Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Fresh downpours hinder relief effort in Africa


AFP
Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:02 UTC
Hundreds of thousands of people were desperate for food and shelter across Africa Sunday, as record floods and fresh downpours hampered relief efforts.

The continent's worst floods in three decades have deprived some 1.5 million people of their homes and subsistence in 18 countries and killed close to 300.

©AFP
A Kenyan uses a canoe to cross through flood water in Budalangi.
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake shakes Greek Dodecanese island, no injuries


Reuters
Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:28 UTC
ATHENS - A tremor with a magnitude of 5.6 shook the Dodecanese island of Karpathos in Southeastern Greece early on Sunday but causing no injuries, officials said.
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Question

Puzzling sudden drowning in Florida blamed on 'bolt from the blue' lightning

Kyle Martin
Hernando Today
Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:59 UTC
Doctors said the injuries sustained by the two were consistent from a lightning strike.

But those on the river find that hard to believe.

The sky was clear. Harding even held an umbrella over the brothers to shade them from the sun. No one heard a noise or saw a flash.
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Question

Flashback Miami: Religious Book Seller Struck By Lightning Beneath Blue Sky


CBS4
Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:22 UTC
A man making a trip from Puerto Rico to South Florida to raise money for his religious education remains hospitalized Monday after he was struck down by a bolt of lightning which flew from clear blue sky on Sunday. He was selling religious materials when he was hit.

Hailu Kidane Marian was working with members of his religious group, selling religious materials door-to-door in a Northwest Miami-Dade neighborhood, when the bolt from the blue struck him down.
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Question

Flashback Miami: Lightning kills man beneath cloudless sky

Tere Figueras Negrete and Luisa Yanez
Miami Herald
Sat, 23 Jun 2007 05:53 UTC
With no rain or even clouds to warn him of the danger, death came literally out of the blue Thursday to a self-employed landscaper. The killer was a powerful bolt of lightning that cracked through perfectly clear skies.

David Canales, 41, of West Miami-Dade, was on the job at a Pinecrest home when the bolt hit. It first seared a tree, then traveled and struck Canales, standing nearby.

Experts said Canales was killed by a weather phenomenon fittingly called a ''bolt from the blue'' or ''dry lightning'' because it falls from clear, blue skies. He was pronounced dead at South Miami Hospital.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy rain and hailstorms bring travel chaos to Southern Spain


Typically Spanish
Fri, 21 Sep 2007 22:25 UTC
Heavy rain has brought chaos to Andalucia today, with roads and rail lines blocked. Several places in Sevilla Province, including Morón de la Frontera, Osuna and Montellano, have suffered flooding, while in Málaga province many inland towns and Marbella have reported huge hailstones which have broken the windows of literally hundreds of cars. It's estimated that around 500 cars were affected in Marbella alone. 18 people were treated for injuries caused by the hailstones.

©EFE
500 cars in Marbella saw their windscreens smashed by hailstones the size of golf balls.
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Bizarro Earth

Drought Followed By Heavy Rain Could Cause More Sinkholes In Florida


WESH.com
Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:49 UTC
Constant rain after weeks of unseasonable drought in Central Florida created the perfect mix to open up sinkholes.

Inspectors examined two houses in Lake County with major cracks to determine whether or not sinkholes are to blame.

Just three weeks ago a sinkhole swallowed an entire kitchen in Apopka. Ten people were renting the home when the sinkhole forced them out.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy Storms Sweep Minnesota killing one


AP
Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:46 UTC
Torrential rains, damaging winds and large hail have swept across Minnesota, knocking out power and killing at least one person.

Rescuers have recovered the body of a 13-year-old boy who drowned last night. Police say rushing water swept him over a small concrete dam.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy rains, lightning kill 77 in three India states


DPA
Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:42 UTC
Torrential rains accompanied by lightning have killed at least 77 people in India's southern and eastern states over the past four days, news reports and officials said yesterday.

The southern state of Andhra Pradesh is the worst-hit with 43 dead, officials told the Hindu newspaper. Nineteen people were hit by lightning and the others were killed when their houses collapsed or by drowning.

A low-pressure system near the coastal areas of the state brought heavy rains which led to overflowing rivers that inundated hundreds of villages and crop land in seven districts.
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Bizarro Earth

Third Blue Whale Found Dead Off California Coast


Environment News Service
Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:21 UTC
Three dead blue whales have been found floating off the coast of Southern California within the past two weeks, alarming and puzzling marine mammal experts.

As many as 200 blue whales, members of the largest species on Earth, have been feeding in the Santa Barbara Channel during their annual summer migration from Mexico and Central America. About 3,000 of the world's 12,000 blue whales swim off the west coast of the Americas.

©SBMNH
A necropsy was done on the first blue whale carcass found last week near Ventura, California.
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