished, but another has been causing concern after rekindling last night in Barreira, above Santo António. Properties have been threatened and residents evacuated. Stronger winds were apparently to blame. An accident involving an Army vehicle and resulting in one dead and three injured firefighting personnel has been reported.
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Phoenix

Wildfires persist in California


NASA.org
Tue, 20 Aug 2013 11:43 UTC
Image
© Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC
Several fires are currently raging in central and northern California. These fires can be seen in this natural-color Terra satellite image taken by the MODIS instrument on August 18, 2013.

The American wildfire began August 10, 2013 and the cause of the fire is still under investigation. To date over 13,000 acres have been affected. The growth potential for this fire is high due to terrain and weather patterns. Thunderstorms predicted over the next few days may bring additional complexity and increase the potential for new starts. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning beginning today, through Wednesday evening, August 21. Changing weather patterns are likely to affect fire behavior and smoke dispersal patterns.

The Swedes Fire began on August 17, 2013 and grew to 1,995 acres Sunday, where it now stands. Firefighters have contained 45 percent of the blaze. The goal is to have the fire fully contained by Thursday the 22nd. Winds are erratic and change frequently, which is dangerous for residents in the area because the fire can move quickly in unexpected directions.
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No Entry

Storm drain collapse blamed for Gulfport sinkhole


wlox.com
Tue, 20 Aug 2013 07:57 UTC
Sinkhole Mississippi
© Savannah Ramsey BaswellA collapsed storm drain pipe created this sinkhole on Dolan Avenue in Gulfport.
There's a huge reminder of Sunday's heavy rain on Dolan Avenue in Gulfport. Barricades now surround a three foot deep hole, which measures about nine feet long and eight feet wide.

Public Works Director Wayne Miller said the collapse of a storm drain pipe created the sinkhole.

WLOX News received pictures from a viewer showing a car perched precariously above the growing hole. It's located about one block north of Highway 90 at Dolan Avenue and 16th Street.

Dolan Avenue is the street where Lynn Meadows Discovery Center is located. Visitors to the children's museum have to detour around the cave-in.
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No Entry

Sinkhole severely damages wheels of woman's car


CBC.ca
Tue, 20 Aug 2013 07:36 UTC
Sinkhole in Winnipeg
© (Courtesy Jan Knight)A close-up view of the sinkhole
A Winnipeg woman's morning started with a bang after she drove into a sinkhole in a downtown parking lot on Monday.

Jan Knight was pulling into her regular parking lot at 5:20 a.m. when she was jolted after driving into and out of a metre-deep hole.

"My front tire popped and before I knew what was going on, I went over again and my back rear tire popped and my car was virtually undriveable," she said.

"The front and rear driver-side tires and the rims and the hub caps are all destroyed."
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