Three people including two fishermen and a farmer have been killed by separate lightning strikes in Chittagong city's Sadarghat area and district's Boalkhali upazila.

The deceased were Md Kabir Hossen, 30, son of Dowlat Mia and Md Mofiz, 26, son of Abu Samad, and Abdul Baki, 60, said police sources.

Nayek Jahangir Alam of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost said a thunderbolt struck on five fishermen at Fishery Ghat Jetty No 1 area of Sadarghat under Kotwali police station at around 12:00pm on Monday while they were sewing fishing net near the bank of Karnaphuli River.

In critical condition the five were rushed to the CMCH where the on duty doctors declared Kabir and Mufiz dead, added Nayek Jahangir.

The other injured fishermen Amir Hossen, 32, Helal, 22 and Sona Mia 22, were admitted to CMCH.

In another incident, Abdul Baki was killed when a lightning hit him when he was working in his farm near his house at Hazirpara of Boalkhali upazila.

Mohammed Soaib Reja, Chairman of No 7 Charondip Union under the upazila said a lightning struck on him when he was working at his farmland at Hazipara area, leaving the person dead at around 1:30pm.

Three persons were killed and 12 were seriously injured when lightning struck a boat carrying 20 pilgrims from Belur Math in Howrah to Dakshineswar in North 24-Parganas across the river on Sunday afternoon. The incident happened near Nivedita Setu, a bridge parallel to the old rail bridge across the River Hooghly, near Bally Badamtala around 3.35pm.

Other boats, which were passing through the route, immediately informed police and fire brigade. A team from Bally police station rushed to the spot and rescued the passengers of the thunder-struck boat.

The pilgrims were rushed to Belur Shramajibi Hospital, where three were declared brought dead. They are Bikash Kaiputra (27), Panchu Kaiputra (45) and Seema Kaiputra (32). All of them are from the same family.

Planetary upheaval continued apace in March 2015, with intense flash-flooding occurring all across Latin America, and washing away entire towns. Overnight, the Atacama Desert in Chile, the 'driest place on Earth', became one of the wettest. Melting snow combined with unseasonal rains to flood parts of Northern India, the U.S. Midwest and Western Europe, while flooding also hit Eastern Africa and Australia. One of the strongest ever cyclones in the South Pacific devastated Vanuatu, while Super-Typhoon Maysak bore down on the Philippines at the end of the month. Just as Americans living in Tornado Alley were wondering where 'tornado season' had gone, a powerful multi-vortex twister scourged Moore, Oklahoma (again).

With snow on the ground in 49 out of 50 U.S. states on March 1st, all month long heavy snowfall continued across the eastern half of North America. Boston broke its winter snowfall record - 9 feet of snow... and the same amount fell in ONE DAY in Central Italy last month! The extreme cold in the U.S. Northeast continued to set record-breaking temperatures, and brought sea ice up to previously unseen levels. No matter the season or location, tropics or desert, hail fell everywhere: several inches in Southern California and Saudi Arabia, TWO FEET in Bogota, Colombia, and softball-sized hail in Eastern Australia. From space, large meteor fireballs were seen from across the U.S. Mountain West, Central Europe, and Western Australia, while the planet was bathed in green and pink as the strongest auroras during this solar cycle reached extreme latitudes in both hemispheres.

Wildfires in the Southern Hemisphere hit Valparaiso, Chile (again), and 'fire-nadoes' several stories tall formed outside Cape Town, South Africa. Spectacular volcanic eruptions last month included Villarica volcano in Chile spewing lava 1km into the night sky, Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica having its most powerful eruption in 20 years, and Colima volcano in Mexico sending ash 3km high. The combined effects of these climate extremes are giving rise to ever more mass animal deaths, with notable fish and bird kills along the Western Americas last month. Meanwhile in Holland, a wolf was spotted for the first time in 150 years as the species continues its westwards spread across Europe.

Here were the Signs of the Times in March 2015...


SOTT Summary March 2015 - Extreme Weather, Earth Changes, and Fireballs from Sott.net on Vimeo.

Update 2:31 p.m., April 5: Police Chief Juan José Andrade confirms that police are evacuating tourists in areas surrounding Turrialba Volcano. Police were forced to evacuate a group of tourists that had attempted to approach the volcano to watch the explosion.
Geologists with the National University's Volcanological and Seismological Observatory (OVSICORI) reported another ash eruption from Turrialba Volcano starting at 11:24 a.m. Sunday and lasting for an hour. The eruption is the latest in a string of blasts since October from the active volcano, located 50 kilometers northeast of the capital San José.

According to OVSICORI, the column of ash reached 500 meters into the sky over the volcano and rained large quantities of ash onto nearby farms. As of 1:30 p.m. the volcano was still emitting large quantities of gas and vapor though very little ash. Winds have carried the volcanic dust southwest where it has reached the outskirts of the capital. There are reports of large quantities of ash East of San José in Tres Ríos and San Pedro as well as in the western suburb of Escazú.

OVSICORI's equipment also registered a small, three-minute tremor at the time of the eruption.

A Texas police department shared video of squad cars trying to chase down an escaped buffalo seen wandering the streets Friday morning.

The Round Rock Police Department shared a video on their Facebook page Friday showing squad cars chasing the loose North American bison, commonly called a buffalo, down a city street.

"We have been able to get the loose livestock back to its owners. Yes, that is a buffalo our officers and Animal Control secured near Timothy Dr. and Forest Ridge. Thankfully, no one was injured while it was out," police said in the post.

Police said officers and an Animal Control unit responded at 7:37 a.m. Friday to a "loose livestock" report and they were able to lure the bison to a secure area.

The National Weather Service reports that heavy rains in Eastern Kentucky are expected to bring Kentucky River levels to flood stage by Saturday.

The Frankfort/Franklin County Office of Emergency Management reported that the river is expected to crest at about 31 feet Saturday, right at flood level. Residents who live along the river are asked to pay close attention to NWS and OEM updates.

The river rose 4 feet between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. today causing the Kentucky River Campground off of U.S. 127 near Owenton to move its patrons from the lower lot to higher ground.

With rising temperatures, stray dogs are creating mayhem in different parts of the city.

Gopi of Malkajgiri, who met with an accident came to Gandhi Hospital for treatment, was attacked by street dogs on Friday.

Many dog bite cases have been reported from Rahmatnagar, Sri Krishna Nagar and Karmanghat and other parts of the city. In the last three months, nearly 3,000 dog bites cases have been reported in Greater Hyderabad limits.

In view of prevailing heat, dog bite cases are likely to increase as stray dogs go wild in summer due to dehydration.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has not been able to tackle the increasing menace of stray dogs, owing to uproar from animal welfare organisations.

A five-year-old girl from Khutari village in Panvel taluka died after been attacked by four stray dogs on Sunday around 7am. The dogs bit the minor girl with such severity that a nerve of her neck was damaged causing her death within 30 minutes after being admitted to the hospital.

Pratiksha Sharu accompanied by her sibling Meena (7) had gone to answer nature's call in the open near her house, when the four stray dogs started barking at her. The dogs chased her, after she panicked and started running away, and soon pounced upon her and bit her all over the body. However, her elder sister managed to escape.

The victim's father Dol Bahadur Sharu (35), who works as a delivery van driver for a private printing press said, "We came to know about the incident only when Meena came home running and told that dogs have bitten Pratiksha. We rushed to the spot behind the parked van and found my daughter lying in a pool of blood. We rushed her to MGM hospital in Kamothe. The doctors declared her dead half an hour after admitting her to the hospital."

Another Los Angeles area earthquake today 2015 has struck Southern California. This time the quake was centered further south, closer to Anza and La Quinta. Damage assessment is pending. The quake follows another temblor that struck Granada Hills on Saturday.

USGS indicates to news that a Los Angeles area earthquake today April 5, 2015 struck just after 5:56 am PST. The quake was shallow. Reps tell news that the quake started just 8.9 km below ground level. As a result the quake could be felt across the vicinity. The quake registered a 2.6 magnitude. It was seven miles east of Anza, twenty miles south of La Quinta, it was twenty-one miles southwest of Palm Dester and 21 miles south of Rancho Mirage.

Several quakes have been hitting the region since 2012. In April that year one quake was centered near Indio. It was twelve miles north of Coachella, and thirteen miles east of Thousand Palms. It was reportedly twenty miles from Twenty-nine Palms and ninety-four miles from San Diego, news analysts note.

Then in June a 3.5 magnitude earthquake struck centered eight miles east of Coachella. The quake was ten miles outside of Indio and Mecca. The quake was less then twenty-eight miles east of Palm Springs. The quake was also ninety-one miles from San Diego, officials remind news.

Several homes and a boys ranch were damaged in the storms north of Harrison (Arkansas) Thursday night. The tornado touched down around 12:30 AM. The National Weather Service was in the area assessing damage Friday and confirms it was a small tornado that hit the area near Center Loop Road and Quincy Lane. That same tornado continued east, eventually striking the Arkansas Baptist Boys Ranch.

27 teenage boys in four separate houses all had a rude awakening; Some to a tornado warning, moments before it hit, while others were surprised by the storm. House parent Danae Stevens says, "I remember hearing a bunch of wind and all kinds of crazy weather stuff going on, and then I heard zzzzzz over us, and I'm like Aaron, what's going on?"

Stevens and her husband met the boys of Arapaho house in the living room, where they found what the storm left behind, chimney stones and pieces of the ceiling.

"I just mainly was concerned about them and concerned about the fact that we have no roof on our house, and making sure everybody had shoes and socks on, so they wouldn't step on anything," says Stevens.