Storms
S

Intense storm kills two in northwestern Austria

Reuters
Sat, 19 Aug 2017 07:44 UTC

An intense storm ripped through a beer tent in northwestern Austria, killing two people and injuring at least 40 more, Austrian media reported late on Friday.

About 700 people were in the tent erected for a local volunteer fire department festival in St. Johann am Walde, located northeast of Salzburg, when the storm hit suddenly at about 2030 GMT.

A man and a woman, both around 20 years old, died, the Austrian Press Agency reported.

Of those injured, 10 suffered serious injuries, media reported, without providing specifics.

About 150 rescue personnel responded to the incident, which left debris strewn across a large area, according to photographs of the scene.

Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Toby Chopra

'Worst disaster in the history of Poland' - Storm fells record number of trees

Digital Journal
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 19:55 UTC

© Dominik Kulaszkiewicz, PAP/AFPSevere storms passed over Poland causing damage to buildings, trees and electricity infrastructure in the Pomeranian province, where five people were killed and at least 30 people seriously injured.

It will take two years to clear the tens of thousands of trees smashed by the weekend storms that devastated Poland's forests, the country's forest service said Wednesday.

"We're dealing with what is undoubtedly the worst disaster in the history of Polish -- and perhaps even European -- forestry," Poland's chief forester, Konrad Tomaszewski, told reporters.

The storms that hit Poland overnight Friday to Saturday killed six people, including two Girl Guides crushed by a falling tree while camping in a forest.

Aerial television footage in vast swathes of forest where trees had been snapped like matchsticks.

According to Tomaszewski, the storms brought down an estimated 8.2 million cubic metres of lumber.

It would take two years to clear the debris and begin replanting trees and decades to recover the lost natural habitats of birds and other wildlife, he added.

More storms are forecast for the coming weekend.

Comment: Five dead as violent bow echo storm system hits Poland (UPDATE)

Huge sandstorm engulfs Algerian city, turning sky red

Tom Michael
The Sun (UK)
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 19:15 UTC

The sky over Ain Ouasara turned blood red within seconds.

Incredible footage has emerged showing a colossal sandstorm sweeping through an Algerian city.

The video begins with a group of young men playing football with a swirling red cloud in the background.

Despite being the middle of the day, the sky cannot be seen as it is completely covered by the cloud.

Alarmed shouts can be heard in Arabic as the match grinds to a halt.

Players and spectators begin to run for cover in the direction of nearby buildings as the storm draws closer.

Landslide kills 40 people in DR Congo

Press TV
Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:59 UTC

A landslide has swept over a fishing village on the banks of a lake in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people, a regional official says.

Part of a mountain engulfed "a fisherman's camp after heavy rains caused a landslide," the deputy governor of Ituri province, Pacifique Keta, told AFP on Thursday.

He said 40 people were killed in the disaster in the village of Tora on the banks of Lake Albert on Wednesday.

"Yesterday (Wednesday), we buried 28 bodies and today we will bury 12 more," said Keta.

A doctor at the nearby Tshomia hospital, Herve Isamba, said they were treating four people injured in the landslide.

The vast country has experienced a number of previous such disasters.

Meteotsunami? Ocean dramatically recedes on South American Atlantic coast as huge waves batter the Pacific side

Sott.net
Thu, 17 Aug 2017 04:42 UTC

On August 11, 2017 the ocean suddenly receded in different coastal locations of Uruguay such as Montevideo and Punta del Este. Several hours later the same phenomenon occurred along beaches in Porto Alegre and Tramandaí in Brazil. Some local people feared a possible tsunami.

The Uruguayan Meteorological Institute (INUMET) had issued orange wind warnings earlier for Montevideo, Canelones, Maldonado, Rocha and Lavalleja. According to El Pais as reported in Elonce, the spokesman for the National Navy, Gastón Jaunsolo,said the phenomenon was caused by strong winds coming from the north.

4 killed by lightning bolt in Afar, Ethiopia; 13 such deaths in last 3 weeks

Liangyu
Xinhua
Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:57 UTC

Four people died in lightning strike Sunday in Afar regional state in northeastern Ethiopia, police said Monday.

Afar regional state Police Sergeant Ali Buto said five other people who were injured in the lightning strike are being treated for their injuries at nearby medical centers.

The lightning strike also killed several livestock in the area.

Ethiopia's arid Afar regional state has been experiencing a spate of deadly lightning strikes as the rainy season which starts from June and continues until early September seems to increase incidences of lightning strike, according to Afar regional state office of Disaster Risk Management and Food security.

In the last three weeks alone, a total of 13 people have died as a result of lightning strikes, with the latest fatalities pushing up the death toll to 17 so far in Afar regional state.

Mountain biker killed by lightning strike near Telluride, Colorado

cbslocal.com
Sun, 13 Aug 2017 12:44 UTC

A 24-year-old man died Sunday while mountain biking near Telluride.

A tweet from the San Miguel County Sheriff indicates the man suffered fatal injuries due to a lightning strike.

24yom mtn biker struck & killed by lightening strike E. Fork Trail near Telluride. Deputies, EMS, SAR, attempted life saving efforts. More. pic.twitter.com/CB4jonSfri

— San Miguel Sheriff (@SheriffAlert) August 13, 2017

The rider was with his girlfriend in the Lizard Head Wilderness, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

Severe thunderstorm hits southern Finland; wind gusts too strong for measuring equipment to record says meteorologist

YLE News
Sun, 13 Aug 2017 11:10 UTC

Downed trees in the Helsinki district of Pirkkola

Rescue services were kept busy cleaning up damage incurred by high winds and heavy rain from a severe thunderstorm, but report no deaths or serious injuries.

A severe thunderstorm that hit southern Finland Saturday evening brought gusts of wind up to 32.5 meters per second to the capital city region, proving too strong for the Finnish Meteorological Institute's (FMI) measuring devices.

"The gusts were very strong in Helsinki and its coastal area in particular. Our automated observation equipment rejected the measurements because the readings were so severe," says FMI meteorologist Henri Nyman.

FMI says its website crashed last night, due to the overwhelming amount of people who were checking in on the progress of the storm. The servers couldn't handle the surge in traffic.

Hundreds of 112 calls

In a story that was last updated at 11 pm Saturday evening, Yle interviewed rescue service representatives that said fires, downed trees and water damage kept them busy in the evening - but at the time it appeared that no one had been killed or badly hurt in the storm.

Comment: Severe storms have caused havoc across Poland and other parts of Europe in the last few days.

Landslide kills 45 people in northern India

Harriet Agerholm
The Independent (UK)
Sun, 13 Aug 2017 17:41 UTC

Two buses, two cars and a motorbike buried in mud

A landslide that swept two passenger buses off a hillside in northern India has killed 45 people, officials have said.

The landslide in Urla village in Himachal Pradesh state, which was triggered on Sunday by heavy monsoon rains, buried part of the road, trapping two cars and a motorbike as well as the buses.

Soldiers used shovels and pickaxes to remove rocks, boulders and debris covering the buses and pull out the bodies.

Rescue efforts were hampered by intermittent rain, said Ashok Sharma, a police officer who was at the site.

"One of the buses is buried under nearly 15 metres of mud," Mr Sharma said. "It will take us many hours to extricate the bus."

Mr Sharma said he did not hold out much hope of any survivors.

Dozens of houses were washed away in the torrential rain that hit the Mandi region in the Himalayan foothills.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences: "Pained by the loss of lives due to landslide related accidents in (Himachal Pradesh's) Mandi district. My condolences with the families of the deceased."

Five dead as violent bow echo storm system hits Poland (UPDATE)

RTE.ie
Sat, 12 Aug 2017 20:29 UTC

Five people, including two Girl Guides, have died in freak accidents as violent storms hit Poland amid a heatwave.

The two girls, aged 13 and 14, were crushed by falling trees while sleeping in a tent when a storm hit the campground for Girl Guides and Boy Scouts in the northern village of Suszek.

Another 20 children were said to have been injured.

A woman died when a tree hit her house in the northern village of Konarzyny.

In a nearby village, a man sleeping in a tent also perished after being hit by a tree brought down by high winds.

Authorities in the same region also confirmed the death of a fifth victim, a 48-year-old man, crushed by a tree.

A total of 28 people were reported injured.

Power was cut to around half a million homes and businesses as violent winds downed trees and ripped off roofs in northern and southern regions.

Comment: Severe storms hit Europe

Update (14.08.2017): According to tvnmeteo the deadly storm system which caused devastation in parts of Poland was a phenomenon called a bow echo. Severe straight-line winds can be produced by these systems, which can be seen on radar imagery shaped like an archer's bow. Wind speeds were recorded of 112 km / h in Chojnice, 125 km / h in Gniezno and 151 km / h in Elblag.

Huge swathes of trees in the forests of Chojnice County in northern Poland were destroyed by the storm system.

“

Quote of the Day

"Mr. President, the GLADIO system has operated for four decades under various names. It has operated clandestinely, and we are entitled to attribute to it all the destabilization, all the provocation and all the terrorism that have occurred in our countries over these four decades, and to say that, actively or passively, it must have had an involvement. It was set up by the CIA and NATO which, while purporting to defend democracy, were actually undermining it and using it for their own nefarious purposes."

~ Greek MEP at a European Parliament debate about 'Operation GLADIO', 22 November 1990

- Vassilis Ephremidis

”

Perhaps it would be easier if you started with the main belligerent, America and its fascist Nazi enabler.

Highlander

"The director of national intelligence is the head of the umbrella agency that gathers intelligence from the 17 federal spying agencies and from...

zaetheric

No, he is not. This technology is fake, already based on the first principles, regardless of the flashy presentation.

StarDam

Anyone else notice how it's always "who's paying?" (even though we pay either way, since social healthcare is paid by taxes) and never about how...

Richer

Conflict never seems to end.

ReRan

Storms
S

Intense storm kills two in northwestern Austria

'Worst disaster in the history of Poland' - Storm fells record number of trees

Huge sandstorm engulfs Algerian city, turning sky red

Landslide kills 40 people in DR Congo

Meteotsunami? Ocean dramatically recedes on South American Atlantic coast as huge waves batter the Pacific side

4 killed by lightning bolt in Afar, Ethiopia; 13 such deaths in last 3 weeks

Mountain biker killed by lightning strike near Telluride, Colorado

Severe thunderstorm hits southern Finland; wind gusts too strong for measuring equipment to record says meteorologist

Landslide kills 45 people in northern India

Five dead as violent bow echo storm system hits Poland (UPDATE)

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

StormsS

Latest News

Recent Comments

Storms
S