Earth ChangesS


Seismograph

Shallow 6.1 magnitude earthquake in the Kermadec Islands

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6.1 magnitude earthquake

UTC time: Friday, February 09, 2024 10:57 AM
Your time: Friday, February 9, 2024 at 10:57 AM GMT
Magnitude Type: mww
USGS page: M 6.1 - Kermadec Islands, New Zealand
USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist
Reports from the public: 0 people

10 km depth

Cloud Precipitation

Death toll rises to 9 in California storms as mudslides ravage Los Angeles

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The death toll has increased to nine people during a massive, atmospheric river-driven storm in California as public officials warned people it was too soon to let their guard down.

The storm, which has unleashed biblical proportions of rain this week, was expected to continue until Thursday or Friday.

Four people were killed by falling trees, the California Office of Emergency Management said. Three were killed in vehicle collisions in the Bay area, and another fatality was due to a vehicle being swept away in a flood channel. One person lost their life by trying to cross the US-Mexico border via the Tijuana River.

Search and rescue crews are looking for a US Marine Corps helicopter which disappeared en route to San Diego on Tuesday night as the severe storm battered the region. The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter, which had five Marines on board, was reported "overdue" after it failed to arrive at Miramar Air Station from Las Vegas, Nevada.


Fire

Iceland volcano erupts for third time since December

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A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted about two miles away from Grindavik, the town evacuated ahead of a previous eruption in December. Officials said there was no immediate threat to the population.


Binoculars

Raptors in freefall: Birds of prey experiencing population collapse across Africa

Secretarybird numbers have fallen by 80 per cent over a period of 30 years.
© GettySecretarybird numbers have fallen by 80 per cent over a period of 30 years.
Large raptors, including many species of eagle, are declining at alarming rates outside of protected areas in Africa, finds a new report.

Populations of 10 species with a body mass of more than 1.3kg have plummeted by 80 per cent over a period of 30 years, with those of another 11 species halving during the same time period.

As a result, the African hawk-eagle, designated as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, should be reclassified as Critically Endangered, while Beaudouin's snake-eagle should go from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered, reports the paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Bateleurs, martial eagles and secretarybirds all suffered 80 per cent declines too.

Wolf

One dead and two wounded in Kenya hyena attack

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Marauding hyenas killed a man and wounded two people near a university outside the Kenyan capital, officials said Tuesday.

Anthony Pasha was dismembered and killed by hyenas while he was collecting firewood at a forest close to his home, according to family members.

"The hyena attacked him and it chased him away from the forest. He left his firewood and then the hyenas dragged him down this stream and finished him off here," said his cousin Kaaji Lesian.

Pasha's brother ran to his rescue after hearing screams from 21-year-old student, Kevin Mwenda, not knowing that his brother was also being attacked.

Arrow Down

At least 6 dead in Georgia landslide

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At least six people were killed and three were missing after a landslide in western Georgia, officials said on Wednesday.

The landslide happened in the early hours of the morning in the village of Nergeti, some 170 kilometres from the Black Sea nation's capital Tbilisi.

"The number of landslide victims rose to six," Georgia's emergency situations service said in a statement, adding that "a search operation is underway to find three missing people."

A previous toll announced four dead.


Attention

Non-stop rainfall causes over 8M gallons of raw sewage to spill onto LA streets, beaches

Long Beach, San Pedro, California
© Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesAll beaches in Long Beach and Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, Calif. are closed to swimmers and surfers through Wednesday due to sewage spills that poured millions of gallons of contaminated material into the ocean.
It's a crappy situation.

Non-stop pounding rain from a "Pineapple Express" storm caused a massive sewage spill into Los Angeles County streets and beaches, with health officials warning residents to stay away from coastal waters.

About eight million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Dominguez Channel — a nearly 16-mile river that runs through Carson, Calif. — which originated from two sewer locations, sanitation officials said.

The unprecedented rainfall, which brought anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of rain across Los Angeles, caused the overflow of raw sewage.

"The problem has been an extremely unusual amount of rainwater leaking into the county sewer system causing more flow than some sewer pipelines can handle," LA County Sanitation District spokesman Bryan Langpap told the LA Times.

On Tuesday, the overflow of sewage escaped manhole covers about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

The solid waste discharged into the Dominguez Channel and Compton Creek, which leads to the Los Angeles River and ends at Cabrillo Beach.

Comment: See also: Videos emerge from California show residents battling debris flows, mudslides, historic flooding


Volcano

Mass of magma pooling beneath ground north of Grindavík, Iceland indicates imminent eruption

volcano reykjanes iceland
© NurPhoto/Contributor via Getty ImagesA volcano is spewing lava and smoke as it erupts on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula on Jan. 14, 2024.
Magma continues to accumulate in a chamber beneath Svartsengi and has now reached levels thought to have triggered the volcanic eruption that sent lava flowing into Grindavík on Jan. 14.

The risk of a volcanic eruption on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula is once again growing as magma continues to pool in the area 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) north of the fishing town of Grindavík, according to the Icelandic Met Office (IMO).

An estimated 318 million cubic feet (9 million cubic meters) of magma now sits beneath Svartsengi, which is home to the Blue Lagoon resort and Svartsengi geothermal power plant. That's equivalent to the volume of around 3,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

SOTT Logo Media

SOTT Focus: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - January 2024: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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2024 started with a bang: A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck western Japan, destroying and collapsing buildings, causing fires, and knocking out infrastructure on Japan's main island of Honshu just as families were celebrating New Year's Day. More than 33,400 people were in evacuation centers and at least 200 buildings collapsed. Some 30,000 households were without power and more than 110,000 were without running water. The death toll rose to over 200, with more than 100 still unaccounted for. Strong aftershocks buried more homes and blocked roads vital for aid deliveries.

Record freezing conditions caused widespread disruption around the world in January. In the US, all 50 states were hit by heavy snowfall at the same time this season; 55% of the continental US was covered in snow - an unprecedented event. This caused widespread travel disruption, thousands of canceled flights, power outages, and damaged infrastructure nationwide.

Cloud Lightning

Videos emerge from California show residents battling debris flows, mudslides, historic flooding

california rainfall flood mudslides
© Screenshot/Twitter/AccuWeather/BrandonClement/WxChasingCalifornia suffered extreme amounts of precipitation throughout the state on February 5-6, 2024
A series of utterly absurd videos emerged online Monday through Tuesday morning of the devastating storms plaguing the West Coast.

An enormous "Pineapple Express" atmospheric river struck California on Sunday night, sending extreme amounts of precipitation throughout the state. The impacts are widespread, including floods, mudslides and debris flows.

One video captured in Beverly Hills shows what appears to be several feet of mud, dirt and sludge coating an entire block. Cars were clearly trapped within the deluge, which showed very little signs of stopping.