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WEATHER

Riviera flood: Marineland park under sea of mud

The devastating storms that lashed the French Riviera this weekend have left Marineland, the largest sea park in Europe under a sea of mud, with stingrays and sharks among the animals lost to the floods.

Riviera flood: Marineland park under sea of mud
Seals left swimming in muddy pool after the floods. Photo: Bardot Foundation.

The deadly storms that hit the southern coast of France this weekend, left Marineland, the largest sea park in Europe and the ‘pride of Antibes’ ravaged.

After the deluge of flood water swept down from the hills, penguins and sea lions found themselves in mud-filled pools and there were reports that stingrays and other species were found dead in the car park.

Others claimed sea lions and tortoises were able to escape from their enclosures.

The waves of 1.5. to 2.5 metres inundated some aquariums, killing stingrays and sharks, while a number of turtles remain missing.

One turtle was found this morning trapped in the dolphin’s filtration system.

Opponents of the park including the animal rights group the Brigitte Bardot foundation, which called it a ‘prison’ on Twitter, are suspicious that not enough has been said about the whereabouts of the killer whales, which are one of the park’s main attractions along with Mediterranean stingrays and turtles.

But park chiefs dismissed the suspicion.

Marineland manager Bernard Giampaolo told 20 Minutes news site: “There have been some losses, but our killer whales are not dying on the parking lot as some people are saying here and there. The situation with the animals is beginning to stabilize.” 

 

 

“We have no electricity, no flowing water,” said park director Bernard Gianpaolo, as dozens of firemen worked to pump out water blocking filtration systems at the park.

 

The park was as unrecognizable as the campsites and woodlands in the surrounding area that were also left devastated by the storms, which left 19 people dead.

Now completely submerged in muddy water, over 90 percent of the filtration machines that make sure the pools are suitable for the animals have been destroyed, along with the park’s tropical fish tanks.

Only the two performance stages were able to withstand the force of the storms.

The park has been closed until further notice.

 
 

 

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WEATHER

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

Blizzards in Denmark this week have resulted in the greatest depth of snow measured in the country for 13 years.

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

A half-metre of snow, measured at Hald near East Jutland town Randers, is the deepest to have occurred in Denmark since January 2011, national meteorological agency DMI said.

The measurement was taken by the weather agency at 8am on Thursday.

Around 20-30 centimetres of snow was on the ground across most of northern and eastern Jutland by Thursday, as blizzards peaked resulting in significant disruptions to traffic and transport.

A much greater volume of snow fell in 2011, however, when over 100 centimetres fell on Baltic Sea island Bornholm during a post-Christmas blizzard, which saw as much as 135 centimetres on Bornholm at the end of December 2010.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s January storms could be fourth extreme weather event in three months

With snowfall at its heaviest for over a decade, Wednesday saw a new rainfall record. The 59 millimetres which fell at Svendborg on the island of Funen was the most for a January day in Denmark since 1886. Some 9 weather stations across Funen and Bornholm measured over 50cm of rain.

DMI said that the severe weather now looks to have peaked.

“We do not expect any more weather records to be set in the next 24 hours. But we are looking at some very cold upcoming days,” DMI meteorologist and press spokesperson Herdis Damberg told news wire Ritzau.

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