Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Gaston, South Carolina pelted by baseball-sized hail, heavy rains

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Motorists battered by pingpong- and baseball-size hail, torrential rain and wind gusts of up to 60 mph found shelter whereever they could find it Saturday afternoon, including the Kangaroo Express gas station at I-85 and U.S. 321.

"We've had three storms come through, so I've run across a lot of scared customers," said Shaquan Hill, a clerk at the store. "It's not real safe for them to be out there right now."

Hill was telling nervous customers to stay put inside the store as the third storm began rolling through Gastonia just before 7 p.m., although not everyone was heeding her warnings.

"A lot of people just feel like they need to get where they're headed," she said.

Cloud Lightning

Eastern US: Severe thunderstorms sweep through region

Wise - A broad line of severe thunderstorms rich with heavy rains, hail, lightning and official tornado warnings thrashed the region from Northeast Tennessee through Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky deep into West Virginia on Saturday, leaving fallen trees and damaged buildings in their wake.

Sweeping southeast out of the Ohio Valley through Kentucky, the line of strong storm cells fed by warm, humid air rocked across Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee from around 3 p.m. on, with tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings in effect through 9 p.m.

The town of Wise got belted by zero visibility rains along with an awesome display of thunder and lightning shortly before 4 p.m., but it was the city of Norton just to the southwest of Wise that bore the brunt of the storm's wrath.

Bizarro Earth

Landslide kills 2 children in Turkey

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A landslide caused by heavy rains killed two children trapped under the wreckage of their collapsed home, while the other four family members suffered injuries, in Erzurum on Sunday morning, Turkish Cihan news agency said.

Due to heavy rainfall in the eastern province, a landslide knocked over one wall of the family's mud-brick house, causing it to collapse. Two children died. The remaining four family members were rescued by provincial civil protection and search-and-rescue teams and taken to the local hospital for treatment.

Nuke

Hong Kong: Another Radioactive Substance Found in HK Air

Another radioactive substance has been detected in the air, but the Hong Kong Observatory sees the amount as too small to pose a health hazard.

It is the first time the highly toxic radioisotope cesium-137 has been found since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11 crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.

The observatory said yesterday that a "very minute amount" of cesium-137 was detected at King's Park during a 24-hour period ending Saturday.

The concentration was 0.000067 becquerels per cubic meter, only 1/37-millionth of the level that requires protective action. The danger level is 2,480 becquerels per cubic meter, according to the observatory.

Tiny traces of radioactive iodine- 131 were also found - the 10th time in two weeks - with the level at 0.000187 becquerels per cubic meter.

Bizarro Earth

Warning as tide traps 93 people in north-west England

rescue boat
© naRescue services were called to five incidents involving 93 people

Tourists taking advantage of the sunny weather have been warned to take care after 70 people were trapped by the incoming tide off Blackpool.

They were picked up off the resort's South Pier at about 1300 BST.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said rescue teams were called to incidents involving 23 other people trapped by the tide in the North West.

Cloud Lightning

US: Over Half of Iowa Town Damaged by Tornado

tornado
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A large tornado flattened a grain elevator and destroyed homes and buildings on its weekend rampage through the small western Iowa town of Mapleton. Authorities reported no serious injuries.

"It was huge, just huge," said Thomas Mohrhauser, an attorney in the town of about 1,200 people. "It just kept getting bigger and bigger."

Mohrhauser said the tornado appeared to be about a quarter-mile wide when it cut a northwest path through town Saturday evening.

Mayor Fred Standa said one side of town got hit worse than another, but overall he thought about 60 percent had been damaged. He estimated about 20 percent was "almost flat."

Reports indicated the roof was blown off a high school, power lines were downed and several homes and buildings were destroyed. Authorities said three people were treated for minor injuries at Burgess Health Center in Onawa, about 20 miles from Mapleton.

Bizarro Earth

Japan sits atop deadliest section of Ring of Fire

The recent earthquakes that have pounded Japan, New Zealand and Chile all have one thing in common: They were caused by the movement of a massive piece of Earth known as the Pacific Plate.
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The Pacific Plate is one of nine giant tectonic plates that cover the Earth's surface. But it's bigger, faster and more deadly than the others. And Japan sits right on top of the most active section.

Attention

Canada: Manitoba floods claim driver's life

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© CBC NewsBreezy Point Road, also known as Provincial Road 320, was closed Friday after being washed over by the swollen Red River.
Floodway activated to shunt water around Winnipeg as more homes evacuated

About 50 homes north of Winnipeg were evacuated Saturday morning because of rising water levels, as police said the province's flooding was likely responsible for the death of a motorist.

The homes, mostly on Jenny Road in the Netley Creek area of the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, are no longer accessible by road and residents are having to leave by boat. Evacuations began Saturday morning around 8 a.m. CT.

A provincial agency also opened the gates of the Red River Floodway to diver water around Winnipeg.

Emergency officials were asking other homeowners in the St. Andrews area to be prepared to leave quickly, gathering medications and other personal items of value so that they can move out at a moment's notice.

Cloud Lightning

Virginia, US: Strong Winds, Hail, Rain Cause Power Outages

Over 14,500 American Electric Power customers are in the dark after a severe storm on Friday evening.

Cyclone, W.Va.
© Lonnie AtwellCyclone, W.Va.
After 60 mph winds, golf ball sized hail, and heavy rains; electricity is out in many homes across the 59News viewing area.

According to Appalachian Power, at 8 p.m. more than 14,500 customers were in the dark in Virginia and West Virginia.

Mercer County had more than 1,760 customers without power, Monroe County had a total of 1,100 homes in the dark, Raleigh County had a little over 150 still without power, Summers County had 158 customers without electricity, and Wyoming County had over 550 customers still in the dark.

Cloud Lightning

West Virginia, US: Charleston area storms produce 'lots of water and tons of debris'

Trees knocked down, roads flooded 2nd time in a week

Heavy rains caused power outages, flooding and damage across the Charleston area for the second time in one week on Friday.

Kimberly Earl and her husband, Cody, were in their home on Bakers Fork Road with two of their four kids when a massive tree uprooted on the hill across from their house, slamming onto their roof.

"Every time it rains," she said, "a little more of that hillside washes away."