Earth ChangesS


Wolf

Man killed by dogs near Salton Sea, California

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© Riverside County Department of Animal ServicesTwo dogs were taken into custody after they killed a man and injured a woman in North Shore Tuesday. They were taken to the Riverside County animal campus in Thousand Palms.
The victim of Tuesday's fatal dog attack in North Shore was identified as a 65-year-old resident.

Emilio Rios was pronounced dead at 6:32 a.m. in front of a home at 70-670 Sea Gull Drive, according to the Riverside County Coroner's office.

Riverside County sheriff's deputies found him at about 6:15 a.m. Shortly after, they heard a cry from a woman who was being attacked by dogs nearby.

The officers sounded lights and sirens, which scared the dogs away, and paramedics transported the victim to a local hospital, where she is being treated for major injuries.


Newspaper

Fracking Fallout: Over 100 Million gallons of toxic wastewater spilled since 2009

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© Faces of Fracking/cc/flickrA pipe pours fracking waste into an unlined holding pond in Kern County, California.
Associated Press investigation finds more than 180 million gallons of fracking byproduct spilled from 2009 to 2014, tainting agricultural land, poisoning drinking water, and sparking the mass die-off of plant and animal life.

Among the litany of risks posed by the continued extraction and use of fossil fuels, an Associated Press analysis published Tuesday exposes yet another harmful side effect of the oil and gas drilling boom: an uptick in toxic wastewater spills.

According to data obtained from leading oil- and gas-producing states, "more than 180 million gallons of wastewater spilled from 2009 to 2014 in incidents involving ruptured pipes, overflowing storage tanks and other mishaps or even deliberate dumping," AP reports, tainting agricultural land, poisoning drinking water, and sparking the mass die-off of plant and animal life.

Comment: Holy frack: More concern arises over groundwater contamination from fracking


Arrow Down

Huge sinkhole opens up in Sturgeon Creek, Canada

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Brent Mackie stands by a large sinkhole open on Ness Avenue at Sturgeon Creek on Monday Sept. 07, 2015. The sinkhole opened during heavy rains last Friday.
Forgive neighbours in the area if they had a sinking feeling over the Labour Day Weekend.

Thanks to Friday's storm, a sinkhole on Ness Avenue near Sturgeon Creek expanded so much that it could have sucked in vehicles in one gulp.

"I heard a loud boom and the sinkhole that was already there quadrupled in size," said Brent Mackie, who lives on Alcott Street. "It's about 35-40 feet long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet deep.

"It's about 35 yards from my front door. It's like I've got a swimming pool in my front yard."

The original sinkhole, which was formed during the last monsoon about three weeks ago, was about 10 feet long, 12 feet wide and 10 feet deep, Mackie said.

"Holy smokes! It's turned into a psycho-sinkhole," said Barny Haines, who lives on Kirby Drive. "It's serious and the reality is, uncovered (like) it was when it first happened, it was fortunate that a car didn't go into it."

Attention

Massive Great White shark dies following beaching on Cape Cod

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© Wellfleet, Massachusetts Police DepartmentA stranded Great White shark on Whitecrest Beach in Mass. on Sept. 6, 2015.
Dozens of holiday beach-goers formed a bucket brigade to try to save a mammoth great white shark that beached itself over the weekend on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but the beast died, authorities said.

At least 100 people at White Crest Beach for the Labor Day weekend rushed to help the 1-ton, 14-foot-long shark, which was reported beached at 8:09 a.m. Sunday, Wellfleet police said. Many of them relayed buckets of water to splash on the shark while specialists from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and the National Park Service were called.

Police said the shark was helped out to deeper water by a Shark Conservancy boat. The animal appeared to be injured, they said, and NBC station WJAR of Providence, Rhode Island, reported that the animal later died.

"It was gasping for air on the shore," a witness, Bill Bellrose, told WJAR. "It was big — it was a big shark."


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© Wellfleet, Massachusetts Police Department

Bizarro Earth

Rare deadly dust storm engulfs the Middle East, halting NATO-Israeli war ops

Dust storm
© Mohamed Azakir / ReutersA general view shows the public beach on Ramlet al Bayda seaside during a sandstorm in Beirut, Lebanon September 8, 2015.
An unseasonal dust storm has swept through the Middle East, blanketing Beirut and Damascus, killing at least two and hospitalizing hundreds in Lebanon, and halting airstrikes in neighboring Syria where five people have reportedly died due to the freak weather.

People across the region have posted stunning pictures online of huge clouds of dust that speak for themselves. The deadly sandstorm is so large it can be seen from space. NASA has shared an image of the raging dust and sand, which caused breathing problems, reduced visibility in parts of Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Israel and Iraq and even forced school closures.

Comment: Mother nature can stop wars if humans can't.


Fire

Large fire sparked in Yosemite National Park

yosemite fire
© National Park Service
A 100-acre fire sparked in Yosemite National Park floats above mountain ranges Tuesday afternoon.

The smoke visible Tuesday in the Yosemite Valley is coming from the Tenaya Fire, which is located in Indian Canyon above the north rim of the Valley on both sides of the Lehamite trail, between the Valley and Tioga Road.

The fire was discovered last night and is currently estimated at 100 acres. The fire is spotting among dead trees creating much of the large smoke plume we are seeing in Yosemite Valley.

Full suppression efforts are underway, with two 20-person Type-1 hand crews on scene. Four air tankers and two helicopters are also assisting. Temperatures are expected to drop tonight which should help firefighting efforts. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Smoky conditions are likely to persist over the next few days.

Trails on the north rim of Yosemite Valley south of the Tioga Road and east of Yosemite Creek, to near Olmsted Point, are closed.

No estimate on a containment date was given.

Details: Here.

Attention

Tourist attacked by elephant in Zimbabwe

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A shot from the video of the elephant attacking Stephen Montague
This is the terrifying moment when an elephant attacks a Northern Ireland man on holiday in Africa.

Stephen Montague was sitting with relatives in a restaurant in Zimbabwe when the animal swung its massive trunk at them, throwing them off their chairs.

Stephen's brother-in-law was wounded when the elephant's tusks cut into him. The family, who are on a photographic safari, seem to have had a lucky escape.

The animal went away when guards in the complex intervened. While elephants are generally not aggressive, males can be volatile and attack humans. Around 500 people a year are killed by elephants.


Attention

Surfer bitten by shark at North Shelly Beach, Australia

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© Shaun HiltonJustin Daniels, 42, was bitten on the hand and shaken from his board during the shark attack.
A surfer who was bitten by a shark on the New South Wales Central Coast says it was like re-watching the Mick Fanning attack and he is lucky to have escaped with only minor injuries.

Justin Daniels, 42, from Berkeley Vale suffered minor puncture wounds to his left hand after being bitten close to shore about 6:15am at North Shelly Beach, north of Gosford.

"It easily could have taken my hand or arm or come back for me. I am lucky. It was frightening," Mr Daniels said.

"You are being attacked by a live animal ... It is survival, I was in a zone and I just wanted to get out of there."


Windsock

Unseasonal sandstorm blankets Beirut, Damascus; hits Jordan, Israel and Egypt

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© AP/Mahmoud IlleanThe Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound is seen during a sandstorm in Jerusalem's Old City,Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. The unseasonal sandstorm has hit the Middle East, reducing visibility and sending hundreds to hospitals with breathing difficulties.
An unseasonal sandstorm swept across the Mideast on Tuesday, blanketing Beirut and Damascus, causing the deaths of at least five people and sending hundreds of others to hospitals with breathing difficulties, officials said.

Reduced visibility prompted the Syrian government to call off airstrikes against rebel fighters, local media reported, and threatened planned protests by Lebanese activists over the government's inability to deal with the country's rampant trash crisis.

The storm also hit Jordan, Israel and Egypt. In Jordan, schools shut down or cut their days short.

Syria's state-run news agency SANA said three people in the central Hama province died from the sandstorm, without elaborating, and said there were more than 3,500 cases of people with breathing difficulties across several provinces.

The sandstorm reached Beirut on Tuesday, a day after it engulfed eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. People, especially those with health issues, were advised to stay indoors while many of those who ventured onto the streets donned surgical masks.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 750 people suffered breathing problems across the country, and that two women died because of the sandstorm, without providing details. Two boats set adrift were rescued by coast guard, the National News Agency said. Airport officials reported some flight delays.

Cloud Precipitation

Large hailstones pound Pierre, South Dakota

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The Pierre-Ft. Pierre Area was hit by a Thunderstorm early last evening that deposited a lot of rain in a short time. It also had pea to golf ball size hail in the Pierre Area.

One public report from Ft. Pierre near the Dunes Golf Course had hail the size of baseball's reported.

There was some short time minor flooding on Sioux Avenue during the course of the storm but damage was listed as minor although vehicles and windshields were the worst hit.

There is at least one report of a back windshield of a vehicle in Pierre broken out. Pierre officially received .18 hundreths of an inch of rain although amounts vary throughout the City.