Earth ChangesS


Fish

Dead sardines surface on Calangute beach

dead sardines

Panaji -Large quantities of dead fish on the sands of Calangute beach on Thursday took the shine of Goa's most famous tourist spot, but this did not deter tourists from enjoying themselves, even as water sports operators and hawkers went about their daily business.

The dead sardines were apparently deposited at high tide on the beach on Thursday night. "They are scattered for more than a kilometre on Calangute beach," a fishermen said. Water sports operators and local fishermen said the fishes may have been dumped by some fishing vessel at sea.

While the sight of dead sardines -- though these had not yet started stinking when TOI visited the spot around noon on Thursday -- created a nuisance on the beach, tourists, mostly domestic and a few foreigners appeared bent on having some fun on the beach.

Arrow Down

Moderate earthquake hits eastern Romania, neighbouring Moldova

A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude has hit eastern Romania and neighbouring Moldova. No injuries or damage have been reported.

The director of the Earth Physics' Institute Gheorghe Mamureanu says the temblor struck early Sunday.

The quake's epicenter was in the Vrancea region, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) northeast of the capital, Bucharest, where it was also felt.

Radar

US: 2.5 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Alexandria, Minnesota; Very Unlikely in Duluth

Early Friday morning in Alexandria, Minnesota, neighbors had a shakey awakening.

An earthquake rattled part of the city causing no injuries but leaving some Minnesotans wondering if it could happen anywhere else.

"I have never heard of an earthquake happening in the Midwest," one Duluth woman said leaving the grocery store.

"Yeah, it would be weird."

But, at 2:30 a.m. it happened the U.S. Geological Survey said. The magnitude reading was a 2.5 in Alexandria where worried phone calls poured into authorities.

"Several of them thought that their furnaces had exploded and they just wanted to find out if we knew anything about it," Douglas County Sheriff Brad Brejcha said.

Igloo

Blizzard dumps snow on Saskatchewan, Manitoba

snow manitoba
© CTVThe province of Manitoba warns motorists to be cautious while driving, due to winter weather conditions, Saturday, April 30, 2011.

It may be spring, but it appears winter isn't finished with the Prairies just yet as a blizzard threatens to dump between 10 and 50 centimetres of snow on parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Winter storm and snowfall warnings were in effect Saturday for southeastern Saskatchewan, as well as much of western and central Manitoba, as a late-season storm system over North Dakota moved into the region.

Environment Canada warned of a combination of strong northerly winds gusting up to 90 kilometres per hour and falling snow "producing blizzard conditions over much of southeastern Saskatchewan...Travel is not advised over much of the area and residents should adjust travel plans accordingly. In addition the combination of heavy snow and high winds are producing power outages in some areas."

Bizarro Earth

Mayor orders flood-threatened Illinois city evacuated

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Champaign, Illinois - The mayor of a small southern Illinois city threatened by two swollen rivers ordered all residents to leave by midnight Saturday because a "sand boil," an area where river water was seeping up through the ground behind the levee, had become dangerously large.

Cairo Mayor Judson Childs issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city of 2,800 residents late Saturday afternoon hours after meeting with Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, the Army Corps of Engineers officer tasked with deciding whether to blow a hole in the Birds Point levee in Missouri, downstream from Cairo, to relieve pressure on levees along the dangerously high Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Walsh, who toured Cairo's levee area, described the boil that has been growing since it was first spotted Tuesday as the largest he had ever seen, the Southeast Missourian newspaper reported.

Cloud Lightning

Violent hail storm leaves Lisbon, Portugal with a wintry mess

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© Jose Sena Goulad / EPAA pedestrian makes her way on a street covered with hail after a violent hail storm hit Lisbon, Portugal, on April 29, covering the streets with a white blanket.
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© Joao Relvas / EPABulldozers try to remove the hail from the streets in Damaia near Lisbon, Portugal, after a violent rainstorm hit the Lisbon region in the afternoon of April 29, 2011, covering the streets with a thick layer of icy hail.

Better Earth

Lorry-sized boulders spew from Ecuador volcano as 300 people flee for their lives

Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano hurled lorry-sized pyroclastic boulders more than a mile in a powerful eruption that prompted at least 300 people to flee their homes, authorities said.

Schools were closed for a third straight day as ash showered down on a dozen towns in the sparsely populated area surrounding the 16,480-foot volcano.

Thundering explosions could be heard miles from Tungurahua, which is on the Andes cordillera 84 miles southeast of Ecuador's capital, Quito.

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© Associated PressFireball: The Tungurahua Volcano spews ash and stones during an eruption which forced 300 people to flee from their homes

Bizarro Earth

New Zealand: Penguins wash up on East Coast

dead, penguins
© Te Paea ButlerPhotos of the dead penguins posted on the Te Whanau a Apanui Facebook page.

The Department of Conservation is staying tight-lipped over the deaths of a group of penguins on the East Coast.

At least 14 have been found washed up along Waihau Bay.

Anti-oil protesters claim seismic testing in the Raukumara Basin is to blame.

DOC is choosing to stay out of the debate until it knows for certain the cause of death.

It said there was a range of reasons why they could have died, and will not comment until test results have come back.

They are expected some time next week.

Radar

Magnitude 5.4 earthquake hits Kazakhstan - USGS

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake was recorded in eastern Kazakhstan on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicentre was 71 km (44 miles) northeast of Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, at a depth of 20 km (12.4 miles), the geological survey said on its website, www.usgs.gov.

Reuters reporters in Almaty felt buildings shake for several seconds, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Bad Guys

South of Panama - Earthquake Magnitude 6.0

Panama Quake_300411
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 08:19:16 UTC

Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 03:19:16 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
6.878°N, 82.287°W

Depth:
9.9 km (6.2 miles)

Region:
SOUTH OF PANAMA

Distances:
178 km (110 miles) S of David, Panama

200 km (124 miles) SW of Santiago, Panama

222 km (137 miles) SSE of Golfito, Costa Rica

384 km (238 miles) SW of PANAMA CITY, Panama