Earthquakes and flooding and skies, oh my!

Anyone hear about the earthquakes that occurred earlier today in China? Homes tumbled to the ground... sad. It's not surprising that you didn't hear about it... I couldn't find anything about it on the regular CNN website, but my dear CNN friend who writes for CNN International shared the news with me in my personalized world news update. Thanks, Courtney! They don't just tell the overly dramatic and big shock media stories, they tell what is happening.

CHINA EARTHQUAKE HOMES TUMBLED TO THE GROUND. BUT NO DEATHS OR INJURIES ARE REPORTED AFTER A STRING OF EARTHQUAKES ROCKED WESTERN CHINA TODAY. THE FIRST AND BIGGEST TEMBLOR WAS A MAGNITUDE SEVEN-POINT-TWO. AT LEAST THREE AFTERSHOCKS FOLLOWED IT.

(This AP photo links to the CNN source, but I think it is a good depiction of the popular campaign by the National Weather Service boasting, "TURN AROUND, DON'T DROWN!") Anyways, a little closer to home, we have major snow storms in the northern states, with some areas approaching record snowfall values for a season, near 100 feet in parts... we have some devastating flooding in the central US, where, though rains have stopped, melting snow and excessive rainfall earlier in the week has caused/will cause several rivers to rise to major flood stage, at some points 25 feet over flood stage, some of the WORST flooding since the 1800's!!!... Let's explore this flooding story today... that is definitely a story of interest and relevance for this blog...

At least 16 deaths have been linked to the weather over the past few days, and at least two people were missing.

The pictures of the flooding coming in out of Missouri are shocking. The number of flood warnings in Missouri is unbelievable.

"Overall moisture is unprecedented for this time of year over an area that extends over 1,000 miles"

President Bush has actually declared a major disaster in Missouri, ordering federal agencies to assist the impacted areas. Levees have already started to be breached causing many residents to have to evacuate to higher ground.

Mini-Dew will be returning from a field trip that she took to Atlanta this week. They spent an action packed three days up in that tornado damaged city this week, starting in the downtown area at the Aquarium, which is within an easy walk of the CNN building, Olympic park, Westin Peachtree Plaza and other areas devastated by the March 14th tornado. She was excited to have an opportunity to take some photographs of the damage for my blog, but she said I will need to say that she took them.(That's my girl... already asking for a by-line) When it first happened, we didn't know how the tornado would impact the field trip, but she was quite relieved to learn that they would be going, just skipping the picnic in the debris strewn park and the tour of the Georgia Dome was dropped from the itinerary. I am anxious to see her pics.

Oops, almost forgot sky watch... again... Sky Watch Friday. Check out Tom's site for info on how to play... Tom has been filling in for Dot, while she takes a break from it for a while. Great shots, guys! Here is mine... Happy Spring, y'all!Happy Friday!
~Dewdrop