The wife and daughter of a Park Ridge man fatally mauled by a grizzly bear in Wyoming voiced anger today at a research team that snared and collared the bear involved in last week’s attack.

Countering authorities’ account of the mauling, the family of Erwin Evert says he knew little about what the research team was doing and did not go looking for the team’s trap site during the hike that ended with his death.

“He just knew they were doing some sort of research. He had no idea they were going to be baiting, trapping and collaring bears in our backyard,” said his daughter, Mara Evert Domingue of Louisiana.

“If he had known that, he never would have walked up that trail.”

The danger should have been more clearly marked, his family said.

For weeks before the attack, a yellow ribbon warned about a dangerous bear along the trail Evert walked, his family said. But there were no other warning signs, and Evert and his neighbors were never told specifically about the activities of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, a group of state and federal agencies that monitor the local bears, his family said.

Evert did not go past the warning ribbon before the day of the attack, said his widow, Yolanda Evert. She said she isn’t sure where her husband encountered the bear, but she said she doesn’t think he would have disregarded the warning and walked past the tape.

“He was curious about it, but he wouldn’t go beyond that. He stayed on the trail,” she said.

Authorities have said the research team collared a 430-pound male bear and left the area near Yellowstone National Park about two miles from Evert’s cabin around 1 p.m. June 17. Evert went for a walk just before 1 p.m. and was found dead hours later. A sharpshooter later killed the bear from a helicopter.

Scott Steward, the sheriff of Park County, Wyo., said Evert questioned the bear research team and was “very inquisitive about their work.” Evert told a friend he planned to look for the trap site, Steward said.

“We’re not dealing with a case where someone didn’t know (the trap site) was there,” the sheriff said Wednesday. “The victim definitely knew it was there.”

via Family: Botanist killed by bear not aware of full danger – Chicago Breaking News.

A tornado has killed at least five people in Ohio after touching down in Wood County overnight.

Among the dead is a 4-year-old child in Millbury, Ohio, as well as a man who was found dead in the street there, CNN reports. Two adults in a van were also killed in Lake Township.

The deaths were caused by a severe storm system that also injured at least 11 people in Michigan, where storms also shut down a nuclear power plant, according to CNN. The storm also ripped through Illinois and other parts of the Midwest.

Tornadoes have already killed several people across the country this year. This past spring, tornadoes tore through Mississippi and Louisiana, killing at least 10 people. Read more here on Indyposted.

via Ohio Tornado Death Toll Reaches 5 – IndyPosted.

This is a story from 2005.

DESTIN, FL – A 14-year-old Louisiana girl was killed Saturday in a shark attack in Destin near a Walton County campground on the Gulf of Mexico. The girl's identity was not released. But Walton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Shank says the girl was from Gonzales, Louisiana.

Shank says two 14-year-old girls were swimming about 100 yards offshore when they noticed a dark shadow in the water. Shank says, “One of the swimmers was bitten. It was lower portions of her body.” Both girls swam to the shore where the girl that was attacked was treated. Shank says the girl was transported to the Sacred Heart Hospital in South Walton where she was pronounced dead.

About 21 miles of area beaches were closed to swimmers immediately afterward. They will be closed for the rest of the day.The attack happened near Camping on the Gulf Holiday Travel Park in Walton County. Patrick O'Neill, the campground's general manager, refused to comment. Mike McKee, front desk supervisor at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort and Spa, said this is the time of year when area hotels are booked to capacity.

Florida had the largest number of documented shark attacks worldwide in 2003 with 31.

via Destin Shark Attack Kills 14-Year-Old Girl.

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LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - A charred hull is all that is left of a boat after it was struck by lightning, a day of fishing gone bad.

Winnfield Nagle was nearby at Fred’s Lounge when it happened, but he said, at first, it just looked like an old boat.

“I thought it was an old fishing boat near the channel. I did not realize anything was wrong. When I got here and began talking to a guy about all of the police lights I realized something was wrong. He said there had been a fishing boat that was struck by lightning,” said Winnfield Nagle.

Richard Bergeron and Joseph Landry, both of Lake Charles, were fishing when it happened. Richard Bergeron suffered minor injuries, but Joseph Landry was not so lucky. Officials said he was dead upon arrival.

“People really need to watch the weather when they are out this time of year. We have many lightning storms come up real quick, and they underestimate them. They can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time,” said Remy Broussard with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

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Be sure to check the link for video of the rescue.

The Coast Guard released video of 56-year-old Chris Haynes Junior being rescued after he was bitten by the shark. His family said he had more surgery Monday and is resting well tonight at UMC. Haynes was in the water fishing with his son and friends when he was attacked off the Louisiana Coast. The Jackson businessman was a passenger on a boat called the Predator, which was 65 miles Southeast of New Orleans near Brenton Island when it happened.

It was a terrifying scene for Chip Haynes, who watched his father being attacked by sharks. “There were two. One ran into him and left a bruise and then the other came and bit him.“ Once the shock of what was happening wore off, Haynes and the other fisherman rushed to his dad’s side. “I saw my dad jumping around splashing in the water, and then he like fell and me and some of the guys just tried to move the boat closer.“ They wrapped a towel around the shark bite, trying to stop the bleeding. He said his father has had two surgeries since Saturday and another one is scheduled for later this week. Doctors said he has five torn tendons. “It’s the four (tendons) that help him move his foot and the one that helps him move his big toe,“ said Haynes. He and his dad have fished near Brenton Island many times, but that will be their last. “We definitely shouldn’t have been there obviously,“ he said.

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Shocker! It was probably a Bull Shark.

We are learning more about the Mississippi man bitten by a shark over the weekend off the Louisiana, as he undergoes surgery today.
“It actually bit him on his ankle. So, he has severed just about all of his ligaments… it took off about half of his foot.” Coast Guard Lt. John Egan told WWL First News. He was on the crew that went to rescue 62-year old Chris Haynes who was bitten as he waded in the water, fishing at Breton Sound.

“Thankfully he’s doing okay. He’s going under surgery today to help fix up his foot and his leg. He said it looked like he was bitten by a bull shark,” Egan said. “Luckily he was with a lot of people that were able to quickly pull him back on board his boat… our crew got there pretty quick, in about ten minutes.”

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A Jackson businessman remains hospitalized after surviving a shark attack over the weekend near Breton Island off the Louisiana coast.

Chris Haynes Jr., 56, was bitten Saturday on the foot as he and others fished in Breton Sound, a bay near the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent to the Mississippi River, said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Tom Atkeson.

Haynes is the owner of Chris Haynes Electric Supply Inc in Jackson.

“Around 10 a.m. Saturday, we picked up a radio transmission from a vessel named the ‘Predator’ who reported someone on board was bitten by a shark,” Atkeson said.

A Coast Guard boat stationed in Venice, La., and a rescue helicopter were dispatched to the boat.

A rescue crewman lowered to the boat brought Haynes up to the helicopter, which took him to New Orleans. An ambulance met the helicopter and took him to a hospital.

Atkeson said he does not know how the shark was able to attack the man. The shark did not damage the 30-foot recreational fishing boat Haynes was aboard.

The type of shark has not been identified, although lemon, bull and nurse sharks “are the most common sharks in the Gulf,” Atkeson said.

Sophia Owen, a neighbor of Haynes, said he was fishing with his son at the time. She said Haynes was transported to University of Mississippi Medical Center on Sunday.

“They said they’re going to be able to save the foot, but he has to have some extensive surgeries,” Owen said.

According to National Geographic, there are 50 to 70 confirmed shark attacks each year around the world and up to 15 of those attacks are fatal.

Atkeson said one important lesson in this attack, which may have saved the man’s life, was the marine radio device on board the boat.

“A lot of times, boaters will be in the Gulf or a remote waterway, and their cell phone doesn’t get reception. A marine band radio is much more reliable and is likely to get picked up by rescuers,” he said.

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St. Amant man missing off Grand Isle

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – The U.S. Coast guard says it has located a body near the spot where an Ascension Parish man disappeared early Tuesday morning.  

They are now working to identify the body and determine if it is that of the missing St. Amant man.

Robbie Savoy, Jr., 32, of St. Amant was among a group of seven men who were surf fishing along Caminada Pass, near Grand Isle, when they got caught in a rip current Tuesday morning, the Coast Guard reports.

Six of the men made it back to shore but Savoy has not been seen since, the Coast Guard reported.

Savoy is the operations manager at Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales.

The Coast Guard received a call for help at 6:52am and dispatched a 33-foot response boat and a helicopter to the scene.

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Kind of a funny story. But the woman does have a case.

Woman sues Wal-Mart over ‘Norman the nutria’

BY JANET MCCONNAUGHEY • ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER • MAY 7, 2009

NEW ORLEANS — A south Louisiana woman claims in a lawsuit that a nutria known as Norman ran at her in her local Wal-Mart, scaring her into a panic attack and a foot injury that required surgery.

Employees at the Wal-Mart in Abbeville not only knew a wild animal was at large in the store, but had given it a pet name and negligently failed to warn people about it, Rebecca T. White and her husband, Randal, allege in a state court lawsuit. 

Nutria are rodents with bright orange buck teeth. Weighing up to 18 pounds, they look like small beavers with rat-like tails. Would-be fur farmers in 22 states imported large numbers in the 1930s and ’40s, then let them go when they proved unprofitable. They proliferated in south Louisiana, where many residents call them nutria-rats or neutral-rats. 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had little comment about the lawsuit filed April 22 in state district court in Abbeville, about 130 miles west of New Orleans. 

“A safe, clean and friendly shopping environment for customers is always our goal. We haven’t been served with a lawsuit but we are looking into the matter,” spokeswoman Michelle Bradford said Thursday. 

It isn’t clear what happened to the animal. The parish nuisance animal control officer, Duane Riebel, said he has never been called on to get rid of nutria. 

According to the lawsuit, Rebecca White had a full shopping cart when “suddenly and without warning a large wild nutria came from behind the Coke rack and ran straight towards” her on Oct. 11. 

Fearing for her safety, she “pulled her shopping cart towards her to protect her from the large vicious looking rat,” the suit continued. 

The cart ran over her left foot, breaking two bones, the Whites’ lawyer, Anthony Fontana, said Thursday. He said she underwent surgery in late February for broken bones and damaged nerves. 

Wal-Mart workers “came running” in October but made light of the incident, “telling petitioner that they could see that she had an encounter with ’Norman,’ a name the employees had given to the rat,” the lawsuit alleged. 
Fontana said Thursday that White suffers from panic attacks. 

“She got to the checkout counter,” Fontana said. “That’s the last thing she remembers. She passed out and they had to take her to the hospital in an ambulance.” 

She had had prior surgery on her back, which was re-injured when she fell, Fontana said. “They’re monitoring that as to whether she’ll need any type of treatment.” 

She is asking for compensation for pain, suffering, mental anguish, fear, disabling injuries, and medical expenses. The surgery bills aren’t yet in, Fontana said, but other medical bills totaled $1,945.93.

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Snake season approaches
Posted: May 6, 2009 04:03 PM

Updated: May 6, 2009 04:52 PM

 

By Adam Hooper - bio | email

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) – It is beginning to feel more and more like summer every day. But with the warmer weather comes the start of snake season. More often than not people try and avoid those slithering serpents, but it is important to note snakes are a vital part of our ecosystem. They feed off of rodents and insects.

But it is never a bad idea to be safe by steering clear of venomous snakes. In Louisiana there are six, the Diamond Back Rattle snake, found in eastern Louisiana, the Coral snake, the Canebreak snake, the Cotton Mouth snake, the Pigmy Rattler, and the Copper Head.

“All poisonous snakes have slits for eyes, cat eyes. They also have vents in the front of their head, where the venom is stored,” said John Robinette, with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

An old tire is a perfect example of where you might find a snake looking for food, like rodents and bugs, but snakes are not limited to these areas. You can find them anywhere, from your front yard, to the inside of your home.

“They like dense areas. Pretty much where you think a snake would be. High grass, firewood, trashy areas,” said Robinette.

But, if one does find its way into your home, Calcasieu Parish Animal Services says not to remove it yourself.

“If a snake does get into your home or on your porch just call us. We will come out and remove the snake,” said Rita Cavenaugh, with Calcasieu Parish Animal Services.

But snakes are not mean like you may think. They are just as scared of us as many of us are of them.

“Snakes do not want to bite. They would rather get away. They will not usually bite unless you put them in a position to bite,” said Robinette.

 

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Three hurt in La. twister as more storms batter Southeast

Last Update: 5/04 9:16 pm

(IDM) NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Three people are recovering from injuries from a tornado that plowed throw southern Louisiana, damaging nearly two dozen homes. Police say one woman was treated for a broken leg after she was struck by flying debris as she ran from her mobile home to her mother’s home. The two others have minor injuries. The National Weather Service says the tornado was up to 100 yards wide when it hit the area about 140 miles northwest of New Orleans. The storms unleashed heavy rain, which caused flooding in areas including West Virginia. Every road except for one was closed in Roane County. The rains have flooded an ambulance parking lot and knocked out power to thousands. Sunday’s storms are blamed for at least one death and possible tornadoes from Mississippi to Georgia. Emergency officials say at least 100 homes were damaged.

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Brothers rescue girl from tide

Matt Stamey/Staff

Paul (left) and Chris Watson talk about how they rescued a teen from drowning in Grand Isle on Good Friday.

By Daniel McBride
Staff Writer

Published: Friday, April 24, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. 
Last Modified: Friday, April 24, 2009 at 11:42 p.m.

HOUMA — Two young men from Houma were torn from their Grand Isle vacation on Good Friday when down the beach they heard screams — a girl had been caught in the undertow.

But brothers Paul and Chris Watson, 21 and 17 years old, responded quickly to help her.

The pair also kept her above water long enough to receive help from Grand Isle fire officials, who later said the duo saved the girl’s life.

“If they hadn’t gotten involved initially, she would have drowned,” said Grand Isle Fire Chief Aubrey Chaisson. “I really believe that.”

Paul Watson, who does offshore repair work in Lafayette, and Chris Watson, a junior at Vandebilt Catholic High School, traveled with family April 9 to Grand Isle. The next day the brothers visited the beach despite choppy waves and cool weather.

The two began body surfing near a pair of jetties, man-made rock formations running parallel to the beach.

Meanwhile Hannah Reece, a 16-year-old from Baton Rouge, was swimming with her sister and cousin about 50 yards away.

The girls caught the brothers’ attention, Paul said, when one began screaming. Hannah was caught in a powerful rip tide flowing between the jetties.

“I didn’t think anyone saw me go out there,” she said. “I was just praying and trying to stay afloat. … I’ve never been that scared before.”

The brothers said they both swam after her: Chris dove straight into the quick-moving water, while Paul headed to the jetty farther along the current’s path.

“It wasn’t like ‘I’m going to be a hero and save somebody,’ ” Chris said of the decision to plunge after Hannah. “It was just: ‘This girl looks like she really needs help.’ ”

Paul said he headed to the jetty because he thought he would be able to better assess the situation from there.

“I’m proud my little brother went in head-first,” he said.

Paul and Chris, both veteran competitive swimmers, said the current was unlike anything they had ever experienced. Chris said the powerful tide was “humbling,” and Paul said he’d never known an undertow like that at Grand Isle.

“It was the first time I swam against a current I couldn’t beat,” Paul said.

Chris found the girl clinging to a barnacle-covered structure on the sea-facing side of the jetty, he said. It was a pyramid of three wooden pilings, with horizontal bars for posting signs. Paul reached the jetty and jumped in the water to help.

“All of a sudden I saw a hand reach out to me from nowhere,” Hannah said. “I grabbed it, and he pulled me toward him.”

With Chris pulling her up, and Paul pushing from underneath they managed to lift Hannah onto the horizontal bars, using the bars like ladder rungs. She was in shock, they said.

“You could tell she was in panic,” Paul said. “She kicked me a couple of times.”

Paul fell off the piling and swam back around to the jetty. He stayed there, yelling encouragement to the Hannah and Chris.

“I told Chris to tell the girl they ran out of good looking life guards,” Paul recalled, “and had to send us.”

Chris said he was too filled with adrenaline to feel the barnacles cutting into his feet.

“My only thought was to hold onto her,” he said.

After about 15 minutes, Grand Isle fire rescuers arrived on personal watercraft. After a few false starts, they got Hannah off the pilings.

But almost immediately, the rough waves caused the vessel to flip. Chaisson said he held onto Hannah and was able to push her back onto the watercraft “Western style, like throwing her on the back of a stallion.”

Paul swam to shore, and Chris did the same after firefighters gave him a life vest.

Alice and John Watson, parents of Paul and Chris, said they were proud of their children.

Alice credited their experience on swimming teams — something common among all the Watson children — with giving her sons an edge in the situation.

“I truly believe that had they not been such strong swimmers, it would have been a different outcome,” she said.

Though the brothers said they have no formal rescue training, John said his children know more about water safety than they may think.

“Consciously or not, (they’re) aware of other kids swimming,”

he said. “I’m proud of (Paul and Chris). I don’t know what else I can say.”

Chaisson said beach visitors must be aware of their surroundings to avoid dangerous conditions like those on April 10.

“You can come here and enjoy Grand Isle, you just got to use your common sense,” said Chaisson, who advised that large waves and fast winds are warning signs. “That’s a recipe right there. You got to use your head.”

Everyone involved said it is important to remember not to try and swim against the current — a mistake Hannah made that she said wore her out. Both Hannah said the key is to stay calm during a life-or-death situation, something Paul and Chris helped her to do.

“I was really grateful,” Hannah said. “I’m glad I’m alive and I need to be safe and not take things for granted.”

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7-Foot Gator Loose In Orleans Parish Park

Nuisance Hunter Captures 2 Of 3 Gators Reported At Brechtel Park

POSTED: 6:15 pm CDT April 23, 2009
UPDATED: 6:54 pm CDT April 23, 2009

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Park workers on Thursday tried to oust an unwelcome visitor inside a popular Algiers park.

 

A 7-foot alligator was still on the loose in Brechtel Park as of Thursday evening. 

“It’s very much a common problem,” said park attendee Perrier Sanchez. “They’ve got alligators at Audubon Park, City Park, Brechtel Park.” 

At Brechtel Park, three large alligators recently tried turning a lagoon into their summer home. 

“The park spotted them and was concerned for safety, so they asked us to try and get rid of them,” said Shane Granier, of Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries. 

Lt. Edward Skena with Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries said agents were first notified about the problem in February and hired a nuisance hunter to capture the trespassers. But so far, the hunter has only caught two. 

“The two he caught were between 6 and 7 feet, and he has been unable to locate the third,” Skena said. “It’s between 7 and 8 feet, and he’s still trying to catch it.” 

Skena said that’s just two of about 20 gators they’ve captured this year in Orleans Parish, but park-like settings make the job much more difficult. 

Wildlife and Fisheries employees said they have to catch the alligator by hand. They’re unable to set traps because they want to protect other wildlife and small children. 

“You can’t leave those things unattended, those lines,” Skena said. “There’s a large, sharp hook, and you don’t want children to come in contact with that.” 

Instead, the hunter will fish for the gator. But Skena said, until the gator is captured, guests should use common sense. Don’t feed the alligator and keep children and small pets away from the water’s edge. 

“Basically, if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you — that’s the way I see it,” Sanchez said. 

Wildlife and Fisheries agents said they will continue to receive gator sightings as the temperatures rise, but they have had no reports of gator attacks in Orleans Parish.

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Man survives lightning strike at bass tournament on Rayburn

Comments 0 | Recommend 8

April 20, 2009 – 12:18 PM

posted by: Scott Lawrence

From Mike Lout/KJAS 

Doctors at the Louisiana State University Medical Center at Shreveport are saying that a man who was fishing in the McDonald’s Big Splash Bass Tournament on Saturday is lucky to be alive after his boat was struck by lightning.

58 year old Dale Nash and friend Tommy Young, both of whom live on the Louisiana side of Toledo Bend Reservoir, not far from Toledo Town, were fishing on Saturday afternoon on the northeast side of Lake Sam Rayburn when lighting hit the boat they were sitting in.

The strike reportedly not only threw Nash out of the boat, but also ripped all of his clothes from his body. However, a friend who was fishing nearby, Eddie Gongre, also of Louisiana, jumped into the water and rescued Nash and took him to shore where he could be transferred to an ambulance. Young was also injured but did not require treatment. However, Nash received 1st and 2nd degree burns to an estimated 15% of his body and is still undergoing treatment but said to be recovering.

Witnesses said the bolt was so strong that other anglers as far as 400 yards away experienced a shock or tingle. The strike burned the pedestal part of the seat and also caused the control unit of a trolling motor to explode.

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Florida wins, hands down.

# 1	Florida:	337
# 2	Texas:	15
= 3	Georgia:	9
= 3	South Carolina:	9
# 5	Alabama:	5
# 6	Louisiana:	2
= 7	Arkansas:	1
= 7	North Carolina:	1

DEFINITION: Number of documented alligator attacks since 1948. There have been 17 fatal attacks in Florida and one fatal attack in Georgia. Additional deaths which were previously reported have been ruled out because the wounds appeared to be post-mortem. The most common cases were lacerations or scratches on the hands, whereas the most common activity attributed to the attack was an attempt to capture, pick up or exhibit the alligator. Other common activities that led to an alligator attack were swimming, fishing activities and retrieving golf balls.

SOURCE: Alligator Attacks on Humans in the United States, Ricky L. Langley, MD, MPH. Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, 16, 119 124 (2005). Additional figures taken from news reports.

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Much of state under tornado watch

Lightning strikes Madison Co. home

By Nicklaus Lovelady
nicklaus.lovelady@jackson.gannett.com

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for all of central and southern Mississippi until 9 p.m. The advisory includes Hinds, Rankin and Madison counties.

Severe weather is moving across the state from Louisiana and is responsible for quarter- and half dollar-sized hail in the Delta and Sunflower County, meteorologist Joanne Culin said.

“It’s packing a lot of lightning, wind gusts and hail,” she said.

Madison County Emergency Management Coordinator Butch Hammack said lightning struck a home on Cox Ferry Road. No injuries were reported.

Rain chances will remain in the forecast for the Jackson area until about 4 a.m., Culin said.

Monday is expected to be clear until the evening hours when a low pressure system from the Texas Panhandle will bring another round of thunderstorms, Culin said.

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Significant Tornadoes expected in Louisiana on Easter Sunday

April 12, 1:27 AM

Saturday’s storms were finally limited to a small area, and better yet there were no tornado reports! There were just a handful of hail and wind reports, which is a nice change since the previous two days both had deadly tornadoes.

Unfortunately Sunday may be back into the tornado-realm of things, with ongoing convection turning into redevelopment in the afternoon hours over parts of eastern and southeastern Texas and all of Louisiana. This is the area that should see the most significant coverage of severe storms–and tornadoes. In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has southern Louisiana under a Moderate Risk for severe weather on Sunday. They also outline a larger area for a slight risk for severe storms across all of Eastern Texas, Southern Oklahoma eastward through Southern Arkansas and Mississippi.

On the map I have outlined the SPC’s severe risk areas as well as the area I’m most focused in on. Note that in Southwestern Louisiana the SPC’s Moderate Risk area overlaps with my interest area. Therefore, the threat seems most significant in that area by consensus. Here is where significant tornadoes may be possible in the late afternoon hours.

For storm chasers, the areas farther north into Arkansas and Oklahoma seem less appealing to me. Moisture and moisture depth will be significantly lacking, however very cold mid levels may be able to compensate for the lack of moisture. With good instability in these areas there could be some storms, and that must be what the SPC is homing in on in those areas.

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This is a truly tragic story from Louisiana.  It’s always best to remember that, especially around children, dogs can quickly revert back to their wild past.

3 dogs kill 4-year-old boy in his Pointe Coupee Parish yard

by The Associated Press  

Saturday April 11, 2009, 2:19 PM

MORGANZA, La. — Pointe Coupee Parish sheriff’s deputies say three dogs killed a 4-year-old boy who was playing in his own yard, and injured a man who tried to rescue the child.

Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Juge said Michael Landry was airlifted to a hospital in New Roads, nine miles away, but died there from his injuries. Morganza is about 40 miles northwest of Baton Rouge.

Landry did not identify the man, who was hospitalized.

Juge said at least one of the dogs belonged to a next-door neighbor who had let it out of a kennel to eat. Animal control officers took all three dogs.

Juge said deputies would turn over their report to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for review.

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Even though people think earthquakes only occur on the West Coast, they have and will occur in other parts of the United States.

Earthquakes In The Midwestern and Eastern United States?!

Most people think that earthquakes occur only in places like California, Alaska, and Japan. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Several major and numerous minor earthquakes have occurred in the midwestern and eastern United States, as well as eastern Canada. Some of the earthquakes that have caused notable damage in these areas are listed below.

• 1663 & 1870, St. Lawrence River region, Canada
• 1755, Boston/Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Earthquake estimated to be magnitude 6.0; buildings damaged.
• 1811 & 1812 – New Madrid, Missouri, experienced the three largest earthquakes known to have occurred in North America (magnitudes estimated between 7.2 and 8.3) and 203 damaging aftershocks. Soil liquefaction occurred.
• 1886, Charleston, South Carolina. Estimated magnitude 6.8. Soil liquefaction occurred. Extensive damage; 60 people or more died. Over 400 aftershocks over the next 30 years.
• 1895, Charleston, Missouri
• 1897, Giles County, Virginia
• 1884, New York City area
• 1931 — Valentine, Texas, had a magnitude 6.4 earthquake, the largest earthquake to hit Texas in historic times.
• 1935, Timiskaming, Ontario (Canada)
• 1947 — Michigan experienced a magnitude 4.4 earthquake.
• 1979 & 1980 – New York State and the adjacent areas experienced 131 earthquakes of magnitude 1 to 5.
• 1980, 5 earthquakes recorded north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1980, Kentucky shaken by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake.
• 1982 — New Brunswick, Canada, had a magnitude 5.7 earthquake.
• 1982 — Arkansas earthquake swarm starts. Eighty-eight earthquakes between June 24 and July 5, 1982. Four earthquakes with magnitudes of 4.0 to 4.5 during first 3 months of swarm. Total of about 40,000 earthquakes in the area (most very small or not felt) between 1982 and 1985.
• 1983 – Lake Charles, Louisiana, experienced a magnitude 3.8 earthquake.
• 1983 — Indiana had a magnitude 5.9 earthquake.
• 1986 — Painesville, Ohio, experienced a magnitude 4.9 earthquake and several aftershocks. The earthquake was felt in 11 states.
• 1987 — Southeastern Illinois experienced a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. This area has had 7 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater since 1892.

You probably noticed that in the list above, the magnitudes of earthquakes that took place in the 1800′s are described as “estimated.” This is because these earthquake events took place before the Richter magnitude scale was put in place. The approximation is made by a study of accounts of the earthquake which are correlated with the damage described in theMercalli intensity scale, which, as you may recall, allows a classification of an earthquake’s magnitude by ordinary people (not just seismologists). The descriptions may come even from personal correspondance of average citizens and include telling details about the damage the earthquake caused.

Over 900,000 earthquakes occur worldwide each year. Fortunately, the vast majority of them are magnitude 2.5 or less, and great earthquakes (magnitude 8.0 or more) only happen about once every 5 to 10 years. Most of these great quakes occur along the plate boundaries, not in the eastern and midwestern U.S.

A few areas of the midwestern and eastern United States are more prone to earthquakes than others. The most earthquake-prone areas include Charleston, South Carolina, eastern Massachusetts, the St. Lawrence River area, and the central Mississippi River Valley. Others sections of this part of the country are prone to earthquakes, but can expect fewer quakes of smaller magnitude. Below is a map showing the risk of damage by earthquakes for the continental United States.

FIGURE 1 (MODIFIED FROM STEARNS & MILLER, 1977)

The central Mississippi River Valley and the Charleston, South Carolina, are more prone to damage during earthquakes than the northern part of the country. These areas have sandy soils that shake more than solid rock, resulting in damage from subsidence during an earthquake. The high water tables along the Mississippi and near the coast also increase the risk of soil liquefaction during strong earthquakes.

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Sure do seem to be a ton of tornadoes touching down around the U.S.

Tornadoes confirmed in Shreveport, Bossier City

FROM STAFF REPORTS • APRIL 10, 2009
The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado or tornadoes hit Cross Lake north of Shreveport and Bossier City Thursday night.

 

An EF2 tornado touched down near Cross Lake. EF2 tornadoes have wind speeds of 111-135 miles per hour.

 

An EF1 tornado — touched down in Bossier City on and possibly near Barksdale Air Force Base. An EF1 tornado packs winds of 86 to 110 miles an hour.

 

Barksdale officials reported a 100-yard-wide track on base and damage to trees and houses there, said Christian Stapleton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Shreveport.

 

National Weather Service teams are still surveying damage from Thursday night’s storms throughout the region.

 

Their areas of focus is along the Interstate 20 corridor across north Louisiana, Sevier and Howard counties in Arkansas and throughout East Texas.

Weather Service employees, trained storm spotters, ham radio operators, law enforcement and others reported tornadoes and hail from Shreveport to Monroe.

 

At least two local injuries were reported. A male, age unknown, was hurt in the Lakeview area on the northeast side of Cross Lake. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

 

On Ashton Street, in Shreveport, a car fell on a car, trapping a woman.
Emergency responders also said 10-15 rail cars were blown off the tracks along Interstate 220 near Cross Lake.

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Some ignore siren as tornado strikes Ark. hamlet

By JON GAMBRELL – 7 hours ago

MENA, Ark. (AP) — The sirens sounded three times across this western Arkansas hamlet, and residents watched several funnel clouds pass harmlessly over town. The fourth siren was for another twister that ended up being a killer.

While many took cover immediately Thursday night in the basement of the county courthouse, others stayed home, only to glance out their windows just in time to see the black funnel descend on the community just east of the Oklahoma line. At least three people were killed, at least 30 others injured and 600 homes were damaged or destroyed.

“This one popped out of nowhere,” said Polk County Sheriff Mike Oglesby.

The tornado was part of a line of storms that continued wreaking havoc in the South on Friday. The National Weather Service said a tornado destroyed two homes in southwestern Kentucky, and authorities near Nashville, Tenn., said multiple tornado touchdowns were reported.

As daylight broke Friday in Mena, pink insulation hung like cherry blossoms from the sheared branches of century-old maples. The roof of a two-story home sat atop the rubble that once was the floors beneath it, a set of women’s clothes still hanging from a suspended closet rack.

Oglesby said search-and-rescue teams had combed through the city’s downtown and a neighborhood just west that sustained the brunt of the storm without finding any other victims. The sheriff said he had no reports of anyone else missing in the city of 5,700 in the Ouachita Mountains.

An initial survey of the damage suggests the tornado packed winds of at least 136 mph, weather service forecaster John Robinson said Friday.

Basic tornado safety rules call for people, when warned, to go to the lowest floor in a building and put as many walls as possible between themselves and outside.

A warning was posted at 7:24 p.m. Thursday night for areas north of Mena and another one went up for the community at 8:01 p.m. — nine minutes before it hit. The reason for four separate sirens wasn’t immediately clear, but Robinson said some communities cannot run their sirens continuously because their motors will burn up.

“Everything was well-covered. We said everything was heading straight toward Mena. It’s unfortunate yet,” Robinson.

The twice-monthly meeting of the Mena’s chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star had been going on uninterrupted, the 19 people inside only faintly hearing the sirens through the building’s cinderblock walls, said attendee Thurman Allen.

“We heard the siren two or three times. It would sound off and it would quit,” said Allen, 79. “We were getting ready to get out of the building when it hit.”

The storm tore down the Masonic hall’s walls, collapsing the roof on one woman, killing her, Allen said. Allen was hit with debris and thrown to the floor. The wind bowled over his wife and others inside.

“We had several ladies who it took the shoes right off their feet,” said Fred Key, 37.

Others killed in the Mena storm were found in a collapsed house and in a front yard, said James Reeves, the county’s emergency coordinator. The identities of the two women and a man who died have not been released.

Some residents sought shelter in the Polk County Courthouse, where dispatchers became trapped immediately after the storm. A radio antenna fell over onto part of the beige brick building during the storm, damaging its roof.

Others, like Ken Butler, 40, said they initially dismissed the sirens. Butler could only huddle against a wall as the storm hit, his arms wrapped around an exposed gas pipe.

“The siren was going off in plenty of time, I just didn’t take it serious enough,” Butler said.

The storm plucked his neighbor’s shotgun-style home off its foundation and tossed it about 20 feet away. Across the street, neighbor Edward Cross, 69, said he and his wife Nettie, 66, also didn’t heed the sirens. Instead, he lifted the blinds of his back windows to look out toward the town’s middle school and the courthouse.

At that point, Cross said the “big black cloud” loomed right in front of him.

“I didn’t have time to go nowhere, I just grabbed a hold of the wall and held on,” Cross said. The storm tore away a quarter of their home’s roof.

The violent weather was part of a system that caused damage throughout the South and parts of the Midwest. As the storms moved east, hail and high winds were reported in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Power was out in many parts of the region.

Southeast of Nashville in Rutherford County, a sheriff’s dispatcher said “multiple tornado touchdowns” were reported Friday in various parts of the county.

Brian Smith, general manager at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in the area along Interstate 24, said he saw a “pretty wide” tornado and that he “could see debris in the air from the rotation.”

A tornado Friday destroyed two homes and knocked down trees and power lines near the community of Mannington, Ky., in Christian County, weather service meteorologist Robin Smith said in Paducah. Smith said the storm also dumped hail, some as large as eggs, throughout Christian and Lyon counties.

The weather service said a woman was injured at Shreveport, La., when a tree fell onto her car during a tornado. Twisters also damaged homes east of Vinita and near Muse in Oklahoma and at Crossett in far southern Arkansas, near the Louisiana line.

Mena’s storm destroyed a city plant that makes gaskets for air conditioners and an ice manufacturer. Small business owners swept up glass from their sidewalks in the downtown in a city known for its remodeled homes from the 1800s and century-old trees, said Prosecutor Tim Williamson.

The town once looked “pastoral,” Williamson said. “It’s not anymore.”

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Tornado wallops Ark. town; 3 killed, dozens hurt

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer

MENA, Ark. – Authorities began a house-to-house search Friday to check on residents after a tornado struck a “direct hit” on this mountain community, killing at least three people, injuring at least 30 others and flattening homes and businesses.

The twister descended quickly on Mena shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday after a series of siren blasts warned residents of tornadoes in the area.

Daylight exposed a community ripped apart. Century-old pecan trees leaned into homes — some with pink insulation strung from their limbs. Along some streets, roofs had collapsed into homes. On other streets, roofs were simply gone.

“It just looks like a war zone,” Mayor George McKee said.

Thurman Allen, 79, said his charitable group, the Order of the Eastern Star, had just sat down for its twice-monthly meeting at the Masonic lodge when the last siren sounded. Before the 19 attendees could take cover, the tornado peeled away the roof with winds so strong that some women had their shoes ripped off their feet.

“I was down on the floor — I just flattened,” Allen said.

One woman was killed by falling debris — her body recovered after emergency workers cut part of the roof away.

Elsewhere in the Ouachita Mountains town, Marion Boyt, 76, said he survived after rushing into a small closet with his son and daughter-in-law.

“I guess we got skinny because we were so scared,” he said.

Boyt said one of those killed died when the roof of a two-story home collapsed.

The body of the third person killed was found in her front yard, county’s emergency coordinator James Reeves said. Authorities have not released the names of those killed pending notification of their families.

National Guard troops patrolled the downtown of this city of 5,700 residents. An overnight curfew was put in effect as emergency crews dealt with ruptured gas lines, downed power lines, fallen trees and heavily damaged buildings.

Meanwhile, emergency workers were going door-to-door to check on residents, although there were no specific reports of people missing. They said they would likely need help getting around fallen trees.

Prosecutor Tim Williamson said dispatchers at the county courthouse had been trapped inside immediately after the storm, and that the county jail was “uninhabitable.” Inmates were transfered to nearby counties, said the office of County Judge Ray Stanley.

The twister tore the roof off a local community college building and destroyed two businesses at the city’s industrial park, Williamson said.

Mena Middle School also sustained significant roof damage, principal Mike Hobson said. One portable classroom was destroyed and that part of the auditorium’s roof was ripped away, and administrators would have to discuss when classes can resume, Hobson said.

Rick Lanman, who manages the Mena Airport, said darkness fell quickly as the tornado crossed the Oklahoma border 10 miles away.

“Me and the dog ran to the bathroom when we saw it on the TV,” Lanman said. “It was here in less than a minute.”

Mena sirens sounded for earlier storms north and south of town. When they sounded a fourth time, “experience was telling me that we were in trouble,” said Lanman, who said he been through tornadoes before in Oklahoma and Illinois.

The violent weather was part of a system that caused damage throughout the South and parts of the Midwest. The National Weather Service said a woman was injured at Shreveport, La., when a tree fell onto her car during a tornado. Twisters also damaged homes east of Vinita and near Muse in Oklahoma and at Crossettin far southern Arkansas, near the Louisiana line.

As the storms moved east, hail and high winds were reported in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Power was out in many parts of the region.

The injured were taken to Mena Medical Center for treatment.

Reeves, the emergency coordinator, said he had never seen such a powerful storm hit the tornado-prone region.

“Not in my lifetime,” he said. “The last tornado we had to hit the city of Mena was in November 1993. This time we had significant structures (hit).”