Residents carry children through floodwaters in Chennai. Photograph: STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images
December 4, 2015 - CHENNAI, INDIA - Overflowing rivers and lakes pose added threats to India’s fourth
largest city as the number of troops deployed in rescue effort is
doubled to 4,000.
Thousands of people were trying to escape flooding in the Indian city of Chennai on Friday amid fears that further heavy rain will cause more destruction.
After a lull from the heaviest rains in a century that have killed at least 280 people this week, another rain burst was forecast to hit the low-lying coastal city within hours. But officials said brimming lakes were the main concern.
“The rain is not a problem now, it is the overflowing river and 30 lakes that continue to flood four districts,” a senior home ministry official in New Delhi told Reuters.
V Raghunathan, 60, a manager at an interior design company living in the south of the booming industrial and port city, complained about the lack of warning before floodgates were opened.
“The authorities didn’t give us adequate information about water being released from a nearby lake. Before we could take action. My car has sunk and I had to move to the first floor of my apartment.”
Military helicopters dropped food to residents stranded on rooftops in India’s fourth-largest city, previously known as Madras. On Friday, the defence ministry doubled to 4,000 the number of soldiers deployed to help the rescue effort.
Indian residents and motorists gather on a flyover as others wade through floodwaters in Chennai. Photograph: STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images
Volunteers help to rescue affected people on a country boat in Chennai. Photograph: AP
Reports say there has been no rain in Chennai on
Friday morning and water levels are receding in some parts of the city. AP
More than 7,000 people have been rescued so far by the army and the National Disaster Response force. AP
Troops have set up 25 shelters and community kitchens for the flood victim. AP
The federal weather office has predicted two more days of torrential rain. AP
A total of 269 people are now known to have died in floods in Tamil Nadu state since last month. AP
"There are people who haven't eaten for days. They
have seen their possessions float away from the house," said an
eyewitness. AP
A depression in the Bay of Bengal has triggered rains in coastal areas. AP
But help was slow to reach many in the city of six million, known for its car industry and IT outsourcing, with some families seeking safety on flyovers. Waters were not receding in some of the hardest-hit areas. Drinking water and fuel were in short supply, officials said.
Rescue teams urged people to leave inundated regions, while only roofs in some villages remained visible. Where water had receded, masses of black mud and garbage piled up.
“We are sending technical experts and engineers who will find a solution to flush out all the flood water. It has to be drained out soon, but we don’t know how,” said the home ministry official, who was not authorised to speak on the record and asked not to be named.
Without electricity and living with foul water lapping in their ground floor house for three days, police constable P Krishnaraj loaded his wife and two teenage daughters in a cycle cart and walked behind in knee-deep water.
He was going to move in with a colleague whose home was dry.
The number of people on the Basion Bridge flyover was rising steadily, many of them slum-dwellers whose homes had been washed away. They sat in the open, some carrying little bundles of their prized possessions, soiled rupee notes and identity cards.A small pick-up van arrived at the top of the flyover bearing water packets and biscuits and was immediately overrun by people desperate for relief.
Rajarwadi, who sold vegetables by the roadside, said she had managed to grab a packet of biscuits for her daughter. Now her plan was to move further away to catch the next volunteer food drop.
She had not seen government officials come to offer help to people camped out on the busy flyover on Thursday even though it was in the middle of the city.
Jose Sebastian, the head of a local construction company, said the biggest worry for his volunteer group was areas where the water level was too high for them to deliver food.
“We feel rather helpless,” he said. “We have lots of food, we have volunteers ready to go, but we don’t have the boats.” - The Guardian.
December 2, 2015 - CHENNAI, INDIA - Thousands of people have been evacuated and a rescue operation
is under way in Southern India, which has been severely flooded after
several days of non-stop torrential rains, which prompted the closure of
schools and factories and flight cancelations.
The city of Chennai, capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has been almost cut off from the outside world. According to local media, the rains have set a 100-year-old record in the city, which is home to about 6 million people."Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds may make the situation worse in Chennai," the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said, adding that the rains may continue for at least four days.
Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. The authorities have already canceled all flights and the trains have also stopped running, due to water on the tracks. Chennai International Airport, the fourth busiest in India, will remain shuttered until Thursday, Indian media reported.The Indian Army, Navy and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in the worst affected areas of the city.
"We have started the rescue operation but the biggest challenge is to find a way to clear the inundated airport and main roads," Anurag Gupta, a senior official at the National Disaster Management Authority in New Delhi said, as cited by Reuters.
Photos and videos of people floating in boats along streets that have turned into rivers have literally flooded social media, with residents helping each other and even rescuing pets. Hundreds of people in less-affected areas have opened their homes for those in need.
According to the local authorities, over 1 million people have been affected by the natural disaster.
"The police want to help but there are no boats. We are trying not to panic," Ramana Goda, a local resident in an affected area, told Reuters.
Heavy rains in southern India since the end of November have killed at least 188 people, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa said.
"It was saddening to witness devastation and deaths during the festive season, but I have faith in the strength of Tamil Nadu," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. - RT.
November 27, 2015 - CHENNAI, INDIA - Chennai is on its way to have the wettest November of the century and break an all-time rainfall record.
With Monday's torrential downpour bringing 93 mm of rainfall, Chennai
has crossed 1,025 mm of rainfall for the month. According to the
Meteorological Department, November 1918 was the wettest month as the
city received 1088.4 mm of rainfall then.
The weather station in Meenambakkam has already recorded 1144.8 mm this
November. Officials recall that Chennai recorded 970 mm of rainfall in
November 1985 and 1077.1 mm in October 2005. The remaining few days of
this month will decide whether the city gets to break the century's
record.
WATCH: Scenes from Chennai floods.
The rains so far have been severe with many rain-related deaths,
including the electrocution of a couple in Velachery, death of a
youngster in a wall collapse in Pattalam and the fatal fall of a man in a
trench dug up in R.A. Puram to drain stagnant rainwater. Schools and
colleges in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts will remain
closed on Wednesday. As reservoirs continue to get heavy inflows, city
waterways are carrying rainwater to their brim. The Adyar River is in a
spate as about 6,000 cusecs is being let out from the Chembarambakkam
reservoir.
Central team visit
In a bid to provide flood relief assistance, a nine-member Central team
will visit flood-affected areas in Tamil Nadu on November 26 to assess
the damage.
At present, a new trough lies over southwest Bay of Bengal and the
adjoining Sri Lanka coast. With another upper air circulation forming
near the weather system, the Meteorological Department expects it to
influence the formation of a low pressure area by November 26 or
November 27. - The Hindu.
Most of the main streets are waterlogged, bringing the city to a standstill. Getty Images
November 17, 2015 - INDIA/SRI LANKA - More than 70 people have been killed as incessant rains continue to batter the southern Indian city of Chennai, media reports say.
Most of the main streets are waterlogged, bringing the city to a standstill.
Many offices, schools and colleges have been shut due to rains in the past week.
The rains have also affected at least 80,000 people in northern parts of neighbouring Sri Lanka.
A depression formed in the Bay of Bengal has triggered rains in coastal areas of India's Tamil Nadu state and Sri Lanka.
Government officials said around 10,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in Chennai, the Reuters news agency said.
Public transport services have also faced disruptions. AFP
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalitha, has announced a 5bn-rupee ($75m; £49m) relief fund for flood-affected areas. Reuters
"The rain that was meant to be spread out over the monsoon months has poured in just a few days." AP
Government officials said around 10,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. AP
Some subways have also been waterlogged. AP
And some just decided to swim through a flooded subway. AP
The National Disaster Response Force and the army are also helping in ongoing rescue work.
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalitha, has announced a 5bn-rupee ($75m; £49m) relief fund for flood-affected areas.
"The rain that was meant to be spread out over the monsoon months has poured in just a few days," she said.
"No precautionary measures would have managed to prevent water logging and damages. In areas where flooding and damage have been caused, relief, rescue and repair works are being taken up on a war footing," she added.
Images from Chennai show the difficulties people have been facing to access essential services. -BBC.
November 16, 2015 - TAMIL NADU, INDIA - Tamil Nadu continued to experience monsoon fury on Sunday, with heavy
rains pounding various parts of the state under the influence of a well
marked low pressure area over Bay of Bengal, as the death toll from
rain-related incidents climbed to over 60.
There seemed to be no respite from the downpour with many parts of the
city coming under water even as the weatherman forecast more rains for
the next 24 hours, beginning 08:30 am.
The India Meteorological Department said in a bulletin on Sunday that
the well-marked low pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal adjoining
Sri Lanka persisted and "it is likely to move west-northwestwards
towards Tamil Nadu coast and would concentrate into a Depression during
next 24 hours."
Under its influence, more rains were expected in the next 24 hours, the Regional Meteorological Department said.
Anaikaracharthiram (Nagapattinam) received the maximum rainfall of 18 cm
recorded till 8:30 am, RMC Director SR Ramanan said, adding, Sirkali
from the same district registered 17 cm. Chennai received three cm
rainfall between 8:30 am and 11:30 am on Sunday.
He said heavy to very heavy rains could be expected in the northern
coastal districts of the state in the next 24 hours while there could be
rain in the rest of the districts.
Rains were also expected in Puducherry on Monday.
The seas would be rough, he said, warning fishermen against venturing for fishing.
Meanwhile, four persons died due to various rain-related incidents on 13 and 14 November, the government said.
WATCH: Devastating floods hit Tamil Nadu.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa condoled the death of the four persons,
three of whom died due to drowning in Kancheepuram district while one
person in Vellore was killed in wall collapse. She announced a sum of Rs
4 lakh each to the families of the victims from the Disaster Relief
Fund.
The incessant rains severely crippled normal life in the state capital
Chennai, where most roads, residential areas and low-lying parts were
inundated.
Subways at suburban Chennai connecting the residential areas were inundated, rendering them useless for commutation.
The sparse Sunday crowd of motorists were seen discussing alternative routes to reach their respective destinations.
Water-clogged roads resulted in slow movement of vehicles even as
pedestrians were seen wading through waist-deep to knee-deep water in
many places. Many residents were forced to stay put inside their homes
following the inclement weather. Trains on the suburban Chennai
Egmore-Tambaram were running slow.
The inclement weather also affected flight services. A Colombo-Chennai
Sri Lankan flight was diverted back to that city while a city-bound
IndiGo aircraft from Delhi was diverted to Bengaluru, airport officials
said. A Silk Air flight from Singapore to Chennai was also diverted to
Bengaluru, they said, adding that many services were delayed by between
30-45 minutes.
Meanwhile, the government announced closure of schools and colleges in
Chennai on Monday. Educational institutions in several coastal districts
including Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Tiruchirappalli, and Vellore in
northern part of the states would remain closed on Monday in view of the
rains, officials said.
In Coimbatore, BJP's state unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan said
the party would submit a detailed report on the situation in the
rain-battered Cuddalore district to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
BJP national general secretary Muralidhar Rao, who is in-charge of party
affairs in Tamil Nadu, would soon submit the report on the situation in
Cuddalore, which bore the brunt of the monsoon fury so far, she told
reporters in Chennai.
Replying to a question why Modi, who had announced Rs 1,000 crore to
rain-affected Jammu and Kashmir, was "silent" on the plight of the
state, she said that he had already expressed his deep regrets about the
devastation on social media.
Moreover, it was the duty of the state government to send a report to
the Centre, highlighting the problems, so that it can announce suitable
funds, she said.
She also said Cuddalore should be declared as natural disaster-prone
district and relief measures should be taken on a war footing in both
Cuddalore and Chennai, which has also been affected by the incessant
rains.
Lack of proper infrastructure in Chennai was the major reason for the
"pathetic situation", she alleged referring to waterlogging in several
areas.
As many as 135 residents of Danushkodi, about 20 km from Rameswaram,
were rescued by Police and Fire and Rescue Service personnel after they
were surrounded by rain and sea water.
Most parts of Dhanushkodi was inundated, a report from Rameswaram quoting police said.
Earlier, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister S Sunararaj chaired a meeting
in Rameswaram to discuss flood relief measures and asked officials to
be on high alert. - Firstpost.
November 13, 2015 - TAMIL NADU, INDIA - Schools and colleges in Chennai will remain shut on Friday as the MeT has predicted heavy rainfall. The flood situation has already claimed the lives of 48 people in Tamil Nadu.
The MeT office forecast another spell of heavy showers in the next week, following the formation of a new low-pressure trough. The maximum number of deaths have been reported from Cuddalore.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa offered her condolences to the families of
the victims who perished in flood waters and announced a sum of Rs 4
lakh to the berieved families as assistance from the Disaster Relief
Fund.
"A new trough of low pressure has formed in South Andaman Sea.
It is expected to develop into a low pressure in South Eastern Bay of
Bengal on 14 November," Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Chennai Director S R Ramanan told reporters.
WATCH: Texas police chase down escaped buffalo.
Several parts of the state, including Chennai, are limping back to
normalcy after being battered by heavy rains. A low pressure trough that
intensified into a deep depression and crossed the state coast on 9
November. Cuddalore district has been the worst hit.
Jayalalithaa held a review meeting with officials to assess the
situation in Cuddalore where relief and rehabilitation measures had
begun in full swing.
Meanwhile, several parts of Chennai and its suburbs, including the
commercial hub of Velachery, received rains overnight, inundating
low-lying areas further damaging roads. - The Quint.
January 19, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.
Carcass of suspected ship-struck whale washes ashore near Chennai
The
carcass that weighed around 15,000 kilograms was hauled with a crane and
buried on the shore by forest department officials.
The carcass of a 40-foot-long tropical male whale washed ashore on the Sadras Kuppam Beach near Chennai on Sunday morning.
The whale, also known as the Bryde's whale, might have died after being
struck by a large steel-hulled vessel as its spine was broken, a forest
official said.
The carcass that weighed around 15,000
kilograms was hauled with a crane and buried on the shore by forest
department officials.
"From the measurements of the whale, the
small size of its dorsal fin and the absence of teeth, we declared it to
be a tropical whale," said Supraja Dharini of Tree Foundation.
The slender and pointed dorsal fin of the bluish-grey whale measured 45cm.
"One unique feature of this whale is that it bears three ridges on its
head. Bryde's whales can dive up to 300 metres and swim at a speed of
25km per hour," said Dharini.
She said, "Ship strikes are a
major threat to whales and dolphins. We have recorded more than 15 dead
marine mammals in the last one year on the shoreline between Neelankarai
and Alamparai in Kancheepuram district."
The tropical whale feeds on lobster, squid, octopus, crab, shrimp, cuttlefish, anchovies, herring, pilchard and mackerel.
314 turtles wash ashore dead on Chennai beaches in 20 days
The
nesting season for Olive Ridley turtles is barely 20 days old and
already 314 turtles have washed ashore dead on the city's beaches.
Conservationists say the turtles die after getting stuck in trawlers'
fishing nets.
On Saturday morning, 60 turtles were found dead
on the stretch between Neelankarai beach and Alamparai village in
Kancheepuram district, according to Tree Foundation that patrols the
stretch every year during the nesting season. "The numbers are
alarmingly high this year and we are just into the second week of the
season that will continue till March-end," said Tree Foundation
founder-chairperson Supraja Dharini. Tree Foundation volunteers buried
the dead turtles near the shore later in the night.
Members and
volunteers of the Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN), a
group that patrols the coastline from Neelankarai to Napier's Bridge,
including Marina and Elliot's beaches, reported 70 dead turtles were
washed ashore. SSTCN coordinator V Arun said, "Considering that only
5-6% of the dead turtles are washed ashore, the real death toll could be
many times higher."
According to turtle conservation groups,
most of the deaths are caused due to the failure in implementing the
Tamil Nadu Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1983, which prohibits fishing
trawlers from operating within 5 km of the shore.
"Female
turtles on their way to the shore to lay eggs are trapped in fishing
nets of mechanised boats, gill nets or ray fishing nets. Most fishermen
who find dead turtles in their nets throw them back into the sea," said
Dharini.
On Pattipulam beach, between Mamallapuram and Nemmeli,
more than 20 dead turtles were found. Kodandapani, who found the
carcasses, alerted the local turtle conservationist group.
"Most of the bodies were bloated. Eggs were falling out of a dead female
turtle that had died after making it to the shore. I spotted dead
turtles every 50 feet," said Kodandapani.
The state fisheries
department now plans to conduct demonstrations of the Turtle Excluder
Device (TED). "When fitted in fishing nets, it can facilitate escape of a
captured turtle. Fishermen will be educated on using the device," said
an official.
Turtles that need to breathe fresh air every 45 minutes die when trapped underwater in fishing nets.
The department, along with Tree Foundation, held a demonstration for
Kasimedu fishermen on January 13, and another two-day session is planned
on January 20 and 21.
On January 13, the fishermen agreed to
not fish within 5 km of the shore and also promised to stay away from
estuaries that teem with turtles during the season.
A
teenage girl in northern Sweden had the fright of her life on Wednesday
night when a lynx which had escaped from a local zoo leapt out of the
woods and pounced on her two-year-old Siberian husky.
Emma Danielsson, 18, had taken Kira out for a walk near her house in the
small Sami town of Lycksele at around 11pm when she heard something
crashing around in the nearby woods.
"At first I thought it was a fox, but the dog was reacting very strongly and starting to growl," Emma told Aftonbladet.
Then the lynx leapt out of the undergrowth.
"It came out of nowhere. It started to hiss and claw my dog. I was completely in shock and did not know what to do."
The dog then bolted with the lynx in pursuit.
Irene Sjögren, the head of the local Lycksele Zoo, confirmed that lynx
tracks found at the site indicated that the attacker was the same animal
which escaped from her zoo in November.
"We now have
permission to go out with guns," she told SVT's Västerbottensnytt
program. "As soon as it gets a bit lighter, we will send out a hunter.
We will either stun her, or if that is not possible we will kill her." -
The Local.
Another completely lost bird: Brown pelican turns up in Nebraska in winter
Last
Saturday, my alarm sounded at 3:45 a.m. and I rose out of bed in order
to make the three-hour drive to Sutherland Reservoir to "twitch" a brown
pelican.
For nonbirders, "twitching" is a British birding term
meaning to chase after a previously located (usually rare) bird. Brown
pelicans are typically found in coastal areas, but birds occasionally
wander inland. The brown pelican I was chasing was found by Stephen J.
Dinsmore and Kevin Murphy on Dec. 26.Nebraska's other seven documented sightings, as well as the vast
majority of inland records from other states of brown pelicans, are
during warmer months. Thus, a brown pelican in Nebraska is notable, but
one in winter is crazy.
It
seems most likely this particular brown pelican is from the Gulf Coast,
perhaps Texas. Any part of the brown pelican's normal range is at a
minimum a thousand miles from Sutherland Reservoir. It's
impossible to know when this bird left its familiar coastal haunts to
fly inland. The explanation for why this bird ended up at Sutherland in
winter, and possibly why it is still alive, is easier to understand.
Sutherland Reservoir has a cooling pond, which receives water from the
Nebraska Public Power District's nearby coal-fired Gerald Gentleman
power station. The constant infusion of warm water into the cooling pond
keeps the water open even during the coldest winters. This
human-created environment allows several fish-eating bird species,
including American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants and great
blue herons, to overwinter at this site when they might otherwise
migrate south to warmer climes or perish. - Journal Star.
January 1, 2015 - EARTH -
The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic
animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and
the appearance of rare creatures.
Masses of dead fish wash ashore along the coast of Chennai, India
Fisherfolk, dependent on the Adyar estuary for their livelihood, were shocked by this sudden surge of dead fish along the coastline
from Srinivasapuram up to Besant Nagar. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan. The Hindu
A
large quantity of dead fish was washed ashore along the coastline from
Srinivasapuram up to Ashtalakshmi temple in Besant Nagar on Wednesday.
Fisherfolk, dependent on the Adyar estuary for their livelihood, were shocked by this sudden surge of dead fish.
R. Suresh, a fisherman from Nadukkuppam, said release of untreated hazardous wastewater from a couple of hospitals could have caused the death of the aquatic life. “Since yesterday, we have been sensing a stench and then, this morning, saw the huge quantity of dead fish on the shore,” he said.
S. Palayam, president, Oorurkuppam Fishermen Cooperative Society, said he, along with five other fishermen, could earn nearly Rs, 2,000 by spreading their nets at the mouth of the estuary. Similarly, a good quantity of prawn was also caught in the bay, he said, adding that the release of untreated hazardous waste into the Adyar River had led to the death of fish.
“It not only affects the fish, but even the prawn fingerlings get wiped out due to contamination by polluted waste. So far, we have not had such a large-scale death of fish in our area,” he said. Mullet, sardine and milk fish were the three species found in abundance in the area, he added.
Pooja Kumar, of Coastal Resource Centre, Besant Nagar, said they got the call from fishermen around 3 a.m. on Wednesday about the dead fish washed ashore. A drainage pipe on the old Adyar bridge had got damaged in some portions, from which the sewage seems to have leaked into the river. Thus, the water passing through Adyar Creek before reaching the Bay of Bengal could have become contaminated, resulting in the mass death of fish, she explained.
Nearly five lorry loads of dead fish were collected by unidentified persons, who said they would sell them to units manufacturing poultry feed.
Mr. Palayam said that, on several occasions, the fishermen had complained to authorities about the release of untreated raw sewage into Adyar River. But, so far, no action had been taken. The rise of new hotels and residential apartments near the coast along Foreshore Estate exacerbated the issue, he said.Sources with the fisheries department said eutrophication (presence of excessive nutrients due to increased presence of algae) could have caused the death. - The Hindu.
Dead humpback whale washes up on Little Cranberry Island, Maine
Scientists
from the College of the Atlantic have identified the carcass of a
36-foot humpback whale that washed ashore on Little Cranberry Island on
Christmas Day as Triomphe, a nearly 7-year-old male.
"The
pigmentation on the flukes was sufficient to identify the individual,"
said Rosemary Seton, research associate and Marine Mammals Stranding
Coordinator at the college's Allied Whale Program. "He was in our
catalog, born in 2008 to a female humpback named Spar."
The
whale was discovered on the afternoon of Dec. 25 and showed some signs
that it had been entangled in fishing gear, Harbormaster Bruce Fernald
said.
"There were
some entanglement signs, but nothing I saw that was deep," he said. "You
could just see a little groove in about two or three places on its tail
- it was nothing that I would think would kill a whale, but I don't know."
Seton said it might be impossible to determine a cause of death.
"Even when you do necropsies, and can see things inside, finding the cause of death is not always easy," she said.
In this case, tissue samples were collected but a full necropsy will
not be performed because of the scale of such an undertaking.
Seton said researchers at the Bar Harbor-based college on average deal
with one dead humpback whale a year, but one year saw three.
"Last year, one was seen by one of our volunteers in Cutler," she said.
"It was floating in the harbor and ended up on Great Spruce Island." - Bangor Daily News.
Thousands of fish, animals dying in Turkey Creek, Florida
Thousands of fish and animals are dying in a local waterway, and longtime residents say it's not just an ordinary fish kill.
Turkey Creek in Palm Bay is known for its clean, fresh water. It flows
into the Indian River Lagoon downstream, and it's there in the lagoon
where most fish kills happen, not in the creek.
Chris Jones grew up along Turkey Creek.
WATCH: Thousands of fish, animals dying in Turkey Creek, Florida.
"You can get out and be in old Florida, natural Florida, the way it was
hundreds of years ago before people were here," said Jones.
But now, catfish have been dying for weeks.
People have reported dead animals including an alligator and some raccoons and turtles. They've taken pictures of a film on the water.
"I've never seen catfish or any fish die off to this extent," said Jones.
"It's quite upsetting because I've been here since '73, and the waters were much better," said John Mongioi.
Palm Bay Public Works employees checked the water for dissolved oxygen but said so far levels look normal.
The city sewage plant spilled effluent into the creek in September. It
seems unlikely that could still be having an effect. It's an unnerving
mystery.
"I don't know if I'm going to get sick from it. I
don't know if I'm going to get something from just dealing with the fish
in the water," said Jones.
State biologists have taken samples and they're doing a lot of analysis, hoping to find the answer. - WESH.
Rare Eurasian kestrel appears in Nova Scotia, Canada
Bird watchers in Nova Scotia are being treated to a rare sight.
Birders are flocking to Hartlen Point in Eastern Passage to try and
catch a glimpse of a rare Eurasian kestrel. The bird was first spotted
in the Eastern Passage area in November and is still there.
Blake Maybank with the Nova Scotia Bird Society says it's a male.
"Presumably this bird just got caught up in the wrong weather, not a
storm per se, but they tend to follow tailwinds and it got carried over,
but when, we can't be sure," he said.
Maybank was one of many
bird watchers in Eastern Passage on Tuesday hoping to catch a glimpse of
the rare sight. He found the Eurasian kestrel lunching in a spruce
tree.
WATCH: Rare bird spotted near Halifax.
According to the National Audubon Society, the birds are larger than their North American cousins, American kestrels.
Eurasian kestrels are quite common across their home range of Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, but are very rarely seen in North America.
The last time a Eurasian kestrel sighting was recorded in Canada was back in 1988 near Amherst.
John Loch of Eastern Passage made the trip to see the bird then, but never did see it. He had better luck Tuesday.
"I've worked pretty hard the last few days to try to see it and finally
David called me to tell me it was here and I'm really pleased," Loch
said. "It's a beautiful bird, it's a little immature but it's got
beautiful markings."
Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) distribution
David Currie, with the Nova Scotia Bird Society, says news of the kestrel sighting has spread.
"We had people in from Quebec yesterday and people in from Maine as
well," he said. "I've been contacted and I understand there are more
people from the U.S. coming here." - CBC.
Llama on the lam: Furry fugitive escapes, hits the town in Greater Manchester
Reuters / Jorge Silva
A
spooked llama on the run in Greater Manchester evaded capture for six
hours before being escorted home by its owner on Monday night.
Interludes of the creature’s journey throughout the town of Littleborough, just outside Rochdale, Greater Manchester, were recorded on film.
The video captured the frazzled animal galloping down a road as vehicles slowed down allowing it to pass safely. Other cars came to halt as the furry fugitive marched along the center of a residential street.
WATCH: Pet llama on the loose in Manchester.
The
llama had fled its home quarters on Monday evening after being
frightened by a dog in the neighborhood. The llama, by the name of
Calista, was rescued by her owner Dan Taylor, who eventually found her
and guided her back to his farm.
Taylor, 48, had searched the small town for his pet for six hours before discovering her in an agitated state.
He
told the Manchester Evening News that he owns 19 llamas, which he keeps
on his farm. Reflecting on the saga, he told the paper all his llamas
had been frightened by the dog.
Reuters / Mariana Bazo
“They are very timid and friendly creatures and this kind of thing really upsets them,” Taylor said. “I would really urge dog owners not to let their animals out loose in the area as they are not allowed in the field.”
Llamas
are members of the camelid family and are generally found in the Andes
in Peru, Chile and Bolivia. A domesticated variant of their wild cousin
the guanaco, they are often used by the Andean people to carry food.
No further incidents of llamas running loose in Littleborough have been reported since Monday. - RT.
May 21, 2014 - BAY OF BENGAL & THE ANDAMAN SEA BASIN - Mild to moderate tremors were felt in northern and eastern India on Wednesday night.
USGS earthquake location map.
Tremors were felt in places like Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Gaya and Chennai.
In Chennai tremors were felt in parts of Nungambakkam, Porur and Triplicane, according to some reports.
Tremors were also felt in Delhi and NCR.
The epicentre of earthquake was in Bay of Bengal, 275 km South-East of Paradip Garh. Its magnitude was 6:0 on the Richter scale and depth was 10 km, as per India Meterological Department.
The tremors struck around 9:52 pm.
USGS earthquake shakemap intensity
The tremor was felt for a few seconds in many areas of Odisha, including state capital Bhubaneshwar but it was enough to trigger panic among people who immediately moved out of buildings, PTI reported.
Panic also gripped several parts of Odisha's Kendrapara district where residents felt the tremors for about 10 seconds.
No reports of damage to human life and property has been reported as yet. - ZEE News.
Tectonic Setting and Seismotectonic History of the Andaman Sea Basin.
The Andaman Sea is a highly folded and spreading geosynclinal basin, about 650 km wide from east to west and about 1200 km long from north to south. Its total area is estimated to be 600,000 to 800,000 km2.
The Andamans and the Nicobars are a group of 349 islands - summits of a submarine mountain range situated on the western side of the basin, formed by tectonic interactions. The present configuration resulted about 26 million years ago. The islands are the boundary separating the Andaman Sea basin from the Indian Ocean. The Andaman group has a total of 325 islands, while the Nicobar group has 24 islands. Only 38 of these islands are inhabited.
Tectonic Setting - The Andaman Sea Basin, is a seismically active region at the southeastern end of the Alpine-Himalayan belt,. For millions of years the India tectonic plate has moved in a north/northeast direction, colliding with the Eurasian tectonic plate. The Indian plate's eastern boundary, along the Andaman and Nicobar islands and Northern Sumatra, is a diffuse zone of seismicity and deformation, characterized by extensive faulting and numerous large shallow and intermediate earthquakes.
The Burma microplate encompasses the northwest portion of the island of Sumatra, as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Further to the east of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, a divergent boundary separates the Burma plate from the Sunda plate.
Seismotectonic History - The seimotectonic history of the region is extensively covered in the scientific literature (Sinvhal et al.1978, Verma et al. 1978). More recent research documents the following regional tectonic evolution. Accordingly, an extensional feature developed along a leaky transform segment of the megashear zone - the Andaman fault - between the Indo-Australian domain and the Sunda-Indochina block (Uyeda and Kanamori, 1979; Taylor and Karner, 1983). This old shear zone acted as a western strike slip guide for the extrusion of the Indochina block about 50-20 My (Tapponnier et al., 1986) - and in response to the indentation of the Indian tectonic plate into Eurasian block.
Collision of Indochina with the Sunda and Australian blocks stopped this crustal extrusion process. Subsequently, the Andaman fault system - recently prolonged through the Sumatra zone (the Sumatra fault) - reactivated due to the lateral escape of the Sumatra forearc sliver plate and as a result of the oblique convergence and subduction with the Indo-Australian plate.
The Indian plate's oblique subduction beneath the Burmese Microplate has created the Andaman segment of the great Sunda Trench. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located within the tectonic sliver near the boundary of the Indian plate and the Burmese Microplate. Similarly the oblique subduction has created the north-south trending West Andaman fault - another strike-slip fault system in the Andaman Sea to the east of the island chain.
The Volcanic Arc - The subduction process has also formed a volcanic arc. There are two known volcanoes along this arc. The one in the North is known as the Barren Island Volcano - considered active as it has erupted within recent times. The other is known as the Narcondum volcano and is considered dormant.
Seismicity of the Region - Shallow and occasional intermediate-depth earthquakes delineate the subducted slab under the Andaman-Nicobar islands joining the seismicity trend of the Indo-Burman ranges. The active seismicity of the Andaman Sea Basin, has caused many minor and intermediate earthquakes, a few major events ,and only one known earthquake with magnitude greater than 8. According to the literature (Bapat 1982) from 1900 to 1980, a total of 348 earthquakes were recorded in the area bounded by 7.0 N to 22.0 N and 88.0 E to 100 E. - Dr. George P.C.
June 24, 2013 - INDIA -The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has begun a detailed study to analyze the possible threats of an underwater volcano near the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam, about 70km south of Chennai.
Confirming
the presence of an underwater volcano, AERB said the Geological Survey
of India (GSI) has also recommended an advanced study to figure out the
status of the volcano.
Confirming the presence of an underwater volcano five weeks ago, an AERB reply to an RTI query said the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has also recommended an advanced study to figure out the status of the volcano, though initial investigations did not detect any significant geological signs.
AERB said the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and GSI have recommended further analysis in view of an "inferred high density material intrusion of remnant magnetization based on magnetic and gravity anomalies" around the location of the volcano. AERB had appointed these national agencies to study the possible threats and geological status of the underwater volcano after Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) released a document on the reported volcano in 1757, located about 100km-110km from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam.
According to GVP, a US government agency based in Washington DC studying active volcanoes and their eruptions during the last 10,000 years, says the undersea eruption of the volcano happened last on January 20, 1757, off Puducherry, resulting in the formation of a new island. However, AERB said GSI's offshore surveys did not find any existence of an island. Also, it added that the seismic data and wells drilled by ONGC in the vicinity did not indicate any volcanic intrusions.
In last September, V Pughazhendi and R Ramesh, two activists of the Peoples Movement for Nuclear Radiation Safety, who published a book compiling the documentary evidences of the volcano, demanded that the AERB conducts an advanced study. The AERB study is in progress and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) insists countries should ensure safety and protection if they had built reactors without considering the effect of volcanoes in their vicinity.
Besides two power plants in Kalpakkam, a senior AERB official said, a fast breeder test reactor facility and a fuel reprocessing facility are in the vicinity. A 500MW prototype fast breeder is also being built at Kalpakkam. - Times of India.
November 7, 2012 - NEW DELHI, INDIA - Flooding in southern India in the wake of a tropical cyclone has killed 25 people in the past few days and driven tens of thousands of others from their homes, authorities said Tuesday.
Indian residents wade through flood waters in Visakhapatnam in the coastal district of
Andhra Pradesh on November 5, 2012.
The severe weather has caused flooding affecting 5,250 square kilometers (2,000 square miles) of agricultural land in the state of Andhra Pradesh, according to Vinod Kumar, an official at the state's disaster management department. Cyclone Nilam roared into India's southeastern coast last week, killing at least 15 people in the state of Tamil Nadu and running a large oil tanker aground on the shore near Chennai. The storm had already been drenching coastal areas with rain as it loitered over the sea north of Sri Lanka before it made landfall. It brought more than a month's rainfall in just a few of days, according to CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera. The "high impact, long duration" nature of the downpours "overwhelmed the rivers and streams" and led to the disastrous flooding, Cabrera said. About 70,000 people in Andhra Pradesh, which is north of Tamil Nadu, have been relocated to temporary shelters, Kumar said Tuesday. The flooding has killed 25 people in the state, he said. The full extent of the damage to crops won't be known until after the flood waters recede, according to authorities. Tropical cyclones tend to occur in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea during the April-to-June and September-to-November periods. A violent tropical storm killed at least 23 people in southeastern Bangladesh last month. And a powerful cyclone that hit India and Bangladesh in May 2009 killed at least 180 people. - CNN.
Giant waves, more than 12 feet high, hit the northern side of the famous shore temple at Mamallapuram, 60 km from Chennai, on Tuesday evening, leaving the heritage monument three feet deep in water. Sea water gushed inland for about 75 metres, leaving behind a pool of water.
File Photo.
The temple town was virtually empty with more than 3,000 shops downing shutters to protest an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) proposal to take over an ancient Perumal temple in the town. While there were no casualties, the waves triggered memories of the 2004 tsunami when the temple town was badly hit. "Tuesday's waves were a reminder of the tsunami. We were scared when we saw the tall waves. Fortunately, all shops were closed," said V Balan, a member of the Mamallapuram Traders' Association. The high waves, ASI sources said, started on Monday evening and continued all through Tuesday before resulting in a deluge in the evening.
As a result the ASI is contemplating banning entry of visitors on Wednesday to the shore temple. However, oceanographic experts have been quick to reassure that the big wave is not the result of a tsunami. "This is just a local phenomenon and possibly a freak phenomenon caused by low pressure," said Dr M A Aatmanand, director of National Institute of Ocean Technology. S Ramachandran, former vice-chancellor the University of Madras and an oceanographic expert, said such a phenomenon is common during the monsoon. - Times of India.
Large parts of New Delhi were struggling with acute water shortages on Friday after a neighbouring state cut its supplies at the peak of summer, officials said. The sprawling Indian capital, with a population of 16 million sweltering in 43 degree C (109.4 F) summer heat, relies on four neighbouring states for its water -- Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Haryana, the biggest supplier, cut its flow to the city on Thursday and about three million people have suffered shortages or been completely cut off, according to the Delhi Jal Board, a government agency responsible for water supply. Some of the capital's smartest districts are among the affected areas, and the crisis reflects growing water stresses in the country of 1.2 billion people. "Suddenly, Haryana is refusing to release water to Delhi," a top Delhi Jal Board official told AFP, requesting anonymity. "We are struggling at all levels. Every minute we are registering complaints of water shortage. This crisis has left us in a mess." Several states across India face major challenges over water supply, triggering long-running legal battles over water sharing. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit accused Haryana, which says it has to conserve water for its own residents, of "playing foul" with the capital.
"We are not asking for any favours. We want what is due to us," Dikshit said in a statement Thursday. In the peak of summer, New Delhi needs 1,100 million gallons of water every day, according to the Delhi Jal Board, but public water providers are able to only supply 835 million gallons. "There is always a supply-demand gap but this gap is just widening and worsening the crisis," said Himanshu Thakkar, an expert on water management at the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People research group in New Delhi. According to a federal government report on water consumption in 2010, usage per capita in Delhi is higher than in most European cities. "Delhi is a privileged city, it is a spoilt child. It does not use rain water harvesting, refuses to recharge 600 water bodies (reservoirs) and just chooses to complain about shortages," said Thakkar. A 2011 study by experts published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US journal, estimated that more than one billion urban Indians will face serious water shortages by 2050. India's six biggest cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad -- are among those most affected by the shortages. - Terra Daily.
It could take "years" for hundreds of thousands of people in southeastern India to rebuild their livelihoods after a devastating cyclone wiped out their entire plantations of cash crops last month, aid workers warned on Tuesday.
Cyclone Thane killed 51 people when it struck the Indian state of Tamil Nadu around dawn on December 30. The storm disrupted the lives of more than one million people, flattening homes, destroying crops and causing power outages for days. With wind speeds of up to 135 kmph (83 mph) and tidal surges reaching 1.5 metres (5 feet), the cyclone forced coastal fishing and farming communities into relief shelters. But as work gets underway to repair damaged homes, aid workers say there are longer-term concerns over how farming communities, in particular, will survive. "While some rice paddy has been lost, that is not such a problem as that can be re-planted the next season," Joseph Sahayam, from the Churches Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), said by phone from Chennai, Tamil Nadu's state capital.
"The issue is the slow-growing crops like coconut trees, jackfruit and cashews - these take many years to grow so farmers will need some kind of support to help them generate an income to keep them going until then." Thane moved in from the Bay of Bengal making landfall around dawn that day, primarily lashing the coastal district of Cuddalore and the former French colonial town of Pondicherry. Gale winds brought down telephone and power lines and uprooted trees and benches along Pondicherry's tree-lined boulevards and promenade, while tidal waves smashed into low-lying mud-and-thatch villages along the coast.
According to recent assessments, more than 300,000 homes have been damaged, hundreds of livestock killed and rural roads damaged. The government is providing compensation to cyclone-hit communities, but local communities say it is not enough. Aid workers say alternative livelihood projects will need to be put in place, which would be able to give quick returns. Cash-for-work programmes such as the Indian government's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) - which guarantees 100 days of work at a fixed rate for unskilled labourers - is a likely solution. "Most of these communities were already living below the poverty line," said Stephen Ryan, communication delegate for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in India. "The challenges faced in these affected districts have only been exasperated by this disaster and a long-term solution will need to be found that will go beyond the assistance and work of humanitarian organisations." - Reuters.
Tropical Cyclone Thane left 46 people dead as it moved over southern India yesterday.
A day after Cyclone Thane crossed the Tamil Nadu coast, leaving 46 people dead in south India, life was limping back to normal yesterday in the worst affected Cuddalore district. However, people had to usher in the New Year in darkness. At least 46 people have died in the south — 35 in Tamil Nadu, four in Kerala and seven in Puducherry — due to electrocution, falling of trees and collapsing roofs or walls. "Major roads are being cleared of uprooted trees and traffic is being resumed. People are returning to their homes or going to the homes of their relatives from relief camps. Life is coming back to normal," Cuddalore Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Vanitha said. Several trees, street lampposts and electric poles were uprooted on Friday at Cuddalore by the cyclone that packed a wind speed of 140km/h when it crossed the coast. "There is no power in the district which in turn is making supply of water at homes a problem. We are not able to draw water from the wells though supply of milk was there this [Saturday] morning," a housewife in Cuddalore said.
J. Kannan, another Cuddalore resident, said: "For bachelors like me, life is difficult as hotels have not opened and shopkeepers are charging astronomical prices even for biscuit packets. A litre of milk is sold at Rs50 (Dh 3.36) — more than double the rates charged normally. A candle costing Rs2 is now sold at Rs10. There is no power in the district and the shopkeepers are making hay while the sun shines," he said. Officials said it would take at least two days to restore power supply in the district as most of the electric poles have been uprooted by the wind. Banking operations in the district have also been affected in the absence of power. "ATMs [Automatic Teller Machines] do not work. Further, as it is the month-end, people will be in need of money," an official of a public sector bank told IANS. "Glass panes were shattered and DTH [direct-to-home] antennas were blown away by the wind. Strong winds blew away tiled and thatched roofs of houses,' he added. Most people said the wind intensity was so terrifying that nobody was able to step out Friday morning. In Tamil Nadu, the coastal Cuddalore district reported 21 deaths while other deaths were from Villupuram (2), Tiruvallur (2) and Chennai (1). Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha on Friday ordered release of Rs1.50 billion towards relief and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure in the state. - Gulf News.
Lashing rains and gale force winds are bearing down on India's southeastern coast, disrupting power supplies and communication lines as Cyclone Thane makes landfall near the industrial city of Chennai, officials said. Packing wind speeds of up to 125kph, and accompanied by tidal surges of up to 1.5m, Thane hit Tamil Nadu state on Friday, killing at least eleven people and causing coastal villagers to move to relief shelters. "Under the influence of this system, rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy falls would occur," the Indian Meteorological Department said. "Gale wind speed reaching 120kph to 130kph gusting to 145kmph is likely along and off north Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry coasts during next three hours and then decrease gradually." Witnesses in Chennai and Pondicherry said trees had been toppled, there had been power outages throughout the night and disruption to phone and internet services in some areas. Hundreds of people from fishing communities along north Tamil Nadu's coast, and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state, have moved to schools set up as relief centres until the weather system passes. "Making relief efforts diffuclt, roads are blocked because of heavy rainfall, trains were canceled and international flights also canceled," Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri said. "They had about 24 hours to prepare, unlike with other storms. So evacuation shelters are in place," our correspondent said. "Eight teams from the disaster management force are deployed from New Delhi, with some 15,000 people put on high alert." India's cyclone season generally lasts from April to December, with severe storms often causing dozens of deaths, evacuations of tens of thousands of people from low-lying villages and widespread crop and property damage. In 1999, a "super-cyclone" battered the coast of the eastern state of Orissa for 30 hours with wind speeds reaching 300kph, killing 10,000 people. - Al Jazeera.
WATCH: Cyclone Thane causes major damage.
WATCH: Tracking Cyclone Thane and a new development near the southern parts of the Philippines.
