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Temperature
Extremes
 
High
temperature for the week:
Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
118 degrees Fahrenheit |
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Low
temperature for the week:
South Pole, Antarctica
-100 degrees Fahrenheit
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(top)
Spring
Twisters
 Thirteen
people were killed and another 51 were injured when violent tornadoes
tore through a farming area in southern China. The storm leveled
more than 600 homes and caused extensive damage to crops in Guangdong
province, located about 1,250 miles south of Beijing.
In Bulgaria,
four people were injured and hundreds were left homeless after a tornado
swept through the south of the country. The community of Zhaltusha was
hardest hit with more than 70 percent of its buildings demolished.
At least
2 people were killed and 14 others injured in the American Midwest
after a series of tornadoes pummeled western Iowa. Two tornadoes touched
down northwest of the town of Traynor, one of them reportedly more than
one mile wide.
(top)
Volcano
of Fire
 Mexico’s
Volcan de Fuego let out 20 outbursts during a 24-hour period, sending
volcanic ash raining onto surrounding communities.
Scientists
were keeping a close watch on activity at the 13,068-foot-high volcano,
one of Mexico’s most active. On May 10, about 800 villagers were told
to leave their homes on the flanks of the mountain, after the volcano
spewed ash and lava. The Volcan de Fuego — Spanish for Fire Volcano
— is situated on the border between Colima and Jalisco states.
(top)
Earthquakes
 The
strongest earthquake to strike the seismically active Mammoth Lake area
of California rocked tourists and residents of the Sierra Nevada
resort.
Earth
movements were also felt in southern Iran, central New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea, Indonesia’s Irian Jaya province, the
southern Philippines, Taiwan and northern Japan.
(top)
Indian
Cyclone
 More
than 50,000 people were evacuated from western India’s coastal
areas as relief workers braced for cyclone 02A to hit on May 20 with
winds of 120 mph.
The storm
was expected to pound the state of Gujarat between Porbandar and Naliya.
Officials in Gujarat reported that 50,000 people, including salt workers
in low-lying coastal stretches, had been moved to safer areas. A similar
storm last June left more than 1,000 people dead and caused extensive
damage in the region.
(top)
Peruvian
Spill
 Thousands
of barrels of oil spilled into the Peruvian Amazon rain forest
after heavy rains triggered a landslide which broke the country’s largest
oil pipeline.
The landslide
wiped out 13 feet of the 530-mile pipeline owned by the state oil company
Petro-Peru. Company officials claimed to have controlled the spill before
it reached local communities and the nearby Maranon River, a tributary
of the Amazon.
(top)
Euro
Floods
 Severe
flooding triggered by torrential rainfall in Western Europe left
two children missing and presumed drowned in southern Germany.
The children
were believed to have fallen into the swollen Loisach River on Saturday.
Western Europe has been deluged with rain during the past two weeks.
Melting snow in the Swiss Alps and heavy rains in France combined to
cause the Rhine to flood in Switzerland, France and Germany.
(top)
Deadly
Slide
 At
least five people were killed and nine others injured when a mudslide
buried dozens of people in a shantytown in eastern Brazil.
Days of
torrential rain triggered the mudslide in the town of Salvador, located
about 750 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro. Residents of the affected
shantytown were holding a protest march demanding better protection
from such disasters when the slide struck.
(top)
Jellyfish
Invasion
 Scientists
warned Mediterranean residents that large schools of jellyfish
have invaded the coasts of Corsica and southeastern France.
The creatures,
known as marine cindarians, have long, hanging tentacles that can sting
victims who come in contact with them. Pierre Lejeune, of France’s Underwater
and Ocean Research Station, speculated that a change in plankton growth
appeared to be responsible for the unusually large numbers of drifting,
umbrella-shaped creatures.
(top)
Additional
Sources: Japan Meteorological Agency, U.S. Climate Analysis Center,
U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization.
Distributed
by the Los Angeles
Times Syndicate.
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