Storms
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Cloud Lightning

U.S.: Portion of Prairie County, Arkansas evacuated due to fears about flood waters from White River


Daily Reporter
Mon, 02 May 2011 16:11 UTC
Little Rock, Arkansas - Neighborhoods in Prairie County are being evacuated because of fears about rising flood waters from the White River.

Spokesman Davis Bell with the county's emergency operations said Monday that between 200 and 300 households in flood-prone areas east of the White River at Des Arc and Biscoe were being notified of the evacuation order. County officials say roads in the area will soon be impassable due to flooding.

Bell said officials are concerned about the rising waters from flash floods and whether levees along the river will be able to hold. Volunteers are going door to door to notify residents of the evacuation order.

Shelters are available in Des Arc churches, the Hazen Armory and the DeValls Bluff Gym.
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Igloo

Canada: Snowstorm Blankets Parts of Manitoba., Saskatchewan.


CBC News
Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:16 UTC
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© Brady Strachan/CBCMotorists in the Brandon area of western Manitoba encountered snow and ice Saturday.
Residents of southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba are coping with another blast of winter, with heavy wet snow causing havoc for travellers in both provinces.

On Saturday, a blizzard warning was issued for areas around Dauphin, Minnedosa, Neepawa, Russell and St. Rose in Manitoba.

The storm hit Friday night and was expected to last until Saturday evening.

People were being told to expect 10 to 20 centimetres of heavy, wet snow and strong winds that may gust to 80 km/h.
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Cloud Lightning

Canada: Saskatchewan Flood Barrier Broken by Wind


CBC News
Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:10 UTC
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© Kent Morrisson/CBCThirty-seven homes and cottages on Katepwa Lake, east of Regina, were flooded after a section of berm was overwhelmed by water whipped up by strong winds.
Community exhausted by water fight

Strong prairie winds have pushed water through a section of sandbag berms that were protecting homes and cabins on Katepwa Lake, east of Regina.

Wind gusts that reached 60 kilometres an hour on Friday night whipped up the water on the lake, which has been rising precipitously for the past week.

"The waves just kept coming in and took down the wall and all the hard work that everybody put in for the last two weeks," Don Ferguson, a local cabin owner, told CBC News on Saturday. "It's unbelievable."

Local officials said 37 properties flooded. Of those, 11 were permanent homes. A voluntary evacuation was in place for the flooded area.

Ferguson said that at one point, lake water was pouring down onto people working on the dry side of the berm.
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Cloud Lightning

After the wind, the water: Fears of floods worse than Mississippi disaster of 1927 to strike tornado- devestated South East


Daily Mail
Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:04 UTC
A devastating flood is heading to tornado-ravaged Mississippi, which could cause levels of destruction not seen since the Great Flood of 1927, forecasters have warned.

The enormous levees lining the Mississippi River are likely to be seriously strained in the coming days, adding further danger to a region already shattered by deadly tornadoes and thunderstorms.

Governors in Mississippi and Louisiana have issued severe flood warnings and declared states of emergency in the regions.

mississippi, floods
Floods: Experts have warned that the Mississippi could rise to levels not seen in the country since the devastation on The Great Flood of 1927
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Cloud Lightning

Violent hail storm leaves Lisbon, Portugal with a wintry mess

Carissa Ray
PhotoBlog MSNBC
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:01 UTC
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© Jose Sena Goulad / EPAA pedestrian makes her way on a street covered with hail after a violent hail storm hit Lisbon, Portugal, on April 29, covering the streets with a white blanket.
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© Joao Relvas / EPABulldozers try to remove the hail from the streets in Damaia near Lisbon, Portugal, after a violent rainstorm hit the Lisbon region in the afternoon of April 29, 2011, covering the streets with a thick layer of icy hail.
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Cloud Lightning

Freak Hail Storm Brings Chaos and Flooding to Lisbon, Portugal


NexusNow
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:00 UTC
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A sudden freak hail storm caused traffic chaos in the Benfica area of Lisbon, Friday, 29th April 2011, when temperatures dropped 20 degrees (from 27 to 5 Celsius) at 3.55pm. Roads and travellers were left to deal with an unseasonal slushy flood that turned streets into rivers and left several feet of ice piled up in many areas.


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Cloud Lightning

150-mph Jet Stream a Key Factor in Wednesday's Tornado Outbreak

Heather Buchman
AccuWeather
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:24 UTC
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© National Weather Service Forecast OfficeThis image shows tornado reports from Wednesday's outbreak. There were more than 160 reports of tornadoes, most of which were in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.
A 150-mph jet stream was one of the key players in why Wednesday's historical tornado outbreak in the South was so devastating. The persistent presence of a strong jet stream over the South is the main culprit in why this April has been such a terrible month for tornadoes.

It takes a very particular setup of "ingredients" for a rare event like Wednesday's to happen. What is even more rare is to have setups like this be so repetitious in April, with tornado outbreaks occurring about every few days and yielding nearly 900 reports of tornadoes for this month so far.

"In my 25 years as a meteorologist, this is the worst April I've ever seen," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Historic Flooding Unfolding Along Mississippi, Ohio Rivers

Alex Sosnowski
AccuWeather
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:28 UTC
Flood waters from the Ohio River
© AP Photo/Darron CummingsFlood waters from the Ohio River crash against a step of a home along the river in Utica, Ind., Monday, April 25, 2011.
As if tornadoes and damaging thunderstorms were not enough, historic flooding is also threatening the Mississippi River, below St. Louis, as well as the lower part of the Ohio River.

The rising waters are expected to top levels set during February 1937. This mark is the middle Mississippi Valley's equivalent to the 1993 event farther north along Old Man River.

Even if rain were to fall at a normal rate for the remainder of the spring, the consequences of what has already happened in the Midwest will affect way of live, property, agriculture and travel/shipping/navigation for weeks in the region.

While the amount of evacuees currently numbers in the hundreds, it could soon number in the tens of thousands as levees are topped or breached and rivers expand their girth into more farming communities, towns and cities.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Tornadoes take staggering toll in Alabama and Deep South

Patrik Jonsson
Christian Science Monitor
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:05 UTC
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.

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Cloud Lightning

US: East Tennessee wakes up to massive storm damage


WBIR
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:49 UTC
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.

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