Earth Changes

10-foot deep sinkhole appears on road in Powell, Michigan

Christina Hall
Detroit Free Press
Fri, 24 Apr 2015 13:13 UTC

First, came the 32 Mile bridge closure.

Now drivers in northern Macomb County have to contend with another road closure a mile away thanks to a 4-foot-by-4-foot wide and 10-foot deep sinkhole.

"It's pretty deep," county Roads Department Director Bob Hoepfner said of the sinkhole on 33 Mile near Powell.

He said the county was notified of the sinkhole Wednesday night by Michigan State Police.

The sinkhole is blocked off by orange barricades and had a metal pole with yellow flags was sticking out of it this morning. Crews were coming onto the scene, and Hoepfner said he hoped the sinkhole would be repaired and the road reopened today.

Comment: Also see:

Sinkhole swallows garden sheds in Swanley, UK

Colorado city stumped by sinkhole with no broken water pipes

Woman plunges 8 feet down into a sinkhole in London

Dangerous sinkhole opens up in Gateshead, UK - 'Someone could have been killed'

Lisa Hutchinson
Newcastle Chronicle
Sun, 26 Apr 2015 14:27 UTC

They say someone could have been killed or seriously hurt if they had fallen through the hole which appeared in Windsor Avenue, Bensham.

Worried parents have told of their fears after a 5ft deep sink hole appeared in a Tyneside road.

The hole, measuring 2ft wide, suddenly appeared in Windsor Avenue in Bensham, Gateshead, on Thursday as families were soaking up the sunshine.

Police and council officials were called to make the area safe.

Now mums have said a child could have been killed if they had fallen through the Tarmac.

Comment: Sinkholes are quite a dangerous phenomenon, and many people have been swallowed by them. Check out the following sample from just the past few weeks:

Sinkhole swallows dump truck in Aiken, South Carolina

One person suffers minor injuries after van falls into Toronto sinkhole

Woman plunges 8 feet down into a sinkhole in London

Rare bird from the Americas turns up in Somerset, UK

Javier Espinoza
Daily Telegraph
Sun, 26 Apr 2015 14:09 UTC

The sighting of a rare wader has seen hundreds of excited birdwatchers descend in Somerset this weekend

The sighting of a rare wader has seen hundreds of excited birdwatchers descend in Somerset this weekend after it took a 4,000-mile detour to England.

Each spring the Hudsonian Godwit heads from South America to its breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska. But following its detour, twitchers are hoping to spot the bird only for the third time in the UK.

The kerfuffle started when a birdwatcher identified one on the Somerset Levels and word got around. By Saturday afternoon more than 1,000 twitcher had reportedly lined the water's edge. A similar number of birdwatchers is expected on Sunday.

It is believed the large shorebird - which is now inhabiting the same space as its English counterparts, the Black Tailed Godwit and the Shapwick Heath - was last seen in the UK in 1988.

With a long beak and spindly legs, the bird must have got lost and confused and followed the wrong flock of birds across the Atlantic.

Rare waterspout spotted in Malaysia

Hani Shamira Shahrudin
New Straits Times
Sat, 25 Apr 2015 17:53 UTC

The waterspout was spotted by motorist at the New Pantai Highway (NPE) around Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya area, Malaysia

Motorists at the New Pantai Highway (NPE) had sighted what was described as a waterspout around Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya area. A local webportal had uploaded a video on the social media of the waterspout which had garnered more than 7,000 views. The 66-seconds videos showed the sighting of what was believed to be a waterspout surrounded by storm clouds.

A Facebook user GP Bestari commented on the video, "Poor night market traders, they have set up their stalls but it was damaged by the strong winds." The heavy rain also affected several areas in Klang Valley including Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. Twitter user @TrafficDotMy had earlier reported the heavy rain had caused flash flood at Persiaran Kuchai, Salak Jaya at 4.16pm.

Traffic was slow moving at the area as motorists could only travel on one lane. The flash flood however had subsided six minutes later and traffic had returned to normal. The user had also re-tweeted a tweet of several fallen trees in Puchong, Selangor. When contacted, the Fire and Rescue Department said it had not received any reports on flash floods and uprooted trees.

20 inches of hail falls in Sydney, Australia: Roads turn to rivers

Gemma Piali and Ben Pike
The Sunday Telegraph (Australia)
Sun, 26 Apr 2015 09:26 UTC

Seven factories collapsed, football matches were halted, power cut and roads turned into rivers after Sydney was smashed by a freak storm today.

A booming cold system which formed over the southwest slopes and the Blue Mountains hit the western suburbs mid-afternoon before its destructive winds and hail turned streets into snow fields.

More than 50cm of hail dumped on parts of western Sydney, with kids making snow men, sliding on cardboard boxes and throwing balls of ice.

Grown men got their snowboards out and started sliding down one suburban street in Newtown.

Cars on the M4, Princes Highway, Parramatta Rd and the Great Western Highway voluntarily stopped in their tracks because hail and wild rain made driving impossible.

Reader Kerri Hampton took this picture in Newtown.

Earthquake, Avalanche, 18 Dead on Everest, Over 1,400 in Nepal

Hayden Carpenter
Rock and Ice
Sat, 25 Apr 2015 04:34 UTC

An earthquake measuring 7.8 in magnitude rocked Nepal today—killing over 1,400 people—and triggered an avalanche on Mt. Everest that has left at least 18 climbers dead at the South Base Camp and an unknown number missing or trapped.

With the climbing season in full swing, 700 climbers are in the region and over 300 are on the mountain itself, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

"The avalanche apparently happened between the Khumbu Icefall and base camp," Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association reported to Sky News.

Everest ER posted on Facebook: "A huge avalanche off Pumori covered many tents in base camp. Many of our friends in base camp have been seriously injured and killed. With the help of nearly every able bodied friend in base camp, we moved our clinic to the IMG camp where we are caring for patients. We very limited communications at the moment. Pray for Nepal, friends. Namaste."

Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a 45-year-old from Denmark who was in base camp at the time of the avalanche, told NBC News that he hid behind a rock until the avalanche had passed. He reports that his group has constructed a makeshift hospital in their base camp dining tent to treat the injured.

"We are treating casualties—like smaller fractures to the head, shoulder injuries, etc," he said to NBC via a Facebook interview.

Climbers in Camp 1, above the Khumbu Icefall, report being safe, as well as all teams on Annapurna, known for avalanches and closer to the center of the earthquake.

The epicenter struck between Kathmandu and Pokhara, according to the US Geological Survery. A number of historical buildings, including Kathmandu's landmark Dharahara tower and other Unesco world heritage sites, were destroyed.

It is the worst earthquake to hit Nepal in 81 years.

More information to follow

Two earthquakes rattle Canadian west coast and B.C. Interior

CBC News
Fri, 24 Apr 2015 00:00 UTC

6.1 ML quake was felt in Haida Gwaii just before 7 a.m. PT

© The Canadian Press
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake has struck British Columbia's north coast. The quake, 167 km southeast of the Village of Queen Charlotte, was felt from Haida Gwaii and along the north coast. There have been no reports of damage or injuries.

Two earthquakes rattled British Columbia late Thursday and early Friday morning, but they didn't cause any damage.

The first quake, which measured 4.2 ML, struck just south of the border in Idaho around 10:43 p.m PT Thursday. It was felt in the Kootenay communities of Castlegar and Creston.

It was one of three small quakes in the area since Thursday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Magnitude 6.3 earthquake rocks New Zealand

Yahoo! News
Sun, 26 Apr 2015 01:25 UTC

A strong 5.9-magnitude earthquake rattled New Zealand on Friday, seismologists said, panicking shoppers and residents but causing no major damage.

The quake hit at 3:36 pm (0336 GMT) with its epicentre about 66 kilometres (41 miles) from the South Island town of Kaikoura at a depth of 55 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

The local GeoNet monitoring service measured the quake at 6.2 and said it was felt across the entire country, but was unlikely to cause damage because it was so deep.

"I am advised that MCDEM (emergency management) hasn't received any reports of major injuries or damage," Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye said.

Rare waterspout seen off the coast of Nanaimo, Canada

Justin McElroy
GlobalNews.ca
Fri, 24 Apr 2015 20:27 UTC

If you were in Nanaimo on Thursday and saw what looked like a water tornado, you weren't dreaming.

A waterspout watch was issued by Environment Canada yesterday at 5 p.m after one was spotted a few kilometers off the city's coast.

They form in much the same way as land tornadoes, created from air and water mist moving upward from an ocean or lake. Global BC meteorologist Kristi Gordon says a strong storm that moved down the Strait of Georgia on Thursday created the conditions necessary for this one.

While waterspouts can happen on B.C.'s waters, they are rare - this was just the second on the Georgia Strait this year.