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Environment
Thousands of Fish Wash Up in Chicago and Hundreds of Birds Perish in California
Related articles:
– Thousands of herring-type fish dead along Chicago lakefront (Reuters)
Another mass death: Thousands of gizzard shad fish have washed up on banks of Chicago’s harbours
Thousands of gizzard shad fish have been washed up on Chicago’s harbours while more than 100 dead birds have been found clustered on a California highway.
The two instances appear to be a continuation of the strange mass animal deaths that have struck in the past fortnight – in America and elsewhere.
However Lake Michigan Program biologist Dan Makauskas said that gizzard shad are not a very tough variety of fish and are more sensitive to drops in oxygen levels than most fish.
Mr Makauskas suggested that the young fish may not have built up enough reserves to withstand the early onslaught of extreme cold that hit the area.
Canada geese and mallard ducks have eaten many of the dead fish.
Meanwhile, California wildlife officials are attempting to work out what caused the death of more than 100 birds found clustered together just off Highway 101.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that California Highway Patrol officers found the dead birds near the roadway on Saturday and called in the state Department of Fish and Game to investigate.
The officers who found the birds described them as small with brown and black feathers.
They were intact and had not been shot.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:44 AM on 12th January 2011
Full article: Daily Mail
US: Hundreds of Dead Blackbirds Found Along I-65 In Athens
And the explanations get better and better.
All the birds falling out of the sky had clear signs of trauma too.
About 300 dead blackbirds were found along I-65 in Athens on Wednesday morning. (Carson Clark, WHNT NEWS 19 / January 12, 2011)
ATHENS, AL — Wednesday morning, we got a handful of emails and phone calls from viewers who said there appeared to be a massive bird kill on the side of Interstate 65 in Limestone County. That’s exactly what we found when we got there.
Just south of Athens, near mile marker 347, there were around 300 dead blackbirds just off the side of the northbound lanes.
The viewers who called us said the birds seemed to just fall from the sky, but we spoke to a wildlife biologist at the scene who says there is an explanation for what happened.
“What it appears to us right now is that the birds were feeding alongside the road,” said Mitchell Marks. “The flock flushed, flew out into a vehicle and we’ve got this kill here along the road.”
All of the dead birds had clear signs of trauma, but Marks collected a few to examine them.
Read moreUS: Hundreds of Dead Blackbirds Found Along I-65 In Athens
Australian Floods Reach ‘Biblical Proportions’
Added: 3. Januar 2011
You’re watching multisource world news analysis from Newsy
Australia is experiencing one of the worst floods in the past 70 years. BBC says the flooding has reached ‘biblical proportions.’
“Even in a land as vast as Australia the scale of the flooding is hard to comprehend. In central Queensland, murky brown flood waters cover an area the size of Germany and France combined.”
Al Jazeera reports the residents of local towns don’t seem to have any miracles coming their way any time soon.
“The water has gone down, but the trouble we have here is that all the dams on every tributary are actually full. So if we were to another 200 millimeters of rain like we did on the night before the flood — things could turn nasty quite quickly.”
Feds Yank Genetically Engineered Crops From All Northeast Refuges
Washington, DC — The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has agreed to stop planting genetically engineered (GE) crops on all its refuges within a dozen Northeastern states, according to a settlement agreement in a lawsuit brought by conservation and food safety groups. Because the federal government would not agree to end illegal GE agriculture in refuges nationally, new litigation is being prepared in other regions where as many as 75 other national wildlife refuges now growing GE crops are vulnerable to similar suits.
The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Delaware, filed by the Widener Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic on behalf of Delaware Audubon Society, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Center for Food Safety, charged that the Fish & Wildlife Service had illegally entered into Cooperative Farming Agreements with private parties, allowing hundreds of acres on its Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware to be plowed over without the environmental review required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
In settling the suit, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service promised to revoke any authorization for further GE agriculture at Bombay Hook and the four other refuges with GE crops: the Rappahannock River Valley Refuge and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Refuge, Montezuma Refuge in New York and Blackwater Refuge of Maryland, unless and until an appropriate NEPA analysis is completed – a condition that has yet to be met for GE agriculture on a National Wildlife Refuge.
“For Delawareans, this is a victory for the protection of vital public resources in our state,” said Mark Martell, President of the Delaware Audubon Society. “Our aim was to end illegal and destructive agriculture on the Delaware refuges but we are delighted to have this victory extended to other refuges along the Great Eastern Flyway.”
Read moreFeds Yank Genetically Engineered Crops From All Northeast Refuges
Australia Floods: Dramatic Queensland Videos
Added: 10. Januar 2011
At least four are dead after flash floods swept through Toowoomba, carrying away cars and people.
Flash Flood in Queensland Australia Sweeps Cars Away
Added: 10. Januar 2011
Rapid flash flooding in Toowoomba, Queensland sweeps several cars downstream. The death toll is currently at 8 with 72 missing due to the ‘inland tsunami’. This flood is said to be a 1 in 100 year event. The damage bill of the flooding is currently over $5billion, but the human cost is what is more important.
Australia’s ‘Nightmare Floods’ Reach Brisbane
Added: 11. Januar 2011
Australia Floods: Food Prices to Rise 30% – 50% of Crops Affected, With 20% Wiped Out
Related article:
– Cotton Jumps by Limit Amid Australia Floods (BusinessWeek):
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — Cotton prices jumped the most allowed by ICE Futures U.S. after the worst floods in half a century damaged crops in Australia, the world’s fourth-largest exporter.
Officials have warned that the disaster may last for weeks
(BBC NEWS) — Food prices in Australia could rise by as much as 30% in the coming months as a result of the Queensland floods, it has been warned.
The investment bank JP Morgan says it expects food prices to spike, which will also push up headline inflation.
The bank’s chief economist in Australia said 50% of crops had been affected by the floods, with 20% wiped out.
Stephen Walters also told the BBC that rises in Australia could have a knock-on impact on prices in Asia.
JP Morgan also said that coal mining had been significantly damaged and estimated that the floods would shave 0.4% off GDP growth in the last quarter of 2010 and the first three months of 2011.
The worst floods to hit Queensland for more than 50 years have left 10 people dead and more than 70 missing.
Read moreAustralia Floods: Food Prices to Rise 30% – 50% of Crops Affected, With 20% Wiped Out
Germany: Melting Snow Floods Rivers
See also:
– Water Levels Stabilize along Rhine, Mosel Rivers (Spiegel Online)
– German cities flooded after thaw (BBC News)
– Winter thaw swells German rivers after weekend deaths (Deutsche Welle)
The area around the statue of German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm is flooded where the rivers Rhine and Mosel meet at the “Deutsche Eck” in Koblenz, Germany, Monday, Jan.10,2010. Melting snow and rain cause floodings along various rivers all over Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (Michael Probst – AP)
BERLIN — Mild temperatures melted record December snowfalls across Germany, causing rivers from the Rhine in the west to the Oder in the east to burst their banks, flooding fields and towns, turning streets into waterways, and leaving one person feared dead.
Officials were watching flood levels on the Rhine river in the city of Koblenz on Monday that were expected to peak at 25 feet, 4 inches (7 meters, 70 centimeters), and some low-lying parts of the city were under water.
1,000 Turtle Doves Falling Dead in Italy
Overeating and indigestion? Hmmmh.
See also:
– More Animal Death Mysteries Around The World
– Quebec bird deaths stump wildlife officials
– US: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay
– Hundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach
– Thousands of Birds Fall Dead Out of the Sky in SOUTH AMERICA
– US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana
– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison
– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River
Overeating and indigestion blamed for 1,000 turtle doves falling dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks
Mystery solved: Rodolfo Ridolfi, from a zoological institute in Faenza, said indigestion was responsible for the recent deaths of 1,000 turtle doves
Thousands of dead turtle doves that rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town were victims of their on greed, an expert claimed today.
Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like ‘little Christmas balls’ with strange blue stains on their beaks.
Last night it emerged that 40 turtle doves had also been found dead at San Cesario near Modena, 60 miles from Faenza, and tests were also being carried out on their bodies.
he birds have been found by residents in the village for the last three days and they alerted authorities after hearing reports of the incident at Faenza.
Gianni Sereni, who found 12 birds in his garden, said: ‘At first I didn’t think anything of it but then I saw the reports on the news about what had happened elsewhere so I called the local veterinary service.’
Initial tests on up to 1,000 of the doves from Faezna indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.
Australia: More Rain And New Storms Worsens Floods – Floods Raise Fears of Wheat Shortage
– More rain worsens floods in Australia (AP):
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Almost a foot (300 millimeters) of rain in just a few hours renewed flood fears in Australia’s already waterlogged Queensland state Saturday, sending a surging river over its banks and into another large town.
Officials said about only 20 buildings in Maryborough, where about 22,000 people live, were expected to be flooded after the river burst its banks in the overnight downpour. The waters were expected to peak on Sunday.
“A number of businesses … will have floodwaters in their basements,” Mayor Mick Kruger said.
But the new flooding was a reminder that the state has almost no capacity to absorb more heavy rains after weeks of drenching tropical weather submerged an area the size of Germany and France combined.
– Australia floods: new storms hit flood region (Telegraph):
Heavy rains fell in eastern Australia on Thursday, bringing fresh misery to flood-hit communities as the mayor of the flooded city of Rockhampton warned it could take up to a year to recover from the worst flooding in decades.
– Australian floods raise fears of wheat shortage (Telegraph):
US wheat futures rose heavily yesterday as concerns grew that Australian wheat growers will be unable to deliver their harvests as a result of the devastation. Australia is the world’s fourth largest exporter of wheat after the USA, Canada and Russia.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, the price of wheat for March delivery rose over 3pc, at one point hitting $8.25 (£5.30) a bushel, the highest since last August. Warnings over impending cold weather in the US were also cited as reasons for the rise.
More Animal Death Mysteries Around The World
– Quebec bird deaths stump wildlife officials (Toronto Sun):
MONTREAL — More than 80 pigeons have keeled over and died at a farm near Quebec City for unknown reasons, the latest in a string of mysterious animal deaths around the world.
Environmental officials in the province say there’s no connection to a similar case in Arkansas, but Sylvain Turmel is wondering why he’s been picking up dead pigeons for more than two weeks on his farm in Saint-Augustine-de-Desmaures.
The first dead bird was found on Dec. 18. He’s since found more bodies on his roof and inside the barn.
“I was stunned,” he said.
“I went to see my tenant to ask whether he’d been feeding them poison. He ended helping me pick up 25 corpses. In the time it took us to collect them, five more had fallen. Authorities thought it might be gas. But that’s not possible.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said tests are currently being performed at the animal pathology lab in the provincial capital.
“The cause right now isn’t known,” said Nicolas Begin. “It’s not related to what happened in the U.S. (But) we don’t see this sort of thing every day and we’re treating this as a serious matter.”
See also:
– US: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay
– Hundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach
– Thousands of Birds Fall Dead Out of the Sky in SOUTH AMERICA
– US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana
– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison
– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River
(Click on image to enlarge.)
- Thousands of fish found floating in Florida after cold snap
- 200 birds found dead on highway bridge in Texas
- 50 dead jackdaws found on city street in Sweden
- 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish wash up dead on Brazilian coast
- Hundreds of fish dead in New Zealand
- And in Britain, 40,000 devil crabs join list of casualties
More and more animals are being found dead as the mysterious spate of mass bird and fish deaths has turned into a global phenomenon.
The latest two separate incidents saw thousands of fish found floating in a creek in Florida and 200 birds found dead on a highway bridge in Texas.
Experts were yesterday carrying out tests on around 50 jackdaws found dead in a street in Falkoping, Sweden, that appear to have suffered the same fate as thousands of their cousins who fell from the sky in separate incidents in the U.S.
Swedish experts have said the shock of fireworks being let off near the city, in the south-east of the country, and difficulty finding food may have led to the deaths of the jackdaws.
Many of the birds are believed to have died from stress or as a result of being run over by vehicles while disoriented.
And scientists have also been left baffled by at least 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish washing up dead along the Brazil coastline near Paranaguá.
There were more fish deaths reported today in New Zealand, while in England, the carcasses of 40,000 devil crabs are strewn across a beach in Kent.
Hundreds of dead starlings and robins were found scattered in backyards in the Kentucky town of Gilbertsville while an estimated two million dead fish have washed ashore in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.
They are the latest in a spate of incidents which are being blamed on New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather, parasites and even poisoning.
The internet has been abuzz with conspiracy theories about secret government experiments being behind the deaths, or it being a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next year.
The mass deaths include:
- 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- 3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
- Thousands of ‘devil crabs’ washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
- Thousands of drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
- Tens of thousands of small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
- Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
- Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
- Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge
Tests are being carried out on the dead animals, but results are not expected for several weeks.
Thousands of Brazilian fishermen are struggling to make ends meet after the sale of seafood was temporarily suspended when masses of fish were discovered dead in Paranaguá, Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná.
Experts have speculated that cold weather or chemical leaks could be behind the deaths.
UK: Sudden Death for Thousands of Trees
A deadly disease described as the “foot and mouth” of trees is wiping out forests across the country.
Trees are under threat from the fungal disease for which there is no known cure Photo: ALAMY
Sudden oak death arrived in Britain from America, where it decimated the oak population, just under a decade ago via imported plants.
In Britain the disease, officially known as phytophthora ramorum, spared oaks and jumped to rhododendrons and Japanese larch trees. In the last year it has taken hold along the west of the country in larch plantations, including more than 120 Forestry Commission sites, 20 National Trust properties and two Woodland Trust reserves.
Already 4 million trees have been felled or marked for destruction.
US: Die-Off of Aspen Trees Presents Human Health Risk
DURANGO, Colo., Jan. 7 (UPI) — A recent die-off of aspen trees in the U.S. West has swelled the population of rodents that carry a virus that can be deadly to humans, researchers say.
A tree-killing syndrome called sudden aspen decline, which has wiped out swaths of trees across the West in the past decade, has changed the numbers of creatures living around the trees, including some carriers of human disease, ScienceNews.org reported.
Deer mice at hard-hit sites in 2009 were almost three times as likely to carry sin nombre virus, which can be fatal to humans, compared with mice in less-ravaged aspen stands, researchers from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., said.
Read moreUS: Die-Off of Aspen Trees Presents Human Health Risk
Scientists Say The Magnetic North Pole Is Moving At 40 Miles Per Year Toward Russia And The Fallout Has Reached – Of All Places -Tampa International Airport
Related info:
– Earth’s North Magnetic Pole is Racing Toward Russia at Almost 64 Kilometers a Year Due to Core Flux
Shift of Earth’s magnetic north pole affects Tampa airport
Runway changes are needed to account for the moving magnetic pole, which is nearing Russia at 40 miles per year.
TAMPA – Scientists say the magnetic north pole is moving toward Russia and the fallout has reached — of all places — Tampa International Airport.
The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth’s magnetic north pole.
The closure of the west parallel runway will result in more activity on the east parallel runway and more noise for residential areas of South Tampa.
The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It’s been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south.
Later this month, the airport’s east parallel runway and the seldom used east-west runway will be closed to change signage to their new designations.
The Federal Aviation Administration required the runway designation change to account for what a National Geographic News report described as a gradual shift of the Earth’s magnetic pole at nearly 40 miles a year toward Russia because of magnetic changes in the core of the planet.
Tens of Thousands of Bald Eagles Disappear From The West Coast
VANCOUVER – Tens of thousands of bald eagles that usually gorge on the late season chum salmon in rivers from Alaska to Vancouver have been forced from their usual feeding grounds by poor salmon runs, according to wildlife biologist David Hancock.
While the Brackendale eagle count registered only 627 birds in 2010 — its forth consecutive year under 1,000 after peaking at nearly 4,000 in 1994 — Chehalis [Harrison] attracted a record 7,400 eagles, more than double the normal count due to a moderately successful coho run.
The disappointing numbers at Brackendale are only a microcosm of what is going on right up and down the coast, said Hancock. As many as 50,000 eagles are searching for food and may range as far as the Mississippi River to find it.
Based on a count he conducted Monday (today), Hancock reckons that as many as 800 eagles are feeding at Boundary Bay and the Vancouver Landfill in Delta.
“I have about 100 eagles in front of me right now at Boundary Bay,” Hancock said. “They are all desperately looking for something as an alternative [to chum].”
Read moreTens of Thousands of Bald Eagles Disappear From The West Coast
Bumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline
Related information on honeybees:
– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows (!)
– Billons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide
– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides
– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’
– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (!)
Yes, organic bees survive CCD, which almost proves that a pesticide (or maybe GM plants) must be responsible for CCD.
Also living on refined white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup in winter certainly can kill any advanced life-form.
Disease and low genetic diversity might have caused US bumblebee decline over the past few decades, say scientists
Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild plants and crops around the world. Photograph: RSPB/PA
The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades, according to the most comprehensive national census of the insects. Scientists said the alarming decline, which could have devastating implications for the pollination of both wild and farmed plants, was likely to be a result of disease and low genetic diversity in bee populations.
Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild plants and agricultural crops around the world including tomatoes and berries thanks to their large body size, long tongues, and high-frequency buzzing, which helps release pollen from flowers.
Bees in general pollinate some 90% of the world’s commercial plants, including most fruits, vegetables and nuts. Coffee, soya beans and cotton are all dependent on pollination by bees to increase yields. It is the start of a food chain that also sustains wild birds and animals.
Read moreBumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline
US: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay
Maryland officials are investigating the mysterious death of an estimated 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay.
The fish, spotted from Bay Bridge south to Tangier Sound, are mostly adult spot, and some croaker (pictured above), according to the Baltimore Sun, which first reported the incident.
State officials believe the fish kill is the result of unseasonably cold waters – not water-quality problems. For example, the Sun reports that water temperatures dropped to near-record lows in late December.
That’s largely the result of December’s average air temperature being 32.4 degrees, 4.3 degrees below average.
Read moreUS: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay
Hundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach
See also:
– US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana
– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison
– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River
Horror haul … dead fish floating and washed up on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Hundreds of dead snapper have washed up on Coromandel beaches on the North Island of New Zealand, leaving holidaymakers perplexed.
The mysterious incident came as the southern United States was hit with a second unexplained mass bird death within a week.
People at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, on the north-east of the peninsula, were stunned when children came out of the sea with armfuls of the fish and within minutes the shore was littered with them.
Charlotte Pearsall, whose family have lived at Little Bay for the last 30 years, said she had never seen anything like it.
“It was so surreal,” she said. “It’s such an incredible waste – it could’ve fed the whole northern tip of the Coromandel.”
People with binoculars said the snapper stretched as far as they could see and boaties reported “a carpet of floating fish further out to sea all along the coast”.
“We initially thought ‘woohoo a free feed’ but they had really cloudy eyes and you could see the birds had been at them. Some of them had no eyes,” Pearsall said.
Read moreHundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach
US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana
See also:
– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison
– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River
Around 500 dead blackbirds and starlings have been found dead in the US state of Louisiana just days after 3,000 birds fell from the sky in Arkansas.
Biologists have been collecting the bodies of the latest victims and sending samples to laboratories for analysis Photo: AP By Victoria Ward 7:58PM GMT 04 Jan 2011
The latest discovery was made along a stretch of a main road some 300 miles south of the town where red-winged blackbirds rained out of the darkness onto rooftops and pavements and into fields on New Year’s Eve.
Biologists have been collecting the bodies of the latest victims and sending samples to laboratories for analysis.
The birds found in Beebe, Arkansas, three days earlier, were thought to have died from blood clots and internal injuries that were blamed on a fireworks display. (BS)
It is not known whether the Louisiana birds suffered the same fate.
Read moreUS: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana
US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison
BEEBE, Ark. — Preliminary autopsies on 17 of the up to 5,000 blackbirds that fell on this town indicate they died of blunt trauma to their organs, the state’s top veterinarian told NBC News on Monday.
Their stomachs were empty, which rules out poison, Dr. George Badley said, and they died in midair, not on impact with the ground.
That evidence, and the fact that the red-winged blackbirds fly in close flocks, suggests they suffered some massive midair collision, he added. That lends weight to theories that they were startled by something.
Earlier Monday, the estimated number of dead birds was raised to between 4,000 and 5,000, up sharply from the initial estimate of 1,000.
Read moreUS: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison
US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River
State officials on Monday were investigating why 80,000 to 100,000 fish washed up dead on the shores of the Arkansas River last week.
“The fish deaths will take about a month” to determine a cause, Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, told msnbc.com.
Stephens also provided the estimate of 80,000 to 100,000 dead fish.
The fish were found Thursday by a tugboat operator along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River near the city of Ozark.
The mass kill occurred just one day before thousands of blackbirds dropped dead from the sky in Beebe, Ark., which is 125 miles away.
Officials said 95 percent of the fish that died were drum fish — indicating that the likely cause of death was disease as only one species was affected.
“If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish,” Stephens added.
Read moreUS: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River
Strong 7.0 Earthquake Hits Northern Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A strong earthquake has struck in northern Argentina, but it was not immediately clear if there were any injuries or damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Saturday that the magnitude-7.0 quake hit at 6:56 a.m. about 150 kilometers (115 miles) northeast of Santiago del Estero at a depth of 563 kilometers (350 miles).
Australia: Now Coastal Queensland Braces For 30-Ft Flood Waters
See also:
– Australian Floods Affect Bigger Area Than France and Germany Combined (Video)
– 200,000 Australians Affected By Floods Covering Larger Area Than France And Germany
A play ground affected by flooded waters is seen in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia January 1, 2011.
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Floods that have inundated 22 Australian towns and forced more than 200,000 from their homes headed towards the northeast coast on New Year’s Day, forcing further evacuations and warnings of 30-ft flood waters.
Australia has endured its wettest spring on record, causing six river systems in tropical Queensland to flood, as soaring temperatures in the states of Victoria and South Australia sparked warnings of devastating bushfires.
The rain has flooded coal mines and hit farming hard, with many roads still impassable, and prompted warnings of the dangers of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes.
The inland sea that stretches across Queensland is dotted with the roofs of flooded homes, islands of dry ground crowded with stranded livestock and small boats ferrying people and emergency supplies.
On Saturday, coastal areas were preparing for the worst. Evacuations were under way in the town of Rockhampton where the Fitzroy River, one of Australia’s largest river systems, was expected to flood.
The town’s airport was closed to commercial flights, while relief officials warned the floods would likely reach more than nine metres (30 ft) in height.
Read moreAustralia: Now Coastal Queensland Braces For 30-Ft Flood Waters