Archive | July 4, 2015
Lightning strikes a family house and bursts into flames in Braintree, Essex, UK
Lightning caused Darren Hobson’s home to burst into flames
A father whose home was struck by lightning says the ceiling collapsed on one of his children’s bedrooms minutes after the family fled the house.
A bolt struck the roof of father-of-four Darren Hobson’s semi-detached house in Braintree, Essex, just before 02:00 BST, causing a large fire.
He said his bedroom lit up blue and when he went to investigate, the house lights burst and he could see flames.
He praised firefighters who arrived quickly to bring it under control.
The fire quickly took hold and gutted much of the top half of the house
The extent of the damage became apparent in the morning
The roof eventually collapsed on to the top floor of the house including the bedrooms
“There were two really loud bangs in quick succession and our bedroom just lit up blue, and I was lying there just thinking ‘that was really, really close’,” said Mr Hobson.
“My wife was comforting my daughter and I thought I’d check on my twins… so I flicked the light on and the light in the middle of the room just exploded, and all the lights going across the hallway started popping one after the other.
“I was ducking down because they were blowing and I just looked up and I could see flames in the loft through the light fixtures.
Many of the family’s possessions have been destroyed
Toys and other personal items had to be left in the burning house
“I grabbed my twins one under each arm, my wife grabbed my five-year-old and then my 13-year-old followed us down and I just ran down the stairs. I had my neighbours banging on the door telling us to, ‘come on, out, out, out’.”
Mr Hobson said five minutes later the roof caved in on one of his children’s bedrooms and a wall collapsed on to a neighbour’s car.
Darren Hobson said he could see flames through the light fixtures after the lights blew in the three-storey house
A side wall collapsed on to a neighbour’s car
“It was amazing just how fast the fire took hold and destroyed the loft and the ceiling’s come down,” he said.
Essex Fire Service said four crews attended the blaze, which was put out just before 04:00 BST.
Courtesy of BBC News
MAGNITUDE 4.4 NEPAL
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=449381
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 57 km E of Kathmandu, Nepal / pop: 1,442,271 / local time: 01:27:30.0 2015-07-05
13 km SW of Kodāri, Nepal / pop: 1,600 / local time: 01:27:30.0 2015-07-05
GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS Kp Index is at level 6
***ALERT***
GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS
Kp Index is at level 6
Scale of G2
Moderate
Power systems: high-latitude power systems may experience voltage alarms, long-duration storms may cause transformer damage.
Spacecraft operations: corrective actions to orientation may be required by ground control; possible changes in drag affect orbit predictions.
Other systems: HF radio propagation can fade at higher latitudes
Radioactivity Detected in 2 Places at Czech Nuclear Plant
An official says low radioactivity has been unexpectedly detected in two places outside one of the two reactors at a Czech nuclear power plant.
Temelin plant spokesman Marek Svitak says the radioactivity was at very low levels and poses no safety threat.
The reactor where radioactivity was detected is currently shut down for planned maintenance.
Svitak said Friday the Czech nuclear authority and authorities in nearby Austria have been informed.
Environmentalists in Austria have demanded that the plant be closed because of security concerns, but Czech authorities insist it is safe.
Courtesy of abcnews
MAGNITUDE 5.2 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=449373
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 1204 km NE of Wellington, New Zealand / pop: 381,900 / local time: 05:28:22.2 2015-07-05
794 km NE of Whakatane, New Zealand / pop: 18,602 / local time: 05:28:22.2 2015-07-05
MAGNITUDE 4.9 EAST OF NORTH ISLAND, N.Z.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us10002nen#general_summary
Subject To Change
Depth: 33 km
Distances: 421km (262mi) NE of Opotiki, New Zealand
429km (267mi) NNE of Gisborne, New Zealand
431km (268mi) NE of Whakatane, New Zealand
471km (293mi) ENE of Tauranga, New Zealand
829km (515mi) NE of Wellington, New Zealand
YELLOWSTONE REGION MAGNITUDE 4.0 UTAH, USA
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/uu60116197#general_summary
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 1km (1mi) S of Panguitch, Utah
57km (35mi) ENE of Cedar City, Utah
103km (64mi) NE of Hurricane, Utah
121km (75mi) NE of Washington, Utah
330km (205mi) S of Salt Lake City, Utah
MAGNITUDE 4.2 OREGON, USA
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/uw61037147#general_summary
Subject To Change
Depth: 9.9 km
Distances: 15km (9mi) ENE of Springfield, Oregon
20km (12mi) E of Eugene, Oregon
50km (31mi) S of Lebanon, Oregon
63km (39mi) SSE of Corvallis, Oregon
96km (60mi) S of Salem, Oregon
Amazing lightning storms struck Southern parts of the UK last night
Andrew Lanxon Hoyle tweeted this picture in Ealing, west London, saying: ‘There is one hell of a lightning storm over London’
Massive lightning bolts were seen hitting the Isle of Wight last night as a ‘megastorm’ swept in to the south coast
Chris Nesbit captured dozens of lightning bolts with a two-minute exposure in the New Forest. Nearby Swanage received half its monthly rainfall in just one hour and the area was hit by 66 lightning strikes a minute at the height of the storm
Lighting struck above Canary Wharf in the early hours of this morning, but many woke up to pleasant and misty conditions today
Amateur photographer Daryll Davies captured multiple lightning strikes in just a two minute exposure in Bournemouth
Rhiannon Watson posted this image of lightning over Canary Wharf and said her husband took the spectacular shot
Spectacular displays of lightning and lit up the skies in London for several hours, pictured is several bolts over Canary Wharf
Electrical storm seen passing over the south coast last night, captured from Fareham, Hampshire, with the M27 in the foreground
A helmsman at RNLI Tower Lifeboat Station based at Victoria Embankment captured this image of the lightning
The Met Office said the electronically active storm was caused by the heatwave, pictured is lightning over a bridge on the River Thames
Phillip Didd captured this image of lightning from south London which shows Crystal Palace transmitting station
Toml shared this image of a bolt of lightning hitting Blackheath in Greenwich as the stormed raged last night
Courtesy of dailymail.co.uk
Severe heatwave will be extended according to weather stations in Spain
Spain’s meteorological agency on Saturday warned people to brace for high temperatures across much of the country over the coming days, amid a lingering European heat wave.
The agency said “temperatures will be significantly higher in much of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands,” exceeding 35 degrees Celsius (95 F) and reaching 40 C (104 F) in much of the southern and eastern parts of the country.
The forecast predicted some respite in the form of showers and thunderstorms on July 10-11.
Many European countries, including Spain, France and Britain, have struggled to find relief from unusually high temperatures in the past week, although the U.N. weather agency said the continent is better prepared than ever to avoid major heat casualties.
Last week, weather stations across Spain warned people to take extra precautions because high temperatures increase the risk of devastating wildfires.
Many scantily-clad participants in Madrid’s Gay Pride parade sweltered in 36 C (97 F) heat on Saturday while older residents looked on, bearing the heat stoically.
“As Madrid-dwellers, we are used to high temperatures,” said Ines Zurdo, 78. “But you can tell it’s unusually hot because the trees are beginning to shed their leaves,” she said, brushing aside a little pile of dry, brittle plane tree leaves from the seat at a bus stop.
Across the border, Portugal also braced for fires after an exceptionally dry winter and the hottest and driest June for 12 years. Almost 54 percent of mainland Portugal is enduring severe drought.
Even in Denmark in northern Europe, scores of people flocked to beaches to cool down as temperatures climbed above 30 C (86 F) Saturday.
At the Roskilde Festival, the largest music event in the Nordic region, Ida Kristensen told the TV2 channel that she was skipping the Saturday evening concert with former Beatle Paul McCartney, considered one of the eight-day event’s biggest names, to return home, saying “the sun has won.”
Courtesy of news.yahoo.com
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