Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Tennis Ball Size Hail Kills 600 chickens and cow in Myanmar & Fireball Seen In Florida

Trees, buildings, and animals were pounded by “hail the size of tennis balls” for about 15 minutes last night in Kyun Hla Township, Sagaing Region. A cow and 600 chickens were killed by the hailstorm.
“We are now compiling a record of the damage,” township administrator Than Lwin told Eleven. “Two villages – Hteintaw and Yabin – were damaged. In Hteintaw Village, the roofs of 30 homes, schools, monasteries, and rural healthcare centers were blown away. In Yabin village, hailstones destroyed the roofs of nearly 50 houses. There were no [human] casualties.”

Local administrators, police, and members of parliament are now working to secure aid for the ice-battered community.
“It is now harvesting time, so thankfully, our crops weren’t damaged. However, chickens were killed,” said Than Lwin.
Death and injury by hailstorm are relatively common among livestock. According to Slate, “Animals that don’t have [the luxury of being indoors] tend to die in greater numbers. Individual hailstorms have killed dozens of horses and hundreds of chickens at a time in the United States. An 1888 storm in India is said to have wiped out more than 1,600 animals.”
However, humans are not immune to the dangers of hail. The same Slate author recounts: “A few years ago, the Chinese government reported that at least seven people in Zhengzhou died in a storm of ‘egg-sized’ hail. Dozens more ended up in the hospital. In Bangladesh, a giant storm of ‘grapefruit-sized’ hail killed almost a hundred people in 1986. Some of the stones weighed more than two pounds.”

Fireball Reported Over Skies of Florida

There are social media reports of a fireball over Tampa around 3 a.m. early Sunday morning. A report on the American Meteor Society webpage confirms a similar possible sighting. According to Antonio Paris, an astronomer at MOSI, seeing meteors flying across the sky isn’t unusual.
If you look up at the night sky, Paris said you could see a meteor almost every night if it’s clear. That’s not as common in cities like Tampa. Paris said you’ll have better luck in rural areas and national parks where there’s less light pollution. MORE

Strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes Iran, Casualties reported

According to reports, A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake has reportedly struck northern Iran. This report comes from the Iranian state television which described the temblor as striking on Wednesday near Mashaad, the country’s second-largest city. The quake has killed at least two people and injuring several others according to the latest reports.
The U.S. Geological Survey described the earthquake as a magnitude 6.1. Iran is prone to earthquakes due to a number of faults in the Middle Eastern nation. In 2003, around 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam.

DEVELOPING: Alabama governor declares emergency, South braces for deadly storms

Another round of severe weather with damaging winds is expected to sweep across the South on Wednesday, bringing damaging winds in Alabama and Georgia, according to forecasters. National Weather Service meteorologist John De Block told the Associated Press he expects storms to start around 4 a.m. Wednesday and last into the evening in southern and western Alabama.
The latest storm system is likely to bring tornadoes, and there’s a strong chance of baseball-sized hail. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley declared a State of Emergency that will last until severe weather expected to hit the state Wednesday subsides. Bentley said in a press release that 50 National Guard soldiers will also be deployed in the state. MORE