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Norway: Lightning hits 91 spectators at racetrack

Oslo - A lightning bolt struck 91 auto racing fans at a racetrack in Norway Sunday, and 45 people were taken to hospital with minor burns, police said.

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Lightning Sparks Blaze at Fire-Plagued Complex in Massachusetts, US

For the third time in a little over a year, residents of a Peabody apartment complex were forced to flee as their flame- plagued complex caught fire again. A three-alarm blaze broke out on the roof of a building at the Highlands at Dearborn yesterday after a lightning bolt struck.

"I feel stupid for not moving out," said Kristina DiLorenzo, 25, who called 911.

DiLorenzo said she can't return to her place and will spend the night in a hotel. "I don't know what I'm going to do yet," she added.

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Lightning Sparks New Fires in British Columbia, Canada

Lightning ignited 22 new fires in the Prince George Fire Centre yesterday and more are expected due to the continued risk of lightning.

Additional fire fighting crews from around the province have arrived in the region to help with existing fires and expected lightning-caused fires. Two additional unit crews, comprising a total of 40 firefighters, are available for sustained action on larger fires. Five additional three-person initial attack crews are also standing by to respond to smaller fires and new fire starts.

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Lightning zap traveled through head, couch, wife in New Zealand



Mark Woodhead
ยฉMark Dwyer / Taranaki Daily News
Mike Woodhead with his lightning-zapped computer gear after the weekend strike.


Next time Taranaki man Mike Woodhead uses his computer he'll get a weather forecast first. A bolt of lightning which struck near his Ohangai home south-east of Hawera on Saturday night has put the 36-year-old local school caretaker on edge.

He was using the family computer with earphones on, his daughter Leah standing next to him, when there was a huge flash in the middle of a storm.

"I felt a shock which was 20 times worse than an electric fence pulse," he said. "I felt it hit my heart. I was worried it might stop beating," the Tiri Rd man said. "It went through me, through the couch and into my wife Ellen who was sitting on the couch."

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New Zealand: Lightning blasts a hole in airliner as bad luck strikes again

People who believe bad things come in threes may have second thoughts about flying with Lan Chile after the airline suffered a second rare accident on its Sydney-Santiago run.

The airline made international headlines last year when flaming pieces of a re-entering satellite came within five nautical miles (9.2km) of an Airbus A340 travelling from Santiago to Auckland and Sydney.

And last week, lightning punched a hole in the nose of a Lan Chile Airbus carrying almost 300 people as it approached Auckland from Sydney. A New Zealand report quoted a witness as saying the strike caused a hole "the size of a dinner plate", although the plane landed safely.

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Florida, US: Lightning starts fires in Clay, Nassau

Firefighters are straining to put out a rash of wildfires sparked by lightning in Nassau and Clay counties.

Just days after putting out a 105-acre wildfire near Cedar Point and Pumpkin Hill roads in Nassau County, the state's Division of Forestry battled at least three fires over a total of about 30 acres Wednesday and Thursday. Lightning caused each of the fires, said Annaleasa Winter, a wildfire mitigation specialist for the Forestry Division.

Those come after lightning caused six fires over about 55 acres Tuesday in Clay County.

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Ohio, US: Lightning sparks plaza fire; wind shatters Government Center door

A lightning strike started a fire yesterday that destroyed a strip shopping plaza near the University of Toledo as a line of thunderstorms swept across northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan causing 10,000 customers to lose power, authorities said.

The plaza at 1205 Westwood Ave., just south of Dorr Street, housed a seasonal location of the tax service franchise, H&R Block, the clothing retailer, L.A. Collections, and the yet-to-open Wings Express restaurant.

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Lightning strike starts house fire in Washington, Illinois, US

A lightning strike is to blame for a Washington, Illinois house fire this morning. No injuries were reported.

The fire at 301 Hale St. started about 3:30 a.m. after lightning hit a tree, causing the tree to split in half and fall on the house.

Before firefighters arrived, the homeowner, whose name was not immediately available, attempted to put out the blaze with an extinguisher and garden hose. It took firefighters another 20 minutes to douse the fire, which they were able to contain to an upstairs bedroom, Washington Assistant Fire Chief Randy Hurd said.

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Georgia, US: House in Buford fire blamed on lightning strike

Rain and thunderstorms that passed through metro Atlanta early Sunday were blamed for a fire that severely damaged a Gwinnett County home.

Gwinnett fire officials believe a lightning strike ignited the roof of a two-story home on Aberrone Place in Buford, said Capt. Thomas Rutledge, a department spokesman.

The lightning was part of a system that moved through the metro area before dawn, said Griffith.

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US: Firefighters keep wary eye on California thunderstorms

Junction City, CA - Scattered showers forecast for California's northern mountains Sunday are unlikely to extinguish wildfires that still threaten homes and could bring more lightning to the charred region, fire officials said.

The weather system is not expected to bring enough rain to have any effect on several huge blazes that have burned for nearly a month, said Pete Munoa, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

A bigger concern is thunderstorms predicted to accompany the system.

But fire officials said cooler temperatures mean lightning strikes don't pose as much of a threat as they did a month ago, when storms sparked nearly 2,100 fires that have burned almost 1 million acres.

"The weather pattern, if it holds the way it is now, we should be able to get a foothold around these fires," Munoa said.

In the rural town of Junction City, residents were under mandatory evacuation orders for a third day Sunday as flames crept across the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The month-old fire had spread to nearly 87 square miles by Sunday and was 49 percent contained.