Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Multiple waterspouts touch down off Polish coast

Multiple waterspouts were filmed just offshore from the city of Darłowo on the Polish Baltic Sea coast in early August 2012.


Extinguisher

Riverside County Wildfire 90% Contained, Authorities Say

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© Frank Bellino / Riverside Press-EnterpriseA DC-10 drops retardant on the Buck wildfire over rugged terrain south of Hemet on Tuesday.
US, California - A wildfire that burned across 2,500 acres of Riverside County and forced some homes to be evacuated has been 90% contained, authorities said.

Some smoldering continues in interior back-country areas, the Riverside County Fire Department announced Thursday. One firefighter needed to be taken to a hospital with minor injuries, the department said.

Two other firefighters and one civilian had been injured Wednesday, and four structures were destroyed.

The Buck fire was one of more than a dozen that burned across the state this week, including a blaze a northern San Diego County called the Vallecito Lightning Complex fire. The Vallecito blaze, which started Sunday, has been 70% contained. Marine and Navy helicopters were used to assist the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in fighting the blaze, which stretched over almost 20,000 acres.

Other fires were reported this week in San Bernardino County, Kern County and the Stanislaus National Forest. Ken Pimlott, chief of Cal Fire, said Wednesday that over 8,000 state, local and federal firefighters were battling the flames across the state.

Bizarro Earth

Flood-hit Road Closed after 18ft deep hole Appears in South Wales

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© Carmarthen Journal The road between Whitland and Lampeter Velfrey which collapsed during last week’s floods
A busy road, used for diversions during accidents, could be closed for a month - after floods left a hole 18 feet deep across it.

The B4328, between Whitland and Lampeter Velfrey, is a popular lane for motorists around the area who have now been forced to find other routes.

The hole appeared last week, after torrential rain caused flooding across the area, with fire crews inundated with calls.

Councillor David Simpson, ward member for Lampeter Velfrey, said he was first told about the hole on Monday, August 6.

"The rain took away a piece of road about 40 yards across - maybe 30 - and across the width of the road.

"I think it was about 20 foot deep."

Bizarro Earth

Closed circuit cameras in Taiwan captured a man being swallowed by a sinkhole

Closed circuit cameras in Taiwan captured a man being swallowed by a sinkhole. He was walking when the ground disappeared. Rescuers were not able to save the man. Officials believe the heavy rains washed away the soil under the walkway. At least 23 people, including this man, have died from the typhoon's rains. Typhoon Saola was hovering near the Philippines last week and is expected to move on to China.


Bizarro Earth

Another sink hole opens up in China killing two - Baby girl's miracle rescue from 33ft-deep crater as busy road collapses

Two people have been killed after a section of road caved-in on a busy city street. Three others, including a baby girl, were injured when the crater appeared in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province on Monday. They were saved when rescue workers gained access to the 20ft-wide hole via a drainage tunnel.

Two passers-by died from injuries sustained in the fall. Incredibly, the baby girl only sustained minor grazes to her head.
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© ReutersCrater: Two passers-by were killed when a section of road collapsed in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province on Monday afternoon

Cow Skull

Colorado hit with first anthrax disease outbreak in 31 years

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Two more cows have died from anthrax exposure in northeast Colorado, expanding the first outbreak of the disease in the state in 31 years to three ranches. Last week, 60 cows died on a Logan County ranch, where anthrax was positively identified in one animal. Officials say it's likely they all died of the disease. The Colorado Department of Agriculture said Wednesday the additional cows were on two separate adjacent ranches. Both died from the disease. State Veterinarian Keith Roehr said all three ranches involved share fences and the new cases likely are the result of cows grazing in an area with soil containing anthrax spores.

Neighboring herds have been vaccinated. No cows left the affected ranches so none entered the food supply and no human infection has been reported, Roehr said. Anthrax kills livestock within hours of infection and can decimate herds if animals are not quickly treated, he said. Anthrax is caused by a bacterium that forms in spores and can lie dormant in soil for decades until ingested. Humans get anthrax most commonly through direct contact with infected animals usually when spores get into a cut or abrasion on the skin.

Bizarro Earth

Ivan Groznyy Volcano Erupts in Kuril Islands

The Ivan Groznyy ("Ivan the Terrible") volcano erupted early on Thursday morning on the island of Iturup, part of the Kuril group in Russia's Far East. The volcano spewed a column of ash onto the surrounding area. Local people in the nearest towns, Goryachiye Klyuchi (9 kilometers away) and the city of Kurilsk (25 kilometers), noticed a faint smell of hydrogen sulfide gas, which disappeared later. The eruption poses no threat to nearby human settlements. Scientists recorded signs of the impending eruption on Wednesday, when gas emissions on the volcano's northeast slope increased, a Sakhalin region Emergency Ministry representative told RIA Novosti. Observation of the volcano continues. - RIA Novosti

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Bug

West Nile Virus Outbreak Triggers Dallas, Texas State of Emergency declaration: City to begin first aerial spraying in 46 years

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Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings on Wednesday declared the city's recent West Nile virus outbreak to be a state of emergency and authorized the first aerial spraying of insecticide in the city in more than 45 years. Dallas and other North Texas cities have agreed to the rare use of aerial spraying from planes to combat the nation's worst outbreak of West Nile virus so far this year. Dallas last had aerial spraying in 1966, when more than a dozen deaths were blamed on encephalitis. More than 200 cases of West Nile and 10 deaths linked to the virus have been reported across Dallas County, where officials authorized aerial spraying last week.

State health department statistics show 381 cases and 16 deaths related to West Nile statewide. "The numbers of cases, the number of deaths are remarkable, and we need to sit up and take notice," Rawlings said during a city council briefing. "We do have a serious problem right now." Aerial spraying for mosquitoes could begin Thursday evening, depending on weather conditions. The state health department, which will pay for the $500,000 aerial spraying with emergency funds, has a contract with national spraying company Clarke. Clarke officials have said two to five planes will be used in Dallas County. Dallas City Council members voiced concerns about aerial spraying's health effects on humans and animals. Rawlings said the aerial dosage will be much lower than the dosage used so far during ground spraying. He also said aerial spraying recently has been safely used in California, Massachusetts and New York.

Nuke

Fukushima's Nuclear Casualties

radiation suit
© Krasowit
Let the Counting Begin

It's been nearly 18 months since the disastrous nuclear meltdown at Fukushima. There have been many reports on the huge amounts of radioactivity escaping into the air and water, unusually high levels in air, water, and soil - along with atypically high levels of toxic chemicals in food - that actually "passed" government inspection and wasn't banned like some other food.

Conspicuously absent are reports on effects of radiation exposure on the health of the Japanese people. Have any health officials publicly announced post-March 2011 numbers on fetal deaths, infant deaths, premature births, birth defects, cancer, or other health conditions? The answer so far is an emphatic "no."

The prolonged silence doesn't mean data doesn't exist. Japanese health officials have been busy with their usual duties of collecting and posting statistics on the Internet for public inspection. It's just that they aren't calling the public's attention to these numbers. Thus, it is the public who must find the information and figure out what it means. After locating web sites, translating from Japanese, adding data for each of 12 months, and making some calculations, mortality trends in Japan after Fukushima are emerging.

The Japanese government health ministry has posted monthly estimated deaths for the 12 months before and after Fukushima, for the entire nation of Japan. These are preliminary figures, but they have historically been very good estimates of final numbers. A further look is in order.

Bizarro Earth

Eagle Attacks Villagers in Revenge, Locals Say

Golden Eagle
© J. Glover - Atlanta, Georgia/Wikimedia CommonsNova - an American golden eagle in the care of the Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center at Auburn University.

Two villagers in Muling county, Heilongjiang province, were attacked by a golden eagle several times within two years after they ate a young golden eagle, Heilongjiang Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

A golden eagle attacked a man named Yang for more than 20 minutes when he was harvesting wheat on Saturday morning. After Yang was helped into a police car, the golden eagle continued the attack, diving at the windshield and chasing the car for 700 meters, the report said.

Yang was badly injured in his face, neck and arms, but it was not the worst time he was injured by golden eagles, according to the report. In April 2011, when he was planting in the mountain, a golden eagle attacked him, cutting his head, and he got 21 stitches.

A fellow villager named Wu has also been attacked by the golden eagle several times since August 2010. In April 2011, he received gashes in his head and hands in an attack and piece of flesh was ripped from his forehead. Wu received more than 40 stitches to close his wounds from that attack, the report said. He moved out the village to avoid further attacks.

According to the report, Yang said they had stolen a young golden eagle from its nest and ate it in August 2010, because they heard that eating golden eagles could cure hemorrhoids. Villagers say the golden eagle is seeking revenge.

For hundreds of years, golden eagles have been famous in China for their ferocity and strength, the report said. In Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Mongolian hunters used to train them to hunt wolves. It is said that one golden eagle caught 14 wolves.