Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has declared a state of emergency after flooding that left two people dead and six people missing.
Severe storms raged through the state dumping inches of rain in just hours over parts of the state already saturated from previous storms. The flash flooding swept through rural areas, washing away mobile homes and vehicles.
Among the missing is a man being hailed as a hero for saving his father, uncle and sister. Scott Johnson went back after saving the first three from the flood waters to get his grandmother and a teenage nephew. He jammed his nephew into a tree before the flood water swept him away along with his grandmother.
The grandmother’s body was found Tuesday. Johnson is still missing.
“It just wears your legs out to walk,” said Gary McClure, the local emergency management director. “You walk from here to there in that mud and you’re ready to sit down. It just pulls you down.”
The other confirmed death was a 65-year-old man whose SUV was being swept away by flood waters and he tried to exit the vehicle to escape.
Police say that the search area for the missing stretches more than 8 miles through rugged Appalachian Mountains terrain east of Lexington. Over 500 homes and 1,200 residents live in the area.
The National Guard has been called into the area to help with search and rescue efforts.
The forecast for the region is calling for more rain which officials say has “nowhere to go but roads, homes and yards.”
A new report on the deaths of three German men who worked as squirrel breeders has found that they all died from a new strain of virus that jumped from the squirrels to the men.
“A new bornavirus that can be transmitted to humans and cause severe disease has been detected in variegated squirrels. The study shows that exotic animal species can have the risk of transmitting novel zoonotic viruses to humans from close contact,” said Dr. Martin Beer, head of virus diagnostics at Germany’s Friedrich-Loeffler Institute.
The men developed encephaltits, or brain inflammation, and died within two to four months after showing symptoms
The breed of squirrel involved live in southern Mexico and Central America. That’s one of the reasons Dr. Marc Siegel of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York told HealthDay the general public shouldn’t be concerned at this time.
“It’s likely that bornavirus, commonly found in horses and sheep and capable of causing neurological symptoms, was present in the squirrels that scratched these men, causing the neurological and behavioral symptoms,” he said. “It is possible that this virus could spread to squirrels here in the U.S. and occasionally to humans, but we wouldn’t see sustained spread, as there is no evidence of spread from human to human.”
All the men who died from the virus were in their 60s or older and had other health conditions that doctors say could have contributed to the virus being able to impact them.
A 14-year-old Minnesota boy is the nation’s second confirmed 2015 death from a brain eating amoeba.
The family of Hunter Boutain, who died Thursday at University of Minnesota Medical Center, said that it’s likely he caught Naegleria fowleri while swimming at Lake Minnewaska in Pope County, Minnesota.
“Hunter’s condition deteriorated throughout the night and he was declared brain dead this morning. Hunter died surrounded by his family. It is a deeply emotional time for all us. We ask for privacy and prayers as we remember our beloved Hunter,” family spokesman Bryan Boutain said in a statement.
“I thank you all for praying for Hunter,” the teen’s brother Lee Boutain posted on Facebook. “The Lord didn’t want him to stay on earth. As much as I am hurt I know I can’t love him as much as God.”
Hunter’s death is the third in Minnesota from the amoeba. Officials are concerned because the two previous cases, one in 2010 and one in 2012, happened in smaller lakes and in much warmer conditions than where Hunter was believed to have contracted the parasite.
As previously reported, a 21-year-old California woman died in late June from the amoeba after officials say she caught the amoeba “on private land.”
Only three people are known to have survived an infection with Naegleria fowleri.
A Nigerian pastor whose daughter was stoned to death by the Islamic group Boko Haram says that he is “grateful” to know that she stood up for Christ until the end.
“I was told that my daughter refused to change her religion. I was told that they dug a hole and buried her from the neck and stoned her to death,” Pastor Enoch Mark said. “To die for the sake of Christ, that’s the happiest thing for me. I’m grateful that she didn’t change her religion. She trust[ed] in God.”
Pastor Mark was told of his daughter’s martyrdom by a 17-year-old girl named Miriam who escaped from her captors.
“I believe she died with dignity. Monica is now in heaven because she refused to convert,” Pastor Mark’s wife told the BBC.
The girl who told the pastor is one of the girls that informed western leaders that Boko Haram is forcing the kidnapped girls to carry out killings and bombings. Miriam told the BBC that they were trained to kill on captured Christians.
“They were Christian men. They [Boko Haram militants] forced the Christians to lie down. Then the girls cut their throats.”
An ice cave that is part of the Big Four Ice Caves at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest east of Seattle partially collapsed, killing a 34-year-old woman.
Eight people were in the back of the cave when the collapse took place around 5 p.m. Tuesday. The caves had large warning signs about instability but the caves were not blocked.
“It’s not illegal to go in the caves. However, we’ve been saying since mid-May, it’s extremely dangerous with all this hot weather,” Shari Ireton with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office told CNN before noting that hot weather weakens the caves.
“There was a large pile of ice and rock that came down,” she said. “So it wasn’t just one big slab. … It wasn’t a piece of a shelf coming off.”
“They’re essentially a frozen-over avalanche chute sitting over a waterfall, sitting below a giant rock shoot,” Ireton added. “It’s incredibly dangerous.”
A witness told ABC that she heard a pop before the ice gave way.
“Everybody was happy. It was really cool. … [Then] we heard a pop and I got really nervous and I just look up and there’s, I see there’s this sheet of ice coming down,” said Chloe Jakubowski, 18. “I crouched down as quickly as I could and I put my hands over my head.”
“It was really scary,” she said. “I just didn’t know if those were going to be my last few moments.”
A 25-year-old man hurt in the collapse remains in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center although his status was upgraded from critical to serious.
Islamic terrorists launched a day of violence in Nigeria against both Christians and Muslims on Sunday leaving more than 60 dead.
Boko Haram bombed a crowded mosque and Muslim restaurant in the city of Jos. Muslim community lawyer Ahmed Garba told Fox News that 51 people died in the twin attacks and were buried on Monday. An additional 67 were wounded and remain hospitalized.
A witness said that the bomber at the mosque appeared to be targeting cleric Sani Yahaya.
“He is a great Islamic scholar who has spoken out against Boko Haram, and that is why we believe he was the target,” Danladi Sani told The Associated Press.
The terrorists also attacked an evangelical Christian church in Potiskum along with a campaign of arson against villages that burned over 300 homes.
Boko Haram has ramped up violence in response to a call by ISIS terrorists for increased activity during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attacks and said that he will protect the rights of Nigerians to freely worship.
In the last week the terrorist group has killed over 300 people.
A 21-year-old California woman is dead after falling victim to a brain eating amoeba.
Health officials would not release the name of the woman but said she likely contracted the infection while swimming on private property. They do not believe that anyone other than family and friends who used the same body of water could be at risk.
The amoeba, known as Naegleria flowleri, thrive in warm freshwater lakes, ponds and hot springs. The infection can take hold of a human when the amoeba travels through the nasal passages and into the brain. Once in the brain, the amoeba will destroy the brain tissue. The victim usually dies within 3 to 18 days.
The Centers for Disease Control says that of 133 cases in the U.S. in the last 52 years, only three people have survived infection. The victim in this case was admitted to Northern Inyo Hospital in Bishop, California on June 16th and was diagnosed with meningitis. When she didn’t improve, she was flown to Reno, Nevada where the CDC confirmed the deadly amoeba.
The interesting thing about the amoeba is that while it is widespread, it does not seek a human host.
“It is unknown why certain persons become infected with the amoeba while millions of others exposed to warm recreational fresh waters, including those who were swimming with people who became infected, do not,” Richard Johnson, M.D., of Inyo Public Health said in the report.
The CDC recommends that people avoid poorly maintained or unmaintained freshwater sources including pools, hot springs and ponds.
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram launched a surprise attack Wednesday night on villages in the north-eastern part of Borno state that has left at least 150 people dead.
The deadliest attack was on the village of Kakawa where the Islamists killed 97 people including women and children.
“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the Maghrib prayer shortly after breaking their fast,” eyewitness Babami Alhaji Kolo said to AFP news agency. “They… opened fire on the worshippers who were mostly men and young children. They spared nobody. In fact, while some of the terrorists waited and set most of the corpses on fire, others proceeded to houses and shot indiscriminately at women who were preparing food.”
The attacks on Wednesday followed Tuesday assaults on two towns where 48 men were shot after finishing prayers.
The two villages attacked are on the outskirts of the town of Monguno which the military recently recaptured from the terrorists.
“They were praying in the mosque when Boko Haram attackers descended on the village. They waited till they finished the prayers. They gathered them in one place, separated men from women and opened fire on them,” a Monguno resident told the BBC. “Many died, some escaped. They then set the village on fire. I saw five victims with bullet wounds who managed to escape. They were brought to [Monguno] on wheelbarrows, before they were transferred to vehicles that took them to hospitals.”
At least four people are dead and the toll is expected to rise after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Xinjang region of China.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake took place in one of the “most seismically hazardous regions on Earth” and centered the quake 59 miles southeast of Yilkiqi, China.
“If many people are gathered in one place during an earthquake, it can lead to a serious disaster, but in this case, there were relatively few people so it isn’t so serious,” China Earthquake Networks Center researcher Sun Shihong told state broadcaster China Central Television.
Dozens are reported injured by multiple sources and the government reported thousands of homes and buildings in the region were damaged or destroyed.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs put the number of damaged homes alone at 3,000.
Over 1,000 tents are being sent into the region to provide temporary shelter for families who have lost their homes.
Washington state officials have confirmed a woman’s death from measles, the first person in the U.S. to die of the disease in 12 years.
The Washington State Department of Health said it was likely the woman became exposed during an outbreak in Clallam County, just northwest of Seattle. The disease was reported in six people in the county versus a total of 11 in the state.
The woman visited a medical facility at the same time as a person later diagnosed with measles. She had a variety of health issues that depressed her immune system which caused death via pneumonia from measles.
“This tragic situation illustrates the importance of immunizing as many people as possible to provide a high level of community protection against measles,” the state health department’s statement read. “People with compromised immune systems often cannot be vaccinated against measles.”
The CDC said that measles were effectively eliminated in the United States in 2000 but are making a comeback due to adults who are delaying or avoiding vaccinations for their children.
The CDC said that 178 people have been diagnosed with measles in the United States this year with many connected to an outbreak at Disneyland during the 2014 holiday season.
