Sunday, April 27. 2008
Coal mine blowout forces evacuations
Dozens of people were evacuated from their homes in eastern Kentucky late Saturday night when an abandoned mine collapsed and thousands of gallons of water and debris flowed into the small town of Kimper in Pike County.
About 50 people spent the night at a shelter in a nearby church.
Investigators were trying to determine Sunday what caused the blowout at the mine which had been closed in 1995.
Sunday, April 20. 2008
Az wildfire spreads to 3,000+ acres
The Alamo wildfire spread Sunday to more than 3,000 acres near the state's border with Mexico.
The fire was burning in the sparsely settled Pajarita Wilderness about 7 miles west of Blanca Lake. It was thought to have been human-started.
The fire was burning in the sparsely settled Pajarita Wilderness about 7 miles west of Blanca Lake. It was thought to have been human-started.
$1 mllion awarded in NJ flooding
A Superior Court judge in Burlington County approved a $1 million settlement Friday for residents of Medford Lakes whose homes were damaged in a 2004 flood that was blamed on the failure of a dam.
It is the latest of nearly two dozen settlements reached with the owners of a string of dams in the Rancocas Creek watershed that failed during the July 2004 storm damaging 200 homes and businesses. So far, $6 million has been awarded to the residents.
NM homes damaged by flood
Residents of a neighborhood near Albuquerque woke up Friday to flooding after an irrigation ditch in the South Valley broke.
A spokesman from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District said the South Valley break was patched within two hours, but not before causing minor damage to homes nearby. "It looked like the bayou," said one resident.
A spokesman from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District said the South Valley break was patched within two hours, but not before causing minor damage to homes nearby. "It looked like the bayou," said one resident.
Wildfires strike in Eastern U.S.
Wildfires threatened homes in Virgina and North Carolina Friday.
A wildfire in Madison County, NC, near the community of Walnut in the Smokey Mountains was under control Saturday but had been driven by 30 mph winds Friday. Every fire department in the county and aerial tankers from the NC Forest Service were involved in fighting the fire.
In Stanley, VA, a controlled burn planned for one acre spread to more than 1,200 acres and threatened 20 homes before firefighters from the state department of forestry got it under control late Friday.
And in Buckingham County, Virginia firefighters battled a wildfire that spread to more than 600 acres before it was contained late Saturday. Fifteen homes and a residential school were evacuated and a firefighter was seriously injured in the blaze.
