[ValerieUSA]

Global warming strikes again!

100 Feared Dead in Russia Avalanche

By YURI BAGROV Associated Press Writer

GIZEL, Russia (AP)--A 500-foot-high chunk of glacier crashed down a Caucasus mountainside, burying a village in ice, rocks and mud and leaving as many as 100 people missing and feared dead Saturday--among them, a Russian movie star and his film crew.

...The avalanche raged down the Karmadon Gorge in the Russian republic of North Ossetia late Friday after a glacier 495 feet tall broke off from below a peak in the rugged Caucasus Mountains, gathering a mix of mud, rocks and uprooted tree trunks its path.

Moving at more than 62 mph, the avalanche slid 20 miles before it stopped on the Gizel-Karmadon highway about 6 miles from the regional capital of Vladikavkaz. Seen from the road, the path of destruction was about 300-400 yards wide.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Moving at more than 62 mph, the avalanche slid 20 miles before it stopped on the Gizel-Karmadon highway about 6 miles from the regional capital of Vladikavkaz. Seen from the road, the path of destruction was about 300-400 yards wide.

That would have been something to see... from a distance.