Deaths from lightning strikes have increased in monsoon in the country, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Lightning strike is another concern during the monsoon in Bangladesh as the country is the third-most lightning-prone region in the world.

"Deaths from the lightning strikes have witnessed a rise in the country in recent years, especially in haor regions. At least 1,178 people died from lightning strikes between 2013 and 2020," DGHS spokesperson Dr Nazmul Islam said in a media briefing on Sunday.

April, May and June are the lightning prone months in the country, he said, adding installing safe electric connection and lightning neutralising method at homes and implementing modern building code should ensure safety from lightning."

At least 17 people have been killed and several others injured in separate incidents of lightning strike in states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha, as monsoon wreaks havoc across the country.

In West Bengal, at least four people have lost their lives due to lightning strikes in two districts of the state. According to a senior official, two persons died in Purba Medinipur district's Nandigram, while two others, including a woman, were killed in Purba Bardhaman district when lightning struck them.

Additionally, seven people were injured in lightning strikes in Purba Bardhaman districts, the official said, adding that all the people were working in agricultural fields.

During the day, some traffic accidents with minor damages were reported in different sectors of Punta Arenas, as well as falls of people due to snow and frost.

In the early hours of yesterday, a heavy snow began to fall in Punta Arenas, which covered the main streets of the city in white, and even more so in the western sector.

This created problems for drivers, who found it difficult to walk, also considering that in recent days the flow of vehicles increased considerably.

A bridge in southern Taiwan was destroyed and washed away by raging floods on Saturday.

Large amounts of rain have also hit the east coast as typhoon Lupit turned into a tropical depression, making landfall.

Footage from Kaohsiung City captures the moment a bridge collapses, with muddy floodwater first running through and over the structure, before pulling it away.

Elsewhere in Taoyuan City, locals gathered to watch a reservoir overflow.

Lupit, the ninth typhoon of the year to affect the area, formed on 4 August.

China's monsoon season has been catastrophic so far, unprecedented heavy floods have taken a heavy toll. The southwest and central regions in the Yangtze river basin witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 1,000 years, and the water continues to pour down with no rest.

Across Henan, rains deluged 1,700 large-scale farms, killing more than a million animals, and whose many small farmers still play a major role in meat production. The floods also caused a major explosion in an aluminum alloy unit in central Henan.

At least 14 people lost their lives in Zhengzhou city when their subway train flooded. More than 500 people were trapped in the subway in one of the worst-affected areas of the city.

China's biggest river, the Yangtze, and several of its tributaries have risen to dangerous levels after days of heavy rain, forcing evacuations of thousands of people and triggering an unprecedented emergency response alert.

A very serious double earthen dam failure sent 46 million cubic meters of water to the Hulunbuir area of Inner Mongolia, causing massive flooding.

The Three Gorges Dam has successfully contained the heavy floods, sighing relief to Chinese authorities, as a collapse could have had an even more catastrophic impact on the area.

Severe flooding caused by historic rainfall wreaked havoc across western Europe taking the lives of 189 people. Tens of thousands were unable to return to their homes and were left without access to power and drinking water. Towns in river valleys and low-lying plains in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Austria were heavily damaged. Most of the affected areas had not experienced that much rainfall in 100 years.

Drought and extreme heat triggered the two largest wildfires in the Western US. The fires have burned land nearly the size of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago combined.

The Dixie Fire in California scorched 241,000 acres has destroyed more than 60 houses. The widespread fires have forced the evacuation of more than 7,800 residents.

The Bootleg Fire is still raging in southern Oregon, burning 413,000 acres since igniting this month. The fire has torn through more than 400 houses.

Greek firefighters faced dangerous and unprecedented conditions as they battled 154 wildfires through Athens, with one of them threatening Mount Parnitha national park — one of the last remaining substantial forests near the city. Meanwhile, in Turkey, eight people died in the country's worst blaze in decades that raged through swaths of the southern coast.

Hot weather and strong winds fueled multiple wildlife fires in Akkar, Lebanon, consuming the iconic Lebanese pine forests. The flames forced thousands to evacuate.

And on the southern hemisphere, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay reported rare snowstorms and surprisingly cold temperatures this winter.

A magnitude-8.2 earthquake rattled Chignik, Alaska this month, it has been recorded as the most powerful U.S. earthquake in half a century. Several Alaskan coastal communities were evacuated following the quake, but no major damage was reported due to the remote location and depth of the epicenter.

Have you noticed that more and more people, cattle, buildings, and trees are getting struck by lightning? Things are charging up in higher layers of the atmosphere. Keep your eyes open, and prepare accordingly!

All this and more in our SOTT Earth Changes Summary for July 2021:

Vehicles were flipped on their sides and homes severely damaged as powerful flash floods surged through areas along the border between Coahuila and Durango states in Mexico.

Torrential rain struck in the city of Torreón in Coahuila State overnight 04 to 05 August 2021. Local authorities said western parts of the city saw more than 41 mm of rain in a very short period of time. A stream that passes through several parts of the city broke its banks. Authorities said the situation was worsened by the accumulation of garbage and debris in the stream, as well as illegal construction of houses near the stream.

Flood waters raced through streets, dragging vehicles and buildings. Authorities said at least 42 homes were damaged and 200 people directly affected. Emergency accommodation was made available for affected families.

The major Atlantic ocean current, to which also the Gulf stream belongs, may have been losing stability in the course of the last century. This is shown in a new study published in Nature Climate Change. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, transports warm water masses from the tropics northward at the ocean surface and cold water southward at the ocean bottom, which is most relevant for the relatively mild temperatures in Europe. Further, it influences weather systems worldwide. A potential collapse of this ocean current system could therefore have severe consequences.
"The Atlantic Meridional Overturning really is one of our planet's key circulation systems," says the author of the study, Niklas Boers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Freie Universität Berlin and Exeter University. "We already know from some computer simulations and from data from Earth's past, so-called paleoclimate proxy records, that the AMOC can exhibit - in addition to the currently attained strong mode - an alternative, substantially weaker mode of operation. This bi-stability implies that abrupt transitions between the two circulation modes are in principle possible."

Several houses in the East Slovak village of Petkovce in the Vranov nad Topľou district were damaged by a tornado that hit the area on Thursday evening. Meteorologists estimated the wind speed at 200 km / h. For comparison - the tornado, which raged in southern Moravia in June, had a speed of 219 km / h.

According to the Slovak media, no injuries occurred. There are 20 professional and volunteer firefighters on site, who mainly remove fallen trees and parts of roofs from local roads.

"The wind carried the sheets from the roofs about a hundred meters," the mayor of the village Pavol Hybala told the Korzár server. "You could see the vortex spinning and rising. It passed only the lower part of the village. It took a minute, but it caused a trigger, "he added.

A massive waterspout was spotted off Great Guana Cay of Great Abaco, Bahamas, on August 5.

William South filmed this video that shows the waterspout twirling in the distance for a few minutes before disappearing.

"Dude, that's pretty big," South said in the video.

The Bahamas Department of Meteorology forecasted showers and thunderstorms with a special warning of waterspouts in the region on Wednesday. Credit: William South via Storyful

Heavy rain has once again caused flooding and landslides in areas around Lake Como in northern Italy.

Streams and small rivers overflowed in Como Province, Lombardy Region. Italian Fire Service Vigili del Fuoco said they carried out 115 interventions in Appiano Gentile, Bulgarograsso and Villa Guardia for landslides, flooded underpasses and damaged homes between 04 to 05 August. Landslides in the area closed several roads.

In Lecco Province, around 120 people were evacuated from a campsite in Dervio Commune after flooding from the Varrone River. A landslide blocked a roads in Taceno Commune. Lecco Commune recorded 94.2 mm of rain on 04 August.