Earth Changes

Mudslide hits barracks in Vietnam, killing 14 and leaving 8 missing

Khanh Vu
Reuters
Sun, 18 Oct 2020 18:57 UTC

This picture taken on October 18, 2020 and released by the Vietnam News Agency on October 18, 2020 shows military personnel searching for missing soldiers at the site of a landslide in central Vietnam's Quang Tri province.

© AFP
This picture taken on October 18, 2020 and released by the Vietnam News Agency on October 18, 2020 shows military personnel searching for missing soldiers at the site of a landslide in central Vietnam's Quang Tri province.

A landslide early on Sunday killed at least 14 military personnel and left eight missing in central Vietnam, the government said, in what could be the country's largest military loss in peace time as it battles major flooding.

The mudslide hit the barracks of a unit of Vietnam's 4th Military Region in the central province of Quang Tri, the government said in a statement on its website. It occurred days after another landslide killed 13 people, mostly soldiers, in the neighbouring province of Thua Thien Hue.

"We had another sleepless night," an emotional deputy defence minister, Phan Van Giang, told reporters on Sunday.

Entire house vanishes into sinkhole in Russian village: Rescue team searches debris for 78-year-old woman who was inside

Will Stewart
Daily Mail
Fri, 16 Oct 2020 12:03 UTC

Two people were rescued but search teams are still looking for a 78-year-old woman who was believed to be inside the house when it was swallowed by the sinkhole

A house was swallowed when a 25ft-deep crater suddenly opened up in a Russian village.

One of two residents escaped but rescuers were today hunting for a 78-year-old woman amid the debris of the collapsed building.

One of the rescued residents said her aunt was still in the sunken house which fell into a sinkhole some 50ft in diameter.

'She fell underground with the house,' the survivor told a newspaper in the Bryansk region.

19 pilot whales die after getting stranded on New Zealand beach

Chiara Fiorillo
Mirror
Sun, 18 Oct 2020 11:26 UTC

Nineteen pilot whales are dead after an overnight stranding near Coromandel’s Colville Bay

More than a dozen whales have died after becoming stranded on a beach in New Zealand.

The Department of Conservation said the mass stranding happened in Corolamdel on the country's North Island.

Rescuers and volunteers worked all day on Saturday to refloat about 25 of the animals, part of a pod of about 40 to 50 pilot whales that got stranded earlier that day on a beach, Reuters reports.

Five dead pilot whales were discovered late on Saturday night at a site thought to be the original stranding location, the department said.

Large sinkhole swallows section of busy street in Alexandria, Egypt

Yahoo! News
Thu, 15 Oct 2020 14:15 UTC

A sinkhole swallowed a large piece of a busy commercial street in Alexandria, Egypt, on October 14, local residents reported. Mohamed Abd Elnasser recorded footage of the incident and posted it to Facebook.

The video shows a large cracked circle in the middle of Forty Five Street. As Elnasser walks closer, the circle collapses, sending dust into the air and leaving a sizable hole in the street.

Elnasser told Storyful no one was hurt, and a large piece of wood was put in front of the damaged street to warn people of the danger.

Credit: Mohamed Abd Elnasser via Storyful

Floods cause fatality and prompt evacuations in Slovakia after days of heavy rainfall

Floodlist
Sat, 17 Oct 2020 11:56 UTC

Days of heavy rain caused flooding in several areas of Slovakia, causing 1 fatality and prompting evacuations.

The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ) said that the rain was brought by an area of low pressure which moved from the central Mediterranean, through the Balkans, the Carpathians and over Poland.

In a 48 hour period to 14 October, Košická Belá municipality in Košice-okolie District in the Košice Region recorded 123.1 mm of rain. In a 24 hour period to 15 October, Piesok in Modra municipality in the Bratislava Region recorded 65.5 mm and Kľak in the Žarnovica District, Banská Bystrica Region recorded 69.7 mm.

'Awesome' waterspout filmed near Mackinac Bridge, Michigan

Brandon Champion
MLive
Fri, 16 Oct 2020 11:38 UTC

Waterspout near Mackinac Bridge

The Mackinac Bridge is always breathtaking to look at.

But on Friday, Oct. 16 there was a little something extra to wow motorists heading between Michigan's two peninsulas.

A waterspout.

The Mackinac Bridge Authority posted two photos of the natural phenomenon occurring near the Mighty Mac in the Straits of Mackinac.

Check out this incredible video captured by Rachel B. today of a water spout near the Mackinac Bridge! pic.twitter.com/E4qp7ed2fv
— 9 & 10 News (@9and10News) October 16, 2020

'Three suns' appear in the sky of China's northernmost city

Billie Thomson
Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 15 Oct 2020 22:30 UTC

Residents of a Chinese city have been amazed to see what appeared to be three suns hanging in the sky at the same time.

The optical illusion lasted three hours this morning in Mohe, the country's northernmost city near the Russian border.

The spectacle is caused by a natural phenomenon known as 'sun dogs' and rarely happens in China, according to experts.

The stunning scene occurred from 6.30am to 9.30am in the Mohe town of Tuqiang. Mohe is part of the Daxing'anling region of north-eastern Heilongjiang Province.

A dump of more early snow at 4 ski resorts in British Columbia

Carli Berry
infotel.ca
Fri, 16 Oct 2020 18:55 UTC

A recent dump of snow in the Thompson-Okanagan has the four major ski resorts in the region likely has skiers and snowboarders excited for opening day.

© Apex Mountain Resort
A recent dump of snow in the Thompson-Okanagan has the four major ski resorts in the region likely has skiers and snowboarders excited for opening day.

The four major ski hills in the Thompson-Okanagan are getting snow thanks to the recent freezing temperatures at higher elevations.

Here's a roundup of how much snow they've had and the plans to open for the ski and snowboarding season.

Sun Peaks Resort

Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops received roughly 11 centimetres of powder between Oct. 13 and Wednesday night, Oct. 14, at the mid-mountain level, according to SnowForecast.com.

Another eight cm is expected to begin falling Oct. 16, according to the forecast.

The resort is expected to open Nov. 21 for the season.

Butte in Montana gets pelted by several inches of early snow

John Emeigh
kbzk.com
Thu, 15 Oct 2020 18:41 UTC

It's still fall, but it looked like mid-winter in Butte this Thursday as the Mining City got dumped on by early snow.

The snowplows were called out to clear the streets, people were shoveling their sidewalks and this little girl even built a snowman after Butte was pelted with several inches of snow throughout the morning.

One slide-off accident delayed traffic on Homestake Pass early that morning, but no other major incidents were reported.