Storms
S


Attention

Hurricane Harvey aftermath: Army Corps of Engineers will release water from two Houston dams to prevent more severe flood damage

houston flood
© Adrees Latif / ReutersResidents wade through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, U.S. August 27, 2017.
The US Army is beginning to release water from two Houston reservoirs which have risen too quickly as a result of Tropical Storm Harvey. The move will cause flooding to nearby homes.

The water is being released from the Addicks and Barker dams into Buffalo Bayou, the main body of water running through Houston.

The move is necessary in order to prevent uncontrolled water flowing from the dams, the US Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement.

"If we don't begin releasing now, the volume of uncontrolled water around the dams will be higher and have a greater impact on the surrounding communities," said Colonel Lars Zetterstrom, Galveston District commander of the Corps, as quoted by Reuters.

Cloud Precipitation

Homes, cars and roads damaged by massive hailstorm in Grado, Spain

Massive Hailstorm Damages Cars And Homes In Spanish Town
Massive hailstorm damages cars and homes n Spanish town
Windows were broken and roads damaged during a huge hailstorm in Spain this weekend.

On Saturday for five minutes hailstones fell from the sky with such ferocity residents in Grado had to duck for cover for their own safety.

The northern Spanish town was also battered by rain during one of the worst weekends of weather in Spain this year.

The town in Asturias has over 10,000 people and homes were left with broken windows and damaged roads.


No Entry

Damage from Hurricane Harvey shuts down major US oil refineries

damaged oil tank
© Rick Wilking / ReutersAn oil tank damaged by Hurricane Harvey near Seadrift, Texas, August 26, 2017.
Ten crude refineries around Houston and Corpus Christi in Texas are closed in the wake of torrential rains, and devastating flooding brought about by Hurricane Harvey during the weekend.

The shut refineries normally have a daily capacity of nearly two million barrels of crude, according to a report by S&P Global Platts.

There are dozens of refineries along the US Gulf Coast as well as other plants turning oil into gas, diesel, and other petrochemicals. Nearly one-third of the nation's energy capacity is centralized in the region.

Royal Dutch Shell closed its Deer Park refinery in southeastern Houston. It is one of the biggest in the US with a capacity of 340,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Cloud Precipitation

Second deadly storm in a week batters southern China

Storm Pakhar
© REUTERS/ Tyrone Siu
Tropical storm Pakhar leaves one man dead and 62 injured in China's autonomous territory of Hong Kong.

One man was killed, 62 were injured as severe tropical storm Pakhar descended on China's autonomous territory of Hong Kong, local media reported.

The storm hit Hong Kong and Macau on Sunday, with Macau officials reporting eight people with minor injuries, according to the newspaper South China Morning Post.

Macau reportedly canceled 33 flight departures and 32 arrivals, while in Hong Kong 677 flights were either canceled or delayed on Sunday.

Macau was recently ravaged by Typhoon Hato, which struck the resort city on Wednesday, killing 10 people and injuring more than 200.


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills two boys in Nepal

Lightning
Two boys from Jubu village of Dudhkaushika rural municipality have died after being struck with lightning.

Sandip Tamang, 14, and Indra Bahadur Tamang, 10, were killed in the lightning that occurred Saturday afternoon, informed a local Bhanubhakta Upadhyay.

Similarly, the lightning injured 35 year old Arjun Tamang from the same locality, said Police Inspector at Jubu Sukepokhari, Hari Khadka.

Comment: Elsewhere in Asia recently, lightning killed four in Andhra Pradesh, India. In the same country a bolt claimed the lives of a father and daughter in the state of Odisha. While in Bangladesh the bodies of 4 missing lightning victims were found in the Bangshi River.


Cloud Precipitation

At least 3 dead as Hurricane Harvey continues rampage across Texas

Hurricane Harvey damage in Rockport, Texas
A damaged home sits amid a flood on Saturday after Hurricane Harvey slammed Rockport, Texas.
At least three people have died and thousands of others left without power as emergency services continue to battle "catastrophic flooding" across Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

The National Hurricane Center downgraded the storm from category 4 to category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale earlier on Saturday before later downgrading it to a tropical storm. However, meteorologists warn that major damage could come from flooding, with torrential rains expected to continue for days.

At least three people were killed in Aransas County, an area hit heavily by Hurricane Harvey, the assistant fire chief with the Rockport Volunteer Fire Department, Roy Laird, told the Los Angeles Times. The number of casualties could rise as rescuers are still searching through the debris of collapsed buildings.

Harvey made landfall Friday night and pummelled the southeast of Texas with heavy rain and 130mph winds. It is the most intense storm to hit the US in more than ten years.

Experts now fear Harvey could linger over Texas for days and bring "catastrophic flooding," with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) saying that Harvey is "turning into a deadly inland event."


Comment: Harvey wielded the "highest potential to kill the most amount of people and cause the most amount of damage," Brock Long, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had warned. He echoed forecasters who predicted Harvey would be leave areas "uninhabitable for weeks or months," echoing language last seen ahead of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.


Cloud Precipitation

Hurricane Harvey: Grocery shelves cleared and alligators on the streets

hurricane harvey
© AP
HURRICANE Harvey is dumping a "catastrophic" amount of rainfall as it churns slowly across the Texas Gulf Coast today - sparking fears of a biblical flood and ALLIGATORS being washed up onto the streets.

The "storm of the decade" wrought havoc last night with 130mph winds, 40 inches of rain and catastrophic floods.

Initially a Category 4 hurricane, it is the strongest to hit the United States since Wilma in 2005 where 64 people died and £24billion worth of damage was caused.

But as the intensity of the winds petered out this afternoon, officials have warned that the coming days will see intense rainfall that could see large swathes of Texas submerged.

Bug

Thousands of cockroaches filmed fleeing typhoon in China

cockroaches
Thousands of cockroaches were seen crawling along a wall in China, seemingly attempting to escape a typhoon in the area.

Video shared by 100 Most magazine Wednesday shows the massive horde of cockroaches marching along the seaside wall.

The line of cockroaches extends for several feet in either direction along the wall, as the roaches attempted to flee ground soaked by Typhoon Hato.

The skin-crawling video has been viewed more than 500,000 times and received more than 14,000 likes.


Cloud Lightning

5,100+ lightning strikes an hour recorded at Northern Rivers, Australia

Each dot represents a lightning strike in the past 24 hours.
© lightningmaps.orgEach dot represents a lightning strike in the past 24 hours.
It was a refreshing and awesome display of lightning, thunder and rain that hit the coastal areas of the Northern Rivers last night.

At the height of yesterday's storm when there was hail and the whole bit, lightningmaps.org recorded 5,100+ lightning strikes per hour.

As the storm moved off the coast the numbers dropped to between 2,000-4,000 delivering a beautiful lightning display.

Today will see a medium chance of showers most likely this morning and during the afternoon. Daytime temperaturs will be between 19 and 22 and winds will be southerly.

For the weekend the winds will be from the south and temperatures will remind people Winter is back with overnights reaching only 6-10 degrees.

On Sunday there will be a medium chance of showers in the evening.

Cloud Precipitation

Typhoon Hato leaves 16 dead as 27,000 are evacuated in China

People walk to a vehicle trapped in the flooding caused by Typhoon Hato and the astronomical tide on August 23, 2017 in Guangzhou, China
© BarcroftPeople walk to a vehicle trapped in the flooding caused by Typhoon Hato and the astronomical tide on August 23, 2017 in Guangzhou, China
The strongest storm to hit parts of southern China in half a century continued to wreak havoc on Thursday, leaving 16 people dead, dozens injured and forcing tens of thousands to be evacuated from their homes.

Powerful Typhoon Hato had brought widespread destruction to the gambling mecca of Macau and the nearby city of Hong Kong on Wednesday, but had continued to lash China's southern Guangdong province on Thursday.

Authoritieis in China "called for efforts to guard against geographical disasters such as mountain floods and landslides", Xinhua state news agency said.

Up to 30cm of rain was expected in some parts of Guangdong and the neighbouring Guangxi province as the storm passed through.

Eight people were killed in mainland China due to the storm, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said, while another eight also died in Macau.

The former Portuguese colony was swamped in water when the storm was at its peak, packing winds of up to 160 kilometers (99 miles) per hour.