Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 3 and injure 5 in Bangladesh


The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Wed, 08 Jun 2016 14:22 UTC
Lightning
Three people were killed and five others injured by lightning in Kaliganj and Patgram upazilas of the district yesterday morning.

In Kaliganj, a thunderbolt hit Mintu Miah and Asadul, sons of Harun-or-Rashid, while they were working at a field in the morning. They died instantly, said assistant superintendent of police Hossain Shahid Suhrawardy.

In Patgram, Saju Miah, son of Islam of Srirampur village, was killed by lightning in the morning, the ASP added.
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Fire

Forest fires engulf further areas in Russia


Fars News
Wed, 08 Jun 2016 13:55 UTC
Wildfire
The area of forest fires in Russia increased by 20% in the past twenty-four hours to 10,000 hectares, with more than half of wildfires raging in the Russia's Trans-Baikal Territory in East Siberia, the aerial forest protection service Avialesokhrana reported on Wednesday.

"As of midnight Moscow time on June 8, a total of 65 forest fires were active in Russia on an area of 10,094 hectares, including 12 wildfires in forest areas on a territory of 5,789 hectares in the Trans-Baikal Territory," the service said in a statement, TASS reported.

Apart from Trans-Baikal Territory, the largest area of wildfires was registered in the Republic of Buryatia in East Siberia where almost 2,200 hectares of land are ablaze.

More than 2,700 personnel have been involved in the fire-fighting effort. They have been able to extinguish 70 fire outbreaks on an area of over 1,500 hectares in the past twenty-four hours. Nevertheless, the fire has covered a distance of 3,100 hectares of forests over this time.

Emergency regime has been in effect in Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory and in one district of the Krasnoyarsk and Kamchatka Territories each due to wildfires.
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Fire

Crews fight wildfires blazing through Sweden


The Local se
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 09:13 UTC
A helicopter drops water on the wildfire
Fire crews are fighting wildfires across Sweden, which has been left dry by an early-summer heatwave.

National weather institute SMHI on Tuesday warned of "an extremely great risk of" forest fires spreading in southern Sweden in the afternoon, with the threat increasing in large parts of the north-east on Wednesday.

"It's been very dry for a while now," said Nils Holmqvist, meteorologist for public broadcaster SVT.

Sweden has experienced sizzling temperatures this summer, with the mercury soaring to 30.2C in Gothenburg on the west coast on June 3rd - the season's hottest day so far. But, while welcomed by many, the sunny days have also left the ground dry, making it vulnerable to wildfires.

Forest fires swept across central Sweden on Tuesday, including the Vrinnevi forest in Norrköping, Järpmyrberget in Ockelbo and along the railroad between Grängesberg and Ludvika in Dalarna. A fire near Lidhult in the southern Småland region which took days to put out last week flared up again at around noon.

A forest fire at Bengtsfors last week.
© Räddningstjänsten BengtsforsA forest fire at Bengtsfors last week.
The fire near Lidhult last week
© Räddningstjänsten LjungbyThe fire near Lidhult last week
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Arrow Down

Five-metre-wide sinkhole appears outside primary school in Nanning, China


South China Morning Post
Mon, 06 Jun 2016 17:38 UTC
Nanning sinkhole
© South China Morning Post
A five-metre-wide sinkhole has appeared outside the gate of a primary school in southwestern China, mainland media report.

Luckily no one was injured because the ground collapsed at 8am on Sunday when Xiuling Primary

School in the city of Nanning, in Guangxi province, was closed, the China News Service reported.

Police quickly arrived at the scene of the sinkhole to block off the pavement and road near the school's entrance.
Nanning sinkhole
© South China Morning Post
An initial investigation found the sinkhole was caused by heavy rainfall over a number of days, which had led to the flooding of an underground basement, the report said.

Road collapses often occur in mainland cities during rainy days because of the poor quality of the infrastructure projects, experts said.

Comment: See also:

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Tornado2

Tornado hits beach in Venice, Italy


The Local.it
Mon, 06 Jun 2016 10:26 UTC
tornado hits Venice, Italy
© YouReporterA tornado hit the coast near Venice on Saturday.
A giant tornado struck a beach near Venice on Saturday, damaging properties and injuring two people.

The twister formed over the sea in the marina of Chioggia at around 8.30am, before coming ashore on a sandy beach normally popular with bathers, La Nuova Venezia reported.

Once on dry land, the twister destroyed two local establishments - a children's playground and a sunlounger and umbrella rental store.

Two people reportedly sustained minor injuries as the strong winds sent loungers and parasols flying down the beach. Fortunately, the tornado petered out after just one minute before it could wreak any further damage.

A video of the tornado, uploaded to the citizen journalism website YouReporter, can be seen below.

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Cloud Lightning

Eight cattle killed by a lightning bolt in Thailand


Pattaya Mail
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 21:10 UTC
Lightning
A herd of cattle were killed by a lightning strike in the middle of a dry rice field in Bua Yai district of Nakhon Ratchasima on Sunday.

Eight heads of cattle were found lying dead under a tamarind tree in the rice field.

Mrs Sangwien Chuangklang who owned five of the eight dead cows said she usually took her cattle for grazing in the rice field. However, as the animals were grazing in the field, rain started to fall and the wind was strong, so she led the cattle to take cover under the big tamarind tree where three other heads of cattle of a neighbor were also taking cover.

Mrs Sangwien said that while she was heading for home for a rest, she heard a thunderous noise of what was believed to be a lightning strike somewhere. When rain stopped she returned to the rice field only to find all her five heads of cattle dead under the tamarind tree, presumably by a lightning strike.

Her neighbour's three other cattle heads were also found dead.
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Cloud Precipitation

Hail stones the size of golf balls pound Highlands Ranch, Colorado


denver.cbslocal.com
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 19:13 UTC
Hailstones on roof
Hail stones the size of golf balls caused some damage in Highlands Ranch on Monday afternoon.

Severe weather hit Colorado and brought heavy rain, wind and hail to Estes Park and Highlands Ranch.

"It hit the truck, I was out here in the garage and started to close the garage and went inside and the house just started rattling and you could hear it bouncing off the roof," said Highland Ranch resident Jason Tapp.

The storm developed so quickly people were caught off guard and had to run for cover.

"It was like a bomb going off," said said Highlands Ranch resident Thomas Stewart.

Hail pelted the ground for more than 30 minutes, stripping the leaves off trees like a paper shredder and coating rooftops in hail that looked more like snow.

"I don't ever remember anything quite like that, it was kind of new for me," said Stewart.


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Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.3 undersea earthquake strikes off Indonesian coast


ABC News
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 19:50 UTC
Earthquake off Indonesian Coast
© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey says a 6.3 magnitude undersea earthquake has struck off Indonesia's eastern coast.

The quake struck at 19:15 GMT Tuesday, 126 kilometers (80 miles) west northwest of Kota Ternate, Indonesia at a depth of 38.3 kilometers (24 miles), the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake and no tsunami warning was issued.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. In December 2004, a massive earthquake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Source: Associated Press
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Cloud Lightning

Father and son fighting for life after lightning struck them in Lisburn, Northern Ireland; daughter seriously injured

Jessica Haworth and Joshua Nevett
Daily Mirror
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 18:28 UTC
Lightning
Desperate school staff and parents rushed to treat the man and his two children, aged five and seven, who were stuck outside the school gates in the 'freak' accident

A father and son are fighting for life and his little girl has been seriously injured after they were hit by lightning at a school sports day.

The man, who is in a "critical condition" in intensive care, was picking up his boy, age five, and seven-year-old girl from Killowen Primary School in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, when the 'freak' accident happened.

His children were rushed to Royal Belfast Hospital for Children, with his son also in a "critical condition" in intensive care, and his daughter in a "serious condition".

The man, who witnesses say was was on his mobile phone outside the school gates at the time of the strike, was taken to Lagan Valley Hospital in Lisburn for treatment.

Desperate school staff and parents rushed to treat the severely burnt family during the sports day event as they waited for three ambulance crews to arrive at the scene.

The vice principal of the school used a defibrillator on the critically-ill father after he was struck by the bolt en route to his jeep, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

One adult and two kids injured by lightning strike
© Twitter/NI DuathlonOne adult and two kids injured by lightning strike
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Wolf

Child mauled to death by dog in Nunavut, Canada

Sarah Rogers
Nunatsiaq Online
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 18:09 UTC
Dog attack
A child in Chesterfield Inlet died June 6 after being mauled by a dog in the Kivalliq community.

Nunavut RCMP said the local detachment received a call about the animal attack sometime after 1 p.m. June 6.

First responders arrived and took the young girl to the community health centre, where the four-year-old was pronounced dead.

Local officials said the dog was tied up at the time it attacked the young girl, and later put down by its owner.

Police have not said if any charges have been laid in connection to the mauling.

Condolences poured in on social media for the family of the young victim, who lived in communities across the Kivalliq. Police have not named the young victim.
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