Storms
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Cloud Lightning

US: Chicago Area Cleans Up Storm Damage


United Press International
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:28 UTC
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© Chase McNulty
Chicago, Illinois -- Schools and at least one courthouse in the Chicago area were closed Wednesday after violent summer thunderstorms knocked out power to thousands.

At Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., 42 buildings were reported to be without electricity, the Chicago Tribune said. There was no word on when the lights would be back on.

In the north and west suburbs, crews armed with chainsaws worked to remove downed trees and branches from the streets. Delays were reported for suburban commuter trains and the city's mass transit system.

The storms moved through northern Illinois Tuesday night. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Chicago airports, subway passengers were stranded and at least 300,000 homes and businesses lost power. Commonwealth Edison said repairing the damage could take days.
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Binoculars

US: South Carolina Man Killed, Others Hurt in Overnight Storm

Kimberly Dick
The Herald
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
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© aburrissBob Bickford , a resident of the Country Club neighborhood, works on clearing a tree Wednesday morning that fell on an SUV Tuesday night and blocked Country Club Drive in Rock Hill.
Strong thunderstorms that rumbled across the Carolinas late Tuesday night left downed trees, power outages and one Rock Hill man trapped in his SUV.

The storms moved into York and surrounding counties around 9:30 p.m. Thunderstorms persisted for much of the night before finally subsiding shortly before daybreak.

A Rock Hill man was driving home on Country Club Drive when several trees fell on his SUV, said his wife, Lauren Mclean. The trees trapped the 55-year-old man inside his Ford Explorer.

She said a neighbor broke a window on the SUV to pull her husband to safety. He was treated for scrapes, cuts and bruises at the hospital, she said.

In nearby Chesterfield County, investigators say Michael Gulledge was killed by lightening during the storm. Gulledge was outside playing with several people in his Ruby neighborhood when the lightning bolt struck around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities say three others were injured by the same lightning bolt, but were treated and released at the hospital.
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Cloud Lightning

China prepares for more flooding


Al Jazeera
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:48 UTC
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© Gallo/GettyThe rainy season's start has brought deadly floods to such places as Nanchang, in Jiangxi province
Rainy season has already brought misery, but new problems are expected, including typhoons and further inundation.

China's rainy season started off as last year's finished. The rains are usually heavy and they often bring flooding to some areas, but not this much.

Last year, more than 230 million people were affected by the rainfall, which not only triggered widespread flooding, but also a number of landslides.

In all, 4,200 people are thought to have lost their lives in the annual rains. It was China's worst floods in more than a decade.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Rivers rising with heavy rains

Alex Kirchner
wxow
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:36 UTC
Image
© Unknown
La Crosse, Wisconsin - Rivers in the Coulee Region are running high after 4"-5" of rain fell in some areas on the evening of June 18th. Minor flooding occurred on the Kickapoo River, with spikes in the river levels on nearby rivers as the excess water surged into the watershed.

Mike Welvaert, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service in La Crosse, says that these quick rises in river levels will be brief, lasting only a couple days as the excess water is absorbed, then moved downstream into the Mississippi or other large rivers. Those with interests along high-running rivers or streams should be aware of their surroundings, especially if the forecast includes heavy showers or thunderstorms.

The Mississippi River will start rising over the next few weeks as well as rain water from the smaller tributaries flows into the large river itself. Depending on the amount of additional rain over the coming days, the river could rise to near the flood stage by the July 4th weekend.
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Newspaper

US: Two Killed After Driving into Massive Hole in Flooded Road


Reuters
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:59 UTC
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© UnknownReference Image, not actual.
Two South Dakota motorists died on Tuesday after they drove separately into a massive hole in a roadway washed out by heavy rains, and both vehicles were swept downstream by rushing water, police said.

Heavy rains opened a section of road 10 miles north of Reliance, South Dakota, about 60 feet wide and 50 feet deep that was obscured partly by an uphill grade, said Lieutenant Alan Welsh of the South Dakota Highway Patrol.

The vehicles plunged into the crevice and down into a normally dry creek bed that had been swollen by up to 6 inches of rain, Welsh said. The creek bed flows toward the Missouri River east of where the crashes occurred.

Both of the motorists were from nearby towns. Police identified them as a 56-year-old Chamberlain woman who was found in her vehicle about 100 yards from the crash site and a 61-year-old Lower Brule woman found four miles downstream.

State transportation officials have closed the road.
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Cloud Lightning

Saskatchewan flooding prompts 150-km closure of Trans-Canada

Paul Turenne
Winnipeg Sun
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:59 UTC
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© Saskatchewan RCMPFlooding on the Trans-Canada Highway near Sintaluta, Sask. on Monday, June 21, 2011.
A large portion of the Trans-Canada Highway in eastern Saskatchewan is closed due to flooding.

A stretch of about 150 km - from Whitewood to Balgonie - of the province's main highway is closed in both directions due to deep water on the road near the village of Sintaluta, located about 85 km east of Regina.

The Saskatchewan government decided to close the highway Monday, when water up to 60 cm deep in some places drowned out the road.

The flooding was caused by heavy rains which fell over the past few days in the already soggy area.
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Bizarro Earth

Summer enters Minnesota with a bang

Bill McAuliff
Startribune.com
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:02 UTC
Wind and rain blasted the metro area, causing power outages, but suspected tornadoes did little damage.

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© Leslye Davis, Star TribuneStrong winds ripped a branch from a tree at 15122 Dunbar Court in Rosemount Tuesday afternoon. Lightning was the likely cause of an Eagan house fire.
Minneapolis - Summer barged into the metro area Tuesday with an afternoon outbreak of heavy rain, wind, tornado warnings and power-line takedowns, but no other serious damage.

More of the same is possible Wednesday and Thursday as a slow-moving low pressure system, more typical of winter or spring, creeps eastward across the region, said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Friedlein.

Shortly after the midday summer solstice, observers reported funnel clouds over Willmar and Hutchinson, Minn., as well as Hampton and Coon Rapids in the metro area. Trees fell on some houses in the Coon Rapids and Blaine areas. Local and weather service officials were determining whether the damage was the result of a tornado.

Tornado sirens sounded across much of the metro area, including downtown St. Paul, where state Public Safety Commissioner Ramona Dohman and several staffers headed for an interior storm shelter after spotting a rotating funnel cloud several blocks away. But there were no reports of touchdowns.
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Alarm Clock

US: Half-dozen tornadoes reported Monday in northwest Kansas

Stan Finger
Kansas.com
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 07:59 UTC
Four people were injured Monday when a tornado struck their rural Norton County home, state officials said.

The tornado was one of more than a half-dozen reported in northwest Kansas on Monday. There were no serious injuries, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management.

At least three homes were damaged or destroyed outside Almena near the Nebraska line, Watson said.

Preliminary reports indicate most of the tornadoes were EF-0 or EF-1 and relatively short-lived, according to the Goodland branch of the National Weather Service. But one tornado, north of Hill City in Graham County, was rated an EF-3, which indicates wind gusts of 136-165 mph.

Tornadoes were also reported in Gove, Sheridan and Phillips counties. Hail as large as softballs was reported in Haskell County, and as large as baseballs in Graham County

No tornadoes were reported in the Wichita area, but powerful straight-line winds are blamed for damage near Maize and Valley Center. A metal shed was flattened near Hoover and 53rd Street North, and a semi was blown over two miles east of Maize on K-96.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Tornado Warnings Rattle upper Midwest as Storms Hit

Alex Dobuzinskis
Reuters
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:52 UTC
Tornado warnings were issued for parts of the Midwest on Tuesday night and the National Weather Service reported a possible tornado touchdown in a Minneapolis suburb that resulted in no injuries.

The renewed storm activity came less than a month after a massive tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, and killed 155 people in the deadliest tornado to hit the United States in more than 60 years.
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Attention

US: More Heavy Rain, More Flooding Problems for Minnesota


KARE 11
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
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© unknown
Rain, wind and lightning have knocked out power to thousands of customers in the Twin Cities metro area.

Xcel Energy says more than 8,000 customers were without service Tuesday morning.

And KARE 11's Jonathan Yuhas says the rough stuff might not be over.

More heavy downpours are likely Tuesday afternoon across the Metro area, which could lead to some spot flooding. Rain is forecast again on Wednesday with the potential for a few strong storms in the early afternoon hours from the Twin Cities Metro area east into Wisconsin.

All this moisture, on top of other recent heavy rains and thunderstorms are causing river levels to rise across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The Minnesota, St.Croix and Mississippi Rivers will approach flood stage this week and remain near flood stage into the weekend.
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