Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Six people injured in hailstorm in Prague

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© ČTKWenceslas square hit by heavy rain.
Prague - Six people were injured in a hailstorm in Prague Sunday night, the rescue service told CTK.

One man suffered a serious injury after a broken roof window fell on him and the glass cut an artery on his leg.

Another man suffered a head wound and four women were treated with lighter head and back injuries after they slipped and fell down in the heavy rain.

Firefighters had to assist in the storm. They drained water from some cellars and removed fallen trees and branches from streets in the capital.

They also had to drain water from a hall of the Můstek underground station on Wenceslas square in the city centre.

Bizarro Earth

Summer storms bring chaos to parts of Spain

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© EFEThe after effects of the hail storm in Cuenca
Two people were hit by lightening when on the beach.

Summer storms have been bringing scenes of drama to parts of Spain.

A 15 minute long cloudburst flooded the streets to Cuenca to a depth of nearly a metre of water. Vehicles were covered in places and some people found themselves wading up to the waist. Shops, garages and some homes were flooded in several regions of the city, and the hailstones reached three centimetres in diameter at times.

Valencia, Alicante and the south of Castellón saw the worst of the storms and the weather forecasters said that as much as 40 litres per square metre could fall in some areas.

Storms in Tarragona and Valencia caused delay to both long distance and local train services. The drainage system overflowed in Murcia, while fires were caused by lightening in Fortuna, Yecla and Jimilla.

Question

Mystery as 'corkscrew' kills dozens of Scottish seals

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'Strange deaths': Seven incidents involving common and grey seals were reported in Scotland in the last two months
Dozens of seals are dying from unexplained 'corkscrew' injuries, prompting the launch of a Scottish Government investigation.

Seven incidents involving common and grey seals, such as the one pictured below, were reported in the past two months alone in St Andrews Bay and the Firth of Forth, Scottish officials said.

Carcasses washed ashore showing a single, smooth-edged cut starting at the head and spiralling around the body. Experts do not believe the injuries were caused by fishing nets or boat propellers.

Environment Minister Richard Lochhead said: 'It's critical that we establish the cause of these strange deaths and do all we can to protect our seal populations, particularly as numbers have reduced in recent years. I would encourage anyone who encounters a seal carcass to contact the Sea Mammal Research Unit.'

Bizarro Earth

Sweden: Flooding in Malmö as heavens open

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© B. Larsson Rosvall/ScanpixBus passengers were involved in a dramatic boat rescue in western Sweden on Friday morning, 13 Aug 2010
Torrential rain showers pummelled southern Sweden on Saturday night, causing flooding and road closures in parts of Skåne.

Emergency services were inundated with phone calls from home owners whose basements were flooded as the incessant rain made its presence felt.

The region's main city, Malmö, was pounded by 66 millimetres of precipitation in a few short hours, according to meteoroligical agency SMHI.

Rescue workers were also called out to help motorists whose cars had stalled in the rising waters.

Per Bergkvist was out driving on Malmö's inner ring road when he ran into difficulties around the Fosie exit, local newspaper Sydsvenskan reports.

"The water reached up to the car doors," he told the newspaper.

Bizarro Earth

Philippines: Flashflood hits 50 families in Zamboanga City

At least 50 families in the village of Marcos Drive Putik here woke up Sunday dawn with their homes flooded.

Feliciano Mariano said he and his family woke up with their house on the 3rd Street in the same village already submerged in water.

Even the house of Francisco Barredo, the city's Social Welfare Officer, was not spared.

"Water is rising and current is very strong, people have to be evacuated immediately," Barredo said Sunday morning.

He said two other riverside villages, Boalan and Tugbungan, suffered the same situation.

At around 7 a.m. Sunday, two Air Force helicopters flew over the flooded villages.

Naval Forces Western Mindanao commander Rear Admiral Alexander Pama said two teams of disaster relief and rehabilitation personnel were able to rescue at least 24 families.

Pama said evacuation and rescue operation continued as 4 p.m. Sunday.

Zamboanga City Water District spokesperson Dolly Galvan said due to continuous rains, the water level at the Pasonanca dam has reached the critical level of 75.5 compared to the normal level of 74.

Bizarro Earth

Mauritius: Earthquake Magnitude 6.3 - Reunion Region

Mauritius Quake_160810
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Monday, August 16, 2010 at 03:30:55 UTC

Monday, August 16, 2010 at 07:30:55 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
17.788°S, 65.692°E

Depth:
10.6 km (6.6 miles)

Region:
MAURITIUS - REUNION REGION

Distances:
320 km (200 miles) NE of Ile Rodrigues, Mauritius

900 km (560 miles) ENE of PORT LOUIS, Mauritius

3135 km (1950 miles) SSW of COLOMBO, Sri Lanka

Bizarro Earth

New Zealand: Undersea Volcano Collapses

An undersea volcano, aptly named Rumble lll, has partly collapsed, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) says.

The west side of the volcano, on the Kermadec Ridge, 200km northeast of Auckland, collapsed over the past several years, reducing its height by 120 metres, Niwa marine geologist Richard Wysoczanski said.

The collapse was confirmed during an oceanographic voyage during May and June this year.

"Our seabed is a lot more active than we thought," Dr Wysoczanski said.

"These volcanoes, as well as the non-volcanic ridges, can also cause landslides that could potentially generate a tsunami that would impact on New Zealand."

Dr Wysoczanski said the first leg of the voyage focused on geophysical surveying of the Kermadec Arc seafloor and seafloor massive sulphide deposits that sometimes develop over hydrothermal vents.

Rumble lll is one of more than 30 large submarine volcanoes on the Kermadec Arc which are rich in iron, lead, zinc and copper.

"We are investigating these volcanoes and mineral deposits to determine their size and the biological communities they support," Dr Wysoczanski said.

Bizarro Earth

Papua New Guinea: Earthquake Magnitude 6.3

PNG Quake_150810
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 15:09:30 UTC

Monday, August 16, 2010 at 01:09:30 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
5.708°S, 148.337°E

Depth:
183.1 km (113.8 miles) set by location program

Region:
NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Distances:
145 km (90 miles) WNW of Kandrian, New Britain, PNG

185 km (115 miles) NE of Lae, New Guinea, PNG

435 km (270 miles) NNE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

2460 km (1530 miles) NNW of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia

Chalkboard

Thieving parrots hatch a plan to unlock food

Kea parrots are renowned thieves in their native New Zealand, and with good reason - even a complicated sequence of locks can't foil them.


Bizarro Earth

Mariana Islands: Earthquake Magnitude 6.6

Marianna Quake_140810
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 23:01:05 UTC

Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 09:01:05 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
12.211°N, 141.408°E

Depth:
22.5 km (14.0 miles)

Region:
MARIANA ISLANDS REGION

Distances:
390 km (240 miles) WSW of HAGATNA, Guam

465 km (290 miles) WSW of Rota, Northern Mariana Islands

465 km (290 miles) NE of Yap, Micronesia

570 km (355 miles) SW of SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands