You know what comes out of the bottom of a thunder storm--lightning. But do you know what comes out of the top? On Sept. 28th at 7:01 am EDT, Joel Gonzalez photographed a gigantic jet shooting up from a storm near NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Click on the image to watch the action--and turn up the volume for a crackling soundtrack:
Storms
© Matt Rourke/AP Photo
Amel Sincere empties out her car after receded floodwaters submerged the parking lot of the Waterford Apartments in Havertown, Pa., Friday.
Amel Sincere empties out her car after receded floodwaters submerged the parking lot of the Waterford Apartments in Havertown, Pa., Friday.
The storm that killed five people in North Carolina on Thursday soaked a great swath of the Northeast by the Friday morning commute, including New York City and Philadelphia. Flights coming into LaGuardia Airport in New York City were delayed three hours and traffic coming into Manhattan was delayed by up to an hour under a pounding rain.
Firefighters in the Philadelphia area used a ladder truck to pull residents through the upper-floor windows of a building. Cars were submerged up to their windows, and a graphic artist found another vehicle floating atop his car.
Rainfall totals in the Philadelphia area topped 10 inches.
© Chuck Burton/AP Photo
A man cleans his car at a flooded car wash in Carolina Beach, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010.
A man cleans his car at a flooded car wash in Carolina Beach, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010.
Tornado watches were issued from North Carolina to New Jersey.
In North Carolina, the nearly 21 inches collected in Wilmington since rain started falling Sunday topped Hurricane Floyd's five-day mark of 19 inches set in 1999, the National Weather Service said.
In the eastern part of the state, officials evacuated about 70 people overnight from a mobile home community in Kinston because of high water, Roger Dail, director of emergency services in Lenoir County, said.
"The water's still up," Dail said. "I would suspect it's going to be later today, maybe tomorrow, before the water goes out of there."
© European Press Agency
A landslide in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico. Reports suggest up to 1,000 people may have died in the remote area of south-western Mexico
A landslide in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico. Reports suggest up to 1,000 people may have died in the remote area of south-western Mexico
Hundreds of people were buried in their homes early Tuesday after a rain-soaked mountainside gave way in southwestern Mexico, officials said.
Donato Vargas, an official in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec reached by phone, said 500 people were missing and that 300 homes were buried after the slide around 4 a.m. local time.
"We were all sleeping and all I heard was a loud noise and when I left the house I saw that the hill had fallen," Vargas said.
"It has been difficult informing authorities because the roads are very bad and there isn't a good signal for our phone," Vargas said shortly before the call dropped.
Reached by the news agency AFP, Vargas added that "we fear that those missing are buried inside their homes because we've already searched nearby areas."
Bogota - Colombian rescue officials say it will take at least a week to unearth about 30 people who were buried by a landslide as they changed from one bus to another because a mountain road was blocked.
Regional disaster agency chief John Freddy Rendon says he doesn't expect any survivors from Monday's landslide between the towns of Giraldo and Canasgordas northwest of Bogota.
© Unknown
The Scottish Cairngorm hills have seen their first Winter snow in September
The Scottish Cairngorm hills have seen their first Winter snow in September
Summer made a particularly swift exit from the Highlands as the first sprinklings of snow paid an early visit to the north of Scotland.
The last time Britain saw a September cold snap as severe as this current one was in 2003, when much of northern England was below freezing.
Two Scottish weather stations recorded record lows: Tulloch Bridge recorded a temperature of -4.2°C, and Tyndrum -4.4°C - the coldest temperatures recorded since the two stations opened in 1982 and 1990 respectively.
For the people of the Cairngorms particularly, it was a wintry end to September.
Snow fell on the Scottish mountain range overnight, and hill-walkers had to wear their winter woolies and specialist equipment as they enjoyed blue, sun-filled skies with slippery conditions underfoot.
As usual it was the children who took best advantage with some of the earliest snowmen ever built on the Cairngorms.
© Mainichi
Portable shrine-carriers battle in the ocean during the "Shiofumi" event of the "Ohara Hadaka Matsuri," three hours before the lightning strike in Isumi.
Portable shrine-carriers battle in the ocean during the "Shiofumi" event of the "Ohara Hadaka Matsuri," three hours before the lightning strike in Isumi.
The lightning strike occurred at around 6 p.m. at Ohara Elementary School during the "Ohara Hadaka Matsuri" (Ohara naked man festival), hitting 32 males and two females carrying portable shrines. A 65-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy were seriously injured.
The festival's executive committee told a news conference that the event's 18 portable shrines had been gathered onto the school grounds, and just as the festival was about to finish its climactic farewell ceremony, lightning directly struck two portable shrines that had been raised high into the air.
The injured were moved to the school's gymnasium and those requiring medical attention were sent to a hospital.
© AP
An earthquake survivor tries to set up her tent after it fell down due to heavy rain in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Sept. 24, 2010.
An earthquake survivor tries to set up her tent after it fell down due to heavy rain in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Sept. 24, 2010.
Three adults and two children were killed in the tarp, tent and shack camps that still dominate Port-au-Prince more than eight months after the Jan. 12 earthquake, civil protection head Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste told The Associated Press. Several more were injured.
"We are investigating to see how many tents and camps were damaged," Jean-Baptiste said.
The storm passed through the mountain-ringed bowl of the Haitian capital, exposing rubble-filled neighborhoods to wind and rain at levels far below a sustained tropical storm. But that was enough to provoke panic and chaos, especially in encampments still home to more than 1.3 million people.
© Unknown
Madison -- Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency in Buffalo, Jackson, Marathon, Portage and Wood counties on Friday following strong storms that caused flooding in the area.
Seven counties are currently under a state of emergency. Doyle announced a state of emergency in Clark and Trempealeau counties on Thursday.
According to state officials, Wisconsin's Emergency Management and Department of Natural Resources officials are working with the National Guard to assist in recovery efforts.
State officials say the declaration is a response to widespread flooding and storm damage in the affected counties. The storms caused damage to homes and businesses, flooding roads and bringing down power lines.
In Clark County, officials have reported at least three bridges washed away and damage estimates nearing $500,000.
Gopeshwar - Nearly a month ahead of schedule, the higher reaches of Garhwal Himalayas today received snowfall, sending the mercury plummeting in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts.
The hills around Badrinath and Kedarnath temples have received snowfall while lower areas received rainfall forcing the people to take out their woollens.
Usually, the Garhwal Himalayas experience snowfall during October.
The hills around Badrinath and Kedarnath temples have received snowfall while lower areas received rainfall forcing the people to take out their woollens.
Usually, the Garhwal Himalayas experience snowfall during October.
