Storms

India: 12 killed in rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh

Press Trust of India
Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:34 UTC

At least 12 persons were killed in rain-related incidents as heavy to moderate rains lashed several parts of Uttar Pradesh since yesterday.

While nine presons were killed in Farukkhabad district in separate incidents of roof collapose, drowning and lightning, two persons were killed in Fatehpur and one in Jaunpur district of the state, official sources said here.

Four persons were killed when the roof of a house collapsed due to heavy rains in Gangapar area and two children were struck down by lightning at village Achara yesterday, they said.

In Fatehpur, two persons, including a 38-year-old woman, were killed in separate incidents of wall collapse triggered by heavy rains, the sources said.

A 16-yar-old girl was killed and three girls perished after being hit by lightning in Baksha area of Jaunpur district, they said.

Jhansi recorded the maximum rainfall of 39.6 mm followed by 35 mm at Fursatganj and 22 mm in Agra, Met office said.

In Lucknow, which recorded a rainfall of 6.8 mm, mercury dropped considerably and the maximum temprature was 31.4, six notches below normal, they said

US: Rain, surge on Missouri raise risk of area flood

Tim O'Neil
St. Louis Today
Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:25 UTC

© Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press
Floodwater from the Souris River surrounds homes in Minot, N.D., on Monday. Floodwater from the upper Great Plains is finding its way down the bloated Missouri River.

Recent heavy rain is boosting the Missouri River another 6 to 8 feet - not enough for major trouble but a lesson in this summer's higher risk of flooding.

Saturday through Monday, thunderstorms dumped rain across central and eastern Missouri. Hardest hit was the St. Louis area, with 5 to 6 inches. Jefferson City and Columbia each had 2 inches.

The Missouri River already was at or near flood stage across the state because of record discharges from swollen flood control reservoirs in the upper Great Plains. The recent rain is pushing up the river from Jefferson City to St. Charles, where a crest 5 feet over flood stage is expected Saturday.

That won't quite be enough to flood St. Charles' Frontier Park, but the city is moving Riverfest, the July 4 festival, to nearby Riverside Drive and some adjoining parking lots. A spokeswoman said heavy rain made the park too muddy for carnival rides and other activities.

Wes Browning, chief of the National Weather Service office in Weldon Spring, said the Missouri's rise underscores the warning of a greater chance of major flooding on the river this summer. The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the reservoirs upriver, has said it must discharge water at a record rate through August because of heavy snowmelt and record springtime rain in Montana and the Dakotas.

Said Browning, "When we get concentrated bursts of rain like this, the river will quickly go up."

The upriver discharges have topped a few levees upstream of Kansas City and inspired widespread grumbling over Army corps policies. The Missouri at St. Charles is expected to run at least 9 to 14 feet higher than normal for most of the summer.

UK: Flights suspended, trains delayed and a block of flats set on fire... all because of LIGHTNING: Storm chaos as heatwave ends

Daily Mail
Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:52 UTC

Residents fled in terror today from a block of flats that was set on fire by a bolt of lightning as storms caused chaos across Britain.

The building in Bermondsey, south-east London, was struck at around 2pm - the same time as a control tower at Gatwick Airport was hit, forcing flights to be suspended.

Meanwhile, a teaching assistant escaped unhurt after he was knocked to the ground by a lightning strike at his primary school today.

And tennis fans at Wimbledon were swamped by heavy rain - as were spectators watching the England vs Sri Lanka cricket match at the Oval.

Lightning also hit railway signals, causing serious delays to train services around the South East. It came after 33c heat yesterday also caused problems on the tracks.

Lightning Bolt Strikes Plane

YouTube
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC

Spectacular footage showing a massive lighting bolt striking a commercial airliner. I wonder how the people on board reacted to that?

Canada: Downpour Leaves 18-metre Sinkhole in Ontario Highway

Zev Singer
The Ottawa Citizen
Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:07 UTC

© Mike Carroccetto / The Ottawa Citizen
This sinkhole is located on Hwy. 148 between Luskville and Quyon near Ch. Parker. A detour is in place.

A section of Highway 148 near Luskville, Ontario, is now a canyon 18 metres deep, a victim of Friday's heavy rains.

Remarkably, the family living next to the giant gap owns a construction company with expertise in exactly the type of work that will be needed to fix the road.

Not only does James Nugent, of R.H. Nugent Construction, have 35 years of experience in the field, he has the heavy machinery parked only a few hundred meters from the caved-in road.

"We were called in right off the bat," he said. "There's nothing signed, but we probably will be proceeding with the work under an emergency situation. They want a company that can start right away."

Nugent said the large pipe that ran under that stretch of the highway seems to have been blocked at the intake. The torrents of water late last week stressed the situation causing the pipe to buckle and the ground above the pipe became waterlogged and gave way.

East China coast braces for tropical storm Meari

Xinhua
Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:33 UTC

© Xinhua/Yu Qibo
High billows strike on the seashore of a park in Weihai, east China's Shandong Province, June 26, 2011. Strong winds and heavy rains are forecast to hit China's eastern coast as tropical storm Meari is moving northwest from the southern Yellow Sea waters, according to a statement issued by the nation's meteorological authority Sunday. The tropical storm Meari will shave off the eastern coasts of Shandong Peninsula or may make a landfall around the region between Sunday afternoon and evening, said the National Meteorological Center (NMC) of China Meteorological Administration in the statement.

East China coastal regions are bracing for strong gales and heavy rains as tropical storm Meari moves closer for landing.

Thousands of people have been evacuated amid storm-triggered floodings, authorities said Sunday.

The tropical storm is expected to make a landing near the city of Donggang, northeast Liaoning Province, or areas to the north of Democratic People's Republic of Korea at Monday dawn, the National Meteorological Center said in its latest bulletin.

The storm was projected at the Yellow Sea, about 35 kilometers southeast off the coast of eastern Shandong Province, at 5 p.m. Sunday, according to the bulletin. The storm is moving north at 20 to 25 kilometers per hour, packing sustained gusts of 23 meters per second near its center.

Strong winds and heavy rain are forecast near the coasts of Shandong, Liaoning and the province of Jilin. The strength of the storm will be reduced after landing, the meteorological authorities said.

© Xinhua/Li Ziheng
Taxi drives on the roads covered with rain water in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 26, 2011. Strong winds and heavy rains are forecast to hit China's eastern coast as tropical storm Meari is moving northwest from the southern Yellow Sea waters, according to a statement issued by the nation's meteorological authority Sunday. The tropical storm Meari will shave off the eastern coasts of Shandong Peninsula or may make a landfall around the region between Sunday afternoon and evening, said the National Meteorological Center (NMC) of China Meteorological Administration in the statement.

Storm drenches east China while drought plagues northwest

Deng Shasha
Xinhuanet.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:03 UTC

Shanghai - Extreme weather conditions are plaguing China with a strengthening tropical storm on the eastern coastline and a prolonged drought in the northwest.

The full force of Meari, still gaining in strength and likely to soon become a typhoon, would be felt in Zhejiang Province as it makes landfall there Saturday evening, according to an alert from the meteorological station of Zhejiang Province.

Meari, heading northward, is forecast to hit Shanghai soon after, with its center about 150 km to the east and out to sea of the city, according to the Shanghai municipal meteorological station.

Shanghai has emptied reservoirs to make room for the water the typhoon is likely to bring, said Zhang Zhengyu, spokesman for the Shanghai Flood Control Headquarters.

Storm Haima wreaks havoc in North Vietnam

English.vietnamnet.vn
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:50 UTC

Contrary to previous predictions, tropical storm Haima landed in Thai Binh province yesterday evening. At least 10 people were killed, 14 were missing and hundreds of others were injured in some northern provinces, Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Central Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Center, said.

Previously, the storm was expected to make landfall in the Vietnam-China border area, he said.

In the past few days, the storm has caused heavy rains in many Northern Vietnam provinces, with rainfalls measuring 50 mm to over 150 mm. In the central area of Hanoi, the rainfall reached 120 mm.

The coastal areas of Quang Ninh-Thai Binh province are experiencing winds of force 7-8.

After landing in Thai Binh with force of 6-7, the storm has weakened to a depression and continued moving west. It will fade away when it reaches Northern Laos this evening, he added.

The heavy rains are expected to continue in the next few days, Hai said.

So far the coastal city of Hai Phong suffered the most from the storm, with 6 people dead, including four by lightning, in four districts Thuy Nguyen, An Duong, Tien Lang and An Lao.

US - New York - Solutions needed in storm's wake

Lohud.com
Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:10 UTC

© Vincent DiSalvio/The Journal News
A pickup truck drives past an abandoned vehicle on a flooded South Pascack Road in Chestnut Ridge on Thursday.

Thursday's was an imperfect storm, especially in hard-hit Rockland County. It dumped huge amounts of rain, much of it when large numbers of motorists were in transit. On top of that, the heavy rain fell upon ground already saturated, making for more runoff than might have been expected. Ongoing construction projects added to the congestion and the runoff; delays with other projects make it even harder to cope with inordinately heavy rains.

Such heavy rains have been an especially vexing problem for Rockland. Twice in March the area got hit hard, with rains causing spot flooding. On March 6 and 7, five communities - Valley Cottage, West Nyack, Hillburn, Nanuet and Thiells - all recorded rainfalls of 4 inches or more; Thiells registered 5.28 inches. This time there was less rain and more flooding. New City, with 3.4 inches, was treading water; Nyack had a river running through it; West Nyack was awash, as were several other communities.

US - Minot, North Dakota Floods: Threat of Rain Looms as Residents Brace for Flooding

Michael Murray and Gerard McNiff
Abcnews.go.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:02 UTC

Residents and officials in Minot, North Dakota, are bracing for record flooding from the swollen Souris River as the threat of more rain looms later today.

"A rain event right now would change everything. That's the scariest," Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman told The Associated Press.

Some 4,500 homes are expected to be damaged from the expected surge of the river.

The flooding is due to the combination of excessive snow melt from an above normal winter snow pack, and above normal rainfall this past spring from the northern Rocky Mountain states through the Plains and Midwest.