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Archive for June 22nd, 2013
Flooding Kills Hundreds in Northern India
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 22nd, 2013
Reuters: Flash floods and landslides unleashed by early monsoon rains have killed at least 560 people in northern India and left tens of thousands missing, officials said on Saturday, with the death toll expected to rise significantly. Houses and small apartment blocks on the banks of the Ganges, India’s longest river, have toppled into the rushing, swollen waters and been swept away with cars and trucks. “It has been a horrifying experience,” said Tulika Srivastava, a visitor from the northern Indian city...
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Saving South African Rhinos Injured While Poaching
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on June 22nd, 2013
Nature World News: UK researchers are developing treatment options for rhinos injured while poaching.
Rhinos are highly valued for their horns due to high demand in Asian markets. Rhino horns are powdered to make medicines that are used to treat fever, convulsions and strokes.
Rhino poaching is a lucrative trade in South Africa where organized groups of poachers kill many rhinos every year. In 2012, about 668 rhino were killed in South Africa. 2013 saw an increase of 49 percent with 203 rhino deaths in just the...
Alberta floods driven by climate change
Posted by Vancouver Observer: Mike Soron on June 22nd, 2013
Vancouver Observer: Early Thursday morning, my dad texted me to say he fled his home in Canmore, Alberta shortly before the town declared a state of emergency. By noon, my brother was told to evacuate his home in Calgary’s Mission District, near the Elbow River.
Later, friends near the Calgary Stampede grounds were told to leave their apartment, bringing enough supplies for a week away. As the day went on text messages, and Facebook and Twitter updates chronicled a province in chaos. I watched their videos and updates,...
Indonesia fights fires, faces ire as smog blankets Singapore
Posted by Reuters: John O'Callaghan and Chris Nusatya on June 22nd, 2013
Reuters: Air quality in Singapore improved significantly to "moderate" pollution levels on Saturday, as Indonesian planes waterbombed raging forest fires and investigators scrambled to determine the cause of one of Southeast Asia's worst air pollution crises. Indonesia's environment minister said eight domestic firms were suspected of being responsible for the blazes on Sumatra island that blanketed neighboring Singapore in record levels of hazardous smog. The parent companies of the Indonesian firms included...
Crews break ground on largest California dam removal
Posted by Reuters: Laila Kearney on June 22nd, 2013
Reuters: Demolition crews on Friday began work on the biggest dam removal in California, a project aimed at protecting homes threatened by the aging, obsolete structure and restoring spawning grounds for native trout. Plans call for the 94-year-old San Clemente Dam, built on the Carmel River about 120 miles south of San Francisco, to be torn down in stages over three years, followed by rerouting of the river around the dam site and wildlife restoration. "In 10 years, when you come to the site, you won't...
Floods shut down Canada’s oil capital, two killed
Posted by Reuters: Nia Williams and Scott Haggett on June 22nd, 2013
Reuters: The heaviest floods in decades shut down the Canadian oil capital of Calgary on Friday, forcing the evacuations of tens of thousands of residents and shutting the Alberta city's downtown core.
The bodies of two men were found near High River, Alberta, a town of 13,000 located about 60 km (37 miles) south of Calgary. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said two other people were missing, including a woman who was swept away with her camper.
Some 1,300 troops were deployed to help with rescues...
Earth sciences secretary blames Uttarakhand rains on climate change
Posted by Times of India: Rajeev Deshpande on June 22nd, 2013
Times of India: The catastrophic rainfall in Uttarakhand was most likely a climate change event as it is in keeping with a pattern of increasing incidents of extreme weather events that often cause phenomenal damage as was seen in the hill state, earth sciences secretary Shailesh Nayak said. Nayak told TOI on Friday that although "direct evidence" was lacking, the cloudburst that triggered flash floods in Uttarakhand read like a weather phenomenon brought about by warming. "Extreme weather is becoming more common,...
Racing the Monsoon, India Rescues Thousands but 550 Die
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on June 22nd, 2013
Environment News Service: "On a war footing" India has mobilized military and civilian emergency personnel to rescue tens of thousands of people stranded outdoors in mountainous forests due to unseasonably early monsoon rains, flash floods and landslides.
More than 550 people have died as four times the usual amount of rainfall swept across 40,000 square kilometers (15,440 square miles) of northern India this week.
A rescued survivor is carried to safety in northern India, June 21, 2013 (Photo by National Disaster Response...