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The USGS is reporting that a 6.1 magnitude earthquake has hit the area near Tonga at approximately 5:19 PM (EDT) this evening. Early details are as follows:
200 km (125 miles) ENE of NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga
235 km (145 miles) SSE of Neiafu, Tonga
410 km (255 miles) WSW of Niue Island
2130 km (1320 miles) NE of Auckland, New Zealand
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is reporting that the combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for the period March-May 2008, ranked seventh warmest, with May being the eighth warmest since worldwide records started in 1880. This is according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
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3:00 PM (EDT) – Not since 1993, has Des Moines, Iowa seen a flooding disaster of this degree. Only this time it is worse then it was back then. One resident referred to it as “our version of Katrina”.
As of this writing, the University of Iowa Art Campus has been abandoned despite residents best efforts, and it has succumbed to flooding from the already over-swollen Iowa river.
Despite officials’ best attempts to forestall the flooding with a sand berm, the effort has been abandoned and hundreds of additional homes not already flooded are now at risk from the natural disaster that has gripped the city over the last few days due to unprecedented torrential rains.
Cedar Rapids has already succumbed to massive flooding and city officials are saying it will take days before the 400 city blocks that are under water can begin to be pumped out. Nearly 20% of the city’s nearly 120,000 residents have been forced to evacuate from their homes.
Additional quakes/aftershocks continue to hit Honshu, Japan which yesterday received a massive 6.9 earthquake that killed 6 people and injured over 144 people.
The additonal quakes ranged in magnitude from 5.0 – 5.5 and occured near midnight last night and as early as 10:42 AM this morning (EDT).
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8:50 PM (EDT) – The USGS Service is reporting a 6.9 magnitude earthquake near Eastern Honshu, Japan. The quake was registered at 7:43 P.M. EDT this evening at a depth of 10.3 km (6.4 miles). Its epicenter was reported approximately:
80 km (50 miles) SW of Morioka, Honshu, Japan
85 km (50 miles) SSE of Akita, Honshu, Japan
100 km (60 miles) NNW of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
390 km (240 miles) N of TOKYO, Japan
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The USGS (United States Geological Survey) detected a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Greece that occured at approximately 8:25 A.M. (Eastern Daylight Time). The Athens Geodynamic Institute reported it as 6.5.
The approximate location is identified as follows:
35 km (20 miles) SW of Patras, Greece
125 km (80 miles) NNW of Kalamata, Greece
190 km (120 miles) SSE of Ioannina, Greece
200 km (125 miles) W of ATHENS, Greece
The quake epicenter was in the Peloponnese region of the country.
The quake was felt as far away as Italy.
1 person was confirmed dead and numerous people injured. Several buildings were reported collapsed or severely damaged.
The epicenter was near the surface so additional aftershocks are expected.
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UPDATE: The BBC reports that 2 people were killed and 20 people injured. The dead were a 60-year-old man when his home’s roof collapsed and an 80 year old woman who died of a heart attack immediately after the quake.
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The Bangladesh Ministry of Health has confirmed the first case of human infection of the Avian flu virus (H5N1avian influenza – commonly referred to as the Bird Flu).
The unlucky recipient was a 16 month old male from Komalapur, Dhaka. He contracted it in January of 2008 and has since recovered from it. His family and friends have been tested with no additional outbreaks being reported.
Tracking this disease since 2003, the WHO (World Health Organization) has confirmed 383 cases for this disease with 241 of them resulting in mortality (63%).
So far for 2008, 32 cases have been diagnosed, with 24 resulting in death (75%).
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The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that 2008 is now the deadliest tornado season since 1998. 111 eleven deaths have been recorded so far this year with the season only halfway over.
““It is only the third time since the 1974 super tornado outbreak that there have been more than 100 tornado-related deaths during a single tornado season in the U.S.,” added Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist at NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory.
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Apparently the Old Faithful geyser of Yellowstone Park has been slowing down its eruption cycle over the years. The average eruption cycle time used to be 61 minutes but now it appears to be taking longer, a recent study indicates.
According to a new U.S. Geological survey, extended drought conditions is responsible for the eruption cycle taking 1.5 hours…adding a full 30 minutes to the cycle. Shaul Hurwitz of the U.S. Geological Survey spent 5 years reviewing similar geysers between the years 1997-2006 and identified the slowdown between eruptions at Old Faithful.
Yellowstone activity has a history of being tied to cataclysmic events. See stories referenced below:
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