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Ever intensifying human animal conflict in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Umar Mushtaq
Kashmir Reader
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 20:36 UTC
As bear and leopard attacks continue, rising dog populations take its toll – 6264 dog bite cases in 2015-16

As bear and leopard attacks continue, rising dog populations take its toll – 6264 dog bite cases in 2015-16
Encroachment on the fringes of forestland, change in crop pattern and lack of experts to relocate dangerous animals has increased man-animal conflict over the years in J&K, particularly in the valley.

Attacks by dogs have seen a steep rise over the past few years while leopard and bear attacks continue along the peripheries of forests.

For the last three weeks, wildlife officials have been trying to seize a man-eater leopard after it mauled a six-year-old boy to death and retreated into nearby woods of South Kashmir's Banderpora area in Pulwama district. However, apart from a couple of close shaves with the beast, nothing much has been achieved.

"We have activated six control rooms which are open round the clock for assistance. Six cages have been set at different locations. The locals sighted it twice but before we could reach the spot, it fled," said Bilal Ahmad Reshi, in-charge control room Tral.
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Cloud Precipitation

Update: Flood death toll rises to 514 in Bihar, India


India
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 20:18 UTC
Bihar flood

Bihar flood
With water levels in all major rivers going down, the flood situation is gradually improving in Bihar, an official said on Monday, adding that the death toll has reached 514.

A Bihar Disaster Management Department official said 171.64 lakh people in 2,371 panchayats under 187 blocks in 19 districts had been affected by the floods.

According to an official release, over the last two weeks, 8,54,936 people were evacuated to safer places by the rescue teams of the Army, National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force.

Following improvement in the flood situation, the number of relief camps set up by the state government has come down and stood at 115 on Monday from nearly 2,000 a week ago. Similarly, the number of people living in these camps has come down to 1,06,650 from over two lakh.

For the flood victims, only 794 community kitchens are running now as against over 1,000 earlier, the official said.

All major rivers in the state were showing receding trend, he added.

Source: IANS
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Arrow Down

Four feared dead after mudslides hit Sironko, Uganda

Yahudu Kitunzi
kfm.co.ug
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 20:11 UTC
landslide
Four people have reportedly been killed after a mudslide hit the mountainous district of Sironko on Monday.

Sironko Resident District Commissioner, Moses Wamoto Kigai says the victims were residents of Masaba Village in Masaba Sub-county.

He says several people are still missing and that a rescue team has been sent to the area.

But Elgon Region Police Spokesperson Suwedi Mansour said one person was reportedly killed while ten others are missing.

This comes a day after a landslide destroyed three villages in Bulucheke Sub County in Bududa district.

According to local leaders and security officials, houses were knocked down, livestock buried and at least 200 people from 40 families were displaced.
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Arrow Down

Update: Death toll increases to 17 in China landslide


Belarus News
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 19:59 UTC
landslide
The death toll has risen to 17 people with 18 still missing, after a landslide at Nayong county in southwest China's Guizhou Province Monday morning, local authorities said Tuesday.

As of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, 25 people had been found, of which 17 were dead and eight injured. The injured are being treated in a local hospital and in stable condition, according to a press conference at the scene.

The landslide occurred at about 10:40 a.m. Monday in Zhangjiawan township, affecting 34 households. More than 600,000 cubic meters of rock and mud fell 200 meters and hit a village.

Over 2,000 people, including police, firefighters and medical staff are at the scene and more than 90 emergency vehicles, 20 life detectors, 17 diggers and eight drones.

Comment: See also earlier report with video: Two dead, 25 missing after landslide in Bijie, China

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Cloud Lightning

Turkey unprepared as Istanbul battered by 3rd mega-storm this summer (VIDEOS)


RT
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 19:01 UTC
Istanbul flooding
© Ozan Kose / AFP
Istanbul is in the teeth of a major storm with winds reaching up to 75kph (47mph) and torrential downpours flooding streets and choking the city's major transport arteries.

Climate scientists warned earlier this month that Istanbul residents should prepare for far more flooding in the future as recent climate dynamics indicate the increased likelihood of 'supercells' forming, which have caused major flooding in the city twice already this summer.
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Sun

Record-setting heat wave coming to Southern California

Javier Panzar
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 18:44 UTC
palm trees
A sweltering heat wave will blanket Southern California through the middle of the week, elevating the fire danger and probably breaking many heat records, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service on Monday issued an excessive-heat warning through Wednesday, saying the high temperatures will create "a dangerous situation" this week.

The Antelope Valley and other inland valleys are expected to face the worst heat this week, with triple-digit temperatures.

The record books are already being rewritten in places such as Lancaster and Palmdale.

On Sunday, temperatures ranged from the high 70s along the coast and in downtown Los Angeles to 106 in Woodland Hills, 102 in Van Nuys and 116 in Palm Springs.

Records were shattered Monday when temperatures reached 111 in Woodland Hills, 109 in Lancaster, 108 in Palmdale and 104 in Sandberg, according to the weather service. Records in the latter three areas were set in 2008, when temperatures had reached 107 in Lancaster and Palmdale, and 97 in Sandberg.
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Road Cone

Small sinkhole swallows up leg of Brooklyn walker (VIDEO)


RT
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 18:56 UTC
sinkhole
© Global Look Press
The fire department had to help retrieve the leg.
We sincerely hope that a man in Brooklyn wasn't trying to get anywhere in a rush after an inconvenient sinkhole opened up just enough to make his leg disappear. The unidentified individual had to be rescued from peril by the fire department.

Video from the scene which happened at the intersection of Myrtle and Walworth Tuesday shows the trapped individual, who from a distance looks like he is missing one leg. Upon closer inspection his leg appears to be trapped on the flip side of the earth.
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Tornado1

'This is a nightmare event': Levee breached south of Houston in 800 year flood event


RT
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 18:11 UTC
flooding in Houston
© Nick Oxford / Reuters
Officials of Brazoria County, Texas have urged residents in the Columbia Lakes area, South of Houston, to evacuate immediately following a breach of the levee at the Brazos river.

'This is a nightmare event,' Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta said of the levee failure.

The Brazos River has risen to historic heights as a result of storm Harvey and caused the levee to fail Tuesday, a scenario that authorities feared.

More heavy rain is expected through Wednesday, raising concerns that other levees are at risk.

Houston's Addicks dam began to spill over Tuesday.
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Sun

After the hottest British August Bank Holiday on record, UK set to get even warmer

Gemma Mullin, Aletha Adu and Chloe Kerr
The Sun
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 16:41 UTC
Hive beach sunbathers
© Alamy Live News
Holidaymakers and sunbathers flock to Hive beach at Burton Bradstock in Dorset
After the hottest August Bank Holiday on record, UK weather is set to get even WARMER.

Forecasters predict the mercury could soar to a whopping 30C as Britain enjoys a glorious Indian summer.

Brits basked in scorching sunshine yesterday as temperatures hit 28.2c - making the UK hotter than RIO.

Records were beaten across the country as revellers enjoying the sweltering day off work were treated to hours of scorching unbroken sunshine and cloudless skies.

Temperatures peaked in London where the mercury reached 28.2C (83f) in Holbeach, Lincs., which was warmer than beaches of Bora Bora, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney.
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Question

Mysterious cloud sickens scores at British Beaches

Sara G. Miller
Live Science
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 11:47 UTC
The beach at Birling Gap
© Gareth Fuller/PA/Zuma
The beach at Birling Gap in Eastbourne, UK. This stretch of coastline was evacuated on Aug. 27 after a mysterious chemical cloud descended upon the beach.

A mysterious chemical cloud descended on beaches in England on Sunday (Aug. 27), according to news reports, and authorities are puzzling over what caused it and why it sickened more than 100 people.

As the cryptic cloud fogged up the shoreline, several beaches in East Sussex were evacuated and residents were advised to close their windows and doors, The Independent reported yesterday (Aug. 28).

Still, nearly 150 people who were exposed to the cloud needed medical treatment for problems such as stinging eyes, sore throats and vomiting, according to The Independent.

The chemical composition of the cloud is not clear. "What it was, it smelled like burnt plastic," Bob Jefferey, a deputy launching authority at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Eastbourne division told The Guardian.

One beachgoer tweeted, "Some sort of chemical incident at Birling Gap, eyes are streaming and there's a strong smell of chlorine in the air."
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