When the sea receded 50 feet in one week on Puerto Rico's southern coast, people feared a tsunami was on the way. The extreme low tide stirred alarm in communities and sparked theories not only of a natural disaster, but supernatural as well. "There are people who have said it's a biblical sign," says Pedro Calixto, a Guayama resident. "There are others who don't dare go into the ocean because they believe it's a supernatural thing." But when residents called Puerto Rico's seismological agency, they discovered no earthquakes had been reported, and that the lower-than-normal tides were simply the work of the moon. According to seismologist Alberto Lopez Venegas, these severe tides happen only a few times yearly worldwide, when the moon is at its closest point to Earth, causing a stronger gravitational pull. The phenomenon was also witnessed across the Caribbean and in Central America. (SOURCE: The Associated Press)
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