Earth Changes

Two dead, five injured as violent storms and floods hit east coast of Australia

Sinead Maclaughlin & David Jeans
Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 04 Jun 2016 15:24 UTC

Two cars are pictured being swept down in the floods at Toombul shopping centre near Brisbane. Australia's east coast is being battered by gale-force winds, strong rains and floods

Two people are dead and five injured as violent storms lashed Australia's east coast on Saturday, causing widespread damage and flash flooding to New South Wales and Queensland during the first weekend of winter.

The eastern states woke to horrendous storms on Saturday morning with gale-force winds and heavy rain forcing the Bureau of Meteorology to issue severe weather warnings, including a flood-watch for the entire New South Wales coast - the first in 30 years.

The extreme system is being blamed as a possible cause of a horror smash near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, that claimed the life of a man and woman on Saturday morning when an out of control truck jack-knifed and ploughed into a mini-van.

The driver of the van died at the scene on the Warrego Highway while his female passenger died in hospital later in the afternoon. The truck driver escaped serious injury and was taken to hospital.

The storms wreaked havoc across Sydney on Saturday, bringing down several trees in Napier Street, Paddington - resulting in thousands of dollars damage to parked cars

Rare killer whale sighting off Oahu, Hawaii

khon2.com
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 15:22 UTC

Amazing home video recently shot off Oahu's North Shore shows an orca, also known as a killer whale, swimming around a fishing boat.

Waialua resident Jarret Kuni was out fishing with his friends when he spotted it.

"I was reeling a fish in and I noticed a shadow under the boat. I thought it was a shark, but then when it surfaced, my friend realized it was a whale," he said.

Kuni grabbed his GoPro and stuck it in the water, and was amazed to see how close the whale got to their boat.

River Seine in Paris rises to highest level seen since 1982

Lilia Bliase and Benoit Morenne
New York Times
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 00:00 UTC

© Pierre Terdjman for The New York Times
The banks of the Seine on Friday. The river reached its highest level since 1982.

Heavy rains in France lifted the Seine on Friday to its highest levels since 1982, threatening Paris's cultural institutions and soaking the French countryside east of the capital.

The Seine has continued to swell since the river burst its banks on Wednesday, raising alarms throughout the city. As of 10 p.m. on Friday, its waters had reached 20 feet. The river was expected to crest on Saturday morning at up to 21.3 feet, and to remain at high levels throughout the weekend, the French Environment Ministry said in a statement.

Floods kill dozens in Europe and Texas, thousands more forced out of homes

Ryan Grenoble
The Huffington Post
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 13:35 UTC

© Christian Hartmann / Reuters
French firefighters evacuate residents from a flooded area after heavy rainfall in Nemours, France, on June 1, 2016.

Climate-change related flooding is projected to double in Europe by 2050.

Flooding across Western Europe this week has killed at least 15 people and displaced tens of thousands. That figure includes 10 dead in southern Germany, two in France, two in Romania, and one in Belgium, with more rain expected this weekend, the BBC reports.

The storms have also hit Austria, the Netherlands and Poland, with officials saying climate change is likely to blame. A study released in March 2014 predicts climate-change related flooding in Europe will double by 2050, with costly damage that spans borders.

In Texas, floods have killed at least 12 people, including seven who died late last week and five soldiers from Fort Hood who died Thursday when their Army truck overturned in a flooded creek. Four other service members are still missing.

CNN notes this is the second year in a row for 500-year floodsto hit the state.

"It just so happens that parts of Texas have seen them now in back-to-back years, and maybe even twice this year," CNN Senior Meteorologist Brandon Miller told the network. "The odds of that happening are infinitesimally small."

Comment: El Nino is a climatological phenomenon that has been recorded for centuries. To attribute these disasters to "anthropogenic (man-made) global warming" is ridiculous. Planet Earth has its own cycles and rhythms. However, there may be a connection between man and natural earth events, but not as most people would think.

Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection

Lightning strikes kill 2 in Andhra Pradesh, India

The Times of India
Sat, 04 Jun 2016 14:35 UTC

Two persons were struck dead by lightning in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram respectively as heavy rain associated with thunderstorms, lightning and heavy gales lashed parts of the north coastal region in the early hours of Friday.

D Ramanaidu (50) of Maddivalasa village of Vangara mandal of Srikakulam district was struck by lightning while he was returning home from the outskirts of his village. Similarly, lightning struck V Ramakrishna (40) of Gudivada village in Balijipeta mandal, Vizianagaram district, while he was ploughing his field.

A large number of trees were also uprooted due to the heavy winds that blew at a speed of 70 to 80 km per hour.

India Meteorological Department (IMD), Hyderabad, forecast possible thunderstorms at isolated places in all coastal districts on Saturday. The forecast is attributed to an upper air cyclonic circulation that lay over south-west Bay of Bengal and adjoining West-central Bay of Bengal off coastal Andhra Pradesh extending between 2.1 and 5.8 km above mean sea level.

Lightning strikes kill 6 people and 6 goats in Marathwada, India

Webindia123.com
Sat, 04 Jun 2016 14:13 UTC

As many as six people were killed after being struck by lightning in four districts in Marathwada.

Reports reaching here today said, two people killed identified as Arun Rupnar (30) at Telwadi area and another Rangnath Sonawane were killed near Brisk kiln near Paithan town. Two women sustained injuries in this accident. Two peope identified as Hari Koudgave (35) and Vijay Koudgave (40) were killed in Nanded district last night.

53 year-old Arjun Kale who was injured after lightning struck him, succumbed at Government medical college and hospital at Ambejogai.

Report from Jalna district stated that, a-26-year-old farmer identifed as Subhash Davande was killed due to lightning in Partur taluka. Rains lashed Tirthpuri, Ankushnagar, Gondi and Kumbar Pimplagaon.

Two cars fall into sinkhole in Omaha, Nebraska

Michael Markewinski
fox42kptm.com
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 13:47 UTC

Sinkhole swallows two cars

A man is now thanking his lucky stars he was not hurt after his car got swallowed up into a giant sinkhole. It happened around 10:15 p.m. Thursday night near Aksarben Village.

Investigators said the concrete ceiling above an underground parking garage gave way at 60th and Woolworth Avenue outside the "Tracks Bar".

As a result, two cars fell into the sinkhole.

The man was able to get out on his own.

Investigators are now trying to figure out what caused the sinkhole.

At least 51 injured as lightning strikes music festival near Frankfurt, Germany

RT
Sat, 04 Jun 2016 08:49 UTC

Dozens of festival-goers were left injured and 15 hospitalized at the world-famous Rock am Ring music festival near Frankfurt, Germany, after a bolt of lightning struck the crowd.

Lightning storms and bad weather have been threatening the entire continent, with the festival near Mendig, in Rheinland-Pfalz, the latest target. At least 51 people were injured by the lightning, according to Deutsche Welle, with the festival issuing a tweet.

The festival was interrupted for about half an hour on Friday, as rock and metal fans were told to seek shelter in their tents and steer clear of the stage. At least 15 people, however, have received serious injuries and had to be taken to hospitals, as of early Saturday. The police also told the AP two people had to be resuscitated on site. The figure of injured and hospitalized grew from 42/8 to 51/15 respectively overnight.

The rest of the three-day event is going on as planned, and the organizers said any rumors of a cancellation were untrue.

Comment: Lightning strikes children in Paris and Germany, over 40 injured; bolt kills man in Poland

Floods around the world: USA, Mexico, Russia, China, France, Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, Romania

Strange Sounds
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 08:07 UTC

© EPA
Roads in the town of Simbach in Southern Germany have turned to rivers, with cars covered by the rising water......devastating scenes which are being observed all around the world.

The current flooding mayhem isn't just happening in Europe - it's also hitting countries worldwide. Here's a compilation of the worst floodings from around the world: the US, Mexico, Russia, China, France, Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, and Romania.

Just think, the worst is probably yet to come!

Let's start with the 'biblical' floods currently sweeping across western and eastern Europe. Days of downpours have caused ten deaths in Germany, two in France and Romania and one in Belgium. The River Seine in Paris is six meters higher than normal.

Germany

In Germany, 10 people have been killed, including four in Baden-Wuerttemberg in flooding that hit Sunday and Monday.

Global warming? Snowfall in Siberia marks the official start of summer

The Siberian Times
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:53 UTC

Residents of Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy and other cities woke on 1 June, the first day of summer, to find it looked more like Chirstmas.

© Vita Golovyuk
Residents of Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy and other cities woke on 1 June, the first day of summer, to find it looked more like Chirstmas.

Freak weather as winter returns to Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous regions.

The Siberian stereotype says its always cold here, but this is a fallacy. Usually. Elsewhere, for example in Chita, the temperature is 24C, and in many regions there are growing risks for forest fires.

But as these pictures show, in some areas of western Siberia, the thermometers have plunged to around zero. Residents of Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy and other cities woke on 1 June, the first day of summer, to find it looked more like Christmas.

In some areas there were even snow drifts. In Noyabrsk, the local administration restarted heating supplies to homes.