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Elephant kills 2nd mahout in Uttar Pradesh, India

Charging elephant
© Getty
Charging elephant
In a tragic incident, an elephant trampled his mahout to death in Dudhwa National Park on Thursday night. This is the second person that the 35-year-old elephant, Mohan, has killed in six months. At the time of the incident, no other person was in the vicinity. The body was found on Friday morning. The elephant has now been kept under observation, and forest staff have been advised to keep away from the animal.

Piecing together the evidence, forest officials believe that the incident happened when mahout Ranjeet Kumar (37) went inside the enclosure to apply medicine on another elephant, Sundar, on Thursday night. For some reason, he must have approached Mohan, which was in another part of the enclosure. Another elephant, called Gajraj, was near Mohan. It was raining heavily and Mohan may have become nervous, possibly due to the thunder and lightning, and attacked the mahout.

Arrow Up

Rare 'heat burst' event causes overnight temperature spike in Vacaville, California

Heat burst in Vacaville, California
© National Weather Service
Nightfall didn't bring much relief from the heat for residents in Vacaville thanks to a rare weather phenomenon.

Vacaville suffered through high temperatures of 108 degrees on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. By 8 p.m., temperatures had dropped down to the low 80s - like what you'd usually expect to happen when the sun goes down.

However, after bottoming out at 80, temperatures actually started to shoot up as the night progressed.

By midnight, temperatures had spiked at 95 degrees.

NWS says the bizarre temperature spike is due to a rare event called a "heat burst."

Much like downburst, a heat burst is usually associated with decaying thunderstorms. Heat bursts are basically the inverse of a downburst - instead of cool and moist air, hot and dry air is rushed toward the surface.

Tornado2

Waterspout touches down on Lake Erie

water spout on Lake Erie
© Jolie Roetter / Instagram
The water spout touched down on Lake Erie.
A peaceful lake in New York became the scene of panic when a waterspout touched down on a lake, coming eerily close to the shore. Two children had to be rescued from the water as the storm powered through the waters of Buffalo.

Speaking to Buffalo News Justin Dahl, manager of a kayak store on Lake Erie, described how two children jumped off their water bikes in panic when they saw the waterspout Friday.

"The chain broke on their water bike and the parents came back to the dock for help," he said.

Dahl and another employee took to the water in a kayak to rescue the children. RT.com contacted Jolie Roetter who gave permission to use his video in which the waterspout can be seen passing in the distance as dark clouds engulf the waters.

Jack Borowiak also gave permission to use the video below, in which the waterspout can be seen with flashes of lightning.


Seismograph

Philippines: 5.8 earthquake strikes Mindanao

Seismograph
© AP Photo/

A powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake has struck the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, the US Geological Survey reports.

The quake, measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale according to the USGS' preliminary information, struck at a depth of 74.4 km several kilometers east of the city of General Santos, which has a population of over 600,000.

The earth tremors were reported at 8:30am (0030 GMT), the USGS said.

According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), the quake was widely felt across the surrounding region.

Arrow Down

Large 'sinkhole' appears after heavy rain in San Mateo, Philippines

sinkhole
Residents are gripped with fear over what is believed to be a sinkhole in San Mateo, Rizal.

According to Marisol Abdurahman's report on "24 Oras", a portion of the road in Sta. Barbara Villas collapsed early Wednesday morning after a heavy rain.

The hole is reportedly 60-foot deep.

Jun Bryan, a resident in the area since 1999, said people would have trouble sleeping because of the incident.

The report said the road had started to collapse in September 2016.


Cloud Lightning

Update: Five more killed by lightning across Odisha, India; death toll increases to 48 in 6 days

lightning
Five persons were killed, eight others injured on Friday when lightning struck them in different places of the state. Incidents took place in Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur and Sundargarh districts.

The death toll due to lightning increased to 48 in six days in the state. As many as 18 persons were killed on Sunday and 17 on the very next day.

In Mayurbhanj district, three persons died and three others injured in the incident. Purnachandra Singh of Angargadia village under Udala police limits died when he was returning from Similibandha weekly haat near Udala after marketing. Two others, Mangala Soren of Banakati village of Udala block, and one Mangulu Singh from Betanati block also died. Three persons from Khunta block were injured in the incident.

Cloud Precipitation

Flash flood traps drivers in Acton, California; 1.5 inches of rain in just half an hour

rescue
It felt like monsoon season in car-loving California when a freak downpour in Acton, north of Los Angeles, triggered a flash flood that washed out roads and trapped drivers inside their vehicles.

A thunderstorm dumped almost 4 centimetres (1.5 inches) of rain onto the area in just half an hour on Thursday afternoon (August 3), according to weather services.

The sludge engulfed roads, overflowed onto a busy motorway and even halted local train services.

Several stranded drivers had to be rescued by helicopter, but no serious injuries were reported.


Fire

Mount Sinabung volcano spews ash cloud sparking 'doomsday' scenes on Indonesian island

Mount Sinabung erupts volcano
© YT Haryono / Reuters
Volcanic ash is seen following an eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano, in Beganding Village, Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia August 2, 2017
The Indonesian island of Sumatra is reeling after being struck by one of Mount Sinabung's biggest eruptions of the year. Villagers were pictured running for cover, as volcanic ash as high as 4.2km into the sky came raining down from the skies above. © YT Haryono / Reuters


On Wednesday, the volcano erupted at least 19 times between 8am and noon local time causing heavy lava flows, volcano monitoring expert Isya Nurrahmat Dana told the AP.

Fire

Wildfire covers 110 square kilometres in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia; closes large stretch of highway

Verdant Creek Wildlfire

Verdant Creek Wildlfire
The highway that winds through British Columbia's Kootenay National Park was closed for much of the day Wednesday as wildfire smoke made for dangerous driving conditions.

Parks Canada said it closed Highway 93 from Castle Junction near the Trans-Canada Highway to the town of Radium Hot Springs some 100 kilometres south.

The highway reopened late Wednesday but drivers were being warned that with shifting conditions, there was always the possibility they would be forced to detour again.

On Thursday afternoon, Parks Canada issued a news release suggesting that the best time to travel the highway over the long weekend would be between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The agency also told motorists to check for possible temporary closures at either www.DriveBC.ca or www.alberta511.ca.

Parks incident commander Jane Park said the smoke was extremely dense in some areas.


Seismograph

Shallow 5.1 magnitude earthquake registered in Tonga region

chart
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Tonga region this morning.

The moderate earthquake occurred at 11.43am at a 10km depth.

It was located at 248km Northeast from Nuku'alofa in Tonga, 346km Southwest from Alofi in Niue, and 921km Southeast of Suva, Fiji.

The Seismology Unit of the Mineral Resources department has assured that this earthquake did not pose any immediate threat to the Fiji region.

Meanwhile, the unit also recorded two seismic activities in the Tonga region yesterday which did not pose any threat as well to the Fiji region.