Earth Changes
An Alaskan wildfire ignited by an errant spark from a power tool has spread to 50,000 acres and burned at least 70 structures in a popular recreation area, officials said on Saturday.
Hyderabad: Blinding rain and a ferocious storm have killed at least 32 people in Andhra Pradesh since yesterday morning, most of them in Kurnool where flood waters also entered ancient temples.
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| ©AFP |
| Villagers being rescued from Alampur in Kurnool district on Saturday. |
New Delhi officials are considering the import of thousands of mosquito-eating frogs to prevent an outbreak of dengue fever.
Severe water pollution has decimated the city's once thriving frog population that fed on mosquito larvae, curbing the spread of dengue, malaria and encephalitis, The Times of London said.
Severe water pollution has decimated the city's once thriving frog population that fed on mosquito larvae, curbing the spread of dengue, malaria and encephalitis, The Times of London said.
America's Next Top Model it ain't. But this bizarre-looking bat got rave reviews when it recently posed for the camera for the first time.
Scientists found the twisted-faced creature, called the Maclaud's horseshoe bat, while surveying the highland forests of Guinea in West Africa this spring.
German biologist Natalie Weber took this picture after finding 16 members of the species in a series of remote caves. The bat had never been photographed before and had not been seen in the wild in nearly 40 years.
"Our rediscovery is good news insofar as the species is still there and as we have shown that the distribution range appears to be somewhat larger than previously known," said Jakob Fahr, an ecologist with Germany's University of Ulm, who coordinated the survey.
Scientists found the twisted-faced creature, called the Maclaud's horseshoe bat, while surveying the highland forests of Guinea in West Africa this spring.
German biologist Natalie Weber took this picture after finding 16 members of the species in a series of remote caves. The bat had never been photographed before and had not been seen in the wild in nearly 40 years.
"Our rediscovery is good news insofar as the species is still there and as we have shown that the distribution range appears to be somewhat larger than previously known," said Jakob Fahr, an ecologist with Germany's University of Ulm, who coordinated the survey.
Britain is braced for another day of heavy rain and storms causing flooding, disruption to travellers and another mudbath for Glastonbury-goers.
The Environment Agency has four flood watches in place - at Faustian Beck and Pinxton near Nottingham, the River Doe Lea in Derbyshire, and Frisby near Leicester.
And flooding is also causing problems on the railways, disrupting the journeys of thousands of passengers.
A Network Rail spokesman said the east coast mainline outside Nottingham is blocked by a landslip and the west coast mainline south of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire is also blocked both ways.
The Environment Agency has four flood watches in place - at Faustian Beck and Pinxton near Nottingham, the River Doe Lea in Derbyshire, and Frisby near Leicester.
And flooding is also causing problems on the railways, disrupting the journeys of thousands of passengers.
A Network Rail spokesman said the east coast mainline outside Nottingham is blocked by a landslip and the west coast mainline south of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire is also blocked both ways.
Ernest Sweat paused by the charred pine trunk he found burning like a match two months ago and wondered - could he have stopped the largest Southeastern wildfire in more than a century?
Sweat was driving home April 16 when he spotted smoke along the dirt road to his tobacco farm. Power lines were snapped by fallen pine and flames climbed surrounding trees. He dashed home to call the fire department, but the blaze had already spread.
It would become the Southeast's biggest wildfire since 1898, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
''If I could have just been here a little bit earlier, before it got into those roots, I could've outed it,'' he said.
Within a day, the wildfire burned a 9-mile path through rural timberland. A week later, the blaze had destroyed 18 homes and spread into the Okefenokee Swamp.
Sweat was driving home April 16 when he spotted smoke along the dirt road to his tobacco farm. Power lines were snapped by fallen pine and flames climbed surrounding trees. He dashed home to call the fire department, but the blaze had already spread.
It would become the Southeast's biggest wildfire since 1898, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
''If I could have just been here a little bit earlier, before it got into those roots, I could've outed it,'' he said.
Within a day, the wildfire burned a 9-mile path through rural timberland. A week later, the blaze had destroyed 18 homes and spread into the Okefenokee Swamp.
More than 200 localities in Arad, western Romania, were left without electric power on Thursday night, after a strong storm. The authorities are working to solve the problems.
Over 50 localities in Dobrogea, southeastern Romania, have water supply problems because the drought left many wells dry or with a very low water level.
Trees toppled, several houses were struck by lighting and set on fire and a motorcyclist was seriously injured from a falling tree in a storm that passed over Hungary last evening, the spokesperson of the national disaster management authority said on Friday, quoted by Hungarian news agency MTI.
The fire services were called out to more than 400 locations throughout Hungary on Thursday evening, mostly because of fallen trees and damaged roofs, Tibor Dobson said.
The fire services were called out to more than 400 locations throughout Hungary on Thursday evening, mostly because of fallen trees and damaged roofs, Tibor Dobson said.
Content of phenols 1.4 times exceeding the safe levels is detected in the Amur river near Khabarovsk, and near Komsomolsk-on-Amur, it is 1.2 higher than the safe levels.
Monitoring also showed high concentration of nitrate nitrogen and oxygen biochemical levels exceeding the safe levels by 1.4-1.5 times, a Khabarovsk territorial government source told Itar-Tass on Friday, referring to the results of the river ecological monitoring over the period from June 15 to 21.
Monitoring also showed high concentration of nitrate nitrogen and oxygen biochemical levels exceeding the safe levels by 1.4-1.5 times, a Khabarovsk territorial government source told Itar-Tass on Friday, referring to the results of the river ecological monitoring over the period from June 15 to 21.
