Earth ChangesS


Attention

2 die and several injured following bear attack in India


The New Indian Express
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 14:24 UTC
Image
Bear prints.
A 52-year-old estate worker who was attacked by a bear while attempting to save his wife from the animal at Kotagiri, died at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Wednesday, despite treatment.

On Monday, a wild bear mauled to death a 50-year-old woman, Mathi, at Thothamokke near Kotagiri. It also attacked two others, Halan (52) - husband of Mathi and Kumar (24), who tried to save the woman from the animal. Both of them were admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. But despite medical care, Halan died in the hospital on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the animal also attacked a forest watcher Karunamurthy and forester Stalin before being gunned down by forest officials. While Karunamurthy was admitted at CMCH, Stalin was admitted to a private hospital in the city.

According to hospital sources, Karunamurthy was admitted to the CMCH with a suspected bullet injury sustained while the bear was being shot by forest officials. However, scan reports revealed that he sustained injuries due to piercing of the bear's nails. He is currently undergoing treatment for the injury.
Read More...
Arrow Down

Sinkhole swallows garden sheds in Swanley, UK


BBC
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:12 UTC
Image
The sink hole swallowed two sheds
A sinkhole has opened up in a Kent town swallowing two sheds and disrupting sewers and water supplies.

The hole appeared in Swanley several days ago, but residents have said no repair plan has been put in place.

Joe Hutchings, of Oliver Road, said he saw his shed half-standing, and then he watched the whole structure collapse.

Thames Water said a sewer broke after the ground collapsed and it would work with Sevenoaks council to see what investigations could be carried out.

BBC reporter Zac Daunt-Jones said the hole was a few metres deep and about 6.5ft (2m) by 9.8ft (3m) across.
Read More...
Wolf

Police shoot dog after it attacks owner in Caldwell, Idaho

Erin Fenner
Idaho Statesman
Sat, 21 Mar 2015 12:40 UTC
Image
© Erin FennerBrittany Panzo suffered several bite wounds to her hands and body after being attacked by her pit bull/mastiff mix Saturday.

Brittany Panzo, 20, adopted her pit bull/mastiff mix when it was just a puppy. Two years later, Caldwell police say they were forced to kill it after it attacked her early Saturday and tore the skin from her hand.

"He ripped her open," said Panzo's fiance, Gildardo Soto, of the dog.

Soto said he had been joking around and laughing with Panzo in their apartment in the 200 block of Abraham Way when the dog lashed out.

"He broke through his kennel and bit her," he said.

The dog then bit Panzo at least 20 times. He got Panzo into the closet and called police, telling them they would likely need to kill the animal, Soto said. Panzo's two toddler-aged children were still in their bedroom sleeping, she said.

Read More...
Wolf

Man mauled to death by dog pack in Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Myriah Towner
Daily Mail
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:39 UTC
Image
On Saturday, police were still searching for the brown and white pit bull that got away (above an officer trying to corral one of the dogs).
An Arkansas man was brutally mauled to death in a vicious dog attack by seven pit bull terriers.

De'trick Johnson, 36, of Pine Bluff went to have his car serviced at CJ's Garage on Saturday morning when immediately upon his arrival, the pack of seven dogs charged underneath a fence and attacked him.

Johnson was found on the ground when responding officers arrived, and it appeared he was still alive, according to Jefferson County Sheriff's spokesman Major Lafayette Woods Jr.

Johnson was later pronounced dead at the scene.

While police encountered the 'aggressive dogs', four of the pit bulls were shot and killed, two were captured and taken by Pine Bluff Animal Control and one fled from the scene.

On Saturday, police were still searching for the brown and white pit bull that got away.

A long-time friend of Johnson's, John Smith III, who is also the son of the garage's owner, John Chester Smith, said that this is not the first time the pit bulls have attacked someone, according to KATV.

Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Tornadoes hit Oklahoma, killing one person and injuring others

Justin Juozapavicius
Yahoo
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 10:20 UTC

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The slow start to the nation's tornado season came to a violent end Wednesday, when tornadoes raked Tulsa during its evening rush hour, killing one person and injuring others.

Tulsa County Sheriff's Capt. Billy McKelvey said one person was killed in a mobile home park near suburban Sand Springs that was nearly destroyed Wednesday amid severe weather. It wasn't yet clear whether it was a tornado or straight-line winds that hit the park, which McKelvey said could accommodate 40 to 50 trailers. McKelvey said he believed at least 15 people were hurt, but he did not have an exact number yet.

"It could have been much worse," he said.

Tornadoes were seen elsewhere in Oklahoma, as well as in Arkansas, but no injuries were reported from those.

A small tornado swept across parts of Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb where 24 people died in a top-of-the-scale EF5 tornado in 2013. Other twisters formed along a line from southwest of Oklahoma City to east of Tulsa, and some touched down in the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas.

Until Tuesday, when a waterspout formed over an Arkansas lake, the U.S. hadn't had a tornado in more than a month.
Read More...
Boat

Passenger bus falls into giant sinkhole in Brazil; swept away by floodwater


CBC.ca
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:29 UTC
All the passengers escaped before the vehicle was swept away
Image
© NBC
Dramatic video of a Brazilian passenger bus being swallowed by a sinkhole and spit out into a nearby river is going viral across the web.

The incident happened in the state of Para in northern Brazil during recent flooding. Luckily, all the passengers of the bus escaped before the vehicle was swept away, according to the BBC.

The bus became stuck on the road near the cities of Itaituba and Ruropolis, leading all the passengers to evacuate. The ground gave out soon after and the bus was carried down the nearby river.
Image
© NBC

Comment: Sinkholes worldwide for the past month:



Read More...
Attention

Underground seas go untapped while California's water war rages on

Ellen Brown
Web of Debt Blog
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 19:51 UTC
Water Wars_1
© Zero Hedge
In California's epic drought, wars over water rights continue, while innovative alternatives for increasing the available water supply go untapped.

Wars over California's limited water supply have been going on for at least a century. Water wars have been the subject of some vintage movies, including the 1958 hit The Big Country starring Gregory Peck, Clint Eastwood's 1985 Pale Rider, 1995's Waterworld with Kevin Costner, and the 2005 film Batman Begins. Most acclaimed was the 1975 Academy Award winner Chinatown with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, involving a plot between a corrupt Los Angeles politician and land speculators to fabricate the 1937 drought in order to force farmers to sell their land at low prices. The plot was rooted in historical fact, reflecting battles between Owens Valley farmers and Los Angeles urbanites over water rights.

Today the water wars continue on a larger scale with new players. It's no longer just the farmers against the ranchers or the urbanites. It's the people against the new "water barons" - Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Monsanto, the Bush family, and their ilk - who are buying up water all over the world at an unprecedented pace.

Comment: For more on the California drought see:

Read More...
Umbrella

Orange alert issued by Chilean government as Villarrica volcano leaks steady plumes of ash, smoke

Pete D'Amato
The Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:12 UTC
  • The volcano erupted earlier this month, triggering evacuations of thousands of people, including tourists
  • Residents in Pucon, a resort town near the volcano, were fearful that clouds of smoke could signal another eruption was on its way
  • The March eruption was Villarrica's first major eruption since 1984
Image
A steady stream of smoke and ash being released from the Villarrica volcano.
A steady stream of smoke and ash leaking from the Villarrica volcano has residents of a nearby town wondering if - or when - disaster might strike.

Chilean officials raised threat levels to orange on Wednesday due to increasing signs of activity in the 2840-meter tall volcano, leaving area residents fearful of an eruption.

'No one can sleep peacefully because the other day the eruption surprised us at 3 in the morning,' said Francisco Valenzuela, a tour guide in the nearby resort town of Pucon.

'The tourists are also a little uncertain,' Valenzuela said. 'Could something happen today? Could something happen tomorrow?'

The BBC reports that local authorities canceled classes for the more than 5,500 students in the area.

Many of the residents in towns and communities surrounding the volcano had to be evacuated earlier in the month, when lava and smoke erupted from the peak in the early hours of the morning.

'It was spewing lava and ash hundreds of meters into the air,' 29-year-old Australian tourist Travis Armstrong said. 'Lightning was striking down at the volcano from the ash cloud that formed from the eruption.'
Image
Read More...
Shoe

Mexico's Colima volcano explosions strengthening


Volcanodiscovery.com
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 18:59 UTC
Image
© Hernando RiveraEruption at Colima volcano this morning.
The volcano continues to produce sometimes strong vulcanian-type explosions that seem to have picked up in strength over the past days.

An eruption at 03:08 am local time produced fountaining of lava several hundred meters high and appears to have caused a small pyroclastic flow.

Comment: See also:

Mexico's Colima volcano - violent eruption captured on film

Read More...
Arrow Down

Massive Peru mudslide destroys homes, kills at least seven


Yahoo! News
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 02:53 UTC
Image
© AP/Andina, Carlos LezemaIn this photo provide by government's Andina news agency, rescue personnel work in the debris of a house destroyed by a mudslide caused by heavy rains in Chosica, Peru, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. According to authorities the mudslide blocked a major road to Lima, destroyed more than 60 homes and killed several residents.
A mud-heavy torrent has sent auto-sized rocks crashing into a highlands town along Peru's main east-west highway and national civil defense chief Carlos Castro says it killed at least seven people and destroyed 65 homes.

The central highway remained blocked by debris on Tuesday from the previous night's catastrophe.

Boulders loosed by two hours of heavy rains smashed through brick walls and floodwaters carried cars, animals and furniture through Chosica's streets.
Image
© AP/Andina, Carlos Lezema
Televised images showed police breaking through the wall of one home to recover the bodies of 23-year-old Ana Marino and her 3-year-old son, Stefano. Mother was clutching child.
Image
© Reuters/Mariana BazoA man stands inside his destroyed house after a massive landslide in Chosica, March 24, 2015.
Residents asked authorities to send heavy equipment to clear the wreckage.

A 1987 mudslide in Chosica killed 64 people.

Peru's weather service predicts heavy coastal rains through the rest of March.
Read More...