MNN - Mother Nature Network

Nov. 4, 1966: Record flooding inundates the city of Florence, Italy, causing extensive damage to Renaissance artwork and centuries-old buildings. A week of heavy rains had pushed the Arno River out of its banks. On the night before, workers at an upstream dam, fearing its total collapse, released a huge torrent of water into the Arno, adding to the flood levels in Florence. 

 

Nov. 4, 1974: The first test flight of a solar-powered plane takes place at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The pilotless plane, designed by Robert Boucher, makes a short but successful flight.

 

Nov. 4, 2003:  Iran, Russia, and three former Soviet republics sign a treaty to protect the Caspian Sea. The Sea is the focus of intensive oil drilling, and is home to over 400 species found nowhere else in the world.

 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

 

This feature is compiled by Peter Dykstra, an MNN contributor and publisher of Environmental Health News and The Daily Climate.