Earth Changes
A 20-foot sinkhole has opened along and under Hicks Road near Dundee Road, Palatine police said.
The sinkhole forced the closure of all northbound lanes on Hicks. Traffic has been shifted to the southbound lanes, reducing Hicks to one lane of traffic in each direction, Palatine Fire Department Battalion Chief William Gabrenya said.
Gabrenya said the sinkhole opened because of a sewer line collapsed beneath the street following the Saturday, July 23 rain that caused flooding throughout Palatine.
Motorists are advised to avoid the Hicks and Dundee intersection if at all possible.
A water main break on West Raymond Street in Hartford not only closed down the street but it also caused some problems for an SUV and its driver.
Willena Hardie's husband was backing out of their driveway when one of the front tires fell into a sinkhole.
"He was banged around and so frazzled, so he called me and that's what I found when I got here," she said.

The roof of Main Street Hair & Beauty Supply has caved in on Friday, July 22, 2011, in Leesburg.
As the roof of the Main Street Hair and Beauty Supply of Saaraa Corner Store crumpled, more debris, including a Dumpster, trees, boxes and beauty products, was pushed into the sinkhole.
However, city officials are adamant that the sinkhole is not growing, and attribute the collapse instead to the building's wooden trusses that gave way.
"There's no indication that it's growing," said Robert Sargent, a spokesman for the city of Leesburg, adding that soil around the edges of the hole also has fallen in.
The discovery of the sinkhole came on the early morning of June 27, when Rafeek Mohamid, owner of the property, received a call from his alarm company that something was wrong.

Packs of beef are displayed for sale in a supermarket in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
Hay contaminated with as much as 690,000 becquerels a kilogram, compared with a government safety standard of 300 becquerels, has been fed to cattle. Beef with unsafe levels of the radioactive element was detected in four prefectures, the health ministry said July 23.
Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano has said officials were unaware of the risk that rice farmers might ship tainted hay to cattle growers. That highlights the government's inability to think ahead and to act, said Mariko Sano, secretary general for Shufuren, a housewives organization in Tokyo.
"The government is so slow to move," Sano said. "They've done little to ensure food safety."
The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-3.3 temblor struck just after midnight Saturday. It hit 13 miles south of the Los Angeles Civic Center at a depth of about 10 miles.
Matt Spence with the Los Angeles Fire Department says no injuries or damages have been reported.
Source: The Associated Press
Winds have become so strong that waterfalls have been blown upwards.
The strong winds, which are seriously affecting the waterways of southern Australia, have gone up to 75mph.
Earlier this week, Sydney saw a month's worth of rain falling in just one day, according to the BBC.
Although the ferries which hundreds of commuters rely on have kept running, they have provided rocky rides for those brave enough to keep travelling on them.

This dead dugong was found on Witt Island by Clive Last, who is increasing worried by marine animal deaths in Gladstone Harbour
Another dead dugong has been found in Gladstone Harbour, and the man who found it wants some answers.
Clive Last, who in May discovered a dead dolphin on Turtle Island, was shocked on Friday afternoon when he found the body of a dead dugong on Witt Island.
Mr Last is wary of suggestions marine animal deaths this year can be attributed to boat strikes and net fishing. He said those explanations didn't match his observations on the harbour.
Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 18:51:25 UTC
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 03:51:25 AM at epicenter
Location:
37.758°N, 141.540°E
Depth:
35.6 km (22.1 miles)
Region
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
Distances:
79 km (49 miles) SE (133°) from Sendai, Honshu, Japan
94 km (59 miles) E (88°) from Fukushima, Honshu, Japan
95 km (59 miles) NE (36°) from Iwaki, Honshu, Japan
282 km (175 miles) NE (34°) from TOKYO, Japan

This GeoEye IKONOS image shows a faint plume issuing from Cleveland Volcano at 2:31 PM on September 14, 2010. Red in this image highlights areas of vegetation detected by the near-infrared channel.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory has issued an eruption advisory for a remote volcano in the Aleutian Islands which, according to various media reports, lies underneath a major American flight route.
According to the Daily Mail, the volcano in question--5,676-foot tall Mount Cleveland (also known as Cleveland Volcano) on the western end of the island of Chuhinadak--"could be poised for its first big eruption in ten years," which has experts anticipating that "it could erupt at any moment, spewing ash clouds up to 20,000 feet above sea level with little further warning."
Yereth Rosen of Reuters reports that "thermal anomalies" had been detected via satellite on Thursday, and that the volcano, which is located approximately 940 miles southwest of Anchorage, "could erupt with little further warning."
"A major eruption could disrupt international air travel because Cleveland Volcano, like others in the Aleutians, lies directly below the commercial airline flight path between North America and Asia, said John Power, scientist-in-charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory," Rosen added.

In this infrared image from the GOES-13 satellite on July 22 at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT) Bret and Cindy are in the Atlantic, Low#1 (from a tropical wave) is in the Caribbean and Hurricane Dora is in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of Mexico.
An infrared image taken on July 22 at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT), GOES-13 captured Tropical Depression Bret, Tropical Storm Cindy in the north Atlantic and low pressure area associated with a tropical wave in the Caribbean and Hurricane Dora is in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of Mexico. Cindy is 910 miles west-northwest of the Azores and Bret 295 miles northwest of Bermuda.
NASA's GOES Project issued an infrared image of both Bret and Cindy today from the GOES-13 satellite, which is operated by NOAA. The NASA GOES Project is housed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and uses GOES-13 data from NOAA to create images and animations.
Bret Being Battered
During the morning of July 22 Bret has sped up on his track through the north Atlantic and weakened. Bret is being battered by winds and cooler waters.
Bret was a tropical depression at 8 a.m. EDT on July 22, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kmh). He was speeding to the northeast near 21 mph (33 kmh). By noon (EDT) Bret had degenerated into a low pressure area. His center was near 37.7N and 64.2 W, about 375 miles north of Bermuda.








