Millions of people were forced to flee their homes in northeast India as the death toll rose from raging floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains, a minister said.
'The situation has turned devastating overnight, drowning five more people in separate incidents and displacing another three million in 15 districts,' Bhumidhar Barman, relief and rehabilitation minister of Assam state, told Agence France-Presse.
Earth Changes
Southern and central Manitoba are in the grips of the second heat wave in as many weeks, with temperatures in the high 30s and humidex advisories across the regions.
Temperatures were forecast to reach as high as 38 C in Manitoba Monday, with humidex values in the mid-40s.
Temperatures were forecast to reach as high as 38 C in Manitoba Monday, with humidex values in the mid-40s.
More than a month's worth of rain has fallen on Stewart Island in the past five days, causing flooding and widespread slips which have left some residents with no access to their homes.
MetService readings show a record 177mm has pelted the island at the South West Cape since Wednesday, while further north in Oban, 118mm has fallen.
High winds and heavy seas also played havoc, pulling roads into the sea and causing landslips 30m wide.
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| ©stuff.co.nz |
| Motorists drive through floodwater on State Highway 1 in southern New Zealand. |
MetService readings show a record 177mm has pelted the island at the South West Cape since Wednesday, while further north in Oban, 118mm has fallen.
High winds and heavy seas also played havoc, pulling roads into the sea and causing landslips 30m wide.
A strong typhoon in the western Pacific Ocean headed toward Japan on Tuesday and officials said the storm was likely to strike the country's southernmost island later in the week.
Typhoon Usagi, which means "rabbit" in Japanese, was 1,000 kilometres south of Japan and was moving north northwest at 15 kilometres an hour, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
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| ©TSR |
| Typhoon Usagi - 31 Jul, 20:46 GMT |
Typhoon Usagi, which means "rabbit" in Japanese, was 1,000 kilometres south of Japan and was moving north northwest at 15 kilometres an hour, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
The oxygen-poor "dead zone" off the Louisiana and Texas coasts isn't quite as big as predicted this year, but it is still the third-largest ever mapped, a scientist said Saturday.
Crabs, eels and other creatures usually found on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico are swimming in crowds on the surface because there is too little oxygen in their usual habitat, said Nancy Rabalais, chief scientist for northern Gulf hypoxia studies.
"We very often see swarms of crabs, mostly blue crabs and their close relatives, swimming at the surface when the oxygen is low," she wrote in an e-mail from a research ship as it returned to Cocodrie from its annual measurement trip.
Crabs, eels and other creatures usually found on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico are swimming in crowds on the surface because there is too little oxygen in their usual habitat, said Nancy Rabalais, chief scientist for northern Gulf hypoxia studies.
"We very often see swarms of crabs, mostly blue crabs and their close relatives, swimming at the surface when the oxygen is low," she wrote in an e-mail from a research ship as it returned to Cocodrie from its annual measurement trip.
Wildfires sweeping across Spain's Canary Islands have forced authorities to evacuate around 11 000 people in the biggest fires on the archipelago in a decade, the head of the regional government said on Tuesday.
The fires, which broke out on Friday, have covered 24 000 hectares on two of the archipelago's seven islands - Gran Canaria and Tenerife - after being fanned by strong winds, Paulino Rivero said.
The fires, which broke out on Friday, have covered 24 000 hectares on two of the archipelago's seven islands - Gran Canaria and Tenerife - after being fanned by strong winds, Paulino Rivero said.
Hungarian scientists said on Tuesday they have discovered a group of fossilized swamp cypress trees preserved from 8 million years ago which could provide clues about the climate of pre-historic times.
MIAMI - Tropical Storm Chantal formed Tuesday morning in the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and Massachusetts, but it was not expected to threaten the United States, forecasters said.
The carcasses of 12 cattle were airlifted from a valley in southern Austria after they were killed by a lightning storm.
Bulusan Volcano rumbled to life anew Tuesday, sending an ash plume as high as five kilometers high into the Sorsogon sky.
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| A column of ash and volcanic debris shooting up from the Mt. Bulusan volcano in the central Philippines on Tuesday. |
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| A Bulusan ash explosion seen at 16:17 on 31 May 2006. |
Comment: The unstated fact here is that the trees must have been covered rapidly in order to preserve them in such a manner, another example of rapid, perhaps catastrophic climate change.