Europe's highest active volcano, Mount Etna has begun spewing lava again. The Sicilian volcano sent bright orange balls of lava straight up into the air and a steady glowing orange flow ran down its side. According to the ANSA news agency, flames went hundreds of metres into the air and could be seen from the nearby towns of Catania and Taormina.
Earth Changes
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Earthquake Location
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 16:16:41 UTC
Friday, January 14, 2011 at 03:16:41 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location:
20.589°S, 168.548°E
Depth:
7.2 km (4.5 miles)
Region:
LOYALTY ISLANDS
Distances:
125 km (80 miles) NNE of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
135 km (85 miles) SSW of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu
285 km (180 miles) NE of NOUMEA, New Caledonia
1755 km (1090 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
© Associated Press/Kailapillai Ruthiran
At least 23 people have died during a week of monsoon floods, with the centre and east of the island worst hit by rising water levels and mudslides.
A spokesman for the disaster management centre in Colombo said the eastern district of Batticaloa, which saw bloody fighting in the civil war that ended in 2009, was badly affected after heavier than usual seasonal rains.
"Some 541,000 people have been displaced in Batticaloa district alone where we have set up 275 camps to accommodate them," the spokesman said, adding that a total of 1,081,000 people have been displaced.
More than 350,000 people have taken shelter in state-run relief camps while other displaced people have moved to higher ground, often staying with friends or relatives, he said.
© Storm2k.org
Cyclone Vania lashed southern Vanuatu and moved on the Loyalty Islands.
Cyclone Vania lashed southern Vanuatu and moved on the Loyalty Islands.
The red alert, which is a maximum level on a scale of three (yellow, orange, red) was due to come into force at 3 pm local time (GMT+11), the French High Commission in Nouméa said in a release.
The red alert effectively means that people should stay indoors until further notice and continue to monitor cyclone-related advice on local media.
A previous orange alert had been imposed on the Loyalty Islands, on Wednesday, prompting the population to store goods and essential items such as batteries, water and food.
© Roberto Ferreira/AP
Cars sit in debris in a flooded street in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011. Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains, killing at least 140 people in 24 hours, Brazilian officials said Wednesday.
Cars sit in debris in a flooded street in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011. Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains, killing at least 140 people in 24 hours, Brazilian officials said Wednesday.
Rescuers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands to dig through debris in a search for survivors Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how many people were rescued. At least 50 remained missing, and officials feared that figure would rise.
In Teresopolis, a town 65 kilometres north of Rio, the rain overflowed creeks and flash floods swept over already water-logged mountainsides. Brick and wooden shacks built on hillsides stripped of trees were washed away in surging earth and water, leaving behind only a long trail of rusty red mud.
Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across Brazil each year. Especially punished are the poor, whose rickety homes are often built on steep inclines with little in the way of foundations.
At least 114 people died in Teresopolis, the local Civil Defence agency said. The mountains saw 26 centimetres of rain fall in less than 24 hours.
Denpasar - Two beached bottle-nosed dolphins have been found dead near Serangan Beach in Denpasar, Bali.
The pair, a male and a female, were discovered by officials from the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) during a routine patrol of the Suwung mangrove forest next to the beach, just a few meters from the waterline.
Head of the BKSDA Soemarsono said the officials rushed to carry the dolphins back down to the water but found them unresponsive and stiff.
He said the conservation officials, with help from local fishermen and residents, then brought the bodies back to the BKSDA office for burial.
"We suspect the two dolphins got separated from a larger pod that was migrating through the waters south of Bali," Soemarsono said.
"They probably washed up in the mangrove forest during high tide on Tuesday night. Then when the tide went out, they were left stranded."
The pair, a male and a female, were discovered by officials from the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) during a routine patrol of the Suwung mangrove forest next to the beach, just a few meters from the waterline.
Head of the BKSDA Soemarsono said the officials rushed to carry the dolphins back down to the water but found them unresponsive and stiff.
He said the conservation officials, with help from local fishermen and residents, then brought the bodies back to the BKSDA office for burial.
"We suspect the two dolphins got separated from a larger pod that was migrating through the waters south of Bali," Soemarsono said.
"They probably washed up in the mangrove forest during high tide on Tuesday night. Then when the tide went out, they were left stranded."
© Bruce Mercer/Waikato Times
Rescue Effort: Local Surf Club members and local residents try to float a Grey Beaked Whale back to sea at Sunset beach at Port Waikato.
Rescue Effort: Local Surf Club members and local residents try to float a Grey Beaked Whale back to sea at Sunset beach at Port Waikato.
Four of the five stranded whales at Port Waikato have died this morning while the fifth was successfully refloated to sea.
Shane Edwards, who helped with the rescue effort, said the surviving whale, believed to be a juvenile, was exhausted.
"I haven't done a rescue before so it was good to help out. It didn't look like it had much energy when it swam back out - I think it was scared of the Department of Conservation people."
The whales are believed to be Gray's eaked whales but the species will have to be confirmed by DNA testing.
Conservation Department project manager for biodiversity in the Waikato, Dion Patterson, said the juvenile had little chance of surviving unless it joined with its pod.
© AP –
A pedestrian walks down Spring Street in Atlanta Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011.
A pedestrian walks down Spring Street in Atlanta Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011.
Southerners seemed resigned to waiting out winter headaches such as slick roads and paralyzed airports. But people from Ohio to New York, who face up to a foot of snow in their third blast of winter in as many weeks, were already putting pressure on state and local governments to spare them from travel tangles and snow-choked roads.
Across the South, communities remained encrusted in ice and snow for a second straight day. Road crews fared little better than in the storm's opening hours, owing mostly to their lack of winter equipment. Frustrated motorists sat idle on slippery pavement or moved at a creep. Millions of people just stayed home.
In Atlanta, which had only 10 pieces of snow equipment when the storm hit, officials planned to bring in nearly 50 more pieces - the most resources marshaled for a storm in a decade. Mayor Kasim Reed said backup supplies of salt and sand were on the way, too.
Mail delivery was restricted to just a few places because postal employees could not get to work. Many schools and other institutions planned to stay closed Wednesday out of caution. The storm has been blamed for 11 deaths and many more injuries.
Despite the inconvenience, Southerners confronted the aftermath with patience - and a certain amount of wonder.
© Photo by Rick Macomber
A bus stop in the snow Wednesday afternoon at Copley Square
A bus stop in the snow Wednesday afternoon at Copley Square
Heavy, wet, pasty snow poured over eastern Massachusetts, stuck to everything and caused thousands of power outages.
Several reports of thunder and lightning came into the weather office before sunrise, as intense bands of snowfall rotated onshore.
The snow was a bit lighter and fluffier well inland, so it was a bit easier to move and shovel out in Worcester County.
Across the extreme South Shore and Cape and Islands, the snow is mixing with sleet and rain at times making for a big mess.
Time Frame
The heaviest snow, 1-to-3 inches per hour, continued through midday.
Steady moderate snow will fall for most of this afternoon and then becoming lighter by this evening.
Thousands of fliers along the East Coast bunkered down today and waited as airlines canceled nearly 2,000 more flights and planned for more cancellations tomorrow due to a strong winter snowstorm -- called a "weather bomb" -- moving its way up the Atlantic.
Atlanta remained the epicenter of the disruptions this week after a nasty snow and ice storm, but airlines with major operations in New York's three airports are now preparing for the worst. Parts of North Carolina got up to 15 inches of snow, and New York is forecast to get 8 to 14 inches of snow with winds up to 25 mph.
Airlines in New York are worried about tomorrow's flights thanks to the "weather bomb" -- a fast moving, severe winter storm in which air pressure drops quickly and an unusually far south jet stream brings in moisture causing heavy snows and winds. In anticipation of the storm, which is forecast to hit late tonight, airlines are preemptively canceling New York flights.
Atlanta remained the epicenter of the disruptions this week after a nasty snow and ice storm, but airlines with major operations in New York's three airports are now preparing for the worst. Parts of North Carolina got up to 15 inches of snow, and New York is forecast to get 8 to 14 inches of snow with winds up to 25 mph.
Airlines in New York are worried about tomorrow's flights thanks to the "weather bomb" -- a fast moving, severe winter storm in which air pressure drops quickly and an unusually far south jet stream brings in moisture causing heavy snows and winds. In anticipation of the storm, which is forecast to hit late tonight, airlines are preemptively canceling New York flights.
Comment: Well...it may NOT be a "once in a decade event". For more information on the changing climate, see this SOTT Focus article