A Porter man has died almost a month after he was struck by lightning at a youth soccer practice.

Franco Olascoaga, 21, was hit by the lightning bolt on Sept. 10 while coaching his team on the field at Robert Crippen Elementary School.

Olascoaga was talking on his cell phone while walking across the field when he was knocked out by the lightning strike. It was not raining at the time, officials said.

Olascoaga was taken in critical condition to Memorial Hermann Hospital — The Texas Medical Center, where he died on Thursday.

A 9-year-old girl also was treated at an area hospital for injuries sustained from the lightning.

The team that Olascoaga coached, the Dynamic Soccer Club, is not affiliated with the school but has permission to use the field at Crippen Elementary.

via Porter soccer coach dies a month after he’s struck by lightning | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.

Although a Trafford man was bit by a snake in Fayette County early Thursday morning, a local herpetologist said close encounters with reptiles are rare.

Chad Heasley, 39, was riding an all-terrain vehicle through the woods with friends when his vehicle got stuck in mud. State police said he went to get some rocks to help elevate his tires and a snake bit him. He was flown to Highlands Hospital and Health Center in Connellsville. A report on his condition was not immediately available.

Ken Stairs of Somerset, a field biologist, said trails go through scenic areas of high mountains where snakes live. Police had not confirmed what kind of snake bit Heasley, but there are copperheads and rattlesnakes in the woods near Connellsville, Stairs said.

“They are secretive and they like to go undetected and unmolested,” he said. “If you step on one or try to pick it up, you will get bit. The snake feels threatened.”

Snakes are often found around rocks or beside logs.

“Never be afraid to hike, but wear boots or sturdy shoes, not flip-flops,” he said. “Look carefully before sitting on the ground and don’t put your fingers on ledges without looking carefully. Step up on logs and look around the side before stepping over it. A snake may be lying on the ground near the log waiting for a chipmunk. Stay on the trail.”

It isn’t true that snakes travel in pairs. Adults that are hunting will be alone. Gestating females will be in groups — he once saw 46 together at a boulder. It isn’t true that snakes can strike a great distance. They can only strike about half of their body length or a little longer if they are on a rock. Their body length isn’t as long as people think, either.

“Snakes aren’t going to chase anybody,” he said. “They are looking for an escape route. Noise wakes them. If you hear a rattle, stop, look for the snake and sidestep around him.”

Ninety-five percent of snakes are nonpoisonous, Stairs said. Those bites are similar to scratches. Someone who is bitten by a poisonous snake can be treated in most hospitals and should be fine if he doesn’t have any underlying medical problems. It isn’t true that physicians need to know what type of snake bit you before starting treatment, he said. The medication is the same.

“Don’t take the snake to the hospital with you — it causes trauma in the ER,” Stairs said. “Thirty percent of bites are dry bites. Out in the southwest you may be further away from medical facilities and the snakes are bigger and have a higher toxicity. There a snake bite is more dangerous.”

Stairs was bitten by a snake once. He had wild-caught a western diamondback rattlesnake in Texas and brought it back with him. He was measuring the snake and it bit him on the thumb.

“It didn’t like being handled,” he said. “I spent seven days in the hospital.”

Venomous snake bites can cause tissue and nerve death. If you are bitten by a rattlesnake or copperhead snake, immobilize the limb at or above the heart if possible. If you are bit on the hand or arm, put your arm across your stomach and hold it there. If you have a cell phone with you, call 911.

“Remain calm — I know it’s hard, but keep your heart rate from going up,” Stairs said. “Get to the nearest medical facility as soon as you can, but don’t run. That raises the heart rate. If you are bit on the hand, remove any rings you’re wearing because your hand will swell. If you have a constricting band — not a tourniquet — put it above the bite. Don’t drink alcohol or take medications.”

The new antivenin serum is sheep blood based and has fewer side effects than the older one that was horse blood based.

About five years ago, he asked the state Health Department how many people in Pennsylvania died of bites from indigenous snakes. There were no deaths for 10 years prior to that.

Stairs and three other men are catching large male rattlesnakes and copperheads on a mountain in Bedford County where wind turbines are to be placed. Two-inch-long transmitters will be implanted in the snakes to track them to dens. The dens will be mapped so the wind turbines don’t break up the dens. The snakes will be caught again in the spring to remove the implants.

Dave Fox, Somerset County 911 coordinator, said people who hike on the trails or through woods need to be aware of where they are. They’ve had problems before with people having a medical emergency on the trail and because they are calling on an older cell phone or the tree canopy was interfering with reception, the 911 center couldn’t pinpoint their location.

“We asked one person where he parked his car so we’d have a starting point, and he replied ‘In a lot with a sign with a big P on it,’” he said. “You need to be aware of which trail you are on and where you went in. Try to know what direction you walked and about how far you walked. If you have a GPS that can be used while walking and a cell phone, take them along. Some people leave the main trail and are on footpaths. That causes problems. Never go alone. It’s like hunting season: You’re safer if you go in numbers. If you do go alone, tell somebody where you are going. People should also wear proper clothing in case they are stranded outside at night. Carry matches to start a fire. Take any survival gear you have.”

via Man bitten by snake in Fayette County woods – Johnstown’s Community Newspaper.

The now-world-famous Guatemala City sinkhole, which opened following a recent tropical storm, is estimated to be 66 feet wide, 100 feet deep, and perfectly cylindrical in shape. It must be seen to be believed. Here are five amazing facts about the sinkhole and, as a bonus at the bottom, three not-so-amazing “facts.”

Might Still Get Bigger Politics Daily's Carl Franzen warns the sinkhole may be “increasing in size and appetite.” He writes, “The phenomenon of rapidly growing sinkholes is well documented, but the Guatemala case stands out precisely because the sinkhole is so enormous and in such an inconvenient location, at a major intersection. The sinkhole's potential growth is also problematic for repair efforts, as no work can be begun safely until the sinkhole has reached an equilibrium and stops…well, sinking, which could take up to several more days.”

Could Be Caused by Sped-Up Geological Erosion Geologists David Bercovici and Mark Brandon tell Vanity Fair, “Sinkholes often appear in areas where the rock below the ground is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can be naturally dissolved by circulating ground water. As the sediment dissolves, caves and air pockets develop underneath the land surface. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces, then the ground collapses and results in a sinkhole. Natural depressions that collect water and man-made structures such as houses and streets with poor drainage are especially vulnerable to sinkholes. Heavy rainfall, like that from Tropical Storm Agatha, only accelerates the process.”

Sewer System May Be to Blame The Christian Science Monitor's Sara Miller Llana reports, “The mayor Guatemala City, Álvaro Arzú, said there may be a relationship between the sinkhole and the city's 36-year old drainage system that runs 50-60 meters below the surface. He said, according to 21st Century, a Guatemala daily newspaper, that the country's disaster response agency, CONRED, is using an X-ray like machine to study the earth in the area of the sinkhole.” Other reports cite “sewer or municipal water lines [that] might have eroded the ground and led to the collapse.”

This Has Happened Before The Christian Science Monitor's Ezra Fieser recounts, “In 2007, three people were killed when a 100-foot deep sinkhole opened in another Guatemala City neighborhood. More than 1,000 people were evacuated from the area.” Carl Franzen adds, “Just last month, a sinkhole opened in Quebec swallowing an entire house and killing the family inside. In the U.S., they are most common in the southern states, particularly Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida, where hundreds of smaller sinkholes have already been reported this year alone.”

How We Can Fix It Politics Daily's Carl Franzen explains three options. (1) Excavate and Filter; (2) Remediate and Cap Grout; (3) Underpin. That last one comes from “Sinkhole attorneys Marshall Thomas Burnett, a firm specializing in filing claims for those whose properties are affected by the appearance of sinkholes.” Click through for descriptions of each process.

3 Not-So-Amazing Sinkhole 'Facts'

You Can Throw Stuff in It Death and Taxes blogger Matt Kiebus helpfully contributes “fun stuff to toss in” the sinkhole. His 12-item list includes such throwables as Miller Lite bottles and BP CEO Tony Hayward.

Sinkhole Has Biblical Precedent BeliefNet's Mark Herringshaw quotes Psalm 46:2: “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” To be fair, Herringshaw also urges prayer for the victims of the sinkhole as well as the tropical storm that caused it.

The Best Car to Jump a Sinkhole Car blog Jalopnik's Matt Hardigree asks, “Assuming you were airlifted in to the country with a vehicle of your choice — what would you take and what would your strategy be for avoiding death?” His answer: “Personally, I'd pick a Caterham R500 to traverse the dangerous streets of Guatemala City. The insane 2.0-liter Ford-powered roadster has classic Caterham agility to avoid sinkholes, 520 hp-per-ton power to speed away from an earth opening beneath your feet, a low 1,115-lb weight to help leap over any obstacles, and an open roof in case you can't do any of those things and need to bail in a hurry.”

via 5 Amazing Facts About the Guatemala City Sinkhole | The Atlantic Wire.

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WOODSBORO–A game warden is recovering after he was bitten by an alligator in Refugio County. The gator was in the middle of a road and the game warden was trying to capture it when the gator apparently decided it didn’t want to be captured.

The alligator attack happened about a month ago. The game warden has been rehabilitating ever since then. For the first time today, he went back to the scene of the gator attack.

This is the first time Pinky Gonzales returned back to Farm to Market Road 136 near Woodsboro since the alligator attack. It was a month ago and he was trying to remove the gator from the roadway.

Gonzales jumped on top of the alligator to tape his mouth, but he was on him for 15 seconds, a little too long to close his mouth. The gator bit him and wouldn’t let his hand go.

“I am going to trying to pull my hand out of his mouth and somehow almost in two, but I got my hand back,” said Gonzales, who has been a game warden for Texas Parks and Wildlife for 23 years.

After getting his hand out, Gonzales said he and the gator rolled and then the reptile was coming right at him, going for the kill.

“I remember seeing him come at me with his mouth wide open,” Gonzales said. “He was very aggressive and very angry. I am right handed and he grabbed a hold of my left hand where i can shoot him with my right hand.”

“He looked like he got beaten up pretty bad,” said Captain Henry Balderamas, a fellow game warden, who drove him to Victoria to get medical treatment. “He was very well bloodied. He still had all of his functions and was thinking clearly.”

He suffered severe nerve damage to his hand from the alligator attack. He fracture his cheek bone and lost a couple of teeth.

He won’t return back to work for another month, but this attack won’t stop him from doing his job he has loved for nearly a quarter of a century.

“I should have stuck with what I have been doing and not take the chance I took,” Gonzales said, talking about the mistake he made with the alligator. “I’ll continue answering these calls.”

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Surfer survives 14 hours at sea

October 25th, 2009

When John Baker III stepped into the water at surfside, he never expected it would be nearly 14 hours and 14 miles later before he could get out. He found himself stuck in currents he couldn?t avoid.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas — When John Baker III stepped into the water at surfside, he never expected it would be nearly 14 hours and 14 miles later before he could get out.  He found himself stuck in currents he couldn’t avoid.

“[It was] because of the turbulence at the end of the jetty and the fact that I couldn’t cross that rip current again,” said Baker.

Baker had been surfing for over 40 years.  He’s a former Coast Guard man who knows the water. He also used to organize rescues.

But on Friday, he needed one of those rescues himself.

“I left here about 10:30 Thursday morning got down to Surfside around noon,” said Baker.

Baker had driven from his Woodlands home to Surfside hoping to catch some good waves, but he quickly found himself in an area by the jetties and he couldn’t get out.

“I paddled for about an hour and it was very obvious I wasn’t making any headway,” said Baker.

Baker says the currents kept pushing him away from shore.  At about 4 p.m., he saw a boat from a rig pass by but the crew didn’t see him in the water.

By 8 p.m., it started getting dark and he was worried about hypothermia.  He had a wet suit on and he kept paddling on his surf board to keep his core temperature up.

At 10 p.m., he spotted an oil rig.  He was now about 10 miles from shore and estimated the rig was about four miles away.

He started counting his strokes. He would paddle 30 times; then rest for a minute before starting the process again.  Each hour he increased his strokes to stay warm — paddling 40 times, then 50 times before allowing himself to rest for a minute in between.

“I knew a helicopter would be out there at first light. I knew I had to survive the night, and if I could, in order to save myself, I had to get to the rig,” said Baker.

By 2 a.m., Baker reached the rig.  He found a rope to hang on to and when the water surged, he used it get as high as possible onto a nearby ladder.

Then he had to climb up the rig.

“By that time, I realized how tired I was,” said Baker.

After climbing into the rig, he climbed a flight of stairs and finally reached a door that he thought was locked.  He banged on the door calling for help.  No one answered.

“I just happened to pull on the knob and opened it,” Baker said, his voice cracking with emotion. By that time, it had been 14 hours since he first started out and it was only then that he knew he had reached safety.

Two men were on the rig and heard Baker come in. They gave him food, a place to warm up and a phone to call his wife of 30 years, Geneva Baker.

Geneva had alerted authorities when Baker hadn’t come home and the Coast Guard was out looking for him.  Finally, around 2:30 a.m., her phone rang.

“She answers her cell phone and I said are you looking for me?” said Baker.

“And I went, ‘John where are you?’ I thought he was washed up on a beach somewhere half way to Galveston,” said Baker’s wife.

Then this former Coast Guard man made one last strategic decision.  He decided not to leave the rig that night, despite the offer from the Coast Guard to pick him up.

“The Coast Guard goes out when your life’s at risk,” Baker said.  “I told them to take those guys home. Call it a day. I’ll make arrangements in the morning.”

“When the Coast Guard called me back and said that he had opted not to come off, I said, ‘What?’” said Geneva Baker, laughing at the memory.

But when the Coast Guard explained to her that John was worried about their safety at night she said, “That sounds just like John. That’s something he would say.”

John does have one regret. He left his surf board at sea to climb the rig.

“I sure miss that board. If someone finds it, I wouldn’t mind having it back.”

Despite his ordeal, Baker says he can’t wait to hit the surf again.

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GALVESTON — A man who drowned Sunday in a rip current off a Galveston pier has yet to be identified, prompting an appeal to the public to learn the man’s name, authorities said Monday.

The man, possibly Hispanic and in his 20s, stood 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds. He had short, black hair with gray sides and many distinguishing tattoos, John Florence, a spokesman with the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office, said.

“One was a dragon-type tattoo on his back, and he had the Virgin Mary on his left shoulder,” Florence said. “There was the letter A in Old English on his left hand, plus he had numerous tattoos on his legs and arms and the word ‘Aziel.’”

The man, who had been on a Boogie Board, was found at the end of the 29th Street pier and pronounced dead at 5:12 p.m. The cause of his death was ruled drowning, pending a toxicology exam, Florence said.

The man had the board’s leash wrapped around his wrist, rather than using an easily removable Velcro strip, Galveston Island Beach Patrol Chief Peter Davis said.

“It was tied around his wrist five times, and was a major contributor to him drowning,” Davis said. “When the board became wedged between the rocks and with the current pulling him sideways, he was unable to stay afloat.”

The longshore current, estimated at 10 mph, created strong rip currents around the piers, hampering recovery efforts that lasted about 50 minutes, Davis said.

“The current was too strong for even our good swimmers to maintain for very long with fins,” Davis said.

Two lifeguards, who suffered lacerations when they were slammed into the rock pier, returned to work Monday, Davis said.

If no one comes forward with the man’s name, the medical examiner would attempt to identify him with fingerprints, Florence said.

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Texas-born Simon Hughes, 5, doesn’t look intimidating. But put a gun in his hands and pit him against an 800-pound alligator and it’s a different story.

Simon’s been training to handle a gun since he was just 4, his dad told MyFOXHouston — and it’s a good thing, too, or else he could’ve gotten hurt by the mega-gator that wound up on the Hughes family ranch.

The huge alligator bit into a baited hook in a marsh on the property, coming face-to-face with Simon. The boy reacted with lightning speed, grabbing his gun and shooting the reptile in the head.

“It come out, the biggest alligator I’ve ever seen,” Simon told MyFOXHouston. “He did his death roll.”

The reptile was nearly 20 times the 3-foot, 44-pound boy’s size. It didn’t survive the shooting.

Click here for video.

His dad Scott Hughes said there’s a reason he started training his son, who is in kindergarten, to shoot guns at such an early age.

“Everything on the ranch will either bite you or stick you,” he told MyFOXHouston.

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Texas hospitals seeing alarming increase in rattlesnake bites

SAN ANTONIO — Hospitals across central Texas said they are seeing an alarming increase in rattlesnake bites.

Hays County has treated five people for the bites in recent weeks, and Travis County reported eleven rattlesnake bites in the last three months.

So, why the increase now?

Experts say it is mating season for snakes. But the drought is also pushing them into residential areas to find water.

EMS officials in the area have teamed up with experts from the Snake Farm in New Braunfels to educate the public on how to be more careful, and what to do if they come across a rattlesnake.

They said if you get bitten call 911 immediately, because a rattlesnake bite can be deadly.

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Further tests could confirm lightning fatality

By Chris Paschenko 
The Daily News

Published June 6, 2009

CRYSTAL BEACH — Further testing is needed to determine whether a lightning strike killed a Houston man who was jogging during a thunderstorm on Crystal Beach.

A passer-by found Isaias Lara-Martinez facedown in the sand just west of Alma Drive at 4:08 p.m. Wednesday.

A toxicology test and microscopic tissue exams will be needed to help rule out other causes of death, said Galveston County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Pustilnik.

“The tests are to see if some of the marks on the body are from electrical injuries,” Pustilnik said. “It’s not clear cut, just from observing the body.”

A thunderstorm passed through the area Wednesday afternoon, and authorities said Lara-Martinez likely died of a lightning strike because burn marks were found on his torso. Lara-Martinez is believed to have been 38 to 40 years old.

There were no other injuries, and foul play isn’t suspected, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, a sheriff’s office spokesman.

If authorities’ beliefs are confirmed, Lara-Martinez’s death would be the second caused by lightning in the state this year.

On March 15, a 63-year-old walking to his car from a Port Aransas beach was hit by lightning, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There were 27 lightning deaths in the state between 1999 and 2008, ranking Texas 27th nationally per capita.

Lightning awareness week begins June 21.

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On the Web:

www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/more.htm

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What To Do

If caught outside during a lightning storm with no shelter such as a building or car nearby, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recommends as a last resort crouching on the ground with only the balls of your feet touching the earth. Place both feet together, squat low, tuck your head and cover your ears. Lightning produces electrical currents along the top of the ground that can be deadly from more than 100 feet away. Lying flat on the ground increases your chance of being hit by a ground current.

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Woman attacked by pack of dogs in Oak Cliff

 

02:32 PM CDT on Friday, May 22, 2009

 

By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News 
eaasen@dallasnews.com 

A 37-year-old woman was hospitalized this morning after she was attacked by five dogs in South Oak Cliff.

Woman attacked by five dogs

The attack happened about 6 a.m. in the 2100 block of Lamont Avenue, near Woodin Boulevard, according to Dallas police. Erica Johnson was transported to Methodist Dallas Medical Center, where she was listed in fair condition.

A neighbor, who declined to give his name, said he heard a woman screaming early this morning and called 911.

Dallas Animal Services says the attack happened after the victim was carrying a large stick while walking by the home of the dogs’ owner. He warned the woman not to wave the stick because it would irritate the dogs.

The five dogs, each a ridgeback-heeler mix, jumped the fence and ran after her, biting her in the torso, on the back and on both arms, said Kent Robertson, animal services’ division manager.

The dogs’ owner, 76-year-old H.J. Whitmill, tried to pull the dogs off the woman and was scratched himself. Police said he refused medical treatment.

Neighbors said that motorists had driven by during the attack, and that no one assisted the woman because of the dogs.

Animal Services quarantined the five dogs and issued the owner several citations for lacking current rabies vaccination and registration. Other citations were issued for not having spayed or neutered dogs. In addition, the owner was issued a 10-day notice to repair his fence so his dogs can’t escape.

Six other dogs remained in the yard at the home this morning.

Dallas police Senior Cpl. Gerry Monreal said the relationship between Johnson and Whitmill was unclear.