Earth ChangesS


Question

Ponds in Colorado closed after several see large reptile


cbs4denver.com
Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:54 UTC
LOVELAND - A group of ponds and the 30-acre natural recreation area around it are closed until further notice in Loveland because of an unusual guest.

The city says it has confirmed sightings of a large reptile in the Jayhawker Ponds Natural Area. The animal is believed to be between 5 to 7 feet long and may be an alligator or caiman.

A boy was fishing with friends Wednesday night when he says the reptile lunged out of the water and scared them.
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Attention

Quake causes radioactive leak in Japan


RIA Novosti
Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:56 UTC
The earthquake that killed at least seven in western Japan Monday morning has caused a radioactive leak from the country's largest nuclear power plant, the operator company said.

Tokyo Denryoku said the incident occurred at the sixth reactor of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant hit by the first of three waves of the earthquake measuring 6.8 on Richter scale, which also left over 800 people injured. The discovery was made during regular maintenance checks of the reactor. The company suggested the water could have leaked from a special storage facility for used uranium rods.

Shortly after the first tremors, the company said four reactors that were operating at the time had automatically shut down by the safety system. But after a while, reports emerged that a transformer had caught fire on the external side of the third reactor. The fire was put out, and the company said there had been no radiation leak.
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Bizarro Earth

Greece: Wind whips up brush fires


eKathimerini
Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:03 UTC
Firefighters combat more than 100 blazes as gales blow across Greece.

Strong winds across Greece fanned more than 100 brush fires - some of which firefighters were still battling last night - and disrupted sea travel during one of the busiest times of the year for ferry companies.
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Bizarro Earth

Update! Strong earthquake jolts northwestern Japan


MSNBC
Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:47 UTC



A strong earthquake jolted northwestern Japan on Monday morning and caused buildings in the capital Tokyo to sway. The Meteorological Agency said small tsunamis as high as 20 inches were believed to have hit coasts in the area.

©USGS

Comment: Any connection to Typhoon Man-yi?

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Bizarro Earth

Earthquakes rattle northeastern Tanzania, tremors felt in Kenya


AFP
Sun, 15 Jul 2007 00:27 UTC
Earthquakes measuring up to 5.5 on the Richter scale have been rattling northeastern Tanzania in the past four days and tremors were also felt in neighbouring Kenya, officials said Sunday.

Kenya Meteorological Department official Peter Ambenje said the tremors, which lasted about one minute, were last recorded in northeastern Tanzania at around 2:24 pm (1124 GMT) on Sunday.
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Cloud Lightning

Flashback Earth trembles as big winds move in


NewScientist.com
Fri, 01 Jul 2005 00:02 UTC
Hurricanes can trigger swarms of weak earthquakes and even set the Earth vibrating, according to the first study of such effects.

When Hurricane Charley slammed into Florida in August 2004, physicist Randall Peters of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, had a seismometer ready to monitor any vibrations in the Earth's crust. He did so for over 36 hours as Charley travelled briefly over Florida, then slid back out into the Atlantic.
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Cloud Lightning

Update! Powerful typhoon lashes southern Japan


AFP
Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:58 UTC
A powerful typhoon lashed Japan's southern main island of Kyushu on Saturday, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes and killing one, a boy who fell and drowned in a swollen river.

©TSR
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning keeps Washington firefighters busy


AP
Sat, 14 Jul 2007 23:42 UTC
Firefighters tried to contain several dozen lightning-caused fires in Washington state on Saturday, as more thunderstorms swept through the region.



©AP
The red lights of fire trucks, right, are seen as firefighters prepare defend homes against a fast moving wildfire Friday night, July 13, 2007, in Asotin County, Wash.


Close to 2,700 lightning strikes were reported in Washington and Oregon on Friday and early Saturday, sparking 212 fires, but firefighters quickly contained most of them. Three of the largest remaining fires had burned nearly 43 square miles of grass, sagebrush and farm fields in south-central Washington, and only one had been contained by early Saturday afternoon.
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Cloud Lightning

Half of China drenched, bedraggled by unprecedented floods

Bi Mingxin
Xinhua
Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:01 UTC


©Xinhua
Vehicles run through flooded water in a street in Xiangfan, a city in central China's Hubei Province

Zheng Xiaoling trekked in the knee-deep water, careful not to fall and be washed into a swollen river 500 meters away.

On Friday, the worst rainstorm to attack her home county of Jingshan in central China's Hubei Province since records began interrupted power and water supplies for six hours and inundated at least 140 homes in her community, including her own.
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Attention

Indonesian Government Warns of High Waves and Eruptions

M. Taufiqurrahman
Indonesialogue
Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:20 UTC
The government warned of the possibility that natural disasters could strike in several of the country's regions in the coming weeks. Senior government officials have asked the Indonesian people to brace for potential volcanic eruptions and huge waves expected to pound numerous coastal regions.
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