A massive thunderstorm front spawned 137 tornadoes, killed at least 180 people, and mangled sections of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville, Ala., on Wednesday. April is now one of the most violent weather months in the region in decades.
A line of violent thunderstorms - the latest in a deadly series - rolled across the Deep South Wednesday, spawning dozens of tornadoes, razing churches and fire stations, trapping people amid debris, and finally leaving at least 180 people dead, mostly from heavily populated parts of Alabama.
Earth Changes
The plant, which includes the three reactors, automatically shut at 5:30 p.m. local time after losing the off-site power supply, Martocci, who is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, said today in a telephone interview.
© Don Kausler Jr./Tuscaloosa Bureau
The enormous tornado that hit Tuscaloosa Wednesday afternoon.
The enormous tornado that hit Tuscaloosa Wednesday afternoon.
- Alabama: 194 dead
- Mississippi: 33 dead
- Tennessee: 33 dead
- Georgia: 14 dead
- Virginia: 5 dead
- Kentucky: 1 dead
Thursday morning, East Tennesseans along with most of the South are recovering from deadly storms.
In the 10News viewing area Cocke and Greene counties were the hardest hit. Greene County officials are reporting five fatalities. WCYB in the Tr--Cities is reporting that 7 people are dead in Washington County, VA. Bradley County was also hit hard with five confirmed dead in Cleveland.
In the 10News viewing area Cocke and Greene counties were the hardest hit. Greene County officials are reporting five fatalities. WCYB in the Tr--Cities is reporting that 7 people are dead in Washington County, VA. Bradley County was also hit hard with five confirmed dead in Cleveland.
© Reuters
Lava and ash explode out of the caldera of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano
Lava and ash explode out of the caldera of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano
He studied the eruption with Susan Stipp from the University of Copenhagen and their findings indicate that any future eruption should be treated the same way until any ash clouds can be proven safe for aircraft.
"We demonstrated the ash had very fine particles and was carried long distances by air currents," Gíslason said.
Thousands of flights were grounded in last year's ash alert
The official inquiry followed a complaint from the European Regions Airline Association about, among others, inaccurate information concerning compensation for delayed luggage.
The Ombudsman asked the Commission to inform him by 31 May 2011 of the measures taken to prevent such a problem from occurring in the future.
© REUTERS/Marvin Gentry
Overnight tornadoes leaves part of Pratt City, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in ruins April 28, 2011.
Overnight tornadoes leaves part of Pratt City, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in ruins April 28, 2011.
As day broke Thursday, people in hard-hit areas surveyed obliterated homes and debris-strewn streets. Some told of deadly winds whipping through within seconds of weather alerts broadcast during the storms Wednesday afternoon and evening.
"It happened so fast it was unbelievable," said Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired firefighter who was picking through the remains of his son's wrecked home in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham. "They said the storm was in Tuscaloosa and it would be here in 15 minutes. And before I knew it, it was here."
© Unknown
Scientists have observed a "super-aggregation" of more than 300 humpback whales gorging on the largest swarm of Antarctic krill seen in more than 20 years in bays along the Western Antarctic Peninsula.
The sightings, made in waters still largely ice-free deep into austral autumn, suggest the previously little-studied bays are important late-season foraging grounds for the endangered whales. But they also highlight how rapid climate change is affecting the region.
The Duke University-led team tracked the super-aggregation of krill and whales during a six-week expedition to Wilhelmina Bay and surrounding waters in May 2009. They published their findings today (April 27) in the online science journal PLoS ONE.
"Such an incredibly dense aggregation of whales and krill has never been seen before in this area at this time of year," says Duke marine biologist Douglas Nowacek. Most studies have focused on whale foraging habitats located in waters farther offshore in austral summer.
© Unknown
Bee-eater
Bee-eater
From the African plains to the mountains of the Himalayas, from the wilderness of Alaska to the South American jungle, it seems the world's most exotic birds are increasingly visiting our Welsh shores.
A number of exotic species are now appearing in our gardens and could soon change the landscape of the countryside forever.
Bird watching is changing and the scale of rare, colourful and plain alien species in Wales has been revealed by the Welsh Ornithological Society (WOS).
These incredible pictures show that while the rest of the country basked in a heatwave one Leicestershire village was actually covered - in SNOW.
Residents living in Birstall, Leics., were stunned when a huge snow and hail shower swept overhead on an otherwise cloudless day.
The 20-minute mini-blizzard at 5pm on Saturday afternoon left cars and roads under 3ins of snow and ice while just a mile away temperatures soared to 27.2C (81F).
Shocked Sian Colver, 28, captured the storm, which battered the village with ice balls the size of large marbles, on camera from her bedroom window.
The RSPCA volunteer said: "It was fascinating. I was having a lie down and heard this odd sound.
"I looked outside and hail stones were bouncing all over the road.
"I went outside afterwards and paint had chipped off the windows. The stones were the size of your thumbnail and really hard like bullets."
© Unknown
The 20-minute mini-blizzard at 5pm on Saturday afternoon left cars and roads under 3ins of snow and ice while just a mile away temperatures soared to 27.2C (81F).
Shocked Sian Colver, 28, captured the storm, which battered the village with ice balls the size of large marbles, on camera from her bedroom window.
The RSPCA volunteer said: "It was fascinating. I was having a lie down and heard this odd sound.
"I looked outside and hail stones were bouncing all over the road.
"I went outside afterwards and paint had chipped off the windows. The stones were the size of your thumbnail and really hard like bullets."
