**Energy and persistence conquer all things.**
Benjamin Franklin
LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.0 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.1 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 FED. STATES OF MICRONESIA REGION
5.8 OFFSHORE OAXACA, MEXICO
5.5 NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
5.4 ROTA REGION, N. MARIANA ISLANDS
Yesterday, 8/12/14 -
5.0 ECUADOR
5.2 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G
Two people were killed in Ecuador on Tuesday after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck near the capital of Quito, with eight others wounded and rescue workers still seeking to free others trapped after the tremor.
The National Risk Control Agency said the earthquake triggered a landslide at a quarry in the Quito area that killed two people who worked there, adding that firemen were searching for three others. "Obviously the landslide was caused by the tremor, but there was already weakness there due to illegal mining ... or quarries being exploited improperly." Social media showed images of dust clouds that had formed after the tremor as a result of shifting earth.
The city's main airport returned to normal operations after earlier halting flights as a precautionary measure to evaluate its infrastructure. The temblor snarled traffic in the city of 1.6 million and led startled office workers to stream out of buildings. "We could really feel it. The first thing I did was leave (the building) with my colleagues. There was nothing major to report, but we were all very nervous." The U.S. Geological Survey said the moderate quake was only 4.8 miles (7.7 km) deep, with its epicenter located 14 miles northeast of Quito.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.
* In the Eastern Pacific -
- Hurricane Julio is located about 625 mi or 1010 km, N of Honolulu, Hawaii.
-Tropical storm Karina continues to move away from Mexico; located about 400 mi or 645 km S of the southern tip of Baja California.
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SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Swiss train derailed in landslide - A landslide in Switzerland derails a train at the top of a ravine, injuring several passengers and leaving one carriage hanging over the precipice.
The train derailed at the top of a gulley after running into a landslide near the Swiss ski resort of St Moritz. Eleven people are reported to have been injured and taken to nearby hospitals by helicopter, but there appear to have been no fatalities. The accident left one carriage hanging over the edge of the ravine, while another plunged down before before lodging behind a tree.
The landslide happened after heavy rain in eastern Switzerland overnight. Five people were seriously injured and another six sustained slight injuries. A passenger who was on the train told of his experience when the train made an emergency stop. "We all rushed to the back of the carriage to put all of our weight there so that it wouldn't tip into the abyss." There were reportedly 200 people on the train when the accident happened.
The accident occurred on a mountainous train line near Tiefencastel, between Chur and St Moritz in the region of Graubuenden. The Swiss rail system is widely seen as among the safest in the world. But Wednesday's accident comes only two days after three people died when their minibus was hit by a train in central Switzerland. (photos & map at link)
Landslide Video (0:53)
U. S. - Strong Storms SHATTER RECORDS on Long Island, Cars Nearly Submerged. A historic storm system flooded cars, turned parking lots into lakes and smashed records on New York's Long Island, where one town got more than a foot of rain in just six hours on Wednesday.
Flash-flood watches were in effect across New England as the dousing chugged east. The National Weather Service described the Long Island flooding as dangerous and life-threatening. The town of Islip, which had never recorded more than 7 inches of rain in a single day, reported almost 13 inches. The pictures looked like something out of a hurricane.
Long Island was only the latest part of the country to be deluged. The body of a 100-year-old woman was found in the flooded basement of a house outside Detroit, which got more than 6 inches of rain on Monday — the MOST IN 89 YEARS. There was a flash flood emergency in Baltimore, where more than 8 inches of rain fell southeast of the city and where authorities had to close a tunnel on Tuesday.
In the Southwest, 16 people had to be rescued from street flooding in Phoenix. And over the weekend in Nebraska, heavy rain overwhelmed the storm-water system in Kearney, leading to flash floods that swept through a hospital cafeteria.
The Most Dramatic Images of East Coast Flooding
Michigan - Historic rain event slams metro Detroit . Incredible, widespread flooding on Monday shut down much of the Detroit metro freeway system. Historic rains strand hundreds of cars, flood thousands of homes across metro Detroit .
Maryland - Half a Foot of Rain Leaves Baltimore and Detroit Flooded . Major flooding near Baltimore after areas south of town have seen more than seven inches of rain in a short period of time.
SPACE WEATHER -
Potentially Dangerous Asteroid Turns Out to Be a Rubble Pile - An asteroid on NASA's list of potential impact threats to the Earth is actually a pile of loosely connected rubble held together by forces weaker than the weight of a penny, scientists say.
On Aug. 13, the All Sky Fireball Network reported 163 fireballs. (99 Perseids, 61 sporadics, 1 Northern Delta Aquarid, 1 Southern Delta Aquarid, 1 Southern Iota Aquarid)
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