Storms
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Cloud Lightning

73 killed by lightning across Myanmar since April

lightning
Lightning strikes have killed 73 people in Myanmar since April, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement announced in the military-run Myawady Daily newspaper on Sunday.

This figure is up from 57 deaths between April and June, according to the ministry.

U Win Shwe, director of the Yangon Region Relief and Resettlement Department, told the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar that most of the deaths have been recorded in Bago and Ayeyawady regions between noon and 6pm.

He also said lightning fatalities have risen in Myanmar during rainy seasons since Cyclone Nargis hit the country in 2008.

Comment: See also: Lightning strikes kill 57 within 10 weeks in Myanmar (Burma); compares to 10 deaths for roughly the same period in 2016


Cloud Lightning

Spectacular storms across China end summer snap (VIDEO)

China storms
© YouTube/euronews (screen capture)
There have been spectacular storms across China bringing some relief from days of scorching summer heat.

For several hours, lightning lit up the Beijing skies and also struck several areas on the ground.


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 50 goats in north China

dead goats
Lightning strike in north China's Shanxi killed a herd of 50 goats.


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 4 family members in Uganda

lightning
Lightning has struck dead a mother and her three daughters in village four, block 4, zone II in Bidi-Bidi refugee settlement in Yumbe District.

Mr Solomon Osakan, Arua refugee desk officer under the Office of the Prime Minister identified the deceased as Jennifer Dusman, 26-year-old South Sudanese refugee and her three children Mary Kadi,6; Reinda Jokudu,5 and Scovia Yeno,4.

Mr Musoke Abubakar, the Yumbe District police commander confirmed the Sunday incident which occurred at about 2am during a heavy down pour.

"Police visited the scene and bodies were taken to Yumbe hospital for postmortem," Mr Musoke said.

Cloud Precipitation

At least 8 dead after heavy rains hit Jilin, China

Rescuers repair a damaged road in downtown of Yongji County in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province, July 14, 2017.
Rescuers repair a damaged road in downtown of Yongji County in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province, July 14, 2017.
At least eight people ended up dead and one went missing due to heavy rains that hit the Chinese province of Jilin.

Heavy rains claimed the lives of at least eight people and one person went missing in China's northeastern province of Jilin, local media reported on Saturday.

The strongest precipitation was recorded in the central county of Yongji, where the disaster reportedly killed five people, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Torrential rains have been reportedly hitting the province starting from Thursday, prompting evacuation of over 120,000 people.


Tornado2

Environment Canada confirms 2nd tornado touched down in Alberta

Alberta tornado
© Brandi LafreniereAn image of a cloud formation during Thursday's storm, taken east of Drayton Valley on Thursday, July 13, 2017.
After already confirming a tornado touched down near Breton, Alta. on Thursday, Environment Canada has confirmed a second tornado touched down on the same day near Athabasca, Alta.

"On July 13, a low pressure system moved through central Alberta triggering widespread thunderstorms, many of which became severe," the weather agency said in its summary of the storm posted to its website on Friday evening.

According to Environment Canada the first tornado touched down about 10 kilometres northwest of Breton at about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. They gave it a preliminary rating of EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which ranges from the weakest (EF-0) to the strongest (EF-5). The twister's estimated wind speed was between 135 km/h to 175 km/h.

On Friday morning, Environment Canada said it received a report of a second tornado that touched down the same afternoon as the Breton one. It was spotted at 5:56 p.m. over an open field near Athabasca and the weather agency confirmed it did touch down.

Comment: The Weather Network reported almost baseball-sized hail battered homes in Alberta with reports of a tornado touching down near Breton.




Cloud Lightning

Rancher loses 10 head of cattle to lightning bolt in Jewett, Texas

LIGHTNING
It was a hot Wednesday evening at Bar M Ranch in Jewett, but the heat didn't stop Brett Mitchell from tending to and feeding his prized cattle, or at least the ones he has left.

"A storm came through here early July 4th morning," Mitchell said. "It struck our tree and it had 8 cattle laying around it."

In all Mitchell, who lives in Katy, lost ten cattle: four cows with one calf each; a steer and a heifer during the lightning strike.

He estimates the loss is around $20,000.

"Everything in a 20-foot radius around that tree was dead," Michell said. "They were killed instantly. It's one thing to deal with maybe one cow, but to be overwhelmed with so many it was pretty hard."


Cloud Lightning

Mysterious red flashes during thunderstorm spark UFO landing fears in Hungary

Red flashes during thunderstorm in Budapest
© YouTube/BSP News
Mysterious red flashes spotted streaking across the sky during thunderstorm prompt fears of alien spaceship invasion

Flashing red-lights spotted in the sky sparked fears of a landing by UFOs and invasion by extraterrestrials. Several residents in Budapest, Hungary, described a "UFO landing" - following a late-night thunderstorm in the country.

Martin Szoter captured mystery red lights in the sky from near where he lives in Budapest's 21st district, Csepel. Martin believed it to be a crash landing - and that there may have even been more than one extraterrestrial visitor.

UFOs landed in Budapest XXI. District, in the thunderstorm," he wrote.

But Martin was far from the only person to witness the mysterious light source.

Online user 'HU MFM' noted that they saw this strange phenomenon "five times", calling it a "red 'something'" appearing before every lightning strike.

There has been no official explanation from local officials or meteorological experts.


Cloud Precipitation

Monster storm batters the city of Chengdu, China

A huge explosion occurred in the city centre at around 6pm after power cables caught fire
A huge explosion occurred in the city centre at around 6pm after power cables caught fire
A heavy rainstorm yesterday ravaged the Chinese city of Chengdu during evening rush hours, causing traffic chaos.

Terrifying video clips circulating on social media show high wind gusts pushing cars on the road like toys and smashing down the glass doors of an office building.

The extreme weather also caused a huge explosion in the city centre after power cables caught fire, according to local reports.


The storm is said to be the most severe one that has struck Chengdu this year, reported Sichuan News.

It began at around 5pm local time yesterday and lasted for about three hours.

Traffic came to a grinding halt as the high winds and heavy rain battered the provincial capital city of 16 million residents.


Windsock

New Zealand hit by huge swells and constant snow after three days of storms

Raging seas at Wellington's Lyall Bay
© ROSS GIBLIN/STUFFRaging seas hit the seawall at Wellington's Lyall Bay, as the southerly storm batters the capital.

Swell lines charging across the open sea have left passengers crossing New Zealand's Cook Strait grasping for something steady to keep them upright.

Video of the treacherous crossing shows the ferry Interislander crashing through walls of water whipped up by three days of storms.

Passenger Nathan Pilcher told stuff.co.uk it was like a 90-minute rollercoaster.

"Everyone was sitting on the floor, holding on, sitting down with vomit bags and people were lying down in the toilets," he said.

Pilcher said the lengthy journey was made even worse by the nagging "smell of vomit".

On Wednesday, the Kaliarahi ferry was close to running out of vomit bags when the vessel battled seven-metre-high swells.

The high seas were caused by winds as strong as 167kph.