Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Extreme rain closes roads in Illinois and Indiana

Sean Breslin
The Weather Channel
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 13:34 UTC
Indiana flooding
Flooding on I-69 in Indiana.
A serious flooding situation is under way in the Midwest, where roads were closed overnight Thursday and some cars have been caught under feet of water. Flood warnings were issued for most of Chicago, as well as areas in eastern Illinois, northern Indiana and western Ohio on Friday morning as heavy rain caused problems across the region. In Chicago, several inches of rain fell overnight, forcing officials to close stretches of Interstate 90, according to MyFoxChicago.com. In Burbank, District 111 schools were closed Friday because of the floodwater.

"An upper-level disturbance moving along a stalled frontal boundary has brought thunderstorms with heavy rainfall to parts of Illinois and Indiana overnight and into this morning," said weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam. "There is plenty of moisture in the air and dew points are in the 70s, which has led to the intense rainfall. The risk of showers and thunderstorms continues through at least Saturday afternoon across the area."

Indiana has also experienced severe flooding from the system. A two-mile stretch of Interstate 69 in Grant County was closed due to floodwaters, and Blackford County Schools were closed for the day, according to TheIndyChannel.com.

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Cloud Lightning

Torrential rains inflict severe damages in Eastern China


Xinhua
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
East China flooding
© XinhuaRescuers deliver food to residents trapped by rain-triggered flood in Lishui City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 20, 2014.
Nearly 65,000 people in east China's Zhejiang Province have been evacuated after torrential rains caused floods in some cities, said the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters on Thursday.

Nearly half a million people in the cities of Lishui, Jinhua, Wenzhou and Shaoxing have been affected by persistent downpours since Aug. 8, with the worst-hit Lishui suffering direct economic losses of 1.058 billion yuan, it said.

Statistics from the provincial hydrological bureau showed that the province's average precipitation has reached 204 millimeters over the past fortnight, the highest since 1951 excluding the influence of typhoons.

By Thursday, 853 houses have collapsed, while 26,100 hectares of croplands have been damaged, of which 1,400 hectares of crops were totally destructed. The losses inflicted upon cash crops were estimated at 160 million yuan.
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Cloud Lightning

Canada: Thunderstorm leads to major flooding in Winnipeg, Southern Manitoba

Joanna Adams
The Huffington Post Canada
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 05:51 UTC
winnipeg flood
© Twitter/SamanthaNAmaral

A severe thunderstorm left Winnipeg and other parts of southeastern Manitoba under water on Thursday evening, after an estimated 50 to 75 millimetres of rain fell on the region.

CBC News reports at least two vehicles were partly submerged due to flooding, at the popular underpass at Higgins Avenue and Main Street, in Winnipeg. According to the network, other cars and transit buses remained stuck in place nearby as the heavy rain shut down streets, overwhelmed storm sewers, and cut off power to street lights.

Soon after, residents took to Twitter to catalogue the effects of the storm.
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Windsock

Five waterspouts come ashore in Genoa, Italy - Cause millions of euros' worth of damage and shut down transport network


thelocal.it
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 05:32 UTC
Image
© Screenshot: YouReporterNEWSThe tornadoes hit around the port city of Genoa.
A series of five tornadoes swept through northern Italy on Tuesday, prompting flights to be diverted and causing millions of euros worth of damage.

The tornadoes hit around the port city of Genoa, with some eyewitnesses stating they came close to hitting the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship.

Flights to the city's airport were diverted and those leaving delayed, while trains were also interrupted and roads closed, La Repubblica reported.

Damage is said to amount to millions of euros, with roofs ripped off buildings in the Prà neighbourhood and the seafront strewn with sun loungers hit by the stormy weather.

Comment: To give you an idea how rare tornadoes are in Italy, four tornadoes in total were recorded in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, three were recorded in the 20th century, four were recorded between 2008, and 2012, four hit in 2013 alone, between 12 and 15 have hit so far this year... and now five have hit in one day!

Note the exponential rate of increase...

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Umbrella

Triple waterspout vortexes filmed off Swedish coast

Leon Siciliano
The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:05 UTC
Image
A strange weather phenomenon is recorded in Sweden as three waterspout vortexes can be seen off the coast of Beddingestrand, Skåne

A spectacular video has emerged of three simultaneous waterspouts which appeared off the coast of southern Sweden last week.

The impressive clip was filmed by Phlip Devries in Beddingestrand, Skåne, Sweden.

A waterspout is a vortex (usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water.

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Cloud Precipitation

Torrential rain triggers landslides in Japan's Hiroshima


Reuters
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 23:49 UTC
Image
© REUTERS/KyodoAn aerial view shows several landslides that swept through a residential area at Asaminami ward in Hiroshima, western Japan.
At least eighteen people were killed in Japan on Wednesday when landslides touched off by torrential rain slammed into the outskirts of the city of Hiroshima, including several children, police and media said.

Thirteen people were also missing, media said, after a month's worth of rain fell overnight, loosening slopes already saturated by heavy rain over the past few weeks. A resident told Fuji.TV:
"There was rain and thunder all night, beating down so hard I was scared to go outside. Great big drops. I've never seen anything like this."

Comment: See also: Floods, landslides in Japan after rain kill 2, prompt evacuation advisory for 80,000

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Igloo

Ice age cometh: Two to three feet of hail crippled parts of Mexico City Sunday

Jason Samenow
The Washington Post
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 15:30 UTC
Hail storm in Mexico City
© Twitter user sandyzzenSummer hail storm buries parts of Mexico City
A hailstorm of mammoth proportions hammered sections of Mexico City Sunday. Several feet of hail piled up, making some city roads impassable.

"Roads such as the North Loop [el Periférico Norte] were flooded by hail and flooding, so municipal and Federal District workers labored for hours to clear them, Notimex reported," wrote CNN Mexico.

Mexico news organization Azteca Noticias called it a "historical hailstorm".
Historic hailstorm in Mexico City
© Twitter user Reformacom
Pictures from Twitter are remarkable; parts of the low latitude city appear transformed into a winter wonderland in the dog days of August:

Hail is not uncommon in the Valley of Mexico, which includes Mexico City.

On Sunday, an area of low pressure at high altitudes generated the instability necessary for the vigorous, hail-producing storms.

In addition to hail, flash flooding was also reported in the region.

Here's video (narrated in Spanish) from Mexico City from Aztec News via YouTube:

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Cloud Precipitation

Phoenix, AZ: 'Sheets of Rain' - up to 4 inches of rain fell in an hour causing major flooding and interstate closures


3 TV - AZFamily.com
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:57 UTC
Hard rain came down throughout the Valley and surrounding areas Tuesday morning, soaking several areas that are still reeling from last week's flooding. The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Warning that it extended twice.


Rainfall this morning
  • New River -- 3.98"
  • Black Canyon City -- 3.78"
  • Cave Creek -- 1.50"
  • North Phoenix -- 1.38"
  • Desert Ridge -- 1.32"
  • Glendale -- 1.10"
3TV Meteorologist April Warnecke said showers would continue off and on throughout the day. An inch had fallen since 5:30 a.m., and it was still coming down more than an hour later, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a Flood Watch and Advisory. The NWS later upgraded that to a Flash Flood Warning that originally was to expire at 9 a.m.. The NWS that warning extended until 11 a.m., and then again until 1 p.m.
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Windsock

Container ship crashes into Fremantle bridge as wild storm lashes Western Australia


abc.net.au
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:52 UTC
Perth bridge damage
© ABC NewsA storm causes a container ship to break its moorings and hit the Fremantle rail bridge.
A wild storm that lashed Perth and WA's south-west overnight caused a container ship to break its moorings and crash into the rail bridge in the port of Fremantle.

Wind gusts of 122kph hit Busselton, while 34 millimetres of rain was recorded in Donnybrook and 22 in Swanbourne.

About 20,000 homes lost power overnight, although Western Power said only 2,400 customers - mostly in Manjimup - remained without electricity this morning.

The ship that crashed into the Fremantle rail bridge was unloading a cargo of cars when its stern rope snapped, causing it to swing out into the port.

A second cargo vessel also broke its moorings and hit the refuelling vessel Parmelia 1, which was docked near the bridge.
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Cloud Lightning

Torrential rain, hailstorm kills 16 in Pakistan


india.com
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 00:38 UTC
Pakistan floods
A view of heavy rain in Peshawar.

At least 16 people, including nine children, were killed and over 80 others injured on Friday in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as roofs and walls of buildings collapsed due to heavy rain.

According to reports, 10 people, including six children and two women, were killed and 50 others injured when the roof of a madrasa and boundary walls collapsed in the city.

Six more persons died in the similar incidents in other areas. The badly hit areas of the city included Akhundabad, Gujjarabad, Wazirbagh, Faqirabad and other suburban areas.

The death toll might go up as the rescue workers were still busy in rescue work.
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