Australia Hit By Micro Burst Storm

A Townsville resident has described cowering in a toilet and praying as a tornado-like storm cut a trail of destruction through the north Queensland city.
About 60 homes have been extensively damaged, including 25 that have had their roofs torn off.
About 7000 people were without power yesterday after the storm chewed up properties in a narrow band through the suburbs of Vincent, Aitkenvale, Pimlico and Gulliver yesterday morning.
Premier Anna Bligh arrived in hard-hit Vincent, where heavy rain continued to fall into the exposed interiors of roofless homes, and declared the city a disaster zone.
She said the army would be called in to help with the clean-up and many victims would be out of their homes for months.
Residents had been through a terrifying experience and it was very fortunate no lives had been lost, she said.
"These quiet suburban streets of Townsville have suffered a shocking and devastating event," Bligh told reporters. "Its force was obviously ferocious."

Trees that have been snapped in half are strewn across roads, roofing iron is wrapped around cars, fences are down, and power lines toppled by gusts of more than 100km/h are still live.
Vincent man Shane Sayers was asleep when the storm hit.
The roof of his two-storey home is now in pieces all over the neighbourhood, and one room is a shell after its windows were blown out.
He said the whole ordeal lasted less than 10 minutes. He said he knew his home was crumbling when he heard an enormous crack.
"That's when I realised the whole house was being torn apart," Sayers said. "We jumped in the toilet and just prayed."
Outside his home, trees have been ripped apart. Among the debris lie dead ibises.
Fellow Vincent resident Tracy Thomas said she and her family huddled in the hallway of their home as the tempest roared around them, taking off the roof. She said the fury of the storm was far worse than category five Cyclone Yasi, which hit north of Townsville last year. "It was nothing like Yasi ... it was worse than that." The worst of the damage was done in a terrifying burst of fury that lasted just two minutes."It was like the roar of a jet taking off. We were freaking out."
Nine people were injured during the storm, including two who were taken to hospital, the Department of Community Safety said.
The neighbouring suburb of Aitkenvale also suffered extensive damage to homes and businesses. One resident, identified only as Ann, told ABC radio she was terrified as the storm raged for 20 minutes. "Horrendous. I've never been so frightened in my life. It was just banging and noise and when we got up everybody's roofs were all over the place."
Ergon Energy spokesman John Fowler said 7000 homes were without power, down from a peak of around 17,000 earlier yesterday.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Brett Harrison said the highest recorded wind gust was 111km/h at Townsville Airport.
He said Townsville had 60mm of rain in an hour. The bureau was not describing it as a tornado as there were no reports of a funnel.
Townsville Mayor Les Tyrell said the damage had been limited to a narrow area. "There are houses badly damaged in a very narrow swathe in two or three of the suburbs, but either side of that life is still going on like normal."AAP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10793384

Massive Tornadoes in Alabama dozens Reported Dead

Thunderstorms, severe winds and tornadoes slammed the South Wednesday, killing dozens of people in four states.
The numbers of known dead in Alabama rose rapidly this evening. At least 58 were killed in the state Wednesday, The Associated Press reported after 11 p.m. ET.
The toll came soon after ABC News Birmingham, Ala., affiliate WBMA, also known as "33/40," reported at least 53 people dead, which was not long after Alabama emergency officials told ABC News at least 40 had died.
"There are more out there to be confirmed because search and rescue is underway in a number the counties," Alabama Emergency Management Agency information manager Yasamie August said. "However, there are still storm systems moving through the county, as we speak."
In addition, at least 11 were dead in Mississippi, ABC News confirmed.
The Associated Press reported two deaths in Georgia and one in Tennessee Wednesday, plus one person killed by the same storm Tuesday in Arkansas.
Mayor Walter Maddox reported 15 dead Wednesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a city of approximately 180,000 flattened by an estimated mile-wide tornado.
"I'm in my car at corner on McFarland. Milo's Hamburgers isn't there anymore," Tuscaloosa resident Phil Owen told WBMA. "Hobby Lobby [is the] only thing still standing at Woods Square Shopping Center. Big Lots, Full Moon Barbecue -- piles of garbage where those places were."

The Tuscaloosa News, Dusty Compton/AP Photo

A tornado moves through Tuscaloosa, Ala.,... View Full Size

The Tuscaloosa News, Dusty Compton/AP Photo

A tornado moves through Tuscaloosa, Ala., Wednesday, April 27, 2011.

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Tuscaloosa is home to the University of Alabama.
"We have way over 100 injuries throughout the city of Tuscaloosa," Mayor Maddox said. "We have hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed and hundreds more damaged."
President Obama declared a state of emergency for the search and rescue response in Alabama, and Gov. Robert Bentley told WBMA he expected him to declare another one to help pay for the cleanup.
"It's very difficult to see this," Bentley told WBMA of the damage.
In confirming the state of emergency, President Obama said federal officials had their eye on the storms and would help as needed.
"Michelle and I extend our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives because of the tornadoes that have swept through Alabama and the southeastern United States," he said in a written statement. "Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation, and we commend the heroic efforts of those who have been working tirelessly to respond to this disaster."
As the known death toll rose this evening, forecasters warned people to brace for even worse weather.
"Today is the day you want to be careful," Greg Carbin of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma told The Associated Press.
The weather system was expected to move into Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky by the night and into the Carolinas by Thursday morning.
For the areas already hit, the latest deadly storm was an all-day affair on top of about a dozen deaths from rough weather in the region over previous days.
"The storm came in early this morning even before daybreak and a number of destruction and damage was done during that time," said August, the Alabama emergency official, Wednesday evening. "And then we knew it would likely come back through. We didn't know the extent of the damage.
"We are opening shelters throughout the state to make sure folks who have nowhere to go tonight will have somewhere to go out of the weather," August said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/massive-tornado-hits-alabama-storms-leave-16-dead/story?id=13465028

Solar Storm on the Sun

Solar flare 2012 was the worst solar storm in a decade. This time the scientists were only 13 minutes off on the predicted time of the solar storm. Following 11 years of considerable calm, the sun has woken up again to send out flares after strong flares in all directions and now earth-bound sentinels can feel the stirrings in the atmosphere and their surroundings in the form of geomagnetic storms.
The prediction was utilized and timely warnings were sent out to satellite operators and power connection operators to shut off sensitive systems. Geomagnetic storms that are stirred by solar flares can adversely affect the power supply, and interfere with satellite communication. They can even fry satellites and leave them useless. Following the warning, some airlines of Canada and Europe changed the routes of polar flights as the north pole and surrounding area was mostly the target of charged particles called CME (coronal mass ejection) and X rays hurled out by the sun.
Yesterday sun spewed the most powerful solar flare of this season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rated the flare an X1.7-class eruption. The scientists rate flares according to classes defined by alphabets and while X-class flares are the most powerful type of solar storm, M-class storms falling within the mid-range and C-class flares are the weakest ones. Luckily earth was not in the target range of this massive flare.
Dean Pesnell, SDO Project Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, stated, “It’s a great week for Space Weather!
Scientists are excited about this solar activity and their thrill can be felt. Facebook update of officials from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center read, “Region 1402 is Alive!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another huge X-ray event is in progress.”
Radiation levels are climbing right now and is expected to peak in the later months of 2012 and 2013. What we are experiencing in the form of spectacular northern lights is just the beginning, claim the scientists.
Doug Biesecker, a physicist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said, “The radiation storm will almost certainly be weaker. The coronal mass ejection seems to be headed well away from Earth, which is good because this one seems like a bigger beast than the last one, but that’s still preliminary.”
The exact prediction of solar flares has become more important in our age as much of the world’s networks are interconnected and the population has become increasingly reliant on technology that use satellite communication. Solar flares hamper satellite communication due to the geomagnetic storm stirred up by the flares, so being pre-informed is of paramount importance.
Strong flares as this one can disrupt satellite communication. Even weaker flares interfare with earth’s magnetic field and cause brilliant auroras that are more popularly called the Norther and Southern Lights.
CME that is large enough can trigger a big geomagnetic storm in the earth’s atmosphere, affecting radio communication, air flight schedules, communication, and power outages.

http://nvonews.com/2012/01/28/solar-flare-2012-was-the-worst-solar-storm-in-a-decade/