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Huge sinkhole closes Runnymede Road in Toronto

Stephanie Werner
The Toronto Star
Mon, 29 Jun 2015 16:06 UTC
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© Jos YuleA giant sinkhole opened up on Monday afternoon in the Junction, closing Runnymede Rd.
Toronto Police have closed Runnymede Rd. in the west end from St. John's Rd. to Annette St. indefinitely due to a giant sinkhole.

TTC has rerouted the 71 Runnymede and 79 Scarlett Rd both ways via Annette St., Jane St. and Dundas St.

Sinkholes are caused when leaking pipes or water mains wash away soil or rock deep beneath the road's surface - not to be confused with potholes, which are caused by surface damage.

In Toronto, most sinkholes are caused by man-made failures, like leaky pipes.

In 2006, a 10-metre-wide sinkhole on Sheppard Ave. W. cost the city close to $1 million to repair. It's estimated that Toronto experiences about 20 to 50 sinkholes a year.
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Sun

London breaks U.K. July heat record; long-lasting Europe heat wave expands

Jon Erdman
The Weather Channel
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 14:55 UTC
Europe heat wave
© The Weather Channel
While record-smashing heat is searing the Northwest United States and southwest Canada, a European heat wave is smashing monthly records, becoming more widespread in Europe, and may last in some areas into next week.

Wednesday afternoon, the temperature at London's Heathrow Airport skyrocketed to 36.7 degrees Celsius -- 98.1 degrees Fahrenheit -- a July heat record not only there but for anywhere in the U.K., according to the U.K. Met Office.

The previous U.K. July heat record was set almost nine years ago -- 36.5 degrees C in Wisley on July 19, 2006. It was also the hottest day in Wimbledon history, topping the previous record of 34.6 degrees C on June 26, 1976.

Paris, France saw its temperature soar to 39.7 degrees Celsius -- 103.5 degrees Fahrenheit -- Wednesday. This is the second hottest reading there dating to 1873, according to Météo-France.

Parts of Belgium and The Netherlands also sweltered in 35-degree Celsius -- 95 degrees Fahrenheit -- heat Wednesday.
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Attention

Strange animal behaviour; dolphin leaps into boat, breaks woman's ankles off Dana Point, California

Laylan Connelly
The Orange County Register
Thu, 02 Jul 2015 14:49 UTC
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For a few moments, it was pure bliss as dolphins swam alongside the Frickman family's small boat, leaping toward the sky and doing flips.

The Frickman family had been enjoying a sunny afternoon June 21 - the first day of summer, Father's Day and also Dirk and Chrissie Frickman's 18th wedding anniversary - when they came across the pod of dolphins as they were heading back to the Dana Point Harbor.

Tristan, 12, and Courtney, 16, edged toward the bow of the 21-foot Boston Whaler as the dolphins swam along their boat. The entire family was cheering.

That's when the pleasant afternoon turned to pure chaos. A dolphin leaped out of the water, hit the rail of their boat and flopped right inside with the family.

At first, it might have resembled a wacky Sea World trick, or a fun Flipper moment.

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Red Flag

Farmer killed after vicious attack by swarm of bees

Nora Salinas
valleycentral.com
Mon, 29 Jun 2015 22:41 UTC
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It was a regular Sunday for Rogerio Zuniga, a third generation farmer in the small community of Lozano, according to his sister Lisa Zuniga.

He was plowing the field on his tractor before hitting an irrigation pipe filled with hundreds of bees. "He got off the tractor and ran and apparently they caught up to him and he collapsed, and they stung his body to death," Lisa Zuniga said.

Family members saw his stalled tractor and ran to look for him, but by the time they found him through the tall, thick brush, it was too late. "He had gaping wounds, the bees shredded him basically. It was horrible," Lisa Zuniga said.

Family members and neighbors told Action 4 News they now fear for their own safety after hearing about the fatal incident.

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Fire

So many fires are burning in Alaska the midwest is covered in smoke

Alissa Walker
Gizmodo
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 18:00 UTC
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Smoke from the fires captured by NASA’s Aqua satellite on June 28
The drought hitting the West is not just striking the continental US. That same weather pattern that's sucking the life out of California is also making life hot, dry, and dangerous for the top third of North America: Alaska and Canada have seen little rainfall, soaring spring temperatures, and now, a record-breaking wildfire season.

The smoke drifting from hundreds of fires can be seen in new NASA imagery. It forms a plume that extends all the way down through the Midwest, reaching as far south as Texas today.

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Imagery captured June 29 from NASA’s Aqua satellite, which measures the ozone found in smoke
How many fires are we talking about? As many as 600. There are 297 fires actively burning just in Alaska today. That's so many fires, in fact, that it's hard to even tell where they all are on the state forestry department's map.

Comment: It's not global warming that we're seeing, but the effects of cosmic climate change and Earth changes on the way towards an ice age. See:

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Attention

7th shark attack reported off NC coast this summer, victim transported to hospital

Tribune Media Wire
WTVR
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 13:34 UTC
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© Stephen Lee
Another shark attack was reported on Wednesday off the coast of North Carolina, according to officials. The shark attack happened on Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks, according to Hyde County EMS. A lifeguard called 911, according to an emergency worker. The victim was taken out of the water and airlifted to a nearby hospital. There is no word on the victim's condition.

Hyde County tweeted a statement, saying "a person swimming at the NPS day use area on Ocracoke sustained a bite from marine life" and the incident is still being investigated. Wednesday's attack marks the seventh incident on North Carolina beaches in June and July. Last year, there were only four reported in the state through the summer.

Comment: See also:

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Cloud Precipitation

1,255 wild animals found dead after floods in Bhanvnagar, India


The Times of India
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 20:08 UTC
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© Source: PTIA lioness takes her cub to a safer place after heavy rainfall caused floods at forest in Amreli on Saturday.
The forest officials have recovered carcasses of 1,255 wild animals including four lions and 1,225 blue bulls and 14 chittals from three talukas of Bhanvnagar district. These animals had swept away in river Shetrunji during flash floods last week.

Following a massive search and rescue operation, the Bhavnagar forest department on Tuesday issued a statement giving the details of the wild animal that died in the floods.

"Our 30 teams searched for wild animals dead or alive in mud filled water and muck for one week. We found bodies of total 1255 wild animals including four Asiatic lions which had swept away in flood waters and reached down-stream of Shetrunji River in Bhavnagar area," G S Singh, deputy conservator of forests, Bhavnagar, told TOI.

Singh said that the bodies were found from Palitana, Gariyadhar and Talaja talukas of Bhavnagar.
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Sun

Record breaking heatwave envelopes Central Asia


Phys.org
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:00 UTC
heatwave
© unknown
Turkmenistan reported its hottest June on record Wednesday, as a heat wave envelops former Soviet Central Asia.

"June 2015 was the hottest June since 1891 when records began. Daytime temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in the shade 16 times," a spokeswoman at Turkmenistan's state meteorological service in the capital Ashgabat told AFP Wednesday.

She noted that Tuesday, when temperatures reached 47.2 degrees celsius, was the hottest June day in Ashgabat in the recorded history of the energy-rich country.
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Info

Study: Microplastics in the ocean are moving up the food chain

Randy Shore
blogs.vancouversun.com
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 19:24 UTC
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Microplastics

Plastic fibres and particles in West Coast waters are being consumed and passed up the food chain by tiny marine creatures that apparently mistake them for food, according to a new study from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre.

Researcher Peter Ross and his colleagues found plastic litter in the digestive systems of two key species of plankton that are eaten in large numbers by salmon and baleen whales.

Adult salmon returning to the Strait of Georgia may be consuming up to 91 plastic particles a day by eating plankton, and juveniles leaving fresh water up to seven particles a day, while a humpback whale could ingest more than 300,000 particles a day, according to the researchers' estimates.

Several recent studies have documented ingestion of plastics in the wild by fish, bivalves and crustaceans. Plastic particles have also been detected in the scat of marine mammals.

"Most salmon species feed heavily on (plankton) during their juvenile and adult life stages," said Ross. "These particles could pose a serious risk of physical harm to the marine animals that consume them, potentially blocking their gut or leaching chemicals into their bodies."
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Attention

Wild elephant kills man in Anekal, India


Deccan Herald
Tue, 30 Jun 2015 18:37 UTC
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Asian elephant
A wild elephant trampled a 48-year-old farmer identified as Venkatesh, on Sunday, at Kanaveshivapura forest road in Anekal.

The incident occurred when Venkatesh was passing through the road at night on his way home after working in his field. He went too close to the pachyderm when the scared elephant attacked him. On hearing his screams, other farmers in the vicinity rushed to the spot.

They contacted the forest officials and the patrolling staff rushed Venkatesh to St John's Hospital for treatment where he was declared dead on arrival. The farmer, a resident of Malur taluk, Kolar, had an agricultural plot in Anekal. He is survived by his wife and two children.
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