Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Torrential rains play havoc across Pakistan, 25 more killed in rain related incidents

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© The Nation
Heavy rains and flashfloods played havoc across the country rendering widespread damages affecting normal life in Karachi, Balochistan, DG Khan and several parts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa with more areas coming under water and water reaching at dangerous level in rivers and nullahs. According to reports atleast 25 more people were killed in roof collapse, electrocution and drowning incidents bringing the total to more than 100 in the last three days of heavy rains.

Heavy rains resulting in flooding nullahs washed away dozens of residential houses while partially damaging hundreds other in different areas of KP, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh. The gushing water also destroyed crops cultivated on thousands of acres of cultivated land. Maize and rice crops were adversely destroyed in Pasrur, Rajanpur, Sanghar, and other areas. Life in Karachi, the teeming metropolis of over 16 million, came to a grinding halt as it received heavy downpour of the current monsoon on Sunday. One of the city's main avenues, Shahrah-e Faisal, submerged in rainwater while floodwater entered the airport from Bhataiabad.

At least 20 people died in rain-related incidents as provincial authorities called in army troops to help drain out rainwater from different neighbourhoods. Most of the fatalities were caused by electrocution and drowning. Another person was electrocuted and three died due to a roof collapse.

Cloud Precipitation

India: Five-inch rain in two hours

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© DNAPankaj Shukla, Piyush Patel
City gets flooded again; more in store, warns Met.


In a matter of just two hours, Ahmedabad found itself inundated after recording 5 inches of rainfall on Friday. The clouds began gathering early in the afternoon but it was around 2 pm when it started raining.

Earlier, the city had recorded heavy rains in the early morning too. And with the Met department predicting intermittent but heavy rainfall for Ahmedabad in the next 24 hours, this will be the second consecutive rainy weekend for the city.

It was the central zone that received highest rainfall at 30 mm followed by the east and west zone that recorded 27 and 23 mm respectively. Interestingly, the west and central zone received one inch of rainfall in a period of just 30 minutes leaving several roads water-logged.

Due to heavy rains, the Akhbarnagar and Mithakali underpass were closed down. The latter was opened after an hour but the Akhbarnagar underpass continued to be out of bounds for traffic.

Amdavadis who have got used to the intermittent rains meanwhile welcomed it despite the traffic chaos and water-logging. Ashutosh Mishra, a chartered accountant, had to cancel his client meeting due to the showers.

Question

UK: 100 dead seagulls found in Devon reservoir

Investigations are under way after around 100 dead seagulls were found in the water at Wistlandpound Reservoir near Combe Martin.

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Wistlandpound reservoir.
The reservoir at Blackmoor Gate supplies drinking water to several North Devon communities. South West Water has said the birds had been found in the untreated section of the lake.

It said it had received reports of dead gulls from several of its sites including Wimbleball on Exmoor and Crowdy in Cornwall.

A spokesperson said two seagulls had been sent to the Environment Agency to test for disease: "We have also carried out water quality tests at the reservoirs and algae levels are low.

Megaphone

Many stranded Bottlenose dolphins may be deaf

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© Wikimedia CommonsAn adult female bottlenose dolphin with her young, Moray Firth, Scotland
Dolphin deafness can be caused by aging, underwater noise or other factors.

In waters from Florida to the Caribbean, dolphins are showing up stranded or entangled in fishing gear with an unusual problem: They can't hear.

More than half of stranded bottlenose dolphins are deaf, one study suggests. The causes of hearing loss in dolphins aren't always clear, but aging, shipping noise and side effects from antibiotics could play roles.

"We're at a stage right now where we're determining the extent of hearing loss [in dolphins], and figuring out all the potential causes," said Judy St. Leger, director of pathology and research at SeaWorld in San Diego. "The better we understand that, the better we have a sense of what we should be doing [about it]."

Whether the hearing loss is causing the dolphin strandings -- for instance, by steering the marine mammals in the wrong direction or preventing them from finding food -- is also still an open question.

Attention

World's largest geyser puts on rare show at Yellowstone

The world's largest geyser has exploded to life at Yellowstone National Park for the first time in eight years, sending a high-pressure burst of steamy water 300 feet into the air, a park official said on Thursday.

The stream of 160 degree water released on Wednesday night by the so-called Steamboat Geyser lasted for roughly 10 minutes, delighting a small number of "geyser gazers" who have waited years for such a show, Yellowstone spokesman Dan Hottle said.

"There are a lot of people who wait hour after hour, day after day, for things to erupt," he said.

Yellowstone visitors could potentially wait a lifetime for Steamboat Geyser, which has gone as long as 50 years between major eruptions. Steamboat Geyser last sent a superheated torrent of water hundreds of feet into the air in May 2005.

Question

Oysters hit by mystery illness along French coastline

A mystery illness is wiping out up to 80 per cent of adult oysters along French coastlines in the latest plague to hit the embattled molluscs, which are struggling to cope with global warming.

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© ALAMYOyster production in Corsica. Experts are at a loss to explain the causes of the recent illness in French oysters
For the past month, oyster farmers have watched powerless as their shellfish have died in droves with experts at a loss to explain the causes.

"In some areas, 50 to 80 per cent of saleable oysters aged between two to three years have died out," said Olivier Laban, president of the shellfish producers' federation of Arcachon-Aquitaine, western France.

"We have no idea what the origin of this blight is," he told Le Figaro.

Tests are under way at Ifremer, France's marine research institute, with samples taken from oysters along the West coast and the Mediterranean

"All the samples show mortality rates that are higher than normal," said Tristan Renault, mollusc specialist at Ifremer.

Cloud Lightning

Storms hit across France

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Storms have caused heavy damage and black outs in different regions of France.

The latest area to be hit was the Riviera where this morning 14,000 homes were left without power after violent squalls brought down trees and power cables.

Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi has said he will ask the government to treat the event as a natural disaster. Businesses along the seafront were damaged along with cars, windows and roofs. Some residents thought they had been hit by a tornado.

The storms has led to the cancellation of several TGV services and disruption to flights at Nice Airport.

Sun

People, crops and fish suffer in record-breaking China heat wave

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People are packing into swimming pools or taking refuge in caves to escape the fierce temperatures. Local governments are resorting to cloud-seeding technology to try to bring rain to millions of acres of parched farmland.
Record-breaking temperatures have been searing large swaths of China, resulting in dozens of heat-related deaths and prompting authorities to issue a national alert.

People are packing into swimming pools or taking refuge in caves in their attempts to escape the fierce temperatures. Local governments are resorting to cloud-seeding technology to try to bring rain to millions of acres of parched farmland.

The worst of the smoldering heat wave has been concentrated in the south and east of the country, with the commercial metropolis of Shanghai experiencing its hottest July in at least 140 years, according to state media.

Temperatures in the sprawling city of 23 million inhabitants reached 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher on 25 days in July, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday. More than 10 people died from heatstroke in Shanghai during the month, it said.

But the brutal temperatures aren't confined to the Shanghai region.

"About 19 provinces and regions are experiencing scorching heat, covering more than 3 million square kilometers, almost a third of the country," He Lifu, chief weather forecaster at the National Meteorological Center, told the English-language newspaper China Daily.

Bizarro Earth

Large sinkhole discovered in Western Kansas

Sinkhole
© WIBW.com
Wichita -- Watch your step if you venture into Wallace County in western Kansas.

The Wallace County sheriff says a large sinkhole was discovered about a week ago eight miles north of Wallace.

They're waiting on experts to come out and examine the sinkhole. They have no idea what caused it, and no injuries have been reported.

Cow

France: Cow attack kills one, injures four

A group of walkers has been attacked by a cow in the Hautes-Pyrénées, leaving one dead and four others injured.

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© Robert Kneschke - Fotolia.com
The incident happened at 11.30 on Tuesday morning on the Col d'Azet, near Saint-Lary-Soulan.

The group passed a herd of cows, but one animal, protecting her calf, charged an 85-year-old walker.

He was airlifted to Pau hospital but died of his injuries. Four other walkers, a Spanish couple and their children aged three and five were also hurt.

A spokesman for mountain security in the area said: "Walkers must be careful of herds of cows and try to avoid them. They should also keep their distance from sheep being guarded by patous, the big white mountain dogs who watch intruders with suspicion."