Earth ChangesS


Fire

Over 100 wildfires scorch Florida

Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 16:49 UTC
fire
More than 100 active wildfires are burning across the state right now, according to the Florida Forest Service. Twenty-seven of them are scorching more than 100 acres each.

"We're usually not this active this early in the season," the service's assistant fire chief, Ralph Crawford, said Monday.

So it has gone in Tampa Bay, where firefighters spent Monday battling brush fires that flared up in Hernando and Pasco counties. A fast-moving grass fire Friday in St. Petersburg shut down the Interstate 275 interchange at Gandy Boulevard just as rush hour started, tying up traffic for hours.

Since February, wildfires have swept across 68,000 acres of the state, already more than the average acreage burned over the past five years, Crawford said.

"And we're just barely into April," he added. "Usually May is our busiest month."


Comment:

Update: On April 11, 2017, Governor Scott called a state of emergency due to the fires:



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Cloud Precipitation

Huge hailstones pound San Antonio, Texas


wkyc.com
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 12:54 UTC
hail damage
A severe thunderstorm blasted the north side of San Antonio and northern Bexar County on Tuesday night, bringing with it high winds and large hail.

Numerous homes and cars were damaged by the hail, which was reported as being between the size of golf balls and baseballs.

The hail affected large portions of northern San Antonio starting around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday as a large thunderstorm cell moved across the area.

Homeowners in northwest San Antonio reported getting hit by hail for more than 10 minutes.
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Wolf

Woman attacked by family dogs in Quebec, Canada


CBC News
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 12:41 UTC
Dog attack
A 64-year-old woman in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal, suffered serious bites to her arms, face and head Monday when she was attacked by two dogs that lived with her.

One of the dogs, which police described as a pit bull-type dog, was shot and killed when officers responded to the scene and found it acting aggressively.

The second dog, described as a Boston terrier, was handed over to a local rescue.

The woman was found bleeding from bites to her arms, face and ears in an alley behind the apartment building where she lived.

"There will be serious, permanent damage," said Luc Tougas, a local police force spokesman.
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Attention

At least 11 hippos found dead along the Zambezi river in Zimbabwe


News 24
Sun, 09 Apr 2017 12:34 UTC
11 hippos have died in the past two weeks at Mlibizi River in Binga near the Zambezi River
11 hippos have died in the past two weeks at Mlibizi River in Binga near the Zambezi River
At least 11 hippos have reportedly been found dead in Zimbabwe's Mlibizi district in Binga.

According to New Zimbabwe.com, the carcasses were "recovered at different points in the Kavira forest and along Mlibizi River, near the Mighty Zambezi River".

The cause of the animals' death was not yet established and investigations continued.

Meanwhile, villagers were said to be feasting on the carcasses, obviously unware of possible health hazards.
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Arrow Up

Severe weather reports in U.S. tally 5,000+ so far this year; more than double the average

Chris Dolce
The Weather Channel
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 12:00 UTC
Cost of severe US weather events 2017
© YouTube/the Weather Channel (screen capture)Weather Disasters Costing U.S. Billions. The first three months of 2017 have proven to be very costly, after a series of weather disasters ranging from tornadoes to floods to crop-killing freezes.
The U.S. has endured a destructive start to 2017 from the multiple severe weather outbreaks since January.

There have been 5,372 preliminary reports of severe weather across the United States in 2017 through April 8, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC). That figure includes reports of tornadoes, large hail and wind damage.

This is more than than double the average of 2,274 for the same period of time during the past 10 years (2007-2016). In that decade, only 2008 had about the same number of severe weather reports by this point in the year with 5,242.

The animation below shows how the occurrences of wind damage, large hail and tornadoes have piled up month-by-month this year. Portions of the South have been hit the hardest, but the Midwest has also seen a high concentration of severe weather reports.

Comment: For more coverage on the extreme weather affecting the entire planet, check out our monthly SOTT Earth Changes Summaries. Last month:

SOTT Earth Changes Summary - March 2017: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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Attention

Girl attacked in her house by wild boar in Maharashtra, India


The Hitavada
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 19:23 UTC
Wild boar
Sensation prevailed in Kalidaulat Khan village of Pusad tehsil in the district on Sunday when a wild boar attacked a two-and- half-year-old girl while she was playing in her house.

The wild boar further dragged the girl Sharvari Sharad Darode for some distance. However, hearing her screaming, her mother and villagers rushed to rescue the girl. As the mob ran towards wild boar, it left the girl and fled in the forest.

Sharvari was badly injured in the incident and wash rushed to Government Hospital at Pusad. It is gathered that the village is adjacent to forest area and many wild animals stray in to human localities in search of water. Some days ago, a leopard had also entered the village.

boar attack
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Wolf

Pit bull attacks, injures woman and 2 grandchildren in Cassopolis, Michigan


U.S. News
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 19:05 UTC
Dog attack
Police say a southern Michigan woman and her two young grandchildren were hospitalized following a pit bull attack.

The Cass County Sheriff's Office says 44-year-old Jennifer Hansford of Cassopolis was injured Sunday evening when the dog attacked her as she tried to save her 2-year-old and 7-year-old grandchildren from the animal.

Hansford and the older child were taken to a Niles hospital for treatment. The 2-year-old was airlifted to a South Bend hospital with severe head trauma and later moved to Riley Children's hospital in Indianapolis.
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Arrow Down

5 missing following landslide in Nganjuk Regency, East Java

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 18:59 UTC
Landslide in Banaran Village, Pulung District, Ponorogo Regency, East Java, Indonesia, April 2017.
© BNPBLandslide in Banaran Village, Pulung District, Ponorogo Regency, East Java, Indonesia, April 2017.
Heavy rainfall on 08 April caused a landslide in Indonesia that has left several people missing.

The landslide occurred on 09 April in the hamlet of Dlopo, near the village of Kepel in Nganjuk Regency, East Java. Five people are thought to be missing and authorities are carrying out search operations.

Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency, BNPB, reports that the landslide occurred on a hillside where there are no settlements. However, the landslide buried people working in paddy field at the edge of a river. The slide also caused a blockage of the river for a short time. Landslide debris in the river has since been removed.

Slopes in the area are known to be prone to landslides. In 2015 large cracks, some 20 cm wide and 200 metres long, were found in some of the hillsides. In January this year the cracks were found to have grown wider and locals were warned to avoid the area.
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Wolf

85-yr-old man mauled to death by pack of stray dogs in Kerala, India


Khaleej Times
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 18:51 UTC
Dog attack
In continuing incidents of stray dog attacks in Kerala, an 85-year-old man was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs at Thiruvilam village in Thiruvananthapuram district, the police said today.

The deceased, Kunhikrishnan, had left his home at 9 AM yesterday, saying he was going for a hair cut, it said. When he did not return home till night, family members began a search for him and his body was found bitten by stray dogs late at night.

The elderly mans face and right hand were found bitten off, police said adding the man seemed to have put up a fight against the animals.
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Compass

New landslide discovered near massive 2014 landslide in Oso, Washington

Rachel Lerman
The Seattle Times
Sun, 09 Apr 2017 15:38 UTC
Landslide near Oso, Washington
© Washington State Dept of Natural ResourcesGeologists say a landslide has caused this slope near Oso to drop 4 feet since Tuesday.
A stretch of Highway 530 will remain closed through the Monday morning commute as geologists continue to evaluate a landslide south of the highway near Oso in rural Snohomish County.

Geologists from the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) were investigating the landslide Friday and Saturday, trying to get a sense of how fast it could be moving.

Signs of a slide were first discovered Tuesday by state Department of Transportation workers, who noticed cracks on a hillside road. DNR workers investigated Friday and saw signs of movement.

Cracks in the roadway were about 6 inches wide Tuesday, but had spread to 2 feet wide by Saturday. The hillside has dropped about 4 feet vertically, officials said. It is unclear if that shift occurred slowly or suddenly, state geologist Dave Norman said at a news conference Saturday.
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