Earth Changes
Jason Dodge told KFOR he left his 3-year-old daughter, Rylee, at home with his mom.
He had only been gone about 20 minutes when he got the terrible phone call that Rylee had been mauled by a dog.
Dodge says he had just taken in the pit bull 5 days earlier from a friend and that there were no warning signs that the dog could be vicious.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Athens at a depth of 10 kilometers, just before 8.30pm local time.
According to the EMSC - an independent provider of real-time earthquake warnings - the tremor was felt over an area inhabited by 3.6 million people
Witnesses close to the epicenter near Marathon, in southeast Attica, told the agency it felt like a bomb exploded nearby. "It sounded like someone dropped a bomb and then everything started shaking," one person who was three kilometers from the epicenter reported.
Reports from central Athens and the suburbs described the quake as strong but quick.
As more dead bodies are found in the disaster zone, local authorities have gradually increased the death toll - which currently stands at 20 - while they report that another 8 people remain missing. The surge also injured about 200 people and destroyed or damaged about 500 homes in Montecito, Santa Barbara County - located just a few kilometers from La Conchita - and washed out a 30-mile stretch of the 101 Freeway.
From above, the debris flow appears to have converted the wealthy neighborhood - which is home to mega-stars like Oprah and Ellen - into a brown swamp.
Many central and northern parts of the country have been covered by a blanket of snow as temperatures have plummeted.
In Thessaly heavy snowfall has created problems on roads. In areas of high altitude in the region of Larisa, Volos and Trikala snow ploughing vehicles are working overtime to clear the roads.

This two-headed western ratsnake found last fall in Stone County is currently on display at the Missouri Department of Conservation's Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery in Branson.
The unusual reptile, a nonvenomous western rat snake, was found in October by Terry Lowery under the deck of his family's home in Hurley, about 45 minutes south of Hurley, according to the department.
After the family took photographs of the young dual-headed snake, they contacted the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, and zoo staff forwarded them to the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery operated by the Department of Conservation.
The hatchery near Branson is primarily a trout-raising facility producing hundreds of thousands of trout a year, but its staff agreed to observe the snake.

Mayon volcano in the Philippines could explode in the next few days, spraying lava, hot rocks and gases as fast as 60mph on to surrounding towns
Lava is slowly flowing out of the Mayon volcano's crater along with a spectacular 1,000 metre (3,280 foot) ash plume rising into the sky, the nation's volcanology institute said.
More than 12,000 people have been ordered to evacuated from a seven kilometre (four mile) danger zone around the crater, as officials warned them of potentially destructive mudflows and toxic clouds.
It is considered the nation's most active volcano

Black kites (Milvus migrans) visit a grass fire in Borroloola, Northern Territory, Australia, in 2014.
Eussen, a veteran firefighter in the Northern Territory, set off after the new flames. He found them, put them out, then looked up into the sky.
What he saw sounds now like something out of a fairy tale or dark myth. A whistling kite, wings spread, held a burning twig in its talons. It flew about 20 metres ahead of Eussen and dropped the ember into the brittle grass.
And the fire kicked off once again.
So far this winter season, the city has received 136.5″ of snowfall...an incredible 88″ more than a normal year.
The city was clobbered with more than 60″ of snow in a single lake effect snow event in December, prompting a state of emergency for the city. December, by far, was the big player in the seasonal snow, with nearly 121″ in that month alone!
Operations Manager Jamie Magaldi explained that the excessive winds make it hard to quantify exactly how much snow fell, but he provided an average of 17.5 inches throughout the day. This storm fell in the midst of an extremely cold week, with temperatures in the negative degrees, which made the cleanup and the aftermath of the storm particularly difficult.
Magaldi shared that the town had a total of 90 workers plowing from Thursday morning to Friday afternoon.
"We had 45 staff and 45 contractors," he said.
The equipment they use ranges from snow plows to front loaders to sidewalk cleaners.
The combination of melting snow, mild temperatures, and heavy rain have caused numerous ice jams to form in several Northeast states, including Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts. The ice jams have caused some evacuations in areas near rising creeks and rivers. The ice jams are also responsible for shutting down parts of roadways.
Despite much colder temperatures than the end of last week, the threat of ice jam-related flooding will remain on Sunday across much of the Northeast. Runoff from heavy rain in area waterways, combined with chunks of ice will continue to cause water levels to change. Some parts of the region have flood watches and advisories through Sunday. Some waterways will begin to refreeze on Sunday.











