China's monsoon season has been catastrophic so far, unprecedented heavy floods have taken a heavy toll. The southwest and central regions in the Yangtze river basin witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 1,000 years, and the water continues to pour down with no rest.

Across Henan, rains deluged 1,700 large-scale farms, killing more than a million animals, and whose many small farmers still play a major role in meat production. The floods also caused a major explosion in an aluminum alloy unit in central Henan.

At least 14 people lost their lives in Zhengzhou city when their subway train flooded. More than 500 people were trapped in the subway in one of the worst-affected areas of the city.

China's biggest river, the Yangtze, and several of its tributaries have risen to dangerous levels after days of heavy rain, forcing evacuations of thousands of people and triggering an unprecedented emergency response alert.

A very serious double earthen dam failure sent 46 million cubic meters of water to the Hulunbuir area of Inner Mongolia, causing massive flooding.

The Three Gorges Dam has successfully contained the heavy floods, sighing relief to Chinese authorities, as a collapse could have had an even more catastrophic impact on the area.

Severe flooding caused by historic rainfall wreaked havoc across western Europe taking the lives of 189 people. Tens of thousands were unable to return to their homes and were left without access to power and drinking water. Towns in river valleys and low-lying plains in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Austria were heavily damaged. Most of the affected areas had not experienced that much rainfall in 100 years.

Drought and extreme heat triggered the two largest wildfires in the Western US. The fires have burned land nearly the size of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago combined.

The Dixie Fire in California scorched 241,000 acres has destroyed more than 60 houses. The widespread fires have forced the evacuation of more than 7,800 residents.

The Bootleg Fire is still raging in southern Oregon, burning 413,000 acres since igniting this month. The fire has torn through more than 400 houses.

Greek firefighters faced dangerous and unprecedented conditions as they battled 154 wildfires through Athens, with one of them threatening Mount Parnitha national park — one of the last remaining substantial forests near the city. Meanwhile, in Turkey, eight people died in the country's worst blaze in decades that raged through swaths of the southern coast.

Hot weather and strong winds fueled multiple wildlife fires in Akkar, Lebanon, consuming the iconic Lebanese pine forests. The flames forced thousands to evacuate.

And on the southern hemisphere, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay reported rare snowstorms and surprisingly cold temperatures this winter.

A magnitude-8.2 earthquake rattled Chignik, Alaska this month, it has been recorded as the most powerful U.S. earthquake in half a century. Several Alaskan coastal communities were evacuated following the quake, but no major damage was reported due to the remote location and depth of the epicenter.

Have you noticed that more and more people, cattle, buildings, and trees are getting struck by lightning? Things are charging up in higher layers of the atmosphere. Keep your eyes open, and prepare accordingly!

All this and more in our SOTT Earth Changes Summary for July 2021:

The major Atlantic ocean current, to which also the Gulf stream belongs, may have been losing stability in the course of the last century. This is shown in a new study published in Nature Climate Change. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, transports warm water masses from the tropics northward at the ocean surface and cold water southward at the ocean bottom, which is most relevant for the relatively mild temperatures in Europe. Further, it influences weather systems worldwide. A potential collapse of this ocean current system could therefore have severe consequences.
"The Atlantic Meridional Overturning really is one of our planet's key circulation systems," says the author of the study, Niklas Boers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Freie Universität Berlin and Exeter University. "We already know from some computer simulations and from data from Earth's past, so-called paleoclimate proxy records, that the AMOC can exhibit - in addition to the currently attained strong mode - an alternative, substantially weaker mode of operation. This bi-stability implies that abrupt transitions between the two circulation modes are in principle possible."

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck about 310 km (190 miles)south southeast of Port Blair, India, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said on Tuesday.

The quake was at a depth of 40 km, EMSC said.

Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill

The Athens-based Institute of Geodynamics says a 5.4-magnitude tremor occurred early Sunday in the Aegean Sea, near the small Greek island of Nisyros, west of Rhodes

A 5.4-magnitude tremor occurred early Sunday in the Aegean Sea, near the small Greek island of Nisyros, west of Rhodes, the Athens-based Institute of Geodynamics reported.

The quake's epicenter was 23 kilometers (14.3 miles) south southwest of Nisyros, a small island, round in shape with about 1,000 inhabitants and an active volcano. The tremor occurred at 7:31 a.m. local time (0431 GMT) at a depth 15.6 kilometers (9.7 miles), the institute reported.

The quake was also felt in the Turkish coastal town of Datca in Mugla province. Turkey's emergency and disaster authority AFAD gave the magnitude as 5.5. Turkish authorities have not reported any damage.

Earlier, late Saturday and early Sunday, there had been two tremors of magnitudes 4.7 and 4.1, respectively.

Since then, several aftershocks have occurred. There are no reports of injuries or damage.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck the Peru-Ecuador border region on Friday, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said.

The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), GFZ said.

A powerful 8.2 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Alaska, triggering a tsunami warning.

The shallow quake hit 56 miles (91 kilometers) southeast of the town of Perryville, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, with a tsunami warning in effect for south Alaska and the Alaskan peninsula.

The US government issued a tsunami warning for Alaska's southeast, while authorities in Hawaii also issued a tsunami watch.

'Hazardous tsunami waves for this earthquake are possible within the next three hours along some coasts,' the US Tsunami Warning System said in a statement.

Perryville is a small village about 500 miles from Anchorage, Alaska's biggest city.

An emergency alert sent to people's phones read: 'The National Weather Service has issued a TSUNAMI WARNING.

'A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.'

An earthquake of 6.2-magnitude on Richter Scale struck near Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Monday, the United States Geological Survey said. The earthquake hit offshore Sulawasi island at around 5.39 PM but there is no tsunami warning as of now, news agency AFP reported.

There were no immediate reports of damage or loss of life. The epicenter of the quake was at a depth of 10 kilometres and at 97 km west-northwest of Luwuk, according to USGS. Tremors from the strong earthquake were also felt about 200 kilometres from the epicentre at Palu.

Indonesia falls under the 'Ring of Fire' arc on the Pacific ocean that has an intense seismic activity throughout the year. Also Read - Powerful Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake Jolts Panama and Costa Rica

In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake, followed by tsunami in Palu had left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 jolted Kermadec Islands region on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 11.13 km, was initially determined to be at 29.9492 degrees south latitude and 176.902 degrees west longitude.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck south of the Philippine capital early on Saturday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

The agency said aftershocks were expected from the tectonic earthquake, which had a depth of 116 kilometres (72.08 miles).

Some residents in the capital region were awakened by the quake that lasted nearly a minute.

"The quake was deep so there is no tsunami," Renato Solidum, director of the Seismology agency, told DZRH radio station. "In Manila, the intensity 4.0 or 5.0 is strong but not yet destructive."

A strong earthquake struck off the southern coast of Panama on Wednesday near the border with Costa Rica, although there were no immediate reports of damage and authorities said a tsunami was not expected.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the earthquake had a 6.9 magnitude and hit at a depth of 2 km (1.2 miles) about 321 km (200 miles) southeast of Costa Rica's capital, San Jose. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a 6.8 magnitude.

Quakes of that magnitude can cause severe damage.

"Regarding the earthquake we felt in almost the entire country, we report that we have no damage to public infrastructure or personal injuries," said Alexander Solis, head of Costa Rica's National Emergency Commission.

A Reuters witness said the quake was felt in San Jose.