Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Tropical storm Haima hits southern China, forcing ships to stop service


Xinhuanet
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:18 UTC
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© China NewsFishing vessels anchor at Xingang Port to take shelter from the approaching tropical storm in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, June 22, 2011. A new tropical storm, the fourth this year, formed early Tuesday morning and is expected to land in Guangdong from Wednesday night to Thursday morning. The National Meteorological Center has issued a typhoon alarm. (Xinhua/Pan Qinghua)
Haikou, -- All passenger ships have been forced to cease operations in the south Qiongzhou Strait as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, due to the gusty winds brought by the fourth tropical storm of the year, "Haima", which formed early Tuesday morning, the local marine bureau of southern Hainan Province said.

Qiongzhou Strait is located between the southern provinces of Guangdong and Hainan.

Wu Qiang, deputy manager of Xiuying Passenger Ferry Company under the port affairs administration of Haikou, capital city of Hainan Province, said the temporarily suspended service has stranded about 100 travelers and vehicles.

"The port of Haikou has opened two spare parking lots and is ready to offer relevant services," Wu said.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Chicago Area Cleans Up Storm Damage


United Press International
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:28 UTC
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© Chase McNulty
Chicago, Illinois -- Schools and at least one courthouse in the Chicago area were closed Wednesday after violent summer thunderstorms knocked out power to thousands.

At Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., 42 buildings were reported to be without electricity, the Chicago Tribune said. There was no word on when the lights would be back on.

In the north and west suburbs, crews armed with chainsaws worked to remove downed trees and branches from the streets. Delays were reported for suburban commuter trains and the city's mass transit system.

The storms moved through northern Illinois Tuesday night. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Chicago airports, subway passengers were stranded and at least 300,000 homes and businesses lost power. Commonwealth Edison said repairing the damage could take days.
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Binoculars

US: South Carolina Man Killed, Others Hurt in Overnight Storm

Kimberly Dick
The Herald
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
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© aburrissBob Bickford , a resident of the Country Club neighborhood, works on clearing a tree Wednesday morning that fell on an SUV Tuesday night and blocked Country Club Drive in Rock Hill.
Strong thunderstorms that rumbled across the Carolinas late Tuesday night left downed trees, power outages and one Rock Hill man trapped in his SUV.

The storms moved into York and surrounding counties around 9:30 p.m. Thunderstorms persisted for much of the night before finally subsiding shortly before daybreak.

A Rock Hill man was driving home on Country Club Drive when several trees fell on his SUV, said his wife, Lauren Mclean. The trees trapped the 55-year-old man inside his Ford Explorer.

She said a neighbor broke a window on the SUV to pull her husband to safety. He was treated for scrapes, cuts and bruises at the hospital, she said.

In nearby Chesterfield County, investigators say Michael Gulledge was killed by lightening during the storm. Gulledge was outside playing with several people in his Ruby neighborhood when the lightning bolt struck around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities say three others were injured by the same lightning bolt, but were treated and released at the hospital.
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Cloud Lightning

China prepares for more flooding


Al Jazeera
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:48 UTC
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© Gallo/GettyThe rainy season's start has brought deadly floods to such places as Nanchang, in Jiangxi province
Rainy season has already brought misery, but new problems are expected, including typhoons and further inundation.

China's rainy season started off as last year's finished. The rains are usually heavy and they often bring flooding to some areas, but not this much.

Last year, more than 230 million people were affected by the rainfall, which not only triggered widespread flooding, but also a number of landslides.

In all, 4,200 people are thought to have lost their lives in the annual rains. It was China's worst floods in more than a decade.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Rivers rising with heavy rains

Alex Kirchner
wxow
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:36 UTC
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© Unknown
La Crosse, Wisconsin - Rivers in the Coulee Region are running high after 4"-5" of rain fell in some areas on the evening of June 18th. Minor flooding occurred on the Kickapoo River, with spikes in the river levels on nearby rivers as the excess water surged into the watershed.

Mike Welvaert, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service in La Crosse, says that these quick rises in river levels will be brief, lasting only a couple days as the excess water is absorbed, then moved downstream into the Mississippi or other large rivers. Those with interests along high-running rivers or streams should be aware of their surroundings, especially if the forecast includes heavy showers or thunderstorms.

The Mississippi River will start rising over the next few weeks as well as rain water from the smaller tributaries flows into the large river itself. Depending on the amount of additional rain over the coming days, the river could rise to near the flood stage by the July 4th weekend.
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Bizarro Earth

Chilean Volcano Colors Southern Hemisphere Skies

Joe Rao
OurAmazingPlanet
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:26 UTC
Red Skies_1
© Kevin Thomson / FlickrNew Zealand sunset colored by the ash and other particles drifting around the Southern Hemisphere skies from the eruption of Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano.
After lying dormant for decades, Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano suddenly erupted on June 4 and has since hurled a tremendous cloud of ash, as well as plumes of sulfur dioxide into the air. This material has been circling the Southern Hemisphere and has been seriously disrupting air traffic for most of South America, and as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

But along with these negative aspects, the volcano has also been responsible for producing very colorful displays of deep reds and purplish hues as well as ripples of white both at dawn and dusk for many localities south of the equator.

This phenomenon of volcanic material coloring the twilight sky is well known and has been observed many times before in the aftermath of major eruptions. But just why does this occur? Before getting into an explanation, we should first explain how light is scattered to produce the various colors we see in our daytime sky.
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Newspaper

US: Two Killed After Driving into Massive Hole in Flooded Road


Reuters
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:59 UTC
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© UnknownReference Image, not actual.
Two South Dakota motorists died on Tuesday after they drove separately into a massive hole in a roadway washed out by heavy rains, and both vehicles were swept downstream by rushing water, police said.

Heavy rains opened a section of road 10 miles north of Reliance, South Dakota, about 60 feet wide and 50 feet deep that was obscured partly by an uphill grade, said Lieutenant Alan Welsh of the South Dakota Highway Patrol.

The vehicles plunged into the crevice and down into a normally dry creek bed that had been swollen by up to 6 inches of rain, Welsh said. The creek bed flows toward the Missouri River east of where the crashes occurred.

Both of the motorists were from nearby towns. Police identified them as a 56-year-old Chamberlain woman who was found in her vehicle about 100 yards from the crash site and a 61-year-old Lower Brule woman found four miles downstream.

State transportation officials have closed the road.
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Cow Skull

Hundreds of cattle die of mysterious disease in Dadu, Pakistan


Pakistan Press International
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:28 UTC
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© Unknown
Hundreds of cattle including sheep, goats, cows, buffaloes and camels have died of mysterious diseases in a month in different villages of Kachho area lying between Khirthar mountain range in the west and the plains along the river Indus on the east side.

The villagers told PPI, that animals so far included 700 goats, 300 sheep, 40 cows, 25 buffaloes and 15 camels.

The villagers said that 200 goats, 95 sheep and 3 cows died in Pat Gul Muhammad area of Kachho while 160 goats, 5 cows, 3 buffaloes and 6 camels died in village Raju Dero, Sim and Torr within 20 days.

Similarly, over 175 goats, 7 cows, 3 buffaloes and 4 camels died in village Bari, Heero Khan and surrounding areas.
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Cloud Lightning

Saskatchewan flooding prompts 150-km closure of Trans-Canada

Paul Turenne
Winnipeg Sun
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:59 UTC
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© Saskatchewan RCMPFlooding on the Trans-Canada Highway near Sintaluta, Sask. on Monday, June 21, 2011.
A large portion of the Trans-Canada Highway in eastern Saskatchewan is closed due to flooding.

A stretch of about 150 km - from Whitewood to Balgonie - of the province's main highway is closed in both directions due to deep water on the road near the village of Sintaluta, located about 85 km east of Regina.

The Saskatchewan government decided to close the highway Monday, when water up to 60 cm deep in some places drowned out the road.

The flooding was caused by heavy rains which fell over the past few days in the already soggy area.
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Evil Rays

New Zealand: Late night quake scares Christchurch residents

Hamish Clark
3 News
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 07:39 UTC
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© UnknownDamage from the quake
Last night another wave of violent tremors shook Christchurch residents again, and disrupted exams for some university students.

The most violent earthquake - 5.4 - hit just after 10:30pm, scaring the wits out of exhausted Christchurch residents.

"For us it wasn't a rolling, it was very sharp upheaval and really threw everything up and dropped it on the ground," says Peter Claridge.

Mr Claridge lives directly above the epicentre where the quake hit

"It emptied everything out, including the nails," he says.

Comment: Read The Christchurch Tragedy: A Message from the Universe to understand more about what's going on in Christchurch and how it affects the rest of the World.

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