Very bright fireball over Izmir, sonic boom reported, Turkey
A very bright green fireball illuminated the night sky over the city of Izmir, Turkey around 23:00 UTC on July 30, 2021 (02:00 LT, July 31). The visual part of the event lasted several seconds before the object disintegrated. Several residents reported a sonic boom.According to Dr. Hassan Ali Dar, deputy director of the Astronomical…
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Etna enters August with a violent paroxysmal eruptive episode
Etna entered August 2021 with continued growth at its Southeast Crater and impressive paroxysmal eruptive episode, the first since July 20.Strombolian activity at the crater gradually intensified into lava fountaining by 21:22 UTC on July 31. The episode lasted through 23:30 UTC, with lava fountains reaching a height of about 1 km (3 300 feet) a.s.l.A SW lava…
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Homeless scramble to survive rare cold snap, Brazil
An intense polar blast affecting southern Brazil this week made headlines after more frosts hit the country’s agricultural regions and dozens of cities received rare snow and freezing rain.The situation also made authorities, activists, and religious leaders do what they can to limit suffering on the streets as temperatures in some areas of southern Brazil dropped below freezing.On Friday,…
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Powerful EF-3 tornado hits Bensalem, Pennsylvania
At least 6 people were injured when a tornado ripped through Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania during a severe weather outbreak across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on Thursday, July 29, 2021. At least 18 tornadoes were reported during the outbreak, large hail, and damaging straight-line winds.The tornado made landfall at 19:13 LT in the northeastern part of Bucks County and…
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Wildfires destroy entire villages, death toll rises to 4, Turkey
Wildfires that started in southern Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday, July 28 and 29, 2021, have devastated entire villages, claimed at least 4 lives, and forced the evacuation of hotels and dozens of villages.More than 70 wildfires broke out on Turkey’s Aegean and the Mediterranean coasts and some inland areas over the past week, with…
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Strong and shallow M6.1 earthquake hits Peru
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.1 hit Peru – Ecuador border region at 17:10 UTC (12:10 LT) on July 30, 2021. The agency is reporting a depth of 33.2 km (20.6 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.2 at a depth of 49 km (30 miles).The epicenter was located 8.4 km (5.2 miles)…
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Frigid polar air brings very rare snowfall, icy rains to southern Brazil
A fierce cold snap brought rare snow, icy rain, and strong winds to parts of southern Brazil on July 29 and 30, 2021. The event comes after several waves of destructive frost since mid-June.According to weather specialists at Somar Meteorologia, at least 40 cities in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul saw ice while 30…
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Large landslide takes out part of Highway 707 in Himachal Pradesh, India
A massive landslide took out a stretch of National Highway 707 in the remote Shilai subdivision of Sirmaur district, India’s state of Himachal Pradesh on July 30, 2021.The incident took place near the town of Nahan. As a result, the highway connecting Shilai with the Paonta Sahib area in Sirmour has been cut off.There is no confirmation…
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Massive damage after cloudburst hits Islamabad
Three days of heavy rainfall in northern Pakistan caused severe flash flooding in parts of the capital Islamabad and surrounding areas on July 28, 2021, leaving at least 2 people dead. The heaviest rains fell from 05:00 to 06:30 PST.In just a few hours, Saidpur village, located just north of the capital, recorded 123 mm (4.84 inches)…
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At least 150 fatalities after severe floods hit Afghanistan’s Nuristan Province
Severe floods and mudflows caused by heavy rainfall left at least 150 people dead in northeastern Afghanistan on July 28, 2021.The worst-affected was mountainous Nuristan Province in the eastern part of the country, particularly its Kamdesh District.According to media reports, 200 homes were destroyed and roads damaged in the district’s Miardish village.Forty bodies have been recovered from villagers,…
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More than 300 000 people stranded after severe floods hit Bangladesh-Myanmar border
Heavy rains falling over the Bangladesh-Myanmar border region since Monday, July 26, 2021, caused severe flooding in which at least 20 people have died and more than 300 000 were stranded. This is the region where nearly one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in the world’s largest refugee camp.In 24 hours to July 28, the…
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Storm Evert to hit southern UK with unseasonably strong winds and heavy rain
A low pressure system approaching the United Kingdom on Thursday, July 29, 2021, has been named Storm Evert by the UK Met Office. This is the UK’s first storm to be named in July.The storm will bring some high winds, particularly along the northern coast of the southwest, but there will be gusty winds more widely in southern areas, which brings the…
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Prolonged monsoon rains bring widespread floods to the Philippines
Widespread floods brought by prolonged monsoon rains continue affecting the Philippines, leading to casualties and damage. According to the Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Centre, more than 570 240 people were affected across the country and 42 111 of these evacuated. Some 15 000 were evacuated out of low-lying areas in the capital, Manila, on July 24.Across the country,…
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Flood flow at Buller River the largest in New Zealand since 1926
Flood flows on the Buller River in July 2021 were the largest of any river in New Zealand in almost 100 years, NIWA measurements show.Mike O’Driscoll, NIWA Environmental Monitoring Technician, used radar to measure the speed at the surface of Buller River from the Westport and Orowaiti Bridges on July 17, 2021. These measurements, along with surveys of…
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Increased seismicity at Pagan volcano, Aviation Color Code raised to Yellow, Mariana Islands
Local residents are reporting increased seismicity and light emissions from Pagan volcano, Northern Mariana Islands, prompting NMI/USGS to raise the Aviation Color Code to Yellow. The last eruption of this volcano took place in 2012 (VEI 2).Ground-based observations from local residents indicate that there were felt earthquakes and light emissions from the volcano at approximately…
Massive M8.2 earthquake hits near the coast of Alaska, tsunami warnings issued
A massive shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M8.2 hit near the coast of Alaska at 06:15 UTC on July 29, 2021. The agency is reporting a depth of 46.7 km (29 miles). EMSC is reporting it as M8.2 at depth of 30 km (18.6 miles).The epicenter was located 90.9 km (56.5 km) ESE of Perryville,…
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Strong explosive eruption at Stromboli volcano, Italy
A strong explosive eruption took place at Stromboli volcano, Italy at 14:47 UTC on July 28, 2021. The explosion was energetically more intense than usual, INGV-OE said.Volcanic products were radially dispersed in the crater area with fallout along the Sciara del Fuoco.From a seismic point of view, the explosive event of the 14:47 UTC is well…
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Unseasonal rainstorms hit Yemen, claiming at least 14 lives
At least 14 people have been killed over the past couple of days after unseasonal rainstorms hit the majority of Yemen’s southern governorates.At least 1 000 households are in need of basic services, including at least 90 families in the Marib area and 400 in Taizz.Local and international humanitarian partners are conducting assessments, but report…
Continue Reading Unseasonal rainstorms hit Yemen, claiming at least 14 lives
Record-breaking heatwave hits Hokkaido, Japan
An unprecedented heatwave is sweeping over Hokkaido, Japan, with numerous all-time records falling almost every day. Very high temperatures are expected to continue over the next 14 days.One of the most notable records on July 27 was registered in Asahikawa, holder of the coldest temperature in Japanese history.The city registered 36.2 °C (97.1 °F) on July 27,…
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Extreme rainfall in Henan claimed 71 lives, affected 1.3 million people and damaged 972 000 ha (2.4 million acres) of crops, China
Extremely heavy rains affecting China’s Henan province over the past 10 days caused massive damage and claimed the lives of 71 people, as of Tuesday, July 27, 2021. The storm dropped a year’s worth of rain over the province’s capital Zhengzhou in just 3 days and record-breaking 201.9 mm (7.9 inches) in just 1 hour on July 20.12.9 million…