Storms
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Snowflake

Blizzards, 60mph gales and panic buying: 36 hours of snow chaos on the way to UK

Nathan Rao
UK Express
Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:19 UTC
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Much of the UK can expect snow on Saturday, including the South-east
Heavy snow is expected over the next 36 hours as Britain shivers on the coldest March weekend for 50 years.

Up to 16ins will fall over high ground with several inches likely across much of the UK, the Met Office said last night.

Over 1,000 schools were shut and transport was disrupted as any hopes of spring were dashed by yet another onslaught of snow and flooding today as temperatures fell as low as -12C (10F).

Emergency services saw an early surge in weather-related call-outs as some parts of the country were hit by blizzard conditions. Government agencies issued a string of warnings urging the public to take care on the roads.

The South-west, which will escape the worst of the winter blast, faces flooding with up to 100mm of rain - almost two months' worth - over the next 24 hours as yesterday's heavy rain continues.

In total The Environment Agency issued 12 flood warnings tonight across the country and 81 less serious flood alerts.

In east Cornwall emergency services were searching for a missing woman her partially property collapsed during heavy rainfall overnight.
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Cloud Lightning

Tornado kills 23: injures over 500 in Bangladesh, as it sweeps through 25 villages


The Extinction Protocol
Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:23 UTC
The death toll from a tornado that swept through some 25 villages in eastern Bangladesh, rose to 23 with rescuers finding three more bodies in debris, a day after the deadly storm which also left nearly 500 people injured. The storm which hit the area on Friday, left a trail of destruction in 20 villages of Brahmanbaria sadar, Bijoynagar and Akhaura upazilas. "Three more bodies were recovered today. One of them was Yasmin, who is the mother of two young boys and was found inside the tank of a sanitary latrine," a local journalist at the site said.

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Ambulance

Canada: Traffic nightmare in Edmonton morning after snowstorm kills three, creates 100-car pile-up

Chris Purdy
National Post
Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:07 UTC
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© Stephanie Williams / The Canadian PressVehicles litter Highway 2 near Leduc, Alta. on Thursday March 21, 2013. A blizzard that has been blasting through the Prairies is being blamed for a multi-vehicle crash south of Edmonton that has injured about 100 people.
As snow continued to fall throughout the night, City of Edmonton spokeswoman Laura McNabb warned commuters to expect longer-than-usual travel times.

"If the snowfall stopped, it would be far better," McNabb told the Edmonton Journal. "It's a lot of snow. Our guys are doing their best to get the snow off the road and lay down abrasives ... and they're just going to keep at it."

McNabb said the entire city fleet, consisting of more than 200 pieces of equipment, would clear the streets but commute times might be approximately doubled.

"There will be delays, that's just to be expected in these conditions," McNabb said, "If you don't have to be on the roads tomorrow, it might be a good day to take a day off."

A 23-year-old woman, a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy were killed Thursday morning when the compact car they were in crashed head-on with a truck about 180 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. Three others were seriously injured.

Mounties say it was snowing heavily at the time and visibility was poor.

The driver of the truck, a 46 year-old male, is facing several charges, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.
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Snowflake

Hungary sends tanks to rescue thousands of people from snow trap


Russia Today
Fri, 15 Mar 2013 17:43 UTC
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© Reuters / Laszlo BaloghA member of the Hungarian rescue team walks on top of the snow at the M1 highway, 80 km west of Budapest, March 15, 2013
Thousands of people in Hungary found themselves trapped in heavy snow after a sudden cold snap and high winds swept over Eastern Europe. Budapest has deployed tanks to reach motorists trapped by the conditions.

The heavy dump has trapped people in cars, buses and trains as dozens of major roads across the country were blocked by the snowfall.

Tanks and other military vehicles with caterpillar tracks have been dispatched to rescue motorists as trucks jackknifed causing huge traffic jams on the main motorway that links Budapest and Vienna.

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© AFP Photo / Szilard GergelyA police car arrives at the site of an accident involving a truck and cars at the E71 motorway, nearby the Croatian, Slovenian and Hungarian borders on March 15, 2013 a day after a heavy snow storm hit the area
"The situation is most critical on the M1 motorway where hundreds of cars are stranded in the snow, most of them for 18-20 hours now," Reuters cites Marton Hajdu, spokesman for the National Directorate for Disaster Management.
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Snowflake Cold

APC's deployed on Kiev streets, emergency as record snowfall turns Ukraine into chaos


Russia Today
Sat, 23 Mar 2013 16:56 UTC
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© RIA Novosti / Alexei FurmanThe military is also involved in rescuing the city from its snowbound condition.
A state of emergency has been declared in Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on Saturday as the city is paralyzed by heavy snowfall and blizzard totally abnormal for March.

"Due to the deterioration of weather conditions [heavy snowfall, blizzards, snow-banks] a state of emergency is declared in the capital," the statement by the Kiev State Administration said.

The situation in the city is so dire that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has signed a special decree urging all government agencies to provide maximum assistance to victims of the snowstorm.

The military is also involved in rescuing the city from its snowbound condition as 550 servicemen are deployed to the capital to aid the community services.

Besides 253 snow-cleaning vehicles, 13 armored fighting vehicles are being used to tow stranded cars, with 270 trucks, 540 cars, 83 buses and 15 trolleybuses already removed from snow banks.
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Snowflake Cold

UK: Snow causes travel and power disruption


BBC
Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:02 UTC
Aerial video showed vehicles completely buried under snow drifts in Cumbria


Snow and sleet have disrupted transport and power supplies as severe wintry weather continues in much of the UK.

A number of roads and airports have closed, with many of the weekend's sporting fixtures affected too.

A Met Office warning for snow covers Northern Ireland, much of England, northern Wales and south-west Scotland.

Motorists were trapped in their cars overnight in Dumfries and Galloway and 35,000 homes in Northern Ireland are without electricity.

It follows snowfalls across parts of the UK on Friday which also led to the closure of hundreds of schools.

The continuing wintry weather sees snow falling across central and northern parts of the country and spreading to the South and South East of England on Saturday.
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Bizarro Earth

Tornado rips through two states in Australia, injuring at least 20 people


The Telegraph
Sat, 23 Mar 2013 06:37 UTC
Two caravan parks and a forest in Victoria and part of New South Wales were hit by the tornado which touched down around 8pm local time, leaving scenes of devastation which witnesses likened to a warzone

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Health

Tornado kills 10, injures 500 in Bangladesh


USA Today
Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:22 UTC
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Storm lasted 15 minutes and destroyed many homes and shops

A tornado ripped through 20 villages in eastern Bangladesh on Friday, killing 10 people and injuring about 500 others, a report said.

The Prothom Alo newspaper said the 15-minute storm destroyed many homes and shops and uprooted large numbers of trees in Brahmanbaria district.
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Cloud Lightning

'Storm on steroids' - Australian driver races for his life against massive tornado in Victoria


Telegraph.uk
Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:02 UTC
Two Australian men made a dramatic escape from a tornado in New South Wales after the twister touched down only metres from their car. Daniel Clarke, 24, told Australia's 7 News channel how he was driving from the town of Mulwala to nearby Barooga when the tornado, which was around 50 metres wide at its base, appeared in a field next to them.

Nearby power lines exploded with a blue flash as they were hit by the whirling column of air. With rain and debris hammering the windscreen as the tornado advances towards them, Mr Clarke reverses at speed before performing a hand-brake turn in the road. But the twister continues to barrel through the adjoining field, travelling almost parallel to their car at a speed of approximately 50mph.

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Cloud Lightning

24 dead as tornado, hailstorms lash south China


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:07 UTC
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At least 24 people died and scores were injured after a tornado carrying huge hailstones lashed southern China, causing widespread devastation and a ferry to capsize, domestic media reported Thursday.

The ferry overturned in a river in the south-eastern province of Fujian, causing the deaths of 11 people with four missing, web portal qq.com reported.

Nine people were killed in Dongguan, in Guangdong province in the south, according to the report. It showed images from the city of a car windscreen which appeared to have been smashed by egg-sized hailstones.

Many of the dead in Dongguan were trapped in collapsed buildings. Another 148 people were injured, including 11 who were critically ill, the report said.

The website put the death toll at 24, as did state-run news agency Xinhua.
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