Earth ChangesS


Cow

US: 200 Dead Cows Found on Farm in Stockton, Wisconsin

The Portage County Humane Society is trying to figure out what caused 200 cows in the town of Stockton to perish.

Deputies were dispatched to the town just after 1 p.m. on Friday after they were notified of numerous dead cows lying in a field in the 8000 block of Fourth Avenue, according to a Portage County Sheriff's Department news release.

The owner of the cattle reportedly told deputies that he had been working with a local veterinarian and suspected that the animals died from either infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, or IBR, or bovine virus diarrhea, or BVD, the Sheriff's Department said.

According to Cattletoday.info, IBR, aka red nose, is an acute, contagious virus of cattle that usually occurs in the air passages of the cow's head or its windpipe.

Radar

Quake in Chile set off tremors in California-US study

Corrected - Quake in Chile set off tremors in California-US study

(Corrects 2nd paragraph to show that 500 people were killed and to show more than one tsunami struck)

A devastating earthquake in Chile last year may have set off a swarm of smaller quakes as far away as California, U.S. researchers reported on Friday.

They found evidence that the magnitude 8.8 quake in Chile, which killed 500 people and set off tsunamis that devastated coastal cities last February, set off a chain of events 10,000 km (6,200 miles) away.

Radar

The California 'Big One' May Be a Flood

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© U.S. Geological Survey
California has more risk of catastrophic storms than any other region in the country - even the Southern hurricane states, according to a new study released Thursday.

The two-year study by the U.S. Geological Survey is the most thorough effort yet to assess the potential effects of a "worst-case" storm in California.

It builds on a new understanding of so-called atmospheric rivers, a focusing of high-powered winds that drag a fire hose of tropical moisture across the Pacific Ocean, pointed directly at California for days on end. The state got a relatively tame taste of the phenomenon in December.

The team of experts that developed the scenario can't say when it will happen. But they do say it has happened in the past and is virtually certain to strike again.

"This storm, with essentially the same probability as a major earthquake, is potentially four to five times more damaging," said Lucy Jones, USGS chief scientist on the study. "That's not something that is in the public consciousness."

The study aims to fix that.

Cloud Lightning

Hundreds dead in Brazil floods

Rescuers dig through shattered homes for survivors after floods and landslides rip through a mountainous region.

brazil floods serrana region
© EPAMany residents of the three main towns in Serrana region have been made homeless by the floods
More than 350 people have been killed after floods and landslides devastated towns and villages in a mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro.

Rescue workers were digging desperately on Thursday in an attempt to reach people buried after the equivalent of a month's rain fell on the Serrana region in less 24 hours, toppling houses and buckling roads.

"It's like an earthquake struck some areas," Jorge Mario, the mayor of Teresopolis, where at least 168 people were reported to have died, said.

"There are three or four neighbourhoods that were totally destroyed in rural areas. There are hardly any houses standing there and all the roads and bridges are destroyed."

Television images showed emergency workers going through the ruins of collapsed homes in a search for survivors, but often finding only bodies.

Cloud Lightning

Fiji Islands: Flooding in Western and Eastern Division

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Continuous rain has led to flooding in most parts of the Western and Eastern Division.

The heavy downpour continues in Rakiraki, Tavua, Ba, Lautoka, Korovou and Naqali.

The Department of National Roads said people are still stranded on the main highway to Rakiraki town near Vaileka as the highway is still flooded and closed to traffic.

The FSC road and crossing, the Waimari and Korotale roads are also flooded.

Cloud Lightning

Indonesia: Wild Weather Destroys Homes In 2 Provinces

Extreme weather in two provinces has damaged hundreds of houses and left scores homeless, officials said on Thursday.

On the East Nusa Tenggara island of Flores on Wednesday, high waves that reached as far as 100 meters inland swept away at least 18 houses in Sikka district's Nangahale village, said Fransiska Palan Bolen, secretary of the province's Natural Disaster Management Agency (BNPD).

No injuries were reported in the incident.

Fransiska said the affected villagers had been evacuated to emergency camps and that her office had sent personnel, supplies and food to help the victims.

Phoenix

Strange beams of light over Ottawa area due to ice crystals in air

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© Ruben, Reader PhotoLight pillar over Gatineau Park early Tuesday morning.
If you saw funny lights in the sky before dawn Tuesday, you were looking at light from the ground filtered through millions of tiny airborne ice crystals.

People across Ottawa and up into Gatineau Park reported seeing beams of light shooting straight up from the ground about 6 a.m., and some said the effect was like hundreds of searchlights.

Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist from Environment Canada, says there was nothing unusual about the lights. The unusual part was the atmosphere.

Beaker

UK: Yellow Foam Washed Up on Bournemouth Shore

A strange substance found on Bournemouth shore is similar to that washed up on Hayling Island beaches.

The bright yellow foam, which tests reveal is 80 per cent castor oil, caused several beach closures in Hampshire and Sussex.

Seafront Development Manager Chris Saunders said: "Our Seafront Cleansing team spent yesterday removing a majority of the material.

"We are working closely with the Environment Agency, and Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and will continue to monitor the situation closely."

Fish

Queensland Flood Waters Threaten Great Barrier Reef

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© Norman Kuring/Ocean Color Web/NASANASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of the Queensland coast on 4 January. It shows a thick plume of sediment emerging from the Burdekin river mouth and heading for the Great Barrier Reef
Flood waters in Brisbane reached a 4.46-metre peak at 5.30 am local time today - lower than the 5.2-metre peak predicted earlier this week. By noon, the Bureau of Meteorology reported that the Brisbane river was at 3.91 metres and steady.

But with an offshore cyclone now forecast, Reuters reports that further floods are feared - and Brisbane already faces a clean-up operation that may last for months, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

As things stand, 15 people are now confirmed dead, and a further 61 people remain missing, reports Australia's Broadcasting Corporation. The environmental implications of the floods are also likely to be profound.

A week ago, fears of a plague of crocodiles and snakes - including venomous taipans, brown snakes and red-bellied blacks - in the Queensland area made the news.

Fish

Queensland Flood: Bull Sharks Spotted Swimming Down The Main Street In Goodna - 30km From The Coast

Bull Shark
© The Daily TelegraphThe bull shark is a shallow water creature, and can tolerate fresh waters.

Two bull sharks have reportedly been spotted swimming down the main street of a flooded Queensland town, 30km inland.

Butcher Steven Bateman spotted two bull sharks swimming near his Goodna shop yesterday - one of several reports of a sharks in Goodna's main street.

Ipswich local councillor Paul Tully confirmed it was a bizarre but true story out of Queensland's flood disaster.

"It would have swum several kilometres in from the river, across Evan Marginson Park and the motorway,'' Cr Tully told The Queensland Times.

"It's definitely a first for Goodna, to have a shark in the main street.

"I know Steve (Bateman) and he wouldn't say he saw a shark unless he really saw one."