Storms
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Cloud Lightning

Oil refinery in Texas City hit by lightning, catches fire

Sean Breslin
weather.com
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 15:40 UTC
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© John BronkhorstImage of the refinery fire in Texas City, Texas, Thursday morning.
Strong storms moved through the Houston area Thursday morning, where a lightning strike was blamed for an oil refinery fire and streets were quickly flooded by heavy rain.

A Valero refinery in Texas City erupted into flames when a lightning bolt struck a transformer at the site, according to Click2Houston.com. No injuries have been reported, nor are nearby residents in any danger, the report added.

The Texas City Fire Department told the Associated Press that the fire would be monitored and allowed to burn itself out.

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Umbrella

Waterspout in Pamlico Sound filmed off Rodanthe, North Carolina

Sam Walker
The Outer Banks Voice
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 15:04 UTC
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© Douglas RobinsonWaterspout over Pamlico Sound
Douglas Robinson from B101.5 in Fredricksburg, Va. captured video Thursday morning around 6:40 a.m. of a waterspout moving through Pamlico Sound west of Rodanthe.

A cluster of thunderstorms that moved across Hatteras Island after sunrise spawned the short-lived funnel cloud that was reported to the National Weather Service, but dissipated before any warnings were issued.

Today's forecast is for more thunderstorms later this afternoon associated with a slow-moving cold front, and high temperatures in the upper 80s.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bollt kills schoolgirl, injures two others in Bangladesh


The Financial Express (Bangladesh)
Sun, 16 Aug 2015 13:40 UTC
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Lightning strike killed a schoolgirl and injured her mother and sister in Boda upazila in Panchagarh district on Friday afternoon.

The deceased has been identified as Tanya Akhter, 15, daughter of Salekul Islam of Gomostapara village and a student of class ten of nearby Chandanbari High School. Police, hospital and local sources said, thunderbolt stuck a kitchen of Salekul Islam's house around 1pm when Tanya, her sister Sabina Yasmin, 30, and mother Lailey Begum, 50, were engaged in cooking food.

All of them were injured in the incident and taken to Boda Upazila Health Complex where attending Medical Officer Dr M R Reza declared Tanya dead. Tanya's mother Lailey Begum and her sister Sabina Yasmin have been undergoing treatment at the Health Complex, according to a news agency.
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Cloud Lightning

One person killed in lightning strike near Bakersfield, California

Derek VandeWeg
turnto23.com
Mon, 20 Jul 2015 13:32 UTC
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A lightning strike may be to blame for a death in a rural area east of Bakersfield.

Firefighters received the emergency call at 6:51 p.m. on Saturday, according to Kern County Fire Captain Tyler Townsend.

Crews found the victim in the 1300 block of E. Curnow Road, near the intersection of Cottonwood Road.

Bystanders in the area said the victim had been struck by lightning, but the Kern County Coroner's office will ultimately determine the cause of death, Townsend said.

The victim -- whose identity hasn't been released -- was dead on arrival.
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Cloud Lightning

Symbolic? Lightening strikes Google data center four times in succession


The Daily Sheeple
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 00:00 UTC
lightening computer data center
In an iconic moment of the data-driven society, a Google data-center in Belgium was struck not once, but four times by lightning during a storm.

The old adages apparently don't apply in this modern age, as a power outage temporarily took down the computing facility after the repeated strikes of lightning hit its power grid.

Comment: These occurrences may become more common as lightening strikes are increasing globally.

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Cloud Precipitation

Roads closed, cars submerged as flash floods hit Union County, New Jersey


newyork.cbslocal.com
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 19:35 UTC
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Scotch Plains flooding
Cars were submerged and a major roadway was shut down due to flooding in the Scotch Plains, New Jersey area Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. 22 was shut down between County Road 55, Bonnie Burn Road and Park Avenue in Scotch Plains Township and Mountain Avenue in Mountainside, officials told CBS2.

All lanes were closed in both directions. Parts of the road later reopened, 1010 WINS reported, but the closure at the Park Avenue overpass in Scotch Plains remained in effect as of 9:35 p.m.

By 11 p.m., the westbound lanes of Route 22 had reopened, but the eastbound side remained closed.
Route 78 was also affected by flooding.

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Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rainfall triggers landslide, floods in Bangladesh


The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Fri, 21 Aug 2015 19:09 UTC
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© The Daily StarLike many other areas, Muslimpara of Khagrachhari district town and Tengargaon village in Noarai union of Chhatak upazila in Sunamganj district go under as flood situation worsened further amid heavy rainfall yesterday.
A baby was killed and his grandmother critically injured in a rain-triggered landslide in Bandarban Sadar upazila yesterday morning.

Overall flood situation in Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Sylhet and Sunamganj districts has worsened, report our correspondents.

In Bandarban, Sajib Hossain, one and a half-year-old son of Inu Haque Chowdhury, died and Inu's mother, 60, was badly injured as chunks of mud from a hill fell on their house at Ghonapara in New Gulshan area of Sadar upazila, said Ranadhir Dutta, stationmaster of Bandarban fire service unit.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill two in Thanjavur, India


The Hindu
Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:37 UTC
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Two persons were struck dead by lightning as sky remained overcast and dark clouds hung low over Thanjavur district on Tuesday. Drizzle and sharp showers wetted some parts of the district.

B. Bhanumathy (60) of Karthikai Thottam near Sarukkai village was struck dead by lightning near her house on Monday. Kapisthalam police are investigating.

Similarly, a farmer Panchanathan of Kovilur village near Orathanad who was grazing his cow near his house was hit by lightning and dropped dead along with his cow.
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Umbrella

Beachgoer captures terrifying film of enormous waterspout bearing down on beach in Mexico

Jake Polden
Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 16:19 UTC
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The columnar vortex travelled over the North Pacific Ocean very close to the shore of the state of Oaxaca
This incredible footage captured the intensity of a waterspout that hit a beach in Mexico.

The incident occurred earlier this month and the amateur video was recorded by a visitor to the San Agustinillo beach in Tonameca.

In the clip the columnar vortex can be seen travelling over the North Pacific Ocean very close to the shore of the state of Oaxaca.

Other beachgoers can be seen staring up at the perfectly funnel-shaped cloud that sways from left to right slightly but stays straight and tubular throughout.

The sound of the strong wind can be heard throughout the video and the short clip concludes with the non-supercell tornado heading away from the filmmaker and along the coast.

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Attention

Hundreds of birds found dead in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma

Rick Maranon
fox23.com
Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:12 UTC
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© FacebookOutside the Sun Building
Quick facts:

* Over 200 birds were found dead at 9th and Elgin in downtown Tulsa today.

* The purple martins are a rare species protected by state and federal law.

* The game warden says that he is looking into whether someone criminally poisoned the birds, because thousands
of them nest in trees nearby, but there is also the possibility that last night's rain knocked them out of the trees and was too much for them to bear, causing them to essentially drown on the sidewalk during a downpour.

* TU researchers have taken most of the birds away for analysis because it is a rare species.

Dozens of birds were left dead on downtown Tulsa sidewalks due to what is being called a "rare weather phenomenon".

Many of the birds at 9th and Detroit were cleaned up by Wednesday evening. Those who work in the area said they felt like they walked into a horror movie.

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