Earth Changes
Volusia County seemed hardest hit in Central Florida, though Lake, Osceola and Sumter counties also were slammed by the fast-moving storm. On the leading edge of a cold front, the deluge trampled the region with rain and high winds that knocked down trees and power lines and damaged dozens of homes.
The temblor that struck at 10:07 a.m. had a preliminary magnitude of 2.6 and was centered about three miles northeast of Union City, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It is considered a "microearthquake" by the USGS.
The quake occurred along the Hayward Fault, which runs underneath the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay and was the site of three other small earthquakes last week.
Two of those quakes had a magnitude of 3.7, and the other had a magnitude of 3.5.
Seismologists said the activity is not unusual for the area and does not necessarily mean the "Big One" will strike soon.
To residents, it seems almost as though dead crows were falling from the sky. Damien Perreault, 71, said he disposed of 10 dead crows he found on a walk Monday. That didn't count crows dead in the trees.
But unofficial reports suggest the number of dead may be much higher, the CBC's Jonathan Kent reported Friday.
Today, advances in remote sensing, the use of highly sensitive instruments aboard satellites and aircraft, have enabled scientists to examine the mass balance of the ice sheets and to determine just where and how quickly the ice is growing or shrinking. Of particular importance is the mass balance of the ice sheet, which is the difference between how much ice it has lost versus gained over a period of time, and is a direct measure of an ice sheet's contribution to sea level rise.
Schools, malls and offices were closed Thursday, the governor declared a state of emergency and 4,700 travellers spent the night at Denver International Airport after flights were cancelled.
But research conducted by Dr. Amos Salamon of the Geological Survey of Israel and colleagues in Italy and the US will report on Thursday that since before the Common Era, there have been two dozen tsunamis documented in the region and 11 on Israel's (illegal) coasts.
The earthquakes ranged between magnitude 2.3 and 4.3, according to the National Service of Territorial Studies. At least 90 of the tremors were felt by the population.
Comment: Comment: Of course, it doesn't mean that "the big one" will not strike soon.