that would triple its value every year.
I told him, ‘At my age,
I don’t even buy green bananas.**
Claude Pepper
LARGEST QUAKES -
Live Seismograms - Worldwide (update every 30 minutes)
This morning -
None 5.0 or higher.
Yesterday -
5/4/13 -
5.0 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.1 FIJI REGION
5.0 MOLUCCA SEA
5/3/13 -
5.2 OFF COAST OF ATACAMA, CHILE
5.5 KAMCHATKA PENINSULA, RUSSIA
Water Supply Resumes in Quake-Hit China City - Water supply has been resumed in Ya'an City, about 10 days after a 7.0-magnitude quake struck the city in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said on Wednesday. The quake, jolted the city's Lushan County on April 20.
VOLCANOES -
Volcano Webcams
Low-Level Eruption at Alaska's Cleveland Volcano - Scientists say Alaska's Cleveland Volcano is undergoing a continuous low-level eruption. The activity began with an explosion early Saturday morning, followed by two other explosions hours later.
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical storms.
New York City needs to do better warning of storm evacuations - A report found that nearly a third of New York City residents ordered to evacuate before the superstorm hit last fall based their decision on whether to leave on what happened during tropical storm Irene. Some of the most severe flooding has occurred when the remnants of a hurricane or tropical storm system traveled inland, such as Hurricane Irene 2 years ago, producing heavy rainfall hundreds of miles from the coast. Atlantic Hurricane Season is just one month away.
Food insecurity opens door to TB in Madagascar - Food supply at the TB treatment centre in Toliara was depleted in February, in the aftermath of Cyclone Haruna. “People are unable to work during treatment, and they still need to feed themselves."
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Wild weather lashes Gulf, killing nearly two dozen - Saudi authorities warned of the extreme weather on April 24 but the heaviest precipitation started on Monday, while the flooding in Oman began at around the same time. Saudi Arabia's civil defence said at least 13 had died there and four were missing across the cities of Riyadh, Baha, Hail, and Quwaiyiah. Hundreds more had been displaced, trapped or injured. Civil defence personnel rescued 937 civilians and moved 695 families to emergency shelters, the agency said in a statement late on Wednesday. More than 4,200 road accidents were reported between Monday evening and mid-day on Wednesday.
In Oman, local media reported that six citizens had died, including two pairs of brothers. A 17-year-old and his older brother, 19, died while trapped in a wadi in the Dhahirah region, while two brothers aged 3 drowned in a pool at a farm in the coastal region of Batinah. The Royal Omani Police said they had received roughly 200 calls for help and had evacuated at least 70 people from affected areas. Residents and authorities said the flooding had been SOME OF THE MOST SEVERE IN RECENT YEARS.
"It's UNUSUAL WEATHER, but it's something that can happen. There is still a little more coming for Yemen, the UAE and Qatar." As waters have risen, harrowing stories have flooded social media. In Oman, a school bus filled with 30 students was reportedly trapped on a flooded road. After pulling the children to safety, the vehicle was removed from the waters with a crane Local media in Saudi Arabia captured images of cars being washed away by flood waters and passengers clinging to trees. In one city, Al Kharj, 400 Civil defence personnel were deployed with air support to search for missing persons. The authorities did not say approximately how many were unaccounted for.
Security forces in both countries urged residents to avoid valleys and other dangerous areas at risk of runoff from rains. In a statement on Wednesday, a media spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Civil defence told residents in floodplains to "get out of their homes". For many Saudi residents, the floods were unwelcome reminders of 2009, when some of the worst flooding in the kingdom's history left more than 120 dead and displaced about 22,000. After the disaster, several officials who approved environmentally flawed construction projects were taken to court, but huge infrastructure challenges remain across the kingdom.
"The main issue is land use." Building is often undertaken without considering environmental risks. Building codes are also inconsistent, both on the books and in practice. Federal, district, and city authorities all have their own specifications and they often conflict. "The problem also comes from the education system. They don't teach environmental planning in university curriculum." But a doctor in Oman argued that preparation is often impossible for extreme weather patterns such as the Gulf is witnessing. "Sometimes you have to take what you ge. It won't always be easy to find a solution."
Dozens evacuated, rescued as excessive rainfall floods southeastern Mississippi - The National Weather Service issued widespread flash flood warnings across the Mississippi Gulf Coast due to the excessive rainfall Wednesday night. Significant flooding Wednesday night on Market Street in the Pascagoula area of Jackson County.
HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
A May Day snowstorm deposited snow from Colorado to Minnesota, likely TOPPLING SINGLE-DAY SNOWFALL RECORDS IN MULTIPLE STATES. (satellite photo)
Denver breaks RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE for the date, ties all-time May low temperature.
Bad weather takes its toll as Scottish sheep losses rise by 50% - The impact of recent extreme weather has been revealed by the National Fallen Stock Company – the organisation set-up to co-ordinate the collection of fallen stock across the UK.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -
Cooler temps help crews battle US fire - Nearly 2000 California firefighters are battling a wildfire north of Malibu, as one of the fiercest blazes shuts the Pacific Coast Highway for a second day. The blaze is now nearly 60% contained. The wildfire raging on the coast of southern California had nearly tripled in size.
Photos
Winds topple trees, spark fires in Central Oregon - Winds gusting to 40 mph wreaked havoc on parts of Central Oregon Saturday, toppling trees that blocked roads and downing power lines that sparked at least two small wildfires and forced two dozen people to evacuate their homes.
Drought stalks Australia again - The spectre of another big drought is now casting its shadow across northern and southern Australia, only three years after the millennium drought broke. A dry summer has left the region in drought.
SPACE WEATHER -
ETA AQUARID METEOR SHOWER - Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on May 5th and 6th with as many as 55 meteors per hour in the southern hemisphere and half that number in the north. The best time to look is during the dark hours before local sunrise.
HEALTH THREATS -
Saudi Arabia Sars-like virus 'kills five' - The World Health Organisation says it is closely monitoring the novel coronavirus.
Five people in Saudi Arabia have died from a Sars-like virus and two more are seriously ill. The seven cases were all from al-Ahsa governorate in the east of the country. The novel coronavirus (NCoV) causes pneumonia and sometimes kidney failure. It is from the same family of viruses as the one that caused an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) that emerged in Asia in 2003.
The Saudi health ministry said it was taking "all precautionary measures for persons who have been in contact with the infected people... and has taken samples from them to examine if they are infected". However, the ministry gave no details on how many people had been tested for the disease. In a statement, the World Health Organization said the cases were not from the same family and preliminary inquiries showed "no indication of recent travel or animal contact" in any of the confirmed cases.
In March, WHO said it had been informed of 17 confirmed cases of NCoV worldwide, including 11 deaths. Cases have been detected in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and the UK. Correspondents say the exact source of the new virus and how it spreads are still unknown. One theory is that it comes from animals. The threat to the general population is thought to be small, although the virus has shown signs of spreading in people.
According to WHO, the last known death from NCoV was a 73-year-old man from the United Arab Emirates in March. In February, a patient died in a hospital in Birmingham, England, after three members of the same family became infected. It is thought a family member had picked up the virus while travelling to the Middle East and Pakistan.
No new H7N9 cases as clinical, treatment details emerge - Although no new H7N9 influenza cases or deaths were announced in China Friday, a team that treated severely ill patients in Shanghai raised questions about the benefits of oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and health groups issued updates on preparedness steps.
RECALLS & ALERTS
Nestle USA Announced a Recall of Select Varieties/Production Codes of California Pizza Kitchen and DiGiorno Frozen Pizzas sold in the U.S.
