60ft tsunamis could threaten UK – caused by underwater landslides

Britain may be under threat from devastating tsunamis caused by huge underwater landslides, according to scientists.

 

Coastal towns, shipping terminals and nuclear power station, Hinkley Point , could be be pummelled by ocean waves if underwater land suddenly shifted near Britain.

 

Scientists from Durham University have discovered such landslides near the country’s coast are happening far more often than first thought.

 

In the last 20,000 years, there have been six huge land movements north of Britain.

 

A tsunami wave around 20 metres high hit Shetland around 8,200 years ago, caused by the massive Storegga landslide, which saw a chunk of sediment the size of Scotland break away from the sea bed and roll downhill.

 

Cornwall was also hit by a 10ft tsunami in 1755, after an earthquake in Portugal.

 

Known as the ‘Lisbon earthquake’, the waves generated by the land shift took four hours to reach the UK, devastating parts of the south west of England.

 

Reports from the time suggest a total of three huge waves slammed into the UK’s coastline, even travelling as far as western parts of Ireland and up London’s River Thames.

 

In 1929, a tsunami wave measuring around 19ft struck the south coast once again, including tourist beaches at Worthing, Brighton and Folkestone.

 

The enormous waves were thought to be generated by a line of thunderstorms raging in the English Channel.

 

While larger tsunami waves have been officially recorded, this new research suggest a number of smaller, less powerful tsunamis have landed on the UK’s coastline within the last 5,000 years.

 

Globally, such natural disasters have wiped out entire communities.

 

In 2011, an earthquake off Japan caused a catastrophic 130ft wave that killed 16,000 people .

 

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake triggered a tsunami that left 230,000 people dead across Indonesia .

 

Scientists studying the sea bed around Britain have now found further evidence of similar land shifts, implying Britain has been hit by tsunamis more often than first thought.

 

The team of researchers, led by Professor Peter Talling, are now urging the government to add tsunamis to the National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies.

 

The register, held by Cabinet Office, outlines government plans for national disasters such as major flu epidemics and severe flooding.

 

Marine biologist Professor Talling, said: “We believe the government should consider adding tsunamis to the National Risk Register.

 

“The Storegga landslide caused a tsunami 20 metres high in Shetland and 11 metres high in Norway.”

 

Researchers, working on the Landslide Tsunami Consortium, a £2.3 million study backed by the National Environmental Research Council, spent weeks at sea collecting samples from the sea bed north of Scotland.

 

Further research found evidence of similar historic landslides in the Irish Sea, which could have threatened coastal areas of Wales.

 

Another underwater landslide sent a huge wave up the Bristol channel in 1607, hitting the location of EDF’s new nuclear power station, Hinkley Point.

 

Tsunami warnings could help the energy supplier protect its twin nuclear reactors, meaning the government would have to recognise tsunamis as an official threat to the UK.

 

Professor David Tappin, from the British Geological Survey, said: “If you plan for such events before you start building, you can protect against them.”

Courtesy of mirror.co.uk

http://tinyurl.com/j7hhveu

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Major Power Outage To Thousands Of Homes; Total Mayhem; North Escambia, USA

Lightning strikes were blamed for the of damaging two homes and a large power outage in the North Escambia County areas on Sunday morning.

 

Around 9:30 a.m., a homeowner in the 11000 block of Chippewa Way reported a small fire in his kitchen ceiling. The homeowner told WEAR-TV that he believes lightning struck his roof and hit his air conditioning unit, causing a small fire. He was able to put the fire out himself and was not injured.

 

On the adjacent street, a homeowner in the 10500 Senegal Drive told WEAR-TV that he saw a large flash outside his window and then his 65-inch television blew. Everyone in their house is OK.

 

More than 2,000 homes lost power around 10:30 a.m. in the Molino area. Gulf Power reported that they had a lightning strike on equipment in the area and crews were en route to make repairs. Gulf Power’s website is not stating a specific time to expect power back to homes that are experiencing outages.

 

According to Jeff Rogers with Gulf Power, there are also around 400 people affected by power outages in Milton near Airport Road.

Courtesy of weartv.com

http://tinyurl.com/zrvczys

MAGNITUDE 5.2 XIZANG QINGHAI BORDER REGION

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=550304

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 594 km NE of Thimphu, Bhutan / pop: 98,700 / local time: 03:34:23.4 2016-12-05
318 km N of Lhasa, China / pop: 119,000 / local time: 05:34:23.4 2016-12-05
99 km N of Nagqu, China / pop: 30,000 / local time: 05:34:23.4 2016-12-05

 

Helicopter rescue operation after flood in Costa del Sol, Spain | 04 12 2016

Flash floods kill one woman and bring chaos to southern Spain

Major Power Outage To 180,000 Households Due To Intense Blizzards In Poland

1250 intervention reported fire due to strong wind and snow and rain, 180 thousand. households are without electricity, damaged power lines and transformer stations, said the REUTERS spokesman PSP Paul Spencer.

 

According to him, from Thursday night to Friday morning, police intervened 1250 times. Interventions were from strong wichurą and intense snow and rain. Most of them are interventions with the wind, which breaks the tree, tarasuje streets, roads and railways. Such intervention was ok. 750, including in the province. And in greater Poland after 120, and ok. 110 in the province.

 

Leach added that rain caused the ok. 70-intervention the most. When it comes to snow, the fire carried out ok. 400 intervention: ok. 90 in Małopolska, ok. 80 in Masovia and ok. 70.

 

“The snow that fell, is wet and a lot of it, which causes the breaking branches of trees and poses a danger to motorists and pedestrians. Removing “-gave Leach.

 

The snow also caused damage to power lines and transformer stations. According to him, Government Security Centre reported that there are currently 180 000. households is deprived of electricity: ok. 66 thousand. in Masovia, ok. 34 thousand. Pomeranian Voivodeship, ok. 30 thousand. in Lesser Poland and ok. 24 thousand. in Silesia.

 

“We have information about several damaged roofs due to strong wind, mainly in Wielkopolska and Upper Silesia. In some areas of southern TSO help in snow removal routes, “said Leach. “For now there is no information about the people that were injured or affected in some way,” he added.

 

In his opinion, the number of reported damage already is large, and very likely that further. The SynOptics refer issued a warning about the possibility of the occurrence of similar phenomena in fourteen provinces in the next two days, as in the evaluation of communication difficulties will surely Frątczak was defeated.

 

The information submitted by PKP Polish railway lines, it appears that no trains run on the route Katowice, Poland-Czestochowa. On the route of the Częstochowa-Zawiercie introduced a replacement bus services.

 

Given that the railway network in Poland is passable. Temporary disruption to train movements occur only on the route Warsaw-Radom, where as a result of the strong precipitation, wet snow and wind outside the railway belt to the fallen tree.

 

Strong wind also caused changes in the three railway routes of Lower Silesia: Christchurch-Bierutów, Bukowina Sycowska-Twardogóra Sycowska and Milicz-Krośnice.

 

Intense blizzards resulted in breaking the power lines in Lesser Poland, where at least 10 thousand. the audience remains without electricity. Under the pressure of snow flip flop back to the tree. Firemen intervened there 150 times.

 

As announced today a spokeswoman for Tauron Distribution Ewa Groń, electricity should be restored to the South. “Failures are the morning successfully removed. Most of them we have in Nowy Sącz, Gmina Chełmiec, within there without electricity is about 1.6 thousand. the audience, “added Groń.

 

Most intervention when firefighters have recorded in the District of olkusz. In and around Zakopane by snow on the road there were few trees; one destroyed the car, but nothing happened.

 

“Firefighters are still are called upon to remove the effects of snowstorms and wind. Fortunately there were no victims, “said REUTERS spokesman for Malopolska fire Sebastian Woźniak.

 

Zimbabwe to date have managed to odśnieżyć the main tracks in, but on the carriageway conditions prevail.

 

Contact Alpine Meteorological Observatory observer on Kasprowy Wierch told REUTERS that on top of an array of extremely difficult conditions: at the top is 67 cm of snow and wind blowing at a speed of over 100 km per hour created more than metre drifts. Temperatures dropped to minus 10 deg c. in Zakopane is already 35 cm of snow and keep it coming.

Courtesy of biznes.onet.pl

http://tiny.cc/q88ghy

9 children among 11 killed in horrific collision of truck & bus carrying acrobatics team in Russia

Floods kill at least 13 people in central Vietnam

Floods brought by torrential rain since late November have killed at least 13 people in central Vietnam while more heavy rain is expected in coming days, the government and state media said on Sunday.

 

Six people have died in floods in Binh Dinh province since Thursday and another four were killed in Quang Ngai province, while more than 10,000 homes in the two provinces were submerged, the government said.

 

Three children aged between four and 13 were swept away in flood waters in Quang Nam province on Saturday, the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper cited a provincial report as saying.

 

A cold snap now moving southward is forecast to bring heavy rain to central provinces between now and next Thursday, the government report said.

 

Floods killed 65 people since October in central provinces, submerged 200,000 homes and damaged railway and roads, with losses valued at more than 7 trillion dong ($309 million), the government said on Friday.

Courtesy of reuters.com

http://tinyurl.com/gus28sn

South Tornado Outbreak Kills 5; Alabama Declares State of Emergency

One tornado killed three people in the northern Alabama town of Rosalie, the NWS says, and The Associated Press reports that all three were in the same mobile home when the storm hit.

 

Several areas of north Alabama were hit by severe storms late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

 

At least five hit Alabama, and three more struck southern Tennessee, and one confirmed in Louisiana and at least four in MS, forecasters said. No injuries were reported from those storms, though property damage is widespread. He didn’t have further details on what happened. County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Rocky Harmon told NBC News the three died in one home, adding a church and shopping plaza in Rosalie were destroyed. An active tornado warning was posted for northeastern Alabama counties of Marshall, Cullman and Morgan, which are located between the cities of Huntsville and Birmingham.

 

Search and rescue teams were combing McMinn County, Tennessee, after a tornado touched down there and injured up to 23 people, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.

 

Forecasters also said storms could produce straight-line winds above 60 miles per hour, while officials warned people to monitor weather alerts and for mobile home residents to spend the night elsewhere.

 

The tornado watch – warning that tornadoes were possible – remained in place across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana until noon CST (5pm GMT) yesterday. Crews from the National Weather Service will be out on Wednesday surveying the damage.

 

The National Weather Service in Nashville will be traveling Wednesday to Coffee County, Giles County and Cumberland County to investigate the impact of the tornadoes, which were confirmed by radar or trained spotters. The fire destroyed at least 150 buildings, including iconic homes and a resort.

 

According to the NWS, a likely tornado in Noxubee County, Mississippi, trapped people inside a camp house on Ebenezer Church Road on Tuesday.

 

The storms also brought heavy rain to northwestern Alabama, and in the town of Florence, police asked drivers to avoid several flooded roads, AL.com reported. Six people who were in a building beside the Ider, AL, daycare, three adults and three children, were transported to the hospital. Streams were cresting in western Alabama after as much as 4 inches of rain.

 

Some 20 homes were destroyed in Jackson County and 45 others were damaged, according to an initial assessment.

Courtesy of highburyclock.com

http://tinyurl.com/gt5y3c5