Storms
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Bizarro Earth

Typhoon Lashes Southern China, Killing 3

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© XinhuaA street lamp is partially emerged by the flooded Yangtze River in southwest China's Chongqing city.
Typhoon Chanthu killed three people before weakening into a tropical storm Friday after making landfall in southern China's Guangdong province.

Winds of up to 78 miles per hour (126 kilometers per hour) knocked over a wall in Guangdong's Wuchuan city, killing two people, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Heavy flooding swept away a 50-year-old man in a village in Hong Kong late Thursday. Marine police said they found his body in open water Friday morning.

Chanthu has moved north to Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi region, and been downgraded to a tropical storm, the China Meteorological Administration said in a statement on its website.

The storm comes as China grapples with severe flooding that has left at least 742 people dead and 367 missing so far this year, the flood prevention agency said Friday. The death toll jumped by more than 40 Friday, but it was not clear if the increase was from new deaths this week.

Arrow Down

Floods and Landslides Kill 10 in Vietnam

Flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain have killed at least 10 people in Vietnam's northern mountainous provinces near China, the government said on Sunday.

The biggest death toll of five came in Ha Giang province, where people were buried in their homes or swept away in floods, the Hanoi-based national flood and storm control department said in an online statement.

Of the victims, four were children aged between two and 15 years old, the agency said.

Hundreds of houses in five northern provinces have been inundated while roads and crops were severely damaged in up to 300 millimetres (12 inches) of rain, which began falling on Thursday, it said.

At least 10 communes in Bac Giang province have been cut off.

Life Preserver

Iowa's Lake Delhi Dam Bursts Due to Flooding

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© AP Photo/The Gazette, Julie KoehnMaquoketa River water gushes out of the Delhi Dam as areas surrounding the Maquoketa River continue to flood on Saturday, July 24, 2010 in Delhi, Iowa.
Residents Flee as Rising Floodwater Eats 30-Foot-Wide Hole in the Earthen Dam

The Lake Delhi dam in eastern Iowa failed Saturday as rising floodwater from the Maquoketa River ate a 30-foot-wide hole in the earthen dam, causing water to drop 45 feet to the river below and threatening the small town of Hopkinton.

Northeast Iowa has been inundated with torrential rain in recent days with as much as 9 inches being reported in some locations. The heavy rain has pushed the Maquoketa River to 23.92 feet - more than 2 feet above its previous record of 21.66 feet in 2004.

Jack Klaus, a spokesman with the Delaware County emergency management office, said warning sirens were sounding in Hopkinton as water began to surround homes there Saturday afternoon. Areas below and above the dam had been evacuated, including numerous cabins and homes - as many as 700 - above the dam because of high water.

"There's going to be significant losses of property there," Klaus said.

Attention

URGENT: State of Emergency Declared in Louisiana, U.S., as Storm Moves Over Oil Spill



Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has issued an emergency declaration, intended to speed state help to parishes that need it after the storm hits. He said mandatory evacuations are not expected, but parishes might call for voluntary evacuations in some low-lying areas.

Cloud Lightning

Video: July 3, 2009 tornado cluster near Salina, Kansas, USA

On July 3, 2009, Chad Cowan chased a cluster of severe storms through central Kansas. After encountering wind damage caused by earlier cells, he finally documented a brief tornado from I-70 between Salina and Abilene. You can follow Chad's chases LIVE at TornadoVideos.net!


Cloud Lightning

Twister strikes western Puerto Rico, at least 4 injured


Cloud Lightning

Lightning and flooding shatter another Irish summer

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© Collins Photo AgencyStaff sweep up glass after a window fell off the H&M store near St Stephen's Green in Dublin.
A pane of glass from a department store window crashed to the ground during a burst of freak weather in Dublin city centre yesterday.

Severe downpours of rain along with thunder and lightning hit areas around the country yesterday evening in an unexpected spate of severe conditions.

In one incident, Dublin Fire Brigade shut off part of a busy pedestrian thoroughfare in the capital after a pane of glass crashed to the ground from a department store.

Part of the area immediately around the H&M store beside St Stephen's Green shopping centre was closed off as staff members cleaned up the shattered glass, which is believed to have come from the third floor of the building. However, nobody was injured.

Comment: Funnel Cloud captured on Forth Mountain, just outside Wexford Town on the 22nd of July 2010 at 14:51 GMT




Igloo

"Cold snap" claims dozen of lives in parts of Latin America - Snow Covered Beaches

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© AFPThe snow covers a beach in Mar del Plata, Argentina, 400km south Buenos Aires on July 15, 2010. An unusual cold spell lashes the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) with temperatures next to 0°C.
A cold snap across a swathe of Latin America has left dozens dead across several countries, as the region shivers through its winter season.

In Argentina, 33 people died as polar air sent temperatures down to around minus 14 Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) in the center of the country.

Many of the victims of the chilly weather in Argentina were homeless people who died on the streets of the capital city Buenos Aires.

In Paraguay, the Health Ministry reported nine people died of hypothermia and another three were killed after inhaling toxic fumes from coal-burning ovens.

The Rural Association of Paraguay estimated that 1,000 cattle died in the freezing temperatures, particularly in the north of the country, while the country's meteorological authorities warned cold weather and rain were expected to continue for the rest of the week.

Umbrella

Pakistan: Torrential rains unleash death, destruction across country

pakistan, flood
Heavy rains are continued across the country unleashing death and disturbing the normal routine, Dunya News reported on Thursday.

The number of those died in the rain-related incidents in various parts of the country has been risen to 39 with fear of more causalities. Heavy rains lashed Lahore for the third consecutive day paralyzing life and deluging the low-lying areas, which resulted into long snarl-ups. Met office recorded 61mm rain in the metropolis today.

A 24-year-old cyclist electrocuted to death in Lahore, while 5 hurt as roof caved in in Ravi Road. Five people including two women and as many children injured as a wall collapsed due to incessant rain in Jalal Pur Bhattian. Two labourers died in Okara due to electric shocks; a couple died in Gujranwala as the roof of their house caved in. Three people trapped under debris of a roof in Gujrat; 8 hurt in Faisalabad wall collapse. Four people have been killed while 15 others injured in rain-related incidents in Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) and Tank.

Umbrella

Kenya: Mombasa hit by freak rainstorm

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© ETN/Image via blogspot.com
A downpour of biblical proportions hit Mombasa, Kenya's coastal city, last weekend, flooding sections of the city - a phenomenon, considering that the city actually is built on an island connected to the mainland by the Makupa causeway and is supposed to drain the water straight into the Indian Ocean.

Some parts of the city were knee-deep under water, gradually even displacing parked cars. The ensuing floods caused havoc for businesses at level ground, with hawkers and street vendors scrambling to rescue their wares from being swept away.