Earth Changes

Dozens of homes burn in N. California wildfires

Don Thompson
Associated Press
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:03 UTC

Fires fed by raging winds raced across parts of Northern California on Tuesday, destroying dozens of homes, threatening hundreds of others and leaving a firefighter severely burned.

The fires were concentrated in areas north and south of the state capital, while separate blazes burned near the coast.

A 2.5-square mile wildfire destroyed 21 homes and about 30 other structures in Palermo, a town of about 5,000 residents, said Joshpae White, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman. It was about 50 percent contained Tuesday night.

The community about 60 miles north of Sacramento was evacuated temporarily while at least 350 firefighters fought to protect homes. About 50 residents planned to spend the night at an evacuation center.

©AP Photo/Steve Yeater

A Stockton firefighter pulls a hose around the back of a home destroyed by a fast wind driven fire in Stockton calif., on Tuesday, June 10, 2008. The fire ignited in a corridor along Interstate 5 and destroyed at least 30 homes and slightly injured two firefighters on Tuesday, a city spokeswoman said.

Rain threatens reservoirs in quake-hit China

Nick Macfie
News Daily
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:43 UTC

BEIJING - Heavy rain hit south and east China on Wednesday, threatening reservoirs a day after a dangerous "quake lake" drained to safety in the southwest, state media said.

Water levels in at least five reservoirs in eastern Zhejiang province had risen above warning levels, Xinhua news agency said, after days of rain devastated southern Guangdong province and hit record levels in neighboring Hong Kong.

©REUTERS/Stringer

Soldiers build a temporary dam against possible flooding at Quhe River in Suining, Sichuan province, June 11, 2008.

About 1,880 structures collapsed in Zhejiang and the southern Guangxi autonomous region.

Mercury Contamination Found In Stranded Victorian Dolphins

Science Daily
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:39 UTC

Monash University research into heavy metal contaminant levels in dolphins from Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes has revealed high mercury levels may be a contributing factor to dolphin deaths.

Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences have confirmed levels of mercury found in the dolphins were within a range considered to cause negative health and mental effects and were higher than mercury levels found in populations around the world.

Quake lake pours through devastated Chinese town

AFP
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:51 UTC

A torrent of muddy, brown water from a breached quake lake poured through the deserted Chinese town of Beichuan on Tuesday, sealing the fate of the already doomed community's destruction.

Surging rapids from Tangjiashan lake gushed into the centre of Beichuan and spilled down side streets as previously evacuated locals watched from ridges surrounding the town.

"It's really hard for me to take, our city was so good and beautiful but now there's nothing left. My heart aches," said Zhu Yunyou, a 54-year-old farmer who lost his house in the May 12 earthquake.

©AFP

Flood water flow along Jian Jiang River, after a controlled drainage operation on the Tangjiashan quake lake, in the worst earthquake-hit area of Beichuan county, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan on June 10, 2008. Muddy, brown water from a quake lake in southwest China was pouring into the flattened town of Beichuan June 10, piling new woes on its tormented population.

Dozens of dolphins die on Madagascar beach

Fanja Saholiarisoa
Reuters
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:27 UTC

Some 55 dolphins have died, after coming ashore on a beach in the northwest of Madagascar, conservationists said on Monday.

The melon-headed whales, a species of dolphin, were first spotted at sea last month, but then became stranded on a beach last week, Herilala Randriamahazo, from the Wildlife Conservation Society, a non-profit organization, told Reuters.

Iowa: State officials prepare as flood waters get higher

Michael Crumb
Associated Press
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:44 UTC

With rivers continuing to rise and more heavy rain on the way, state officials said Tuesday they are trying to help towns already battered by floodwaters while working to protect others.

The rising Cedar River was causing the most concern in Cedar Falls, where officials were preparing residents and downtown business owners to evacuate as the river threatened to spill over a levee that protects the area.

Global Cooling: Chilling facts on global warming

Onestillfree.blogspot.com
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:16 UTC

While it seems everyone knows that the planet is warming, few acknowledge what's really going on. How egocentric and narcissistic humans are, to assume that a few generations of human history tells the story of a planet. Decades and even centuries are not enough to determine anything about global climate change. Look at any records of global (planetary) history and you will see that we are in a natural temperature spike which has occurred before (without human help) and will occur again - approximately every 100-150 thousand years apart.

Satellites Show 2008 Cooler Than Last Year

wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com
Sat, 31 May 2008 22:01 UTC

One of the great things about our current state of technology is the nearly instant reporting we can get from remote sensing platforms. Thanks to Dr. Roy Spencer & Dr. Danny Braswell, GHCC at the University of Alabama, Hunsville, we can watch global temperatures of the lower troposphere in near real-time at this page:

Data doesn't support global warming theory

R. John Muench
Pantagraph.com
Fri, 30 May 2008 21:43 UTC

As a scientist who has studied the global warming issue extensively, I can say with high certainty that man's influence on global climate is at best minimal. The temperature data of the recent past does not support the theory of anthropogenic global warming.

Comment: Please read here for more reading on the facts and fictions of Global Warming.

Iowa's Cedar River flooding will be 'historic event'

Rick Smith
gazetteonline.com
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:37 UTC

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jeff Zogg, hydrologist at the National Weather Service office in Davenport, said one word, more than any other, describes what is happening now on the Cedar River - "historic."

At 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Zogg said the National Weather Service just bumped up its crest prediction for the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids from 21.2 feet to 22 feet.

The record crest in Cedar Rapids is 20 feet. The significant flood of 1993 only sent the river to 19.27 feet.

Richard Campbell of Cedar Rapids carries a pepper plant he rescued from his and his wife Barbara's garden at the Ellis Park community garden plots Monday in northwest Cedar Rapids. The couple pulled their tomato, pepper, watermelon and cucumber plants from their swamped plot. They also pulled out some radishes. Rising water of the Cedar River already has swamped many other gardens. The couple, who live in the nearby Time Check neighborhood, has had a garden at the park since the program's inception.

"Feel free to use this in your story," Zogg said. "This is a historic event. These are river stages we've never seen before."

Zogg said predicting the coming river crests was "extremely challenging" because the stages at some points along the river now are ones never observed before.

"We don't know exactly what will happen when water gets that high," he said. "We don't know for sure, and nobody knows for sure."