Storms
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Cloud Precipitation

Flash floods triggered by tropical storm Luban continue to hit eastern Yemen

Mu Xuequan
Xinhua
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 22:50 UTC
Tropical Cyclone
© NASA Aqua/MODITropical Cyclone "Luban" on October 14, 2018.

Flash floods and landslides triggered by the tropical storm Luban continued to hit Yemen's eastern province of Al-Mahra on Monday, official sources told Xinhua.

The entire province is still being threatened by Luban with many houses damaged by the flash flood and strong wind, said a source from the Al-Mahra authorities.

Thundery downpours and severe wind are still hitting many areas of the province, bringing flash floods that besieged a number of villages, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Temporary relief camps set up at schools received scores of flood-affected people, he added.

Another source from Al-Mahra's health department said four people are missing and 33 injured, while more than 350 families have been rescued from their homes and moved to schools and shelters.

Electricity power stations and other communication facilities across the province remain out of service.

Meanwhile, Rageh Bakrit, governor of Al-Mahra, said around 50 families are still trapped on the rooftops by flood waters.


Comment: Heavy rainfall from Luban also caused many waterfalls to form across the Dhofar region of Oman.



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Cloud Lightning

Two girls killed and two boys in hospital following lightning strike in Queenstown, South Africa


R News
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 11:03 UTC
lightning
A little before 14:00, on Sunday, four children, aged between 11 and 15 years old, were struck by lightning on their way home from a neighbouring village in the Mlungisi Locality, in Queenstown.

"They were caught in a storm when all four were struck by lightning," described police spokesperson, Captain Namhla Mdleleni.

"Two girls were fatally injured whilst the other two, who are males are in a critical condition in hospital."

She said that two inquest dockets have been opened for investigation by local police.

Comment: On the same day 2 individuals were killed by lightning strikes in India.

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Arrow Down

Effect of Hurricane Michael on Tyndall AFB: Unaccounted fighter jets, billions worth of damage and "complete loss"

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 13 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
F-15 display flipped over 1
F-15 display flipped over
After Hurricane Michael rendered Tyndall Air Force Base a "complete loss" from "widespread, catastrophic damage" - questions remain over nearly two-dozen F-22 Stealth Fighters which are unaccounted for.

According to the New York Times, Tyndall is home to 55 stealth fighters, "which cost a dizzying $339 million each." Before Michael hit, the Air Force evacuated at least 33 of the planes to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, however they would not comment on the status of the remaining 22 fighters.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Hurricane Michael's death toll stands at 14 after 'obliterating' Mexico Beach


The Guardian
Sun, 14 Oct 2018 10:46 UTC
Hurricane Michael Mexico beach
Rescuers intensified their efforts on Saturday in the attempt to find survivors amid the ruins of a small Florida Panhandle community that was nearly obliterated by Hurricane Michael. One body had already been recovered.

Crews with dogs went door-to-door in Mexico Beach, pushing aside debris to get inside badly damage structures in a second wave of searches after what leaders said was an initial and "hasty" search of the area.

Authorities said there was little doubt the death toll would rise from the storm, which made landfall on Wednesday as a category four hurricane with 155mph winds and heavy storm surge. The tally of lives lost across the south stood at 14, including the victim found in the rubble of Mexico Beach, where about 1,000 people live.
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Windsock

Storm Leslie: Portugal hit by hurricane-force winds


BBC
Sun, 14 Oct 2018 06:15 UTC
storm leslie
© REUTERSThe storm passed through the capital Lisbon
Hurricane-force winds have brought down hundreds of trees and left more than 15,000 homes without power in Portugal.

The remnants of Hurricane Leslie swept into the centre and north of the country overnight on Saturday.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries, but officials have warned people not to venture outdoors, and a number of flights have been cancelled.

The storm, one of the most powerful to ever hit the country, is now heading over northern Spain.

Winds gusting up to 176km/h (109mph) were recorded after the storm struck the mainland.

Most of the power cuts are in Leiria district and on the outskirts of the capital, Lisbon, although other areas are affected too.

Hundreds of people remained in an arts centre in Figueira da Foz after a concert because of the high winds.

Sunday's Lisbon marathon is still expected to take place, though with an hour's delay to the start, Spain's El Pais reported.

It is rare for an Atlantic hurricane to reach the Iberian Peninsula, and it is thought this could be the most powerful to hit Portugal since 1842.

Comment: Portugal is facing the region's strongest Atlantic storm since 1842

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Cloud Precipitation

Mother battered by massive hailstones in heroic attempt to shield her baby


RT
Sat, 13 Oct 2018 18:48 UTC
Hailstones
© Reuters / B Mathur
A Queensland mother was left covered in large bruises and cuts after she used her body to shield her four-month-old baby from a brutal hailstorm.

Fiona Simpson was driving to her home in Kingaroy, Queensland with her new baby and grandmother when an extreme storm hit on Thursday. She pulled over when driving conditions got bad, but had no idea just how bad things were going to get.

Simpson soon heard a loud bang and turned around to see what had happened. "All this rain starts coming in, and the back window where my daughter was was just open ... it's gone," she told ABC. The large hailstones had smashed through the window.

Simpson quickly jumped into the backseat and used her body to shelter her baby from the onslaught of large hailstones and rain. "I looked down and I could see she was screaming but I couldn't even hear her, that's how loud it was," she said.

Comment: Freak 'hailnado' blankets southern Queensland with tennis-ball-sized hail

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Snowflake

Nine dead after Himalayan snow storm destroys climbers' camp in Nepal


The Telegraph (UK)
Sat, 13 Oct 2018 18:40 UTC
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks
© FRANK BIENEWALD/GETTYNepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks
A group of five South Korean climbers and four Nepali climbers and porters has been reported missing after a storm hit a camp on a Himalayan peak in west Nepal, officials said on Saturday.

Tourism Ministry official Rameshwar Niraula said the storm struck the group at the base camp of Mount Gurja, a mountain of 7,913 metres (25,961 feet), on Saturday. The official said the camp had been destroyed.

Wangchu Sherpa, head of the Trekking Camp Nepal agency that provided local support to the South Korean team, said the camp had been devastated, citing the pilot of a rescue helicopter that was sent to look for the missing group on Saturday morning.

Niraula didn't disclose the names of the missing climbers and porters and gave no further details of the incident, which involves the largest group to be hit by a climbing accident in Nepal in two years.

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Cloud Precipitation

Storm Callum: Parts of Wales see 'worst flooding in 30 years'


BBC
Sat, 13 Oct 2018 16:51 UTC
North the dog overlooks Crickhowell in Powys as the River Usk burst its banks
© JADE HANLEYNorth the dog overlooks Crickhowell in Powys as the River Usk burst its banks
Rivers have burst their banks, homes are flooded while some are without power and Wales is suffering travel chaos as Storm Callum wreaks havoc.

Parts of Wales have seen their worst flooding in 30 years with Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Powys the worst hit. Flood warnings remain in place.

One village is ready to evacuate and people have been told to stay at home.

Wales was the windiest place in the UK on Saturday with gusts of 60mph (97kmh) hitting at Milford Haven.

Capel Curig in Conwy was among the wettest places in the UK with 46.2mm (1.6ins) of rain, the wettest being Shap in Cumbria.

A Met Office amber warning to expect flooding runs until 18:00 BST while the rest of Wales is on yellow possible flooding alert until midnight.

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Tornado1

Portugal is facing the region's strongest Atlantic storm since 1842

Brian K Sullivan
Bloomberg
Fri, 12 Oct 2018 20:38 UTC
Hurricane Leslie
© NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)/ NOAANASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image of the very large Hurricane Leslie on Oct. 10 as it continued to linger in the Eastern Atlantic.
After three weeks meandering around the Atlantic Ocean, Leslie is expected to finally crash ashore near Lisbon on Sunday, marking the third time a storm that powerful has made it to the Iberian Peninsula in the past 176 years.

Storm warnings cover Portugal, according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere. There is a 70-to-80 percent chance tropical storm winds will reach Lisbon by about midday on Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm will make landfall early Sunday, local time.

"Leslie is expected to bring near hurricane-strength winds on Saturday to portions of Portugal as a powerful post-tropical cyclone," Dan Brown, a senior hurricane specialist at the Hurricane Center, wrote in an analysis. "Tropical-storm strength winds are also likely to affect portions of western Spain."

In addition, Leslie will bring as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain.

"Whether it will be technically a tropical cyclone or not, it is going to be a big storm for them," said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground, an IBM company. "It's kind of unprecedented for them."

In 1842, Spain was hit by a large storm that scientists concluded was a hurricane in a 2008 study. On Oct. 11, 2005, Vince made landfall near Huelva, Spain, about 383 miles southwest of Madrid, as a tropical depression with sustained winds of 35 miles per hour.
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Ice Cube

Freak 'hailnado' blankets southern Queensland with tennis-ball-sized hail

Tracey Ferrier, Dan Knowles, Sophie Chirgwin, Chris Clarke
Courier Mail
Fri, 12 Oct 2018 05:47 UTC
A Gympie resident with handfuls of hail
A Gympie resident with handfuls of hail
TALKS are under way to determine if the hard hit South Burnett region should be declared a disaster zone, with entire crops lost at harvest time, and roofs off homes.

The storms packing tornado-driven hail cut a swathe of devastation right across southern Queensland.

About 1000 Queenslanders have made insurance claims today, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

That figures is expected to skyrocket over the weekend, however, as residents begin to count the cost of the damage.

Kingaroy mum Fiona Simpson was dubbed Queensland's bravest mother, after shielding her baby from vicious hail during a freak supercell storm which hit the South Burnett region on Thursday.

She had been travelling home from Nanago to Kingaroy with her grandmother and daughter Clara when the storm struck, delivering blow after blow of massive hailstorms.
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