Storms
S


Umbrella

All-time rainfall record on verge of being broken in Chennai, India

K. Lakshmi
The Hindu
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 08:21 UTC
floods in Chennai, India
© M. PrabhuRains left the Madras war cemetery flooded on Tuesday.
Chennai is on its way to have the wettest November of the century and break an all-time rainfall record.

With Monday's torrential downpour bringing 93 mm of rainfall, Chennai has crossed 1,025 mm of rainfall for the month. According to the Meteorological Department, November 1918 was the wettest month as the city received 1088.4 mm of rainfall then.

The weather station in Meenambakkam has already recorded 1144.8 mm this November. Officials recall that Chennai recorded 970 mm of rainfall in November 1985 and 1077.1 mm in October 2005. The remaining few days of this month will decide whether the city gets to break the century's record.

The rains so far have been severe with many rain-related deaths, including the electrocution of a couple in Velachery, death of a youngster in a wall collapse in Pattalam and the fatal fall of a man in a trench dug up in R.A. Puram to drain stagnant rainwater. Schools and colleges in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts will remain closed on Wednesday. As reservoirs continue to get heavy inflows, city waterways are carrying rainwater to their brim. The Adyar River is in a spate as about 6,000 cusecs is being let out from the Chembarambakkam reservoir.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Video captures dramatic lightning storms over Queensland, Australia


The Guardian, UK
Tue, 24 Nov 2015 02:53 UTC
Brisbane lightning
© Mark Calleja.Lightning bolts over Brisbane during Monday’s storm.
Queenslanders catch dramatic bolts of lightning on camera during severe storms which battered the south-eastern parts of the state on Monday. More than 28,000 lightning strikes were recorded. Golf ball-sized hailstones are said to have damaged homes and crops and extreme winds and rain, along with the lightning strikes, left more than 4,000 homes without power.

Please note: this video has no audio

Source: AAP
Read More...
Tornado2

Massive waterspout filmed off Saudi coast


Al Arabiya News
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 19:50 UTC
Image
A video went viral on Saudi social media showing the moments when a giant water tornado hits the coast of Ras Tannoura, east Saudi.

A waterspout looks like a tornado, funnel-shaped cloud suspended beneath a low-lying cloud, dropping to a body of water.

Usually weaker than land tornados and caused by unstable weather conditions.

Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Worst floods in 40 years for Addu City, Maldives; 9 inches of rainfall in 12 hours

Hassan Mohamed
Maldives Independent
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 15:39 UTC
Image
© Maldives Red Cross
Southern Addu City has suffered the worst storm damage in 40 years after 12 continuous hours of torrential rain left streets inundated and flooded some 200 households.

"This is the worst flooding I've seen in decades. The water is knee-deep in most areas, and a majority of houses are under a foot of water," saud Abdulla Thoyyib, the deputy mayor.

The Feydhoo and Maradhoo-Feydhoo wards suffered the most damage. According to the Maldives Red Crescent, some 32 houses in Feydhoo and 11 houses in Maradhoo-Feydhoo suffered major damage. A majority of household appliances were destroyed, a spokesperson said.

Residents are now worried of water contamination as sewers are full and overflowing. The city, home to some 20,000 people, and the second most populous region, is out of chlorine, according to Thoyyib.
Image

Comment:


Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Flooding in Saudi Arabia and Qatar after one year of rain falls in a day

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 17:21 UTC
Image
© Saudi Arabia Civil DefenceSaudi Arabia Civil Defence teams carrying out flood rescues in Buraidah, Al-Qassim Region.
Seasonal storms brought heavy rain to Qatar and central and eastern parts of Saudi Arabia on 25 November 2015.

Doha, Qatar, recorded more than a year's worth of rain in one day. One person has been reported as killed in the floods in Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia in what is the third deadly flood event to hit the country in the last 4 weeks.


Saudi Arabia

The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported earlier today that seasonal storms brought heavy rainfall in central and eastern areas of the country, causing severe flooding in Riyadh and Al-Qassim Regions.

Saudi Arabia civil defence report that 1 person has died in the floods in the province of Rimah, Riyadh Region, which is located about 120 kilometres north-east of the capital Riyadh.

Schools have been closed, roads blocked and in some cases flooding has forced drivers to abandon their vehicles. Saudi Arabia civil defence say they have responded to dozens of emergency calls. The city of Buraidah, Al-Qassim Region, is reported as one of the worst hit.
Read More...
Tornado2

Waterspout spotted off Oman's Sur coast

Rejimon K
Times of Oman
Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:07 UTC
Image
© Times of Oman
A waterspout was spotted off Sur coast today, a weather enthusiast said.

A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water. They are connected to a towering cumuliform cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water.

"A waterspout appeared in Sur sea. It's a rare phenomenon, which occurs during cyclone season. Skies are cloudy too," Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses weather in Oman, told Times of Oman.

In its latest tweet, Oman meteorology department has predicted rain in coastal areas of Oman. On Sunday itself, meteorology department has predicted heavy rain in northern parts of Oman from today till the end of the week.

In the Sunday's advisory, the meteorology department added that Oman will likely witness deep depression as moderate to heavy rain is expected on Musandam and North Al Batinah while other governorates will witness varied rain shower except for Dhofar and Al Wusta.
Read More...
Blue Planet

UN Report: Major rise in weather disasters over last 2 decades


Eye Witness News
Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:34 UTC
Image
© AFPA flood-affected resident swims through floodwaters in Kalay, upper Myanmar’s Sagaing region on August 3, 2015. Relentless monsoon rains have triggered flash floods and landslides, destroying thousands of houses, farmland, bridges and roads with fast-flowing waters hampering relief efforts.
Since 1995, weather disasters have killed millions of people & left billions injured & homeless.

Weather-related disasters such as floods and heatwaves have occurred almost daily in the past decade, almost twice as often as two decades ago, with Asia being the hardest hit region, a UN report said on Monday.

While the report authors could not pin the increase wholly on climate change, they did say that the upward trend was likely to continue as extreme weather events increased.

Since 1995, weather disasters have killed millions of people, left billions injured, homeless or in need of aid, and accounted for 90 percent of all disasters, it said.

A recent peak year was 2002, when drought in India hit 200 million and a sandstorm in China affected 100 million.

But the standout mega-disaster was Cyclone Nargis, which killed 138,000 in Myanmar in 2008.
Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Fore! Fault! New balls: Golf-ball and then tennis-ball-sized hail pounds Stanthorpe in Australia

Andrew Backhouse
The Chronicle
Mon, 23 Nov 2015 16:09 UTC
Image
Hail at Stanthorpe
Severe thunderstorms are no longer affecting the Southeast Queensland area (east of Dalby from Rainbow Beach to Stanthorpe).

The immediate threat of severe thunderstorms has passed, but the situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings will be issued if necessary, the Bureau of Meteorology advised at 8.15pm.

Earlier, BOM reports a dangerous thunderstorm had developed and was headed for suburbs north of Brisbane.

Queensland's storms started to develop about 2pm, affecting first the Granite Belt and Darling Downs

There was golf-ball and even tennis-ball-sized hail smashing Stanthorpe about 4.30pm.
The ferocity of the downpour of hail surprised many weatherwatchers.

Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Howzat?! Cricket ball size hail stones fall in New South Wales, Australia

Samantha Elley
The Northern Star
Mon, 23 Nov 2015 15:52 UTC
Image
© Russell O'keefe Hail the size of golf and cricket balls has hit Coraki...twice.
Hail the size of golf balls has fallen in areas such as Rappville, Yamba and now Lismore as the storm hits the Northern Rivers.

Hail approximately 4cm and above has been reported.

In Coraki 55mm of rain fell from two separate storm cells which hit here within 20 mins of each other.

Hail got up to cricket ball size from the first cell, according to resident Russell O'keefe.

"It hailed for around 20 minutes," he said.

"The second cell only had hail the size of 20 cent pieces but there was much more hail for about 15 minutes."
Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Flooding leaves 1 dead and thousands without power in Albania

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Mon, 23 Nov 2015 15:16 UTC
Image
© LSA/Malton Dibra Tirana streets flooded after heavy rainfall
Heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding in Albania yesterday, 22 November 2015. Some areas around Tirana saw almost 9 cm (3.5 inches) of rain in 24 hours.

Albania's General Directorate of Civil Emergencies (Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Emergjencave Civile) say that one man was killed whilst working at a hydro power plant after he was swept away by an overflowing river in Dibër county.

Flooding has been reported in the northern counties of Kukës, Dibër, Durrës, Shkodër, the southern county of Gjirokastër, and also around the capital in Tirana district, in central Albania.

The River Mat overflowed in Dibër county during the evening of 22 November 2015, forcing the evacuation of several families in the village Zenisht.

Read More...