Temperature
Extremes
High
temperature extreme:
Mecca, Saudi Arabia 116 degrees.
Low temperature extreme:
Vostok (Russia), Antarctica -91 degrees.
(top)
Tropical
Storms
More
than 3 million people were displaced by the advance of hurricane
Floyd in the largest evacuation in the history of the United States.
The
storm roared ashore along the North Carolina coast after
causing catastrophic damage when it passed over the Bahamas. • Hurricane
Gert churned the open waters of the Atlantic with maximum sustained
winds of 150 mph. • At least six people were killed in western Japan
by flooding and landslides triggered by tropical storm Zia. Most
of the victims were swept away by raging flood waters. • Hong Kong
was pounded by high wind and torrential rain as typhoon York made
landfall directly over the Chinese port. At least 200 people were
injured in the city and surrounding areas of Guangdong province.
It was the strongest storm of tropical origin to strike the region
in 16 years.
Earthquakes
At
least seven people were killed and several hundred others injured
when a powerful magnitude 5.8 aftershock rumbled through earthquake-devastated
western Turkey.
Earth
movements were also felt on Turkey’s Aegean coast, and in northern
Greece, southern Albania, central Iran, China’s Sichuan province,
eastern and northeastern Japan, southern Bolivia and inland areas
of metropolitan Los Angeles.
New
York Mosquito Threat
Airborne
and ground-based crews sprayed the metropolitan New York City
area with insecticides to head off an outbreak of a deadly encephalitis
outbreak that has killed at least three people and made scores of
others ill.
The
three fatalities were all senior citizens, who are particularly
vulnerable to the St. Louis strain of the virus. Symptoms include
fever, headaches and lethargy, and severe cases can cause seizures
and paralysis.
West
African Inundations
At
least 9,000 people in Ghana were left homeless by widespread
flooding triggered by a week of torrential rains, the Ghana News
Agency reported.
Vast
areas of cropland and more than 2,000 homes have been inundated.
In the northern region of the country, entire communities were swamped.
A resulting outbreak of cholera has also killed at least 48 people
in the flooded regions.
Desert
Tempest
Utility
poles were snapped and trees were toppled when a series of storms
battered parts of Mesa, Arizona, and the neighboring city
of Phoenix for several hours.
Authorities
said the storm produced a microburst—a sudden downward blast of
wind that leveled concrete block walls and knocked out garage doors.
The area was also hit with a damaging barrage of large hail and
skirted by at least four funnel clouds. Severe storms struck southern
Arizona the following day.
Deadly
Heat and Smog
Three
people in Hong Kong died and many others were affected by
heatstroke as the approach of typhoon York slowed winds and trapped
heat and pollution in the atmosphere.
Hong
Kong harbor was blanketed with heavy smog as air pollution in the
downtown area reached health-threatening levels. Residents with
heart and respiratory problems were warned to stay indoors and avoid
strenuous activities. Temperatures soared to 97 degrees Fahrenheit
before winds from the typhoon finally broke the air stagnation
Killer
Bees in California
An
83-year-old beekeeper who was attacked by a swarm of killer bees
in Los Angeles two weeks earlier died of his injuries.
The
highly aggressive Africanized bees, which had taken over hives on
the man’s property, attacked and stung him at least 50 times as
he was mowing his lawn. Virgil Foster is believed to be the first
victim of killer bees in California, and the sixth fatality nationwide.
Numerous attacks by the insects have been reported across Mexico
during recent weeks.
Tina
Turner Aversion
Rock
star Tina Turner’s voice has been found to be the most effective
means of scaring birds from the runways of England’s Gloucestershire
airport.
Airport
staff previously used recordings of avian distress calls to frighten
birds away from landing strips, with only limited success. They
then switched to recordings of the famed rock singer, which immediately
produced a dramatic effect. Airport chief fire officer, Ron Johnson,
said “. . . what the birds really hate is Tina Turner.” The airport,
in western England, is used mostly for corporate jets, helicopters
and private planes.
