Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Update: Torrential Rain, Mudslides in Brazil Kill 239

Brazil Floods
© Roberto Ferreira/APCars sit in debris in a flooded street in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011. Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains, killing at least 140 people in 24 hours, Brazilian officials said Wednesday.
Summer rains sent tons of red mud and torrents of water rushing down mountainsides in towns outside Rio de Janeiro, enveloping the homes of rich and poor alike and killing at least 239 people in 24 hours. Some survivors clung to trees to escape the water and landslides.

Rescuers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands to dig through debris in a search for survivors Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how many people were rescued. At least 50 remained missing, and officials feared that figure would rise.

In Teresopolis, a town 65 kilometres north of Rio, the rain overflowed creeks and flash floods swept over already water-logged mountainsides. Brick and wooden shacks built on hillsides stripped of trees were washed away in surging earth and water, leaving behind only a long trail of rusty red mud.

Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across Brazil each year. Especially punished are the poor, whose rickety homes are often built on steep inclines with little in the way of foundations.

At least 114 people died in Teresopolis, the local Civil Defence agency said. The mountains saw 26 centimetres of rain fall in less than 24 hours.

Question

Pair of Dolphins Found Dead on Bali Beach

Denpasar - Two beached bottle-nosed dolphins have been found dead near Serangan Beach in Denpasar, Bali.

The pair, a male and a female, were discovered by officials from the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) during a routine patrol of the Suwung mangrove forest next to the beach, just a few meters from the waterline.

Head of the BKSDA Soemarsono said the officials rushed to carry the dolphins back down to the water but found them unresponsive and stiff.

He said the conservation officials, with help from local fishermen and residents, then brought the bodies back to the BKSDA office for burial.

"We suspect the two dolphins got separated from a larger pod that was migrating through the waters south of Bali," Soemarsono said.

"They probably washed up in the mangrove forest during high tide on Tuesday night. Then when the tide went out, they were left stranded."

Question

New Zealand: Single Whale Survives Stranding

Stranded Whales
© Bruce Mercer/Waikato TimesRescue Effort: Local Surf Club members and local residents try to float a Grey Beaked Whale back to sea at Sunset beach at Port Waikato.

Four of the five stranded whales at Port Waikato have died this morning while the fifth was successfully refloated to sea.

Shane Edwards, who helped with the rescue effort, said the surviving whale, believed to be a juvenile, was exhausted.

"I haven't done a rescue before so it was good to help out. It didn't look like it had much energy when it swam back out - I think it was scared of the Department of Conservation people."

The whales are believed to be Gray's eaked whales but the species will have to be confirmed by DNA testing.

Conservation Department project manager for biodiversity in the Waikato, Dion Patterson, said the juvenile had little chance of surviving unless it joined with its pod.

Igloo

US: Winter Storm That Shut Down the South Turns North

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© AP –A pedestrian walks down Spring Street in Atlanta Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011.
The snow-and-ice storm that has shut down much of the South slowly rolled toward the Northeast on Tuesday, revealing a regional culture clash along the way.

Southerners seemed resigned to waiting out winter headaches such as slick roads and paralyzed airports. But people from Ohio to New York, who face up to a foot of snow in their third blast of winter in as many weeks, were already putting pressure on state and local governments to spare them from travel tangles and snow-choked roads.

Across the South, communities remained encrusted in ice and snow for a second straight day. Road crews fared little better than in the storm's opening hours, owing mostly to their lack of winter equipment. Frustrated motorists sat idle on slippery pavement or moved at a creep. Millions of people just stayed home.

In Atlanta, which had only 10 pieces of snow equipment when the storm hit, officials planned to bring in nearly 50 more pieces - the most resources marshaled for a storm in a decade. Mayor Kasim Reed said backup supplies of salt and sand were on the way, too.

Mail delivery was restricted to just a few places because postal employees could not get to work. Many schools and other institutions planned to stay closed Wednesday out of caution. The storm has been blamed for 11 deaths and many more injuries.

Despite the inconvenience, Southerners confronted the aftermath with patience - and a certain amount of wonder.

Comment: Well...it may NOT be a "once in a decade event". For more information on the changing climate, see this SOTT Focus article


Igloo

US: Blizzard Hits Southern New England

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© Photo by Rick MacomberA bus stop in the snow Wednesday afternoon at Copley Square
A very powerful nor'easter produced treacherous conditions across all of southern New England Wednesday.

Heavy, wet, pasty snow poured over eastern Massachusetts, stuck to everything and caused thousands of power outages.

Several reports of thunder and lightning came into the weather office before sunrise, as intense bands of snowfall rotated onshore.

The snow was a bit lighter and fluffier well inland, so it was a bit easier to move and shovel out in Worcester County.

Across the extreme South Shore and Cape and Islands, the snow is mixing with sleet and rain at times making for a big mess.

Time Frame

The heaviest snow, 1-to-3 inches per hour, continued through midday.

Steady moderate snow will fall for most of this afternoon and then becoming lighter by this evening.

Igloo

US: Massive Flight Cancellations Thanks to 'Weather Bomb'

Thousands of fliers along the East Coast bunkered down today and waited as airlines canceled nearly 2,000 more flights and planned for more cancellations tomorrow due to a strong winter snowstorm -- called a "weather bomb" -- moving its way up the Atlantic.

Atlanta remained the epicenter of the disruptions this week after a nasty snow and ice storm, but airlines with major operations in New York's three airports are now preparing for the worst. Parts of North Carolina got up to 15 inches of snow, and New York is forecast to get 8 to 14 inches of snow with winds up to 25 mph.

Airlines in New York are worried about tomorrow's flights thanks to the "weather bomb" -- a fast moving, severe winter storm in which air pressure drops quickly and an unusually far south jet stream brings in moisture causing heavy snows and winds. In anticipation of the storm, which is forecast to hit late tonight, airlines are preemptively canceling New York flights.

Bizarro Earth

Japan: Earthquake Magnitude 6.5 - Bonin Islands Region

Japan Quake_120111
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 21:32:55 UTC

Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 07:32:55 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
26.944°N, 140.006°E

Depth:
520.4 km (323.4 miles)

Region:
BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

Distances:
220 km (135 miles) W of Chichi-shima, Bonin Islands, Japan

275 km (170 miles) NNW of Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, Japan

975 km (600 miles) S of TOKYO, Japan

Cloud Lightning

Heavy Rains May Affect South Africa Crops

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© ReutersZimbabwean Agnes Brovera holds an open ear of ripe maize, which is the country's staple food, on the outskirts of the capital Harare February 21,2006.
Johannesburg - South Africa's 2009/10 maize surplus is likely to prevent any supply shortage of the grain this year after heavy December and January rains have affected planting, an industry official said on Tuesday.

But the extremely wet conditions may have a significant impact on the soy bean and sunflower harvest, Kobus Laubscher, chief executive of farmers' group Grain SA, told Reuters in an interview.

"Some of the late plantings are suffering because of the heavy rains. But as far as maize is concerned, there is no reason to suspect that we will run into a shortage. We have huge carryovers from last year," he said.

South Africa, the continent's largest maize producer, harvested 12.815 million tonnes of the grain in the 2009/10 season, the biggest crop in three decades.

The country's annual maize consumption is between 8-9 million tonnes, leaving it with a surplus of about 4 million.

Black Cat

Alabama: Hundreds of Dead Blackbirds Found Along I-65 In Athens

dead birds, alabama
© Carson Clark, WHNT NEWS 19About 300 dead blackbirds were found along I-65 in Athens on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday morning, we got a handful of emails and phone calls from viewers who said there appeared to be a massive bird kill on the side of Interstate 65 in Limestone County. That's exactly what we found when we got there.

Just south of Athens, near mile marker 347, there were around 300 dead blackbirds just off the side of the northbound lanes.

The viewers who called us said the birds seemed to just fall from the sky, but we spoke to a wildlife biologist at the scene who says there is an explanation for what happened.

"What it appears to us right now is that the birds were feeding alongside the road," said Mitchell Marks. "The flock flushed, flew out into a vehicle and we've got this kill here along the road."

All of the dead birds had clear signs of trauma, but Marks collected a few to examine them.

Cloud Precipitation

Torrential rain, mudslides in Brazil kill 140

Image
© Paulo Cezar / AP People stand by the bodies of mudslide victims after heavy rain in the neighborhood of Caleme in Teresopolis, Brazil on Wednesday
Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains, killing at least 140 people in 24 hours, Brazilian officials said Wednesday. Rescuers using heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands struggled to dig through tons of mud and debris in a search for survivors.

In Teresopolis, a town 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Rio, flash floods tossed cars into trees and mudslides poured tons of red earth over houses below. At least 114 died, according to a local Civil Defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to release the information. She added that 10 inches (26 centimeters) of rain fell on the town during 24 hours.

Survivors waded through waist-high water, carrying what belongings they could, trying to reach higher ground. Flood water continued to flow down the mountains, though rains had stopped.

"I've lived here 25 years and I've never seen anything like it," Teresopolis citizen Manoel Rocha Sobrinho told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. "I live on high ground and when I looked below, I only saw a sea of mud. Most people saved themselves by climbing trees."