© Shutterstock
Several Dutch residents of Venlo tweeted about the event:
Earth Changes
Several Dutch residents of Venlo tweeted about the event:
© Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA)
Floods in Western Province, Rwanda, May 2023.
Floods in Western Province, Rwanda, May 2023.
According to the state broadcaster, Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA), as of 03 May 2023, 95 people have died in Western Province and 14 in Northern Province.
Heavy rain triggered flash flooding and landslides from 02 to 03 May 2023. François Habitegeko, governor of the Western Province, told Reuters that the hardest-hit districts were Ngororero, Rubavu, Nyabihu, Rutsiro and Karongi. According to the governor, 14 people have died in Karongi, 26 in Rutsiro, 18 in Rubavu, 19 in Nyabihu and 18 in Ngororero.
© Lauren Dauphin and Joshua Stevens/Modis
A record seaweed bloom has been recorded in the Atlantic ocean in 2023
A record seaweed bloom has been recorded in the Atlantic ocean in 2023
The map above shows Sargassum density in the central Atlantic Ocean (including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico) for March 2023. Red and orange areas show where Sargassum densities were the highest, in terms of the percent of the pixel covered with the seaweed. The data for the map were developed by scientists at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.
USF researchers estimate that the Sargassum belt in March totaled about 13 million tons, a record amount for this time of year. "So far this year, record high Sargassum abundance is mostly in the central East Atlantic," said Brian Barnes, a marine scientist at the Optical Oceanography Laboratory at USF. "But in other parts of the Atlantic and Caribbean, its abundance is still high — in the 75th percentile of measurements made between 2011 and 2022."
© Getty Images
The series of earthquakes hit California's Salton Sea region on April 29, 2023
The series of earthquakes hit California's Salton Sea region on April 29, 2023
The first swarm began at 12:08 p.m. Saturday in the US-Mexico border town of Herber, with nearly 50 tremors shaking the area until 5:12 a.m. Sunday, the US Geological Survey reported. The Herber quakes reached up to 3.7 in magnitude and were felt by about 60 people.
The second swarm struck nearly 40 miles north, by the town of Niland, where more than 25 tremors then shook the southeast shore of the Salton Sea starting at 12.09 a.m. Sunday.
Those earthquakes lasted until 5:28 a.m. and reached a higher magnitude of 4.5, which was felt by about 30 people, UGS said.
Intense rainfall caused the Rivière du Gouffre to break its banks, flooding roads and damaging bridges. Around 1,000 residents in areas of the Baie Saint-Paul community have been left isolated as a result. Some have been forced to evacuate their homes. Videos on social media showed motorhomes from a nearby campsite being dragged away by the raging river and crashing into a bridge near the town.
The Mayor of Baie Saint-Paul, Michaël Pilote, declared a state of emergency and asked residents to stay home. Accommodation centres have been opened to house those displaced. Schools have been closed in the area.
Most ski areas are already closed for the season but several dozen remain open in the Alps, and the latest snowfall continues a trend of regular snowfall through spring, after an often dry winter.
Tignes and Val d'Isere (pictured this morning), which are still open until next weekend, reported 20cm of fresh snowfall above 2,000m this morning, and it has continued to snow heavily through the day.
© CAIC
Site of a fatal avalanche accident on April 29, 2023. The avalanche started in a shallow crown, visible in the upper right corner of the image. It entrained wet snow in the track of the avalanche path.
Site of a fatal avalanche accident on April 29, 2023. The avalanche started in a shallow crown, visible in the upper right corner of the image. It entrained wet snow in the track of the avalanche path.
PRELIMINARY REPORT: A solo skier was caught, buried, and killed in a small but long-running avalanche. The avalanche started at about 13,200 feet on an east-facing slope. It ran approximately 1,300 feet. The avalanche began in dry, wind-drifted snow and entrained wet snow in the track of the avalanche path. Summit County Sheriff's deputies, Summit Rescue Group, and Flight for Life all responded and performed a search and recovery in the late evening hours of April 29 and early morning hours of April 30.
CAIC staff will visit the site on April 30 and publish more details as they become available. We will issue a full report next week.
Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
- CAIC
© Kantonspolizei Graubünden
The wet avalanche spilled over the track usually used by the groomers.
The wet avalanche spilled over the track usually used by the groomers.
The women were skiing on a path typically used by snow ploughs slightly above the groomed run, when a wet avalanche was released above them. The women noticed the avalanche and tried to outski it but both got swept away. One of the women, aged 54, was only partially buried and was found straight away by mountain rescue. She was flown with mild injuries to a hospital in Zams, Austria.
The Al-Aqabi Dam which collapsed was in the Hafash region of the Al Mahwit governorate. Following the collapse it triggered a flood that carried away a mosque with four people inside. All four died.
Moreover, homes and agricultural lands nearby were also damaged by the flood waters. The Houthi group has been in charge of the governorate since 2014. A Houthi-appointed official in the governorate named Adel Issa said that the dam was collapsed because of the excessive rains and the consequent floods.
Comment: More on the extraordinary seaweed bloom: