Severe storms producing wind gusts up to 85 mph, heavy rain and lightning strikes in Minnesota and Wisconsin early on Friday, knocked down trees and power lines and at one point left more than 176,000 customers without power.

An area stretching from the Dakotas through Wisconsin was bracing for more storms, some severe, later on Friday and possible flooding after reports of three to four inches of rain fell in some communities already, the National Weather Service said.

"The weather pattern is pretty much going to be stationary tonight and through the weekend so we are concerned about the severe weather and also the potential for flooding," said Jacob Beitlich, a weather service meteorologist in the Twin Cities.

The storms developed in the Dakotas and powered southeast through Minnesota into Wisconsin, bringing heavy straight-line wind damage with a gust of 85 mph at the heart of it northwest of the Twin Cities, he said.

The weather service also has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of eastern Iowa stretching across northwest Illinois to just west of Chicago.

Experts are investigating why 25,000 bees were found dead or dying in a parking lot at a Target store in Wilsonville.

The strange sight first caught shoppers' eyes a few days ago. It's still there Wednesday, clustered under blooming European Linden trees.

"I've never seen an incident on this scale," said Pollinator Conservation Program Director Mace Vaughan.

Experts believe this could be a poisonous species of the tree that caused them to die, or they may have been poisoned by insecticides.

Conservationists Vaughan and Rich Hatfield were in Wilsonville Wednesday,filling test tubes with samples to take back to a lab. There they'll try to confirm either theory for the bees sudden deaths.

Event Time:
2013-06-21 10:33:59 UTC
2013-06-21 12:33:59 UTC+02:00 at epicenter

Location:
44.222°N 10.113°E depth=10.3km (6.4mi)

Nearby Cities:
2km (1mi) SSW of Fivizzano, Italy
11km (7mi) E of Aulla, Italy
17km (11mi) NE of Sarzana, Italy
18km (11mi) NNE of Carrara, Italy
189km (117mi) W of San Marino, San Marino

Technical Data

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake was felt across central and northern Italy on Friday, causing some minor damage in rural areas but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The epicentre of the quake, which hit at about 12:33 p.m. (6.33 a.m. EDT) was between the towns of Massa and Lucca in Tuscany and La Spezia in the Liguria region, the national geophysics institute said.

The tremor was felt in Milan, the largest city in northern Italy, and as far north as the Friuli region near the border with Slovenia.

The mayor of Casola in Lunigiana, a small town in the Tuscan countryside, told Italian television the quake had caused cracks in some old buildings and minor collapses but there were no reports of injuries.

Aftershocks continued to rock the area, some as strong as magnitude 4.0, officials said, adding that residents in some rural areas were advised to stay out of their homes for the time being.

Authorities in Castile-La Mancha have declared a state of high alert and ordered the compulsory vaccination of all dogs and cats within a 18 mile radius of where the attacks took place.

The owner of the dog has been arrested for several counts of criminal negligence resulting in injury and for failing to have the correct license for a dangerous breed.

It is thought he deliberately doctored veterinary records of the pit bull-cross after bringing it into Spain from Morocco.

The dog bit three children, aged two, six and twelve, as well as a 17-year old male in the village of Arges, near Toledo, early this month. It was immediately destroyed and was confirmed to have been rabid following tests on Monday. All were discharged after being given rabies innoculations, apart from the two-year-old who was kept in hospital after being bitten in the face.

The regional government has ordered all cats, dogs and ferrets in the danger zone to be vaccinated against the disease within fifteen days. Some 60,000 dogs in 56 villages are thought to be at risk.

"We have also forbidden dogs to be allowed off the lead in public spaces until the danger has passed," confirmed Tirso Yuste, head of the regional Agriculture department.

At least seven dogs have already been identified as having high levels of rabies and have been put in quarantine for one month.

Mainland Spain was officially declared rabies free in 1975 after successful campaigns to stamp out the disease. There have been occasional examples recorded in Spain's North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, cities on Morocco's Mediterranean coast.

It is understood that the rabid pit bull cross was bred in Spain but spent four months in Morocco, only returning within the last month.

An Arlington Minnesota couple discovered a strange rock in one of their corn fields.

Source: KSTP TV Twin Cities

In B.C., flood watches have been issued for rivers and creeks in the province's west and east Kootenay region and smaller waterways in the upper and lower Columbia regions
Torrential rains and widespread flooding throughout southern Alberta on Thursday washed out roads and bridges, sent residents scurrying for safety, and delivered up surreal scenes of cars, couches and refrigerators just floating away.

The RCMP put out a call for help to the Canadian Armed Forces, which sent in two helicopters and a Hercules aircraft to help extract people stranded by water.

Officials with the City of Calgary said as many as 100,000 people in low-lying neighbourhoods could be forced from their homes due to heavy flooding, an evacuation that would take place in stages over the next few days.

Bruce Burrell, director of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said water levels on the Bow River aren't expected to subside until Saturday afternoon.

"Depending on the extent of flooding we experience overnight, there may be areas of the city where people are not going to be able to get into until the weekend," he told a news conference.

Hindu pilgrims visiting shrines in Uttarakhand state are left stranded days after floods killed more than 100

As many as 4,000 people are believed trapped by landslides in a valley near a Hindu shrine in the Indian Himalayas, days after floods killed more than 100 people.

Helicopters have ferried rescue workers and doctors along with equipment, food and medicine to Kedarnath in the state of Uttarakhand, the nearest town. Most of those stranded are Hindu pilgrims who were visiting four shrines.

Amit Chandola, a state spokesman, said authorities had so far been unable to reach eight villages feared washed away by the weekend floods in the worst-hit districts of Rudraprayag and Chamoli.

We're hearing about more sinkholes developing on some streets in Buffalo and that could be much more of a problem for property owners. That is especially the case if the city determines it's caused by leaking or broken water pipes which undermine the street.

City Council Majority Leader Richard Fontana estimates the repairs could run up to three or four thousand dollars or more in repairs if the city makes the ruling that a property owner's pipes are leaking or broken. He says much of the problem is tied to the age of the pipes.

People on Duerstein Street off of Seneca Street in South Buffalo recently sent us pictures of a deep sinkhole which opened up this past weekend. The city feels the homeowner is responsible but in this case the city will make a repair according to City Spokesman Mike DeGeorge. It is in the middle of the street near the sewer line.