Disaster

The entire population of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, Canada, were forced to flee a raging wildfire engulfing their city. Dash-cam captures the experience of one driver having to flee with 80,000 other residents as the fire moved from the outskirts into populated neighborhoods on Tuesday. The Mirror reports: The haunting video shows trees engulfed in flame, creating a towering wall of fire as the vehicles carefully edge forward seeking safety.

Since we first reported on the massive fire (and the fallout) that was burning in Canada's oil sands gateway, Fort McMurray, things have gone from bad to worse. Today we learn that the fire that has already devastated 600 square miles, growing an additional 50% in less than 24 hours, is out of control, and could double in size by the end of the day.

The appearance of an oil tanker, washed up and grounded on the shores of Liberia in west Africa with no crew or life boats, remains a mystery and a security concern. The Maritime Executive reports: The ship was abandoned when discovered by local residents, leading to speculation (but no confirmed reports) regarding the crew’s whereabouts. Farbric Radio reports that fishermen had spotted the vessel near the town of Taililor on Monday, and had not seen either crew or lifeboats aboard; the station said that she may have already been abandoned at the time she went aground.

NASA’s MESSENGER has revealed a Topographic map of Mercury after the spacecraft ran out of fuel and slammed into the planet’s surface last year, bringing an extraordinary eleven year mission to a successful end. The Planetary Data System (PDS) released the first global elevation model of Mercury’s surface on Friday.  MESSENGER Mission News reports: The global topographic model was among three new products released today by the Planetary Data System (PDS), an organization that archives and distributes all of NASA’s planetary mission data.

Yesterday we showed dramatic footage from various dash cams capturing the "apocalyptic" inferno that has made a burning ghost town out of Fort McMurray and is still raging in the heart of the Alberta oil sands. Today we present something more personal: in the following clip, Fort McMurray resident James O’Reilly watches on his iPhone as his home of almost 20 years burned to the ground just minutes after he and his wife fled the oncoming wildfire.