Officials said that 4,500 people had been displaced by floods in the usually dry northern parts of Namibia following heavy rains in neighbouring Angola which led to the devastating floods.
Gabriel Kangowa, head of the Emergency Management Unit of Namibia, said that heavy rains in the northern neighbouring country, Angola, and torrential rains in Namibia turned the usually dry flood plains into raging rivers, washing away vital infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools and clinics.
Coastguards in northern Egypt have discovered the dead body of a six-ton, 17-meter-long (56-feet) white whale, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported on Tuesday.
The rotten carcass of the rare albino whale was discovered lying on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate. It is believed to have died of a stomach wound at sea.
Sleet and deep snow made Arkansas roads slippery Tuesday and closed some schools as stormy weather stretched across the region.
At least 11 inches of snow fell at Russellville in west-central Arkansas, state highway department spokesman Randy Ort said. Some 18-wheelers had trouble negotiating roads and the highway department advised motorists to stay home.
Kerstin Gehmlich
ReutersTue, 04 Mar 2008 14:20 UTC
German pensioner Erika Ihiebert has lived with minor earth tremors caused by coal mining for years. But when her chimney collapsed nearly two weeks ago, she had had enough.
More than 60 years after it was pushed to the edge of extinction, one of North America's rarest birds, the whooping crane, faces new danger from environmentally-friendly wind farms, conservationists warned.
"Companies want to put their farms where the best wind is, and that overlaps with the migration corridor of the whooping crane," Tom Stehn, the whooping crane coordinator of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, told AFP.
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Extreme weather patterns have hit Australia with tropical cyclones, snow and heatwaves this month - but the weirdness is set to continue with an active monsoonal trough over north Queensland and a storm front heading for Sydney this evening.
BBCFri, 29 Feb 2008 18:45 UTC
Heavy rain and floods in Argentina have forced thousands of people from their homes, caused power cuts and brought transport chaos.
About 2,000 people are reported to have been evacuated in the province of Buenos Aires. The capital is still on alert as more rain is expected.
The number of people facing drinking water shortages in China has more than doubled to 5.9 million because of a severe winter drought, state media reported.
The figures released late on Friday jumped from 2.43 million a week earlier, a Chinese news agency said, citing figures from the State Flood and Drought Relief Headquarters.
China's worst snowstorms in 50 years have killed a total of 129 people so far this winter, Xinhua news agency reported, citing official data.
The agency quoted the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying the extreme weather has cost the country's economy $21 billion.
Snow and cold weather in China have affected 70 million people in 20 provinces, including Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan in central, southern and eastern China.
About 1.66 million people are reported to have been evacuated from the blizzard-hit areas and over 485,000 buildings have collapsed.
Eric Beech
ReutersMon, 03 Mar 2008 13:44 UTC
A strong earthquake of 7.0 magnitude struck in the ocean off the east coast of the Philippines on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake, which struck at 10:11 p.m. local time (1411 GMT), was centered about 116 miles (187 km) east-southeast of Pandan, Catanduanes, at a depth of 20.5 miles (33 km), USGS said.