At least fourteen homes were damaged last Saturday when an earthquake hit Oklahoma. The 5.6 magnitude quake was the largest one to hit the area. The epicenter was located 44 miles east of Oklahoma City. It was felt as far as Wisconsin and South Carolina but there were no reported serious injuries related to the quake. According to the Oklahoma health department, two people suffered from minor injuries that didn’t require hospitalization.

The largest earthquake that was previously recorded in Oklahoma was a 5.5 magnitude quake in 1952. The Oklahoma Geological Survey has warned people to expect more aftershocks. The earthquake was felt in Kansan and Missouri, which woke up residents. There were no reports of injuries and damages in both regions.

One of the homes damaged in Oklahoma had its chimney crash through the roof and its walls split by the earthquake. People were surprised by the intensity of the quake because most of the tremors felt in the area are mild. The region is known as tornado country and earthquakes scare most people in the area.

The National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma said that its radar detected swarms of bugs and birds that flew away to escape the shaking of the ground. A state highway that was damaged by the quake was already patched and reopened to the public.

Strong winds caused the stage to collapse at the Indiana State Fair that resulted to the death of five people. This is the third accident that involved outdoor stages this summer. Now, the public wants stricter inspections by concert organizers.

The collapsing of the stage in Indiana is the deadliest of its kind in United States history. The Indiana State Fair stage went down right after the crowd was warned to take shelter as the storm nears the location. It was estimated that 10,000 people gathered to watch the performance of country band Sugarland.

After the state official told the crowd to evacuate, a strong gust of wind blew that ripped through the fabric and metal structure. The National Weather Service said that the wind speed was more than 60 miles per hour. Aside from the five dead, 40 were injured during the accident.

The Indiana State Fair will be reopened on Monday with a tribute to those who died. County and state officials continue their investigation of the accident and find ways to prevent it from happening again in the future.

Outdoor stages are lightweight and portable but at the same time support heavy equipment. Industry standards for determining safe wind speeds are voluntary and building codes in most cities don’t have guidelines for these types of structures.

At least a thousand firefighters congregated at the Gila National Forest as the Wallow Fire move towards the New Mexico border. The National Weather Service issued a warning that it would be hard to control the fire as temperatures are rising, winds are blowing and humidity remains low.

Firefighters are trying their best to control the wildfire before it burns down another town. The firefighters told the residents of the town of Luna, New Mexico to prepare for evacuation but the team leader is confident that the town will be saved.

The Wallow Fire has already displaced 10,000 people from their mountain homes and has burned more than 600 square miles of forest in the state of Arizona. It has not encroached into New Mexico but heavy smoke has already seen over its skies.

Fire officials reported that progress has been made in the battle against the wildfire that has been burning around the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest since May 29. As of Saturday, the six percent of the fire has been contained and firefighters are optimistic about their progress.

Firefighters use helicopters to drop water to douse the fire. They also utilized a DC-10 supertanker to carry fire retardant.

Residents near the Mississippi River are hoping that the water level will go down soon. Thousands of people from Louisiana to Illinois have already evacuated their homes as record breaking floods are expected in a week or two.

Earlier this week Army engineers blew up a levee in Missouri that flooded a large amount of farmland in order to protect populated residential areas upstream. Farmers near the Big Muddy are preparing themselves if ever such strategy is used again.

Forecasters and emergency officials stated that water level records that were set during the great floods of 1927 and 1937 could be broken this year. The Mississippi River is still rising with a high of 49.5 feet forecasted for Sunday.

Tom Salem, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Memphis, said that extreme floods were caused the rain over the past two weeks and the snowmelt from Montana. President Barack Obama has already declared parts of Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee disaster zones, which make them eligible for federal relief funds. But it would not cover individual financial assistance.

The worst flood in United States history happened in 1927 when more than 23,000 square miles were covered with water and hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the area. Hundreds died because of the 1927 floods.

Yazoo City, Mississippi – Rescue crews are making haste in saving people and finding survivors, after a massive tornado tore its way across the state, taking lives of 10 people, getting a dozen more injured, and leveling a bundle of homes to the ground.

Keith Coleman (Coroner) informed us that;

-          2 Children and a 3 Months old baby lost their lives

-          In addition, a 9 and 14 years old sisters also got killed in the recent Tornado tragedy

Most of the patients were hospitalized with minor bruises and injuries but some of them needed serious attention and care. The local school building also got damaged and photos reveal its torn roof clearly.

According to the National Weather Service, the Mississippi tornado was given a rating of 3, which took the wind speeds (160 miles per hour) and the preliminary path into account as well. Some survivors told the media that when you are in the middle of a live tornado disaster, its sound reminds you of a raging train, but this current Mississippi tornado was more like a bomb to a lot of people out there.

The worst affected regions were the Yazoo and Choctaw counties because the Authorities believe that over 681 homes have been completely destroyed and there were reports of 33 injuries as well. Out of those 10 dead bodies, 5 of them, were from the Choctaw County, while 4 of them were from the Yazoo County, whereas, the last body was from Holmes County. Almost 80 Mississippi National Guard troops and an additional batch of 50 military police, was deployed for the purpose of fulfilling this search and rescue operation in a thorough manner.