Earth ChangesS


Attention

Man killed in bear attack in Tamil Nadu, India


dtnext.in
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 20:45 UTC
Sloth bear
Sloth bear
An elderly man was allegedly killed in a bear attack at Chidambaram Vilakku near Andipatti in Theni district. The deceased has been identified as G Senrayaperumal of Annanagar, Duraisamypuram village, Andipatti taluk.

On Saturday night when the ex-serviceman was travelling on his bike to his farm he was allegedly attacked. A bear jumped on Senrayaperumal at Attuparai. In the impact, he suffered head injuries and was found lying with a bleeding face.

On Sunday morning, his wife Saraswathi rang him, but there was no response. But much to her shock, Saraswathi found the mauled body on the farm.

Based on a complaint lodged by Saraswathi, Myladumparai police filed a case under Sections 194 BNSS (Animal attack) and 174 of Cr.P.C., sources said.
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Attention

Woman mauled, killed by neighbor's pigs in 'horrible situation' on Christmas Day in Pataskala, Ohio

Maria Devito
Columbus Dispatch
Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:30 UTC
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© Nathan Stirk/Getty Images
A Pataskala woman was mauled, killed and partially eaten by her neighbor's pigs on Christmas Day, according to the city's police chief.

Rebecca Westergaard, 75, of Pataskala, died after being attacked by two pigs that were roaming near her Mink Street home, Pataskala Police Chief Bruce Brooks told The Dispatch on Monday.

Westergaard's niece called Pataskala police at 2:47 p.m. for a welfare check after no one could reach Westergaard. She was supposed to leave her home in the 4000 block of Mink Street, where she lived alone, at 10:30 a.m. to go to her niece's home in Norton, Ohio, just outside of Akron, according to the police's incident report.

Westergaard was found on her property near the house, Brooks said.
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Doberman

Record dog attack death count of 71 in 2024 in USA

Merritt Clifton
Animals24-7.org
Sun, 05 Jan 2025 15:10 UTC
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2024 dog attack toll started slowly, closed fast

The year 2024 closed with ten fatal dog attacks in 26 days, ending with a record 71 reported fatalities in the U.S., 51 by pit bull, plus another in Canada, for a new combined U.S.-and-Canada death toll on 72.

But that is not how 2024 started out.

Twenty-nine days into the year, January 2024 appeared likely to become the first month since November 2020 without a pit bull-inflicted human fatality occurring somewhere around the U.S.

Then, within the last 48 hours of the month, as well as killing Harold Phillips, pit bulls killed 19-year-old Carlon Galloway, of Fort Hall, Idaho; Willie Mundine, 85, of Indianapolis, Indiana, killed in the act of protecting his wife; and Sommer Kanoeonalani Crivello, of Ocean View, Hawaii.

Comment: The year prior held the previous record of fatal encounters, showing the increasing trend in recent years: Record 68 dog attack deaths in 2023 in the U.S. and Canada included also record 55 by pit bull

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Tsunami

Saudi Arabia's holiest city of Mecca flooded after being hit by extreme rain

Gergana Krasteva
Metro (UK)
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 14:56 UTC
Commuters make their way through a flooded road after heavy rains in Mecca on January 6, 2025 (Picture: AFP)
© AFPCommuters make their way through a flooded road after heavy rains in Mecca on January 6, 2025
Saudi Arabia's Mecca, the holiest city according to Islam, has been hit by extreme weather.

Footage circulating on social media shows entire neighbourhoods partially submerged amid the heavy rainfall.

Men were seen forming human chains to rescue children who had become trapped in the flooding in the Al-Awali neighbourhood, southeast of Mecca.

In another video, a man was seen rushing to the aid of a delivery driver who was toppled off his bike by floodwaters and was struggling to get up.

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Lightning

Lightning strike kills 4, injures 8 in Rwanda

Michel Nkurunziza
The New Times (Rwanda)
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 14:30 UTC
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Lightning strike killed four people and injured eight in Murambi Sector, Karongi District on Sunday, January 5.

The Mayor of Karongi District, Gerald Muzungu, confirmed that the incident happened on Sunday evening when 12 people were seeking shelter from rain in a nearby house under construction.

"Eight people who were traumatized were taken to Kirinda hospital," he said, urging residents to avoid seeking shelter from risky areas during rain and thunderstorms.

He said the burial for the deceased would take place on Tuesday.

The Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management recommends installing lightning rods as a way to prevent lightning strikes.
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Arrow Down

Best of the Web: Fatal landslides in 2024 exceptional, correlated with very high intensity rainfall events

Dave Petley
The Landslide Blog
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 12:09 UTC
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The extraordinary landslide year of 2024 is now complete, so I'm able to provide my initial analysis of the fatal events that have occurred. Remember that this is an analysis only of fatal events- there have been literally hundreds of thousands of non-fatal landslides too, but at present we have no mechanism to collate these reliably.

I will seek to publish this data in a journal in the coming months, so the analysis presented here is provisional.

The methodology and background analysis is outlined in Froude and Petley (2018), which is an open access paper. There are also reflections on these analyses in Fidan et al. (2024), which is also open access.

As I have been describing through the year, 2024 was exceptional in every way in terms of fatal landslides. In total, I recorded 708 fatal landslides (excluding those triggered by an earthquake), costing 4,492 lives. In terms of the number of fatal landslides, this is the highest annual total that I have ever recorded, breaking the previous record by over 100 events.

Comment: Some of the global reports of deadly landslides due to heavy rainfall in just the last 2 months of 2024:

More reports from 2024 and prior years can be found here.

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Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Emergency in 7 US states, 63 million at risk from winter storm Blair


National Herald (India)
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 11:13 UTC
Kansas City blanketed in snow
Kansas City blanketed in snow
In the US, winter storm Blair is bringing the "heaviest snowfall" and coldest temperatures in over a decade.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued alerts for more than 30 US states, spanning from Kansas to the East Coast, warning of "whiteout conditions" and roads becoming impassable.

Up to 250 million people across states are in the storm's path, facing dangerously low temperatures and hazardous travel conditions. Around 63 million people in the US are under some kind of winter weather advisory. This disruptive storm has covered roads with snow and also brought snowfall —even thundersnow — to several cities such as Kansas and Kentucky that typically don't see much at all, prompting the National Guard to come to the aid of stranded motorists.

School closures, flight disruptions and trees falling over are only to be expected. On Sunday, Virginia state police alone reported at least 135 crashes, thankfully without any fatalities.

Winter storm Blair is the result of an 'Arctic outbreak', which results from a polar vortex — a 'very cold air mass that typically originates in the Siberian region of Asia, crosses over the north pole into Canada and pushes south and east into the lower United States,' the NWS explains.

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Lightning

Family faces double loss after lightning kills 2 members in South Africa

Anita Dangazele
Scrolla.africa
Sun, 05 Jan 2025 11:06 UTC
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A lightning storm in the Eastern Cape struck Nomcamba Village in Ngqeleni this week, killing two family members and several goats.

Nomakhaladi Silaza, 47, and her daughter Nomakhwezi Silaza, 23, who was a Walter Sisulu University student and set to be the family's first graduate, died in the tragic incident.

Two other children from the Silaza family were injured and taken to hospital.

The family of seven lives in a two-room mud house and is struggling to raise funds to bury their loved ones.
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Seismograph

El Salvador: Magnitude-6.2 earthquake occurs south of La Paz Department, on Jan. 5


Crisis24.garda.com
Sun, 05 Jan 2025 19:50 UTC
bbbbbb
A magnitude-6.2 earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, south of La Paz Department, El Salvador, at around 11:18 on Jan. 5. The epicenter was about 29 km (18 miles) southwest of Playa Costa Del Sol and 68 km (42 miles) south of San Salvador.

The tremor occurred at a depth of about 49 km (30 miles), and shaking was probably felt in most of El Salvador and areas in southeastern Guatemala, including the capital, Guatemala City, western and southern Honduras, and northwestern Nicaragua.

There have been no initial reports of damage or casualties as a result of the earthquake. It could take several hours until authorities can conduct comprehensive damage assessments, especially in remote areas. Aftershocks are possible over the coming days. The event has not prompted any tsunami advisories.
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Tsunami

Serious flooding in Rhodes, Greece


tovima.com
Sun, 05 Jan 2025 13:49 UTC
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© dimokratiki.grSerious problems from bad weather in Rhodes all night
Rhodes saw severe weather again on Saturday evening, with streets filling with water and mud.

The emergency 112 number sent out an alert at 2am Sunday calling on residents to limit their movements.

The bad weather hit the areas of Faliraki and Kalythia, and then spread to southern Rhodes and the city of Rhodes. Houses were also flooded in the Pylona area, while the streets were filled with water, mud and stones.

According to local news two people were evacuated from a trapped car on a flooded road in the Afantou area. Both have been transported to a safe location.

Civil Protection forces are in full mobilization. Crews from the South Aegean region and the municipality of Rhodes, as well as volunteer groups, are on standby to deal with any problems.

Rhodes was also hit with severe flooding in early December. Areas in the island were declared in a state of emergency by the Civil Protection Agency following severe flooding due to the Bora storm.

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