Tag: disaster

Sinabung volcano erupts again just hours after twin M6.8 and M6.9 quakes hit off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia – M6.6 earthquake the day before in Malaysia

Strange Sounds – August 20, 2020

A pair of powerful earthquakes has rocked the Indonesian coast on August 19, 2020.

The M6.8 and M6.9 quakes shook the island of Sumatra maybe triggering the latest eruption of Sinabung volcano just hours later.

The two quakes struck off Sumatra’s western coast on Wednesday morning, with an estimated depth of 22km (13 miles) and 26km (16 miles) respectively. The first tremor impacted an area some 144km (89 miles) away from Bengkulu, while the second came closer to the city at 130km (80 miles).

There are no reports of injuries as of yet, however local media said the quakes shook the homes of island residents “as if a truck had passed” and did “minor damage,” particularly to buildings with “poor construction.”

Though the jolts were strong and shallow, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) reported that there was “no tsunami potential” in the quakes’ aftermath.

In addition to being prone to quakes, Indonesia also features some of the most active volcanoes in the Ring – including Krakatoa, whose infamous 1883 eruption became one of the most deadly volcanic blasts in recorded history.

But a few hours after the two big jolts, the Sinabung volcano started erupting again – and not the Krakatoa.

A day before, a M6.6 earthquake hit the Philippines on Tuesday, killing at least one person and damaging roads and buildings.

It was the strongest earthquake in eight months in the Philippines, which, like Indonesia, lies on the “Ring of Fire,” a seismically active belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean.

https://strangesounds.org

Thousands flee as fast-moving wildfires spread in California

Jocelyne Zablit – August 20, 2020

Thousands of people fled their homes in northern California on Wednesday as hundreds of fast-moving wildfires spread across the region, burning houses and leading to the death of a helicopter pilot.

In Vacaville — a city of about 100,000 people located between the state capital Sacramento and San Francisco — residents were urged to evacuate during the night as the wind-whipped flames swallowed dozens of homes.

Many were awakened by neighbors or firefighters desperately banging on their doors, and rushed out dressed only in their pajamas. Several suffered burns as they ran for their lives.

Evacuation orders or warnings were also issued in other counties — including the wine regions of Sonoma and Napa — where fires sparked by lightning are raging unchecked amid a sweltering heat wave.

Cal Fire officials said the series of fires in that region, dubbed the LNU Lightning Complex, had destroyed 50 homes, burned through nearly 50,000 acres and were zero percent contained by early Wednesday evening.

They added that a helicopter pilot taking part in the firefighting efforts in Fresno County, southeast of San Francisco, had died in a crash as he was attempting to drop water.

In Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties a series of fires called the CZU Lightning Complex forced the shutdown of portions of the iconic coastal Highway 1 as flames came close to the road.

Officials said the region’s rugged terrain and dry vegetation were making it difficult to combat the blaze.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who has declared a state of emergency to facilitate the release of emergency funds, said the wildfires had been caused by thousands of lightning strikes in recent days in the Bay Area.

https://www.terradaily.com

Millions Of Acres Of Crops In The Central U.S. Have Been Destroyed By A Series Of Historic Natural Disasters

– August 12, 2020

While the mainstream media focuses on the upcoming election, COVID-19 and the endless protests going on in our major cities, another great tragedy is unfolding all across the middle of the country.  A nightmarish drought, horrific flooding along the Mississippi River and a giant “derecho” that just hit the farm belt have combined to make this one of the toughest years for farmers ever.  And this comes at a particularly bad time, because the stress that the COVID-19 pandemic has put on food distribution systems has already created periodic shortages of certain items around the nation.  We definitely could have used an uneventful growing season this year, and unfortunately we didn’t get it.

On Monday, an absolutely massive “derecho” roared through the Midwest.  According to USA Today, the storm had winds of up to 112 miles per hour…

The storm had winds of up to 112 mph near Cedar Rapids, Iowa – as powerful as an inland hurricane – as it tore from eastern Nebraska across Iowa and parts of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois, including Chicago and its suburbs.

Most hurricanes don’t have winds that high once they finally reach shore, and I have personally never experienced wind speeds of such magnitude.

Needless to say, this very unusual storm caused immense devastation.  According to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, approximately 10 million acres of crops were destroyed in Iowa alone…

Early estimates say the derecho flattened at least one-third of Iowa’s crops – about 10 million acres, according to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. In addition, tens of millions of bushels of grain that were stored at co-ops and on farms were damaged or destroyed as bins blew away.

And it rocked Marshalltown, Iowa, where an EF-3 tornado destroyed the town’s business district just two years ago. With winds of 99 mph, Monday’s storm damaged some businesses that had recently recovered, even damaging the scaffolding being used to repair the historic courthouse dome.

I can’t remember a storm ever causing this much damage in the middle of the summer.

If about 10 million acres were flattened just in Iowa, how many more acres did this storm destroy in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois?

Sadly, this one storm is going to completely financially ruin some farmers.  For example, Iowa farmer Tim Bardole is facing losses that could potentially exceed one million dollars.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com

China Quarantines Region While Second Case Of Bubonic Plague Diagnosed in New Mexico.

ETH – August 13, 2020

(BIN) – While the WHO declares that there is nothing to worry about, China is sealing off entire villages and a man died in New Mexico from a rare form of the plague that once killed off half the world population.

China sealed off several villages in Inner Mongolia in a second attempt to contain the spread of a new outbreak of bubonic plague. A man died in the region’s city of Bayannur from multiple organ failure after contracting the disease. Authorities in Bayannur said:

“The place of residence of the deceased is locked down, and a comprehensive epidemiological investigation is being carried out.” Thirty-five contacts of the man have been sent into quarantine. The statement added: “Currently, there is a risk of the human plague spreading in our city.”

Last Thursday another person died from circulatory system failure due to infection with bubonic plague. The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is “carefully monitoring” a case of bubonic plague in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region, but says that it is “not high risk”.

In a seemingly unrelated case, a man in his 20s died of the septicaemic plague in New Mexico last week. This was the second case of septicaemic plague in New Mexico in less after a man in his 60s was diagnosed with bubonic plague in New Mexico’s Santa Fe County last month.

Septicaemic plague is the rarest of the three plague varieties which include bubonic plague. Like bubonic, septicaemic plague is spread by bites from infected fleas or by direct contact with animals. Animals carrying the disease can include rodents, wildlife, and pets.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Scientists Have Warned That A 400 Foot Tsunami Could Hit The East Coast If An Asteroid Hit The Atlantic Ocean

– August 4, 2020

We live at a time when giant space rocks are whizzing past our planet with alarming regularity.  Sometimes we know in advance that they are coming, and sometimes we don’t.  In fact, on July 28th an asteroid the size of a car zipped past our planet “at a range that rivals the orbits of some high-flying satellites”, but we had only spotted it for the very first time on July 26th.  If we couldn’t see that one until it was nearly upon us, could it be possible that there are much larger potential threats hurtling toward our planet that we currently know nothing about?

In 1998, a big Hollywood movie entitled “Deep Impact” imagined what would happen if a very large asteroid hit the Atlantic Ocean.  It is hard to believe that it has been more than 20 years since it first came out, because I can still remember it very vividly.  In one of the most memorable scenes in the film, a massive tsunami that is hundreds of feet tall slams into the east coast of the United States causing immense death and destruction.

But that is just a movie.  Could something similar actually happen in real life?

On Tuesday, a British news source reminded us that scientists have discovered that such a scenario is actually a very real possibility…

A computer simulation of an asteroid impact tsunami developed by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz (USCS), showed waves as high as 400 feet sweeping onto the Atlantic Coast of the US.

Steven Ward, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UCSC, and Erik Asphaug, an associate professor of Earth sciences, reported their findings in the Geophysical Journal International.

Of course an asteroid could potentially hit anywhere on the planet, but in their research Ward and Asphaug specifically focused on the Atlantic Ocean, and what their computer simulation came up with was extremely disconcerting…

For the simulation, the researchers chose an impact site consistent with the orientation of the Earth at the time of the predicted encounter – in the Atlantic Ocean about 360 miles from the US coast.

Dr Ward explained that the 60,000-megaton blast of the impact could vaporise the asteroid and blow a cavity in the ocean 11 miles across and all the way down to the seafloor, which is about three miles deep at that point.

Such an impact would send a series of giant waves in all directions, including toward the east coast of the United States.

http://endoftheamericandream.com

There Is Currently A Mysterious Outbreak Of Flesh-Eating Bacteria Buruli Ulcer In Australia

Strange Sounds – August 7, 2020

There is currently an outbreak of a tropical disease called Buruli ulcer, which has been centered along a portion of Australia’s southern coast, more precisely in the serene beachside suburbs of Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula.

Australia has seen occasional cases of the disease since the 1930s. However, since 2017, more than 100 people have been infected with this type of flesh-eating bacteria that is rarely seen in this part of the world.

And Victoria’s recent outbreak has mystified researchers over the past few years, particularly regarding its source and how the disease is being spread.

What is Buruli Ulcer?

The little-known illness is caused by a pathogen known as a mycobacterium (Mycobacterium ulcerans).

It’s named for Buruli county in Uganda, which is where scientists first identified the collection of symptoms as a specific condition.

Once the bacterium enters the skin, it releases a unique toxin known as mycolactone and begins breaking down and consuming flesh, leaving painful and debilitating wounds that can be disfiguring if left untreated.

The bacterium not only damages the tissues it inhabits, but also is able to prevent the immune system from mounting a defense.

That’s the same genus of microorganisms that cause tuberculosis and leprosy, among other illnesses.

https://strangesounds.org

Hurricane Season Could Get So Bad They Might Run Out Of Names, Scientists Predict

Jordan Lancaster  – August 6, 2020

Scientists are predicting that this year’s hurricane season could get so bad they could run out of traditional names, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is expecting to see double the amount of storm activity this year compared to a normal year, according to the Associated Press. They predicted that there will be anywhere between 19 and 25 storms this year, 7 to 11 of which are expected to become hurricanes. 3 to 6 could become major hurricanes, which are storms with wind speeds reaching at least 111 mph.

Colorado State University also upped their predictions Wednesday, and are now expecting 24 storms, 12 hurricanes, and 5 major hurricanes. An average year has 12 storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes based on data from 1981 to 2010, according to the report.

“It looks like this season could be one of the more active in the historical record,” NOAA lead forecaster Gerry Bell said, according to the Associated Press. He said that this is the most storms the NOAA has ever predicted. There likely won’t be as many storms as there were in 2005, which experienced a reocrd 28 storms, Bell added, because the conditions that year were more likely to create storms.

University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said that “everything looks ready to be a pretty huge year.” He predicts that there will be more storms than the 21 names that are assigned for every hurricane season, meaning meteorologists will start using the Greek alphabet for names.

There have already been 9 storms this year. Lead Colorado State University forecaster Phil Klotzbach said that “9 storms to this date is crazy,” noting that on average, 12 storms a year come after August 5.

https://dailycaller.com

Experts Say Near Earth Asteroid Due To Come Within 300 Miles Of Earth In November Not A Concern Yet

Charlie Forbes – July 21, 2020

CBS Detroit – There’s a video on Youtube saying we are about to have another “very-close encounter” with an asteroid. What the Jet Propulsion Lab in California calls “Near-Earth-Objects” or NEOs. Now keep in mind asteroids have been coming close or have hit our planet for millions of years, and many do daily. The bulk of asteroids and debris in space as you may remember from science class get burned up in the atmosphere, caused by the friction from the air as objects hit the atmosphere going many thousands of miles per hour.

However, one Youtube video says an asteroid called “2018 VP1“, which is about 6 feet diameter will pass within about 300 miles of our planet on November 2, 2020. However, some experts are saying this nothing to fear. First off there’s the math, asteroid “2018 VP1” is projected to come 0.02 times the distance between the earth and the moon. Given that the moon is 239,000 miles away, 0.02 equates to 4,780 miles. Now your thinking that’s far off right? What’s the big deal? Well, when they compute this stuff through orbital mechanics, they use the center of the celestial body, in this case, the earth. The earth is 7,917 miles across, and half that is 3,958 miles. That is where the video correctly gets its 300-mile estimate from, or a drive from Metro Detroit to Sault Sainte Marie in the UP to put it in perspective.

In a recent article to Mlive, astronomer Mike Murray says while this is very close, it is not as bad as it seems. JPL assigns a confidence number or condition code to NEO’s from 0 to 9. “0” being a very “duck and cover” confident and 9 being very uncertain. Asteroid “2018 VP1” scores a 7 which means the projected forecast is uncertain. Part of that is because in 2018 they observed this for 21 days and only formed an orbital arc for 13 days. Murray says that even if this rock were hit to hit a bullseye on earth, it is only 6 feet across. It would have to be 20 times larger to do damage to a city.

On February 15, 2013 the Chelyabinsk meteor entered the earth’s atmosphere over Russia over the southern Ural region. This asteroid was 11 times larger than “2018 VP1” at 66 feet across and was shared on social media everywhere as it appeared brighter than the sun and was visible up to 62 miles away. The Chelyabinsk meteor exploded about 97,000 feet in the air with the force of 400-500 kilotons of TNT, or 26-33 times the energy of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. The atmosphere absorbed most of that blast and people were injured from broken windows from nearby buildings. It ended up exploding in an air burst into many pieces. Astronomer Mike Murray says “2018 VP1” would probably break apart or explode like the Chelyabinsk meteor and most that do impact the earth.

So for now the experts and the video makes the point that for now, we’re safe. As we don’t know all the facts on this asteroid’s orbit, but as “2018 VP1” gets closer, hopefully, astronomers will be able to acquire it to make more measurements and know for certain this asteroid’s orbit.

https://detroit.cbslocal.com

We Are Experiencing Economic Devastation On A Scale That America Has Never Seen Before

– July 30, 2020

For a very long time we have been warned that a U.S. economic collapse was inevitably coming, and now it is here.  Fear of COVID-19 and unprecedented civil unrest in our major cities have combined to plunge us into a historic economic downturn, and nobody is exactly sure what is going to happen next.  On Thursday, we learned that U.S. GDP was down 32.9 percent on an annualized basis last quarter.  That officially makes last quarter the worst quarter in all of U.S. history, and many people believe that this new economic depression is just getting started.  But of course not all areas of the country are being affected equally.  According to USA Today, states such as Hawaii, Nevada, Michigan and New York were hit particularly hard last quarter…

Every state was walloped last quarter, though ones that rely heavily on travel and tourism, such as Hawaii and Nevada, were hit hardest by the downturn, according to employment figures analyzed by economist Adam Kamins of Moody’s Analytics. Michigan, the heart of the nation’s auto industry, was slammed as consumers put off car purchases. And densely populated Northeast states struck by the most severe virus outbreaks – like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts – absorbed among the heaviest economic losses as governors shut down earlier and residents stayed home.

Originally, the mainstream media was telling us that the U.S. economy would come surging back to life during the third quarter, but we continue to get more signs that indicate that the economy is starting to slow down again.

For example, the Labor Department just released some new numbers that were more than just a little bit startling.  If you can believe it, another 1.434 million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.  That was an increase over last week’s revised number, and it represents the second week in a row that initial claims have risen.

Overall, new claims for unemployment benefits have now been above one million for 19 weeks in a row.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com

Florida braces for impact as Hurricane Isaias bears down

Alex Sosnowski – July 31, 2020

Isaias exploded into a Category 1 hurricane, packing 80-mph maximum sustained winds, Thursday night, shortly after pulling away from Hispaniola. The hurricane, which saw winds weaken slightly to 75 mph Friday morning, will churn through the Bahamas through Saturday, and make a run along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States this weekend to early next week.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Bahamas on Friday, including hard-hit areas from Dorian in 2019 like the Abaco Islands, although meteorologists expect the impacts to pale in comparison to the monster storm that stalled for 24 hours and caused utter devastation there last year.

“Isaias is expected to be a 1 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes in the Bahamas and the coastal southeastern U.S. due to flooding and damaging winds,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller said. This scale is a more nuanced method the company introduced in 2019 to assess the potential damage a tropical system could cause.

It has been 25 years since a hurricane tracked through the Bahamas so early in the season, specifically prior to the middle of August. Erin strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane near Rum Cay in the Bahamas and moved through the island chain on Aug. 1-2, 1995, according to Colorado State tropical meteorologist Philip Klotzbach. The storm passed over the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, causing generally minor damages, before heading toward Florida.

Isaias’s recent strengthening will help the hurricane forge a track more to the north. And the system could potentially strengthen even more over the very warm waters of the Gulf Stream, especially since Isaias is now expected to avoid the large land mass of Cuba this weekend. While a track up part of the Florida Peninsula is still possible, forecasters have ruled out a track toward the Gulf of Mexico with these developments.

https://www.accuweather.com