Earth Changes

Dead humpback whale calf washes up in Port of Brisbane, Australia

Amy Mitchell-Whittington
Brisbane Times
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:23 UTC

A dead humpback whale calf was found at the weekend at the Port of Brisbane.

Authorities have no idea what killed a humpback whale calf found floating in the Port of Brisbane at the weekend.

A dead male humpback calf was spotted floating upside down near the mouth of the Brisbane River about 11.40pm on Saturday night by Alex Donaldson and his friend who were on their way out to go sea fishing.

Mr Donaldson, who fishes a few times a week, said he first thought the calf was a bit of floating rubbish.

"I thought it was a big bit of garbage floating down the river," he said.

"Every week we go out, we usually see a dead turtle so we thought it could be one of them.

"There were quite a few sharks below it, but they weren't coming up to it."

Over 6,500 taken to hospital for heatstroke in Japan

Japan Today
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 13:19 UTC

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday that 6,588 people were taken to hospitals nationwide to be treated for heatstroke in the week from Aug 1 to Aug 7.

The figure was an increase of 2,525 over the previous week as a heatwave covered most of Japan, agency officials said.

Twelve deaths were attributed to heatstroke, while 822 people had to be hospitalized due to their condition. Of the total number hospitalized, 3,330 were aged 65 and older.

By prefecture, Osaka had the highest number with 416, followed by Tokyo (398), Aichi Prefecture (383) and Saitama (382).

First tornado in almost 10 years touches down in Chicago

Jon Erdman
The Weather Channel
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 11:30 UTC

A tornado touched down in Chicago on Tuesday, but apparently it produced no damage and wasn't even accompanied by a thunderstorm.

The bizarre, dusty funnel, known as a landspout, was visible from Chicago's Midway Airport just before 4 Thursday afternoon for about 10 minutes and was photographed by several commuters in Chicagoland.

According to the National Weather Service, the landspout touched down in about a two-block area on the city's near southwest side, south of Ogden Avenue. No damage was reported.

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake shakes Northern California

KABC-TV
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 21:34 UTC

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck north of the Bay Area on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck near Upper Lake, California, which is about 130 miles north of the Bay Area, at about 7:57 p.m.

The earthquake was originally reported as 5.0 magnitude by the USGS, but was later upgraded to 5.1-magnitude.

Shortly after the initial earthquake, the USGS reported aftershocks of 3.0 and 2.7 magnitude.

The Lake County Sheriff dispatch reported no damage or injuries and stated firefighters were battling a small wildfire nearby, according to ABC affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco.

KGO-TV said residents and business owners in the region reported swaying light fixtures and scared pets, but no damage or injuries.

Comment: Last week a series of earthquakes rattled Northern California.

A dozen earthquakes registered overnight in Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka

TASS
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 06:01 UTC

The Russian Emergencies Ministry reports no casualties

About a dozen of earthquakes measuring from 2 to 5.2 points were registered in Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Territory overnight to Thursday, a spokesman for the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Service told TASS.

"All the quakes were registered during the night in the Avachinsky Bay near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The strongest earth tremor was registered at 00:17 local time (15:17 Moscow time). Its epicenter was located 85 kilometers away from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at a depth of 50 kilometers," the spokesman said, adding that this tremor was felt as a magnitude 3 quake in the city.

Two more strong quakes of a magnitude 4.7 and 4.5 were registered at about 05:00 a.m. local time (20:00 Moscow time). These earth tremors were also felt in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, no casualties or damages were reported. No tsunami warning was issued.

Comment: Earlier this year Zhupanovsky volcano in Kamchatka erupted producing an ash plume 10km high.

Wildfires rage near Marseille forcing evacuations and flight diversions

RT
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 21:31 UTC

© Boris Horvat / AFP
A picture taken near Vitrolles, southern France on August 10, 2016 shows a fire which has already devastated some 200 hectares.

Several wildfires have affected areas near Marseille, with huge clouds of smoke covering the skies above the southern French port city.

The smoke from the blaze has reportedly caused numerous delays at Marseille airport, with planes being diverted to other sites.

Several separate "significant" fires have been raging on Wednesday in the southern France region of Bouches-du-Rhone, the most densely populated department of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, local media reported.

The flames are reportedly getting close to industrial areas near Marseille, with several roads being closed off in the area. The situation remains "tense" and poses a threat to businesses in the region, France's Midi Libre reported. Hundreds of people and dozens of vehicles have been deployed to fight the blaze.

Comment: According to Marseille's deputy mayor, Julien Ruas, the size of the fire was "absolutely exceptional", and he advised people to stay off the roads. Some reports suggest that more than 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Rhone river delta area.

Flooding destroys 5,300 houses in Kano, Nigeria

NAN
Mon, 08 Aug 2016 19:09 UTC

Flood has destroyed over 5,300 houses in six Local Government Areas of Kano State.

Alhaji Aliyu Bashir, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (SERERA), disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Monday.

He said the affected local government areas include Bebeji, Dawakin Kudu, Kiru, Shanono, Bagwai and Garun-Malam.

"In Dawakin Kudu alone more than 2,300 houses were affected, while more than 600 houses in each of the remaining five areas were destroyed by the flood," he said.

Bashir said the officials of the agency had visited all the affected areas with a view to assessing the damage cause by the disaster.

"At the moment we are compiling a comprehensive report on the disaster for onward submission to the Federal and state governments for necessary assistance to the victims," he said.

Aggressive beaver attacks 2 swimmers in Killingly, Connecticut

Robert Moore
The Daily Monitor
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 18:19 UTC

On Monday night, a couple swimming in the Quinebaug River in Killingly, Conn., was attacked by a beaver. Swimmers are urged to stay out of the waters until authorities track the wild animal.

The couple suffered bite injuries and were taken to the hospital shortly after the attack. Authorities cannot tell whether the animal had rabies but they are sure that it is not normally dwelling in that section of the river.

Local fire crews arrived at the scene of the attack Monday, around 7 p.m. Rescuers said they were dispatched to the couple's boat after a report of an animal attack.

The head of the Dayville Fire Company, Kevin Ide, was told that the animal first attacked the woman and when the man tried to get the beaver off her, the animal bit the back of the man's leg. The 19-year-old woman suffered injuries on her side and finger.

Three dead as wildfire sweeps across the island of Madeira

James Badcock and James Rothwell
The Telegraph (UK)
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 17:58 UTC

People take pictures of the smoke rising from a wildfire at Curral dos Romeiros in Funchal.

Three people have died, including an elderly woman, and more than 1,000 people have been evacuated after a wildfire tore across the Portuguese island of Madeira.

The woman, who has not been named, died after her house in the capital of Funchal caught fire.

Funchal, which has a population of 111,000, is a big tourist destination.

Several buildings were destroyed in the fire include a five star hotel, according to reports, while two people have been seriously injured.

A 24-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, accused of starting the fire deliberately in the mountains of São Roque, just outside Funchal.

Judicial police sources told local media that the suspect "has a criminal record as an arsonist".

A man gestures at a burning house as a wildfire spreads at Bom Sucesso in Funchal.

Seven percent of La Palma destroyed by wildfire in the Canary Islands

Deutsche Welle
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 17:02 UTC

La Palma wildfire

Spanish authorities said they have moved more than 500 more residents from the path of the five-day-old forest fire, which has affected over 4,400 hectares on the volcanic island located off the northwest coast of Africa, the Spanish news agency Efe said late Monday. A 54-year-old forestry worker died on Thursday while helping to fight the wildfire.

About 350 firefighters, supported by four planes and eight helicopters dumping water, are battling the fire but strong winds and high temperatures are making work difficult, the authorities said.

The regional government for the island, part of the Canary Islands archipelago, says the evacuation of two neighborhoods in the town of Villa de Mazo took place Sunday morning shortly after midnight as the fire spread through the hilly terrain. This came only hours after authorities said some of the 2,500 residents previously moved to safety could now return to their homes.