Earth Changes

Dead humpback whale found near Klemtu, British Columbia

Jon Azpiri
Global News
Sat, 19 Nov 2016 18:44 UTC

A dead humpback whale was found entangled in empty aquaculture lines near Campbell River Tuesday — the second time a whale has been trapped at the site since September.

© Michael Dwyer / AP
A dead humpback whale was found entangled in empty aquaculture lines near Campbell River Tuesday — the second time a whale has been trapped at the site since September.

A fish farming company is reporting that a humpback whale was found dead this week, after being entangled in an anchor support line at one of its empty fish farms in Sheep Passage near Klemtu, B.C.

According to a statement from Marine Harvest Canada, the whale was discovered when staff were taking the system apart on Tuesday. The company said another whale was caught in a similar situation in September, but was safely untangled.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has been notified and the incident is being investigated.

Marine Harvest Canada, which is based in Campbell River, said it is now looking at similar aquaculture sites to prevent future entanglements from occurring.

Large sinkhole opens up outside house in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania

Alicia Nieves
wnep.com
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 18:21 UTC

Family fears sinkhole could swallow home

A family in Schuylkill County has been forced out of their home after a giant hole opened up in their backyard.

The family says that massive hole opened within minutes on Saturday night, swallowing up most of their backyard. They worry the hole could widen and take their home.

On Saturday night, Tracey Quick and her husband heard odd noises coming from the backyard of their home on Park Place Road near Mahanoy City. Then they heard louder noises coming from the home.

"It started cracking. The whole house sounded like it was going to go. It was horrible," she said.

Quick woke up her three children and got them out of the home safely because that cracking sound was the foundation of the home shifting as the house began to lean as the backyard gave way. Her husband went into the backyard to check on the noise. He was standing in the area just two minutes before the ground gave way.

Sinkhole opens up in driveway of home in Toronto

Codi Wilson
CP24
Wed, 16 Nov 2016 18:14 UTC

A sinkhole has appeared in the driveway of an Upper Beaches home.

A sinkhole has formed outside a home in the city's east end.

It happened in the driveway of a house on Golfview Avenue, in the area of Woodbine Avenue and Kingston Road.

A portion of the road has been closed as a result of the incident.

Heavy snow, blizzard conditions snarl traffic across midwestern U.S.

Renee Duff
AccuWeather
Sat, 19 Nov 2016 12:52 UTC

While the blizzard has come to an end, lake-effect snow and squalls will continue to develop over the Great Lakes this weekend. For more information, please visit this news story. High winds, heavy snow and localized blizzard conditions caused travel chaos across the midwestern United States late this past week.

After dumping over a foot of snow across the northern and central Rockies on Thursday, a storm with heavy snow and high winds shifted into the Midwest on Friday. The heaviest snow fell from Nebraska and South Dakota to portions of Minnesota and Ontario, where snowfall totals ranged from several inches to nearly a foot. Nearly 14 inches of snow was reported in Cass County, Minnesota.

There was a sharp variation in snowfall on the northern and southern fringes, where a few miles meant the difference between a couple of inches of snow and more than half a foot. Blizzard conditions unfolded across these areas as wind gusts in excess of 50 mph howled from the north and northwest. The combination of heavy snow and high winds led to blowing and drifting snow, near-zero visibility and extremely dangerous travel along area roadways.

The first flakes of the season in Denver resulted in a deadly 20-car pileup along Interstate 70 near Evergreen, just outside of Denver. Parts of the highway were closed at multiple times throughout the evening. As many as 340 crashes and 550 spinouts were reported on Minnesota roadways on Friday, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. Two people were killed and another 37 were injured.

Large sinkhole swallows car in Newcastle, Australia

Ashleigh Davis
Daily Mail
Wed, 16 Nov 2016 12:09 UTC

The front part of a car has been completely swallowed up by a one-metre deep sinkhole after a water main break

A car has been swallowed up by a one-metre deep sinkhole after a water main break.

The incident happened on Albert Street in Wickham, a suburb of Newcastle in NSW, at 6am on Thursday morning, the Newcastle Herald reported.

The force of the rushing water in the burst water main deteriorated soil underneath the road, which then caused the ground to open up.

The burst water main also caused 38 homes in the vicinity to lose water.

Local resident Chris Wheatley told the Newcastle Herald he woke up this morning to see his neighbour's car stuck in a hole.

The car was reportedly still in the hole about 9am on Thursday, with its nose, two front wheels stuck, and the tail end still sitting on the road.

Massive sinkhole opens up on highway and swallows 5 cars in Algeria

The Watchers
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 11:26 UTC

A large sinkhole has opened up on a highway near Ben Aknoun, a commune of Algiers Province and a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria, on November 18, 2016. Five cars fell into the hole, injuring a total of 11 people.

According to the Nassim Bernaoui, Algerian Emergency Preparedness communications manager, the hole opened on the highway towards Ben Aknoun, near the city of Sahraoui.

Six people were injured and hospitalized according to initial assessment.

The hole is currently 4 meters (13 feet) long, 6 meters (19.7 feet) wide and 4 meters deep.

36 million new dead trees spotted in California's forests since May 2016

KPCC
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 21:17 UTC

© U.S. Forest Service
An aerial detection survey photo of dead and dying trees on the Sequoia and Sierra national forests in August 2016.

A new aerial survey has identified an additional 36 million trees have died across California since the last count conducted in May, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That brings the total of dead trees spotted since 2010 to more than 102 million — 62 million died in 2016 alone, a 100 percent increase over 2015.

The statement identifies the following causes:

Five consecutive years of severe drought in California

A dramatic rise in bark beetle infestation

Warmer temperatures

The U.S. Forest Service is also having to use more of its resources fight wildfires rather than restoring forests, according to the release. Fire management rose to 56 percent of the Forest Service's budget last year and is expected to hit 67 percent of the budget in 2025. At the same time, dead and dying trees increase wildfire risk, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release.

Two dolphins dead after stranding in Nova Scotia, Canada

Carol Dunn
The News
Thu, 17 Nov 2016 14:24 UTC

Despite his efforts, Robert Lange of Big Island wasn’t able to help this common dolphin, which died on Wednesday after getting stranded in shallow water.

Two dolphins found dead on Big Island may have feeding close to shore when the tide dropped, said Andrew Reid of the Marine Animal Response Society.

Big Island resident Robert Lange was returning home from New Glasgow on Wednesday when he saw what he thought was geese in the water.

"Looking through binoculars, I realized it was dolphins and some were coming very close to the Big Island causeway. They were churning up the water as the tide was low, and the dorsal fins were all above the water," he said.

Lange said a few minutes later a small group of the mammals came along the roadway and one swam the wrong way, beaching itself in shallow water.

"It was thrashing around trying to get back to deeper water," he said.

By the time he got to the water's edge, sadly, it was too late.

Dozens of fur seals found dead or sick on shores of Bay Area, California

Don Ford
sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
Wed, 16 Nov 2016 13:03 UTC

Fur seal

A shocking number of fur seals are washing up on Bay Area shores, sick or dead.

Dr. Shawn Johnson - Marine Mammal Center Director of Veterinary Science, "They're probably the cutest little Marine Mammal out there. They're a combination between a California Sea Lion and maybe a Sea Otter."

This rare Guadalupe fur seal is one of the lucky ones being released back into the wild after recovering at the marine mammal center...once hunted nearly to extinction, now listed as threatened under the endangered species act. The Marine Mammal Center is seeing more of them, but that's not good.

Dr. Shawn Johnson, Director of Veterinary Science at the Marine Mammal Center said, "Over the last four years the most we've ever rescued in one year is five. But recently, fifty.

Wildfires Rage Across Southern US, Scorching More Than 100,000 Acres

Elizabeth Chuck
NBC News
Thu, 17 Nov 2016 10:56 UTC

Uncontrolled wildfires are raging through the drought-stricken South, blanketing multiple states in haze as firefighters race to temper the flames.

If you're not on the front lines, it may be hard to visualize just how bad these wildfires have gotten. To give you an idea of their size and scope, here's a handy guide:

Wildfires are burning in six states: North Carolina, which is the hardest hit, plus Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

All told, there are more than 30 large fires that are still uncontained. Overall, 128,000 acres have gone up in flames — a land mass that's about nine times the size of Manhattan, more than four times the size of San Francisco... or the size of nearly 96,970 football fields.

While that's a lot, there have certainly been much larger wildfires in past years. In August 2015, the Okanogan Complex Fire in Washington burned over 256,560 acres, making it the largest wildfire in Washington state history.

More than 5,000 firefighters and support personnel are battling the flames. The firefighters have come in from all parts of the country to assist and authorities are using 24 helicopters to drop flame retardant on the fires.