Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Earth Science News .




SHAKE AND BLOW
Stormy weather, heavy rains lash Israel, Palestinians
by Staff Writers
Jerusalem (AFP) Jan 7, 2013


Baby missing as floods sweep Lebanon
Beirut (AFP) Jan 7, 2013 - A baby was swept away in Lebanon on Monday as stormy weather sparked widespread flooding, prompting chaos on the roads and a nationwide school closure for the next two days.

The six-month-old boy was still missing after a flash flood tore through a bedouin encampment in the centre of the country, also taking with it tents, seven cows and more than 200 goats, the state NNA news agency reported.

Two men were killed in traffic accidents as the torrential rainfall caused treacherous road conditions nationwide.

In the south, there were massive tailbacks after several rivers burst their banks cutting highways. In the Sidon area, police were reduced to patrolling by jet-ski.

A met office official at Beirut airport said the storm would continue until Wednesday and that lower temperatures would result in snowfall in the mountains as low as 300 metres (1,000 feet).

"Every five years or so, a storm like this strikes Lebanon from Russia," he told AFP.

The Russian origin of the weather system was the butt of black jokes on social networks in a country where Moscow's support for President Bashar al-Assad's regime in neighbouring Syria is deeply controversial.

"The fate of Lebanon and Syria is always intertwined," one said. "Syria gets Russian missiles and Lebanon gets Russia's weather."

Stormy weather, including high winds and heavy rainfall, lashed Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday, downing powerlines and trees and causing several injuries.

"The storms injured six people, most of whom were lightly hurt when trees were knocked over," Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.

Israeli military radio said winds were gusting at speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (74 miles per hour) and in neighbourhoods across Jerusalem, the results were clear.

Trees were toppled at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex that houses the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques, and branches were strewn in streets across the city.

Electricity outages caused by downed powerlines were reported throughout the country.

Israel's meteorological service says this winter will be the wettest in the past decade, and with temperatures expected to plunge in coming days, much of the country could see snow this week.

The stormy weather came as Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land celebrated Christmas on Monday.

In the Gaza Strip, "civil protection teams responded to a number of incidents, among them the collapse of shop signs, roads blocked by falling trees and metal awnings blown away," the civil protection service said.

In the West Bank, civil protection spokesman Louai Bani Odeh said no injuries had been reported so far.

He told AFP that an electrical fire started by flooding broke out in a house in a village near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, but was brought under control without injuring anyone.

"Many roads in towns and villages across the West Bank are flooded. Some of them are blocked by trees and billboards that were knocked over. Many shops are closed," he said.

.


Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SHAKE AND BLOW
Effort on to save China relics from flood
Beijing (UPI) Jan 3, 2013
Archaeologists say they're rushing to collect relics in northwestern China before the area is flooded to store water in a massive water-diversion project. Since an emergency salvage program was launched seven years ago in the city of Danjiangkou, excavations have been carried out in 123 archaeological sites and 35,000 items have been unearthed, the Henan provincial cultural relics burea ... read more


SHAKE AND BLOW
Obama signs $9.7 bn aid bill for Sandy victims

Obama considers broad arms sales restrictions: report

Fukushima 'unprecedented challenge': new Japan PM

Natural catastrophes caused $160 bn in damage: Munich Re

SHAKE AND BLOW
Liquid jets and bouncing balls combine for surprising results

How computers push on the molecules they simulate

Shortage of helium has business impact

Corning to debut tougher Gorilla Glass

SHAKE AND BLOW
Coral records suggest that recent El Nino activity rises above noisy background

US study says El Nino, climate change link fuzzy

The relationship between CO2 concentrations and sea level

Cambodia battles to save rare Mekong dolphins

SHAKE AND BLOW
Bering Sea study finds prey density more important to predators than biomass

Fiennes sails for Antarctica on first winter crossing bid

As globe warms, Alaska is cooling down

CryoSat hits land

SHAKE AND BLOW
Improving DNA amplification from problematic plants

Brazil mulls retaliation for ban on beef

Chinese trigger Australian baby milk run

Poland bans cultivation of GM maize, potatoes

SHAKE AND BLOW
7.5-magnitude quake hits off Alaska, triggers local tsunami

Stormy weather, heavy rains lash Israel, Palestinians

Floods hit southeast Niger

Sodden Britain marks second wettest year in 2012

SHAKE AND BLOW
Poachers kill four rhinos in Zimbabwe

Seven killed as Nigerian soldiers clash with Islamists

Angola detains nine exiled DR Congo officers over 'plot'

China firm to acquire major African iron ore mine: Xinhua

SHAKE AND BLOW
Japan's population logs record drop

Study refutes accepted model of memory formation

Fluctuating environment may have driven human evolution

Decision to give a group effort in the brain




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement