The whole earth uttered a great cry.
Wide heaven, shaken, groaned.
From its foundation far Olympus reeled.**
The fall-out from the war
between the old order of the Titans and the young Olympians.
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
6.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
Yesterday -
8/31/11 -
5.0 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
5.1 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA
5.0 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.4 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.5 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 VANUATU
TROPICAL STORMS -
-Hurricane Katia (the second hurricane of the season) was located about 1165 mi...1875 km E of the Leeward Islands.
-Tropical Storm 15w (Talas) was located approximately 425nm south of Osaka, Japan.
The US President has declared a "major disaster" in North Carolina and New York state, in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. Swollen rivers along the north-eastern seaboard have begun receding after they caused extensive flooding and prompted emergency rescues in states such as New Jersey. The storm has been blamed for at least 45 deaths in 13 states.
Irene barrelled along the east coast over the weekend, delivering hurricane force winds in North Carolina and torrential rains in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont, which forced rivers to swell and prompted extensive flooding. The storm drenched the east coast with up to 15in (38cm) of rain at the weekend, SETTING RIVER LEVEL RECORDS IN 10 STATES. New Jersey and upstate New York have been badly affected by floods At least 1.7 million homes and businesses in the affected areas are still without power. Two out of three nuclear reactors in a southern New Jersey county have moved to reduce power because debris from Hurricane Irene was blocking cooling-water intakes.
Mr Obama earlier signed an emergency declaration for Vermont following the storm, which caused damage estimated at more than $10bn (£6.5bn) and forced a shutdown of New York City. About two million people on the US east coast are still without power after Irene wreaked havoc on both small towns and major cities, some far inland. Rescue operations continued on Wednesday in the north-east, clearing roads and delivering supplies to stranded towns - where mud-coloured floodwaters had earlier washed homes and businesses away from their foundations.Emergency teams in Paterson, New Jersey, have been rescuing residents after the Passaic river reached 13ft (4m) above its banks late on Tuesday - its HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 1903. The Passaic was receding on Wednesday. In Connecticut, the National Weather Service has warned of moderate to major flooding on the Connecticut River, which peaked in the city of Middletown at 15.4ft on Wednesday morning.
In a letter to the president, the Governor of New York said that he had seen "hundreds of private homes destroyed or with major damage and an enormous amount of public infrastructure damage". These sentiments were echoed in a letter to the president by the Governor of New Jersey, whose state has not yet been designated a recipient of disaster funds. In Vermont on Tuesday night, more than 200 roads were blocked or had been washed away, hampering rescue efforts to as many as 13 towns. Relief crews have now reached all of the towns, although most are passable only by emergency vehicles. National Guard troops have brought in food, water and other emergency supplies to cut-off areas in the rural, mountainous state. (map & photos)
A system of clouds and thunderstorms over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico has a 60 percent chance of organizing into a tropical cyclone in the next two days, the US National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday.
PHILIPPINES - The public should brace for three or four fierce and destructive cyclones this month, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services says.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
NIGERIA - At least 102 people are now thought to have been killed by floods in and around the south-western Nigerian city of Ibadan. Floodwater, resulting from heavy rains that began on Friday, damaged three bridges and caused a dam to overflow, submerging buildings across the city. Most of the victims were children. "I think in the process a lot of [houses] were washed away by the rainwater." Some victims had been trapped in collapsed buildings. Although flooding is common in Nigeria during the rainy season, meteorologists say this year's rains have been particularly heavy. Last year, about 500,000 people were displaced nationwide. The flooding over the weekend in Ibadan, 150km (90 miles) north of Lagos, was exacerbated by rubbish and debris clogging drains in the city. About 2,000 residents have so far been displaced.
