Earthquake hits English Channel

I'd written a couple of weeks ago of a bizarre tsunami that occurred along the southern English coast, accompanied by widespread reports of static electricity. It was said at the time, "Experts said the phenomenon, which was felt from Penzance in Cornwall to Portsmouth, was likely to have been caused by a landslide on the continental shelf under the sea."

Today an earthquake hit the English Channel. BBC reports:

"An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 has struck in the English Channel, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said. The quake had a depth of 10km and its epicentre was south of Portsmouth, according to the BGS. Residents in parts of West Sussex reported buildings shaking for a few seconds at about 0800 BST. Sussex Police, Solent Coastguard and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said they had not been called out to any incidents related to it."

'Largest since 1734'
"David Kerridge, from the BGS, said it was the biggest incident of its kind in the area for nearly 300 years. He said: "This is the largest earthquake in this area since a magnitude 4.5 event in 1734. "Historically, there have been two other significant events nearby - a magnitude 5.0 earthquake in 1878 and a magnitude 4.3 earthquake in 1750." It should be noted that French seismos have the magnitude at 4.6, which WOULD make the quake the biggest in that area and almost the biggest ever.

Think about all those people in the English Channel train tunnel when an earthquake hits. Here is a seismic map:


I have no idea if the English tsunami two weeks ago and the Channel earthquake today are related. But I thought they were interesting, happening in nearly the same location and within a two-week time frame of each other. And here we have yet another superlative: the 'largest in 300 years'. These birth bangs will progressively get bigger, worse, taller mightier than the one happening before, until they run out of superlatives because the event will exceed man's ability to comprehend it. (Luke 21:26, Revelation 15-16).

Denver had a terrible storms last night. I read the twitter stream of people talking about it. They were terrified, many natives noting they had never seen the like. Here are the results from today's news:

"Boulder Creek surge sets off sirens as latest storm wreaks havoc
"Sirens blared and Boulder residents were ordered away from the creek as a 4-foot surge of water rolled into town Wednesday night, part of another wild weather night in Colorado. The Front Range, from Pueblo to Wyoming, roiled amid thunderstorms, lightning, hail and flooding for the second night in a row — and the eighth straight day of heavy rain. Most parts of the metro region have recorded at least three times their normal rainfall for this point in July."

But that was only the water. Let's talk about the hail. The hail was so bad it damaged 12 planes and they shut down the airport, stranding 1000 people.

"More than 1,000 airline passengers -- including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- were forced to spend the night at Denver International last night after a severe storm forced numerous flight cancellations. The storm brought a 15-minute period of golf-ball-sized hail, which damaged some aircraft at the airport, The Denver Post reports. Some of the damaged planes had to be taken out of service, which complicated efforts to accommodate disrupted passengers."

You may not know that this was the 8th day in a row such storms plagued the people in Colorado.

Comments

  1. All 3 of our children, plus my parents, live in the greater Colorado Springs area. Our eldest son wrote today saying that he was caught while walking home from the supermarket in the beginning of the storm that hit the Springs and was pummeled by hail. Fortunately, he made it home just as the biggest hail started. What people may also not know is that this part of Colorado is under severe drought conditions - very little snow last winter and very little rain until now. That makes these storms just that much more damaging - water runs off instead of soaking in.

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  2. thanks for taking the time to share an eyewitness update. I was wondering why a 4' wall of water was racing thru town.

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  3. I had no idea it was even storming in Colorado! Wow.... It does sound terrifying.

    I saw the news on the English Channel quake on my phone while I was out, and the first thing I thought of was that mini tsunami. I'm no professional, so yeah, no idea if they're related. But it is odd, these two things so near to each other...

    Birth pangs. Birthpangsbirthpangsbirthpangs.

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  4. Wow, that is crazy. I personally can't imagine having to spend the night in the creepy Denver "New World" Airport!!! Especially during a birth-pang storm outside.

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  5. Anonymous, July 14, 2011 4:44 PM -

    Creepy? Ah, come on now. I like DIA. I see those white tent tops, leaning here and there, and think to myself, depending on which way I'm flying of course, either *HOME!* or *on to another adventure!*

    Ok, I admit it - I laughed the first time I saw DIA, but I kind of like the airy feeling you get walking through or standing in line in the main terminal. From the outside the airport in Hurghada, Egypt looks just like DIA, so someone must really like the design. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM984A_Burger_King_Airport_Hurghada_Egypt

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  6. http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2011/07/08/video-of-n-interesting-landslide-in-russia-caused-by-a-leaking-pipe/

    I don't know if you already read this blog, but thought I'd post this in case you don't. This link is a video of a man-caused landslide in Russia from 10 days or so ago. It's quite interesting to watch, although you can hear a woman weeping off and on in the background. While watching it I was reminded of the earthquake in the English Channel. Although this was ultimately man-caused and landslides have been happening naturally since Adam sinned (there is nothing new under the sun, as Solomon wrote), it seems they are happening more frequently and possibly causing more damage for man than ever before. The earth is trembling and shuddering in preparation for what is soon to happen.

    http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/ Main blog with more info and reports of other landslides from around the world.

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  7. I agree that the denver airport is very creepy...

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