Indigenous communities in the Amazon region of Ecuador have been suffering from a lack of clean water after a massive oil spill– the biggest in the area since 2004– polluted their local rivers. With this, the tribes have filed a lawsuit against the government and…
Unseasonal, severe thunderstorms ripped across the northern region of Israel to the Negev Desert in the south. Authorities reported an unusually high number of lightning strikes, hailstorms, and flooding. The Israel Corporation recorded 828 lightning strikes on…
A severe storm packing strong winds up to 128 km/h (80 mph) lashed Western Australia on May 5, 2020, toppling trees and power grids which left some 55 000 homes without electricity. As of May 6, about 25 500 homes are still impacted by the season's first storm,…
A severe hailstorm hit Asir's capital city of Abha in Saudi Arabia on May 5, 2020. Footage on social media shows roads and highways covered in hailstones. In some areas, accumulated hail created whiteout conditions in wide swaths of land. Abha is situated about…
Intense Arctic air outbreak is expected over much of Ontario, Canada, and the eastern parts of the United States– possibly bringing record cold temperatures in some areas late this week into the next. The cold outbreak may also allow for some rare May snow in parts…
Mudslides struck two mining sites in the towns of Masakpa and Bangoma in gold-rich Grand Cape Mount County, northwestern Liberia, at 18:00 UTC on May 4, 2020. At least 45 people were buried in the rubble. Some reports mention the number of people buried might…
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.8 hit the Banda Sea, Indonesia at 13:53 UTC on May 6, 2020. The agency is reporting a depth of 107 km (66.5 miles). EMSC is reporting it as M6.9 at a depth of 112 km (69 miles). The epicenter was located 345 km (214…
A new study shows that natural hazards on Earth, specifically earthquakes and tsunamis, can create much more disturbances in the ionosphere than previously assumed. The researchers studied the catastrophic 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and found…
Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) discovered more than 500 towering hydrothermal chimneys on the seafloor off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, in an area known as the Endeavor Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Research on the…
A swirling sinkhole swallowed a huge chunk of land in the county of Kericho in Great Rift Valley, Kenya, on May 1, 2020, as heavy rains continue to pound the country. As of May 4, the death toll across the country reached 164, government officials confirmed….
