 |
|
|
|
|
Display Incident Data
Display Data for years prior to 2009
Displaying 1 to 50 of 541 Records
Next 50 Records
| 02/08/2010 01:00 PM Killed |
2 teens |
0.0 |
U |
Swaziland |
|
in a field |
|
Outside |
| Two teen Zionists killed by lightning
08 February, 2010 10:00:00 By Fanyana Mabuza
Font size:
Two Sigangeni teenagers died when they were both struck by lightning after conducting a prayer in the area’s mountains on Saturday.
Neighbours Mongi Dlamini and Clement Zulu both 18, were caught in a thunderstorm that began on midday and an hour later had subsided.
The teenagers were accompanied by Mongi’s father Dan Dlamini, who survived the ordeal after he stayed behind to tie his shoes as the boys ran for home.
He found both bodies strewn in an open field after a strong lightning bolt had struck, electrocuting his hands in the process.
Mongi’s mother, Gladys, said her husband first noticed something was wrong when he saw the plastic bag the boys were carrying - lying next to the path.
Upon closer inspection, he saw the bodies of the two a distance from the plastic bag. He realised that both were dead.
“He then called us here at home and related the sad news. We quickly organised transport and rushed to the mountain, only to be confronted by our worst fears, and by then, they were stone cold. We called the police who came collected the bodies to the mortuary,” she said.
Her story was corroborated by Mongi’s grandmother, Lucy Dlamini, who said the boys had gone up the mountain as part of their fasting schedule.
mountain
“They had been on a fast for the past few days and their going to the mountain was part of that process. We always go to the mountain to pray, and this is the first time that we are confronted by this,” she said.
Both boys were attending school at Sigangeni, with Mongi doing Grade One at the area’s primary school. Zulu was doing Form One.
They were members of The Deep 5 Jericho Church in Zion which is situated a few metres from Mongi’s homestead.
The grandmother stated that the freak storm took less than an hour at a time the boys and the father had left for the mountains.
“When they left, all was fine and the weather was okay with the sun burning bright. But while they were away, the clouds gathered and the crackling sounds of distant lightning could be heard. A few minutes later all went dark with a strong gale forcing maize stalks to bend.
“The gale was accompanied by a rumbling thunder and blinding lightning.
“Probably they then decided to return back home when they were caught by the lightning bolt. All we heard was when their father called to inform us of the tragedy on his cellphone. We then organised a vehicle and rushed to the scene, where we were confronted by their bodies lying on the veld in grotesque positions,” she said.
The Police Deputy Public Relations, superientdent Wendy Hleta, confirmed the tragedy.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg |
| 02/07/2010 04:05 PM Injured |
Connor Gordon |
14.0 |
M |
Childers
Australia |
|
in a kayak |
N/A |
Boat,fishing,On Water,Outside,Thrown,Water |
| Childers boy struck by lightning
7th February 2010
A 14-year-old boy who was struck by lightning was rushed to Bundaberg Hospital with wounds in his wrists and back.
About 4pm Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics were called to a property on Coach Road, Redridge, near Childers.
A QAS spokesman said he was holding an oar when the lightning struck him.
The boy was transported to the hospital in a stable condition.
Glenis Green
February 09, 2010 12:00am
A TEENAGER has survived being struck by lightning which threw him 10m as he paddled in a dam on his family's property.
Connor Gordon, 14, said yesterday he was feeling "pretty good" after the terrifying incident on Sunday.
"But when it first happened I thought I was dead," he said from his family's farm at Redridge near Childers.
The blast blew the metal paddle from Connor's hands, as well as splitting and setting fire to a fishing rod standing in the back of his kayak.
While it paralysed his arms and caused momentary blindness, he suffered only minor burns.
Connor said the drama unfolded just after 4pm when he joined family and friends at the dam to retrieve a boat which had come adrift.
While there had been rumbles of thunder and light rain, no one had noticed any lightning.
"I put a fishing rod in the back standing in the air and I'd only paddled about 100m . . . There was a big bang and I blacked out," he said.
"My body straightened out. I was sort of conscious. I knew what was happening but I couldn't see. It threw me 10m off the kayak.
"When I hit the water and woke up and opened my eyes I thought I had just fallen out of the kayak."
The craft was metres away, still intact, but with the fishing rod blasted in half and on fire. Connor's father Kris jumped in and swam towards him while his mother Joanne paddled out in another kayak. "My arms were all straightened and purple and cold but my legs were OK," Connor said.
He was kept in hospital overnight but was told there was no long-term damage.
"I'm feeling more normal now," Connor said. "But I won't be going to school tomorrow."
Mrs Gordon said she was just "very relieved" her son was all right.
|
| 01/31/2010 12:00 PM Killed |
1 killed 2 injured |
0.0 |
U |
Millaniya
|
|
resting in a shed |
|
|
| Lightning kills one, injures two
TUESDAY, 02 FEBRUARY 2010 00:00
By Kusal Chamath – Bandaragama
One person died and two others were seriously injured when they were struck by lightning at Kannanthudawa in Millaniya on Sunday evening. They were clearing a land during the heavy rains experienced in the area. They were resting for a while in a nearby shed when lightning hit them. However, two others had a narrow escape. The injured were admitted to the Horana Base Hospital and one of them transferred to the National Hospital in a critical condition. The deceased Kalubovilage Sunil Ranjith (39) was a resident of Warawatta, Raigama , Bandaragama |
| 01/31/2010 12:00 PM Killed |
6 killed 4 injured |
0.0 |
U |
Malawi |
|
|
|
Church |
| Lightning kills 6 in Malawi church
Feb 1, 2010 1:13 PM | By AFP
Lightning killed six people and injured four others when it struck a church in Malawi's southern district of Balaka over the weekend, police said.
Photograph by: .
"There were 40 members of a Baptist church choir who were preparing for a service on Sunday when lightning struck them and killed six people on the spot," police spokesman Titani Chadwala said.
Lightning kills scores of Malawians during the rainy season here which starts from October to April. |
| 01/30/2010 12:00 PM unknown |
Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes |
0.0 |
U |
USA |
|
|
|
Education,Science |
| Firefly To Study Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes
Posted on: Saturday, 30 January 2010, 07:30 CST
High-energy bursts of gamma rays typically occur far out in space, perhaps near black holes or other high-energy cosmic phenomena. So imagine scientists' surprise in the mid-1990s when they found these powerful gamma ray flashes happening right here on Earth, in the skies overhead.
They're called Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes, or TGFs, and very little is known about them. They seem to have a connection with lightning, but TGFs themselves are something entirely different.
"In fact," says Doug Rowland of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, "before the 1990s nobody knew they even existed. And yet they're the most potent natural particle accelerators on Earth."
Individual particles in a TGF acquire a huge amount of energy, sometimes in excess of 20 mega-electron volts (MeV). In contrast, the colorful auroras that light up the skies at high latitudes are powered by particles with less than one thousandth as much energy.
What causes these high-energy flashes? Do they help trigger lightning--or does lightning trigger them? Could they be responsible for some of the high-energy particles in the Van Allen radiation belts, which can damage satellites?
To investigate, Rowland and his colleagues at GSFC, Siena College, Universities Space Research Association, and the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences are planning to launch a tiny, football-sized satellite called Firefly in 2010 or 2011. Because of its small size, Firefly will cost less than $1 million — about 100 times cheaper than what satellite missions normally cost. Part of the cost savings comes from launching Firefly under the National Science Foundation's CubeSat program, which launches small satellites as "stowaways" aboard rockets carrying larger satellites into space, rather than requiring dedicated rocket launches.
If successful, Firefly will return the first simultaneous measurements of TGFs and lightning. Most of what's known about TGFs to date has been learned from missions meant to observe gamma rays coming from deep space, such as NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which discovered TGFs in 1994. As it stared out into space, Compton caught fleeting glimpses of gamma rays out of the corner of its eye, so to speak. The powerful flashes were coming--surprise!--from Earth's atmosphere.
Subsequent data from Compton and other space telescopes have provided a tantalizingly incomplete picture of how TGFs occur:
In the skies above a thunderstorm, powerful electric fields generated by the storm stretch upward for many miles into the upper atmosphere. These electric fields accelerate free electrons, whisking them to speeds approaching the speed of light. When these ultra-high speed electrons collide with molecules in the air, the collisions release high-energy gamma rays as well as more electrons, setting up a cascade of collisions and perhaps more TGFs.
To the eye, a TGF probably wouldn't look like much. Unlike lightning, most of a TGF's energy is released as invisible gamma rays, not visible light. They don't produce colorful bursts of light like sprites and other lightning-related phenomena. Nevertheless, these unseen eruptions could help explain why brilliant lightning strikes occur.
A longstanding mystery about lightning is how a strike gets started. Scientists know that the turbulence inside a thundercloud separates electric charge, building up enormous voltages. But the voltage needed to ionize air and generate a spark is about 10 times greater than the voltage typically found inside storm clouds.
"We know how the clouds charge up," Rowland says, "we just don't know how they discharge. That is the mystery."
TGFs could provide that spark. By generating a quick burst of electron flow, TGFs might help lightning strikes get started, Rowland suggests. "Perhaps this phenomenon is why we have lightning," he says.
If so, there ought to be many more TGFs each day than currently known. Observations by Compton and other space telescopes indicate that there may be fewer than 100 TGFs worldwide each day. Lightning strikes millions of times per day worldwide. That's quite a gap.
Then again, Compton and other space telescopes before Firefly weren't actually looking for TGFs. So perhaps it's not surprising that they didn't find many. Firefly will specifically look for gamma ray flashes coming from the atmosphere, not space, conducting the first focused survey of TGF activity. Firefly's sensors will even be able to detect flashes that are mostly obscured by the intervening air, which is a strong absorber of gamma rays (a fact that protects people on the ground from the energy in these flashes). Firefly's survey will give scientists much better estimates of the number of TGFs worldwide and help determine if the link to lightning is real.
By Patrick Barry, Science @ NASA |
| 01/29/2010 12:00 PM unknown |
new form of lightning |
0.0 |
U |
USA |
|
|
|
Education,Science |
| Scientists Discover a New Form of Lightning
by David DeFranza on 01.29.10
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
BUZZ UP!
Image credit: Ethan Hein/Flickr
The lightning observed during the eruption of Mt. Redoubt in 2009, researchers have determined, is an entirely new variety. Using radio antennas, scientists noticed that the bolts were shorter, lasting only a few milliseconds, and much more frequent than typical lightning.
Love Lightning? Thunderstorms: The Dark and Stormy Drama (Slideshow)
Stephen McNutt, a volcano seismologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks's Geophysical Institute, became interested in lightning during the 1992 Mt. Spurr eruption. While studying the seismic data from that event, he noticed strange spikes in the records. He explains that:
The seismometers were actually picking up lightning strikes...I knew that I had to reach out to the physicists studying lightning.
He teamed up with Ronald Thomas, a physicist and electrical engineer, and Sonja Behnke, a graduate student in atmospheric science. The group formulated a research plan and started waiting for the next eruption.
The Mount Redoubt Eruption
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Mt. Redoubt, a 10,197 foot high volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Range, has been active for a millennia. In the twentieth century alone it erupted four times—most notably in 1989 during an event that spread ash nearly 8,000 square miles.
Watch: The Volcanoes of a Raging Planet (Video)
On January 30, 2009, seismologists observed an increase in activity surrounding the volcano and issued a warning that eruption was imminent. McNutt and his team mobilized but it wasn't until March 22 that Mt. Redoubt finally erupted. Though the impact fell short of history's greatest eruptions, it still managed to send ash as high as 65,000 feet into the air.
Certainly, the event was significant enough to provide McNutt and his team with data.
Measuring Volcanic Lightning
To measure the lightning, researchers deployed four Lightning Mapping Arrays prior to the eruption. Behnke explained that the arrays are "basically an old TV antenna set to pick up channel 3— the same frequency that lightning radiates from." They set the arrays 50 miles away from the volcano, on the other side of Cook Inlet. Thomas explained that they couldn't "put the LMAs on the volcano because the volcano is basically in a wilderness area and the stations need power and internet to function."
Watch: Will Global Warming Change the Weather? (Video)
Even from 50 miles away the arrays were able to capture an astonishing amount of data. During the eruption, Thomas commented:
We're getting all the data we hoped to get and a lot more...absolutely, the quality and quantity of the data will allow us to better understand the electrical charge structure inside a volcanic plume.
Mt. Redoubt's major eruptions lasted more than a week. After that, though the volcano continues to be active even today, it was time to return to the lab to analyze the data.
Understanding Dry Lightning
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Typically, lightning occurs when falling ice or rain polarizes particles in clouds. Positively and negatively charged particles separate and collect in groups of similar charge. A lightning bolt occurs when these charges are equalized.
Dry lightning is caused by the save convective forces created by a thunderstorm, without the need of precipitation and cumulonimbus clouds. Usually, dry lightning is observed during wildfires but it can occur anytime cold air moves over super-heated ground, like that created by a volcano.
Volcanic lightning, then, is a form of dry lightning. But what makes the lightning observed by McNutt and his team unique?
Defining a New Type of Lightning
The research team believes the lightning that occurred during the Mt. Redoubt eruption can be classified as a new type because of the frequency of the bolts and their duration. Thomas commented that "we saw lots of lightning—20 to 30 minutes of lighting...even more lightning than we would typically see during a major thunderstorm."
McNutt explained:
At the moment the eruption started, there were these sparks of lightning coming from the vent of Redoubt that only lasted 1 to 2 milliseconds.
He then added that "this was a different kind of lighting that we have never seen before."
What this research means for the future of volcanology and meteorology is not yet clear but there is one thing that everyone, scientists and residents alike, agree on: The Mt. Redoubt eruption was "the most spectacular lightning display that they have ever seen."
Love Lightning? Thunderstorms: The Dark and Stormy Drama (Slideshow)
Read more about volcanoes:
Krakatoa it Ain't: Mt Redoubt Enviro Effect Likely Small
Mayon Volcano May Cause Climate Cooling
Could Volcanic Eruptions Slow Climate Change?
Alaskan Volcanoes to be Surveyed, Tapped for Geothermal Pow |
| 01/27/2010 07:30 PM Injured |
man |
37.0 |
M |
Sydney
Australia |
|
washing up near a window |
|
Indirect,Indoors |
| Man struck by lightning in Sydney's west
January 28, 2010
Ads by Google
Highway Safety Program
Reduce injuries and fatalities foryour highway workforce.
www.agc.org/bookstore
AAP
A man has been struck by lightning in Sydney's outer west and two people have been hospitalised as thunderstorms sweep across NSW.
The Ambulance Service of NSW said a 37-year-old man was hit by lightning while doing the washing up near a window at a YMCA camp in Yarramundi at about 7.30pm (AEDT) on Thursday.
Paramedics were treating the man, who was suffering neck and shoulder pain, and planned to take him to hospital.
Emergency services were also called to a house on Macquarie Road, in Springwood, in the NSW Blue Mountains, after it was struck by lightning at about 5pm.
"It's come through the window, it hit the curtains and ignited them," a firefighter at the scene told media at the scene.
Two people, including a man suffering smoke inhalation, were taken to Blue Mountains Hospital.
A house on East View Avenue in nearby Leura also caught fire after it was hit by lightning, but no one was injured.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 7.30pm, predicting large hailstones, heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds.
Areas which may be affected late on Thursday include Grafton, Taree, Armidale, Tamworth, Narrabri and Walgett.
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) said people in those areas should move their cars under cover and away from trees, secure loose items and stay indoors away from windows, and keep children and pets indoors.
The BoM said thunderstorms had moved through Sydney, Illawarra, Central West Slopes and Lower Western Districts by early Thursday night and the warning was no longer in force for those areas.
An SES spokesman said there had been 33 requests for assistance across the state, including 12 in the Blue Mountains.
"(The storm) looked pretty spectacular on the radar ... but as luck had it, it pretty well passed over mostly unpopulated areas," the spokesman told AAP.
"There hasn't been a lot of hail or anything in them, but there's been some pretty heavy rain." |
| 01/26/2010 02:00 PM Killed |
2 soldiers |
0.0 |
M |
Sir Seretse Khama Barracks
Botswana |
|
walking around one of the units |
|
Military,Outside |
| Two soldiers struck by lightning
Written by VICTOR BAATWENG
FRIDAY, 29 JANUARY 2010 16:31
Two members of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) were this week struck by lightning.
A statement from the Botswana Defence Force’s public Affairs Office read, “Two members of the Botswana Defence Force died after they were struck by lightning on Tuesday, 26 January 2010 at Sir Seretse Khama Barracks in Mogoditshane at around 2 pm.”
BDF Public Affairs Officer lieutenant Monty Malomo said the names of the deceased have not yet been released pending notification of their next of kin.
This was also confirmed by BDF’s Director of Protocol and Public Affairs, Colonel Mogorosi Baatweng who said the incident occurred at around 2 p.m. while the deceased and their co-workers were walking around one of the army units.
“However the other soldiers were not injured but are reported to be in a state of confusion.”
|
| 01/25/2010 12:00 PM Killed |
airplane |
0.0 |
U |
Lebanon |
|
|
|
Airplane |
| Rare cause of a jet crash
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
THE RECORD
0 Comments
A plane that crashed off Lebanon on Monday morning probably flew through a severe thunderstorm, and a bolt of lightning may have struck directly in line with the plane's flight path, according to data compiled by accuweather.com.
Early reports have not determined whether the storm caused the Ethiopian Airlines flight to crash with 90 passengers on board. If so, it would be an extremely unusual event.
Today's commercial airlines are equipped with such sophisticated lightning protection systems that the last time lightning was confirmed as the direct cause of a commercial plane crash in the United States was in 1967, when it caused a fuel tank to explode.
Indeed, the average commercial airliner is struck by lightning more than once every year.
Passengers may see a flash and hear a loud noise when that happens, but that's usually all that happens, according to Edward J. Rupke, senior engineer at Lightning Technologies Inc., in Pittsfield, Mass., who wrote about the phenomenon for Scientific American magazine in 2006.
When lightning strikes a plane, it attaches itself to an extremity, such as the nose or wingtip, and the airplane flies through the flash, Rupke wrote. The electrical current then travels through the aircraft's specially designed skin. The current exits from another extremity, such as the tail.
Pilots sometimes report flickering lights and interference with their instruments, but that only lasts a moment before the plane continues, safely, on its way.
Sources: accuweather.com, Scientific American
— Stephanie Akin
What are these?
Reader Comments (0)
There are no current comments at this time. Be the first to post one!
Share your view:
You must be logged in to comment
MORE FROM NORTHJERSEY.COM TRANSPORTATION
Small plane lands on turnpike near Cherry Hill NORTHJERSEY.COM
Aircraft makes emergency landing on NJ Turnpike NORTHJERSEY.COM
Toyota tells dealers parts on way to fix pedals NORTHJERSEY.COM
More than just a ride SUBURBAN TRENDS
Rocky Road SUBURBAN TRENDS
Ads from Google
Go To Your Town's Home Page
SEE THE FULL TOWN LIST
LATEST TOWN NEWS
NFD gets grant for protective gear NUTLEY
Today, Feb. 1 in Ridgewood RIDGEWOOD
Cathryn Chapman wins 2010 'Idol' PEQUANNOCK (INCLUDING POMPTON PLAINS)
Window of boro Indian returned to school WANAQUE (INCLUDING HASKELL)
Lakeland grad returns home to shoot film WAYNE
Go To Your High School's Home Page
SEE THE FULL SCHOOL LIST
MOST READMOST COMMENTEDMOST E-MAILED
East Rutherford principal criticized in text messaging case in Crime & Courts
Fairfield police officer remains in critical condition as manhunt launched in Essex
N.J. bracing for flow of Haitian refugees in State
Sales brisk for Powerball tickets in N.J. in State
Bergen Co. man lost more than money to gambling in Sports
Police looking for two who robbed Hackensack bank - then left money in parking lot in Crime & Courts
N.J. Gov. Christie's transition team has harsh words about state's environmental department in Business
Small plane lands on turnpike near Cherry Hill in Transportation
Saddle Brook man fights rare disease featured in the film "Extraordinary Measures" in Health & Health Care
Northjersey.com's guide to businesses and services
Find:
Enter name or type of business
Near:
Enter city & state, or ZIP
Popular Searches
|
| 01/25/2010 12:00 PM Killed |
man |
0.0 |
M |
Okhukho Nongoma
KwaZulu-Natal |
|
|
|
|
| Lightning strike kills KZN man
2010-01-25 21:37
Print article Email article
Durban - A man died when he was struck by lightning in Okhukho near Nongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal during floods, the department of local government and traditional affairs said on Monday.
"One person died after being struck by lightning in Okhukho yesterday [Sunday]. We have sent a team to evaluate the damage that has occurred in the area," said local government and traditional affairs MEC Nomusa Dube’s spokesperson Lennox Mabaso.
Mabaso said there was a storm in Vryheid and Olundi. The department was waiting for a report on the damage.
- SAPA |
| 01/10/2010 12:00 PM Killed |
1 person |
0.0 |
U |
Indonesia |
|
|
|
|
| Bad Weather Kills at Least 3 in Indonesia; Heavy Rain Set to Continue
As floodwaters inundated thousands of houses around the country over the weekend, the weather agency issued a warning on Sunday against continuing downpours today.
In its alert, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecast strong winds, lightning storms and torrential rain in Sumatra, Central and Southern Kalimantan, East Java, Greater Jakarta, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, most of Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.
Torrential rain over the weekend left several parts of the country under water. In East Java, storms submerged thousands of homes and left at as many as four people dead.
“Pasuruan [East Java] is the worst-hit area. The flood inundated nearly 6,000 houses and three people died, while one is still missing,” Priyadi Kardono, the spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.
Priyadi said two of the victims died after being swept away by floods and the other died after being struck by lightning.
He said that BNPB team was still searching for the missing person.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the H e alth Ministry’s Crisis Center, said the flood affected four districts in Pasuruan. He said at least 150 people had been evacuated to safer places such as mosques.
Rustam said the local government had conducted some emergency measures, including establishing some open kitchens and distributing basic necessities to the victims’ houses. Rustam also said the ministry had sent a medical team to help the victims.
He added that no serious medical problems had been reported yet.
Priyadi said flooding also occurred in Telanaipura subdistrict in Jambi, South Sumatra.
He said more than 300 houses were inundated by floodwater up to two meters deep, adding that the flood had caused dozens of families to evacuate to higher ground.
In Pagaralam, South Sumatra, the heavy rain caused landslides in several parts of the district.
Adj. Chief Comr. Abdul Soleh, head of the Pagaralam Police was quoted by Kompas.com as saying that the landslides had caused some traffic problems.
Abdul said that as a result of the landslides, mud, huge rocks and trees were now proving a danger to motorists in several areas of the district.
1 |
| 01/10/2010 02:30 PM Killed |
2 teens |
0.0 |
M |
Tina Falls
South Africa |
|
open field |
|
Field,Outside |
| ightning kills two in Tina Falls
10 January 2010, 17:18
Related Articles
Boy killed by lighting
A second teenager has been struck and killed by lightning in the Eastern Cape on Sunday, police said.
The 18 year-old boy was struck by lightning while in an open field in Tina Falls near Qumbu, said Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela.
He died at the scene.
Earlier in the day, at 2.30pm, a 13-year-old boy was killed by lightning while returning home in the rain after visiting neighbours in the Nkwenkwana locality at eNgcobo, said Fatyela.
Another boy is presumed dead after he was swept away by a river in Ngqeleni near Mthatha. The 16-year-old was attempting to cross the Ngqeleni River with a friend at the time, Fatyela said.
The boy's friend crossed safely.
Police divers were still looking for the body. - Sapa |
| 01/10/2010 04:00 PM Killed |
4 |
0.0 |
U |
South Africa |
|
|
|
|
| OHANNESBURG — Four people were struck by lightning and killed in the Eastern Cape yesterday afternoon, police said.
A six-year-old boy and his 26-year-old mother were struck by lightning in their rondavel in Qotha locality near eNgcobo, said Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela.
The hut’s roof caught fire, but Fatyela said lightning and not the fire led to their deaths.
This brings the total of people killed by lightning in the same province on the same day to four.
At Tina Falls near Qumbu, an18-year-old boy was struck by lightning while in an open field, Fatyela said.
He died at the scene.
Earlier in the day, at 2.30 pm, a 13-year-old boy was killed by lightning while returning home in the rain after visiting neighbours in the Nkwenkwana locality at eNgcobo, said Fatyela.
Another boy is presumed dead after he was swept away by a river in Ngqeleni near Mthatha. The 16-year-old was attempting to cross the Ngqeleni River with a friend at the time, Fatyela said. The boy’s friend crossed safely.
Police divers were still looking for the body.
|
| 01/08/2010 04:00 PM Injured |
Fisherman |
43.0 |
M |
Palmerston boat ramp
Australia |
|
walking to car at boat ramp |
|
Boat,Dock/Pier/Jetty,fishing,Near Water,Outside |
| Fisho struck by lightning
REBEKAH CAVANAGH
January 12th, 2010
A FISHERMAN is lucky to be alive after he was zapped by lightning at a Top End boat ramp.
The man was walking to his car at the Palmerston boat ramp after a day's fishing when a bolt of lightning struck him, knocking him to the ground last week.
He lost consciousness for several seconds before his friends ran to his aid.
The man, from Howard Springs in Darwin's rural area, was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital where he needed stitches to his face after he suffered bad cuts from the impact when he hit the bitumen.
The Northern Territory News contacted him yesterday but he did not wish to speak about his ordeal.
The strike comes just three weeks after two men were rushed to RDH after being struck by lightning just minutes apart in Lyons in the northern suburbs.
Dirk Reinbrecht told the Northern Territory News from his hospital bed at the time how he was connecting the safety chain from a trailer to a ute when the trailer was struck by a bolt of lightning and he was thrown several metres through the air.
A 22-year-old man - who declined to be interviewed or named - was also reportedly injured by lightning while working with electrical cabling not far away just moments later.
Mr Reinbrecht, 43, said it was "some sort of miracle" that he wasn't killed.
"I saw the light that threw me back from the car," he said.
"But I'm alright.
"I have never been hit by lightning before - I hope that was my first and last time."
|
| 01/08/2010 03:30 PM Injured |
Shayna McPaul |
15.0 |
F |
Glenvale
Australia |
|
on laptop plugged in indoors |
|
Computer / Video Game,Indirect,Indoors |
| Lightning bolt shocks girl, 15
Stuart Cumming | 12th January 2010
Glenvale teenager Shayna McPaul was thrown across a room when lightning struck near her home while she was using a laptop computer.
Kevin Farmer
GLENVALE’S Shayna McPaul received the biggest shock of her life when a lightning bolt struck near her home.
Miss McPaul, 15, was tossed a metre backwards across the lounge room floor when electricity surged through her laptop computer which was plugged into a power point.
The lightning struck across the road from her Blue Gum Drive home during a storm about 3.30 on Friday afternoon.
It triggered the safety switch, but not before damaging a stove, a set-top box, another computer and five light fittings.
“I got thrown back, then I stood up and just collapsed,” Miss McPaul said.
Her brother Josh dialled triple zero on his mobile phone as mum Anne and dad Doug tended to Miss McPaul who was struggling to breathe.
“I was at the door when it struck and I quickly bolted outside to see if anything was on fire because I didn’t realise Shayna had been hurt,” Mr McPaul said.
“When I came back in, I was shocked to see her lying on the floor.”
Ambulance crews stabilised Miss McPaul at her home then took her to Toowoomba Hospital where she was monitored until being released about 10pm.
“They said I was very lucky,” Miss McPaul said.
“It could have been so much worse if we didn’t have a safety switch.”
Mr McPaul said they had installed the safety switch only three years ago.
He said neighbours had all come outside after hearing the strike, but his house was the only one that seemed to have been affected.
Despite being able to laugh it off now, Miss McPaul said it really brought home the importance of being vigilant during electrical storms.
“I will never use any electrical goods during a storm again,” she said.
It could have been so much worse if we didn’t have a safety switch.
|
| 01/06/2010 12:00 PM Killed |
farmer |
0.0 |
M |
Bondowoso East Java
Indonesian |
|
working in paddy fields |
|
Farming,Field,Outside |
| Tornadoes Kill 1 Man and Damage More Than 200 Houses Across Java
An Indonesian farmer was killed after he was struck by lightning when a tornado wreaked havoc on his village of Bondowoso, East Java, on Tuesday evening. Tornadoes also hit other areas in East Java and West Java.
A villager who saw the incident said the farmer, Burawi, was not aware of the approaching tornado because he was busy working in his paddy field. The tornado came with heavy rain and strong winds.
Villagers said it struck for less than five minutes but more than 80 houses were damaged. A school also collapsed completely. Fortunately nobody was injured because the students had already gone home.
In Pasuruan, a tornado damaged 53 houses in six villages on Tuesday. The tornado also caused tens of trees to fall down in the streets of the East Java town, triggering traffic delays for hours.
In Bandung, West Java, 90 houses were damaged by a tornado. Siti Kartini, a resident in Landean Girang village, cried upon seeing her house turned to ruins. Siti and her husband are poor and she asked for the local government to help her rebuild the house because they did not have any money.
The Metereology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency wrote on its Web site that heavy rains and strong winds in most areas of Indonesia were being caused by low pressure winds in the Timor Sea, southeast of North Nusa Tenggara and southwest of the Lampung Sea.
Officials also closed Ketapang Harbor in Banyuwangi, East Java, and Gilimanuk Harbour in Bali for safety reasons on Tuesday evening due to low visability, strong winds and heavy rain.
|
| 01/01/2010 04:00 PM unknown |
windmills |
0.0 |
U |
Ca
USA |
|
lightning damage take windmills offline |
|
Science,Windmill |
| Windmills being dismantled?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 12:20 AM PST
Why are the windmills along the Tecate Divide just off Interstate 8 in the Crestwood area being dismantled all of a sudden? This seems very sad in view of our energy needs. — Frequent Traveler, Calexico
We haven’t been that way in a while, so we cannot say we’ve seen what the letter writer is speaking about.
We called San Diego Gas & Electric to ask what officials there know. SDG&E buys electricity produced by the wind mills, which are operated by the Campo Indians and an outside company specializing in wind energy.
SDG&E referred us to the tribe, and said someone with the tribe would be getting back to us sometime Monday but that did not happen before deadline.
But we don’t think the wind mills are being dismantled at all. We imagine they are being repaired.
We found a news story out of San Diego County saying lightning struck most of the 25 wind turbines during a freak electrical storm Dec. 7.
At least two of the turbines were damaged severely.
The whole system was offline when the lightning strikes occurred as wind before the storm measured 70 mph and the turbines are designed to shut down at 55 mph, according to the story.
While the story said wind turbines are supposed to withstand 98 percent of lightning strikes, this is one of the 2 percent of cases where the damage was extensive.
On Dec. 8 the story said the repairs would take a while.
We’ll update this PROBE in the coming days because we do expect the tribe will get back to us. The giant wind mills are such a prevalent sight on the drive between here and San Diego, we think our readers would be interested.
|
| 12/31/2009 12:00 PM unknown |
space weather |
0.0 |
U |
Israel |
|
|
|
Education,Science |
| Israeli Researcher Making Waves in Space Weather
by Abigail Klein Leichman
Follow Israel news on and .
(IsraelNN.com) Space weather, sun storms, lightning strikes – these are all in a day's work for Israeli researcher Colin Price. The serene landscapes that Prof. Colin Price paints for pleasure contrast starkly with the violent weather he studies for a living. Lightning strikes, not pastoral beaches, provide the backdrop for his groundbreaking research.
Price, head of Tel Aviv University's Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science, tells ISRAEL21c that his interest in natural hazards – forest fires, volcanoes, floods – was sparked by his high school geology teacher in Johannesburg, South Africa.
"I started out in both physics and geology and thought I'd go into oil exploration and get rich," he recalls with a laugh. "That didn't work out."
When he began his master's degree at Tel Aviv University, there was no research project available on oil exploration. Price took on a project studying acid rain instead, and that led to a fascination with severe weather patterns.
Making waves in space weather
His research has made waves in "space weather," a new scientific field that focuses on the interaction between the sun and the Earth's environment. In addition, he coordinates the Flash Project, an alliance among five European countries that examines lightning patterns and their effect on climatic events including flash floods.
Based in Israel, Price enjoys an advantage that American scientists don't share: "We have a link with the European Union in a research framework," he explains. "The Israeli government puts money in a ‘pot' and we can apply to tap into it for projects in collaboration with European scientists."
Price, who not only paints, bikes and hikes but has also run two marathons, is keenly interested in a weather satellite to be launched in 2015. Data from the satellite on atmospheric conditions in Europe and Africa could help Price measure the effect of lightning on areas ranging from aviation to forest fires. Then, he could develop educational and practical products to keep individuals and industries from harm.
For example, if an electric company had a tool to pinpoint in advance where lightning would strike, it could divert power to safe zones in the network and also fix damage more quickly afterward, thus saving millions of dollars in lost productivity due to blackouts.
In the meantime, Price is collecting data along the Dead Sea Rift to see whether electromagnetic irregularities in the atmosphere can help predict coming earthquakes, and he is monitoring sun storms to study their impact on the Earth.
Ruing the brain drain
During semester breaks, Price presents papers and lectures in places like Hungary, Barcelona and Brussels, as well as Toronto, Montreal and New York. He bumps into plenty of Israeli expatriates on his North American travels.
"The brain drain is a real problem," says Price ruefully. "There are more than 1,000 Israeli research scientists living in the US and Canada – many of whom would return if we had a research institute such as NASA [National Aeronautics and Space Administration] or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I have on my desk five or six CVs of people wanting to come back, but there's no place for them."
Price himself was able to return to Tel Aviv in 1995, after several years in America, only because a slot opened when a professor in his department retired. It was not money that drew him – salaries are lower in Israel – but a strong sense of Zionism and a desire to raise his three daughters in the country to which he immigrated at age 20. "There are certain things you can't put a price on," he declares.
The scientist's father volunteered as a physician in the nascent Israeli army during the 1948 War of Independence. He and his wife determined to move to Israel after Colin, their youngest child, finished high school in 1979. After one year at the University of Witwatersrand, Colin joined them and began studying geophysics at Tel Aviv University.
In 1988, he and his attorney wife, Nurit, moved to New York with their firstborn, Avital. Price earned a doctorate in atmospheric sciences through Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. His research focused on global climate change and lightning activity. In 1993, he began a two-year post-doctorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where his daughter Leor was born. Maiyan, now an eighth-grader, arrived after the family's 1995 return.
Reprinted by permission of Israel21c. |
| 12/30/2009 12:00 PM Injured |
4 children |
18.0 |
U |
Miadhu
|
|
playing outside in storm |
|
|
| Thunder and lightning strikes Haa Alif Dhidhdhoo and injures 4 children
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30TH, 2009
ARTICLE TOOLS
Digg
Facebook
Stumbleupon
Twitter
Reddit
Print
Four children were injured in Haa Alifu Dhidhdhoo because of thunder and lightning strikes in the island. Three children are in the hospital for medical attention. Hospital also reports that one child’s situation is serious while another was released after treatment.
Two of them were below the age of the 18 while the other two were 18 years old. At the time of the strike they were playing near a deserted house in heavy rain, thunder and lightning, Dhidhdhoo Police Station reports. The incident had also left some part of the island without electricity. |
| 12/28/2009 03:30 PM Killed |
man |
69.0 |
M |
Port Dickson
Malaysia |
|
on a golf course |
|
Outside |
| Korean golfer dies after struck by lightning
2009/12/28
By Dharshini Balan
PORT DICKSON: A Korean man died after he was struck by lightning while playing golf with his friends at the Port Dickson Golf Club, near here, today.
In the 3.30pm incident, Yoon Doo Jae, 69, was at the golf course with four others when suddenly there was a heavy downpour.
According to a police spokesman, Yoon was struck and collapsed immediately. He died on the spot.
"His body was sent to Port Dickson Hospital for post mortem.
"The family will be arriving from Korea tomorrow to claim his body," he said.
|
| 12/24/2009 12:00 PM Injured |
3 people |
0.0 |
U |
Johannesburg
South Africa |
|
|
|
|
| Johannesburg - While Mpumulanga hospitals welcomed 36 Christmas babies, they also had to cope with a rise in assault cases over Christmas Eve, the health department said on Friday .
Departmental spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said between midnight and 07:00, 22 boys and 14 girls were born in the province. The stork delivered four babies apiece to Embhuleni and Tintswalo Hospital.
The biggest baby born was a 3.7kg boy in Kwamhlanga.
The youngest mother was 15-years-old and two 39-year-old women who gave birth in Standerton and Middelburg were the oldest.
"All the babies were reported to be in good health."
However, Gabashane said that hospitals in the province also had to cope with the darker side of Christmas Eve, with a spike in assault cases overnight.
One hospital admitted seven stab wound victims, and another in Belfast treated three.
Temba Hospital also attended to three stab wound victims.
Also overnight, three people were admitted to hospital after being struck by lightning.
On Friday morning they were in stable condition.
- SAPA
Read more on: crime | festive season
Email article Print article GET NEWS24 ON: Your mobile Your Facebook profile
SHARE: Laaik.it Yahoo Google Digg del.icio.us Facebook Twitter
Other Stories in South Africa...
Toddler's mutilated body found
The badly mutilated body of a 3-year-old toddler has been found in the Free State, just hours after she was reported missing.
Head-on collision on N3
Five people have been injured, two of them critically, after an SUV and a light vehicle collided head-on near the Mooi River toll plaza.
INSIDE NEWS24
Party poopers
Many people get seriously injured while living it up. Beware these pitfalls.
Life-changing 00s
Was it only a decade ago that a blackberry was a mere fruit?
Time to get healthy?
Need tips on detox, diet and exercise? We've got it!
Return of the King
Seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher returns to the grid in 2010.
Popping bubbly
Food24 takes you through the fine art of opening the fizz.
Cape Town on a budget
Get by with your money when travelling to the Mother City.
PROMOTION
........................................................................................................................................................................................
Save NOW with OUTsurance - you always get something OUT!
Enjoy affordable insurance premiums, guaranteed for a year! Click here for an insurance quote and save monthly.
........................................................................................................................................................................................
African Palace Online Casino - R8.5 Million Jackpot Won!
Marie van Wyk is now R8.5 Million richer! She took R80 to play the Beach Life Progressive Slot and one spin changed her life forever, making her an instant millionaire. "I thought I had won R850 and decided to withdraw the money. When I logged back in, I saw my account was sitting at R8.5 Million! I am still overwhelmed. Every day I have to remind myself that it is not a dream!". Click here to read more...
MOST READMOST EMAILEDMOST COMMENTED
Six dead in Christmas attack
Teen murdered on toilet
Brother kills to prevent rape
Attack raises security concerns
Missing girl found in woods
WEATHERTRAFFICLOTTERY
Cpt: 15-22°C Pta: 17-31°C
Jhb: 14-29°C Bloem: 13-32°C
Dbn: 19-23°C PE: 18-22°C
7 day forecasts...
JOBS - FIND YOUR DREAM JOB
CARS - SEARCH 1000'S OF NEW AND USED CARS
AUDI
2009 Audi A3 2.0 T Sportback Manual - 24000kms
Lava Grey & Tan leather interior
R 275 000
NISSAN
Sentra 160 Si
2001
R 49,900.00
MERCEDES
C320 Elegance AT MY00
2004
R 159,995.00
TOYOTA
Avensis 2.0 Advanced AT
2008
R 199,990.00
PROPERTY - FIND A NEW HOME
TRAVEL - LOOK, BOOK, GO!
FREE GAMES - TOO MUCH NEWS? TAKE A BREAK!
KALAHARI.NET - SHOP ONLINE TODAY
Sponsored links
Life Insurance Car Insurance
Insurance for Women Life Insurance for Women
Get up to R1 000 free! Personal Loans and Credit Cards
Free Business Insurance Quote Restore your balance
UK Lottery
Hot Deal of the Day!
Merry Christmas!
From the kalahari.net Team
Visit kalahari.net for fantastic savings on millions of products like books, music, DVDs, games, iPods & more! Plus get your parcel delivered straight to your doorstep!
Up to 40% Off Sale on All Books, Toys, CDs, DVDs & Games!
|
| 12/17/2009 12:00 PM unknown |
Pentagon to master lightning |
0.0 |
U |
USA |
|
lightning guns ? |
|
Education,Military,Science |
| The Pentagon Launches Plan to Master Lightning
Updated: 8 days 8 hours ago
Print Text Size E-mail More
Sharon Weinberger
Contributor
(Dec. 17) -- In Greek mythology, it was a weapon of war. Now the U.S. military is looking to tame lightning, which remains one of nature's most confounding -- and feared -- phenomena.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the R&D arm of the Pentagon, has embarked on a project called NIMBUS, which seeks to understand the underlying mechanisms of lightning. "Although significant progress has been made in recent years in our understanding of the lightning discharge and related phenomena, fundamental questions remain unanswered," the agency said in an announcement released today.
Lightning has long perplexed scientists. Not only are atmospheric scientists unsure of exactly what initiates lightning, but they also don't understand precisely how and why it is able to propagate over great distances, and where it will strike. That makes it, in DARPA's view, "one of the major unsolved mysteries in the atmospheric sciences."
Gene Blevins, AP
The fanciful-sounding NIMBUS project has a serious goal: curbing the $5 billion in damage that lightning strikes cause each year.
Lightning is not only little understood, it is dangerous and destructive -- strikes cause more than $5 billion in damages annually, according to the Lightning Safety Institute. NIMBUS will look at ways to protect against that destruction, including attempting to direct where lightning strikes. The initiative also includes plans to try to trigger lightning using rockets, which could be used to model and study the discharges.
This by no means is the military's first foray into lightning research. Pentagon officials have in the past expressed interest in other enigmatic phenomena associated with lightning, such as so-called ball lightning. Though its existence is disputed, ball lightning is purported to manifest itself as luminous, energetic spheres during storms.
The Pentagon has even funded modest efforts looking at whether ball lightning could be used as a weapon.
Another, somewhat more straightforward application of lightning, not mentioned as part of the DARPA project, is the possibility of creating a "lightning gun" -- a weapon that shoots bolts of electricity. In fact, the Defense Department has funded work in this area. A Tuscon, Ariz., company called Applied Energetics (formerly Ionatron) has received a number of multimillion-dollar contracts from the Army and Navy to develop a lightning weapon that uses ultra-short laser pulses to channel electrostatic discharges. Another company, Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems, in Anderson, Ind., has built a prototype of a lightning gun, named StunStrike.
But don't look to NIMBUS to yield a deployable death ray. DARPA says the project has a more benign goal: the protection of people and assets.
|
| 12/17/2009 12:00 PM Killed |
boy killed 7 injured |
0.0 |
M |
Dutywa
South Africa |
|
|
|
|
| A TEENAGE boy was killed and seven people were taken to hospital in Dutywa after they were struck by lightning in separate incidents this week, police said yesterday.
Captain Ling’sile Magama said the 16-year-old was on his way from Fort Malan to Nqabara village in Dutywa on Tuesday when he was struck and killed in Willowvale. An inquest docket has been opened.
The seven injured – six young girls and a woman – were taken to a hospital in Butterworth after they were struck by lightning late in the afternoon while in a two-roomed flat in Nqabara village.
Nothing was damaged inside the flat, Magama said.
Both lightning strikes happened during the rainy weather currently in the area. – Sapa |
| 12/15/2009 07:00 PM Killed |
3 men |
0.0 |
U |
Soweta |
|
under tree |
|
|
| THREE men were killed by lightning while standing under a tree to escape a heavy downpour on Sunday night.
The three men, believed to be Mozambique nationals aged between 27 to 35, had rented rooms at Zwelitsha Trust near White River and were returning home when they were struck down at about 7pm.
KaNyamazane police spokesperson Inspector Andries Sikwambana told Sowetan yesterday that there had been heavy rains accompanied by powerful thunder in the area. Struck simultaneously
“The three men were apparently coming from work when they were struck by lightning.
“They ran towards a big tree in an apparent attempt to shield themselves from the heavy rain.
“It was hardly a few minutes later when lightning struck all of them simultaneously,” Sikwambana said.
“They died on the spot and members of the community who later discovered them called us to the scene.”
He said the identities of the men would be revealed after the police had tracked down their families – believed to be living in Mozambique.
Sikwambana warned that it was extremely dangerous to stand under a tree when there was lightning because trees were powerful conductors of electricity.
|
| 12/15/2009 02:15 PM Injured |
2 men in army |
0.0 |
M |
Darwin
Australia |
|
|
|
|
| BOLT FROM THE BLUE: Dirk Reinbrecht in hospital after he was struck by lightning while working in the suburb of Lyons. Picture: BRAD FLEET
TWO men are lucky to be alive after being zapped by lightning in separate strikes just streets apart.
The pair were recovering from their ordeals in Royal Darwin Hospital last night.
Dirk Reinbecht, 43, was connecting the safety chain from a trailer to a ute at 2.15pm when the trailer was struck by a bolt of lightning and he was thrown several metres through the air on Damabila St in Lyons.
Just minutes later, a 22-year-old man - who declined to be interviewed or named - was also reportedly injured by lightning while working with electrical cabling not far away on Danimila Tce in the same suburb.
Mr Reinbecht said it was "some sort of miracle" that he wasn't killed.
"I saw the light that threw me back from the car," he said.
"But I'm alright.
"I have never been hit by lightning before - I hope that was my first and last time."
Mr Reinbecht had been finishing a landscaping job when the incident happened.
His colleague David Taylor was 20m away when the lightning struck.
"I thought he was dead," he said.
"I saw a flash of light between 2-3m long - then I saw my friend go down.
"I got to him and found he was conscious - to my surprise. But he was in total shock."
Eric Leland and Nathan Kennedy were working nearby when Mr Reinbecht was hit and rushed to his aid.
"I saw a big flash and a bloke lying on the ground," Mr Leland said.
NT WorkSafe executive director Laurene Hull said she had received a report that a landscaper at Lyons was injured by lightning.
"NT Worksafe will follow up on the nature and seriousness of the injury," she said.
"However, it is not anticipated that a formal investigation will be required."
Justice Department acting media manager Leanne Coleman could not be contacted to comment on the second lightning incident.
|
| 12/11/2009 12:00 AM unknown |
DLR Storm Research |
0.0 |
U |
Germany |
|
|
|
Education,Science |
| The DLR storm research program
Storms are more than just spectacular weather events; they also exercise considerable influence on atmospheric chemistry and Earth’s climate. Lightning combines nitrogen and oxygen to form large amounts of nitrogen oxide. However, it is not known just how much nitrogen oxide is created by these events. Researchers from the German Aerospace Agency (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Institute of Atmospheric Physics (Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre) in Oberpfaffenhofen have come up with some very surprising results: tropical storms create less nitrogen oxide than had been expected.
DLR's researchers from the Oberpfaffenhofen institute have been investigating extreme tropical storms in recent years with numerous missions using research aircraft and lightning-location equipment in four continents. The results were quite unexpected and cast a completely new light on processes inside extreme storm clouds: "Although tropical storms unleash a very large number of lightning strikes, they produce far less nitrogen oxide than we expected. Our detailed investigations demonstrate that not only the number of flashes is important, but also their length", says Dr Heidi Huntrieser, a meteorologist at the institute. "In short-lived tropical storms, lightning flashes are shorter, on average, than in our part of the world, where wind shear is more pronounced", Dr Huntrieser adds. The greater wind shear results in greater changes in wind strength and direction with increasing altitude. This separates the up- and down-draught zones of a storm cell and the storm is thus able to increase in intensity, grow in size and last longer. Work by NASA has confirmed the recently published results of the DLR institute’s research programme.
Flying into the heart of the storm with DLR research plane Falcon
In recent years, the DLR Institute has flown numerous measurement missions in the context of EU tropical research programmes. It is in this part of the world, where most storms occur, that nitrogen oxide measurements were made by flights right into the heart of storm clouds. DLR set up a ground-based Lightning Detection Network (LINET) to measure lightning activity in the clouds. In 2004 and 2005, DLR's Falcon research plane was used for flights in Brazil and these were followed by missions in Australia and West Africa. In Darwin, at the tropical northern tip of Australia, one of the strongest and most regular storms in the world, Hector, was investigated in detail.
Storms possibly have only a limited effect on climate
Lightning creates nitrogen oxide, which can also form ozone, an important greenhouse gas. It has so far been assumed that stronger storms would occur in a warmer world, leading to more nitrogen oxide and ozone formation, which would in turn influence the climate in a feedback loop. According to the DLR researchers, the opposite is more likely to be true. Storms would be more violent in a warmer world, but they would be less frequent. This could even reduce the mean incidence of lightning flashes around the world as a whole. This hypothesis would also explain some long-term observations of lightning trends. The effect of storms on climate, according to these results, is likely to be the opposite of what has often been believed so far. The DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics used the ECHAM global climate model in its research.
Contact: Miriam Kamin, German Aerospace Center, Corporate Communications, Oberpfaffenhofen, Tel.: +49 8153 28-2297
Source: German Aerospace Agency (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR)
|
| 12/09/2009 10:30 AM Killed |
construction worker |
28.0 |
M |
Hamad Town
Bahrain |
|
working on a roof |
|
On a Roof,Outside |
| Local News
Safety alert after death
By ANIQA HAIDER , Posted on » Wednesday, December 09, 2009
A CONSTRUCTION worker killed when he was struck by lightning yesterday could have survived if he was wearing proper safety clothing, according to a senior labour official.
Nemi Chand Ram Lal, aged 28, from India, is said to have died instantly when he was struck by lightning at around 10.30am on the roof of a house under construction in Hamad Town.
His colleagues Lasmanna Yenuganti Yeuuganti Mjthanna, 36, from India, and Alamgir Miah Faruk Miah, 33, from Bangladesh, were injured and required hospital treatment.
Labour Ministry occupational health and safety head Abbas Al Matooq yesterday said there were no plans to stop outdoor work going ahead during lightning storms - adding this could be the first case of someone being killed by lightning in Bahrain.
However, he urged companies to ensure their staff wore proper safety equipment at worksites. "We always insist that workers should not ignore the safety rules and wear their helmets, uniform and (proper) shoes.
"If this worker had been wearing a helmet and safety shoes, he could have survived.
"Two engineers went to the site and investigated the incident. We don't want the construction companies to stop working in such weather, but they should take precautionary measures.
Mr Lal had worked for the Mohammed Saif Al Ajlan Almannai Contracting Company for four years. He was initially taken to the Hamad Town Health Centre, but was pronounced dead upon arrival, company office clerk P V Mohan told the GDN. His body was later transferred to the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) morgue.
Mr Mjthanna, a married father of three who has worked for the company for eight months, and Mr Miah, an employee for the past 18 months, were both being treated at the SMC's Intensive Care Unit last night. Mr Lal is survived by his wife of 18 months, Siroj.
aneeqa@gdn.com.bh
|
| 12/09/2009 12:00 AM Killed |
3 people |
0.0 |
U |
Lusaka
|
|
|
|
|
| Lightning strikes three, croc kills one
Three people from different families were over the weakened killed by lightning in chief Mungaila’s area.
Another man of Katengwa ward in chief Mungaila’s area was killed by a crocodile in the Kafue River as he drew water from the water source.
District Commissioner, Wilson Siandunka, confirmed the two incidences yesterday and named the deceased as, Rebecca Nshingwee aged 19 years, Dilu Nakaande aged 27 and an 8-year-old boy.
Mr Siadunka said lightning struck the three at their respective homes and all of them died instantly.
Mr Siadunka named the 21-year-old man of Katengwa ward who was killed by a crocodile on Saturday as Richard Nalishuwa of Nalishuwa village of Katengwa.
The DC said the body of the deceased croc victim has not yet been found, adding that search teams with the help of State police were in the area in an attempt to try to search for the body.
Mr Siandunka, who visited the homes of the bereaved families, expressed sadness at the deaths of the four people on a single day.
“As government we sincerely convey our deepest condolences to the affected families and pray that the Lord is going to be with the families during this difficult time,” said Mr Siadunka.
ZANIS |
| 12/07/2009 05:30 PM Killed |
private student |
20.0 |
M |
Subang Jaya
Malaysia |
|
getting into his car |
|
|
| Student Killed By Lightning In Subang Jaya
PETALING JAYA, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- A 20-year-old private college student was fatally struck by lightning as he was getting into his car after a basketball match in Taipan, Subang Jaya, on Sunday.
Tan Han Wim and three friends had just finished playing at 5.30pm and decided to go home because the weather was turning gloomy.
His friends called his father who rushed there immediately and took Tan to the Subang Jaya Medical Centre but he died on the way.
His body was taken to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre for a post-mortem.
Subang Jaya OCPD ACP Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar confirmed the incident.
-- BERNAMA |
| 12/02/2009 12:00 AM Injured |
John William Bennett |
0.0 |
M |
VietNam |
|
new book |
|
Education,Military |
|
Dorrance Publishing Releases Vietnam Memoir by Fairfield, Pennsylvania Author
Posted : Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:34:19 GMT
Author : PRWeb
Category : Press Release
News Alerts by Email ( click here )
News | Home
This candid book shares the personal reflections of a Vietnam vet who was falsely labeled as killed in action following a lightning strike.
Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) December 2, 2009 -- Killed in Action-Struck by Lightning: A Vietnam Combat Medic's Story by Specialist 5 John William Bennett of Fairfield, Pennsylvania, has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
Struck by lightning, evacuated from the observation post by helicopter, taken from the chopper, placed in a body bag, and put in the morgue some eighteen hours later…
"I saw fluorescent tubes in pastel colors in a tunnel with a bright light at the end. Suddenly it got dark…I reached in my pants pocket and felt my knife and I cut a hole in the tarp so I could sit up. Around me were many litters with body bags on them just like mine. I didn't know if I was in enemy or friendly hands. I was in shock. I had always been so very cognizant of my surroundings and now I was in a place I could not identify and had no idea of how or why I was here.
"After a while, maybe twenty or thirty minutes, a man came in from behind me and said, 'Whoa, what's your problem, son?' I said that I had no idea but perhaps I had had a relapse of malaria or just had gotten ill. He said he would be 'right back.' When he returned I was in no way prepared for the shock he would give me. He handed me the body tag and written on it was, 'Killed in action - struck by lightning.' He asked me how I was and I replied, 'I guess I'm fine.' That was the biggest mistake of my life."
One who is struck by lightning will never be "fine," and the worst part is no one believes you.
Killed in Action-Struck by Lightning: A Vietnam Combat Medic's Story is a 166-page paperback with a retail price of $15.00. The ISBN is 978-1-4349-0299-3. It was published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information or to request a review copy, please visit our virtual pressroom at www.dorrancepressroom.com or our online bookstore at www.dorrancebookstore.com.
|
| 12/02/2009 12:00 AM Killed |
boy |
11.0 |
M |
South Africa |
|
|
|
|
| Lightning kills boy in Gauteng
2009-12-02 21:05
Print article Email article
Related Links
5 killed by lightning in E Cape
Lightning kills Soweto man
Johannesburg - An 11-year-old boy died after he was struck by lightning while herding sheep in Vanderbijlpark in Vereeniging on Wednesday, paramedics said.
ER24 spokesperson Lloyd Krause said the boy had been helping herd sheep in the afternoon when a storm broke out and he was struck.
Paramedics responded to an emergency call. When they arrived at the plot they initiated advanced life support interventions including CPR.
The child was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
|
| 12/02/2009 12:00 PM unknown |
masters of lightning |
0.0 |
U |
USA |
|
|
|
Education,Science |
| By Steve Schmadeke Tribune reporter
December 2, 2009
E-mail
Print
Share
Text Size
Under a starry Saturday sky behind a Lake Zurich warehouse, three men unload a small flamethrower, electric cabling, neon-tube "light sabers," about 80 pounds of chain mail and two 7-foot devices that look like monster-movie props. Terry Blake, 48, Jeff Larson, 39, and Steve Ward, 24, call themselves the Masters of Lightning and are members of a small sect within the hobbyist world: Tesla coil enthusiasts. Their coils -- which generate beautiful, lethal electrical sparks up to 12 feet long -- are a much-modified version of the device Nikola Tesla invented to wirelessly transport electricity.
There are likely only about 1,000 Tesla coil hobbyists worldwide, but they have a growing following as parts have become more readily available over eBay and videos have gone up on YouTube. For obvious reasons, Tesla coils are popular among electrical engineers. And now their appeal is seeping into pop culture, most recently with a fan making a video of a new Flaming Lips song using a musical Tesla coil that the band posted on its Web site.
The Masters of Lightning have won their own measure of fame. Videos of their performances, typically before crowds of 50 to a few hundred, have been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube.
The three use advanced industrial transistors to produce what is essentially 1.6 million volts of lightning to play music from Bach's Toccata and Fugue to the 8-bit theme from Super Mario Brothers. It works by precisely controlling the firing rate of the sparks, using them like a speaker to make music so ear-splittingly loud that last summer people living a half-mile away from the warehouse complained.
To top it off, Blake stands between the coils wearing a metal suit of layered chain mail, sometimes carrying a lit flamethrower. On this night, they are testing a new homemade helmet that Blake, a Motorola engineer from Palatine who performs as Dr. Zeus, hopes will look good but also keep him as safe as a modified flamethrower with a glass insulator to showcase the sparks.
"When I first started making sparks, most people I know just thought that was insane," says Blake, laughing. " 'Why are you messing with lightning bolts in your backyard?' When I started putting on the suit and playing around with (the sparks), they were speechless. That was beyond crazy."
Besides the deadly violet sparks, the smell of ozone and pizza, and the Zelda theme music played at rock-concert levels, the hobby offers technical challenges and the chance to briefly step into a sort of alternate reality.
"The plasma looks really beautiful up close," says Blake of the man-made lightning. "There's all sorts of fractal patterns and all sorts of detail in there that you can't make out if you're scared of it."
Not that you shouldn't be scared. Chip Atkinson, of Colorado, who runs a Tesla coil mailing list that has grown from 700 to 900 in recent years, has a nearly 7,000-word warning about the hobby's perils on his Web site. Among them: "Explosions can and do occur with Tesla coils!"
"It's one of those things where if you don't know what you're doing, it can be fatal," says Bert Hickman, 62, a retired Woodridge engineer and former Tesla coil hobbyist.
The three men have years of experience. Larson and Ward are Fermilab employees and Streamwood residents. Ward started building Tesla coils as an eighth-grader in Oak Forest. They experimented to create better shows. Blake setting two-by-fours on fire by channeling the sparks with his finger got a good response. Another favorite involves Blake holding up orange neon tubes that glow like light sabers amid sparks that play the "Imperial March" from "Star Wars."
"We're sort of learning as we go," Ward says.
The Tesla coils are ready to fire. Ward and Larson stand at a folding table about 20 feet away, using a series of knobs and sliders to control the sparks. The music comes from Ward's laptop. A large red "emergency off" button sits at the table's center.
Part of the competition among coilers is the length of their sparks.
"It's sort of bragging rights," Larson says.
"It's really sort of lacking right now, actually," says Ward after running the coils for a couple of minutes. He and Larson add wooden spacers under the coils. "We're trying to make them a little bigger."
Though their coils can shoot sparks of up to 12 feet, no hobbyist has replicated the 135-foot ones reportedly generated by a massive coil Tesla built 110 years ago in Colorado Springs, the three say. That man built a 122-foot coil to test his theory that electricity could be sent wirelessly through the Earth's ionosphere, but the length of his sparks is viewed skeptically today.
On this night, the Masters of Lightning just want to make sure Blake's new helmet is safe. It's tested first without Blake inside, then with him wearing it and lifting his hands to low-voltage sparks from a coil.
With nowhere to run their coils over the winter, the men work on new ideas. Blake already has a project -- "re-engineering" his chain metal pants to allow more freedom of movement. Then they wait until they can once again see the looks on people's faces as their fantastic apparatus roars to life.
"People start freaking out," Blake says.
sschmadeke@tribune.com
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
|
| 12/02/2009 12:00 PM unknown |
Radiation |
0.0 |
U |
USA |
|
|
|
Education |
| Flight Passengers Exposed to Large Doses of Radiation
The latter form during lightning storms
By Tudor Vieru, Science Editor
8th of December 2009, 21:00 GMT
Adjust text size:
Though a relatively large number of investigations have revealed that being aboard an airplane while the aircraft flies through the middle of a large thunderstorm is perfectly safe, a new work begs to differ. A number of experts feel that, while flying through large atmospheric fronts, lightning strikes can easily produce X-rays, gamma rays and high-energy electrons, which then hit the people inside the planes. The new work was conducted by experts at the Florida Institute of Technology, the University of California in Santa Cruz (UCSC), and the University of Florida.
The group, however, admits that the instances in which this happens are actually fairly rare, and that more research into the matter is needed before a clear conclusion can be drawn. But, it argues, the preliminary results of its analysis show that the increased levels of radiation can be harmful to passengers.
Coupled with exposure to other sources, such as electronic devices and medical scans, the instances in which traveling people experience this type of poisoning may be contributing to an increase in the large number of Americans who appear to have been exposed to much more radiation than the safety limit entails.
“We know that commercial airplanes are typically struck by lightning once or twice a year. What we don't know is how often planes happen to be in just the right place or right time to receive a high radiation dose. We believe it is very rare, but more research is needed to answer the question definitively,” Florida Tech Professor of Physics and Space Sciences Joe Dwyer says. He adds that, if the airplane is near the point of origin for a lightning strike, or for a terrestrial gamma-ray flash, then passengers inside could be exposed to up to 400 times the radiation dose a patient receives after being exposed to a chest X-ray.
In order to get to the new conclusions, the experts “combined observations of lightning-produced X-rays and gamma rays with computer models of the movement of high-energy particles to estimate the amount of radiation that could be produced within, or very near, thunderclouds during lightning storms,” Florida Tech senior researcher Hamid Rassoul, also a coauthor of the new paper, explains.
“If an aircraft happened to be in or near the high-field region when either a lightning discharge or a TGF event is occurring, then the radiation dose received by passengers and crew members inside the aircraft could potentially approach 10 rem in less than one millisecond,” the authors write. The research is to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal for Geophysical Research – Atmosphere.
|
| 12/01/2009 04:30 PM Injured |
Mike Palmore |
40.0 |
M |
Corpus Christi Tx
USA |
|
walking to truck |
N/A |
Outside,Walking to Vehicle |
| CORPUS CHRISTI — A 40-year-old man was struck by lightning in the 6900 block of Sandra Lane Tuesday morning and lived, according to Corpus Christi police.
CORPUS CHRISTI — The lightning turned the change in his pocket red hot, singed his belt buckle through his shirt, instantly fried his cell phone and left his ears ringing.
“It’s like having a howitzer go off in front of your face,” Mike Palmore said.
At 4:30 p.m. Dec. 1, Palmore became one of more than 300 people struck by lightning yearly in the U.S.
“It knocked me right on the ground on my back,” he said. “I was staring up at the sky and I was completely frozen.”
The odds of being struck in a given year are about 1 in 750,000. But lightning is one of the leading weather-related causes of death, according to data from the National Weather Service.
About 10 percent of people who are struck by lightning each year are killed, according to the National Weather Service.
Last year alone there were 28 lightning fatalities in the U.S., the majority of which were males 10 to 39 years old, according to John Metz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The nation’s first lightning fatality this year was a Ransom Canyon man walking the beach in Port Aransas in May, Metz said.
Palmore was struck as he ran to his truck on Sandra Lane during a heavy downpour.
Palmore and his daughter, Jade, 11, were visiting his sister’s house after he picked Jade up from Kaffie Middle School. Toward the end of their visit, it began to rain heavily.
“We were in a hurry and we couldn’t find our umbrella, so I just decided to run out to my truck about 75 yards away and drive up to the curb to get my daughter,” he said.
As he was walking to his truck, Palmore said lightning almost hit him and he remembers feeling lucky it missed. But as he opened his truck and climbed inside, lightning struck him.
“My ears were ringing so loud that I couldn’t hear anything and I was completely frozen, even after I was taken to the hospital,” he said.
Palmore said he instantly felt a burning sensation. And with good cause, Metz said, because a single bolt of lightning can get as hot as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I just remember thinking that I must have fallen off my truck somehow and that my legs were burning from the exhaust pipe,” he said. “I had no idea what had just happened.”
As he lay on the ground in the rain, Palmore’s daughter and father still were waiting for him to bring the truck around. It took several minutes before they realized something was wrong.
“I was trying to wake him up but he wouldn’t listen to us,” Jade said. “His eyes were just rolled in the back of his head and rain was getting into his mouth.”
Palmore said he hasn’t felt any lasting effects, but he jokes with his daughter that he can see in the dark now and has special powers.
“I’m just grateful we couldn’t find that umbrella because my daughter would have been with me when it happened and things could have been a lot worse,” he said.
Officers and medics were called at 11:14 a.m. The man had good vital signs. He was transported to a Corpus Christi hospital for further evaluation. |
| 11/28/2009 04:00 PM Killed |
3 people |
0.0 |
U |
Kuwait City
Kuwait |
|
|
|
|
| Rains, lightning lead to 6 deaths; Two-vehicle collision kills child
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 29: A total of 27 road accidents in various parts of the country were registered over the weekend due to the heavy rains, leading to the death of a Kuwaiti, an Indian and a Pakistani, while two Kuwaitis and an Ethiopian, who were found dead in undisclosed locations, are said to have been struck by lightning. Some areas in Kuwait recorded a total of 68 mm rain since Wednesday — a 42 percent increase compared to last year. Colonel Khaled Al-Amiri from the Fire Brigade Department disclosed 27 car accidents were reported from Friday to Saturday due to wet roads and reckless driving, resulting in the death of a Kuwaiti, an Indian and a Pakistani. “Two Kuwaitis, aged 19 and 21 years, died due to lightning while an Ethiopian woman was found dead with burn marks on her face, raising suspicions that her death might have been caused by lightning,” Al-Amiri said. Speaking to the Arab Times Sunday, Head of Al-Merzem Observatory Mesaed Al-Hamad said the country witnessed intermittent rainfall from Wednesday until Saturday. Rainfall recorded in Kuwait City totaled 55 mm and 68 mm in Salmiya. “This is around double the amount of rain recorded during the same period last year,” he explained.
Pointing out that rain is a good omen and reduces the possibility of sandstorms during summer, Al-Hamad clarified Kuwait witnessed heavy sandstorms over the last two summers due to winds coming from the southern parts of Iraq and Jordan and north Saudi Arabia. “Heavy rains in these areas mean dust particles will not be dry and cannot be easily carried by the wind,” he added. Al-Hamad stated sandy winds are common during the months of June and July while rain confines sand particles by drenching the soil for a period of five to six months, thereby, decreasing the possibility of a sandy summer. He expects heavy rain clouds to hover over the Kuwaiti sky by the end of this week. Firefighters also responded to several emergency calls as seven houses in different parts of the country reportedly went in flames due to lightning. “We also assisted in removing rainwater from basements to avoid electric short circuits,” Al-Amiri stated. Al-Amiri went on to say 15 vehicles went in flames while others had to be pulled out of water puddles. “Fourteen families who got stuck in water puddles required assistance,” he revealed.
The remains of the dead were referred to the Forensic Department and cases were registered. On the first day of Eid Al-Adha, the Operation Room received 297 distress calls, while 401 distress calls were placed on the second day, of which 211 were dealt with. While 27 distress calls were traffic-related on the first day, the second day witnessed 48 such calls, resulting in a total of 75 reported traffic accidents within two days that took 5 lives and left around 60 persons injured. Among the cases reported was a two-vehicle collision on Subbiya Motorway that resulted in the death of a child aged 5 years. Security officials and paramedics rushed to the scene on receiving information about the incident and discovered that the child had died on the spot, while his family members were severely injured. They were referred to Jahra Hospital. The corpse was referred to the Forensic Department.
Meanwhile, a two-vehicle collision on the 6th Ring Road going towards Jahra resulted in the injury of a Kuwaiti citizen and an Iraqi expatriate on Saturday. They were referred to Farwaniya Hospital by paramedics. Another two-vehicle collision on the 2nd Ring Road between Shamiya and Keifan resulted in the injury of a Lebanese expatriate and a Jordanian national. They were referred to Amiri Hospital by paramedics. In another story, one Palestinian and three Jordanian women sustained injuries in a two-vehicle collision in Farwaniya. They were referred to Farwaniya Hospital by paramedics. In a similar story, an Indian national aged 28 years sustained injuries in a two-vehicle collision on Jelaia Motorway. He was referred to Adan Hospital by paramedics and a case was registered. Also, an Iranian expatriate sustained injuries after he was knocked down by a motorist in Salmiya. He was referred to Mubarak Hospital by paramedics.
By Dahlia Kholaif and Shebli Al-Rashed |
| 11/28/2009 02:00 PM Injured |
teen |
19.0 |
F |
Australia |
|
touching fence |
|
|
| Lightning downs teen zoo worker
Anne-Louise Brown | 29th November 2009
A 19-year-old female Australia Zoo staff member touched a fence as it was struck by lightning about five metres from where she was standing.
Brendan Harper
AN afternoon storm caused havoc on the Sunshine Coast yesterday, cutting power to homes and causing a series of highway accidents.
The vicious-looking storm blew in from the south-west shortly after lunch and by 2pm was making its presence felt in the hinterland.
About 2pm ambulance officers rushed to Australia Zoo after a 19-year-old female staff member touched a fence as it was struck by lightning about five metres from where she was standing.
Miraculously, the woman, who was treated at the scene, escaped serious injury.
Strong winds brought down powerlines throughout the Mooloolah Valley, cutting power to homes as the area was hit by a deluge.
The Landsborough, Beerwah and Peachester areas were reportedly hit by heavy rain and hail but no official rainfall figures were available.
The storm dumped 16mm on Nambour but only 4mm at Maleny and little or nothing on the Coast.
On Valley View Road at Mooloolah, the power pole at the end of Kayleen and Les Fleming's driveway was struck by lightning and came crashing to the ground.
Last night the family was one of many still without power, forced to store perishables in ice-filled eskies.
Ms Fleming said the storm hit quickly.
“There was rain and hail and strong winds. It was pretty ferocious,” she said.
“We're just grateful no one was hurt.”
The storm also caused havoc on the highway, with traffic forced to contend with limited visibility and slippery roads.
About 2pm two cars crashed on the north-bound lanes of the Bruce Highway.
One man was trapped but was quickly freed, with no serious injuries.
A vehicle towing a horse float jack-knifed about 2.40pm in the southbound lanes of the highway.
The horse was not injured but briefly created a traffic danger until it was brought under control.
|
| 11/28/2009 02:09 PM Injured |
woman |
30.0 |
F |
Melbourne
Australia |
|
|
|
|
| By Alesha Capone
1st December 2009 11:05:04 AM
LIGHTNING struck a train driver at Sunshine railway station on Thursday afternoon when a storm swept through Melbourne.
Ambulance Victoria advanced life support paramedics treated the 30-year-old woman and took her to the Western Hospital in Sunshine in a stable condition.
An Ambulance Victoria statement said the incident left the woman quite shaken and feeling unwell.
Connex spokeswoman Lanie Harris said the city-bound service was struck after it had left Sydenham at 2.09pm.
She said most Melbourne train lines experienced delays after the wild storm.
Ms Harris said signalling equipment beside the railway line near Sunshine had also been struck by a separate bolt of lightning.
Many commuters were caught short as the storm hit, leaving roads and train lines across Melbourne and the western suburbs in chaos.
Brad Dalgleish from Brimbank’s State Emergency Service said volunteers had not been too busy, with a handful of call-outs to the Deer Park and St Albans residential area about minor roof damage and minor flooding before 5pm.
The worst hit areas were Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
However, some businesses in the West reported minor flooding.
Following the heavy rain, flood watch warnings were issued for the Yarra, Maribyrnong, Werribee, Dandenong, Bunyip, Loddon, Campaspe, Avoca and Wimmera catchments.
|
| 11/27/2009 03:08 PM Injured |
woman |
0.0 |
F |
Marysville Ca
USA |
|
playing video game |
|
Computer / Video Game,Indoors |
| 0308 PM LIGHTNING 2 SE MARYSVILLE 39.13N 121.56W
11/27/2009 YUBA CA LAW ENFORCEMENT
*** 1 INJ *** CHP REPORTED WOMAN INJURED WHEN LIGHTNING
STRUCK POWER LINES AND WENT THROUGH VIDEO GAME SHE WAS
PLAYING.
|
| 11/27/2009 12:00 PM Injured |
girl |
17.0 |
F |
Rowville
Australia |
|
|
|
|
| I got struck by lightning and lived
Wayne Flower From: Herald Sun November 28, 2009 12:00AM
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size
Print
Email
Share
Ashlee Elshaar, recovering from hospital after being struck by lightning, is visited by her mum Jen Toward. Picture: Chris Scott Source: Herald Sun
A TEENAGER hit by lightning during Thursday's wild storms has spoken of her brush with death.
Ashlee Elshaar was thrown off her feet when the bolt struck her as she tried to clear a downpipe at her Rowville home during the height of the storm.
"I walked outside into the rain to pick up the hose and when I bent down a sharp pain went into the back of my neck," she said.
The 17-year old compared the shock with being zapped by a paramedic's defibrillator.
"I've never actually been shocked by one, but I'd say that's how it feels.
"It felt like a needle going through every part of my neck, but it wasn't like a tiny needle, it was like a sharp one.
"It felt like it was all going into the one spot at once and then it went straight through the rest of my body all at once."
Related Coverage
Gallery: Your photos of our barmy November weather
Lightning and flash floods were reported across Melbourne on Thursday as SES crews responded to hundreds of calls as trees crashed into homes, crushed cars, blocked streets and cut power.
Ashlee, who remains in Monash Children's Hospital in a stable condition, said she pulled herself up and ran inside where she called her mother at work.
"At first I thought I'd just pulled a muscle and I'd be fine but then when the ambulance came and put me in a neck brace I think it kind of got serious then," she said.
Ashlee, who hopes to join Victoria Police when she turns 18 in February, said she planned to stay indoors for the big day.
"If it's raining I'm not going out there," she said.
|
| 11/25/2009 12:00 PM Killed |
5 killed |
0.0 |
U |
South Africa |
|
|
|
|
| Five people were killed by lightning in separate incidents in the Eastern Cape, police said on Thursday.
Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela said two people were killed at Elliotdale, two at Mquanduli and one at Engcobo, all during the same storm on Wednesday.
"There were all inside their huts when the lightning struck them. The weather was very, very bad."
A man, aged 43, and a woman, aged 40, were killed at Elliotdale. A 90-year-old man and a 60-year-old man were killed at Mquanduli. The man who died at Engcobo was 35-years-old. - Sapa |
| 11/24/2009 04:00 PM Injured |
Monroe Howze |
10.0 |
M |
Hawthorne Fl
USA |
|
rolling up car windows |
N/A |
In a car,In a Car or Vehicle |
| Lightning almost strikes 10-year-old
Contributor: Katie Kosciolek
Email: kkosciolek@ActionNewsJax.com
Last Update: 11/25 3:52 pm
Print Story | Share this Story
HAWTHORNE, Fla. -- A 10-year-old boy is recovering after he was almost struck by lightning Tuesday.
Gainesville Fire Rescue says the boy wasn't directly hit, but he was near something that was struck. They say he was awake and talking when emergency crews arrived.
The child was taken to Shands Gainesville.
Related Links
Lightning almost strikes 10-year-old
HAWTHORNE, Fla. -- Candi Preston knows how precious every minute is. It's a lesson she learned after her brother was struck by lightning.
"He told me he could have died, but It wasn't his time," she said.
Ten-year-old Monroe Howze was indirectly hit as he was trying to roll-up car windows. He suffered minor burns and lost some feeling in his legs.
"He is okay. That's the most thankful part. I know he is alright," said his other sister, Chandra Preston.
Now, the little boy will be eating Thanksgiving dinner from his hospital bed.
"He told me to bring him two plates," said Candi.
"He is a cool kid. He is real good. He is smart. Really intelligent," said Chandra.
"He said he is grateful to be alive," said Candi. It's a lesson learned in a flash, that will resonate with this family for years.
282 people have been struck by lightning in the U.S. this year. 36 of those people were killed. Five of those deaths were in Florida.
Copyright 2009 High Plains Broadcasting LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment Add Video Comment
(0) Comments
Ads by GoogleWhat's this?
Skydive Jacksonville
Jacksonville'sOnly Skydiving Center
North Florida's Highest Jumps!
www.SkydiveJacksonville.comAssociated Lightning
Installing Lightning Protection in
the Northeastern US since 1953
www.alrci.comLightning Protection
Free Estimates, Materials, Design
Installation, Certification
www.kuefler-lightning.comSteeplejack Access Work
Free estimates within New England
services church towers steeples usa
www.SteepleKeeper.comJacksonville Beach MLS
Fast, Simple Jacksonville Beach MLS
search. Listings updated daily!
www.jaxrealestatehomes.com/mls/
|
| 11/19/2009 03:00 PM Killed |
5 killed 11 hurt |
0.0 |
U |
Madhur village Madurantakam
India |
|
|
|
Mine |
| led, 11 hurt in blast at Madurantakam quarry
TNN 20 November 2009, 06:44am IST
Text Size:
|
Topics:
Blast
Madhur Village
CHENNAI: Five workers were killed and 11 others were injured in a detonator blast trigerred by lightning at two granite quarries in Madhur
Twitter Facebook Share
Email Print Save Comment
village in Madurantakam on Thursday afternoon. Kancheepuram district police told The Times Of India that supervisor Venkateshan and an employee Balu were arrested and that criminal cases would be filed against them.
The police said detonator blasts during the rainy season had been banned. Around 3 pm, more than 20 workers were preparing for the blasts when lightning struck and accidentally trigerred blasts at two quarries. Workers at one quarry, who were not preparing for a blast and were at a safe distance, were lucky. Those in the other quarry were not. Five workers, Soundariya (30), Shanmugam (20), Manoharan (50), Selvaraj (30) and Ezhumalai (30), died on the spot. Eleven workers who were injured were rushed to the Chengalpet general hospital. "The injuries are not of a serious nature," Kancheepuram superintendent of police Prem Anand Sinha said.
Police said the quarries had licences. "However, they have violated the stipulated norms and should face criminal action. We have begun investigating and arrested supervisor Venkateshan and shot-firer Balu," Sinha said.
The police had a tough time in pulling out the dead from under huge boulders. The public who rushed to the spot after sensing the accident also braved the rain and helped the police in helping the injured. Workers said the lightning-trigerred blast had caught them completely unawares.
|
| 11/13/2009 04:00 AM unknown |
Does Sun regulate lightning ? |
0.0 |
U |
Tel Aviv
Israel |
|
|
|
Education |
| Lightning Strike In Africa Helps Take Pulse Of Sun
ScienceDaily (Nov. 14, 2009) — Sunspots, which rotate around the sun's surface, tell us a great deal about our own planet. Scientists rely on them, for instance, to measure the sun's rotation or to prepare long-range forecasts of Earth's health.
See also:
Space & Time
Sun
Astronomy
Asteroids, Comets and Meteors
Earth & Climate
Severe Weather
Storms
Earth Science
Reference
Sunspot
Solar flare
Ionosphere
Geomagnetic storm
But there are some years, like this one, where it's not possible to see sunspots clearly. When we're at this "solar minimum," very few, if any, sunspots are visible from Earth. That poses a problem for scientists in a new scientific field called "Space Weather," which studies the interaction between the sun and Earth's environment.
Thanks to a serendipitous discovery by Tel Aviv University's Prof. Colin Price, head of TAU's Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science, and his graduate student Yuval Reuveni, science now has a more definitive and reliable tool for measuring the sun's rotation when sunspots aren't visible -- and even when they are. The research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research -- Space Physics, could have important implications for understanding the interactions between the sun and Earth. Best of all, it's based on observations of common, garden-variety lightning strikes here on Earth.
Waxing and waning, every 27 days
Using Very Low Frequency (VLF) wire antennas that resemble clotheslines, Prof. Price and his team monitored distant lightning strikes from a field station in Israel's Negev Desert. Observing lightning signals from Africa, they noticed a strange phenomenon in the lightning strike data -- a phenomenon that slowly appeared and disappeared every 27 days, the length of a single full rotation of the sun.
"Even though Africa is thousands of miles from Israel, lightning signals there bounce off Earth's ionosphere -- the envelope surrounding Earth -- as they move from Africa to Israel," Prof. Price explains. "We noticed that this bouncing was modulated by the sun, changing throughout its 27-day cycle. The variability of the lightning activity occurring in sync with the sun's rotation suggested that the sun somehow regulates the lightning pattern."
He describes it as akin to hearing music or voices from across a lake: depending on the humidity, temperature and wind, sometimes they're crystal clear and sometimes they're inaudible. He discovered a similar anomaly in the lightning data due to the changes in Earth's ionosphere -- signals waxed and waned on a 27-day cycle. Prof. Price was able to show that this variability in the data was not due to changes in the lightning activity itself, but to changes in Earth's ionosphere, suspiciously in tandem with the sun's rotation.
Taking the pulse of the sun
The discovery describes a phenomenon not clearly understood by scientists. Prof. Price, an acclaimed climate change scientist, believes it may help scientists formulate new questions about the sun's effect on our climate. "This is such a basic parameter and not much is known about it," says Prof. Price. "We know that Earth rotates once every 24 hours, and the moon once every 27.3 days. But we haven't been able to precisely measure the rotation rate of the sun, which is a ball of gas rather than a solid object; 27 days is only an approximation. Our findings provide a more accurate way of knowing the real rotation rate, and how it changes over time," he says.
Prof. Price cannot yet say how this finding will impact life on Earth. "It's an interesting field to explore," he says, "because nothing has been done to investigate the links between changing weather patterns and the rotation of the sun.
"Short-term changes in solar activity can also impact satellite performance, navigational accuracy, the health of astronauts, and even electrical power grid failures here on Earth. Many scientists claim that the sun's variability is linked to changes in climate and weather patterns, so the small changes we observed every 27 days could also be related to small variations in weather patterns.
"Our data may help researchers examine short-term connections between weather, climate, and sun cycles. With this tool, we now have a good system for measuring the pulse of the sun."
|
| 11/11/2009 04:00 PM Injured |
woman |
0.0 |
F |
Manizales
Colombia |
|
|
|
|
| HEADLINES:From Manizales, we have the story of a woman who was struck by lightning. Doctors say she escaped with just a small scar. |
| 11/11/2009 04:00 PM Injured |
old woman |
0.0 |
F |
Nkomonye
Swazi |
|
|
|
|
| AN old woman from Nkomonye survived a lightning strike but her house was destroyed.
She was rushed to Ngozi clinic in a critical condition. Member of Parliament Gibson Cracker Hlophe said he saw the old woman returning from the clinic with a severe injury on her leg. In another matter related to the storm, a family nearly died when the stick and mud they were sleeping in collapsed. The MP appeals for help. No one was injured in the collapsed house.
|
| 11/01/2009 04:00 PM Killed |
child |
10.0 |
M |
Opanayake
Sri Lanka |
|
playing in open field |
|
Outside |
| Child killed by lightning
By Yohan Perera, Gamini Wickramasinghe and
S. Madawala
Heavy showers, gale force winds and lightning caused havoc in many parts of the country while at Opanayake a child was killed after he was struck by lightning, police said.
Ten-year-old Janth Malinda was out in the open playing with a friend when the tragedy occurred on Saturday.
Mathugama Neluwa Road was impassable after a landslide at Parindanuwara in the Kalutara District.
Colombo Municipal Council sources said the gale force winds that lashed Colombo on Saturday evening uprooted 11 trees – one on Thurstan Road, two each in Horton Place, Malalasekera Mawatha, Ward Place, Norris Canal Road and Kirula Road. CMC workmen cleared the roads the same evening.
Meanwhile the Meteorology Department said there might
be heavy rains accompanied with thunder and lightening and warned the people not stay outdoors during lightning. The Met Department said the high winds were caused by a down draft which had developed below the clouds but it noted that this condition might pass.
The highest rain fall of 70 mm was reported from Kaudulla while Colombo had experienced a rainfall of 41.2 mm.
The Met Department said occasional showers were expected in the Eastern, Uva and Central provinces and in the Hambantota District and that the drought, which prevailed in the South and Moneragala would end soon due to the rains in the area.
Strong winds have damaged 86 houses in Bulathsinghala on Saturday evening. Sources said the police and the divisional secretaries have made arrangements to help the affected persons.
The displaced persons have been provided with temporary shelter according to local authorities in the area.
|
| 10/30/2009 06:00 PM Killed |
girl |
10.0 |
F |
Soweto
South Africa |
|
walking with her mother |
|
Outside |
| A 10-year-old girl was killed in Soweto when she was struck by lightning on Friday, Johannesburg police said.
The girl was walking with her mother in Bram Fischer, Dobsonville, around 6pm when she was struck, Inspector Kay Makhubela said.
"Paramedics were called out and tried to help her, but she died before arriving at hospital."
Her mother was not injured. Police have opened an inquest docket. - Sapa |
| 10/30/2009 03:10 PM Killed |
2 men in army |
0.0 |
M |
Kota Tinggi
|
|
|
|
|
| Friday October 30, 2009
Lightning kills two army men on patrol
KOTA TINGGI: Two army personnel were killed when lightning struck them as they were patrolling near their observation post in Pantai Batu Layar here.
L/Kpl Rizal Mohd Lazim, 33, and private Mohd Safri Sazali, 21, from Unit 23 of the army from Perak, were conducting checks on entry of illegal immigrants around Tanjung Sepang in Sungai Rengit when the freak accident took place.
Kota Tinggi OCPD Supt Osman Mohamed Sebot said the incident occurred at 3.10pm on Wednes-day.
“They were doing a routine patrol at Pantai Batu Layar with three other army personnel,” he said.
“It was drizzling and both victims were walking side by side. The others were nearby,” he added.
Lightning stuck the two, throwing them several metres away. Both died on the spot.
“Their bodies were sent to Kota Tinggi Hospital for post-mortem,” said Supt Osman. |
| 10/26/2009 10:30 AM Killed |
golfer |
22.0 |
M |
Singapore
|
|
on the 18th |
N/A |
Coma,CPR,Delayed Death,Golf Course,Outside |
| SINGAPORE, Oct 26 — A golfer was struck by lightning at the Tanah Merah Country Club yesterday morning, just as he neared the end of an 18-hole game.
The skies had only just turned a little dark and the club had contacted the Meteorological Services to check whether lightning was likely when the 57-year-old was hit.
Soh Lye Huat, a garment company owner, is now in a coma in intensive care at Changi General Hospital.
His son Jeffrey, a 22-year-old national serviceman, said his dad played golf at the Changi Coast Road course once a week with a regular group of three friends and that he was with them yesterday.
Tanah Merah Country Club general manager Roy Higgs said the Met Services usually sends a text message to the on-duty club employee when possible lightning activity is brewing.
The message is usually sent from half an hour to an hour before the club sounds its sirens and makes an announcement over its public address system for all players to clear the greens.
Marshalls also go on patrol to ensure that players leave the course; they generally have to stay off it for 45 minutes.
Higgs said that by the time the Met Services sent the text message at about 10.15am yesterday — after club employees had called it about some dark clouds — the accident had already happened.
The text message instructed the club to clear players off the courses between 10.30am and 11.15am.
When asked, a National Environment Agency spokesman said the Met Services had detected a localised thunderstorm near the Tanah Merah area only at 10.10am and had assessed that lightning would likely hit the area. It sent out a lightning alert five minutes after this.
Data gathered at 9am had indicated that thunderstorms would occur only in western and southern Singapore, not the east, later in the morning and early afternoon.
After Soh was struck, one of his friends, helped by two marshalls, gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before the ambulance came, said Higgs.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said that when paramedics arrived, Soh was unconscious.
Higgs explained that country clubs had two ways of getting information on possible lighting activity: They either install their own lightning detection equipment or, like Tanah Merah Country Club, get updates from the Met Services.
Higgs said this was the first time someone had been struck by lightning at its Changi Coast Road course since the club opened in 1982; its other course in Tampines, so far free of lightning mishaps, opened in the mid-1980s.
The younger Soh said: “My dad is stable, but we are still very worried. We are trying to get more information to find out what happened.”
The family, including his mother and 20-year-old undergraduate sister, is keeping vigil. — The Straits Times
THE golfer struck by lightning at the Tanah Merah Country Club (TMCC) 10 days ago has died.
Mr Soh Lye Huat, 57, never emerged from his coma. His heart stopped on Wednesday morning.
When contacted, his son Jeffrey, 22, would say only that his family members, including his mother and 20-year-old sister, were 'holding up'.
'We miss him already but we're coping well and just want to focus on preparations to give my father a good send-off,' said the full-time national serviceman and swimmer, who will represent Singapore at next month's South-east Asia (SEA) Games in Laos.
The last time the family saw Mr Soh alive was on Oct 25, before he set out for his game with friends at TMCC's Garden Course in Changi Coast Road.
It was towards the end of their 18-hole game that Mr Soh, a garment company owner, was hit by a bolt of lightning.
jermync@sph.com.sg
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
|
| 10/24/2009 07:00 PM Injured |
hunter |
0.0 |
M |
Pa
USA |
|
in a tree |
|
Hunting,Outside,Under Trees |
| State Troopers were called to the aid of a hunter Saturday night after he was struck by lightning in Ottsville, Bucks County. The strike took place sometime before 7:00 p.m. in a wooded area off of the 8100 block of Easton Road (PA Rt. 611) near Lake Nockamixon State Park, according to State Police at the Dublin Barracks. They say the man was up in a tree during a period of stormy weather. The man's condition has not been released.
__________________
07' REFLEX GROWLER
60 lbs 28 DRAW
Tru-Glo 3 PIN
EASTON EPIC 400's |
Next 50 Records
Database Functions
List All Articles in DB - list all articles currently in database
Display Incident DB -- display the incidents
Login
|
 |
HOME | SERVICES | RESOURCES | SAFETY | ABOUT US | CONTACT
Struckbylightning.org, Inc. is a Massachusetts non-profit corporation, 501 (c)(3) organization.
Copyright © 2005-2010 Struckbylightning.org | 32 Jacqueline Circle, W. Yarmouth, MA 02673 | Phone: 508.364.4208 |
 |
|
|
|
