Hurricane Season

Hurricane Bonnie brought flash flooding, pounding surf and wind damage to the Bahamas and southeastern parts of the United States. Hurricane Danielle threatened to cut a similar path of destruction as it passed north of Puerto Rico late in the week. In the Pacific, Hurricane Howard lost force between Mexico and Hawaii while typhoon Rex churned the waters south of Japan.

Tropical storm Charley caused severe flooding that killed at least 24 people as it spread across Texas and northern Mexico.

Flood Survivors Chilled

Cooler temperatures are threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the massive flooding in northeast China. Nighttime temperatures are dropping to near 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the region where 375,000 people lost their homes in the worst flooding in more than 40 years. More than 3,000 people have died and $25 billion in damage has occurred as a result of China’s floods.

“Tube” Mosquitoes

London’s underground rail network, known as the “Tube,” appears to be the breeding ground for a new type of mosquito that has adapted to underground life. The current issue of the BBC’s Wildlife magazine reports that the new species is being dubbed “molestus” by British scientists. The subway’s warm and damp conditions have fostered the growth of the bloodsucking insects, which have developed a taste for rats and mice. The new mosquitoes are believed to have evolved from those that became trapped underground when the tunnels were dug a century ago.

Earthquakes

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake caused stampedes in shopping malls and cinemas when it rocked the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, but otherwise was not responsible for any significant damage.

Earth movements were also felt in Indonesia’s Sumatra and Sulawesi islands, in western Japan, southwestern Tibet, western China, on the west coast of Central America, and in the Idaho-Wyoming border area.

Dead of a “Broken Heart”

A dolphin calf, orphaned in a river near Adelaide, Australia, when its mother was killed by a shotgun blast, died from what may have been “a broken heart,” according to a marine life expert. The body of Miki, one dolphin in a colony of about 30 living in the Port River, was recovered near the spot where her mother was shot and killed by an unknown attacker in July. “It could have died of a broken heart, unable to cope with its mother being dead,” said Port River dolphin researcher Mike Bossley. The death of both marine mammals has sparked widespread public outrage. Wildlife organizations and animal protection agencies joined in investigating the animal shooting.

Additional Sources: U.S. Climate Analysis Center, U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization.