READINGTON TWP. — In July 1960, a sand tiger shark attacked then 24-year-old John Brodeur and ripped through his right thigh as he stood in the ocean at the Sea Girt beach.

50 years later, the Readington Township resident is grateful he lived through it to experience 40 years of marriage with his wife Celine, and life with his four children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

“I’m very happy with my life. It was just an incident along the way,” said Brodeur, a retired accountant, who has been featured in books about sharks and was once a guest on the “O’Reilly Factor.”

Brodeur was told the shark had been a 12- to 17-foot sand tiger shark, judging from the teeth marks in his leg, At the time of the attack, he was standing farther out than other bathers, his feet firmly planted in the sand.

“I ride waves and I was getting ready to ride a wave in,” Brodeur said. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“I saw this big black thing coming toward me — I thought it was a telephone pole,” he said. The shark was long and black, and there had been a bad storm earlier that week.

When the shark bit him, Brodeur slapped the top of the shark’s head with his hand, and “eventually it let go,” he said.

“The lifeguard pulled me out of the water and then dropped me in the sand,” Brodeur continued. “My right thigh was all torn open.”

Celine Brodeur, who was not present at the time but knows the story well, said the young lifeguard panicked. “It’s not every day you get a shark attack,” she said.

A Marine veteran named Norman Porter, from the Bronx, took his belt off and used it to apply a tourniquet to Brodeur’s leg to slow the bleeding until he could be taken to the hospital. Because his nerves were severed and he was in shock, Brodeur does not recall feeling much pain.

He still thinks highly of Porter. “He saved my life. I was a lucky man.”

Celine noted that Porter has passed away, “but he’s been my husband’s hero.”

Brodeur’s leg had to be amputated, and he spent three months recovering in the hospital. Now with a prosthetic leg, he can’t run, but he can walk, and he enjoys playing tennis.

“I still go to the beach,” he said. In fact, the Brodeurs and their children will be taking a family vacation in Cape May this summer.

“He never, ever let one thing stand in his way,” his wife said. “It was never a handicap to him.”

In spite of the attack, John said he has always loved swimming in the ocean. But he warns other swimmers to be careful, especially because it is not always true that sharks will only attack someone who is already bleeding.

“Make sure that there are lifeguards, and other people in the water,” Brodeur warned.

via Shark attack!!! 50 years later, Readington man tells of having his leg mauled | NJ.com.

In the aftermath of a bear attack in Far North Bicentennial Park, state wildlife biologists continued Wednesday urging city officials to close the Rover's Run trail to prevent more human-bear encounters.

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan said the city has no intention of doing that, arguing that people should use their own judgment rather than the city stepping in and declaring the trail off-limits.

“It really becomes a good common sense thing for the public to use their good common sense when an area has been identified … when there's potential danger there,” he said.

The city has closed Rover's Run the past two summers after two bear maulings in the summer of 2008 and continuing concerns over bear encounters there. Other government agencies that manage land in Alaska, including state and federal parks, regularly have closed trails or sections of parks because of bear danger.

Black bears and the occasional grizzly are seen from time to time on trails throughout Bicentennial Park, as well as other areas of the Hillside, but Rover's Run has been problematic the past three summers. Spawning salmon in the South Fork of Campbell Creek have long attracted bears, and the narrow, bumpy dirt trail, which winds alongside the creek, can make it easy for people to surprise the animals.

Rick Sinnott, the Anchorage area biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, thinks people should avoid Rover's Run, and said he's having trouble understanding the city's rationale for not posting signs making the trail off-limits.

“The city closes trails all the time,” he said.

Tuesday morning, a 45-year-old man riding his bike to work was attacked by a grizzly sow with a cub at the east end of the trail. The bicyclist suffered a torn ear and puncture wounds to his calf, but was able to ride to the Alaska Native Medical Center for treatment. Sinnott said the biker surprised the bear, and that Fish and Game has no plans to go after the animal because it wasn't acting aggressively.

Two people were mauled in separate incidents on Rover’s Run in the summer of 2008, including a 15-year-old mountain biker who was badly mauled by a grizzly near where this week’s attack occurred.

The 2008 attacks led the city to immediately close the trail. That decision carried over to last year when the trail was shut down again for the summer, Sinnott said.

This year, under Sullivan, who took office last summer, the city changed course. Sinnott said he was in talks with the city to again close Rovers’ Run starting June 10 but that didn’t happen.

Sullivan said in an interview Wednesday that he thinks a bright colored warning sign telling people of the recent encounter is adequate. He also says the city doesn’t have the ability to enforce a closure.

Sinnott said not closing the trail is confounding to him. “Ship Creek Trail is closed because of an erosion problem,” he said. Similarly, he said, a foot bridge across Campbell Creek near where this week’s attack occurred has had a sign saying it was closed until further notice, Sinnott said. It’s ironic, he said, that the city would close the bridge but now choose to leave Rover’s Run open.

“It seems like an ideological argument, ‘We’re not going to let the bears push us around,’ ” he said.

“Some people have the theory that if you cede territory to the bears, then the bears will get bolder, and they’ll take it over.

“There’s no reason to believe that,” he said. The bears are drawn to city streams because that’s where salmon are, he said. Putting people in their paths won’t necessarily make them go away, he said. Closing the trail won’t necessarily keep people off it, he noted. But it does send a strong message that there’s potential danger in the area, he said.

There is an idea to build a new trail 100 to 200 yards south of Rover’s Run so trail users can still cross the park and link up to its northwest corner, and Sinnott said he supports that.

A recent telephone survey conducted for Fish and Game found 63 percent of Anchorage residents say it is acceptable to have brown bears in Far North Bicentennial park. The survey found 89 percent said they support temporary closures of trails at times when the risk of encountering a brown bear in the area is high.

State and federal land managers in Alaska regularly close trails when there are potential dangers, spokespeople say.

Tom Harrison, superintendent of the Chugach State Park, said it’s a subjective call. “If we anticipate a high-risk situation we will probably err on the one side (of caution),” he said.

“However,” he said, “there are bears in the woods.”

This year, the park hasn’t closed any parts or trails because of bears, Harrison said. But last year, it closed an area of Bird Point because of reports of an aggressive bear. The Albert Loop near the Eagle River Nature Center has been permanently closed in the summer for years because of a history of maulings, he said.

Morgan Warthin, spokeswoman for the National Park Service in Alaska, said closing decisions are made by park superintendents. On Tuesday, a backcountry unit in Denali National Park was temporarily closed because a bear ripped a tent, she said.

Sullivan said city parks are not state or national parks.

“Do we want our urban parks to be brown bear sanctuaries or do we want them to be places where people can recreate? … I think (that) is what the purpose of these parks were when they were created, as well as the trails.”

Sullivan said the city needs to critically examine the state’s effort to reintroduce salmon into the city’s waterways. Those fish, he said, are bringing bears into the city.

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/06/16/1327231/bear-conflicts-create-dispute.html#ixzz0r5f9CBo9

via Bear encounters create dispute over trail status: Bears in Alaska | adn.com.

“At what point do you say, this is not good policy? This is a city first. It’s not a wildlife viewing area. It’s not a sanctuary. It is first and foremost an urban environment,” he said.

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.

A tornado unleashed a “war zone” of destruction in northwest Ohio, destroying dozens of homes and an emergency services building as a line of storms killed at least seven people and briefly threatened the Northeast on Sunday.

Storms collapsed a movie-theater roof in Illinois and ripped siding off a building at a Michigan nuclear plant, forcing a shutdown. But most of the worst was reserved for a 100-yard-wide, 7-mile-long strip southeast of Toledo now littered with wrecked vehicles, splintered wood and family possessions.

Tornadoes Sweep Through Midwest

The tornado ripped the roof and back wall off Lake High School's gymnasium at about 11 p.m. Saturday, several hours before the graduation ceremony was supposed to begin. The school board president said one of the victims was the father of the class valedictorian.

Two buses were tossed on their sides and another was thrown about 50 yards, landing on its top near the high school's football field. More than 10 hours later, its right turn signal was still blinking.

Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer flew over the damaged area and said at least 50 homes were destroyed and another 50 severely damaged, as well as six commercial buildings. The storm fell over an area of farm fields and light industry, narrowly missing the heavily populated suburbs on the southern edge of Toledo.

“It’s a war zone,” Hummer said. “It’s pretty disheartening.”

Hummer said Sunday afternoon all buildings had been searched and everyone was accounted for. Rescuers were searching a wooded area and a field near the worst-hit portion of town as a precaution.

The tornado turned a township police and emergency medical services building into a mishmash of 2-by-4 framing and pink insulation. Hummer was talking to a police dispatcher by phone when the storm hit.

“She started saying, ‘The building is shaking,’ and then another dispatcher came on and said, ‘The roof just blew off,” he said.

The storm ripped off most of the building’s back half and wrapped part of the metal roof around a tree. At least six police vehicles – half the township’s fleet – were destroyed, and one car was tossed into the spot where the building once stood.

The storm knocked out emergency services for a short time, and all the emergency dispatchers and 911 operators had to be moved to a nearby town.

“When the people who are supposed to help you are victims of the storm, it does take you a minute to catch your breath,” Hummer said.

Those killed included a person outside the police department and a motorist, Hummer said. He said a young child and two other victims were from nearby Millbury, a bedroom community of roughly 1,200 about 10 miles southeast of Toledo. Hummer said two other people died at hospitals but he did not have details.

One of the victims was the father of Lake High School’s valedictorian, said Tim Krugh, president of the school district’s board. Krugh said the school has rescheduled graduation for Tuesday evening at a Toledo community college.

Neighbors said the house of the valedictorian’s family was destroyed, and all that was left was a basement filled with water.

More than 30 people in the Toledo area were hospitalized. Two adults and two children were in critical condition, said Mercy hospital system spokeswoman Gloria Enk.

In southeastern Michigan, severe storms and high winds ripped siding off a building at the Fermi 2 nuclear plant, causing it to shut down automatically, said Dan Smith, the public information officer for Monroe County. Investigators were inspecting the nuclear plant on the shore of Lake Erie on Sunday morning, and the plant was expected to go back into operation, Smith said.

About 35,000 people were without power but it wasn’t clear whether that was directly related to the nuclear plant’s shutdown or because of damage to power lines in the area, Smith said.

In Dundee, Mich., 11 people were injured after high winds blew off part of a roof at a waterpark, reports CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano.

Tornadoes also were reported in Illinois. More than a dozen people were injured in Dwight, where about 40 mobile homes and 10 other homes were destroyed, Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson said.

The roof of a movie theater collapsed in Elmwood, Ill., about 30 miles west of Peoria. State Trooper Dustin Pierce said 150 to 200 people had been inside, but they had been evacuated to the basement and no one was hurt.

The storms left a trail of damaged homes in northern Indiana and two tornadoes were reported, but no one was injured. In eastern Iowa, buildings were damaged and one person was hurt when a tornado touched down in Maquoketa.

A cold front colliding with warm unstable air produced the storms that struck Saturday night, meteorologist Marty Mullen of the National Weather Service said, and that front was draped from New England south through the mid-Atlantic region later Sunday. The storm weakened as it headed east and a tornado watch for much of New England was canceled.

The day after the Toledo-area tornado hit, residents were searching fields looking for anything salvageable.

The storm destroyed Ronald Johns’ house and barn and flung his cast-iron bath tub into a wheat field, but his wife managed to find a wristwatch, still working, amid the scattered bits of their rural home near Millbury.

On Saturday night, Johns looked out the window and couldn’t even see the barn directly across the road. The chimney fell through the first floor as soon as the retired couple made it to the basement, pinning Johns with bricks until his wife, Jan, managed to free him.

Ronald Johns, 74, said they were lucky. “We didn’t get down there five seconds too fast,” he said.

Truck driver Carl Gooden, 54, said he, his wife and his adult son were sitting on the porch when they heard a roar and ran for the bathroom.

Wind tore off most of the home’s roof and ripped open the north side of house, exposing a bedroom and a closet where sweat shirts and dresses were still on their hangers. In the front yard, a sliver of aluminum siding from a neighbor’s barn was wrapped around a teetering telephone pole.

Gooden said his family lost two garages and five vehicles. The front yard was littered with decades of memories: a Loretta Lynn album, a porcelain lamp and a green golf bag were among the recognizable items.

“My heart sinks,” Gooden said. “I worked a lifetime for all this.”

But he wasn’t about to go in to retrieve items such as his wife’s jewelry or his NASCAR collectibles. His home was knocked 5 feet off its foundation and basement washer and dryer were all that was holding it up.

“It’s not worth dying for,” he said.

via 7 Killed as Storms Sweep Through Midwest – CBS 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.

Link

Storms leave many in the dark in city, suburbs

 

May 13, 2009 

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS

Storms that moved through Cook County and most of northeastern Illinois Wednesday night left about 7,500 people without power in Chicago and suburbs.

As of 11 p.m., 4,900 Chicago Commonwealth Edison customers were without power, ComEd spokesman Peter Pedraza said. The South Side of the city was most affected by the outages, he said.

“Crews are working to insure safe restoration of power for our customers,” Pedraza said. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Customers in west suburban Elmhurst were also hit hard by the storms. Pedraza said 2,600 customers were without power in the suburb.

A storm system that developed across eastern Iowa Wednesday afternoon moved into the area about 10 p.m. Wednesday evening, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado watch.

The watch, which was issued for Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, McHenry, Kane and more than two dozen other Illinois counties Wednesday afternoon, expired at 11 p.m., but the NWS said a severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 4 a.m. Thursday.

“These thunderstorms may become severe as they move across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana,” the weather service said.

The storms moving through the area brought strong winds, hail, heavy down pours, lightning and thunder.

Flooding could also occur in some areas and one to two inches of precipitation is predicted.

Most of the storms will occur before 1 a.m., according to the weather service.

Thursday is expected to by dry and sunny, with a high near 67 degrees.