Heavy rain and rapid snowmelt in the Sierra Mountains has led to widespread flooding in parts of Nevada and California, triggering numerous mudslides and road washouts. In Oroville, water opened up a massive hole in a dam.

Officials shut down flow from the Oroville Dam after chunks of concrete went flying from the spillway and created a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep hole on Wednesday. Officials stopped the water after noticing it was flowing irregularly and the erosion became apparent with the water held back.

The dam break poses no threat to the public but is expected to grow before engineers can make the necessary repairs, according to the Sacramento Bee.

High snow levels across parts of California and western Nevada have led to rain falling on areas where feet of snow have fallen in recent weeks, prompting flooding near the Sierras and in the central valley.

The final in a series of storms is making its way into the West Coast Thursday and Friday, said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. Flood watches and warnings are posted from parts of Washington and Oregon southward into northern and central California.

Slideshow

The authorities in Fiji are telling people to stay off the roads in the west and northwest of the main island as heavy rain continues to lash the country.

There is flooding in the towns of Tavua, Rakiraki, Nadi, and Lautoka.

A heavy rain warning remains in force and the flood alert continues for low-lying areas near major rivers around the country.

The tropical disturbance causing the deluge is southeast of Kadavu with forecasters saying another low is approaching Fiji from the west.

In Nadi, the river has burst its banks and parts off Lautoka are flooded as well.

An advisory councillor from Rakiraki, Nila Rao, said her community was still recovering from heavy flooding in December.

Highway 17 is closed in both directions through Tuesday night, Highway 9 is blocked in several areas, and flooding is reported throughout Santa Cruz County, with thousands without power after roughly 6 inches of rain fell the last 24 hours. The latest in a series of storms triggered mudslides, uprooted trees and knocked out power lines from south county lowlands to high in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The San Lorenzo River breached its banks and flooded Highway 9 near Paradise Park about noon. The California Highway Patrol blocked Highway 9 near the Tannery Arts Center.

At about 1 p.m., Soquel Creek in Capitola Village rose to just a few feet from its banks near the river mouth at Capitola Beach. Aptos Creek in Rio del Mar had not crested and had not breached its banks by 1:30 p.m. near the mouth at Seacliff State Beach.

A massive mudslide struck three vehicles on Highway 17 at roughly 10:15 a.m., flipping one truck over, closing the highway and trapping hundreds of drivers unable to proceed. The California Highway Patrol has shut down both lanes of Highway 17 near Jarvis Road, according to CHP Officer Trista Drake, who said no one was hurt when the slide hit the vehicles. The highway near the slide area would be closed in both directions through Tuesday night, she said. "The hill is unstable and the slide keeps spilling over into the other lanes," Drake said.

The San Lorenzo River is overflowing its banks in several spots between Santa Cruz and Felton where the river rose to major flood stage. In downtown Santa Cruz, the river reached moderate flood stage -- 23.3 feet -- just after noon, and it's still rising, KSBW meteorologist Art Jarrett said.

Santa Cruz County officials sounded a flood warning siren Tuesday morning, notifying Felton Grove residents of impending danger. Firefighters rescued residents who were trapped inside their homes by flood waters. Reporter Phil Gomez witnessed the river overflowing onto Highway 9 at Sycamore Grove, just north of Santa Cruz. Sycamore Grove looks like a lake.

"Highway 9 is underwater. I've never seen the San Lorenzo River go over Highway 9," Gomez said.

County spokesman Jason Hoppin said, "We have several rivers at or approaching flood stage (San Lorenzo, Soquel and Corralitos), with rain expected to continue this afternoon. We are activating the Emergency Operations Center."

An atmospheric river flowing off the Pacific Ocean pounded Santa Cruz County with rain throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning. More heavy rain is forecast for this afternoon, and county officials are bracing for more rivers and creeks possibly overflowing in a few hours.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better," Hoppin said.

KSBW Meteorologist Lee Solomon reported flash flooding in Paradise Park, and the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz.

Solomon said, "The Santa Cruz Mountains have received a deluge. Way too much rain in a very short period of time. A flash flood is occurring in the Paradise Park area. Move to higher ground immediately."

NOAA's San Lorenzo River gauge at Big Trees recorded water levels rising to 23 1/2 feet at noon. The river's major flood stage is 21.8 feet, and minor flood stage is 16.1 feet.

Over in Scotts Valley, Highway 17 is closed in all directions. A mudslide caused one driver's SUV to flip and crash on Highway 17's northbound lanes, near Vinehill Road. The California Highway Patrol is diverting all drivers off the highway, and there is no estimated time for reopening.

"The slide is unstable," the CHP said.

Tuesday's atmospheric river-powered storm has so far caused more severe problems than the first atmospheric river that blasted the Central Coast in January.

"The ground is already soaked, so all of this rain is running into the riverbeds," Hoppin said.

He added that while the Pajaro River takes a long time to rise, the San Lorenzo River, Soquel Creek, and Corralitos Creek rise rapidly during storms.

After severe thunderstorms hit Sydney this morning, the region is battling flooding and continued poor weather conditions.

While the Bureau of Meterology says the immediate threat of the storms has passed, the situation will continue to be monitored.

Here's a look at the storm over Greater Sydney.

The torrential rain has caused flash flooding, turning Sydney streets into rivers causing chaos for commuters.

Peru's National Civil Defense Institute (Indeci) reports that as many as 1,877 houses have been destroyed by floods in Lambayeque region over the last few days. Over 60,000 people have been affected and one fatality reported.

Heavy rain that began on 31 January caused floods in the districts of Pacora, Jayanca, Illimo, Mochumi, Cayalti and Túcume in Lambayeque province of the region of the same name.

Further heavy rain has fallen since then and on 03 February, the La Leche river overflowed flooding areas of Lambayeque, Chiclayo and Ferreñafe provinces.

Indeci reports that 60,435 people have been affected and 24,755 displaced, including 6,000 in Morrope district, 3,735 in Jayanca, 7,510 in Chiclayo and 1,955 in José Leonardo Orti district, where 1 person has died and 15,000 affected.

The flooding has caused severe damage to houses and buildings in the affected areas. Indeci reports that 1,877 houses have collapsed, with 500 of them in Chiclayo district. A further 3,072 houses are considered inhabitable and 12,089 houses affected.

Earth's magnetic field may be about to reverse, which could have devastating consequences for humanity.

Scientists think that Earth is long "overdue" for a full magnetic reversal and have determined that the magnetic field's strength is already declining by 5 percent each century. This suggests that a fully reversal is highly probable within the next 2,000 years

Earth's magnetic field surrounds the planet and deflects charged particles from the sun away, protecting life from harmful radiation. There have been at least several hundred global magnetic reversals throughout Earth's history, during which the north and south magnetic poles swap. The most recent of these occurred 41,000 years ago.

During the reversal, the planet's magnetic field will weaken, allowing heightened levels of radiation on and above the Earth's surface.

The radiation spike would cause enormous problems for satellites, aviation, and the power grid. Such a reversal would be comparable to major geomagnetic storms from the sun.

The sun last produced such a storm that struck Earth during the summer of 1859, creating the largest geomagnetic storm on record. The storm was so powerful that it caused telegraph machines around the world to spark, shocking operators and setting papers ablaze. The event released the same amount of energy as 10 billion atomic bombs.

Researchers estimate that a similar event today would cause $600 billion to $2.6 trillion in damages to the U.S. alone. National Geographic found that a similar event today would destroy much of the internet, take down all satellite communications, and almost certainly knock out most of the global electrical grid. The Earth would only get about 20 hours of warning. Other estimates place the damage at roughly $40 billion a day.

A similar solar event occurred in 2012, but missed Earth.

Australian crop losses mount from cold and wet conditions across the agricultural belt. Although the BOM head meteorologists had forecast never ending drought. Which has turned out to be the opposite with record floods across the country this year. Additionally new ACORN data sets show Australia has remained the same temperature as 1920.


Sources

Providence, R.I. — Earth is currently in what climatologists call an interglacial period, a warm pulse between long, cold ice ages when glaciers dominate our planet's higher latitudes. For the past million years, these glacial-interglacial cycles have repeated roughly on a 100,000-year cycle. Now a team of Brown University researchers has a new explanation for that timing and why the cycle was different before a million years ago.

Using a set of computer simulations, the researchers show that two periodic variations in Earth's orbit combine on a 100,000-year cycle to cause an expansion of sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere. Compared to open ocean waters, that ice reflects more of the sun's rays back into space, substantially reducing the amount of solar energy the planet absorbs. As a result, global temperature cools.

"The 100,000-year pace of glacial-interglacial periods has been difficult to explain," said Jung-Eun Lee, an assistant professor in Brown's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Studies and the study's lead author. "What we were able to show is the importance of sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere along with orbital forcings in setting the pace for the glacial-interglacial cycle."

The research is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The past few days have seen flooding across parts of South America. Chile has been badly affected. So too have Bolivia and Peru.

Central Bolivia has been pounded by torrential downpours which have caused severe flooding, destroying homes and causing at least one injury.

La Paz had 24mm of rain on Wednesday, and 37mm in the past two days. This makes up more than a quarter of the January average which is 137mm.

The rainfall was a good deal heavier 380km to the east of the capital. The rain fell intensely for 10 minutes, causing rivers to overflow near the town of Villa Pagador in Cochabamba.

This is the third time in recent years a severe flood has hit the town. The water coursed down from the top of the hill, dragging stones, branches and mud.

Witnesses said the driver of a minibus was injured when the river dragged his vehicle for more than 50 metres.