What with it being storm season in Oklahoma, storm chasers are dotted around the area hoping to nab footage of monster twisters. Here’s a video of one storm chasing team who got way, way too close.
Take a look at this crazy footage of flying debris and horror – incredible visuals you have never seen before.
Barbara Garcia was sitting on a stool in her bathroom, holding her dog when 350 kilometre per hour winds ripped her house down. During an interview with a local news agency following the disaster, a camera crew member noticed movement in the rubble behind Barbara.
Nami is a ghost town. Having played host to a nuclear power plant, the town became the icon of suffering in the wake of the 2011 Japanese Tsunami, which destroyed much of Japan’s North Eastern coastline. Shortly thereafter, the nuclear power plant melted down, having sustained critical damage in the wave. Google Street View has […]
An earthquake with a powerful 8.0 magnitude occurred in the Santa Cruz Islands this morning, causing a tsunami to form with its waves crashing into the Solomon Islands, which are close to Australia. Last week, seven other earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 6.0-6.5 occurred in the same region. So far five people have died and […]
(File Photo: March 2011 Tsunami) Japan’s northeast coast has been struck by a 7,3 magnitude undersea earthquake, and reports are that a one metre high wave has now swept ashore. The same stretch of coastline was devastated by a tsunami in March 2011. Thousands of people perished in the wave. Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, repeatedly […]
In a game of one-upmanship with itself, nature was apparently unsatisfied with the destructive force of an ordinary tornado so it decided to up the ante and add some fire, the result: a “fire devil”.
Yesterday afternoon, Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego (Volcano of Fire), an active volcano near Antigua, Guatemala unexpectedly began erupting, causing panic and the forced evacuation of over 33 000 people. The eruption caused volcanic ash to fall more than half a kilometre down the mountain.
A new study based on lessons learned from last year’s Great East Japan Earthquake indicates that if another major earthquake strikes Japan it could be one of the most fatal earthquakes in history.
Holy rocks and ash! Mount Tongariro, located in the central North Island of New Zealand, has erupted after lying dormant for 115 years. The eruption brings with it a massive cloud of ash, 115 years worth, reminding us all of the chaos of Eyjafjallajökull. Luckily it’s not so serious this time around.
A major rescue operation on Sunday saw 41 people trapped on the Butha Buthe Pass en route to Afri-Ski and the Oxbow Lodge, in Lesotho, brought to safety. Check out video footage inside.
A Japanese parliamentary panel has said in a report that the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was “a profoundly man-made disaster”, and that the disaster “could and should have been foreseen and prevented”. The report also blamed cultural conventions and a reluctance to question authority.
It’s Mount-Everest-climbing season, apparently – with the National Geographic team attempting to recreate the route used in the first American ascent of the mountain, the 1963 NG-sponsored American Mount Everest Expedition. The team is live-updating their progress online, with a live stream of photos, blog posts, and twitter updates. I think one of them’s using Instagram, too.
Yesterday, between six and 12 tornadoes hit Dallas County, Texas, throughout the day. That estimate alone is enough reason to rejoice that twisters are not a regular phenomenon in South Africa. Add to the equation that they’re powerful enough to fling 18-wheeler trucks like toys, and you’ve got a legitimate reason to break into song and dance down the main street.
At least six people have reportedly died as a result of tropical storm Irina, which struck the KwaZulu-Natal coast over the weekend. Rescue teams, emergency workers, and the police worked continuously yesterday to help KwaZulu-Natal residents through the worst of the storm. Durban surfers, however, enjoyed themselves.
Large parts of the Kruger National Park have been completely closed off until further notice, and more than two dozen people have had to be airlifted to safety following heavy rains and flooding in the area.
True to the pledge it made back in July to digitally archive images of the parts of Japan affected by the March earthquake and tsunami, Google has uploaded imagery of post-earthquake Fukushima to Street View. They’ve also set up a ‘Build the Memory’ website which compares before-and-after shots of the affected towns.
Thailand’s Thai Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department confirmed that a total of 562 people have already died during the more than three-month long flooding taking place there, which is the worst in over 50 years. Nevertheless, some Thai residents affected by the flooding have begun dealing with the lemons that life has thrown at them in unique ways.
A Japanese government official has risen to a challenge set by journalists to prove that water collected from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was safe to drink. Albeit with some trepidation. MP Yasuhiro Sonoda downed a glass of water during a televised news conference and seems to have survived, although his shaky hands certainly betrayed his nerves.
A new laser is to be built that is as powerful as “concentrating the rays of the sun for the entire earth onto the tip of a pen”. Scientists claim it could allow them boil the very fabric of space, AKA the vacuum. Because that’s a fantastic idea. It is official, mankind has a death-wish.
Anxious Bangkok residents are steeling themselves against floods moving down from the northern part of Thailand, which are the worst to hit the country in decades. With Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra keeping everyone on edge with statements such as “I’m fifty percent confident that the inner zone of Bangkok will not be completely flooded,” it must be increasingly difficult to remain buoyant.
The 7,2 magnitude earthquake which struck Eastern Turkey yesterday afternoon has already taken the lives of 200 and injured more than 1 000. But brave rescue teams are hard at work to free the many other people who are believed to be trapped under the rubble and debris from the quake.
Just when you thought Mother Earth was through spanking us all thoroughly with natural disasters, seismologists in Iceland have nervously let us all know that Katla, the bigger, nastier sister of Eyjafjallajökull (the volcano that gave Europe an ash wedgie earlier this year), is getting antsy.
The Japanese have proved that they are some of the most resilient people on earth. With the earthquake and tsunami that struck earlier this year, numerous acts of heroism emerged. Now they’ve invented the Noah Disaster Shelter as a very probable device for protection when particular natural disasters strike.
The cleanup of the oil spill at Bloubergstrand continues, and City of Cape Town Disaster teams are still assessing whether the beach can be re-opened this afternoon. The wreckage of the Seli One carrier, which was stranded off the Blouberg coast two years ago, leaked oil onto the beach over the weekend following rough seas.
Last night the people of New York were told they had better prepare themselves for a direct hit by Hurricane Irene over the weekend. In fact, it seems that being a victim of the hurricane, which has already caused devastation in the Bahamas, will not be acceptable if and when it hits NYC.
The future is officially nuts. It’s getting to a point where stuff like this probably won’t shock you anymore. It should. Be shocked. These robo-seals, called ‘Paro’, not only bring comfort to recovering Japanese tsunami patients, they also sing, clap, and even take part in the residents daily exercise routines.
A chain of particularly violent storms ripped through the American Midwest on Sunday. Joplin, Missouri, has become iconic of the increasingly-depressing storm season blighting the US.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has released dramatic new photographs showing the immense power and immediate devastation the tsunami waves caused at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11. The moment-of-impact images were taken from the fourth floor of the radioactive waste disposal building.
A further tornado outbreak yesterday has killed at least 210 people in Alabama, prompting President Barack Obama to sign a disaster declaration to assist the clean up of the aftermath of the twisters. Tornados have been ravaging the southern states of the USA for days now, and the death toll has risen to 300.