Temperature
Extremes
High
temperature extreme:
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 115 degrees.
Low temperature extreme:
Vostok (Russia), Antarctica -103 degrees.
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Ecuadoran
Eruptions
Two
of Ecuador’s 31 active volcanoes exploded on October 5 after
weeks of rumbling and shaking.
Guagua Pichincha Volcano sent up a seven-mile-high cloud of volcanic
debris, closing Quito’s airport and schools, and forcing residents
to wear face masks as ash rained over the capital. Earlier the same
day, an explosion of gases shot high above Tungurahua Volcano, 106
miles from Guagua Pichincha. Three mountain climbers and their guide
sustained injuries when they were hit by an eruption of vapor and
ash near the mountain’s summit. One person died and a number of
others were injured as a result of the eruptions when they fell
as they were trying to remove ash from their roofs.
Nuclear
Accident
At
least 22 workers at a South Korean nuclear power plant were
exposed to radiation when a major leak of heavy water occurred during
repair operations.
Authorities said that none of the technicians were seriously irradiated.
Heavy water, which can be highly toxic, is used in nuclear plants
as a coolant for the nuclear reaction process. About 12 gallons
of the heavy water were released in the accident at the power station
in Wolsung, 190 miles southeast of the capital city of Seoul. Twenty
additional technicians were sent in to clean the area, and all were
exposed to the radioactive gas emanating from the water.
Lightning
Deaths
Five
schoolchildren and their teacher were killed in southern India
when lightning struck their classroom in the state of Kerala.
The children, all 10 years old, were killed instantly when the bolt
of lightning hit their schoolroom in the city of Kuttiyadi. Twenty-two
other students were hospitalized with serious burn injuries. Last
week, at least 26 people were killed and 39 others seriously injured
by lightning strikes over parts of India’s northern state of Uttar
Pradesh.
Tropical
Cyclone
Typhoon
Dan battered the northern coast of the Philippines, leaving
at least two people dead and leveling vast areas of cropland with
torrential rains driven by wind gusts of up to 105 mph.
The storm later passed over the South China Sea and was predicted
to strike China’s northeastern Guangdong province over the weekend.
Earthquakes
At
least 100 people were injured when a magnitude 5.2 earthquake, followed
by 20 aftershocks, shook the city of Marmaris in Turkey’s
Aegean province of Mugla. Many of the injured were tourists who
had come to the seaside resort to relax after living through the
numerous earthquakes that have recently plagued the country.
A
magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck in the Andes Mountains of central
Peru, causing buildings to sway and damaging some homes.
Earth
movements were also felt in coastal Peru, northern Chile,
Costa Rica, the northern Philippines, eastern Taiwan,
northeastern Japan, the Aleutian Islands, the Salton
Sea area of Southern California, northwest Iran, Jordan
and the Athens aftershock zone.
Floods
At
least 110 people have been killed and 157,000 others forced to evacuate
their homes in the raging floods that are the worst to hit southeastern
Mexico in 40 years. A
subsequent mudslide buried between 40 and 60 people at a temporary
shelter where they had taken refuge from the inundations. The storms
moved into Mexico after ravaging Central America, where they left
74 people dead.
At
least two people in southern Yemen have been killed in floods
triggered by the heaviest rains to strike the region since 1982.
The inundations also killed a large number of livestock and destroyed
cropland in Lahj, south of the capital city of Sanaa.
Champagne
Fish Kill
Thousands
of fish were killed in France’s Marne River after the residue
of the last seasonal pressing of champagne grapes was washed into
the river by heavy rains.
The organic pollution consumed most of the oxygen in the river and
caused a bacteria, which was deadly to the fish, to multiply. Large
numbers of pike, roach and tench were killed as the pollution affected
a 20-mile stretch of the river. Firemen and the military worked
side by side to scoop out the dead fish, piling them six feet high
along the banks of the river. The kill has sparked heated disagreements
between wine growers and local fishermen, who said it could take
up to 10 years for the stocks of fish to return to normal levels.
The champagne industry has been striving to meet the increased demand
for its wine due to the anticipated millennium celebrations worldwide.
