Heavy rains lashed Kashmir and the authorities issued an warning that avalanche might strike many areas of the Vallery close to the mountain ranges.
"Medium danger avalanche alert has been sounded for higher reaches of Gurez, Baruab, Chakwali, Kanzalwan, Niru, Razdan Pass, Gugladara, Keran, Machil, Chowkibal, Tangdar and higher reaches of Gulmarg and Khilanmarg following the rainfall," Aamir Ali, Coordinator of the Disaster Management Cell, said.
He said low danger avalance warning exists for peaks of Drass and Kargil areas in Ladakh region.
"People living in the higher reaches of these areas have been advised to curtail their outdoor movement and not to venture into avalanche prone areas," Ali added.
Pahalgam in south Kashmir Anantnag district received the highest rainfall at 27.6 mm till 5.30 pm, an official of the MET department said.
Storms
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which is the only surface link between Kashmir and rest of the country, was closed for vehicular traffic today due to a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Ramban district of Jammu & Kashmir today.
The 300-km-long highway was closed after landslides were triggered by heavy rains at Panthal in Ramban district this afternoon, senior superintendent of police, National Highway, Kifayat Haider said.
As a result of the landslides, about 100-150 vehicles are stranded on different stretches of the highway, he said.
Men and machines of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are working to clear the landslide, he said.
The 300-km-long highway was closed after landslides were triggered by heavy rains at Panthal in Ramban district this afternoon, senior superintendent of police, National Highway, Kifayat Haider said.
As a result of the landslides, about 100-150 vehicles are stranded on different stretches of the highway, he said.
Men and machines of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are working to clear the landslide, he said.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) asked residents in one region and four provinces to brace for continuous heavy rains, which may trigger flash floods and landslides in these areas.
According to PAGASA, the wind convergence will continue to affect Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao today, bringing cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms.
It said rains will become widespread over Bicol Region, and the provinces of Dinagat Island, Samar, Leyte, and Surigao, which may cause flash floods and landslides.
According to PAGASA, the wind convergence will continue to affect Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao today, bringing cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms.
It said rains will become widespread over Bicol Region, and the provinces of Dinagat Island, Samar, Leyte, and Surigao, which may cause flash floods and landslides.
© Kent Porter / The Press Democrat
The afternoon crash in the mountains 70 miles east of Sacramento involved at least six big rigs and 15 vehicles, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Curtis Fouyer said.
A man who appeared to be in his 60s was found dead, but Fouyer did not know if he was in one of the vehicles crushed by a big rig. Other motorists called police to report they were trapped but uninjured.
"They're still pulling things apart to figure out what's where and get the cars moved," Fouyer said three hours after the crash near Yuba Gap, a popular weekend sledding destination.
© Unknown
Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 - the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.
"The term '100-year event' really lost its meaning this year."
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.
Comment: Interesting how the blame is assigned to those who are struggling daily with the effects of psychopathy at the top (including scientific establishment), and with the influence of those who are in fact responsible for the negligence, mediocrity, political manipulations and lies so prevalent in our nowadays society.
Even though many catastrophes have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and weird year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.
Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river breaches, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
The gust struck Santa Rosa's Sequoia Landscape Materials on Pacific Avenue and King Street, ripping off the roof. Witnesses said they saw a funnel cloud moments before the gust hit the neighborhood.
However, the National Weather Service could not confirm the winds were caused by a tornado until investigating the scene.
Owner Sue Minnigerode said she looked outside her business at 1330 King St. when she heard the wind howling around 9:45 a.m. and saw pieces of the 100-foot long shed fly onto nearby Pacific Avenue.
Debris from the shed landed in nearby power lines and on properties three houses away, she said.
"I saw the wind just pick up the roof and blow it up into the air," Minnigerode told the Press Democrat.
At around 11 a.m., the NWS Doppler radio indicated a tornado cloud had been spotted over Belmont moving northeast at 40 mph.
A tornado was in effect for San Mateo County until at least 11:30 a.m.
© NASA JPL, Ed Olsen
On March 14 at 1553 UTC (11:53 a.m. EST) NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Sub-Tropical Storm Arani along the Brazilian coast. Most of the convection and thunderstorms (purple) were limited to the eastern half of the storm.
On March 14 at 1553 UTC (11:53 a.m. EST) NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Sub-Tropical Storm Arani along the Brazilian coast. Most of the convection and thunderstorms (purple) were limited to the eastern half of the storm.
On March 14, 2011 at 1553 UTC (11:53 a.m. EST) the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Sub-Tropical Storm Arani moving away from the Brazilian coast. Most of the convection and thunderstorms were limited to the eastern half of the storm at the time of the image. The strong areas of convection (rapidly rising air that condenses and forms the thunderstorms that power a tropical cyclone) appeared on the imagery as a sideways boomerang, and were off-shore, paralleling the coast.
AIRS measured the temperatures in those strong areas of convection and found they were as cold as or colder than -63 Fahrenheit (-52 Celsius) indicating some strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. That heavy rainfall was occurring off-shore. NASA's AIRS imagery is created at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
On March 15 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EST), the Brazilian Navy issued a special marine warning for the Brazilian coast. The warning stated that Sub-Tropical Storm Arani was located near 24.0 South latitude and 37 West longitude. Arani had a minimum central pressure of 998 millibars and was moving east-southeast near 10 to 15 knot winds.
© Reuters/ Bruno Domingos
Torrential rain caused floods and landslides and destroyed roads in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana.
Two people are missing. Overall, up to 60,000 residents of the South American country's south have been affected.
© AP
Going nowhere: Motorists had to abandon their cars in North Dakota after 60mph winds caused a blizzard and plunging temperatures turned roads to ice rinks.
Going nowhere: Motorists had to abandon their cars in North Dakota after 60mph winds caused a blizzard and plunging temperatures turned roads to ice rinks.
Motorists were yesterday forced to abandon their vehicles after 60mph winds created whiteouts and plunging temperatures turned roads to ice rinks throughout the state.
Traffic came to a grinding halt and there were multiple pileups that caused more delay. Miraculously there were reports of only minor injuries.
Rescue workers, including around 70 soldiers, had to use military lorries and other heavy vehicles that could plough through huge snow drifts to pluck people from more than 500 cars abandoned along major highway routes.
They were taken to churches, schools, bars and gas stations that became makeshift shelters while the highways were closed.
Katie Woodbury, a North Dakota State College freshman, was driving from the school in Fargo to her family's farm in Stanley, northwest North Dakota, when road conditions forced her take shelter at a church in Medina.
'It was scary - I was talking to myself the whole time,' she said of her drive. 'I just want to get home and see my mom and dad and the 13 new piglets at the farm.'
She said she talked to her parents by phone today and, after having a hot meal, was just waiting for the weather to clear.
Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME strike on March 10th. During the past 24 hours, Northern Lights have descended as far south as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan in the United States. "It was nice to see the aurora borealis again after so many years of low activity," says Jerry Zhu, who sends this picture from Madison, WI:
© Jerry Zhu
© Travis Novitsky
