Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Historic Flooding Unfolding Along Mississippi, Ohio Rivers

Alex Sosnowski
AccuWeather
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:28 UTC
Flood waters from the Ohio River
© AP Photo/Darron CummingsFlood waters from the Ohio River crash against a step of a home along the river in Utica, Ind., Monday, April 25, 2011.
As if tornadoes and damaging thunderstorms were not enough, historic flooding is also threatening the Mississippi River, below St. Louis, as well as the lower part of the Ohio River.

The rising waters are expected to top levels set during February 1937. This mark is the middle Mississippi Valley's equivalent to the 1993 event farther north along Old Man River.

Even if rain were to fall at a normal rate for the remainder of the spring, the consequences of what has already happened in the Midwest will affect way of live, property, agriculture and travel/shipping/navigation for weeks in the region.

While the amount of evacuees currently numbers in the hundreds, it could soon number in the tens of thousands as levees are topped or breached and rivers expand their girth into more farming communities, towns and cities.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Tornadoes take staggering toll in Alabama and Deep South

Patrik Jonsson
Christian Science Monitor
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:05 UTC
A massive thunderstorm front spawned 137 tornadoes, killed at least 180 people, and mangled sections of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville, Ala., on Wednesday. April is now one of the most violent weather months in the region in decades.

A line of violent thunderstorms - the latest in a deadly series - rolled across the Deep South Wednesday, spawning dozens of tornadoes, razing churches and fire stations, trapping people amid debris, and finally leaving at least 180 people dead, mostly from heavily populated parts of Alabama.

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Attention

US: Tennessee Valley Shuts All Browns Ferry Nuclear Reactors After Storm

Leela Landress
Bloomberg
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:00 UTC
browns ferry nuclear reactor
Tennessee Valley Authority shut all three Browns Ferry reactors in Alabama yesterday after severe storms and tornadoes caused a brief power outage at the plant, Barbara Martocci, a company spokeswoman, said.

The plant, which includes the three reactors, automatically shut at 5:30 p.m. local time after losing the off-site power supply, Martocci, who is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, said today in a telephone interview.
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Cloud Lightning

US: A look at the death toll from storm system that spawned tornadoes, decimated South


The Washington Post
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:55 UTC
tuscaloosa tornado
© Don Kausler Jr./Tuscaloosa BureauThe enormous tornado that hit Tuscaloosa Wednesday afternoon.
Here are the most recent death tolls in the states hit hardest by the storm system that spawned dozens of tornadoes across the Southeast, killing at least 280 people:

- Alabama: 194 dead

- Mississippi: 33 dead

- Tennessee: 33 dead

- Georgia: 14 dead

- Virginia: 5 dead

- Kentucky: 1 dead
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Cloud Lightning

US: East Tennessee wakes up to massive storm damage


WBIR
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:49 UTC
Thursday morning, East Tennesseans along with most of the South are recovering from deadly storms.

In the 10News viewing area Cocke and Greene counties were the hardest hit. Greene County officials are reporting five fatalities. WCYB in the Tr--Cities is reporting that 7 people are dead in Washington County, VA. Bradley County was also hit hard with five confirmed dead in Cleveland.

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Radar

Bad Science Propaganda: Iceland - Would an Eyjafjallajökull repeat eruption ground airplanes again?


Aircargo Asia Pacific
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:42 UTC
iceland,eyjafjallajokull,volcano
© ReutersLava and ash explode out of the caldera of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano
The ash first emitted by Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull when it erupted one year ago has been assessed as dangerous to airplanes and the resulting airport closures as justified, a study by earth scientist Sigurdur R. Gíslason of the University of Iceland says.

He studied the eruption with Susan Stipp from the University of Copenhagen and their findings indicate that any future eruption should be treated the same way until any ash clouds can be proven safe for aircraft.

"We demonstrated the ash had very fine particles and was carried long distances by air currents," Gíslason said.
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Radar

Europe rebuked for supplying false volcano ash info to air passengers


Click Green
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:37 UTC
Airport terminal
Thousands of flights were grounded in last year's ash alert
The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has criticised the misleading information given to air passengers by the European Commission during the volcanic ash crisis in 2010.

The official inquiry followed a complaint from the European Regions Airline Association about, among others, inaccurate information concerning compensation for delayed luggage.

The Ombudsman asked the Commission to inform him by 31 May 2011 of the measures taken to prevent such a problem from occurring in the future.
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Cloud Lightning

At least 250 dead as hundreds of tornadoes devastate Southern US

Greg Bluestein & Jay Reeves
Associated Press
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:56 UTC
Image
© REUTERS/Marvin GentryOvernight tornadoes leaves part of Pratt City, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in ruins April 28, 2011.
Pleasant Grove, Alabama - Dozens of massive tornadoes tore a town-flattening streak across the South, killing at least 250 people in six states and forcing rescuers to carry some survivors out on makeshift stretchers of splintered debris. Two of Alabama's major cities were among the places devastated by the deadliest twister outbreak in nearly 40 years.

As day broke Thursday, people in hard-hit areas surveyed obliterated homes and debris-strewn streets. Some told of deadly winds whipping through within seconds of weather alerts broadcast during the storms Wednesday afternoon and evening.

"It happened so fast it was unbelievable," said Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired firefighter who was picking through the remains of his son's wrecked home in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham. "They said the storm was in Tuscaloosa and it would be here in 15 minutes. And before I knew it, it was here."
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Fish

Record number of whales, krill found in Antarctic bays


Physorg.com
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:13 UTC
Image
© Unknown

Scientists have observed a "super-aggregation" of more than 300 humpback whales gorging on the largest swarm of Antarctic krill seen in more than 20 years in bays along the Western Antarctic Peninsula.

The sightings, made in waters still largely ice-free deep into austral autumn, suggest the previously little-studied bays are important late-season foraging grounds for the endangered whales. But they also highlight how rapid climate change is affecting the region.

The Duke University-led team tracked the super-aggregation of krill and whales during a six-week expedition to Wilhelmina Bay and surrounding waters in May 2009. They published their findings today (April 27) in the online science journal PLoS ONE.

"Such an incredibly dense aggregation of whales and krill has never been seen before in this area at this time of year," says Duke marine biologist Douglas Nowacek. Most studies have focused on whale foraging habitats located in waters farther offshore in austral summer.
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Radar

Exotic birds fly into Wales

Sion Morgan
WalesOnline
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:11 UTC
Image
© UnknownBee-eater
They're normally spotted in the more exotic climes of Africa, South America and the Mediterranean. But changing global climates are bringing some unusual avian visitors to Wales, as Sion Morgan reports

From the African plains to the mountains of the Himalayas, from the wilderness of Alaska to the South American jungle, it seems the world's most exotic birds are increasingly visiting our Welsh shores.

A number of exotic species are now appearing in our gardens and could soon change the landscape of the countryside forever.

Bird watching is changing and the scale of rare, colourful and plain alien species in Wales has been revealed by the Welsh Ornithological Society (WOS).
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