It seems as though wild weather events have rarely been out of the headlines recently. It has been a bleak weekend in some parts of America after yet another fatal storm blasted its way through five US states.
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At least 272 people have been killed, a nuclear power plant has been knocked out for weeks, and property damage is expected to exceed a billion dollars in one of the worst spring storm outbreaks in memory. There were 364 reports of tornadoes across the southeastern US, and flooding from Arkansas to Vermont. Tornadoes were sighted in 16 states from Arkansas to New York, with the hardest hit state being Alabama, where 184 people were killed. The Mayor of Tuscaloosa has said that the city’s infrastructure has been "decimated." The worst previous tornado outbreak recorded in the US took place in April of 1974. killed 308 people and spawned 148 tornadoes in 13 states. (Click on photo and scroll down to bottom of story to see video.)
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First it was drought, then it was massive floods–now Australia faces a hurricane that is estimated to be twice the size of hurricane Katrina and at least as powerful. The Australian Meteorology Bureau issued the following warning: ‘This impact is likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations." The largest typhoon so far recorded was supertyphoon Tip, which struck Guam in 1979 with 200 mph winds. Yasi has so far displayed winds of 180 miles per hour and is expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours.read more
As a series of snowstorms choked the eastern US, winterstorm Xynthia has struck Europe, killing at least 50 people,mostly in France. Winds exceeding 90 MPH hit Portugal, thenturned up the Bay of Biscay, breaching sea walls andflooding towns in France so suddenly that many of thevictims were trapped on streets, in cars and in their homes.The storm moved on into central France, where it continuesto wreak havoc.
It comes during a winter of unprecedented snowfall in theUnited Kingdom and extreme cold extending well into southernEurope. This year, Rome received its heaviest snowfall since1986, and the UK has recorded its most extensive snowfall inrecent memory.
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