Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

River slowly dropping, but Iowa town still flooded

CEDAR RAPIDS - Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 20,000 people from their homes, officials said Saturday.

Arrow Up

Death toll in north China landslide rises to 19

The death toll from a landslide in north China's Shanxi Province rose to 19 as rescuers recovered three more bodies in the early hours on Saturday, emergency headquarters said.

Rescuers found the three bodies at around 2 a.m. Saturday at the landslide site at a brick factory near Shang'an village, Lvliang City. The landslide occurred at around 10:20 a.m. Friday, destroying the factory's workshops and burying 20 workers.

Image
©Xinhua
Two young sisters Wu Nana and Wu Shasha hold a picture of his father Wu Chunping who died among 19 workers at a brick factory buried by landslide in Shang'an village of Lishi District of Luliang, north China's Shanxi Province, June 14, 2008. Their mother Wang Fenglian and elder brother Wu Huihui were also killed by the landslide that occurred at 10:20 a.m. of Friday. The investigation is underway.

Fish

Egypt fishermen's livelihoods under threat

Thousands of Egyptian fishermen constantly getting skin diseases caused by polluted water.

egypt fishermen
©IRIN
Threatening the livelihoods of some 78,000 people

Ahmad Issa, 41, has been fishing in Lake Maryut [also spelt Maryout or Marriout] near the port city of Alexandria for the last 30 years. Like thousands of other fishermen, Issa said he was constantly getting skin diseases caused by the polluted water.

Evil Rays

At least three killed in Japan earthquake

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake centered in the northern state of Iwate about 250 miles northeast of Tokyo, rocked a rural, mountainous area of northern Japan, killed at least three people and injured more than 100 on Saturday, TV channels reported.

One of the people killed was caught in a landslide, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters. A second man was hit by a car after running out of a building and a third was killed by falling rocks at a dam construction site.

Seven people were trapped in a hot-spring resort inn hit by a landslide but police had rescued five and were trying to get the other two out, NHK public TV reported.

Frog

90 per cent of pandas in jeopardy after China earthquake



panda
©N/A

Nearly all of China's endangered pandas are in jeopardy after the earthquake last month devastated the remote mountain corner that is their last remaining habitat.

Attention

Powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake shakes Japan

TOKYO - A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked northern Japan early Saturday, swaying buildings and forcing authorities to close highways and stop high-speed trains. News reports said some people were cut by broken glass.

Authorities said two nuclear power plants in the area were not damaged and continued to operate normally, national broadcaster NHK reported. There was no danger of tsunami.

The 8:43 a.m. quake was centered in the northern prefecture of Iwate about 280 miles north of Tokyo.

Magic Hat

Deer With Rare 'Unicorn' Horn Spotted in Italy

ROME - A deer with a single horn in the center of its head - much like the fabled, mythical unicorn - has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.

"This is fantasy becoming reality," Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. "The unicorn has always been a mythological animal."

Cloud Lightning

Floods prompt evacuation call in Iowa

DES MOINES - Officials in Iowa's capital city urged residents threatened by the rising Des Moines River to evacuate on Friday, calling the situation "extremely dangerous."

"We are commencing a voluntary evacuation," Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie said, predicting the evacuation would be complete by the evening. "We think that the levels are going to be at or very close to levee height."

Image
©REUTERS/Dave Kaup
A farm building is immersed in floodwaters near Thurman in southwest Iowa June 12, 2008.

Cloud Lightning

Weather Channel Founder: The Global Warming Scam and the Price of a Gallon of Gas

John Coleman's Comments Before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce

You may want to give credit where credit is due to Al Gore and his global warming campaign the next time you fill your car with gasoline, because there is a direct connection between Global Warming and four dollar a gallon gas. It is shocking, but true, to learn that the entire Global Warming frenzy is based on the environmentalist's attack on fossil fuels, particularly gasoline. All this big time science, international meetings, thick research papers, dire threats for the future; all of it, comes down to their claim that the carbon dioxide in the exhaust from your car and in the smoke stacks from our power plants is destroying the climate of planet Earth. What an amazing fraud; what a scam.

Cloud Lightning

Rising water forces evacuation of Iowa hospital

CEDAR RAPIDS- Rising water from the Cedar River forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital Friday after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 100 city blocks were under water.

The hospital's 176 patients, including about 30 patients in a nursing home facility at the hospital, were being evacuated to other hospitals in the region. The evacuation started late Thursday night and continued Friday morning in the city of 124,000 residents.