Earthwatch: A Diary of the Planet

Floods Kill Wildlife

Some of the worst flooding in decades across eastern India has killed 39 rare one-horned rhinoceroses and more than 600 other animals in a nature preserve. The deaths occurred in the 250-square-mile Kaziranga National Park, which is home to the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinos. The majority of the rhinoceroses drowned from high waters, but several were gunned down by poachers when the animals strayed outside the park to escape the floods.

Tropical Storms

Australia’s cyclone season heated up with Thelma lashing the remote northwest coast. Some residents of low-lying areas of the Kimberly coast were evacuated as the storm passed just offshore with maximum sustained winds of up to 110 mph. It was the strongest storm to threaten northern Australia since cyclone Tracy wrecked the city of Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974.

Killing Mexican Cold

An unusual spell of subfreezing temperatures has hit northern Mexico during recent weeks, claiming 17 lives. More than 2,500 cases of respiratory illness have been recorded during the same time period. Two men froze to death in the northern state of Chihuahua when temperatures plummeted to 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mexico City Smog

Mexico City authorities ordered hundreds of thousands of cars off the streets for several consecutive days because of high air pollution levels. The severe smog outbreak hospitalized 435 people with respiratory and eye ailments and caused sore throats and headaches.

Middle East Drought

The last few months have been the driest in Israel in more than 58 years with some parts of the country receiving only a third of an inch of rainfall since April, according to the Tel Aviv weather bureau. The Sea of Galilee, the country’s main reservoir, is dangerously low and only has two months water supply left. Officials are considering stringent water-rationing measures.

California Twister

The San Francisco suburb of Richmond was raked by a rare tornado that tore through the community only two days after a moderate earthquake broke windows in the same area. The twister damaged 20 homes and uprooted trees across seven city blocks.

Siberian Caribou Peril

Icy weather is threatening the caribou population of Russia’s far east Chukotsky Peninsula, according to local authorities. The region had experienced unusually warm weather during October and much of November, but that was immediately followed by a sudden drop in temperature, creating layers of ice on the tundra that covered the caribou’s food supply.

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Additional Sources: Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.