The body of a giant squid has washed up on a beach in South Africa - leaving beachgoers stunned.

Giant squid are one of the most mysterious creatures in the ocean with sightings of them being extremely rare.

The deep-sea monsters had never been photographed alive until 2002 and were only caught on camera for the first time in 2006.

Thanks to their elusive nature, the creatures are surrounded by legend and are thought to have inspired stories of the Kraken - a mythical sea monster which is said to have preyed on ships.

ALL OF FINLAND DROPS BELOW ZERO...

It may be May, but unusually low temperatures are persisting across the majority of Europe.

On Wednesday, May 4, the whole of Finland dropped below freezing — a rare feat for the fifth month of the year.

Records were slain, too: the Saariselkä Tourist center, for example, logged -15.3C (4.4F) — a new record low for May.

Floods hit the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil today, on May 5th 2022.

Heavy rains caused flash floods throughout the state, as rivers burst their banks, flooding low lying areas.

Thousands of residents have been forced to leave their homes following the floods, as houses filled with water, destroying possessions.

Roads filled with water, making travel impossible. In rural areas, landslides blocked roads and caused further damage to buildings and vehicles.

The areas impacted include Tubarão, Forquilinha, São Ludgero and Araranguá. Warnings remain in place for the coming days.

Taming the second-largest wildfire in New Mexico history has been a nightmare for crews who have been battling the blaze for more than a month, a firefighter said Thursday.

At one point, the ferocious Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire was spreading at 50 miles per hour, said Travis Regensberg, a general contractor brought in by New Mexico to help protect homes and buildings.

"It's been a nightmare," Regensberg told CNN on Thursday. "It's been really tough for us. I've been on this 17 days straight -- three, four hours of sleep a night to protect the communities here."

The firefighters have been protecting buildings by creating perimeter rings around them and using bulldozers to cut fire lines, he said. Additionally, they try to minimize harm to septic and well systems so that people have "a place to come back to," Regensberg said.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 on the Richter scale hit Philippine Islands on Thursday, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) confirmed.

"Earthquake of Magnitude:6.0, Occurred on 05-05-2022, 13:51:19 IST, Lat: 6.55 & Long: 127.11, Depth: 20 Km ,Location: Philippine Islands," NCS tweeted.

Earlier, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said that a magnitude of 5.7 jolted Davao Oriental province in the southern Philippines.

The quake, which occurred at 5:41 a.m. local time (2141 GMT Wednesday), hit at a depth of 96 km, about 136 km southeast of Tarragona town of Davao Oriental province, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

There are no reports of casualties or loss of properties as of now.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)

Over 20 people have reportedly died in flash flooding in Afghanistan over the last few days.

Detailed information on the current situation is difficult to find. However local and international media quoted officials from Afghanistan's Ministry for Disaster Management, saying that 22 people had died and 30 were injured in flash floods that had affected the provinces of Badakhshan, Herat, Badghis, Helmand, Takhar, Parwan, Kandahar, Wardag, Kunduz, Baghlan, Logar, and Juzjan.

Local media in Afghanistan reported flooding in Baghlan, Samangan and Parwan Provinces from around 02 May 2022. Four people died in Dahna Ghori district in Baghlan Province on 02 May. Eight people including children reportedly died in Shinwari district of Parwan Province on 03 May. Floods have damaged homes and crops in Samangan.

Hundreds of food processing and food distribution facilities around the world were forced to halt activities since the lockdowns started, some of them suffered cyberattacks, and hundreds of others have exploded or burned down, a trend that increased considerably this year with up to 28 facilities burned down in mysterious ways just in the US.

Other related events worth mentioning:

• Poultry farm in Otsego, Michigan loses 300,000 chickens in massive fire (January 3, 2020)
• 400,000 chickens killed in massive barn fire in Bloomfield, Nebraska (February 27, 2020)
• 280,000 chickens were killed in a Ceres, California chicken barn fire (April 24, 2020)
• Fire at Red Bird Egg Farm in Pilesgrove, New Jersey kills 300,000 chickens (July 21, 2020)
• 4-alarm fire at Martic Township, Pennsylvania warehouse kills 42,000 chickens (July 30, 2020)
• Kent Foods plant that supplied grains, sugar to the entire E.U. burned to the ground (September 2, 2020)
• 2,000 pigs were killed in a massive fire at a Northern Ireland farm (September 8, 2020)
• 1,000 acres of corn were destroyed in Michigan after vandals sabotaged it to kill cows that eat it (September 30, 2020)
• Fire at three barns kills 250,000 chickens in Dade County, Florida (December 17, 2020)
• California appropriates $3 billion to pay farmers not to farm (March 31, 2022)
• Biden Administration announces it will pay farmers not to farm (May 2, 2021)

Further, The Guardian in the U.K. came up with a brilliant study that concluded that Northern Ireland must get rid of 1.2 million sheep and cattle, along with 5 million chickens, to meet zero carbon emissions and a 50% reduction in methane emissions... all this while global food prices are at their highest points in the 32-year history.

Well, does this sounds like a manufactured crisis? You bet. Yet, nature has its own plans, and the consequences are becoming the most significant factor.

We wanted to highlight that the most relevant events this month are related to unseasonable temperature drops and snow around the world, up to the end of April.

Winter-like temperatures have been gaining ground throughout the years damaging crops and crippling livestock farms, meanwhile planting and harvesting seasons keep getting displaced.

Sudden drops in temperatures are also worth mentioning, as in the Cascades, Washington that triggered a heavy snowfall that caused dozens of road accidents. In Europe, France registered the coldest April night since 1947.

There were a couple of extreme heat events during this month in some parts of the US, Europe and Asia, but they pale in comparison with the overarching frigid temperatures.

Unusually heavy rain and floods have also been contributing to damaged crops and farms.

Brazil continued to struggle with heavy rain, floods, and landslides this month, with a record of 31 inches of rainfall in 48 hours in Rio de Janeiro. In Antioquia, Colombia unusually heavy rain triggered destructive landslides causing the deaths of 12 people.

Thailand and the Philippines are having trouble recovering from the damage caused by continuous floods and landslides since last year. The trend continues as tropical storm Megi poured 10 inches of rainfall in 24 hours killing at least 224 and displacing thousands. While in south Thailand a foot of rain in 48 hours triggered the evacuation of 20,000 families.

The deadliest storm in record pummelled KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa destroying homes, bridges and roads. Floods and landslides caused the deaths of at least 450 and displaced thousands. The storm forced sub-Saharan Africa's most important port to halt operations.

In Uzbekistan at least 4 people died as a result of floods and mudslides after a month's worth of rain fell in less than 2 hours. Floods and mudflows also damaged crops, homes, schools and other buildings. At least 260 farms and buildings suffered damage, and 100 people were displaced. It was the worst storm in 80 years.

All this and more in our SOTT Earth Changes Summary for April 2022:

While Lincoln and the rest of eastern Nebraska were getting soaked with a steady rain Monday, parts of the Panhandle were seeing epic snowfall.

There was a report of 15 inches of snow near Kimball and 11 inches near Potter, according to the National Weather Service.

The heavy snow caused an hours-long closure of Interstate 80 on Monday from Big Springs to the Wyoming border. The Nebraska State Patrol said on Twitter that the weather conditions led to multiple crashes, causing the road to be shut down in both directions.

The heavy, wet snow also downed trees and power lines. Parts of Kimball were without power briefly Monday morning because of downed power lines, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported.

A big sandstorm hit Kandahar, Afghanistan today, on May 3rd 2022.

High winds and dry weather combined to cause widespread storms of sand and dust, which hit the city of Kandahar, as well as the surrounding region and Helmland Province.

Residents were forced inside as air quality deteriorated. Buildings were damaged by the strong winds and flying debris.

Traffic was stopped as visibility reduced, causing delays throughout the city. Businesses were forced to close as winds strengthened.

The winds are expected to impact surrounding countries, including Pakistan, in the coming days. The situation is being monitored as it develops.

Firefighters and police rescued people from vehicles trapped in floods after a slow-moving storm brought very heavy rainfall to the Valencia Region in southeastern Spain on 03 May 2022.

AVAMET (Associació Valenciana de Meteorologia) said several locations in the city of Valencia recorded more than 200 mm of rain in 24 hours to 03 May 2022. The weather station at Camins al Grau in the city recorded 260.9 mm. Further heavy rainfall fell early on 04 May. Emergency Services 112 Valencia reported Algemesí municipality saw 70.4 m of rain in 4 hours early on 04 May.