Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Canada: Heavy rain floods roads west of Ottawa


CBC News
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:30 UTC
Image
© Shannon Purcell/CBCWater floods the road at 5 E Concession and Gold Mine Road, about a 10 km drive northwest from a section of Highway 148 that was closed due to flooding.
A main road for people west of Ottawa has been closed due to flooding following a severe thunderstorm Sunday.

Police closed Dunrobin Road to all but local traffic from Kinburn Road all the way to Constance Bay Road after heavy rain raised water levels of a normally calm creek.

Water that usually drains into Buckham's Bay instead washed over Dunrobin Road and the surrounding area.

While thunderstorms were seen across the region on Sunday, Environment Canada said a localized storm in the Constance Bay and Woodlawn areas dropped between 75 and 100 mm of rain.

Woodlawn resident Lynne Wilson, whose property backs onto the creek, said the water from the creek came gushing down making the water level several feet higher than normal.

"We couldn't believe it," said Wilson. "There was so much rain."
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Bizarro Earth

Three people die in flash floods in Cordoba, Spain


Associated Press
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:01 UTC
Image
© EFEFlash floods in Cordoba, Spain.
The Interior Ministry says one man was found dead Tuesday morning in a car that had been washed away in torrential overnight rain in the small town of Aguilar de la Frontera.

Spain's government says three people have died in flash floods in towns close to southern city of Cordoba.

The Interior Ministry says one man was found dead Tuesday morning in a car that had been washed away in torrential overnight rain in the small town of Aguilar de la Frontera.

The ministry says the body of a woman who also had been in the vehicle was found some 150 meters (165 yards) away.

Another man was killed when an exterior wall of his house collapsed on top of him in the nearby town of Bujalance.

Television images showed damaged cars piled together along mud-packed streets in Aguilar while people mopped out their houses.
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Roses

Australia: Surfer Bleeds to Death After Grisly Shark Attack

Nicole Cox and Trevor Paddenburg
Perth Now
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:25 UTC
Nicholas Edwards
© PerthNow/Channel 9Tragic: Father of two Nicholas Edwards was fatally attacked by a shark in Gracetown on Tuesday morning.
The family of the man fatally mauled by a shark have spoken for the first time.

Nicholas Edwards, 31, bled to death after being attacked at South Point at Gracetown, just north of Margaret River at 8.15am.

His wife Melissa tonight asked for privacy as the family, including the couple's children aged seven and two, struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.

Speaking from the couple's Broadwater home near Busselton, Mrs Edwards' mother Helen said news of the attack had devastated the family.

"It's a very hard time, it's the day we lost Nick," she said.

"We're just trying to deal with it, and come to terms with it.

"We'd like to ask for privacy to grieve."
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Cloud Precipitation

Third of Pakistan under water: more rain expected


Tehran Times
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:33 UTC
Image
© Desconocido
Islamabad - Pakistan's worst floods in 80 years have left 20 million people homeless and six million without food, medicine, or shelter.

United Nations aid agencies have provided assistance to hundreds of thousands of victims of floods but relief operations have yet to reach an estimated six million people, a UN report said.

The lives of 16 million people have been disrupted by one of the worst catastrophes in Pakistan's history. Six million still need food, shelter and water, the UN said in a statement.

Highlighting the scale of the disaster, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in an Independence Day speech that the country faces challenges similar to those during the 1947 partition of the subcontinent, Reuters reported.

A third of Pakistan is now under water, and fresh rainfall threatens two more waves of flooding in the southern Sindh province.
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Better Earth

Scientists baffled by mysterious 'corkscrew' deaths of seals off British coast


Daily Mail
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:32 UTC
Scientists and marine biologists are at a loss to explain the mystery 'corkscrew' deaths of almost 40 seals off the east coast of Scotland and England.

Bearing distinctive and horrific wounds, the seals have now been found on beaches in Fife, as well as in Norfolk, in the past year.
Image
This seal was washed up on Scotland's east coast earlier this month. The severe injuries appear to be caused by a bladed device. Scientists have ruled out military craft, fishing nets and boat propellers

The injuries are so severe that marine biologists say the seals look as if they had been put through a giant pencil sharpener.

Now a team of scientists has launched an urgent investigation into the seal deaths in an effort to find out what is causing them.

Unless the experts work out the cause of these 38 bizarre deaths, it is feared more seals will suffer the same fate.

Dr Dave Thompson, seal biologist at the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University, is leading the investigation.

Seals with similar injuries have also been found on beaches in Canada over the last decade.
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Bizarro Earth

Fiji Region: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2


USGS
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:04 UTC
Fiji Quake_170810
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Monday, August 16, 2010 at 19:35:48 UTC

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 07:35:48 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
20.768°S, 178.782°W

Depth:
594.8 km (369.6 miles)

Region:
FIJI REGION

Distances:
15 km (10 miles) SSW of Ndoi Island, Fiji

375 km (235 miles) W of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga

415 km (255 miles) SE of SUVA, Viti Levu, Fiji

1890 km (1170 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand
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Phoenix

Fire-affected areas shrink in Russia


Xinhua News Agency
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:46 UTC
Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry reported Monday that the wildfire-affected areas were reduced by some 8,000 hectares over the past 24 hours.

The number of fires decreased fourfold, the ministry was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Two NASA satellites registered a total of 371 hotspots in Russia on Sunday, according to the ScanEx website that received information from the satellites.
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Arrow Down

UN warns of Pakistan 'second death wave'


Agence France Press
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:39 UTC
The United Nations has warned of a "second wave of death" in flood-stricken Pakistan as aid agencies struggled to raise money to help the 20 million people hit by the nation's worst-ever natural disaster.

Britain branded the international response to the catastrophe "lamentable" and charities said Pakistan was suffering from an "image deficit" partly because of perceived links to terrorism.

The United Nations has launched an appeal for $US460 million ($A512.08 million), but aid groups say the response has been sluggish and flood survivors have lashed out at Pakistan's weak civilian government for failing to help.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 4.3 - Wyoming


US Geological Survey
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:36 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 02:49:55 UTC

Monday, August 16, 2010 at 08:49:55 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
43.616°N, 110.499°W

Depth:
5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program

Region:
WYOMING

Distances:
25 km (15 miles) NE of Jackson, Wyoming

70 km (45 miles) W of Dubois, Wyoming

95 km (60 miles) SSE of Old Faithful, Wyoming

545 km (335 miles) WNW of CHEYENNE, Wyoming
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Bizarro Earth

Italian quake triggers rockslides


Reuters
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:28 UTC
Rome - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake near the Aeolian islands off Italy's southern coast triggered rockslides near a crowded beach on Monday, sparking panic but no causing injuries, officials and Italian media said.

Local news reports initially reported as many as seven people suffered injuries after the quake struck near the main island of Lipari at 1254 GMT, but officials later denied any caused by the fall of rocks.

"There are no injuries or victims," Senate speaker Renato Schifani, who was vacationing in the area aboard a boat and was evacuated by authorities, told Italian television channel Sky TG24. "The situation is under control."

Local health officials said at least six people suffered panic attacks, including some who jumped into the sea when the rockslides occurred and were bitten by jellyfish, the Ansa news agency said.

"I've never seen the ground shake like this before," Andrea Graffagnini, an event promoter who was in Lipari when the quake struck, told Ansa. "I saw people screaming and jumping into the water in fear."
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