Spectacular images and video footage of three simultaneous waterspouts over Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana emerged online after multiple tornadoes hit the state.

The waterspouts were spotted moving northwards over the lake situated between New Orleans and Mandeville on Tuesday afternoon.

A 4.8-magnitude earthquake shook just after 4 p.m. Tuesday about 22 miles outside of Bakersfield, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake is the biggest earthquake in California in more than a year, according to the USGS. Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, told KPCC that Tuesday's earthquake is the biggest shake the state has had since 2014's 5.1 in La Habra and the 6.0 Napa earthquake. There was also a 5.7 earthquake offshore in January 2015, and a 4.8 that came close just a week ago (it was a 4.77, while this was a 4.84).

"All of California is earthquake country, this is a relatively less common site down under the basin — but we have seen earthquakes here before," Jones said.

The earthquake was reportedly 13 miles deep, which is why it was felt as far away as the Los Angeles area, Jones said. According to KPCC's earthquake tracker, 280 people have reported they felt the quake.

There were no injuries or damages reported, Kern County Fire Department spokesperson James Dowell told KPCC.

A map from the USGS shows locations of where people felt the shake, and how big of an impact the shake had.

To tell USGS what you felt, fill out the "Did you feel it" report on the agency's website.

A mother awoke to blood-curdling screams after her six-year-old son was attacked in his bed by a three-metre long carpet python.

The boy, Tyler, was sleeping in the top bunk in his bedroom at his family home near Macksville, on the NSW Mid North Coast, on Friday night when the snake bit him several times on his face and hand.

Tyler's mother, Tamara, told the Guardian News she ran into the room and ripped the snake off his body.

"It was like a nightmare," the Nambucca Heads newspaper reported Tamara as saying.

"It was a terrifying scream and I didn't know what had happened - I certainly didn't think it involved a snake.

"I have no idea how it even got into the house."

When Tamara entered the bedroom she said the snake was wrapped around her son's belly.

"I tried to pull Tyler from the bed but he didn't come with me ... I had to roll him, then pull," she said.

"I saw his face and the blood and his eyes were still closed so I don't think he was fully awake.

"I tried to check him over but he wouldn't let me touch him anywhere."

Within five minutes Tamara's cousins arrived at the property and "dealt with the snake" while Tamara drove her son to Macksville District Hospital.

"Tyler doesn't remember anything - which is the best part," Tamara said.

"He was only complaining about his finger hurting. He tapped his head on the way to hospital and he asked me why he was bleeding.

"He wouldn't know that a snake had bitten him if we hadn't told him or if people hadn't been talking about it."

A family friend, Craig Baker, posted an image of Tyler's bloodied face on Facebook, with another photograph, of her cousin Brady, holding up the snake. Brady is seen holding the snake above his head - but it is so long it drapes on the ground at his feet and is curled around his hand.

Mr Baker wrote that the python bit Tyler several times on his face and hand, before Tamara heard his screams and ran to his aid.

"Tammy ... had to pull the snake off him," Mr Baker said.

When contacted, a spokeswoman for the Mid North Coast Local Health District said a six-year-old boy was taken to Macksville District Hospital just after midnight on February 19. The child was transferred to Coffs Harbour Hospital, and was released later that morning.

Mr Baker said Tyler was "fine" following the bite.

At least three people were killed Tuesday night in as strong storms blasted through the southern U.S.

One death was reported in Lamar County, Miss., according to the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson.

Lamar County Coroner Cody Creel confirmed one fatality in Lamar County as a result of the storms that passed through.

Two more deaths were were reported in southern Louisiana after a tornado hit an RV park in Convent, according to Fox 8 New Orleans.

Several RVs were overturned and emergency workers were trying to reach victims, the news organization reported.

Word of the deaths came amid at least 15 reports of tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama that were recorded by the Storm Prediction Center as of 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Nebraska City residents in the Greggsport Addition are used to hearing trains whistle through the night, but sounds recorded at 11:34 p.m. on Feb. 21 were more akin to the mysterious Sounds of the Apocalypse circulating on the Internet and social media sites.

YouTube posts since 2011 have captured mysterious noises, some seeming to come from the sky. Reports of eerie trumpet sounds have been posted from around the world, including the Philippines, Australia, Germany, Russia and the United States.

Snopes.com reports that the US Geological Survey experts note that unusual sounds can be attributed to deep earthquakes and waves crashing into distant cliffs. While the sounds are expected to have an earthly origin, some scientist say atmospheric noise can also be caused by meteor flashes and acoustic gravity waves.

Click below to hear a sound recorded at Riverview Park in Nebraska City Sunday night. It is 1 minute and 50 seconds long. There is a train whistle at 45 seconds, otherwise it is just the trumpet blast.

Disaster experts are keeping a close eye on a seismic hotspot after three large volcanoes began erupting with fears of a fourth in the offing.

Volcano experts from the US, UK, Costa Rica and local geologists are observing activity at four active peaks in Nicaragua after the flurry of explosions.

The biggest, and most active, is the enormous 1,297-metre Momotombo stratovolcano, near the city of León.

Momotombo, on the north of Lake Managua 25 miles from Nicaragua's capital Managua, blew for the first time in 110 years in December, and has been active ever since.

In a post about the situation Costa Rican English-speaking news site The Tico Times wrote it had sent "geologists and local townspeople into a tizzy"

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 has struck the Indian Ocean between Antarctica and Australia, seismologists say. No tsunami warnings have been issued.

The earthquake, which struck at about 5:08 a.m. Sydney time on Wednesday, was centered about 454 kilometers (282 miles) northeast of the French scientific station Dumont d'Urville in Antarctica, or about 2,261 kilometers (1,405 miles) south of Hobart on Tasmania.

The earthquake struck at a depth of about 7.7 kilometers (4.8 miles) below the seabed, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported. The earthquake was not strong enough to generate a tsunami, and no alerts were issued by the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre.

No damage or casualties were expected from Wednesday's earthquake.

As winter wanes and spring creeps in for much of the northern hemisphere, we checked out some impressive images of ice, particularly surrounding the world's largest - and coldest - lakes.

Whether it's ice stacking on Lake Superior in the US, car-shaped icicles in Canada, or floating blocks on Lake Baikal in Russia, mother nature has put on quite a show this season.

Lake Superior, USA

As sheets of ice crashed on the shore of the great Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota, they stack up like broken glass, creating a beautiful and somewhat hypnotic scene.


Lake Baikal, Siberia

With temperatures dipping to -19 degrees Celsius (-3 Fahrenheit) and strong winds, a block of ice can be seen floating across the frozen lake as though it's just off to meet another block further along.

Dozens of people have been killed by the powerful cyclone Winston, which has been ravaging Fiji in recent days. Experts warn that the island country can suffer possible outbreaks of the Zika and Dengue viruses.

The footage posted on the Fijiian government website shows a massive scale of destruction on the small island - whole villages have been flooded amid Winston's destructive winds, which reportedly reached about 325 kph.

"The images emerging from early aerial assessments of affected areas are truly heartbreaking, leaving little doubt about the ferocity of this cyclone," said Osnat Lubrani, UN Resident Coordinator in Fiji.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said that the recovery process will take "a long time."

"Almost no part of our nation has been left unscarred. And many of our rural and maritime areas bore the brunt of Winston's fury," he said.

Aid agencies said that Fiji now may face outbreaks of the Zika and Dengue viruses, both of which are caused by infected mosquitoes.

"The threat of dengue and Zika in the coming days in Fiji is real," said Chris Hagarty, senior health program manager at Plan International Australia. "The period immediately following a disaster of this scale can be a particularly dangerous one."


According to the UN, more than 8,100 people "are currently sheltering in evacuation centers" and 150 houses have been destroyed in the storm.

A massive house explosion in a Seattle suburb knocked out windows several hundred yards away and was mistaken by some locals to be an earthquake.

Officials told CBS affiliate KIRO-TV in Seattle the explosion occurred in a residence in Port Orchard shortly after 4 a.m.

It is not known if anyone was home during the blast.

Officials said the home was leveled by the blast, and the fire has been contained. The cause of the explosion is unclear.

An elementary school several hundreds yards away saw many of its windows shattered.

Several nearby residents told KIRO they initially thought it was an earthquake. One resident told KIRO that officers at Naval Base Kitsap in nearby Bremerton across the inlet from Port Orchard sent officers searching the base for the source until they realized what had happened.