Earth ChangesS


Umbrella

US: Midwest under siege from floods, tornadoes


StarTribune.com
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:14 UTC


Image
© Cliff Jette, Associated Press
Floodwaters from the Cedar River inundate downtown Vinton, Iowa, on Wednesday. Electricity was cut this morning when rising water affected the city's municipal power plant.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa - From Iowa to Missouri, officials in the flood-ravaged Midwest were frantically sandbagging, watching weakened dams and rescuing residents from water that in some places rose knee-high, while storms threatened more damage in the Upper Plains.

Several tornadoes touched down in Minnesota's Nobles, Murray and Cottonwood counties, damaging trees and farm outbuildings, as well as in eastern Nebraska.
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Target

Earthquake hits Timor Leste


Xinhua
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:50 UTC
An earthquake with magnitude of 5.2 rocked Timor Leste on Thursday, with no report of damage or casualty, Indonesian meteorology agency said here.
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Magic Wand

First beaver dam in England for centuries

Urmee Khan
The Telegraph
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:31 UTC
A pair of beavers have built what is believed to be the first dam in England for centuries.

The animals were hunted to extinction in England and Wales during the 12th century and disappeared from the rest of the country 400 years later.

However, two beavers from Germany were introduced to a river enclosure in Devon last year.

This year, the pair have built a 6ft dam with mud, bark and twigs on the River Tale at Escot House, near Ottery St Mary.

John-Michael Kennaway, who owns the estate, has been working to reintroduce the animals on the site for three years. He said that the beavers may be rearing young, known as kits.

Image
©SVAS
One of the beavers that has settled on the River Tale
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Evil Rays

Quakes in Lebanon shake Israel

Roi Mandel
Ynet
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:52 UTC
Country's residents shaken by four moderate earthquakes measuring from 3.9 to 4.2 on Richter scale; no injuries or damage reported.

Four separate earthquakes shook Israel on Thursday. Ynet received calls from residents living in the northern and central areas of the country who said they felt the quakes. No injuries or damage have been reported, however.

The Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII) stated that the first quake, which occurred at about 4 pm, measured 3.9 on the Richter scale, and that it originated in southern Lebanon. GII Director Rami Hopshteter told Ynet that "this was a moderate earthquake, with enough power to be felt by the northern settlements near the border."

Three other quakes took place between 6:40 and 6:43 pm, ranging from 3.8 to 4.2 on the Richter scale. A Nahariya resident told Ynet, "I felt the earthquake. It wasn't like the one that happened two hours ago, but much stronger. Our apartment is on the fourth floor and the entire house shook. The computer and TV screens shook, the couch shook, I have never felt such a thing before. My daughter who lives in Nahariya also called in a fright." Another resident said the quake lasted 10 to 15 seconds.
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Red Flag

Potentially devastating wheat rust spreads

David Bennett
Farm Press
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:27 UTC
Since the 1950s, resistance genes bred into wheat varieties have held truly devastating stem rust epidemics in check. However, a new race of the rust, Ug99, has overcome many of those resistance genes and is marching east through southern Asia.

Ug99 first appeared in Uganda wheat in 1999 and spread to Kenya and Ethiopia during the next few years.

"At that point, many international scientists said, 'This is something we need to check because this new race can overcome many of the effective resistances,'" said David Marshall, research leader with the USDA-ARS in North Carolina last spring.

"And that included the resistances that are in the international germ plasm out of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center near Mexico City. That's alarming and this rust has become a front-burner issue."
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Bizarro Earth

Crazytalk: Scientist says dolphin deaths look like a mass suicide

Steven Morris
guardian.co.uk
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:33 UTC
The dolphins that died after becoming beached in Cornwall had ingested debris and mud, leading one of the scientists who examined some of the corpses to compare their deaths to a "mass suicide".

Vic Simpson, who has been involved in the postmortem examinations of some of the 26 dolphins that died, said yesterday: "On the face of it, it looks like some sort of mass suicide - but the question is why?

"The dolphins had swallowed and inhaled big chunks of mud from the estuary. Their lungs and stomachs were full of it. That is very bizarre indeed."

Simpson, who founded the Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre in Truro and is examining the dolphins on behalf of the Zoological Society of London, added: "We have seen strandings on beaches, sometimes with five to seven dolphins, but never on a scale like this."

Comment: See: What terrified the dolphins? Cause of mass dolphin deaths in U.K. may have been fear
and UK Dolphin update: Royal Navy exercises and an "unexplained explosion"

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Ambulance

Update: 4 dead, 40 injured as tornado hits Boy Scout camp


Associated Press
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:12 UTC
BLENCOE, Iowa - A tornado slammed a Boy Scout camp in the remote hills of western Iowa late Wednesday, killing at least four people, injuring 40 and setting off a frantic search for others who could be trapped in the piles of debris and downed trees.
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Bell

Water Scarcity: The Real Food Crisis

Fred Pearce
Yale Environment 360
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:31 UTC
After decades in the doldrums, food prices have been soaring this year, causing more misery for the world's poor than any credit crunch. The geopolitical shockwaves have spread round the world, with food riots in Haiti, strikes over rice shortages in Bangladesh, tortilla wars in Mexico, and protests over bread prices in Egypt.

The immediate cause is declining grain stocks, which have encouraged speculators, hoarders, and panic-buyers. But what are the underlying trends that have sown the seeds for this perfect food storm?
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Ambulance

Iowa: Reports of injuries as tornado strikes Boy Scout camp


Associated Press
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:10 UTC
DES MOINES - The National Weather Service has received reports of injuries and possibly fatalities from an apparent tornado that struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa.
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Stop

What terrified the dolphins? Cause of mass dolphin deaths in U.K. may have been fear


RIA Novosti
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:34 UTC
Post mortems on dolphins found beached along the Cornish coast in southwest England, failed to establish a concrete reason for their deaths, but environmentalists said Wednesday they may have been "scared ashore."

At least 26 dolphins died or had to be put down after becoming stranded in shallow water in the Percuil River near Falmouth on Monday, the largest number for 25 years in the U.K.

A spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said the animals had no food in their stomachs, indicating that they could have panicked and headed for shore. He said that there was no "evidence" they were feeding prior to death.

The Royal Navy has confirmed it was conducting a live firing exercise with submarines and warships several hours before the stranding. The exercise also included shooting practice.

Comment: As the following article indicates,
"Investigators are exploring several possible causes, including the theory that the dolphins had become distressed by naval sonar equipment or were frightened by an unexplained explosion several residents reported hearing late on Sunday.
Naval exercises became an unfortunate reality for the marine life. Many suffer the consequences as loss of orientation, but there are no known cases of dolphins being "scared ashore." So is it possible that this unexplained explosion is the reason for dolphins panic? And if it is so, is it possible that the explosion was caused by a meteorite?

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