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A 24-year-old woman in Humpty Doo, Australia, Hailee Skinner, got an unexpected and unwanted surprise while resting in her bed. Skinner got an up close and personal encounter with a snake.
There are certain things we don't want getting too close to us.
A 24-year-old woman in Humpty Doo, Australia, Hailee Skinner, got an unexpected and unwanted surprise while resting in her bed. Skinner got an up close and personal encounter with a snake.
The terrifying ordeal started when she returned home from a dinner and put a movie in before hopping in bed. That's when she felt something crawling across her legs.
At first, she suspected it was a gecko so she kicked her leg in an effort to fling it on the floor. Skinner was successful, but when she looked down, she realized the seductive creature was a snake.
Skinner screamed then called her family members for help. She stated "I've never been friendly with snakes. My biggest fear in the moment was that it would bite me then go off into the house and we wouldn't be able to find it."
Skinner's brother was responsible for containing the serpent. He believed it to be an olive snake, which measured approximately 23 and a half inches long.
The snake was released into a nearby swamp.
Source: Northern Territory News
© Oli Scarff/Getty ImagesPassengers study the departure boards as they wait for trains in King's Cross station in London.
Hundreds of travellers were left stranded at Gatwick airport because of cancelled flights and power cuts at the airport, and emergency services evacuated homes near the River Mole in Surrey, which was expected to rise to record levels late on Christmas Eve.
The Environment Agency issued a severe flood warning for Leatherhead in Surrey, where the Mole was expected to reach a peak just before midnight on Tuesday.
Firefighters in Kent and Surrey broke off from a planned Christmas Eve strike to help people deal with flooding in their counties.
Angry travellers at Gatwick had to be calmed by police after waiting all day before finding that their delayed flights were cancelled. All rail services to and from Gatwick stopped at 10pm for planned engineering work. A spokesman for Gatwick airport said that staff were trying to do all they could to find hotel rooms or camp beds for the "few hundred" people who were stranded.
© WikipediaRepresentation of upper-atmospheric lightning and electrical-discharge phenomena
© BBCHomes in Byfleet in Surrey have been threatened as the River Wey has risen.
Many rivers remain swollen after storms which led to power cuts and travel delays. Two severe flood warnings are in place on the Stour in Dorset.
About 1,000 homes in south-east and south-west England have been flooded.
Some 13,000 properties still have no power and engineers say some may not be reconnected until the end of the week.
UK Energy Networks said more customers had been connected during Thursday morning, as 24,000 had been without power first thing.
Some 4,869 homes in Kent were without power, with 1,672 in Surrey and 1,639 in Sussex, UK Power Networks said. Some 5,000 homes in Hampshire are still without power, Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution said.
Families who could stay in their homes found they had to hold Christmas by candlelight
The following video is a sample of strange and extreme weather events that took place around the world in first two weeks of December 2013.
The Parana river in Rosario, where the fish attacked scores of swimmers
Other swimmers suffered deep cuts to their ankles, fingers and hands. The attack happened on Christmas Day on a popular beach on the Parana River in the city of Rosario, birthplace of Barcelona striker Messi.
Swimmers trying to cool down in 100 degrees temperatures raced out of the water bleeding from wounds and shouting for help while the parents of children in the water rushed to their aid to drag them to safety.
Coastguards called paramedics so they could assist the most seriously injured before police temporarily closed off the beach, forcing people out of the water who continued to swim despite the danger.
The Christmas tree at Stormont was damaged by strong winds earlier in December
A series of winter storms during December resulted in power cuts and damage to buildings and trees. The 'Yellow' warning means 'to be aware of possible disruption' caused by strong winds. Gale force winds are expected to ease by Saturday.
A yellow warning has also been issued for heavy rain as a weather front moves across Northern Ireland.
Up to an inch of rainfall (25 mm) could fall in some places across Northern Ireland which could lead to flooding in some areas.
© APIn the US, states from Maine to Michigan have been affected by the adverse weather
Utility crews are working round-the-clock, but warn that some homes could be without power at least until Saturday.
In Toronto, 72,000 people were without electricity on Christmas Day, officials in Canada's Ontario province said.
At least 27 deaths in the region have been linked to the storm.
© THE NATIONAL PARKS, WILDLIFE, AND PLANT CONSERVATION DEPARTMENTTheerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy directorgeneral of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, fourth from left, inspects a carcass of a gaur at Kui Buri National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan. Thirteen gaurs have been found dead in the forest this month
Officials feel disease or food poisoning could be the probable causes behind the spate of deaths at the Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said.
DNP director-general Theerapat Prayurasiddhi said veterinarians and National Institute of Animal Health experts are looking into the issue and plan to collect soil specimens.
Theerapat said consumption of contaminated food was the most likely cause.
All the dead animals were found in the Kunshorn forest plantation project.
He said the forest plantation project zone used to be agricultural land before the department brought it under national park control about a decade ago and it was possible there were toxic pesticide residues in the soil.
Veterinarians are also looking into disease as a possible cause of the deaths.
Gaurs are among the largest living land animals. Only elephants, rhinos, the hippopotamus and the giraffe consistently grow heavier.
Source: Press Trust of India
© Stuart Westmorland/CorbisA bottlenose dolphin.
The death toll exceeds the 740 dolphins killed during the last big outbreak of the then-unknown virus in 1987-88.
"It is having a significant impact and that is something we're monitoring closely," said Erin Fougeres, a marine mammal biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
An estimated 39,206 bottlenose dolphins populated the eastern seaboard, to a depth of 25 feet, from New Jersey to Central Florida in 2010, according to the latest NOAA census.
Scientists are trying to determine why the morbillivirus resurged this year. The dolphins, which migrate south for the winter, have been stranded or found dead on beaches from New York to Florida since June, Fougeres said.
An unknown number of affected dolphins likely died offshore as well, she said.
A record number of manatees have also died in Florida waters this year, mostly from a toxic algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
