April 29, 2014 - GEORGIA, UNITED STATES - A FedEx
Corp package handler armed with a shotgun opened fire at a shipping
facility in suburban Atlanta early on Tuesday, injuring six people
before killing himself, apparently with his own weapon, police and
hospital officials said.
Police officers from Cobb County Police, and
Marietta and Kennesaw departments stage near the entrance of the Federal
Express Ground building after a man opened fire inside the building
before turning the gun on himself in Kennesaw, Georgia, April 29, 2014. REUTERS/Kelly J. Huff/Marietta Daily Journal
Three people were in critical condition, two of them with life-threatening injuries, after being shot by the 19-year-old gunman just before 6 a.m. EDT at a FedEx warehouse near the airport in Kennesaw, Georgia, about 30 miles northwest of Atlanta, police and hospital officials said.
The shooter, identified as Geddy L. Kramer of Acworth, Georgia, drove up to the security guard shack at the warehouse and shot the guard before entering the warehouse where he shot the other five people, according to police.
FedEx employee Liza Aiken told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she was correcting addresses on packages when she saw a colleague dressed in black and armed with a knife, gun and a cartridge belt strapped across this chest.
"He had bullets strapped to his chest like Rambo," she told the newspaper. "He looked like he was heading into war."
Authorities searching the building after the incident found a Molotov cocktail that appeared to have been left behind by the gunman, said Cobb County Police spokesman Michael Bowman. No motive was given for the attack.
Aiken said she previously had reported the man to her superiors after he pointed a work laser at her eye.
Michael Hogland, a driver at the facility, told the paper his boss called him early on Tuesday and said a security guard was among the shooting victims.
A Cobb County Police officer escorts a worker
out of the secured area of the Federal Express Ground building after a
man opened fire inside the building before turning the gun on himself
before sunrise in Kennesaw, Georgia, April 29, 2014. REUTERS/Kelly J. Huff/Marietta Daily Journal
The six patients taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta all had multiple gunshot wounds that appeared to be from a shotgun, Dr. Michael Nitzken said at a news conference.
Two men, 28 and 22 years old, as well as a 52-year-old woman were listed in critical condition. Another 28-year-old man was stable, while a 42-year-old woman and 19-year-old man had been treated and were being released, Nitzken said.
Hundreds of police from multiple agencies converged on the scene after the shooting, and employees escorted from the facility in a bus tearfully reunited with family members at a nearby skating rink.
A FedEx spokeswoman extended condolences to those affected by the shooting.
"The situation is now stabilized, and we are focused on the needs of our team members and cooperating with the law enforcement investigation of this tragedy," said company spokeswoman Shea Leordeanu.- Reuters.
April 29, 2014 - SPACE-A solar eclipse that occurs on average only once every 73 years may
be perfectly witnessed only by penguins in Antarctica, while watchers in
Australia had a shot at seeing the sun as a “super-fat banana”.
ARCHIVE PHOTO: helicopter returning from the Sunflower wildfire passes
in front of the solar eclipse
over Payson, Arizona, May 20, 2012
(Reuters / Jeff Robbins)
The crescent sun, an annular eclipse meaning that the moon is too far away to completely block out the sun, instead creating a perfect ‘ring of fire’ could be witnessed in Perth, Australia, from 05:00 GMT on April 29. Such eclipses are relatively common, with about four every five years. The last occurred in May 2013.
What makes this eclipse – the first of 2014 - unusual is that it is non-central, meaning that the center of the Moon’s shadow will not fall on Earth, instead passing above the Southern Hemisphere sky.
Of 3,956 annular eclipses calculated to have happened or scheduled to happen between 2,000 BC and 3,000 AD only 68, or 1.7 percent, are non-central annular eclipses. This is only the third such event since the 17th century.
A girl looks through a telescope to try and see a partial solar eclipse
from Sydney's Observatory Hill
April 29, 2014. (Reuters / David Gray)
As most of the shadow was set to miss Earth – the perfect spot to watch the eclipse at its most symmetrical would have been above the planet . The only place where the “ring of fire”, or annulus, can be seen at all is in Antarctica. The spot is half way between the Dumont d’Urville and Concordia stations – located 1,100 km apart – meaning that in all likelihood no human was able to witness the unusual phenomenon.
"This is a thoroughly bizarre eclipse," said a statement from Bob Berman, an astronomer with the Slooh Space Camera, which broadcasts astral events online.
“As we will watch in real time as the inky black hemisphere of the moon partially obscures the sun, the greatest thrill might be an awareness of what's occurring — unseen by any human — in a tiny region of Antarctica."
WATCH: 2014 Annular Solar Eclipse.
For sentient observers, due to the imperfect angle of observation the phenomenon wouldn't "look any different from a normal, partial eclipse," Stephen Hughes told Australian Associated Press. A partial eclipse occurs when the Sun and the Moon do not fully align, so that the latter blocks out only a chunk of the former.
About half the Sun was covered when the eclipse passed Sydney, and more than two thirds over Melbourne.
A man talks to a visitor in front of a screen displaying the partial
solar eclipse as seen from the city of Perth during
a gathering of
amateur astronomers at Sydney's Observatory Hill April 29, 2014.
(Reuters / David Gray)
"Melbourne will be quite a bit better than Sydney ... a super-fat banana,"Hughes said before the event.
The eclipse could also be perceived in southern Indonesian islands.
NASA published an interactive map that allowed Australasian residents to see when the eclipse passed through their area, but as usual, amateur sky-watchers were instructed to avoid looking at the Sun without protective equipment. - RT.
April 29, 2014 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES-The Coast Guard searched for a pilot in the northern part of San Francisco Bay on Sunday after two small planes collided over the water and only one of the aircraft landed safely, authorities said.
The two aircraft collided at 4 p.m. near the San Pablo Bay on Sunday. The Hawker Sea Fury TMK 20, a Korean War-era
British fighter, landed safely, but the Cessna 210 crashed in the water. The coast guard is searching for the pilot.
Debris was spotted in San Pablo Bay after the 4:05 p.m. collision near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Petty Officer Loumania Stewart said.
The collision involved a single-engine Cessna 210 and a single-engine Hawker Sea Fury TMK 20, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. Each aircraft had one person on board.
The Cessna crashed into the water and the pilot of the Hawker was able to land safely at Eagle’s Nest Airport in the small Northern California city of Ione, Gregor said. The pilot was reportedly uninjured.
Gregor said both planes took off from Half Moon Bay Airport, roughly 20 miles south of San Francisco. FAA records indicate the Hawker is registered to Sanders Aeronautics Inc. in Ione.
A man who answered the phone at the company’s listed number declined to comment. Sanders Aeronautics’ website said the family-run company specializes in aircraft restoration and that its family members are avid air racers.
A Coast Guard cutter, three rescue boats and a helicopter were involved in the search, Stewart said. - NY Daily News.
April 29, 2014 - TECHNOLOGY- Technologies designed specifically to track and monitor human beings have been in development for at least two decades.
And he causes all, the small and the great, and
the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a
mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no
one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark,
either the name of the beast or the number of his name.… Revelations 13:16-17
In the virtual realm, software programs are now capable of watching us in real time, going so far as to make predictions about our future behaviors and sending alerts to the appropriate monitoring station depending on how a computer algorithm flags your activities. That is in and of itself a scary proposition.
What may be even scarier, however, is what’s happening in the physical realm. According to researches working on human-embedded microchips it’s only a matter of time before these systems achieve widespread acceptance.
Chances are you’re carrying a couple of RFID microchips
now. And if you are, they’re sending out a 15-digit number that
identifies you. That number can be picked up by what’s called an ISO
compliant scanner. And they’re everywhere, too.
… It’s not possible to interact with society in a meaningful
way by not having a mobile phone. I think human implants are likely to
go along a very similar route. It would be such a disadvantage to not
have the implant that it essentially becomes not optional.
Your initial reaction to this idea may be
one of disbelief. There’s no way society would accept such a device. Why
would anyone want to implant this in their body?
Consider for a moment where we are right
now. For decades Americans rejected the notion that they would submit to
being tracked or recorded.
Yet, just about every American now carries a mobile phone. They’re so prevalent, in fact, that many consider it a “right,” prompting the government to actually provide subsidies to those who can’t afford one on their own.
Embedded in every one of those phones is an RFID chip that can track our every movement via GPS or cell tower triangulation. Moreover, those microphones and cameras that come standard on every phone can be remotely activated by law enforcement surveillance systems, a capability that has existed since the early 2000′s.
But as intrusive as these devices are, they are accepted as the norm by billions of people world wide. Not only that, but no one had to “force” them on us. We are, it seems, the masters of our own enslavement. And we pay top dollar to have the best tracking device money can buy!
Granted, one can simply disconnect from “the grid” by throwing away their cell phone. But, the direction these new monitoring technologies are moving coupled with continued government expansion of surveillance suggests that microchip RFID technology will eventually be non-voluntary.
Michael Snyder of The Truth Wins asks What will you do when you can no longer buy or sell without submitting to biometric identification?
This technology is going to keep spreading, and it is going to become harder and harder to avoid it.
And it is easy to imagine what a tyrannical government could do with
this kind of technology. If it wanted to, it could use it to literally
track the movements and behavior of everyone.
…
And one day, this kind of technology will likely be so pervasive that
you won’t be able to open a bank account, get a credit card or even buy
anything without having either your hand or your face scanned first.
It’s difficult to imagine a populace that will freely submit to such
digital bondage. But as has been the case with the degradation of
personal privacy and rights in America, be assured it won’t simply
become law over night.
First, the technologies will need to be generally accepted by
society. It’ll start with real-time consumer based products like Google
Glass. The older generations may reject it, but in a couple of years you
can bet that tens of millions of kids, teens and younger adults will be
roaming the streets while sporting cool shades, interactive web surfing
and the capability to record everything around them and upload it to
the internet instantly.
Next, as we’re already seeing from early adopters, RFID chips will be
voluntarily implanted under our skin for everything from access to high
security buildings to grocery store purchases.
Eventually, once the concept is generally accepted by the majority, it will become our new “social security number.”
To gain access to official services, you’ll need to be a verified human. Without verification you won’t even be able to purchase a six pack of beer, let alone get medical care or a driver’s license.
Whether we like it or not this is the future. Every purchase you make
and every step you take will be tracked by a tiny 15-digit passive
microchip, meaning that the only way to “turn it off” will be to
physically remove it from your body.
In essence, we’ll soon live in a world of Always On Monitoring.
Our children and grandchildren – at least most of them – will likely
not only submit to implantation, they’ll gladly pay the costs so that
they, too, can “interact with society in a meaningful way.” - SHTF Plan.
April 29, 2014 - THE VATICAN CHURCH STATE-
Pope Francis
on Sunday will preside over a pomp-filled ceremony to declare
Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII saints—an event that commemorates
the legacies of two of the Catholic Church's most popular popes, both
instrumental in shaping the current pontiff's groundbreaking reign.
Pilgrims filled the streets of Rome and the Vatican ahead of Sunday's
double canonization for
Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. Photo: AP
The
rite in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, canonizing two of the Catholic
Church's most popular popes, is likely to be a history-making event,
given the strong possibility that Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned last
year, will also be in attendance. That would mark the first time in the
church's 2,000-year history that two popes would honor the memory of two
previous ones.
Pope Francis chose to hold a single ceremony to canonize the pair, bringing together two popes who are closely associated with the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65, which led to significant reforms in the church. Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963, launched Vatican II, as it is commonly known, while John Paul II's nearly 27-year papacy, which lasted from 1978 until his death in 2005, oversaw the implementation of large parts of the reforms.
"To carry out a double canonization is a message to the Church: These two are good people," Pope Francis told reporters on the papal plane back from celebrating the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro last summer.
More than 40 heads of state are traveling to Rome for the event, and about a million pilgrims are expected on the day, according to estimates from the Vatican and officials in Rome. Around 150 cardinals and about a thousand bishops from around the world will join Pope Francis in the ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m. local time and is expected to last more than an hour. It will be broadcast live world-wide and on large screens in St. Peter's Square and across the city.
"The bigger significance of this event is the Second Vatican Council and its status marking a sort of springtime for the church," said Chad Pecknold, assistant professor of theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, noting that Pope Francis is making saints those most closely associated with it.
Vatican II was a watershed for the Catholic Church, introducing vernacular to replace Latin at masses and calling for greater participation of laity and women in the life of the church. It encouraged ecumenism, or dialogue with other religions and other Christian denominations, and scrapped the concept of Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Christ, which soured Christian-Jewish relations for centuries.
The Second Vatican Council also advocated more decentralization of power in the church, a concept that Pope Francis has strongly backed. For instance, Last year he ordered a survey of parishes around the world to hear clerics' and parishioners' greatest concerns regarding issues such as birth control and same-sex marriage in preparation for a major meeting of bishops later this year on the family. He has also called for a greater role for women in the church and recently appointed a woman as the head of a pontifical institute.
Pope Francis also made a statement in favor of ecumenism last December, when he declared one of the first Jesuits, Pierre Favre, also called Peter Faber, a saint. The Jesuit is known for his contacts with Protestants during the Reformation, flouting the official church line considering them heretics.
The importance of Vatican II is also evident in the expected beatification later this year of Pope Paul VI, who presided over the Council's closure in 1965 and reigned until 1978.
"The renewal brought by Vatican II opened the way," Pope Francis said Friday in a video message for residents of the small northern Italian town where Pope John XXIII was born. "There is a special joy in the fact that the canonization of John XXIII happens together with that of John Paul II, who advanced that renewal during his long papacy."
The immense popularity and personal style of Pope Francis also recalls characteristics of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII. The current pontiff's genial manner and common-man touch have won him fans among many Catholics and non-Catholics alike, and he has vocally called for the church to return to its pastoral roots.
Similarly, Pope John XXIII, a peasant's son from northern Italy who is commonly referred to as the "Good Pope" thanks to his jovial, grandfatherly ways, broke tradition by venturing outside the Vatican's walls to visit parishes across Rome and be closer to the faithful.
"There are so many similarities between popes John XXIII and Francis," said Rev. Giovangiuseppe Califano, the postulator, or promoter, of the cause for John XXIII's sainthood. "The closeness to common people, the shaking of hands, the kissing of babies…it's an evangelical gift."
John Paul II, the globe-trotting, Polish-born pontiff renowned for his charisma, is credited with contributing to the fall of communism. He visited more than 130 countries, reaching out to millions of Catholics. He was particularly close to young people, establishing the highly-successful world youth days.
The Argentinean-born Pope Francis, the first pontiff to hail from the Americas, has similarly begun tilting the church away from the U.S. and Europe, emphasizing the fast-growing areas Asia, Latin America and Africa. John Paul II "was a great missionary of the Church," said Pope Francis last year. "He brought the Gospel everywhere."
The Vatican has confirmed that retired Pope Benedict XVI is invited to the ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica. The prospect of two popes potentially attending a canonization of two popes whom they knew personally has drawn world attention, as well as millions of pilgrims to Rome in recent days.
If Benedict attends, "Rome will witness an event that has never happened in the Church's history: two living popes witnessing the canonization of two former popes," said Msgr. Liberio Andreatta, vice president of the Vatican-linked Rome Pilgrimages Organization and among the organizers of the double canonization. - WSJ.
ITCCS Delegation To Rome And London To Enforce Annulment Order Against The Church Of Rome And Of England As Eye-Witnesses Reveals Vatican Satanic Ritual Involving The Raping Of Teenagers, And The Killing And Eating Of Babies!
ITCCS Delegation and Dignitaries to accompany Rev. Kevin Annett to Rome and London to enforce Annulment Order against the Church of Rome and of England – Events set for “Jubilee Week” , June 30-July 7, 2014 – Decision prompted by “real and dire dangers” to Rev. Annett
Brussels:
Politicians, Common Law court jurists and sheriffs, and a documentary film team will accompany Rev. Kevin Annett to the Vatican and to London during a “Jubilee Week” set of actions from June 30 to July 6, 2014, to enforce the Easter Annulment Proclamation against the Church of Rome and of England.
This action was announced today as part of the Common Law trial against Pope Francis and others for global child trafficking and murder.
“We have learned that Reverend Annett faces very real and dire dangers because of his exposure of Vatican child sacrifice rituals. Kevin is far too vulnerable and valuable to be traveling on his own right now, since he is pivotal to our case and to the work of the Court” said George Dufort for the Public Information Agency of the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ).
WATCH: Kevin Annett - Eye-witnesses to Pope Bergoglio's raping of teens, and the killing and eating of babies in Satanic ritual.
“Against Kevin’s own wishes, we have insisted that a strong delegation accompany him when he enters England and Rome, and that this delegation help him enforce the Easter Proclamation that nullifies the authority of the Vatican and the British Crown. That will occur during the first week in July, during the Court’s summer adjournment.”
Recent evidence submitted by Kevin Annett to the proceedings against Pope Francis and others documents the murderous actions of a Jesuit-run child sacrificial cult known as the Ninth Circle. (see www.itccs.org, April 10, 2014). Members of the Ninth Circle are apparently targeting Rev. Annett for elimination.
Reverend Annett is presently in consultation with ITCCS officials in Europe. Further updates will be posted soon.
April 29, 2014 - UNITED STATES- From Missouri to New York, Michigan to Florida, forecasters urged
millions of Americans to keep an eye on the weather Tuesday, warning of
tornadoes, high winds and hail spawned by the storm system that's killed
31 people in the last two days.
A massive storm system moves across the United States. NOAA
Roughly 70 million people are being warned of a slight to moderate risk
of severe weather in the eastern half of the United States, according to
the National Weather Service. That was a slight downgrade from an
estimated 75 million people earlier in the day.
Mississippi and Alabama -- where tornadoes Monday caused widespread
destruction and several deaths -- were again in the bull's-eye for the
worst of Tuesday's forecast.
Tens of thousands were without power in those two states, where
suspected tornadoes chewed through homes and businesses late Monday. At
least 13 people were killed in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee on
Monday. Those deaths are in addition to 18 others reported in Arkansas,
Oklahoma and Iowa from storms Sunday.
In Tupelo, Mississippi, employees at a Steak Escape
restaurant survived by huddling in the bathroom as the storm destroyed
the building around them, Mayor Jason Shelton told CNN's "New Day."
"That was just a miracle of God," he said.
Anthony Bishop and his co-workers also had a close call when the storm hit their lube shop.
"Right as it ripped the roof off the building ... we all jumped in the pit," Bishop told CNN affiliate WMC-TV. "Heard blocks hitting cars above me, glass flying all around the pit where we were."
Tuesday's threat
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said nearly 2.5
million people in parts of Alabama and Mississippi were at moderate risk
of tornadoes, damaging winds and scattered large hail.
Risk areas stretched from the Great Lakes south to the Gulf of Mexico and east to the Atlantic Ocean.
The threat was expected to drift slowly east, putting parts of Florida,
Georgia, the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states at a slight risk of
severe weather Thursday, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
'It hurts to look'
Monday's storms left a trail of damage through several Mississippi and Alabama communities.
Mississippi authorities confirmed eight deaths there. Three people died in Alabama and two in Tennessee, according to officials.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said the twisters inflicted "severe damage"
around the town of Louisville, about 90 miles northeast of Jackson.
Winston Medical Center, Louisville's major hospital, was among the buildings hit.
In Tupelo, buildings near a major commercial district on the city's
north side were "wiped away," Scott Morris, a reporter for the Northeast
Mississippi Daily Journal, told CNN's "The Lead."
Numerous trees and power lines were down, and "quite a few buildings are destroyed up there," Morris said.
The storm destroyed Britney Butler's home in Tupelo, WMC-TV reported.
"It hurts to look, because I won't come home tonight," said Butler, who
still managed to smile after discovering her dog had come out unscathed.
"Oreo means the most to me."
As things got ugly, Matt Laubhan, the chief meteorologist at Tupelo television station WTVA, took charge. He ordered station staff to take cover before walking off the set himself.
"Basement. Now ... let's go," Laubhan said.
Two people died in Lincoln County, Tennessee, near the border with Alabama.
Part of an elementary school there was torn away, the building's roof
was ripped off and the storm hurled a school bus into the school, CNN affiliate WSMV reported. The bus and school were empty at the time, the station said.
Alabama also hit hard
One of the three Alabama deaths was a 21-year-old University of Alabama student from Tupelo, according to the school.
Jon Servati was a member of the school's swimming and diving team, the
school's athletic department said in a statement. He died from injuries
suffered at an off-campus home, the school said.
The other two deaths came at a trailer park near Athens, about 22 miles west of Huntsville.
The storm reduced a complex of houses and duplex apartments in the town
to rubble. Downed power lines and gas leaks made the area dangerous,
CNN's Brian Todd reported from Athens.
Authorities in Limestone County, where Athens is located, asked people
to stay off roads wherever possible Tuesday. Emergency crews need
unimpeded access to roads, and extensive damage and downed power lines
make travel hazardous, authorities said in the message transmitted by
the National Weather Service.
In Jefferson County, Alabama -- site of the state's largest city,
Birmingham -- a fire station was hit, as was a church. People were
trapped for a time in the church, but no one was seriously injured,
Horace Walker, a spokesman for county's emergency management agency,
told "New Day."
About 90,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Tuesday
afternoon, according to the Brian Corbett of the Alabama Emergency
Management Agency. About 10,000 customers remained without power around
Jackson, Mississippi, Entergy Mississippi reported.
Act II
Monday's storms were Act II of a powerful weather system that brought
punishing thunderstorms to the central United States. Suspected
tornadoes spawned by those storms on Sunday killed 15 people in
Arkansas, two in Iowa and one in Oklahoma, authorities in those states
reported.
Sunday's hardest-hit area was Faulkner County, Arkansas, where a
suspected tornado shattered homes, tossed tractor-trailers and killed 11
people in the towns of Vilonia and Mayflower, including one death newly
reported by authorities on Tuesday. Two children were among the dead. - CNN.
April 29, 2014 - UNITED STATES - The following stories constitutes some of the latest incidents of tornadoes that have cause major destruction across the United States.
North Carolina Tornadoes Injure 15 People, Damage Hundreds Of Homes
At least 15 people were transported to the hospital on Friday evening
after a tornado struck in Beaufort County, N.C., an emergency management
official said Saturday.
There were also an undetermined number of "walking wounded" who went to
the hospital, Beaufort County Emergency Coordinator John Pack told
AccuWeather.com.
"The good news is that nobody died. That's remarkable in itself," Pack said.
People stand among the remains of a mobile home
Saturday, April 26, 2014, that was destroyed when a tornado touched down
along Black Jack-Simpson Road in Greenville, N.C. on Friday, April 25,
2014.AP Photo/The Daily Reflector, Aileen Devlin
The National Weather Service at Newport/Morehead City, N.C. reports that an EF-3 tornado was confirmed along Whichards Beach in Friday night's storm.
The tornado was an EF-0 when it touched down near Chocowinity but grew
in strength to an EF-3 with an estimated wind speed of 150 mph by the
time it reached Whichards Beach, the weather service said.
Areas affected by the Beaufort County storm were areas east of the town
of Washington, N.C. A state of emergency was declared late Friday
evening restricting travel in the affected areas from dusk to daylight
except for residents who can prove they live there, Pack said.
WATCH: North Carolina tornado.
At least 200 homes were severely damaged or destroyed, Pack said.
North Carolina Emergency Management assisted with damage assessments on
Saturday to determine if the severe weather event will meet the
threshold of a disaster declaration, Gov. Pat McCrory said. - AccuWeather.
Eastern North Carolina Tornadoes Confirmed
WTVD/Amber Roberts, WCTI-TV
The National Weather Service is confirming multiple tornado touchdowns
in eastern North Carolina, and an emergency management director reports
more than a dozen people were taken to the hospital as a result.
Meteorologists said Saturday that while its survey is continuing, they
have confirmed EF-2 tornadoes touched down in Pitt and Beaufort counties
on Friday. A final assessment is expected late Saturday.
Specifically, the meteorologists said a low-end EF-2 struck near Chicod
in Pitt County. A moderate EF-2 hit near Chocowinity and a high-end EF-2
struck Whichards Beach.
On the enhanced Fujita scale, an EF-2 has winds of between 111 mph and 135 mph for a 3-second gust.
Beaufort County Emergency Management Director John Pack said 16 people
were taken to the emergency room when the storms passed through around
7:25 p.m. Friday.
WTVD Photo/ABC11 view submitted image
WTVD Photo/ABC11 view submitted image
Pack said 200 homes were either heavily damaged or destroyed.
"You can track the tornado by the damage." Pack said. "It left a lot
damage behind in its approximately five to 10 minutes on the ground."
Pack said the storm appeared to be about 300 yards wide and was on the
ground for 10 miles. He said the line of damage started in the
west-northwest portion of the county and traveled to the northeast.
At one point, Pack said, 8,000 people were without power. By midday
Saturday, the number was down to 300 as 60 power company crews worked
across the county. He said power should be restored to the least damaged
homes by Sunday.
WTVD Photo/ABC11 view submitted image
Pack also said two major farming operations in the county sustained damages, but he didn't have specific details.
The National Weather Service also confirmed three tornadoes touched down
Friday near Chapanoke to Elizabeth City in Perquimans and Pasquotank
Counties.
In Elizabeth City, multiple injuries were reported and power lines were blown down with police left directing traffic.
The sheriff's department says some homes are badly damaged and there are cars flipped over and wrapped around trees.
At least a dozen homes were damaged or destroyed in nearby Perquimans County.
People living in parts of Halifax County believe a tornado also brought
down numerous trees and damaged homes in the small community of Ita on
Friday evening.
Part of the roofs of several homes were damaged by winds or when trees came crashing down.
Yashica Lynch said he was thrown into a panic. He was rushing around the
home looking for his young kids and wife, then yelling at them to take
cover after he saw a frightening image outside.
"I looked out the window and saw this funnel cloud starting to form and
my son ran and got his phone, and I got mine, and we went inside the
bathroom," said Lynch.
Two other homes on Ita Road also suffered structural damage. There's
nothing but beams left at one of the homes. At another house, the roof
was ripped off. The homeowner was outside and saw everything.
"We saw the roof when it went down with the wind," said Ricky Evans. "Peeled off like it was peeling open a can of sardines."
Evans told ABC11 that he had just finished remodeling his home before Friday's storm.
Some other homes on Ita Road suffered minor damage. Shingles came off and trees were down.
People in the area said no one was injured.
It's still unclear if a tornado actually touched down in Halifax County.
Hail was reported in several areas, including Durham and Fayetteville.
Quarter-sized hail was reported in Wayne and Person Counties. Near
Goldsboro, hail between dime and nickel-sized was reported. Golf
ball-sized hail was reported between 3 and 3:30 p.m. in Mebane.
In northern Wake County, there were numerous reports of trees down and power outages as well.
WTVD Photo/ABC11 view submitted image
WTVD Photo/ABC11 view submitted image
The sound of chainsaws filled the air Friday night. A large pine tree fell at Kristen Stephenson's home in Wake Forest.
"We were in the house and didn't even hear it fall," said Stephenson. "I
saw traffic stopping, and we had all the doors shut because of the
storm, and then I opened the front door and I saw it lying across the
road."
The large tree from Stephenson's yard was big enough to cover Wall Road,
but too quiet to be heard during the height of the storm.
"All you could hear was just the rain and the wind," said Stephenson.
The DOT had to be called in after the tree was too big for even the fire department to cut up.
WATCH: North Carolina tornadoes and giant hailstones.
Just up the road off of Main Street, another tree fell, which blocked entry into Glen Royall Mill Apartments.
In Franklinton, utility workers worked to restore power at Green and
Main Streets. DOT crews were also at Mason Street dealing with down
trees and power lines as well.
Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries.
"All this can be replaced," said Stephenson.
In Greene County, emergency services confirm that a tornado touched down near Fort Run.
WCTI-TV reported that several homes have been damaged, and thousands of people are without power.
Buildings were destroyed while vehicles and caravans were thrown into the air.
At least 17 people have been killed by tornadoes as a huge storm system swept across the central and southern United States.
Sixteen of the victims were in several suburbs of Little Rock in Arkansas, officials said.
One other person was killed in the town of Quapaw in the north-east of
Oklahoma where officials said many buildings were badly damaged.
Tornadoes also struck in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.
President Barack Obama, on a trip to the
Philippines, offered his deepest condolences to those affected and said
federal emergency officials would be on the ground to help: "Your
country will be there to help you recover and rebuild, as long as it
takes."
'Mass casualty situation'
Most of the casualties were in suburbs west and north of Little Rock.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said 10 people died in
Faulkner County, five in Pulaski County and one in White County.
Mayflower and Vilonia, two small towns in Faulkner County, appear to
have borne the brunt of the damage. In Vilonia, the County Sheriff's
office spoke of a "mass casualty situation".
The Arkansas tornado touched down about 10 miles (16km) west of the city
of Little Rock and left a 40 mile (65km) path of destruction.
It is said to have passed through several northern suburbs - including
Mayflower where a witness described a twister half a mile wide crossing
Interstate 40 on Sunday evening, the National Weather Service said.
One tornado left a 40 mile (65km) trail of destruction.
Many vehicles and buildings were wrecked in the town of Mayflower.
Baxter Springs, Kansas, was hit by the same tornado that struck Quapaw.
Trees were ripped apart by the storm in Baxter Springs.
Congressman Tim Griffin told Reuters news agency an "entire
neighbourhood of 50 homes or so" in Faulkner County had been destroyed,
with many "completely gone except the foundation".
Many homes and businesses, including a new secondary school worth $14m (£8.3m), were left in ruins in Vilonia after the storm.
"There's just really nothing there anymore. We're probably going to have
to start all over again," said Vilonia schools chief Frank Mitchell
after inspecting the wreckage of the school.
First reports from Oklahoma said two people had died in Quapaw but
officials later revised the figure down to one. Another six people were
injured.
Quapaw, which has a population of about 900, was badly hit by the
tornado, Ottawa County Emergency Management director Joe Dan Morgan
said.
"Looks like about half of town got extensive damage as well as the fire department," he said.
The tornado then headed northwards into the state of Kansas where it
struck Baxter Springs, injuring several people and causing further
damage.
Over the weekend, storms struck the eastern part of the US, killing a child in North Carolina. - BBC.
Deadly Tornado Destroys Everything In Its Path In The Town Of Mayflower, Arkansas
A damaged vehicle is seen amid debris after a
tornado hit the town of Mayflower, Arkansas around 7:30 pm CST, late
April 27, 2014. Reuters
Fourteen people have been confirmed dead after a swarm of tornadoes
swept through the US Midwest and South, leaving a trail of destruction.
More stormy weather is expected in the coming hours.
At least 31 tornadoes were reported by the National Weather Agency to
have hit Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Nebraska and
Oklahoma.
Arkansas was the worst affected - with a three-quarter of a mile-wide
tornado instantaneously leveling buildings caught in its way. At least
14 people have died in the state, local officials said on Monday.
Previously, it was reported that as many as 18 had died.
"It's been a truly awful night for many families, neighborhoods and
communities, but Arkansans always step up to help each other recover,"
Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe tweeted, ahead of his visit to the affected
areas on Monday morning.
The tornado hit at about 7 pm Sunday near Little Rock, Arkansas, the
hometown of former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and then plowed through the landscape for
approximately 80 miles - decimating the small towns of Mayflower and
Vilonia.
"It's chaos here. Our downtown area seems like it's completely leveled,"
said James Firestone, mayor of Vilonia, population 3,800.
"There's a few buildings partially standing, but the amount of damage is
tremendous. There's gas lines spewing. Of course, power lines down.
Houses are just a pile of brick."
"About 30 vehicles - large trucks, sedans, pickup trucks - were going through there when the funnel cloud passed over," said Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police.
Meteorologists estimated that it was an EF3 tornado, meaning winds of
more than 136 miles per hour. The last time such a strong tornado had
been recorded in the US was in November, an unusual lull for a country
that experiences about 1,200 tornadoes a year, far more than any other.
Another powerful tornado hit the town of Quapaw in Oklahoma, killing one
person, before moving into the neighboring state of Kansas.
An 11-month-old boy also died Sunday in North Carolina after being caught in a separate twister on Friday.
WATCH: Hume, MO tornado.
Further weather damage is expected until the middle of the week, as the
storm front moves across the country, toward the southeastern tip of the
US.
"Widespread severe storms - including strong tornadoes, damaging winds
and very large hail - are expected Monday and Monday night over parts
of the eastern United States," the National Weather Service warned. - RT.
From Hidden Meadow Ranch in the White Mountains.Kathryn C. Bolinger
Flagstaff is blanketed in white after the National Weather Service confirms at leastfive inches of snow fell on Saturday.
Flagstaff hasn't seen this much snow since Christmas.
Conditions were most dangerous on the highways in the afternoon, with low visibility and blowing snow and winds up to 50 miles an hour in some spots.
In downtown Flagstaff, the aftermath left parked cars covered in snow, and locals breaking out the winter wardrobe again.
The huge temperature drop caught some people off-guard.
WATCH: Flagstaff enjoys late spring snow.
"It's snowing here, it's crazy!" said Sherry Neimier, who just moved to
Arizona two weeks ago from Florida. "I didn't think I'd see snow, but I
love it. It's cold as can be but it's awesome."
But some locals say they'll see snow on the mountains sometimes as late
as July, so they're prepared for a storm anytime during the year in
Flagstaff.
- ABC15.
Army Rescues 2,000 Tourists Stranded By Sudden Snowfall In East Sikkim, India
Around 2,000 tourists stranded at Thegu in East Sikkim due to sudden snowfall were rescued and evacuated by the Army personnel.
Around 2,000 tourists stranded at Thegu in East Sikkim due to sudden
snowfall were rescued and evacuated by the Army personnel of Black Cat
Division, Army said today.
250 tourist vehicles with around 2,000 tourists were stranded at Thegu,
below Nathu La, due to unexpected and sudden snowfall on Saturday, an
Army press release said.
Troops stationed nearby, quickly rose to the occasion and helped to push
the tourist vehicles across the steep slopes and rescued the tourists.
The weather deteriorated further in the evening and despite heavy
snowfall and hailstorm, the troops cleared all the tourist vehicles by 7
PM on Saturday, the release said, adding all the tourists safely
returned to Gangtok by nightfall.
- The Economic Times.
Parts Of Western South Dakota Getting Heavy Snow
A system that brought deadly weather to the
central and southern U.S. over the weekend dumped heavy snow in western
South Dakota late Sunday and early Monday.
A system that brought deadly severe weather to parts of the central and
southern U.S. over the weekend dumped heavy, wet snow in western South
Dakota late Sunday and early Monday.
"It's all kind of tied together," National Weather Service meteorologist
Michael Mathews told The Associated Press. "This is the back side of
that system."
The weather service posted a winter storm warning for the northern Black
Hills early Monday, and nine inches of snow fell three miles southeast
of Deadwood. Elementary, middle and high school classes were canceled in
the Lead-Deadwood School district.
Interstate 90 and other major roads in the area remained open Monday but
drivers were advised to reduce speed and watch for scattered slippery
spots and sloppy wet slush.
Lisa Patterson, a cashier at the Badlands Travel
Stop off I-90 in Kadoka, said drivers were moving slowly along the
highway through 1/4- to 1/2-inch visibility when heavy snow began
falling midmorning Monday.
Ten inches of snow were reported in Lawrence County seven miles
northwest of Rochford, and seven inches were reported in Pennington
County 10 miles northwest of Deerfield. An area of Bennett County 15
miles west of Martin reported 5.5 inches of snow on the ground,
according to the National Weather Service.
Nickel- to quarter-sized hail was reported in Hyde County four miles east of Stephan.
Rapid City had a record amount of rain Sunday, with weather service
reports showing 1.22 inches at the city's airport. That broke the April
27 record of 1.05 inches set in 1976.
In Rapid City, golf courses were still dealing with the effects of
blizzards in April and October last year. The spring and early fall
snowstorms resulted in thousands fewer rounds of golf being played,
hurting the courses financially. The October blizzard damaged or
destroyed hundreds of trees.
Patterson said it's odd to be hit with storms so early and so late in the season.
"This winter has lasted for seven months already," she said.
- SF Gate.
At Least 16 Dead And Over 1,000 Homeless In Bangladesh Storm
Getty Images.
A severe storm has left at least 16 people dead and 1,000 homeless in northern Bangladesh, officials say.
The storm tore through scores of villages overnight on Sunday, uprooting
trees and electricity poles and derailing a train in an incident that
injured dozens of passengers.
Nine people were killed in the worst-hit district of Netrokona, six died
in neighbouring Sunamganj, and one person died after being struck by
lightning in nearby Naogaon, police in all three districts said.
Among the nine killed in Netrokona was a pregnant woman and her three children, district police official Rashel Miah said.
"They died after a side wall fell on them," Mr Miah
told AFP, adding that up to 20 people were injured in the district.
"About 1,000 homes" mostly made of mud and tin were flattened, government administrator Abul Kalam Azad said.
The storm also derailed a train at Tangail district while it was travelling across a bridge over a river.
"The storm was so severe that it threw the train, carrying up to 500
passengers, off its tracks and against a wall," railway official Pankaj
Kumar Shaha said.
Storms known locally as Kalboishakhi often hit Bangladesh during the
early summer months in the lead-up to the monsoon that generally begins
in the first week of June. - AFP.
Man Devoured By Crocodiles In Costa Rica
A crocodile slithers into the water from the muddy bank of a Costa Rican river. For illustrative purposes only.Lindsay Fendt/The Tico Times
An unidentified man leapt from the main bridge over the Tárcoles River,
near Costa Rica's central Pacific coast, on Tuesday evening at
approximately 5:20 p.m. in what is believed to be a suicide, Jim Batres,
assistant director for the Costa Rican Red Cross, told The Tico Times.
After falling into the water, the man reportedly was eaten by the river's famously abundant crocodiles.
Citing the testimonies of unidentified witnesses at the scene, Batres
said the man had been causing a disturbance on the bridge earlier in the
evening and was removed by police. He then went to a bar before
returning to the bridge and leaping into the river.
Batres said the man's identity could not immediately be confirmed, and
members of a Red Cross search team were unable to recover the body as of
7:50 p.m. Tuesday night.
A conflicting report in the daily La Nación
said the victim did not jump from the bridge, but tried to swim in the
river from the shore when he was attacked by a crocodile and
disappeared.
April 29, 2014 - GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS - Nassim Taleb, a renowned New York University (NYU) professor recently raised eyebrows when he said genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have the potential to cause "an irreversible termination of life at some scale, which could be the planet."
Taleb, who specializes in risk engineering, has outlined the dangers of GMOs in The Precautionary Principle, a paper recently made available to the public.
The threat
Often, GMO seeds are favored because of their ability to yield larger
harvests and avoid certain pests or weeds that usually eat up some of
their productivity, reports Daily Finance.
Taleb's primary concern isn't that ingesting GMOs is necessarily bad for
people; rather, he's focused on what effects the genetic manipulation
of nature will have on the worldwide ecosystem. While Taleb concurs the
risk of any one GMO seed ruining the planet is incredibly small, he argues that people are underestimating the domino effect of risk that's involved.
For example, if one genetically modified seed produced holds a 0.1
percent chance of causing a catastrophic breakdown of the ecosystem,
then the probability of such an event will only increase with each new
seed that's developed.
Taleb writes that given enough time the "total ecocide barrier" is bound to be hit despite incredibly small odds.
The argument hinges on the fact that GMOs represent a systemic, and not
localized, risk. As GMO goods continue to be exported to countries
throughout the world, the idea of being able to control GMOs in nature
is impossible to guarantee.
As Taleb says, "There are mathematical limitations to predictability in a
complex system, 'in the wild,' which is why focusing on the difference
between local (or isolated) and systemic threats is a central aspect of
our warnings."
GMO supporters have criticized his work as GMOs have yet to
significantly harm the ecosystem, but Taleb argues that point
strengthens his theory.
Daily Finance reports:
The Precautionary Principle - which is what Taleb calls his
warning - is all about managing risk, not about waiting for it to
surface. The fact that GMOs are a systemic entity is undeniable. Taleb
is equally skeptical of all entities that carry systemic risk - like
too-big-to-fail banks.
We don't, as Taleb says, argue that a game of Russian
roulette is safer with each empty barrel we find. It is, in fact, more
dangerous. - Eco Watch.
