6.5 magnitude quake recorded off Papua New Guinea

Inspectors look for Hawaii quake damage


Quake Damage: The Kalahikiola Congregational Church, built in the Kohala district more than 150 years ago, after Sunday's temblor
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Parts of Honolulu have power restored while others remain dark Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006. A strong earthquake shook Hawaii early Sunday causing power failures throughout the state. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)


Tourists walk by a crack in the road after leaving their rental car behind due to the closure of the Akoni Pule highway in Kawaihae. Hawaii. The 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of the Big Island in Hawaii caused damage to many roadson the Big Island. Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006. (AP Photo/Agustin Tabares)


A bicyclist rides along the Kahumanu Highway with fallen rocks on the side of the road Sunday Oct. 15, 2006, after a rockslide caused by the 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of the Big Island in Hawaii Sunday. (AP Photo/Agustin Tabares)

HONOLULU - Officials began inspecting bridges and roads across Hawaii early Monday following the strongest earthquake to rattle the islands in more than two decades, a 6.6-magnitude quake that caused blackouts and landslides but no reported fatalities.

At least one stretch of road leading to a bridge near the earthquake's epicenter on the Big Island collapsed, Civil Defense Agency spokesman Dave Curtis said Monday.

Several other roads on the Big Island were closed by mudslides, debris and boulders, but most were still passable, he said. The power were back on across most of the islands Monday morning. About a dozen schools were closed for inspection, but no major injuries or deaths had been reported.

"If you're going to have an earthquake, you couldn't have had it at a better time — early in the morning when people aren't even out of their homes yet," Curtis said.

"I think people, under the circumstances, have remained very calm," he said.

The quake hit at 7:07 a.m. Sunday, 10 miles north-northwest of Kailua-Kona, on the west coast of Hawaii Island, known as the Big Island, said Don Blakeman of the National Earthquake Information Center, part of the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We were rocking and rolling," said Anne LaVasseur, who was on the second floor of a two-story, wood-framed house on the east side of the Big Island when the temblor struck. "I was pretty scared. We were swaying back and forth, like King Kong's pushing your house back and forth."

The shaking broke water pipes at ResortQuest Kona By The Sea, turning the front of the building into a dramatic waterfall starting at the fourth floor, said Kenneth Piper, who runs the front desk.

"You could almost see the cars bouncing up and down in the parking garage," Piper said.

Clean-up crews at work after quake jolts Hawaii

Erik von Ancken, who was vacationing in Hawaii with his fiancee, told CNN that the devastating 2004 tsunami that killed some 220,000 was the first thing that crossed his mind.

"It was a little bit nerve-wracking," he said, noting that the fish started jumping before he could feel the shakes.

"The guess was that this was an earthquake," he said, "The tsunami, that was everyone's first thought. People started running for higher ground."

Stewart Koyangi at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said "no tsunami is expected."

Stephanie Landers, a nurse at Hawaii Community Hospital, on the big island, said the quakes shook supplies off the walls and knocked air conditioning units down.

"There was a whole lot of rocking and rolling," she said, "and lots of screaming." But, she said, they had turned on emergency power and that things were returning to normal.

The reading of 6.6 was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released. The USGS revised its reading from an earlier 6.3.

A measurement of five indicates a moderate earthquake, six or higher a strong quake, seven a major quake and eight a great quake.

Houston, Dallas see heavy rain, flooding


A car sits abandoned in floodwaters in Houston, Monday, Oct. 16, 2006, following overnight rains. As much as 10 inches of rain has fallen in the Houston-Galveston area, according to the National Weather Service.

Severe thunderstorms with torrential rains and a possible tornado hit Southeast Texas overnight, killing two people, flooding roads and shutting down numerous schools Monday.

As much as 10 inches of rain fell in the Houston-Galveston area. More rain was expected across Texas on Monday, with the possibility of damaging winds and flooding, the National Weather Service said.

Two women were found dead in a sport utility vehicle on a heavily flooded roadway in Houston Monday morning. A police spokesman didn’t know the extent of the flooding, but broadcast reports said the SUV was in 8 feet of water.

South of Houston, as many as 20 homes were damaged when a suspected tornado roared through Magnolia Beach before daybreak Monday, Calhoun County Sheriff B.B. Browning said. The only injury reported in the small community 75 miles northeast of Corpus Christi was a cut thumb a man suffered from flying glass, he said.

Authorities also were investigating reports that high winds destroyed two mobile homes and severely damaged another structure in the town of China, a Jefferson County official said.

More than a dozen Houston-area public schools and the Galveston public school system canceled classes Monday because of power outages and flooded roads.

In Dallas, up to four inches of rain prompted flash flood warnings. Flood advisories also were issued for other parts of North and West Texas.

The storms were expected to continue across North and East Texas before tapering off late Monday night, said forecaster Joe Harris.

In Louisiana, three people were hurt early Monday when strong winds blew through the fishing community of Leeville, 90 miles south of New Orleans, authorities said.

An elderly couple was rescued from an overturned trailer. The woman suffered a broken arm, while her husband was treated for bruises and lacerations, said Larry Weidel, a spokesman for the Lafourche Parish sheriff. Another person was treated for a knee injury, he said. The storm sank at least two boats, as well.

Buffalo still shoveling snow, schools closed
'You got to see it to believe it,' says utility spokesman of power damage

BUFFALO, N.Y. - They’re taking snow days to a new level in Buffalo, where more than 250,000 homes and businesses are still without power after last week's surprise snow storm. Three suburban school districts already have announced they’re closing for the entire week.

Officials in the three districts say many schools are still without power and phone service after last week’s record snowfall. They also worry about kids getting to their bus stops.

Within the city limits, government offices reopened Monday but Buffalo’s 36,000 schoolchildren are off again and city officials aren’t sure what tomorrow will bring. Thirty one of the city’s 38 schools still don’t have power or phone service.

Meantime, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is releasing up to $5 million in clean-up funds for four western New York counties.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said the city was "making progress" recovering from the storm that dumped more than two feet of heavy, wet snow on the area, leaving three people dead and, at one point, nearly 400,000 homes and businesses without power.

Flooding fears
On Sunday, residents took advantage of sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s as they began clearing damage from the unprecedented storm that began Thursday night and lasted into early Friday. The new danger was from localized flooding from melting snow.

Some could be in dark for a week
Hospitals, senior centers, water and sewage treatment plants and other key operations were being given priority as National Grid and New York State Electric & Gas crews continued round-the-clock efforts to restore power. Nevertheless, it could take up to a week to restore power to some individual homes in outlying areas, utility officials said.

NYSEG reported it still had 74,000 customers without power Sunday evening. National Grid said it had about 180,000 residential and commercial customers without power. Some 392,000 homes and businesses were left powerless in the storm's immediate aftermath, including about 70 percent of the city of Buffalo.

"It's one of those kinds of storms you got to see it to believe it," said Steve Brady, a spokesman for National Grid.

Colder air surprised experts
Tom Paone, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said the storm surprised even weather forecasters, who at first predicted heavy rain, then just a few inches of snow. But lake-effect storms — caused by cold northern winds blowing across the warmer Great Lakes — are notorious for unpredictability.

"What happened was that the air behind the cold front was colder than the models indicated. There also was a strong jet stream across New York that lifted the air, and made it even colder. Unfortunately, things came together at the right time in the right way," Paone said.

"We kept updating our forecasts, but even if we had put out information that this was going to happen, I'm not sure people would have believed us. There was no way to anticipate the widespread effect," he said.

Flooding threatens parts of South

Tropical depression drenches Mexico

MEXICO CITY - A former tropical storm regained strength Sunday and lashed southwestern Mexico with heavy rains, forecasters said.

The weather system, which had been named Tropical Storm Norman before disintegrating last week, strengthened back to a tropical depression Sunday, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph.

The government had issued a tropical storm warning Sunday for a swath of the Pacific Coast from the port city of Lazaro Cardenas to Cabo Corrientes, but discontinued it about 12 hours later.

The storm was centered about 30 miles west of the resort town of Manzanillo late Sunday afternoon. It had been speeding toward Mexico's coast earlier, but slowed down rapidly before becoming stationary and starting to dissipate again.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the depression could drop 6 to 12 inches of rain over some areas, with isolated accumulations of 15 inches, threatening flash floods and mudslides.

Mexico was hit by two hurricanes last month. Hurricane John battered a remote section of Baja California, killing five people and destroying 160 homes, while Hurricane Lane struck the resort town of Mazatlan, causing relatively minor damage.

Severe storms/flooding for Gulf Coast

Judge: Buy Christmas dinner

A Georgia judge is making a man buy an expensive Christmas dinner for his family this year to resolve 2005 Christmas charges, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

"Basically you were hung over and didn't want to be involved in some activities your wife planned," the judge said, according to the paper. "You acted up and ruined Christmas, so this year you're going to make it up to them."

What happened last year? "Authorities say Rogers, 33, came home from a party on Christmas Eve and got into a confrontation with his wife in front of their two children the next morning. He was charged with family violence battery and obstructing and hindering a person making an emergency telephone call."

Heavy rains hit portions of Texas

Soaking rain was expected to continue across Texas on Monday, and storms could bring damaging winds and flooding to parts of the state, the National Weather Service said.
Some of the heaviest rains Sunday fell along the Red River Valley and in the South Plains. Road crews closed a stretch of Farm-to-Market Road 452 in Cottle County east of Lubbock where water covered the road Sunday night. Sheriff Kenneth A. Burns said water would recede quickly in the washed out spot once the rains stopped.

In Paducah, .83 inches of rain fell in an hour Sunday night. Guthrie in King County had 1.07 inches of rain in an hour after recording 2-4 inches of rain before sunrise, said Jeff Vitale, a meteorologist with the weather service in Lubbock.

Rainfall totals for the 24-hour period ending at 7 p.m. included 4.74 inches at Wichita Falls, 3.63 in Childress and 2.08 in Beaumont.

Joe Harris, a forecaster in the weather service's Fort Worth bureau, said more rain was on the way.

Storms should continue to drop heavy rain on much of North and East Texas before tapering off late Monday night, Harris said. Otherwise, the areas can expect highs in the mid-70s and overnight lows in the 60s. Wind gusts could reach 25 mph in the Tyler area.

The band of storms should reach down through Central Texas and along much of the state's coastline.

Rain was forecast throughout the day in the Austin and Houston areas, which saw wet weather on Sunday. In Spring, just north of Houston, weekend rain forced the cancellation of the final round of the Administaff Small Business Classic golf tournament, part of the Champions Tour.

Forecasters said storms on Monday could produce damaging downburst winds and heavy rain across Southeast Texas, which should see highs around 80 degrees.

Snow in the Rockies, severe thunderstorms for the Mississippi Valley

Dengue fever outbreak in India kills dozens more

NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (Reuters) - An outbreak of dengue fever in India has killed 42 more people and infected another 1,000 over the past four days despite authorities' efforts to control the spread of the mosquito-borne disease, officials said on Sunday.

A total of 94 people have died and nearly 5,000 dengue cases have been reported since late August. The disease is spread by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito.

"We are not taking the situation lightly. I wish we had an adequate action plan each year to prevent this outbreak," P.K. Hota, India's health secretary, said.

Health officials in New Delhi as well as state governments have been criticised for not anticipating the dangers of mosquito breeding in stagnant and filthy water that collects after the monsoons taper off.

India is also fighting an outbreak of Chikungunya, another disease spread by female Aedes mosquito and which has the same symptoms of high fever, joint and muscular pains, vomiting and skin rashes as dengue.

The government has confirmed 1,610 Chikungunya cases so far with no reported deaths but said there were 1.35 million suspected infections nationwide.

The outbreaks, especially the dengue cases, have received wide media attention this year as the national capital, with a huge municipal budget, has been the worst hit by dengue fever with 24 deaths and nearly 1,400 cases. Civic authorities in New Delhi are running a campaign asking residents to empty their water-coolers and even flower vases to remove breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Rains slow final phase of Brazil CS cane harvest

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Wet weather this week is expected to slow Brazil's center-south cane harvest, which is more than 80 percent completed, private forecaster Somar said on Monday.

A cold front will bring about 30 millimeters of rain to Parana on Monday and Tuesday and 40 mm to Sao Paulo state on Wednesday and Thursday as the weather system moves north.

"Rains will ease on Friday and the weekend will be hot and dry," said Somar's Cassia Beu.

But another cold front will bring more rain to cane areas from October 25 and make field work difficult.

Wet weather could delay completion of this year's harvest by a couple of weeks until end-November and Unica's forecast of a record 370.6 million tonnes crush may be revised down slightly with more cane than expected left uncut.

Some analysts and brokers expect only around 360 million tonnes to be harvested.

Plentiful rain since September reduced the saccharose content in cane but aided growth for next year's harvest.