Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines – 6 April 2013

Fukushima Nuke Plant Leaking Large Quantities of Radioactive Water

Up to 120 tons of radioactive water may have leaked from one of the seven underground storage tanks at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, contaminating the surrounding ground, Tokyo Electric Power Co was reported as saying.

The storage tanks hold about 13,000 cubic meters of contaminated water, which  TEPCO is transferring to other tanks nearby, Kyodo news wire quoted the utility as saying.

Third large oil spill in 7 days: Shell Pipeline ruptures in Texas

Thousands of gallons of oil have spilled from Shell Pipeline in West Columbia, Texas, the third incident of the kind in a week, said a report.

Manatee death toll rising in Florida despite Red Tide ebbing

Red Tide, a deadly algae bloom, has killed at least 241 manatees in Florida so far this year, surpassing the previous record of 151 deaths set in 1996.

The recent Red Tide bloom in the Gulf of Mexico began in September 2012  covering a 70-mile (113-km) stretch of southwest Florida’s coast from Sarasota County to Lee County, which is  home to a large population of the state’s estimated 5,000 manatees, said a report.

Karenia brevis. Photo:  FFWCC

Meanwhile, deaths of 85 manatees since July on Florida’s Atlantic coast remain a mystery. The mass die-off occurred  in the Indian River Lagoon, Brevard County.

• Red Tide Kills Millions of Fish Along Texas Coast

Mount Karangetang: A Mountain of Fire

Lava spewes from the top of Mount Karangetang. Photo: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.

• One of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, Karangetang, aka, Api Siau, is a located on the northern part of Siau Island.
• Karangetang was one of the three volcanoes that erupted after the The Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11, 2011.

Frozen Britain

UK temperatures over the past week fell to among the coldest experienced in April for nearly 100 years, with maximum temperatures barely above the freezing in many parts of the southeast, reports said.

At -11.2ºC (11.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the village of Braemar in Scotland, about 90 km west of Aberdeen, held the joint coldest weather anywhere in the UK in April for nearly a century.

US Weather: Snow Impacting the Upper Midwest and Northern Great Lakes

‘A storm system moving through the Upper Midwest will bring a round of late-season winter weather to parts of the northern Great Lakes region on Saturday. The heaviest snow will fall from northeastern Minnesota through northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These areas could see up to 6 inches of snow.’ NOAA reported.

• How Homo Ignarus Killed Spring

Previous Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines

• Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines – 2 April 2013

Fish Mass Die-off Near Galveston, Texas

Large fish kill off Galveston blamed on neurotoxic algal bloom

As many as a million dead Gulf menhaden that littered Galveston’s West End beaches on the weekend are believed to have been killed by an algal bloom known as Karenia brevis.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept (TPWD) said it had received reports of fish kills from Sea Rim State Park, Sargent Beach and Surfsidehas, and confirmed a bloom of Karenia brevis, also known as red tide, in Galveston Bay.

Karenia brevis. Photo:  FFWCC

Current Status

August 13, 2012 – afternoon

TPWD began receiving reports of fish kills on Friday, August 10. The reports were from Quintana Beach to the mouth of the Colorado River and included mostly Gulf menhaden with a few mentions of gafftopsail and hardhead catfish. Additional fish kills were reported over the weekend at Surfside Beach and Galveston; samples were collected from the Surfside jetty and San Luis Pass to look for Karenia brevis. Dead flounder and stingrays have been reported at Kemah and Bacliff; biologists originally thought that low oxygen levels were to blame, but additional investigations will be conducted to determine if K. brevis is the cause. In addition, fishermen reported coughing and dead fish 4 miles offshore of Galveston.

Related Links

• U.S. Disaster Impact Leaps 24 Folds Posted August 1, 2012
• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Red Tide Kills Millions of Fish Along Texas Coast

Persisting red tide has killed millions of fish along the coast of Texas since last month

Staff of Padre Island National Seashore continue to find coyotes that are sick or dead, probably from ingesting fish killed by the brevetoxin, a lethal neurotoxin released by Karenia brevis, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) said.

Disaster Calendar 2011 – November 4

[November 4, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,594 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Texas, USA. Persisting red tide (algal bloom) has killed millions of fish along the coast of Texas since last month. Staff of Padre Island National Seashore continue to find sick or dead coyotes, probably from ingesting fish killed by the brevetoxin, Texas Parks and Wildlife department (TPWD) said.
• Various concentrations levels of Karenia brevis have been found among oysters, clams and mussels leases along the coast.
  
• Karenia brevis is a single-celled, photosynthetic organism that blooms and produces lethal neurotoxins called brevetoxins.
• Common in Gulf of Mexico, K. brevis is responsible for red tide along the coastal waters of Texas and Florida.
• An estimated 4.2million fish were killed by the lethal brevetoxin between September 15 and October  30, TPWD reported.
• Red tide is particularly intense this year because of the Texas drought and recent excessive heat, which help the algae thrive.
• Red tide can cause respiratory irritation, skin rashes and burning in humans.
• “The red tides caused by the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax are serious because this organism produces saxitonin & gonyautoxins which accumulate in shellfish and if ingested may lead to paralytic shellfish poisoning and can lead to death,” a report said.
• Karenia brevis toxic aerosol is blown onshore by wind.

Other Disasters

• British Columbia, Canada. The highly contagious Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA), has been found on B.C.’s central coast, according to researchers at Simon Fraser University.
• The highly contagious marine influenza virus has been found in Chinook, coho and chum species.
  
• The virus was also found in sockeye smolts collected in B.C.’s Central Coast.
• “We looked at 60 fish, and we got it in two different generations, 600 kilometres apart, four different species. That’s a huge red flag.” Said a researcher at SFU.
• Chile’s wild fish stocks have been decimated by ISA since 2007, costing the country about $2 billion in losses.
• ISA threatens both wild salmon and herring, biologists at Simon Fraser University said.
  

Related Links

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities  (EDRO Forecast)
• 2011 Much More Disastrous: FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• Global Disasters in 2011 Could Impact 1/3 to 1/2 of the Human Population  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)

• 2011 Disaster Calendar – October
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – September
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar

• Chinook Salmon Fisheries Collapsing
• Collapsing Fisheries
• Can’t have your water and eat the fish, too!
• Q. How Can You Tell When Ecosystem Nears Collapse?
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [January]