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Alnwick Garden's Himalayan lilies ruined by heavy rain


British Broadcasting Corporation
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:22 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The plants would usually be in flower for about three weeks
Gardeners faced a major blow after rare flowers which take seven years to bloom were ruined by storms.

The Himalayan lilies had been cared for by staff at Alnwick Garden, in Northumberland, since 2004 in anticipation of long-awaited blooms.

Head gardener Trevor Jones said heavy rains since the weekend had ripped most of the flowers from their stems.

He said they had started coming into flower at the beginning of last week and would have been a summer highlight.
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Cloud Lightning

At least 31 dead as heavy rains slash India


Xinhua
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:13 UTC
New Delhi -- At least 31 people were killed and thousands of others homeless due to heavy rainfalls in northern and eastern India over the past few days, local media reported Wednesday.

Monsoon rain continued to lash most parts of northern India on Tuesday when 14 people were killed due to rain-related incidents in the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, reported local daily The Hindu.

Meanwhile, at least 17 people died and over 900,000 people were affected in the heavy rains in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal over the past two days, said the newspaper.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy Rain Forces 16,000 to Evacuate in S.China


China Radio International
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:05 UTC
More than 16,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes Wednesday as torrential rains pelted parts of south Guangdong Province, local flood control authorities said.

Heavy rains unleashed by summer monsoons started to pound the Pearl River Delta and the province's west coastal region Tuesday evening, disrupting traffic and forcing people in low-lying areas to leave their homes, said a spokesman with the provincial flood control headquarters.

Over 13,500 of the evacuees were from the worst-hit city of Yangjiang, while the evacuation of the rest 2,500 was reported in the city of Taishan, where downpours flooded 20 villages, said the spokesman.

The headquarters Wednesday sent a work team to the rain-ravaged regions to direct flood-relief operations.
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Heavy Rains Batter Southeast Mexico


Latin American Herald Tribune
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:54 UTC
Cancun, Mexico - The torrential rains that fell in the last few hours in the southeastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, brought on by a tropical wave, abruptly halted outdoor tourist activities, caused ports to be closed to small boats and flooded much of the state.

Municipal authorities on Monday launched Operation Storm to activate contingency plans for flooded areas and safeguard those living in vulnerable districts.

Maritime authorities stopped the sailing of small boats throughout the Mexican Caribbean as a preventive measure and hoisted red flags to warn bathers of the risk of powerful waves.

The heavy rains and high winds brought on by the tropical wave began Saturday afternoon.
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 15 in northeast Nigeria


Associated Press
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:47 UTC
Authorities say 15 people in northeastern Nigeria have died from lightning strikes after strong thunderstorms swept through the region's rural pasturelands.

A spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday the deaths occured in Gombe and Yobe states, killing eight men, four women and three children Tuesday.

Nigeria is experiencing its annual rainy season, with storms sweeping through its tropical south and arid north. Floods already are affecting the country, causing some drowning deaths.
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

US Nebraska: Storm Serves Up Supersize Hail in Sidney

Klark Byrd
The Sidney Sun-Telegraph
Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Jesse Almanrode/For The Sun-Telegraph
Residents of Peetz, Colo., had a unique view of the tremendous storm cloud that passed directly over Sidney on Saturday. This storm had many points of rotation, but no tornadoes have been confirmed. It did produce hail up to the size of softballs that caused further property damage throughout Sidney.
Saturday's bright sunny skies disappeared in the evening hours as a supercell thunderstorm grew in intensity and tracked southeast from northeastern Kimball County. The massive storm reportedly spawned several unconfirmed tornadoes and sporadically spit supersized hail onto property unfortunate enough to be in the way.

Numerous reports of large hail filtered into the National Weather Service, beginning with a 6:52 p.m. reported from Kimball County. Trained weather spotters 12 miles northeast of Kimball and also 19 miles southeast of Harrisburg reported golfball-sized hail falling for several minutes.

The slow-moving supercell continued to affect mainly rural parts of both Kimball and Cheyenne counties before passing over Potter around 7:30 p.m.
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Heavy Rains Sour Cocoa in Southeast Ivory Coast

Loucoumane Coulibaly
Reuters Africa
Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:47 UTC
Image
© REUTERS/Luc Gnago
A man grades cocoa beans in a warehouse in Gonate, western Ivory Coast, September 22, 2008.
Heavy rains in Southeastern Ivory Coast have hurt the region's cocoa sector, hindering drying and fermenting operations and damaging key roads to market, farmers said.

The downpours come amid rising concern over bean quality in the world's top grower nation, after exporters said much of the 15,000 tonnes of beans arriving at ports last week was not suitable for shipment.

"It has rained too much. The roads are blocked, there are lots of floods and the farmers are having trouble working on the plantations," said Paul Essien, who farms near Aboisso, around 100 km (60 miles) east of Abidjan.

"We need lots of sun in July, otherwise the quality will degrade sharply and diseases will appear. We fear a decline in prices in the coming weeks," he said.

Some 203.2 millimetres of rain fell in the Aboisso region last week, according to meteorologist readings.
      Read More...
Nuke

Los Alamos Fire: Environmental Protection Agency Testing for Radiation

Ryan Owens
American Broadcasting Company
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:56 UTC
Image
© Associated Press

The Las Conchas fire burns near the Los Alamos Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., Tuesday, June 28, 2011.
The wildfire that surrounds the nuclear lab in Los Alamos, N.M., has grown to at least 61,000 acres amid mounting concerns about what might be in the smoke that's visible from space.

Such fear has prompted fire crews to set their own fires along the perimeter of the lab. So far, the strategy is working. The first air samples show lots of smoke, but no signs of elevated radiation.

"Those results show that what we see in this fire is exactly what we see in any fire across New Mexico," said Charles McMillan, the lab's director.

Environmental officials aren't taking any chances. The Environmental Protection Agency is bringing in dozens of air monitors all around the state, along with a special airplane that takes instant radiation samples. So far, officials have not been able to find anything amiss.

"Our facilities and nuclear material are protected and safe," McMillan told ABC News.
      Read More...
Attention

Queensland, Australia: Army of Rats "the Size of Possums" Invade Goodna

Anna Chisholm
The Courier-Mail
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:34 UTC
Image
© The Advertiser
Rats in the ranks: These unwelcome visitors are running amok in flood-ravaged suburbs around Brisbane.
Over-sized rats are taking up residence southwest of Brisbane at Goodna, as residents slowly move back into their flood-affected homes.

The Courier-Mail website was overwhelmed with comments from readers complaining of large rats creating havoc in homes from Caboolture and Narangba to the inner-city today.

Residents at Bellbowrie, Indooroopilly, Yeronga and Hendra also reported the number of rodents were on the increase.

Ipswich City Council plans to unleash a force of fox terriers and pest control council workers to stop the pests next week.

Goodna residents have complained rats "the size of possums" were nesting in their homes because of the cooler weather.

The situation is believed to be worse because many flood-affected homes are unoccupied.

Australian pest control service 1300 Pest Control CEO Paul Byres said the rats posed a real threat to homes in the area.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

US: Huge Rock Avalanches Rumble Down Mount Rainier

Sandi Doughton
The Seattle Times
Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:33 UTC
A large rock/snow slide-Mount Rainier
© The Seattle Times / A. Blagoveshchenskaya and F. Kaye
A large rock/snow slide is photographed on Mount Rainier, originating above the Nisqually Glacier and traveling nearly two miles.

Some of the biggest rock avalanches in years have been roaring off Mount Rainier the past several days, kicking up billowing clouds of dust and propelling rivers of muddy debris nearly two miles down the volcano's flanks.

No one has been injured, but one group of climbers fled as dust descended on their tent after a rockfall Saturday afternoon.

"From my standpoint of looking at the mountain for 20 years, we've probably had rockfalls like this once every five or 10 years," said Stefan Lofgren, lead climbing ranger for Mount Rainier National Park.

Since Friday, at least three major rockfalls and several smaller ones have sloughed off the rocky ridge called Nisqually Cleaver, at an elevation of about 12,800 feet. The one that let loose Saturday afternoon was the biggest.
      Read More...
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