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MODERATOR NOTE: THIS THREAD CONTAINS POSTS MERGED FROM TWO THREADS. SOME DUPLICATE POSTS MAY BE FOUND.
Is the return of Jesus more likely today? The World is filled with sin and abominations and mankind is turning from his only Savior.
Are the following news reports a sign of the times?
Mysterious and unexplained
More than 1,000 dead birds fall from sky in Ark.
God's Hand at Work
First victim dies in Australia's Biblical flood
Will it be people Next?
Blaze kills 60 cats at pet sanctuary in California
Is the return of Jesus more likely today? The World is filled with sin and abominations and mankind is turning from his only Savior.
Are the following news reports a sign of the times?
Mysterious and unexplained
More than 1,000 dead birds fall from sky in Ark.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40874105...s-environment/
BEEBE, Ark. — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday more than 1,000 dead blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe.
The agency said its enforcement officers began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. Friday. The birds fell over a one-mile area of the city, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area, officials said.
Robby King, a wildlife officer for the agency, collected about 65 dead birds, which will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wis.
Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said that similar events have occurred elsewhere and that test results "usually were inconclusive."
The birds showed physical trauma, said Rowe, who surmised that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."
The agency also said another possibility is that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.
It's doubtful the birds were poisoned, Rowe said, "since it only involved a flock of blackbirds and only involved them falling out of the sky." She said a necropsy is the only way to determine if the birds were poisoned.
The city of Beebe hired U.S. Environmental Services to clean up and dispose of the dead birds.
BEEBE, Ark. — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday more than 1,000 dead blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe.
The agency said its enforcement officers began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. Friday. The birds fell over a one-mile area of the city, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area, officials said.
Robby King, a wildlife officer for the agency, collected about 65 dead birds, which will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wis.
Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said that similar events have occurred elsewhere and that test results "usually were inconclusive."
The birds showed physical trauma, said Rowe, who surmised that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."
The agency also said another possibility is that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.
It's doubtful the birds were poisoned, Rowe said, "since it only involved a flock of blackbirds and only involved them falling out of the sky." She said a necropsy is the only way to determine if the birds were poisoned.
The city of Beebe hired U.S. Environmental Services to clean up and dispose of the dead birds.
First victim dies in Australia's Biblical flood
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40869765/ns/weather/
BRISBANE, Australia — A woman swept into a swollen river was found dead Sunday, the first victim of relentless flooding that one official has described as reaching "biblical proportions."
Days of driving rain last week swamped 22 communities, with around 200,000 people affected by floodwaters in an area larger than Texas. While the rain has stopped, rivers are still surging to new heights and overflowing into low-lying towns as the water makes its way toward the ocean.
On Saturday night, two cars trying to cross a flooded causeway were swept into a river in Burketown, in western Queensland state, police said. Two adults and two children in the first car were found safe, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, as were an adult and three children in the second vehicle. But a 41-year-old woman traveling in the second car disappeared, and her body was found Sunday morning.
Officials say half of Queensland's 715,305 square miles has been affected by the flooding. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned that drenched communities could be underwater for more than a week, and cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.
"In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions," Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in the flooded city of Bundaberg on Saturday.
The city of Rockhampton, near the coast, is the next community in the water's path, and is bracing for flood levels to peak Tuesday or Wednesday.
[…]
The rain has flooded coal mines and hit farming hard, with many roads still impassable, and prompted warnings of the dangers of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes.
The inland sea that stretches across Queensland is dotted with the roofs of flooded homes, islands of dry ground crowded with stranded livestock and small boats ferrying people and emergency supplies.
As the northeast struggled to recover, a new storm was brewing off the coast of mineral-rich Western Australia.
A weather system that forecasters said could become a tropical cyclone brought gale-force winds, forcing several leading oil producers to halt operations and evacuate staff.
BRISBANE, Australia — A woman swept into a swollen river was found dead Sunday, the first victim of relentless flooding that one official has described as reaching "biblical proportions."
Days of driving rain last week swamped 22 communities, with around 200,000 people affected by floodwaters in an area larger than Texas. While the rain has stopped, rivers are still surging to new heights and overflowing into low-lying towns as the water makes its way toward the ocean.
On Saturday night, two cars trying to cross a flooded causeway were swept into a river in Burketown, in western Queensland state, police said. Two adults and two children in the first car were found safe, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, as were an adult and three children in the second vehicle. But a 41-year-old woman traveling in the second car disappeared, and her body was found Sunday morning.
Officials say half of Queensland's 715,305 square miles has been affected by the flooding. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned that drenched communities could be underwater for more than a week, and cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.
"In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions," Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in the flooded city of Bundaberg on Saturday.
The city of Rockhampton, near the coast, is the next community in the water's path, and is bracing for flood levels to peak Tuesday or Wednesday.
[…]
The rain has flooded coal mines and hit farming hard, with many roads still impassable, and prompted warnings of the dangers of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes.
The inland sea that stretches across Queensland is dotted with the roofs of flooded homes, islands of dry ground crowded with stranded livestock and small boats ferrying people and emergency supplies.
As the northeast struggled to recover, a new storm was brewing off the coast of mineral-rich Western Australia.
A weather system that forecasters said could become a tropical cyclone brought gale-force winds, forcing several leading oil producers to halt operations and evacuate staff.
Blaze kills 60 cats at pet sanctuary in California
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40873637/ns/us_news-life/
ATWATER, Calif. — More than 60 cats perished in an early morning blaze inside a California no-kill shelter that was built to save them, The Merced Sun-Star reported.
Merced County fire officials say an electrical fire raced through the Last Hope Cat Kingdom in Atwater about 1 a.m. Friday, spreading thick smoke through the 2,500-square-foot building.
Firefighters rescued about 200 cats from the no-kill animal shelter, but dozens of others died of smoke inhalation, according to Merced County Fire Department spokesman Jose Quintana, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Dottie Henry, a volunteer at the shelter, told the Merced Sun-Star that she was devastated by the news.
"It's really hard because we know all the animals," Henry told the Merced Sun-Star. "A lot of them were older cats that have been here for a long time."
ATWATER, Calif. — More than 60 cats perished in an early morning blaze inside a California no-kill shelter that was built to save them, The Merced Sun-Star reported.
Merced County fire officials say an electrical fire raced through the Last Hope Cat Kingdom in Atwater about 1 a.m. Friday, spreading thick smoke through the 2,500-square-foot building.
Firefighters rescued about 200 cats from the no-kill animal shelter, but dozens of others died of smoke inhalation, according to Merced County Fire Department spokesman Jose Quintana, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Dottie Henry, a volunteer at the shelter, told the Merced Sun-Star that she was devastated by the news.
"It's really hard because we know all the animals," Henry told the Merced Sun-Star. "A lot of them were older cats that have been here for a long time."