KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
By Julie Gordon and Richard Valdmanis
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (Reuters) - The number of people dead or missing after an oil-tanker train exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic has risen to 60 from 50, police said on Wednesday, as 200 investigators sifted through the charred wreckage of what they said is a crime scene.The runaway train derailed and blew up in the middle of the town of 6,000 near the Maine border early on Saturday morning, flattening dozens of buildings in Lac-Megantic's historic downtown and leaving it looking like a war zone.
"The number of missing persons has changed since our last count. We are up to around 60 persons that have been reported to us as missing," police spokesman Michel Forget told reporters, noting that the number was changing every day.As investigators search for clues in what could turn out to be North America's worst railway disaster since 1989, Quebec police have made it clear that the figure for those missing includes the dead. None of the 15 bodies they have found has been identified and few residents hold out hope that any of the missing will be found alive.Police are investigating whether the disaster involved foul play or criminal negligence, but Forget deflected questions about possible criminal charges. He said that was a matter for the prosecutor's office in Quebec, the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province where Lac-Megantic is situated.There have been no arrests to date, he said.Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, which owns the track through Lac-Megantic and operated the tanker train, is one of many North American railroads that have vastly stepped up shipments of crude oil as producers seek alternatives to pipelines that have been stretched to capacity by higher output in Canada and North Dakota.Canada's Transportation Safety Board wants to know if the operator followed proper safety procedures in the hours before the unmanned 72-car train rolled down a hill and slammed into Lac-Megantic.Ed Burkhardt, the head of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, arrived on Wednesday for a visit. He was due to talk to reporters later in the day.Burkhardt told public broadcaster Radio-Canada on Tuesday that until the crash, his company's safety record had been good."I think we blew it on this instance. We blew it big time. This is awful. It's absolutely awful and very emotional to me when there are deaths and people out of their homes," he said.The incident forced about 2,000 people, roughly a third of the town's population, to leave their homes and seek shelter in local schools or with friends and family. Around 1,200 have since been allowed to return to their homes, some of which are still without power or water."After that tragedy, after watching that fire burn half the downtown, we are happy to be back home," said Denis Leveille, 57. "But we're not really settled in, because we don't have electricity right now. Our only power is that yellow cord there," he said, pointing to an extension cable running out a front window and across the yard to a neighbor's house."We need that for the fridge and the coffee maker - so we have coffee in the morning and beer at night."Lac-Megantic is about 160 miles east of Montreal and close to the border with Maine and Vermont.MMA executives have said they believe the train's air brakes failed after local firefighters shut down the engine on one of its locomotives late on Friday night to put out a fire. At the time the train was parked in the neighboring municipality of Nantes, uphill from Lac-Megantic.But it is not clear if the train's engineer set enough hand brakes - which are meant to hold a train in place even if the air brakes fail - before he left the train for a shift change shortly before the fire broke out.The engineer, named by Canadian media as Tom Harding, lives on a quiet street in Farnham, Quebec, some 90 minutes west of Lac-Magentic, in a two-story stone and vinyl-siding home.Nobody answered the door at the house on Wednesday.MMA, which is headquartered in Chicago, has a long history of accidents in Canada, according to Transportation Safety Board data, which shows 129 accidents, including 77 derailments - some of them minor - since 2003. It is one of only two rail companies in Canada that is allowed to operate trains manned by a single engineer.A TSB official said she could not immediately say how MMA's accident rate compared with other rail operators in the country.(Writing by David Ljunggren and Janet Guttsman; Editing by Peter Galloway)
With files from Star wires
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Tropical Storm Chantal skirted
the southern coasts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Wednesday,
losing some of its force but still posing a flood threat to some of the
most vulnerable people in the region.The storm was no longer
expected to make landfall on the island of Hispaniola, but forecasters
said it could bring heavy rain to areas where many people live in
vulnerable homes of plywood and corrugated steel and where flooding is
common.In both countries, people fortified houses with extra
tarps and wood and gathered supplies, largely ignoring warnings to leave
their neighborhoods."We're going to wait until it's over. We're
already used to this," said 36-year-old Sergio Guzman, who along the
banks of a river near Santo Domingo.Chantal was about 145 miles
(235 kilometers) south of Port-au-Prince just before noon, moving west
at 29 mph (46 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph),
according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was on
track to head north across Cuba and toward the Bahamas and Florida, but
forecasters said the storm would likely weaken to a tropical depression
by Thursday.A
tropical storm warning was still in effect Wednesday for the Dominican
Republic, Haiti, Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas. A
tropical storm watch was in effect for Jamaica and the central Bahamas.Still,
even a weaker Chantal would likely cause problems for the rural
southern peninsula of Haiti and the southwestern Dominican Republic.In
the Dominican Republic, state meteorologist Bolivar Ledesma warned that
as much as 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain might fall along the
southern coast.Haitian officials issued warnings over the radio
urging people move away from ravines and stock up on food, though life
in Port-au-Prince hummed along like any other day."There's not
much I can do," Stevenson Etienne, a 40-year-old welder, said from his
garage in downtown Port-au-Prince. "Still, I will try to protect myself
and my children."Marie
Alta Jean-Baptiste, general director for Haiti's Civil Protection
Department, said the government had prepared 400 emergency shelters
nationwide to accommodate people if needed.Storms often trigger
flooding and landslides in the island of Hispaniola shared by Haiti and
the Dominican Republic, but severe deforestation and makeshift housing
in Haiti make it especially vulnerable to even moderate rains. Some
279,000 Haitians live in ramshackle settlements established in the
capital and elsewhere after the devastating 2010 earthquake.Chantal
had raced through the eastern Caribbean early Tuesday, with officials
in Dominica reporting that heavy winds ripped off the roofs of several
homes. No injuries were reported there or anywhere else in the region.The
storm passed overnight to the south of Puerto Rico. Authorities in the
U.S. island territory said some 7,000 people are without power and more
than 2,500 people without water. More than 20 people also sought shelter
at a school in the southern city of Ponce, but officials said they
would return home soon. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla also ordered
public employees to return to work on Wednesday.The U.S. Coast Guard said all ports in Puerto Rico have reopened except those along the island's southern and western coasts.___Associated
Press writers Daniel reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Lopez
from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto
Rico contributed to this report.
Environment Canada says there is the potential
for another severe thunderstorm on Wednesday that could bring high winds
and more wet weather for the Greater Toronto Area. (Matt Kwong/CBC)
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Police boost number of Quebec disaster missing and dead to 60
Axle gear from the train wreck are seen in Lac Megantic, July 9, 2013. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (Reuters) - The number of people dead or missing after an oil-tanker train exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic has risen to 60 from 50, police said on Wednesday, as 200 investigators sifted through the charred wreckage of what they said is a crime scene.The runaway train derailed and blew up in the middle of the town of 6,000 near the Maine border early on Saturday morning, flattening dozens of buildings in Lac-Megantic's historic downtown and leaving it looking like a war zone.
"The number of missing persons has changed since our last count. We are up to around 60 persons that have been reported to us as missing," police spokesman Michel Forget told reporters, noting that the number was changing every day.As investigators search for clues in what could turn out to be North America's worst railway disaster since 1989, Quebec police have made it clear that the figure for those missing includes the dead. None of the 15 bodies they have found has been identified and few residents hold out hope that any of the missing will be found alive.Police are investigating whether the disaster involved foul play or criminal negligence, but Forget deflected questions about possible criminal charges. He said that was a matter for the prosecutor's office in Quebec, the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province where Lac-Megantic is situated.There have been no arrests to date, he said.Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, which owns the track through Lac-Megantic and operated the tanker train, is one of many North American railroads that have vastly stepped up shipments of crude oil as producers seek alternatives to pipelines that have been stretched to capacity by higher output in Canada and North Dakota.Canada's Transportation Safety Board wants to know if the operator followed proper safety procedures in the hours before the unmanned 72-car train rolled down a hill and slammed into Lac-Megantic.Ed Burkhardt, the head of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, arrived on Wednesday for a visit. He was due to talk to reporters later in the day.Burkhardt told public broadcaster Radio-Canada on Tuesday that until the crash, his company's safety record had been good."I think we blew it on this instance. We blew it big time. This is awful. It's absolutely awful and very emotional to me when there are deaths and people out of their homes," he said.The incident forced about 2,000 people, roughly a third of the town's population, to leave their homes and seek shelter in local schools or with friends and family. Around 1,200 have since been allowed to return to their homes, some of which are still without power or water."After that tragedy, after watching that fire burn half the downtown, we are happy to be back home," said Denis Leveille, 57. "But we're not really settled in, because we don't have electricity right now. Our only power is that yellow cord there," he said, pointing to an extension cable running out a front window and across the yard to a neighbor's house."We need that for the fridge and the coffee maker - so we have coffee in the morning and beer at night."Lac-Megantic is about 160 miles east of Montreal and close to the border with Maine and Vermont.MMA executives have said they believe the train's air brakes failed after local firefighters shut down the engine on one of its locomotives late on Friday night to put out a fire. At the time the train was parked in the neighboring municipality of Nantes, uphill from Lac-Megantic.But it is not clear if the train's engineer set enough hand brakes - which are meant to hold a train in place even if the air brakes fail - before he left the train for a shift change shortly before the fire broke out.The engineer, named by Canadian media as Tom Harding, lives on a quiet street in Farnham, Quebec, some 90 minutes west of Lac-Magentic, in a two-story stone and vinyl-siding home.Nobody answered the door at the house on Wednesday.MMA, which is headquartered in Chicago, has a long history of accidents in Canada, according to Transportation Safety Board data, which shows 129 accidents, including 77 derailments - some of them minor - since 2003. It is one of only two rail companies in Canada that is allowed to operate trains manned by a single engineer.A TSB official said she could not immediately say how MMA's accident rate compared with other rail operators in the country.(Writing by David Ljunggren and Janet Guttsman; Editing by Peter Galloway)
Lac Megantic explosion: MMA railway boss Ed Burkhardt: ‘I’m devastated’
Ed Burkhardt arrived in Lac Megantic, Que. Wednesday in the wake of a deadly derailment and series of explosions.
Ryan Remiorz
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS
Rail World Inc. president Edward Burkhardt speaks to the media as he tours Lac-Megantic, Que., on Wednesday.
Richard Lefebvre
arrived at Lac Megantic’s Polyvalente Montignac Wednesday morning
carrying a sign that read: “No more killer train.”The doctor from a
nearby village wanted Ed Burkhardt, the chairman of Maine, Montreal and
Atlantic Railways, to see the sign and take action.“He could certainly make sure that it never happens again,” said Lefebvre.Burkhardt arrived Wednesday morning in Lac Megantic, a Quebec town decimated after a runaway MMA train hurtled into downtown
early Saturday morning, derailed and exploded. Burkhardt announced that
Tom Harding, the engineer who left the train, has been suspended and
will likely not work for the company again.“I have
never been involved in anything remotely approaching this in my whole
life,” he said, as angry residents heckled from behind the media scrum
on a Lac Megantic street.
Burkhardt said it now appears that Harding didn’t properly set the handbrakes on the rail cars.“He’s not being paid, I don’t think he’ll be back working for us,” said Burkhardt.A throng of media
gathered outside the school that became an emergency shelter after the
blast, where Burkhardt appeared shortly after 1 p.m.
The railway boss
explained that he had stayed in Chicago to deal with the crisis in his
office, where he was better able to communicate with insurers and
officials in different places during what he described as 20-hour work
days.“Am I a compassionate person?” Burkhardt said.“I feel absolutely awful. I am devastated by what’s happened.”Burkhardt promised an
energetic response to the humanitarian crisis. He said it would partner
with the Red Cross, insurers and governments to help fund humanitarian
aid and reconstruction of homes.“Our financial resources are going to be devoted to this,” said the veteran railman.“This comes first.”
It was plain someone
had tampered with the locomotive of the MMA train before the explosion,
and it has now emerged that it was the fire department, Burkhardt told
reporters.“Were they negligent in their tampering? I think not,” he said.The chair has come under fire for the company’s response to the disaster, which has left 15 people dead and 45 others missing.Initially press
releases, of which there have only been two, were issued only in
English, infuriating residents of the mostly French-speaking town.
Later, releases came out in poorly-translated French.“We’re French
Canadians here and the fact that it was an English press release with
later maybe a 5-year-old kid that made the translation, it just shows
the level of respect and care,” said Jean St-Pierre.Burkhardt has offered
accounts of the events that led to the driverless train hurtling into
downtown that were later disputed by local firefighters. Burkhardt said
local firefighters shut down a locomotive to put out a blaze, and that
resulted in the train’s brakes releasing. The fire department and
transportation safety board later said a company employee was onsite.“I didn’t like (Burkhardt)’s attitude, what he said about the firemen in Nantes,” said Lefebvre.And Burkhardt waited until Tuesday before flying to Montreal to make his way to Lac Megantic, about 250 kilometers away.Ghislain Bolduc, member of the national assembly for the area, said the visit was later than it should have been.“I think he should have come earlier,” said Bolduc, noting that anger is rising in the wake of the tragedy.Burkhardt quipped about having to wear a bullet-proof vest when he visited.Queens University
professor Ken Wong said the first thing a company executive should have
done was show up and provide constant updates to local residents.
“I think it would have been important for him to be there to relay the gravity of the situation,” said Wong.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
Chantal swirls toward Dominican Republic, Haiti
Toronto under severe thunderstorm watch
Environment Canada warns potential storms could dump another 50 mm
CBC News Posted: Jul 10, 2013 6:19 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 10, 2013 2:10 PM ET
Environment Canada says there is the potential
for another severe thunderstorm on Wednesday that could bring high winds
and more wet weather for the Greater Toronto Area. (Matt Kwong/CBC)
The
Greater Toronto Area is bracing for another round of potential
thunderstorms later today that could bring high winds and heavy rainfall
to the region, which is still mopping up from a torrential downpour
earlier this week.
Environment Canada issued a special weather statement on Wednesday warning of the "development of severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging winds or heavy rainfall" after an earlier advisory was temporarily lifted."Wind gusts to 90 km/h are possible with these storms, as well as hail 2 cm in diameter and heavy downpours up to 50 mm in an hour," the agency saidThe weather advisory covers the Windsor area north to Sarnia and east through Parry Sound-Muskoka, Hamilton, Niagara and Toronto.The new system was pushing in from the U.S. as Toronto continues to recover from severe flooding caused by record-setting rainfall.Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said on Tuesday that the 126 mm of rain that fell on the city in just two hours a day earlier was "unprecedented.""Toronto has persevered; we have weathered the storm," said Ford, stressing the need to reduce electricity consumption. "This is crucial that we all reduce our electricity for today to help relieve the strain on our hydro system. We're hanging on by a thread right now."
The Toronto Transit Commission was able to restore subway service between Jane and Kipling stations by Wednesday afternoon following previous disruptions caused by flooding.The storm caused widespread power outages, and Toronto Hydro said that as many as 9,000 customers remained without electricity.
The blackouts were primarily in the city's west end and the utility said it "may be necessary" to resume rotating outages in the morning to prevent overloading.Toronto Hydro said on Tuesday that customers in four major areas would be affected by "load shedding," which means planned rotating blackouts. Those four areas were:
There are still reports of isolated outages in some areas.Corkum said crews were working to "re-energize" a hydro station that would restore power to the thousands of customers in the west end of the city who have been without electricity since Monday night.
As of 11:30 a.m., only two of those stations were back online, and the utility said they were waiting to confirm an estimated restoration for thousands of customers without electricity.
A
coffee shop without electricity in Toronto's west end posts a sign
informing customers it's not brewing any coffee due to power outages. (Trevor Dunn/CBC)The city has also received about 2,500 calls from residents, mostly in the west end, who are dealing with flooded basements.General manager of Toronto Water, Lou Di Gironimo told Metro Morning
host Matt Galloway that "trying to get our crews out to all those homes
is a challenge" as workers battle traffic delays caused by disabled
traffic lights.Police continued their search for a missing 76-year-old man last seen in the Yonge Street and Finch Avenue West area.The man, identified as Walter Thompson, is between five-feet-six and
five-feet-nine inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds, with grey hair.Thompson, who wears glasses, was last seen wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with dark blue pants and black shoes.He may have been driving a grey four-door 2007 Chevrolet Malibu with Ontario licence plate 245 WCB.
Environment Canada issued a special weather statement on Wednesday warning of the "development of severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging winds or heavy rainfall" after an earlier advisory was temporarily lifted."Wind gusts to 90 km/h are possible with these storms, as well as hail 2 cm in diameter and heavy downpours up to 50 mm in an hour," the agency saidThe weather advisory covers the Windsor area north to Sarnia and east through Parry Sound-Muskoka, Hamilton, Niagara and Toronto.The new system was pushing in from the U.S. as Toronto continues to recover from severe flooding caused by record-setting rainfall.Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said on Tuesday that the 126 mm of rain that fell on the city in just two hours a day earlier was "unprecedented.""Toronto has persevered; we have weathered the storm," said Ford, stressing the need to reduce electricity consumption. "This is crucial that we all reduce our electricity for today to help relieve the strain on our hydro system. We're hanging on by a thread right now."
The Toronto Transit Commission was able to restore subway service between Jane and Kipling stations by Wednesday afternoon following previous disruptions caused by flooding.The storm caused widespread power outages, and Toronto Hydro said that as many as 9,000 customers remained without electricity.
The blackouts were primarily in the city's west end and the utility said it "may be necessary" to resume rotating outages in the morning to prevent overloading.Toronto Hydro said on Tuesday that customers in four major areas would be affected by "load shedding," which means planned rotating blackouts. Those four areas were:
- North of Nassau Street, south to King Street West; West of Shaw Street, east of Charlotte Street.
- South of St. Clair Ave West, south to Queen Street West; west of Jane Street east to Spadina Avenue.
- Dundas St West to Lake Ontario; Roncesvalles Avenue east to Spadina Avenue.
- Old Weston Road, south to Queen Street West; Sunnyside Avenue, east to Lansdowne Avenue.
There are still reports of isolated outages in some areas.Corkum said crews were working to "re-energize" a hydro station that would restore power to the thousands of customers in the west end of the city who have been without electricity since Monday night.
Hydro transformer flooded
The CBC's Steven Bull said that one of the two stations that went down had more than a million litres of water pumped out.Toronto Hydro confirmed that Manby Transformer Station on Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke had been flooded since Monday and supply had been cut to 17 hydro stations in the east, south and midtown areas.As of 11:30 a.m., only two of those stations were back online, and the utility said they were waiting to confirm an estimated restoration for thousands of customers without electricity.
A
coffee shop without electricity in Toronto's west end posts a sign
informing customers it's not brewing any coffee due to power outages. (Trevor Dunn/CBC)The city has also received about 2,500 calls from residents, mostly in the west end, who are dealing with flooded basements.General manager of Toronto Water, Lou Di Gironimo told Metro Morning
host Matt Galloway that "trying to get our crews out to all those homes
is a challenge" as workers battle traffic delays caused by disabled
traffic lights.Police continued their search for a missing 76-year-old man last seen in the Yonge Street and Finch Avenue West area.The man, identified as Walter Thompson, is between five-feet-six and
five-feet-nine inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds, with grey hair.Thompson, who wears glasses, was last seen wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with dark blue pants and black shoes.He may have been driving a grey four-door 2007 Chevrolet Malibu with Ontario licence plate 245 WCB. 
