Police say a 28-year-old Ocala man died when a large oak tree fell on his vehicle during a thunderstorm.
Ocala police Maj. Dennis Yonce told the Ocala Star-Banner ( http://bit.ly/17XE7af) that Christopher Harris was sitting in his Mitsubishi in the driveway of his home while a storm passed about 4:30 p.m. Monday.
The storm which brought torrential rain and strong gusts uprooted a 50-foot tree in a neighbor’s front yard. The tree fell across a car in that yard and then hit Harris’ vehicle.
At least 51 people, including 20 children, were among the victims of an enormous tornado that roared through the suburbs of Oklahoma City Monday, pulverizing entire city blocks and leaving behind miles of mangled cars and splintered wood.
Officials warned the death toll was likely to climb, making it among the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.
A vast area of the central U.S. was warned to prepare for storms on Monday, after tornadoes killed one and injured 21 in Oklahoma and also hit Iowa and Kansas.
“After over 300 reports of severe weather on Sunday, another round of dangerous severe weather is expected Monday with the greatest threat once again in the southern Plains targeting Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas,” the National Weather Service said. “However, severe weather is possible much further north towards Chicago and Madison as well.”
A once-fearsome cyclone that was threatening Bangladesh and Myanmar dissipated quickly, causing some deaths but largely relieving authorities who had told more than 1 million people to leave vulnerable coastal areas in preparation for a far worse storm.
Cyclone Mahasan lost power as it shed huge amounts of rain and then veered west of its predicted path, sparing major Bangladeshi population areas, including Chittagong and the seaside resort of Cox’s Bazar, said Mohammad Shah Alam, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
Unusually heavy winter rains have hit the Middle East, forcing the closure of main access routes to Tel Aviv. Torrential rains also swept through desert Jordan, sparking widespread flooding and traffic chaos but bringing welcome water to reservoirs in one of the world’s 10 driest countries. Flash floods tore through Lebanon, where several rivers burst their banks cutting highways off. Howling winds have swept away tents in refugee camps – and there are warnings of a major snowstorm approaching.
The Gulf state of Oman has suffered flooding this week as thunderstorms have struck the Arabian Peninsula.
BBC Weather’s Philip Avery explains the causes of this extreme weather.
Flood-weary homeowners and sandbaggers across the Midwest were braced for record-level river crests Wednesday amid forecasts that rain would add more water to already-swollen rivers. Possible snow flurries were also predicted for some flood-hit areas.
Heavy river flooding in six Midwestern states that forced evacuations, shut down bridges, swamped homes and caused at least three deaths was at or near crest in some areas Sunday evening. Rivers surged from the Quad Cities to St. Louis Sunday, with water levels reaching record heights. Hours earlier, National Guardsmen, volunteers, homeowners and jail inmates pitched in with sandbagging to hold back floodwaters that closed roads in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Heavy rain over much of the country, provoking flash floods in some areas and severe weather warnings from the Met Office, is set to continue through the weekend but is unlikely to ease the drought gripping most of England.
