Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning damage claims 15 times higher than normal in June says UK insurer

Lee Boyce
thisismoney.co.uk
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 13:29 UTC
Huge storms: Britain - and especially the South East - have had a number of big storms this month causing flash flooding and lightning damage
Huge storms: Britain - and especially the South East - have had a number of big storms this month causing flash flooding and lightning damage
June has been a washout month for the British weather, especially in London and the South East, with flash flooding and storms hitting many households and motorists.

As a result, one of Britain's biggest insurance firms, Direct Line, says June has had roughly 15 times the normal number of lightning claims with 200 so far with a week still to go.

One policyholder in Preston, Lancashire, claimed for £46,000 of damage after a single lightning bolt struck their home, it said.

This caused damage to the electrical system: CCTV cameras, intruder alarm, water features, telephone line, heating and lighting systems were just some of the listed items that required replacing in the insurer's biggest lightning claim to date.

The strike also damaged four flat screen TVs and Sky boxes together with a Bang & Olufsen sound system in the home's gymnasium.
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Tornado2

Coastal tornado was rare 'landspout' with unusual rotation in Bogue, North Carolina


wncn.com
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 15:19 UTC
Tornado damage at Bogue
Tornado damage at Bogue
A man suffered a cut hand and several large items were picked up and tossed around — including a boat on a trailer — in a tornado at the North Carolina coast Saturday afternoon.

Weather officials now say that the tornado at Bogue was very rare — the twister rotated clockwise, which is seen in only about 1 to 2 percent of all tornadoes in the northern hemisphere.

Most that have a clockwise rotation are generally waterspouts or weak tornadoes that do not have rotating updrafts like many "classic" tornadoes.

The EF-0 tornado hit in Carteret County, but the radar signature wasn't typical, weather forecasters said.

Comment: Last month another rare anticyclonic(clockwise) tornado was discovered in Oklahoma.

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Cloud Lightning

Man and dog fatally struck by lightning in Jefferson County, Missouri


fox2now.com
Sun, 26 Jun 2016 09:01 UTC
Lightning
© iStock
A man and his dog were killed on Saturday, June 25, when they were stuck by lightning. It happened around 4:30pm in the 2000 block of Burley Road in unincorporated Festus as storms were rolling into the area.

The 60-year old man and his dog were in the front yard when they were struck. A family member heard the lightning strike and found both of them dead.

The name of the man has not been released.
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Ice Cube

Rare giant hailstones damage cars, smash windows and roof tiles in the Netherlands


Dutch News
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 07:05 UTC
Giant hail in Netherlands June 2016
© Ingrid @BorstgevoedNL via Twitter

Hailstones the size of tennis balls caused millions of euros worth of damage to cars and other property in the south of the country on Thursday evening. The giant hailstones hit the area east of Eindhoven running from Helmond to Venray and Venlo after the development of a supercell storm.

'It was like a war zone in Luyksgestel,' said one Twitter user. Such big hailstones are extremely rare in the Netherlands. 'They were not hailstones, they were balls of ice,' a spokesman for the Dutch insurers' organisation told news agency ANP. 'Cars have been covered with dents and lots of roofs and skylights have been damaged.'

The previous evening, some €20m worth of damage was caused by flash flooding in the Randstad central urban belt.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 8 in Bangladesh


en.prothom-alo.com
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 18:44 UTC
Lightning
At least eight people were killed as flashes of lightning struck them in Chapainawabganj and Sunamganj districts on Thursday evening, reports news agency UNB.

In Chapainawabganj, five people, including a girl, were killed and another person was injured in separate lightning strikes at Jaminpur village of Binodpur union and Dhurlavpur union of Shibganj upazila.

Four of the deceased were identified as Rafiqul Islam, 45, son of Jonjali of Jaminpur village, Buli Khatun, 11, daughter of Tajemul

Haque of Dhurlavpur Bazar area, Taleb Ali Sardar, 55, son of Ahmed Sarder of Shibchar upazila, and Harun Khan, 60, son of Sonamuddi Khan of Kalnini upazila in Madaripur district.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 14 cattle in Ghana


Starr FM Online
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:47 UTC
The dead cattle
The dead cattle
About 14 cattle were left dead after lightning struck at Welembelle in the Sissala East District of the Upper West Region Thursday.

A native and teacher in the community, Jonas, told StarrFMonline.com the incident happened at about 10:30pm. He said they saw the lifeless bodies of the animals after the downpour.

"We were there this morning and one caretaker of the cattle, a Fulani, came to inform us that some of the cattle are dead, so we rushed to the place and met exactly what the caretaker had said.

"Usually, when things of such nature occur certain rituals are performed before anyone touches it for fear of being struck by lightning, so the rituals were performed after which the cattle were buried," Jonas narrated.

He added that residents of the community have been shocked at the huge number of the dead cattle, as a minimal number is often killed under such circumstances.

Owner of the cattle, Samba is reportedly traumatized at his loss.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills one and injures two in Daytona Beach, Florida

Caitlin Doornbos
Orlando Sentinel
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 14:21 UTC
Lightning
A 33-year-old woman is dead after lightning struck her on the shore of Daytona Beach Shores Friday, officials said.

The unidentified woman was standing in ankle-deep water with a man shortly before 5 p.m. when "a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere," Volusia County Beach Safety Capt. Tamra Marris said.

The woman was taken for medical treatment, but died just before midnight, Marris said. The man's condition has not been released.

A third victim - a 55-year-old Daytona Beach woman - was also struck by the same bolt. She is OK and "was able to walk away and seek medical attention elsewhere," Marris said

Marris said storms had been brewing near the beach but when the lightning bolt struck, storms were off in the distance.

Officials are not naming or releasing further information about the victims until they can notify all family members.
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Cloud Lightning

700 mile wide storm over the Midwest produces more than 1 million lightning events in 18 hours

Kori Rumore and Jonathon Berlin
Chicago Tribune
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 19:22 UTC
Wednesday night's storm stretched 700 miles across the Midwest and produced more than 1 million lightning strokes and flashes.
Wednesday night's storm stretched 700 miles across the Midwest and produced more than 1 million lightning strokes and flashes.
Wednesday night's storm, which stretched more than 700 miles from eastern Iowa to northern Virginia, produced more than 1 million lightning events over 18 hours -- more than 236,000 of them occurring in Illinois and over Lake Michigan, and is blamed for a house fire in Evanston.

Since 1989, every stroke and flash of lightning that happens in the continental U.S. has been recorded in real time by the Vaisala-owned National Lightning Detection Network, based in Tucson, Ariz., which monitors lightning activity 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This includes the time, location and polarity of cloud-to-ground lightning and cloud pulses, which can stay in a cloud or be connected to cloud-to-ground lightning.

Vaisala estimates the Chicago area had 12-20 flashes of lightning per square mile each year from 2005-14. During the same time period, Illinois had the eighth-highest cloud-to-ground lightning flash density among U.S. states at 14.2 per square mile. Florida had the most -- 21 per square mile.
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Cloud Lightning

Massive lightning strikes filmed in India

NEWS@9
You Tube
Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:23 UTC
Lightning strike
This deadly lightning has killed at least 67 people in India over the past two days, according to disaster management officials, as the annual monsoon rains sweep the country.

Lightning strikes are relatively common in India during the June-October monsoon, which hit the southern coast earlier this month, but this week's toll is particularly high.

"We have confirmation of 47 deaths and fear the toll may go up as reports are pouring in from other districts," Anirudh Kumar, a senior official at Bihar's disaster management agency, said.

Authorities in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh said 20 people were killed over two days.

Lightning kills thousands of Indians every year, most of them farmers working the fields. More than 2,500 people were killed by lightning in India in 2014, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, the most recent figures available.

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Cloud Lightning

Update: Lightning strikes kill at least 120 in eastern India


Sputnik
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 13:07 UTC
Lightning
© AP/Channi Anand
Repeated lightning strikes have killed as many as 120 farmers in the eastern parts of India forcing workers to demand strong action from the authorities.

The monsoon season and incessant rainfall sweeping several parts of India were accompanied by deadly lightning strikes. Though the exact death toll is yet to be ascertained, at least 120 people, mostly farm-workers, are believed to have been killed and women and children are also among the casualties. Another unspecified number of people were injured.

"Lightning strikes are common during monsoons, but there have been more strikes than usual this year," said Vyas Ji, a senior government official in Bihar, where the most number of deaths occurred. Several others were killed in other states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

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