Storms
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Cloud Precipitation

Rainstorm turns streets into rivers in northern China

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Streets have been turned into rivers as rainstorms lashed Yanjiao in Langfang city, in north China's Hebei Province on Thursday.

Pictures taken by locals show that large parts of streets in the city, which is only about 30 kilometers (18.6 mils) from Beijing, have been inundated with water.

Heavy rain also hit Beijing on Thursday afternoon. The Chinese capital has been pelted with rain on at least 30 of the past 50 days.
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Cloud Precipitation

Thousands hungry due to freak cold wave in Papua; hailstorms damage crops and kill livestock

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© Indonesian Red Cross SocietyVolunteers of Indonesian Red Cross Society are unloading aid materials in sub-district Kuyawage, Lanny Jaya. About 182,000 people are affected as extreme weather hit areas in Papua, Indonesia.
In recent weeks, thousands of people in the Indonesian Province of Papua have been suffering the effects of a severe cold wave that has left remote communities in need of food and clean water.

The cold wave first struck at the beginning of July, hitting the district of Lanny Jaya particularly hard. The sub-districts of Kuyawage, West Wanu and Goa Baliem were struck by hailstorms accompanied by freezing temperatures which plunged to minus two degrees Celsius.

"Water is an urgent need for the communities in Lanny Jaya," said the Executive Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross Society, Ginandjar Kartasasmita. Local water sources are reportedly frozen or have been contaminated and supplies of bottled water are unavailable in local markets. In response, the Red Cross has so far distributed 500 gallons of drinking water, blankets and instant food to help 182,000 people who are in need of humanitarian assistance.

All aid items have been decided following a rapid assessment carried out by the Red Cross in coordination with local authorities which have distributed five tonnes of rice to Kuyawage and deployed two doctors and five nurses.

Windsock

3-hour Canadian tornado likely one of world's longest


The massive tornado that roared across the Canadian province of Manitoba late Monday was on the ground for nearly 3 hourslikely one of the longest-lasting on record in Canada and perhaps the world. No injuries or deaths were reported.

The longest tornado recorded is the infamous Tri-State tornado that lasted for about 3.5 hours, ravaging the Midwest in March 1925 and leaving hundreds of people dead in its wake.

"The path length distance of the Manitoba tornado might be shorter, but the duration may be comparable," Randy Cerveny, rapporteur of climate and weather extremes for the World Meteorological Organization, said, referring to reports that the Canadian tornado may not have moved as far distance wise as the 1925 twister.


The tornado tore a path through rural southwest Manitoba, reported Environment Canada, the Canadian version of the USA's National Weather Service. While it damaged trees, power poles, farms and roads, it missed every town in its path.

"This was probably one of the longest on the ground tornadoes we have had in Manitoba or on the Prairies," Natalie Hasell, Environment Canada's warning preparedness meteorologist, told the Winnipeg Free Press.

Comment: All over the world extreme weather records are being broken!

Stay informed, see: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - June-2015: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval and High Strangeness

To understand what's going on, check out our book explaining how all these events are part of a natural climate shift, and why it's taking place now: Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.

Check out previous installments in this series - now translated into multiple languages - and more videos from SOTT Media here or here.

You can help us chronicle the Signs of the Times by sending video suggestions to sott@sott.net


Cloud Precipitation

Deluge planet: 20 killed by floods in Myanmar

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At least 20 people were killed in flash floods in several parts of Myanmar over the past week that also affected thousands of others, an official here said on Tuesday.

Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Chun Hayel said severe floods, triggered by heavy rainfall lashing Sagaing and Mandalay regions as well as Kachin and Shan states over the past week, destroyed over 17,000 houses till Monday, affecting nearly 100,000 people, Xinhua reported.

Regional authorities were carrying out rescue and relief work in the flood-hit areas, Chun Hayel said.

Meanwhile, the weather bureau forecast that central Myanmar areas will experience a continuation or increase of rain in the next two days.

The weather bureau has asked fishing boats at sea to be alert to the severe weather conditions.

Cloud Precipitation

Deluge planet: Flash floods kill at least 26 in northern Gujarat, India

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© Daily Star
At least 26 people have been killed in the flash floods by torrential monsoon rain in Gujarat in the past 48 hours, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

"Over 2,000 villages of north Gujarat have been affected due to the floods," a duty officer in the state's emergency control room told AFP. "We have lost contact with most of these villages and there is no information coming in from those areas."

The rain and high winds have also cut power and communications, raising concerns that villagers may be stranded. Rescue teams have been deployed to several hard-hit areas, including the district of Banaskantha where eight people have been killed in rain-related incidents including drownings. The district collector Dilip Rana said, "Efforts are on to first rescue those stranded in floodwaters."

Four people died in Kutch district after several houses collapsed, while more than 1,000 people there have been relocated to higher grounds, reported local official MS Patel. Six fatalities have also been recorded in the main city of Ahmedabad and eight in other districts, said the control room officer.

The weather bureau forecast that heavy rain will continue to inundate Gujarat for another 48 hours, where more than 50 people were killed last month.


Cloud Precipitation

6 inches of hail falls on Custer, South Dakota

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A lot of hail fell in Custer Monday evening, this photo was sent to us showing the 1 inch in diameter hail. Except the 1 inch hail ended up being 6 inches deep.

This sort of thing has happened before. Just earlier this month, another hail storm caused the plows to come out.

The Black Hills are notorious for hail. This is because the freezing level is closer to the ground than in the plains of central and eastern Keloland. While most of the hail remains small at an inch or under, enough can fall in a short amount of time to give the appearance of snow. But we know we can get our fair share of large hail too.

Yesterday's storm reports had hail of just under two inches for parts of the northern Hills. While three and a half inch hail fell in Hill City. We should get a break from the hail as dry skies are forecasted for the rest of the week.


Comment: Seen in addition -

4 inches of hailstones prompts summer use of snowplows in Rapid City, South Dakota


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Study: Changing storm dynamics causing greater risk of flooding; nearly 40% of U.S. population at risk

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© Adrees Latif/Reuters
Changing storm dynamics are causing a greater risk of flooding than they were 50 years ago, particularly on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, putting nearly 40 percent of the US population in harm's way, according to a new study from a Florida university.

In the study, Florida researchers used records of rainfall, sea levels and hurricanes for more than 30 American cities along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts to assess the relationship between heavy rainfall on land and abnormal rises in water levels occurring during a storm or storm surge.

For both the East and West coasts, they found that, currently, weather events blowing water towards the coast are more likely to cause heavy rainfall over the land and lead to flooding than weather events that took place in the 1950s.
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Cloud Precipitation

Death toll rises to 11 in northern Vietnam floods; greatest rainfall for 40 years

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© VNA/VNS/ Van DucRainfall flooded many roads in Quang Ninh Province's Ha Long City. The province's People's Committee yesterday held an online meeting with local authorities to co-ordinate on repairing damage caused by heavy rain over the last two days.
The death toll rose to 11 in record floods in northern Vietnam, with at least six people still missing, authorities said Tuesday.

The latest victims include a mother and son whose house collapsed and buried them, according to Quang Ninh provincial department of agriculture.

"The possibility to find the six alive is very small," said Nguyen Duc Long, chairman of the province.

Floods triggered by heavy rains have damaged nearly 3,000 houses, and thousands of people have fled to safety, authorities said.

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Flood in Cua Ong, Quang Ninh province

Cloud Precipitation

Floods in Pakistan kill 69; nearly 300,000 affected

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Floodwater in Pakistan
At least 69 people have been killed and nearly three lakh others displaced across Pakistan in the devastating floods triggered by torrental rains, officials said today.

At least 34 people were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 15 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, eight in Punjab, seven in Balochistan and five in Gilgit-Baltistian, bringing the overall toll to 69, said Ahmad Kamal, an official with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

About 36 people sustained injuries in the rain and flood related accidents. At least 294,844 people were affected by the floods. About 1,855 houses have been destroyed and crops on 2,05,366 acres of land have been damaged.

NDMA along with army and civil authorities have taken measures to help the people displaced by the deluge.



Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 12-yr-old boy in Jamnagar, India

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Summary: The boy was identified as Gala Raba, a resident of Jambusar Nes village in Bhanvad taluka. Though the weather remained overcast on Friday there was no heavy rains reported from any part of Saurashtra on Friday.

However, sporadic light to moderate rains were recorded in few place in Saurahstra and Kutch region.


A 12-year-old boy died after being struck by lightning in Bhanvad taluka of Jamnagar district on Thursday late evening. The boy was identified as Gala Raba, a resident of Jambusar Nes village in Bhanvad taluka. The incident took place when he was playing in the field. Though the weather remained overcast on Friday there was no heavy rains reported from any part of Saurashtra on Friday. However, sporadic light to moderate rains were recorded in few place in Saurahstra and Kutch region. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a rainfall forecast for the next 48 hours.