“Mother Nature Hates You”

Texas floods kill 24 people and leave many missing from girls’ summer camp

A major search and rescue operation is continuing through the night in Texas after flash floods killed at least 24 people and left many girls missing from a Christian summer camp.

There was little warning as the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet (7.9m) in less than an hour and flooding that followed swept away mobile homes, vehicles and holiday cabins where people were spending the 4 July weekend.

Rescue crews are still searching for up to 25 children who were among the 750 girls attending the Camp Mystic just outside the town of Kerrville 104km (64.0 miles) north-west of San Antonio.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

At least 13 dead as nearly 2 dozen girls at Christian summer camp missing after ‘catastrophic’ Texas floods

Nearly two dozen girls at a Christian summer camp are missing — and potentially dead — after their cabins were apparently washed away by “catastrophic” and fatal flooding in Texas that has left at least 13 people dead, officials announced Friday.

Around 20 children are unaccounted for at Camp Mystic alongside the Guadalupe River in Hunt, a suburb of San Antonio in Kerr County, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a news conference.

“That does not mean they’ve been lost. They could be in a tree. They could be out of communication. We’re praying for all those missing to be found alive,” Patrick said.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

Orcas bring food gifts to humans in puzzling acts of kindness

Come closer … I want to be friends

Dozens of cases of wild orcas bringing fish and birds to humans have been documented. Are they trying to make friends or do they hope to manipulate us?

Humans have long considered themselves nature’s great benefactors. We feed ducks in the park, toss scraps to alley cats and leave out bowls of milk for the neighbourhood hedgehog. We give, they take.

That, at least, is how the story usually goes. But could one of the world’s most intelligent predators be turning the tables?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

Inside the Race to Save a Family Farm From Canada’s Wildfires

As Canada endures another heavy wildfire season, a group of resourceful farmers in British Columbia became an ad hoc fire brigade to help a neighbor.

Smoke was darkening the skies, and flames from an out-of-control wildfire ripping through this remote stretch of western Canada were creeping ominously close to the farm that has been in Jake van Angeren’s family for 70 years.

Official evacuation alerts had sounded in Goodlow, an agricultural community near Alberta in northeastern British Columbia, setting off a chain reaction among families who had packed their bags ready to be ordered to leave as wildfires this month swallowed up swaths of land.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You", Canada

Hiker killed by falling rocks in Canada’s Banff National Park, 3 others injured

Falling rocks struck people on a hiking trail in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, killing one and injuring three others Thursday.

Rescuers had rushed to the park in the afternoon after receiving reports that a group of hikers had been struck by the rockslide. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Parks Canada later confirmed one died and three were injured near Bow Glacier Falls.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

Footage shows the moment Swiss village is buried by falling glacier

Astonishing new footage shows the moment a Swiss village was buried by a collapsing glacier yesterday, leaving homes in ruin and one person missing.

Video shows a huge cloud of ice and scree spewing over the village of Blatten on Wednesday, dwarfing tiny Alpine lodges as a chunk of the Birch glacier broke off.

Mud and rockfall hit homes as debris hurtled down the mountain slope and into the valley where the village was built.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

Strong 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Myanmar, with tremors felt in neighbouring Thailand

An earthquake of magnitude 7.7 has struck Myanmar, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, causing hundreds of people to pour out of swaying buildings in Bangkok, the capital of neighbouring Thailand 1,400km away.

USGS said the quake on Friday was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay, about 50km (30 miles) east of the city of Monywa.

Twitter – Myanmar

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

At least 34 dead as tornadoes tear through southern US

Things are bad when the Waffle House goes down.

At least 34 people have died in the US – including 12 in Missouri alone – after deadly tornadoes tore through several south-eastern states, flipping cars and flattening homes.

In Kansas, at least eight people died after more than 55 vehicles were involved in a crash due to a dust storm.

More than 250,000 properties were without power across seven states – including Michigan, Missouri and Illinois – overnight into Sunday, according to tracker PowerOutage.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

Return to Malibu

Interesting info on rebuilding efforts. Evidently virtually all the multi-million dollar beach front homes, many bult in the 50’s, 60’s and earlier were outfitted with septic systems that fall well below current building code standards. It will be a bureaucratic nightmare to receive rebuilding approval and the cost of a new septic system will likely run into several million dollars per home.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

PSA – Don’t Eat Bats!

At least 50 people die in Congo from mystery illness that kills within 48 hours

More than 50 people have died in north western Congo from an unknown illness which has been killing victims within 48 hours.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has dispatched a team of experts to the area to take samples and try to determine the cause.

The WHO’s Africa office said the first cases in the town of Boloko began after three children ate a bat and quickly died following haemorrhagic fever symptoms, Associated Press reported.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You", WTF?

Nasa upgrades risk of ‘city-killer’ asteroid hitting Earth in 2032

Nasa has upgraded the risk of a potential “city-killer” asteroid colliding with the Earth to 3.1 per cent — the highest level calculated for a collision.

Scientists have warned that a direct hit, which could occur on December 22, 2032, has the potential to release nearly 8 megatons of energy — enough to devastate a city, with the blast radius of about 30 miles.

The object, called 2024 YR4, is estimated to be about 40 to 90 metres wide and is hurtling through space at about 38,000mph. The impact would occur somewhere along a path that extends across the eastern Pacific Ocean, northern South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Arabian Sea and southern Asia.

Just nudge it to Toronto.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"

First Cows, Now Cats. Is Bird Flu Coming for Humans Next?

Bird flu is here to stay. The H5N1 avian influenza is proliferating among U.S. cows and there are now two strains circulating among mammals and birds.

Though there are only 68 confirmed cases in people—largely dairy workers—public-health officials think bird flu is likely more widespread. Last week, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report documented three asymptomatic cases in veterinarians who took care of cattle they didn’t know had H5N1.

What’s clear is that people working on farms are sporadically contracting the virus. What hasn’t yet happened—and scientists believe has yet to happen in the history of the virus—is sustained human-to-human transmission.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"