A winter storm that buried the US Midwest in snow has resulted in at least five roadway deaths. Photos and videos posted to social media show the storm's chaotic aftermath.
The storm blanketed Kansas and Missouri on Friday, with heavy snowfall continuing into Saturday. It also hit parts of other states including Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
Areas around St. Louis, Missouri were affected the hardest, with Reuters reporting thata foot and a half of snow was recorded west of the city.
The massive storm took its toll on highways and roads, where at least five people were killed as a result of dangerous driving conditions.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol wrote in a tweet on Saturday that it has responded to 3,918 calls for service, 1,790 stranded motorists, 878 crashes, and 57 injuries.
No source has been confirmed for loud, explosion-type noises reported in Brookfield.
While some people still suspect the boom sounds are connected to local injection wells, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources says it has found nothing to support that.
The Brookfield injection wells have been a subject of controversy since the permits were first granted. The latest complaints concern loud explosion-type noises. Gloria Douglas lives directly adjacent to the well site.
"Very distinct, it's something you've not heard here before and it's loud, very loud it's like an explosion, I call it an explosion boom," Douglas said.
Brookfield Trustee Dan Suttles says ODNR was contacted and checks were conducted on three seismic monitors at and around the well site.
"They did look at the monitoring devices and there was no seismic activity that occurred," according to Suttles.
Comment: A commenter on the article said she's heard the same sounds in Pennsylvania, some 25 miles away:
I know what they're talking about! I'm in PA and have felt and heard these booms too for over two years. Nobody can explain them. I am over 25 miles from Brookfield. In the country, near Shenango Dam. Just out of nowhere, BOOM!! Loud, shaking the house. Haven't heard one for about three or four months, but I know what this lady is talking about in this clip!
Cape Breton's towering snowbanks are drawing selfie-takers to North Mountain.
The amount of snow on North Mountain in Cape Breton is drawing crowds, but it's also resulting in a lot of highway closures -- at times cutting off one community from the next.
After the latest snowfall, Cape Breton looks more like the Arctic and there are sheer walls of the white stuff as you reach the top of North Mountain on the Cabot Trail.
For many, it's a photo opportunity not to be missed.
"They're taller than I am, that's for sure," Jessica Martin said of the snowbanks. "It's crazy. I've never seen that before. And we do get a lot of snow in Montreal."
Some banks tower four metres high -- about the height of a typical office building.
CTV meteorologist Kalin Mitchell says the weather station at North Mountain is reporting 217 centimetres of snow on the ground.
Richard Davies Floodlist Fri, 11 Jan 2019 18:39 UTC
Violent storms and flash flooding triggered by heavy rain have affected the south east African countries of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique over the last few days. Over 20 people have reportedly died since 09 January, 2019.
Malawi
Malawi's Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) reported on 11 January that flash floods in the capital Lilongwe, Central Region, have caused severe material damage, affecting around 600 people. No fatalities have been reported.
The floods were triggered by 3 hours of heavy rain on 10 January. DoDMA said that flooding had affected the areas of "Biwi, Area 22, Kaliyeka, Chipasula, Mchesi, Kawale and Area 36 in Lilongwe City, " and that "parts of Chipasula, Chidzanja and Kawale bridges have been damaged."
Further damage assessments are being carried out to form the basis for the provision of relief assistance. Malawi's Minister of Homeland Security, Nicholas Dausi, was expected to visit the affected areas on 11 January.
Something is happening to our planet. The mainstream media is not talking much about this, and the experts assure us that everything is going to be just fine, but the truth is that we have been witnessing an unusual amount of seismic activity all over the world. Up until just recently, most of the shaking has been elsewhere on the globe, and so it has been easy for most Americans to ignore. But now North America is rattling, and that isn't going to be so easy to brush aside. In fact, 2019 has barely even gotten started and the state of Alaska has already been hit by 81 significant earthquakes...
Alaska notoriously experiences a lot of seismic activity, and in the first nine days of 2019 has been shaken by 81 earthquakes of a magnitude 2.5 or higher according to the United States Geological Survey. Of these, five have been magnitude 4.5 or higher, with one reaching magnitude 6.1. This huge quake took place 54km south-southwest of Tanaga Volcano on January 5.
Is this normal?
No, of course it is not normal. And the heightened seismic activity that has been taking place all along the Ring of Fire is not normal either. Just ask the people that were devastated by the massive tsunami that just hit Indonesia.
Heavy snowfall this week in the Balkans has closed down schools, left remote villages cut off and disrupted traffic and power supplies in many areas in the region.
Serbia's state TV said Friday that four municipalities in the southwest of the country have introduced emergency measures, warning of snow piling up on the roads and sealing off mountain villages. Most schools there have closed down and emergency crews have distributed supplies to some residents.
In Montenegro, three towns on the Adriatic coast remain without electricity after a snowstorm on Thursday hit a key power distribution line. Meteorologists say the first 10 days of January have been the coldest in the country in years.
In the central Bosnian municipality of Kladanj, the snow has disrupted power supplies and cut phone lines.
Parts of Austria buried in deep snow - more on the way!
USA
It has been a pretty good couple of weeks in the US western states with regular snowfalls in resorts in the Pacific north-west, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. Last weekend saw some big snowfalls in the Californian Sierras with the Tahoe resorts and Mammoth receiving huge totals, Squaw Valley receiving a massive 122cms on the upper mountain in two days last Saturday and Sunday, although the upper lifts were on wind-hold at times. Mammoth also got the goods with a solid 167cms at the Summit in a week, taking the Summits season total to 4.8 metres.
There were also good falls in Jackson Hole which received 64cms from Jan 5-7 and by all reports the snow was classic Jackson "Cowboy Powder". Utah hasn't missed out, Brighton and Snowbasin picking up 25-30cms overnight on January 6.
Comment: From China to Russia, world is blanketed in white - in pictures