YELLOWSTONE – NOW A HERD OF ELK ARE SPRINTING AWAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3xgseLQEBU

MAGNITUDE 5.3 – OFF COAST OF TARAPACA, CHILE

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000p7la#summary

Subject To Change

Depth: 8 km

Distances: 99km (62mi) WSW of Iquique, Chile
207km (129mi) NNW of Tocopilla, Chile
228km (142mi) SSW of Arica, Chile
280km (174mi) SSW of Tacna, Peru
531km (330mi) SW of La Paz, Bolivia

Plane Makes An Emergency Landing In Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Authorities say an American Airlines jet flying from Jacksonville, Fla. to Dallas-Fort Worth made an emergency landing in Alabama.

Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport spokeswoman Toni Bast says the aircraft was having a cabin pressure issue on Sunday morning.

Bast says the jet landed safely and hasn’t impacted operations at the airport.

http://tinyurl.com/p87p3m2

Meteorite Passing Skydiver (Short Version, Edited)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIIzckUv2Mo

Tropical Storm Domeng (Peipah) Set To Strike Mindanao, Philippines

Tropical storm Domeng (international name: Peipah), the fourth storm to hit the country this year is also the fourth to hit Mindanao, showing a weather pattern that has changed from only six typhoons making landfall in Mindanao from 1996 to 2010 to nine typhoons in 28 months since Typhoon Sendong in December 2011.

As of 4 a.m. Sunday, Domeng was spotted at “1,020 kilometers east of General Santos City with maximum sustained winds of 65 kph near center and gustiness of up to 80 kph,” the 5 a.m. weather advisory of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.

The weather bureau said Domeng is forecast to move west northwest at 20 kph.

Domeng is the fourth storm to hit the country this year and the fourth to hit what used to be described as  “typhoon-free Mindanao.”

Since Typhoon Sendong struck the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and parts of Bukidnon on December 16-17, 2011, eight more typhoons have struck Mindanao: supertyphoon Pabloon December 4, 2012; typhoon Quinta on December 26 or just 22 days after Pablo; typhoon Yolanda on November 8, 2013; Zoraida on November 12, 2013; and since January 2014  — Agaton, Basyang, Caloy and now Domeng.

The Manila Observatory report on “Tropical Storm Sendong,” however, said Mindanao was never typhoon-free. It said that before Sendong, typhoons passed through Mindanao although not as frequently compared with Luzon and the Visayas.

The report noted that approximately 21 typhoons passed Mindanao in 17 years, from 1883 to 1900, that 35 typhoons made landfall in Mindanao in 65 years — from 1945 to 2010 — and that six typhoons made landfall in Mindanao in the last 15 years before Typhoon Sendong.

The Manila Observatory also pointed out that typhoons do pass through Mindanao in December and that “roughly one typhoon per 10 years crosses Mindanao in December.”

Since 2011, three typhoons  have crossed Mindanao in one year – Sendong in 2011 and Pablo and Quinta in 2012.

http://tinyurl.com/qbpktzr

Large Landslide Destroys A House In Carroll County, Kentucky, USA

A large landslide Friday morning destroyed a Carroll County, Ky., home and closed the state highway at the bottom of the hill for nearly seven hours.

 

Mud, rocks and debris broke away a ledge toward the top of the hill on KY 36 near Notch Lick Road before sliding down and flattening a rental home and small building owned by Sam Scott, said Carroll County Judge-Executive Harold “Shorty” Tomlinson. The slide was reported to emergency dispatchers around 7 a.m.

 

The home was vacant, and no injuries were reported.

 

Carroll County Emergency Management Director Ed Webb said the weight of the mud and debris mashed the house but never caused the structure itself to slide.

 

Matt Crawford, a geologist from the Kentucky Geological Survey in Lexington, surveyed the slide later in the day to determine stability in the area. He attributed the landslide to the steep slope, shale bedrock and clay soil, which became slick and gave way after heavy rainfall in Carroll County over the last few days.

 

Although landslides are quite common in northern Kentucky, the slide in Carroll County was on a larger scale than what he usually sees, he said.

 

The slide measured about 75 to 100 foot wide and about 200 foot long.

 

Carroll County officials couldn’t remember a landslide of this size falling away from a hillside before. Tomlinson and Webb said smaller landslides had happened over the years, but nothing close to the size of Friday’s slide.

 

Any additional rainfall also could play a factor into whether more mud and debris could slide.

 

“There is a potential for it to happen again,” Crawford said. “The slide’s not stable.”

 

He doesn’t believe there is any danger to traffic that may be traveling in the area.

 

“That house actually blocked (the slide) from getting to the road,” Crawford said.

 

Officials have asked residents living in homes above the slide and below the slide area to stay elsewhere this weekend as a precaution.

 

County officials plan to monitor the area through the weekend and could close KY 36 to traffic again if more mud and debris fall from the hillside, Webb said.

 

“It’s going to depend on the amount of rain we get,” Crawford said. “We don’t feel like anyone traveling that road is in any imminent danger.”

 

Tomlinson plans to contact services early next week to remove the debris and secure the hillside.

 

“We’re hoping it’ll stabilize if we don’t get more rain,” he said.

 

Another landslide also moved mud and debris into the roadway on Coopers Bottom Road in Trimble County on Thursday morning. Trimble County Judge-Executive Jerry Powell said debris filled ditches and culverts while causing some damage to the roadway.

 

The road reopened to traffic after county crews cleaned debris away.

http://tinyurl.com/py7gb4s

Landslide Kills 7 In North China

Seven people have been killed in a landslide from which one person has been rescued in north China’s Shanxi Province early on Sunday morning.

The landslide occurred at 2:20 a.m. in Xiguan Village of Jixian County, which is situated in a valley.

Some 2,000 cubic meters of earth and stone buried a two-story building, trapping eight people, according to the information office with the county government.

Rescuers later saved one person and recovered seven bodies. People living nearby have been asked to evacuate to a safe place.

The rescued person has been hospitalized. Investigation into the cause of the slide is under way.

http://tinyurl.com/pa5gqwa

Volcano Shiveluch In Russian Far East’s Kamchatka Erupts Ash At Altitude Of 6 km

Volcano Shiveluch has erupted ash at an altitude of six kilometres above sea level in Russian Far East’s Ust-Kamchatsky municipal entity, Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences geophysical service stated on Sunday.

The ash plume has spread northwest of the volcano towards Bay Ozernoy not affecting any settlements, the Kamchatka territorial emergency situation department said. No threat exists for settlements.

The volcano is ranked with orange aeronautical code of high eruption hazard.

http://tinyurl.com/q8pq7s4

Fatal Plane Crash In Athens County, Ohio, USA

An investigation is underway of a plane crash that left one dead in Athens County, OH.

According to Assistant Chief Steve Goodin with the Albany Area Volunteer Fire Department, who are one of the units who responded to the scene, the crash reportedly occurred at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5, just off old U.S. Route 50,  near the State Route 32/Route 50 split, which is just west of Albany, OH, and is right across from the Gordon K. Bush Ohio University Airport.

Goodin told 13 News that the male pilot, who was the only one in the plane, died in the crash.

The victim’s name is not yet known.

The cause of the crash is also not yet known.

The crash is under investigation by Post 5 of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Athens Detachment, who also responded to the scene, along with Athens County EMS, and the Athens County Sheriff’s Department.

http://tinyurl.com/nnwhl62

MAGNITUDE 5.2 – TONGA

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000p7es#summary

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 73km (45mi) SE of Neiafu, Tonga
272km (169mi) NE of Nuku`alofa, Tonga
618km (384mi) SSW of Tafuna, American Samoa
624km (388mi) SSW of Apia, Samoa
625km (388mi) SSW of Pago Pago, American Samoa