Earth ChangesS


Radar

Philippines: 5.0 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Mindanao

A moderate earthquake measuring 5. 0 on the Richter scale rocked the southern Philippine region of Mindanao Sunday evening, US seismologist said.

There was no immediate report of casualties or damage from local authorities.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, which struck at 7:06 p.m. local time (1106 GMT) at a depth of 78.6 kilometers, was traced 158 kilometers southeast of Davao, Mindanao, or 1105 kilometers southeast of Manila, the country's capital.

The Philippines sits in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area where continental plates collide producing frequent quakes and volcanic activities.

Source: Xinhua

Bizarro Earth

New Zealand: Monster of Sea Shocks Beachgoers

Dead Whale
© Dennis Loveridge Extra Large: The 22.3m whale that washed up on Waiinu Beach at the weekend. The man in the background is standing on a four-wheeler motorcycle to see over its back.

Residents of Waitotara were in for a big surprise when they went down to the beach on Saturday.

Late Friday or early Saturday morning a 22.3m-long whale washed up on Waiinu beach, about 1.5km south of the Waitotara River mouth.

Although it is not uncommon for whales to wash up on the beach, this was the largest one local residents have seen.

One woman said the whales they saw usually were smaller and a different species to the one found this weekend.

This one is believed to be a pygmy blue whale.

A neighbour had told them where it was, and she had gone down to the beach to have a look on Saturday morning.

The woman said the giant mammal was "pretty awe-inspiring".

"It was just amazing. I've not seen anything like it. I didn't want to leave it," she said.

The whale was so tall that, at 1.57m (5ft 2in) herself, she could not see over it.

Whanganui Department of Conservation biodiversity programme manager Jim Campbell said identification was a best guess, going on its size and the shape of its fins.

Bizarro Earth

US: Record Wildlife Die-Offs Reported in Northern Rockies

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© unknown
Salmon, Idaho - A record number of big-game animals perished this winter in parts of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming from a harsh season of unusually heavy snows and sustained cold in the Northern Rockies, state wildlife managers say.

"Elk, deer and moose -- those animals are having a pretty tough time," said Wyoming Game and Fish biologist Doug Brimeyer.

Snow and frigid temperatures in pockets of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming arrived earlier and lingered longer than usual, extending the time that wildlife were forced to forage on low reserves for scarce food, leading more of them to starve.

Based on aerial surveys of big-game herds and signals from radio-collared animals, experts are documenting high mortality among offspring of mule deer, white-tailed deer and pronghorn antelope.

This comes as big-game animals enter the last stretch of a period from mid-March through early May that is considered critical for survival.

Wildlife managers estimate die-offs in the tens of thousands across thousands of square miles that span prairie in northeastern Montana, the upper Snake River basin in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park and the high country of northwestern Wyoming near the exclusive resort of Jackson.

Bizarro Earth

US: Nearly 10,000 Bats Die in Durham Cave

Bats
© Courtesy of Pennsylvania Game CommissionPennsylvania Game Commission biologists photographed these bats hibernating in the Durham mine in September, 2010.

Of the 10,000 bats that have hibernated in an abandoned mine in Upper Bucks County for generations, only about 200 are still alive, officials said Friday. Durham's bats became infected with White Nose Syndrome, a mysterious disease that's killing off bat colonies at an alarming rate from Vermont to Virginia.

In late March, Game Commission biologist Greg Turner checked in on the bats hidden in the hillside of Upper Bucks and found near devastation.

"We're looking at a 99 percent decline," he said.

And the bat deaths might continue.

"There's a few survivors. Hopefully, the ones that are there will survive."

Check back for more details on this story

Cloud Lightning

After the wind, the water: Fears of floods worse than Mississippi disaster of 1927 to strike tornado- devestated South East

A devastating flood is heading to tornado-ravaged Mississippi, which could cause levels of destruction not seen since the Great Flood of 1927, forecasters have warned.

The enormous levees lining the Mississippi River are likely to be seriously strained in the coming days, adding further danger to a region already shattered by deadly tornadoes and thunderstorms.

Governors in Mississippi and Louisiana have issued severe flood warnings and declared states of emergency in the regions.

mississippi, floods
Floods: Experts have warned that the Mississippi could rise to levels not seen in the country since the devastation on The Great Flood of 1927

Fish

Dead sardines surface on Calangute beach

dead sardines

Panaji -Large quantities of dead fish on the sands of Calangute beach on Thursday took the shine of Goa's most famous tourist spot, but this did not deter tourists from enjoying themselves, even as water sports operators and hawkers went about their daily business.

The dead sardines were apparently deposited at high tide on the beach on Thursday night. "They are scattered for more than a kilometre on Calangute beach," a fishermen said. Water sports operators and local fishermen said the fishes may have been dumped by some fishing vessel at sea.

While the sight of dead sardines -- though these had not yet started stinking when TOI visited the spot around noon on Thursday -- created a nuisance on the beach, tourists, mostly domestic and a few foreigners appeared bent on having some fun on the beach.

Arrow Down

Moderate earthquake hits eastern Romania, neighbouring Moldova

A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude has hit eastern Romania and neighbouring Moldova. No injuries or damage have been reported.

The director of the Earth Physics' Institute Gheorghe Mamureanu says the temblor struck early Sunday.

The quake's epicenter was in the Vrancea region, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) northeast of the capital, Bucharest, where it was also felt.

Radar

US: 2.5 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Alexandria, Minnesota; Very Unlikely in Duluth

Early Friday morning in Alexandria, Minnesota, neighbors had a shakey awakening.

An earthquake rattled part of the city causing no injuries but leaving some Minnesotans wondering if it could happen anywhere else.

"I have never heard of an earthquake happening in the Midwest," one Duluth woman said leaving the grocery store.

"Yeah, it would be weird."

But, at 2:30 a.m. it happened the U.S. Geological Survey said. The magnitude reading was a 2.5 in Alexandria where worried phone calls poured into authorities.

"Several of them thought that their furnaces had exploded and they just wanted to find out if we knew anything about it," Douglas County Sheriff Brad Brejcha said.

Igloo

Blizzard dumps snow on Saskatchewan, Manitoba

snow manitoba
© CTVThe province of Manitoba warns motorists to be cautious while driving, due to winter weather conditions, Saturday, April 30, 2011.

It may be spring, but it appears winter isn't finished with the Prairies just yet as a blizzard threatens to dump between 10 and 50 centimetres of snow on parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Winter storm and snowfall warnings were in effect Saturday for southeastern Saskatchewan, as well as much of western and central Manitoba, as a late-season storm system over North Dakota moved into the region.

Environment Canada warned of a combination of strong northerly winds gusting up to 90 kilometres per hour and falling snow "producing blizzard conditions over much of southeastern Saskatchewan...Travel is not advised over much of the area and residents should adjust travel plans accordingly. In addition the combination of heavy snow and high winds are producing power outages in some areas."

Bizarro Earth

Mayor orders flood-threatened Illinois city evacuated

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Champaign, Illinois - The mayor of a small southern Illinois city threatened by two swollen rivers ordered all residents to leave by midnight Saturday because a "sand boil," an area where river water was seeping up through the ground behind the levee, had become dangerously large.

Cairo Mayor Judson Childs issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city of 2,800 residents late Saturday afternoon hours after meeting with Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, the Army Corps of Engineers officer tasked with deciding whether to blow a hole in the Birds Point levee in Missouri, downstream from Cairo, to relieve pressure on levees along the dangerously high Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Walsh, who toured Cairo's levee area, described the boil that has been growing since it was first spotted Tuesday as the largest he had ever seen, the Southeast Missourian newspaper reported.