Baseball hail, floods and lightning strikes
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Version 0 of 1. In parts of east Japan, over the past week, tropical cyclone Etau has been causing devastation. The storm made landfall early last Thursday but the effects are still being felt, with torrential rain, channelled by mountainous terrain, leading to severe flooding and landslides. The heaviest rainfall was observed in Tochigi prefecture where more than 650mm (25in) was recorded in a 24-hour period, well over twice the average monthly total for September. The northwest Pacific region gets on average 26 named tropical storms annually, with Etau the 20th so far in the 2015 season. In the first week of the month unusually stormy conditions affected many Mediterranean countries. An intense thunderstorm crossed the central Italian peninsula on 5 September sending down baseball-sized hail on Naples. In southern regions of Spain the clean-up is still underway after persistent torrential rain led to flooding. The town of Adra, in the province of AlmerÃa, was one of the worst affected areas; cars were washed away and buildings were damaged by water levels above half a metre in the main streets. Lightning strikes associated with the Indian monsoon rains killed more than 30 people in the south-east of India during the evening of 6 September. Those killed were said mainly to have been farm labourers working in the fields. Although an event of this severity is rare, lightning strikes are common in the Indian monsoon, from June to September, as a reversal of the prevailing winds brings onshore winds and rising air over the continent, causing torrential downpours. |