Earth Changes

24 dead and 30 missing following floods in Angola

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 16:12 UTC

At least 24 people have been killed and many more are missing after floods struck in city of Lubango, Huíla, in southern Angola.

Angola news agency ANGOP reports that heavy rain fell for around 9 hours on Monday 29 February 2016. Local media report that two rivers - the Capitao and the Caculuvar - overflowed.

The worst affected areas were the Tchioco and Canguinda districts of the city. It is thought that the flood water may have swept through a local market in Tchioco, where many young people work washing cars. Many of the victims are aged between 12 and 30, ANGOP report. Local emergency services said bodies were found up to 500 metres downstream.

The funerals of the victims took place yesterday. During the ceremony, retired archbishop of Lubango, Dom Zacarias Kamwenho, called for an end to building houses in risk areas. Lubango has been the site of several forced mass evictions to make way for public infrastructure projects. Families were left with no alternative housing, according to Human Rights Watch.

Comment: Warning, some may find the following video upsetting.

Waterspout filmed over sea near Balochistan, Pakistan

Business Recorder
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 15:15 UTC

The funnel-shaped waterspout (in circle).

A fair-weather waterspout showed up off Balochistan coast, that is a rare phenomenon on the country's sea horizons. A waterspout that looked like a tornado caught on a fisherman's cellular lens some 24 nautical miles off Balochistan coast during a tuna hunt near Sakoni last weekend, the WWF-Pakistan said on Wednesday.

"The average spout is around 50 meters in diameter, with wind speeds of 80 kilometres per hour," Technical Advisor (Marine Fisheries), WWF-Pakistan, Muhammad Moazzam Khan said, adding that a powerful waterspout could capsize boats, damage ships and endanger human life.

The WWF-Pakistan said that one of its trained fishermen, Mahar Gul, hailing from Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reported the rare weather phenomenon that had been obscure until it was captured on phone camera. It lauded the fishermen for their keenness to record such rare events on the seas.

Moazzam Khan said that the fair-weather waterspouts were usually formed along the cumulus type of clouds. "This type of waterspout is generally not associated with thunderstorms, which usually dissipates in short time," he said, adding that such waterspouts lived between five minutes and 10 minutes normally but most up to an hour.

4,000 miles from home, rare pelican turns up on Sanibel Island, Florida

Amy Bennett Williams
news-press.com
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 09:47 UTC

A great white pelican extends its wings near smaller American white pelicans on Sanibel

We live on the Nile. The Nile we love.
By night we sleep on the cliffs above;
By day we fish, and at eve we stand
On long bare islands of yellow sand

— From "The Pelican Chorus," by Edward Lear

Sanibel Island's a long way from the Nile, but a great white pelican has appeared at the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge there — a good 4,000 miles from its home range, and the first time the Old World species has been recorded in North America.

Unlike the more common brown pelicans seen in Southwest Florida, which max out around 11 pounds and have a 6 1/2-foot wingspan, or even the larger American white pelican, which winters here, these birds can tip the scales at 33 pounds, with an almost 12-foot wingspan.

First spotted Sunday, the stray pelican immediately made waves in the birding community, including among "Ding" Darling staff, who promptly made it the refuge's Facebook cover photo.

Fuego volcano in Guatemala enters new eruptive phase

GlobalPost
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 21:00 UTC

© Josue Decavele/Reuters
Lava flows from Fuego volcano during an eruption as seen from Alotenango, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Guatemala, March 2.

Guatemalan authorities issued a warning Wednesday as the country's Fuego volcano, located near the capital, spewed ash into the air.

A spokesman for the country's disaster response agency, David de Leon, said the 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) high volcano had entered a new eruptive phase with increasing explosive activity, prompting an orange alert indicating danger.

The volcano sent ash plumes billowing more than 2,000 meters above the crater; they then spread as far as 40 kilometers to the west, southwest and north, the spokesman said.

He added that rural communities surrounding the volcano, as well as the urban municipalities of San Pedro Yepocapa and Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa de Escuintla, reported fine ash particles falling from the sky.

23 dead dolphins being investigated by marine biologist in Argentina

San Fransisco Chronicle
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 16:17 UTC

© Fundacion Mundo Marino via Associated Press
This Feb. 24, 2016 photo released by Fundacion Mundo Marino, or Marine World Foundation, shows a dead dolphin on a beach in La Costa district in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Marine biologists in Argentina say they are trying to understand why almost two dozen Franciscana dolphins recently appeared dead on a handful of beaches. The Franciscan is an endangered species, and only found waters off of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

Buenos Aires — Marine biologists said Wednesday that they are trying to understand why 23 endangered Franciscana dolphins have showed up dead on several beaches.Gloria Veira, spokeswoman for the Mundo Marino foundation, told The Associated Press that the animals were found last week.

Veira said the majority had strange markings on their snouts. She said they were found on beaches south of Buenos Aires, such as La Lucila, Aguas Verdes, Santa Teresita and Las Toninas.Specialists were struck by the number and that they died at the same time, Veira said.

She said marine biologists so far believe climate change or large-scale fishing could be factors.The Franciscan is an endangered species recognized by its long, slender beak. It is only found in waters off Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

Source: Associated Press

Unexplained recurring booms in northern Missouri remain a mystery

Nathan Ellgren
News-Press Now
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:01 UTC

Unexplained loud booms have been affecting residents around Grundy County for weeks, and the cause has yet to be determined.

"It's weird because it's unlike most booming noises you hear," said Glen Briggs, the emergency management director of Grundy County. "If you hear a car crash or something like that, you can pretty well tell which direction it came from. When I heard it, I couldn't identity which direction it came from. It resembled thunder, but there were no thunderstorms in the area."

Trenton residents began reporting their experiences of these booms after they heard it for the first time Feb. 14. "I instantly made a post on our emergency management Facebook page and asked if anyone else heard it," Briggs said. "We had close to 100 people comment saying they heard it. Several people said they felt it. They described a loud thud, rattling, some saw flashes of light and smoke."

Trenton police arrived in a matter of minutes to the area where residents were affected, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. "No one lost power, so we quickly ruled out a transformer explosion," Briggs said. "That particular one was heard as far as 5 to 7 miles away. Whatever it was, it was very loud, but we we're never able to identify the source."

Briggs has been working on the mystery ever since, creating a spreadsheet of the sounds' potential origin, which falls into one of two categories. "There's a handful of evidence that says this has to be man-made. And there's a handful of evidence that says no, it's got to be natural," Briggs said. "But we don't have enough evidence either way to say is this an earthquake, or is this someone blowing something up?"

Anomolous hailstorms reported in Oman and Saudi Arabia

Strange Sounds
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 22:23 UTC

Heavy rains and hailstorms were recorded in Samai, Oman and in Saudi Arabia on March 1, 2016.

Here some pictures and videos of these anomalous weather events.

Eastern Mediterranean drought likely the worst suffered in nine centuries

Patrick J. Kiger
D News
Tue, 01 Mar 2016 23:01 UTC

Parched Californians think they have it bad. But people in the eastern's Mediterranean Levant region — which includes Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip areas governed by the Palestinian Authority — have been enduring a drought that began back in 1998.

Now, a new study by NASA, Columbia University and University of Arizona researchers confirms that the drought most likely is the worst that the Mediterranean Levant has suffered in the past nine centuries.

The scientists studied tree rings and historical documents in an effort to reconstruct the region's water history. They found that the most recent drought is not only longer but about 50 percent drier than the worst period in the past 500 years, and 10 to 20 percent drier than any drought since the 1100s A.D.

Dead humpback whale found on Isle of Barra, Scotland

BBC
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 16:51 UTC

A dead humpback whale has been found washed up on the Isle of Barra in the Western Isles.

The 26ft-long (7.9m) juvenile male was discovered on its back at Traigh Hamara at the southern end of the island on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme said the whale's body showed signs of having been entangled in fishing ropes.

Humpback whales can grow to 52ft (15.8m) long.

Heavy symbolism? Bear swats bald eagle with deadly blow on Kodiak Island, Alaska

Jennifer Newton
Daily Mail
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:59 UTC

The eagle swooped down on the bear and her cub as they were eating a dead whale in Kodiak, Alaska

This is the dramatic moment a bear took out an American bald eagle in one fell swoop after getting too close to her cub and its food.

The bird had approached the bear and her youngster as they had been eating a dead whale in Kodiak, Alaska.

Other eagles had been swooping down on the pair but managed to keep a respectable distance from the mammals.

One eagle got far to close to the bear's cub and its food angering the large animal into action

The bear then attacks the eagle and ends up swatting it to the ground with its large paws

However, one bird got far too close for the adult bear's liking and she swatted it down with her huge paw.

And even though the blow was not enough to kill the large bird, it was left stricken on the ground and unable to fly due to a broken back.

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Earth Changes

24 dead and 30 missing following floods in Angola

Waterspout filmed over sea near Balochistan, Pakistan

4,000 miles from home, rare pelican turns up on Sanibel Island, Florida

Fuego volcano in Guatemala enters new eruptive phase

23 dead dolphins being investigated by marine biologist in Argentina

Unexplained recurring booms in northern Missouri remain a mystery

Anomolous hailstorms reported in Oman and Saudi Arabia

Eastern Mediterranean drought likely the worst suffered in nine centuries

Dead humpback whale found on Isle of Barra, Scotland

Heavy symbolism? Bear swats bald eagle with deadly blow on Kodiak Island, Alaska

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