Tropical Cyclones
Almost the entire length of the Japanese archipelago was
drenched by the passage of Typhoon Chaba, which left 13 people dead
and five fishermen missing in its wake.
Tropical Cyclones
Almost the entire length of the Japanese archipelago was drenched by the passage of Typhoon Chaba, which left 13 people dead and five fishermen missing in its wake. Widespread flooding swamped more than 40,000 homes, mainly in the west of Honshu Island.
• Residents in the Northern Mariana Islands were sent fleeing for shelter into World War II bunkers as Typhoon Songda skirted some of the U.S. Pacific commonwealth’s remote northern islands.
• Unexpected downpours from slow-moving Tropical Storm Gaston caused unprecedented flooding in the Virginia capital of Richmond, killing at least five people.
• The eastern coast of Florida was under the threat of severe damage late in the week as powerful Hurricane Frances approached after lashing the Bahamas.
• Tropical storms Georgette and Howard formed over the open waters of the Pacific off Mexico, while Hermine soaked New England.
Arctic Warming
Researchers in Germany announced they have detected a major rise in the temperatures of the southern Arctic Ocean this year, and said it is linked to the ongoing shrinking of the region’s ice pack. The climate specialists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven made their conclusion from measurements taken between Greenland and Norway in the West Spitsbergen Current, which transports warm water from the Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean. The institute said water in the current has been warming steadily since 1990, and coincides with ‘a clear recession’ of the edges of sea ice.
A New Generation
Military and civilian officials from 16 African nations gathered to coordinate efforts to combat the worst outbreak of desert locusts in decades.
A new generation of the ravenous insects is expected to hatch in the coming weeks, just as millions of subsistence farmers begin planting next season’s staple crops. Swarms of locusts by the millions per square mile have already ravaged crops from Morocco to Nigeria, and the threat of yet another generation has forced many affected countries to bring in the military to combat the plague.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says that only $37 million of the estimated $100 million needed to effectively battle the scourge has been contributed by donor nations.
Philippine Floods
The worst flooding to strike the Philippines’ Luzon province since the 1970s left scores of people dead and many hungry survivors hunting rats and birds for food.
Most of the victims were killed by floods or mudslides, said to have been unleashed by the extreme fringes of former Typhoon Aere. Some stretches of the main north-south Luzon highway were blocked after the Pampanga and Tarlac rivers burst their embankments, while landslides blocked other roadways in the region.
Eruptions
Northern Japan’s Mount Asama erupted with flows of lava that ignited forest fires and forced the evacuation of residents at the foot of the volcano. A ranch about 12 miles north of the mountain was hit by a shower of molten rock, while ash fell over a wide area around Asama.
• Villagers near Indonesia’s Mount Egon were urged to evacuate their homes after the Flores Island volcano spewed ash and dust on its slopes. Several hundred people have already been sheltering in government buildings since Egon first began to erupt in July.
Earthquakes
Central portions of Chile were rocked by a magnitude 6.4 temblor that sent residents of the small town of Talca rushing into the streets. No significant damage was reported due to the shaking.
• Earth movements were also felt in central Peru, the southern Philippines, the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, southern Iran’s Fars province, eastern Wyoming and the Monterey Bay region of California.
Dingo ‘Superpack’
Packs of wild dogs on Australia’s Fraser Island appear to have merged into one “superpack” that threatens thousands of tourists who flock to camping sites there each year.
Researcher Nick Baker of the University of Queensland said the island’s dingos have developed a “tolerance” for each other that is uncharacteristic of the breed. Instead of hunting in small territorial packs, Baker says, “the whole island is like one big pack, with the smaller groups working together.”
He believes the superpack has evolved because of the island’s small size, combined with the abundance of food from campers. Regulations against feeding the dingos of Fraser Island were imposed following the death of a young Brisbane boy from a dog attack there three years ago.
By Steve Neuman
