Storms
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Cloud Precipitation

Typhoon Matmo threatens Taiwan and China - damaging wind, flooding rain expected

Adam Douty
Accuweather.com
Sun, 20 Jul 2014 11:22 UTC
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Typhoon Matmo is expected to strengthen and threaten Taiwan and China during the middle of the week.

Thunderstorm activity will continue to flourish around Matmo, but the typhoon is still having trouble strengthening and developing an eye.

However, Matmo remains in a region conducive to tropical development. As a result, AccuWeather.com meteorologists still feel that significant strengthening is still likely through Tuesday, local time.

While Matmo will be across open water of the Philippines Sea through the beginning of the week and will not cross the Philippines, northern parts of the country will still feel some effects from the storm as it enhances a tropical southwesterly flow from the South China Sea.

This will lead to the threat for heavy rain and subsequent flooding across Mindoro and western Luzon.
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Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorm causes huge damage to fruit and vegetable farms in Kashmir, India


freshplaza.com
Fri, 18 Jul 2014 13:48 UTC
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A hailstorm and strong winds, besides heavy rains caused huge damage to crops and vegetable farms in Kashmir, leaving farmers in distress over expected losses.

Farmers in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir were worried as their crops have suffered massive damaged due to the hailstorm.

Expressing their sorrow, farmers said that they invested huge amount of money for sowing high yielding vegetable seeds, but the hailstorm destroyed their entire fields.

"I had sown high breed seeds for which we spent 8-9,000. The moment the crops got ready, hailstorm destroyed them. This is my only source of income. I am dependent on it. It's been two weeks. Nobody from the administration (government) has come here. Therefore, we request them to come and see the damage and government should provide us some support," said a farmer, Shabbir Hussain.

Agriculture officer Rafiq Choudhary said that farmers must avail the benefit of number of schemes introduced by the provincial government for the growers who are faced with such problems due to natural calamity. "We can't help it. This destruction has been caused by nature. But it would have been better if they had avail 'Kisan (farmer) credit card' scheme and had got their crops insured on time, because then they wouldn't face this problem," said Choudhary.
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Cloud Precipitation

Servere hailstorm causes damage to crops in Northeastern Wisconsin


Insurance Journal
Fri, 18 Jul 2014 13:34 UTC
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© Samantha Hernandez/Door County Advocate Growing corn shorn from its stalks along Walker Road in the town of Sevastopol after a localized hailstorm ravaged crops Monday night.
A severe hailstorm caused significant damage to crops in northeastern Wisconsin, farmers and researchers said.

Matt Stasiak, an agricultural researcher, tells the Door County Advocate the hail crushed cherry trees, grapevines, winter wheat, corn and other crops in Sevastopol on Monday night.

"A lot of foliage was stripped right off the cherry and apple trees," he said. "I saw some corn that had been ripped down to the stalks."

Stasiak also said five or six unfinished experiments at the Peninsular Agricultural Research Station were ruined. His team will have to wait until next year to repeat them.

A farmer tending to 60 acres of corn said the storm reduced the crop to one foot tall from four feet. The farmer said he remembers a similar hailstorm that hit the area 51 years ago, but it didn't leave behind "snowbanks" like the one on Monday night.

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Umbrella

Super typhoon Rammasun slams China, Vietnam - risk of damaging winds, flooding, mudslides, coastal storm surge

Eric Leister
Accuweather.com
Fri, 18 Jul 2014 09:14 UTC
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© Accuweather.com
After moving over extreme northern Hainan China Friday afternoon, local time, the eye of Super Typhoon Rammasun will crash into the Leizhou Peninsula early Friday evening.

Rammasun, packing winds of 155 mph with higher gusts, is expected to make landfall again as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane early Friday evening, local time.

Rammasun will likely bring widespread winds of over 100 mph to northern Hainan Island on Friday afternoon and Friday night (local time) with higher gusts. Widespread wind damage is expected across northern Hainan, as well as the Leizhou Peninsula to the north.
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Cloud Precipitation

Flooding, heavy rainfall distress over 1 million people in China


RT
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 02:25 UTC
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© Reuters/China Daily

Street lamps are seen among floodwaters next to partially submerged buildings by an over flowing river at the ancient town as heavy rainfall hits Fenghuang county, Hunan province July 15, 2014.
Hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate with over 1 million people in total affected in China as heavy rainstorms batter Hunan and Guizhou provinces, with reports of several deaths and mass destruction.

Some 720,000 people from 240 townships in Hunan are now affected, the provincial flood control headquarters said on Tuesday, Xinhua reports. At least 460 homes have been destroyed and 149,400 residents have been relocated.

The ancient town of Fenghang was flooded with more than 120,000 locals and tourists evacuated since Monday night. Multiple temporary settlements have been set up to cater for the displaced people. Power supply in the region has also been cut off, prompting the local hydrographical bureau to issue a red alert, at 10:10 am local time.

Comment: At least 18 killed in China rainstorms

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Cloud Lightning

At least 18 killed in China rainstorms


English.news.cn
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 23:36 UTC
china flooding
© Xinhua/Peng BiaoRescuers evacuate people trapped in flood water in Jishou, central China's Hunan Province, July 16, 2014.
Continuous rainstorms have battered several provinces in China this week, killing at least 18 people and affecting several million.

In southwest China's Guizhou Province alone, 7 people were killed in floods, when their homes collapsed or by lightning strikes, the provincial civil affairs bureau said in a press release Wednesday. Three others were reported missing and more than 91,000 were relocated.H Heavy rain, which began on Sunday night and lasted through Wednesday, destroyed 5,800 homes and damaged another 16,300 in Guizhou.

In Tongren City, the Jinjiang River overflowed into many downtown streets, flooding homes and stores. Firefighters were mobilized to pump the floodwater from downtown areas.

Power supplies were cut off in nearly 300,000 homes in Tongren, Zunyi and Bijie. As of Wednesday night, about 100,000 homes were still without power.
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Cloud Lightning

Family of four struck by one lightning bolt during unusually high numbers of "fierce thunderstorms" in Norway


thelocal.no
Tue, 15 Jul 2014 10:33 UTC
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© ShutterstockLarge lightning bolt at night
Four members of the same family were all struck by a lightning bolt on Saturday in Rennebu, South Trøndelag.

Around 5pm on Saturday, a married couple, both 57 years old, and their son, 24, and daughter, 23, were all admitted to St Olav's Hospital.

The couple and their daughter suffered only minor injuries from the lightning attack, but the young man was seriously injured. He was taken to intensive care at the hospital where his condition is said to be stable. He received vital heart and lung rescue at the scene of the incident after having a heart attack.

Tore Kyllo, operation leader with the local police, confirmed to NTB: "It is a family of four that is struck. One of them got a cardiac arrest, but resuscitation made his heart beat again."
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Cloud Lightning

Typhoon Rammasun kills 38 in Philippines, millions without power


BBC News
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 06:50 UTC
Typhoon Rammasun
© APThe typhoon ripped off tin roofs and felled trees as it swept through provinces south of the Philippines
A powerful storm that battered the central Philippines has killed 38 people and left millions without power.

Ten more people were injured by Typhoon Rammasun and another eight remain missing, according to authorities.

The typhoon swept through the country on Tuesday night before making a shift away from Manila on Wednesday.

More than 530,000 people took refuge in evacuation centres. Many of those who died were killed while outdoors by falling trees and flying debris.

Millions living in provinces southeast of the capital still have no power, according to news agencies.

Officials have managed to restore power to only half of Luzon, which has 17 million people.

Much of the eastern region of Bicol, which was hit first by the storm and is home to five million, is also without electricity.

Manila was hit by widespread blackouts as well, but most of the city's power has since been restored.

Officials said more than one million people were affected by the storm. Most of them were from Bicol.

The storm is now heading westwards towards China's Hainan island. The Tropical Storm Risk website is predicting it will gain in strength to Category 2 - one grade below its strength in the Philippines - within 24 hours.
Typhoon Rammasun
© ReutersOfficials estimate the typhoon caused about $1 million (£580,000) in damage to infrastructure
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Cloud Lightning

Freak "The Day After Tomorrow" hail storm hits Siberian beach in mid-summer - extraordinary pictures and video

Anna Liesowska
The Siberian Times
Sun, 13 Jul 2014 07:37 UTC
'If we die, I love you,' says one bather struck by bullet-like giant hail stones.
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© Ruslan SokolovSwimmers waded out of the water covering their heads.
Swimmers on the popular river beach say there was no warning on a sunny day before the downpour of hailstones, some the size of golf balls and hen eggs.

Temperatures on Saturday 12 July were as hot as 37C - or 99F - in Siberia's largest city, Novosibirsk, the day the hail cloudburst struck.

Suddenly in late afternoon heavy winds hit the sandy beach between two bridges across the Ob River, the fifth longest in the world.
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© Ruslan Sokolov
Swimmers waded out of the water covering their heads. They shielded themselves under parasols and blow-up sun beds to stay clear of the giant hailstones.

Some children were in tears, sheltering under trees, as the hail bombardment struck the beach vicinity.

'It was like being hit by raining bullets from the sky,' said one sunbather.

'My husband was protecting my young daughter but his back was exposed to the hailstones and he has bruising all over it,' said one woman.

Comment: Take a look at some of the big storm reports from the beginning of this month:



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Arrow Down

Switzerland hit by landslides following heavy rainfall


thelocal.ch
Sun, 13 Jul 2014 13:44 UTC
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© Graubünden Police/ AFP/FileDamage from a landslide in eastern Switzerland in 2012.
An 82-year-old woman was found dead in a Swiss stream on Sunday, police said, as heavy rain and landslides halted train and road traffic near the city of Bern, the capital.

Police said that the woman died in Thörishaus, a village southwest of Bern, as parts of the country were hit by a deluge.

In the nearby town of Köniz, 200 firefighters worked throughout the night to deal with flooded streams and landslides, evacuating several homes.

Landslides blocked the railway between Bern and the western city of Fribourg and between Montreux and Zweisimmen, while flooding cut the line between the capital and the town of Thun, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) said.

Buses were pressed into service to provide alternative transport between Bern and Fribourg.
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