Storms continue here for second week

There was a serious flooding in Sofia today, traffic was paralyzed, up to a metre of water flooded major boulevards.

Cars, trams and buses were stuck in up to a metre of water.

Public transport collapsed and mobile phones switched off because of lightning damage.

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July 1, 2009 - Sofia Bulgaria (More like India after flashfloods hit Europe)

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A trolleybus stuck in river on a boulevard in the Bulgarian capital.

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The downdraft from the storm was so strong, visibility was reduced to less than 50 metres.

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Most citiziens had a cold shower today - umbrellas didn't help much.
 
Four Struck by Lightning

Four people, including a child have been struck by lightning a few minutes ago in Bulgaria, where bad thunderstorms lash the country day and night.

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Today was a very warm day, temperatures high in the 20's, reaching the low 30's at some towns.

A bit of wind, low humidity and a clear sky makes for a perfect summers day...
 
And whats the temperature of the North Sea at the seaside?
 
There was a serious flooding in Sofia today, traffic was paralyzed, up to a metre of water flooded major boulevards.

Cars, trams and buses were stuck in up to a metre of water.

Public transport collapsed and mobile phones switched off because of lightning damage.

a_119a5e.jpg


July 1, 2009 - Sofia Bulgaria (More like India after flashfloods hit Europe)

a_119a5f.jpg


A trolleybus stuck in river on a boulevard in the Bulgarian capital.

a_119a60.jpg


The downdraft from the storm was so strong, visibility was reduced to less than 50 metres.

a_119a58.jpg


Most citiziens had a cold shower today - umbrellas didn't help much.


Looks very familiar. We have the same conditions - flooding and low visibility druring the monsoons and more flooding after the rains stop. Alas, our monsoons have yet to fully materialize. We had a great lightning show this evening and the wind picked up but only a few lonely raindrops bravely made their way to the ground. There have been storms in the outlying areas but the major metropolitan areas are still parched and waiting. When it is 100'F+ at 10/11PM the best thing to do is go for a night swim. It is a break from the heat. If you spend too much time outside in the direct sun, one tends to end up resembling the color of the backfrop to this forum. :sm (41): :)
 
Thank you for your interesting post. Great read. :)

How come you have lived in all states bar Idaho...? and why not Idaho, in movies they present it as very backward, "deep province" as we call it in europe but I am sure there are interesting things to see there too.

Americans move a lot, and to huge distances. For me, travelling 100 km to visit granny seems a lot and far, but compared with the US, this must sound to you like a joke.

Both the east and the west coast of the US are vulnarable to disaster.

The west coast - earthquakes in California, and also further North along the cascadia subduction zone.

The East coast not so much earthquake but an impact event in the Atlantic definately will wash some coastal towns and cities.

Also landslides, undersea earthquakes...there is evidence of large tsunamis in the atlantic.

You live in the US, tell me which is the worst natural disaster imaginable that can happen in your country?

Earthquake in LA or tsunami in NYC?

The inner parts of the continent are much safer from my perspective.

This may not sound serious to you but I plan to leave Bulgaria because this area is geologically doomed.

Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey are gonna be mangled by plate tectonics.

I remember the large earthquake in Turkey in 1999, I was on the black sea coast and I nearly shit my pants.

I was a teen and it was my first earthquake - really strong and long.

Last year there was an earthquake in Sofia, moderate but it rattled my PC quite a bit, I live in a huge apartment block and it vibrated like a toy.

Last month I was at home in bed and we felt the earthquake in Madedonia, hundreds of kilomtres away.

A relative on mine was in Abruzzo when the earthquake struck there, she had a lucky escape but lives in a tent, they showed her on tv here.

Sofia has been razed to the ground several times by strong earthquakes in its history, up to magnitude 8 on the Richter.

I definately have to move, I think there is a high risk of a strong earthquake here as the big one is long overdue.

Where you live now, what is the biggest threat to life, worst natural disaster in your area?

As a kid, we moved a great deal due to my dad's employment. He did consulting work for retail corporations, so we would move where the assignment took him. Several times we were in a location for only a short period, once as little as two weeks and another time we watched the moving van drive away with the furniture on its way to our new assignment when my dad's boss drove up and told us we were not leaving. The house was already sold, so we bought another in the same neighborhood and called back the movers and stayed for a while. We have driven across the US countless times. I can almost picture every mile of Interstate in my head. Our "crowning" achievement was when we were relocated to Anchorage, Alaska. It was December. My parents waited until the school terms we were in were completed to pull us out and take us to our new homes. We loaded the family; me and my three siblings plus my parents, into the family station wagon and we drove from Nebraska to Anchorage. It took 9 days. The Al-Can Highway or Alaska Highway was a hoot.

In 1980 most of it was not paved. It was frozen gravel on permafrost.

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From Edmonton through Fort Nelson, Whitehorse, and stopping in Tok, AK; nothing but snow, ice and logging trucks. Services were few and far between so we could only travel between 300-400 miles a day. We had to stop in major "towns", if you will, to find hotels, restaurants and gas stations open during the winter. When we pulled into Tok, AK, the actual air temperature was 75'F below zero. With the wind chill, it got down to 125'F below zero. The car was frozen solid. Antifreeze does freeze at extreme temperatures and the block heater we were told to install to keep this kind of thing from happening did not help, even though we plugged the car in and the block heater ran all night. We had to have the car towed to the truck stop in town where they put it in a bay with the large gas heaters that resemble jet engines and slowly thaw out the car. They also had to do the same to the school bus every morning during the winter and any other visitor’s cars as well. We also learned, by glaring example that gasoline will not burst into flame at such cold temperatures. The cold lowers the flashpoint. We pulled into a service station and were immediately told by the attendant not to turn the car off as it would freeze up as soon as the engine was turned off. He then proceeded to pump the fuel with the engine running and while lighting and smoking a cigarette right next to the gas tank and hose. Needless to say, my mother had us kids hundreds of yards away so as not to be hurt when the car exploded. It never happened. In those temperatures, everything freezes. The items we had stored in the luggage carrier attached to the roof of the car had to stay until we could get to a warmer climate because the ropes/knots froze. From Tok, we then made it to Anchorage and took possession of our house on Christmas Eve, 1980. You learn to appreciate permafrost in Alaska. Without it, you have nothing but inescapable mud and muck. Spring is not called Spring - it is called "Break-up" as that is literally what the ground does. It cracks into pieces that resemble the cracks in a dried mud bed in the desert, but along with the chunks of ground, you have a soggy, mushy mess of mud. Anchorage does not get the true 24 hours of dark but it come very close to the 24 hours of light during the Summer. In Winter, it will get to 20'F below and stay for weeks. It really does not snow as much as you would expect as its latitude is similar to that of Oslo, Helsinki and Reykjavík. The sun will rise at approx. 10Am and will be set and dark by approx. 2PM. In the Summer, it gets to dusk about 4-5 in the AM and then it is light again.
As far as the states I have not visited, I have yet to get there, that is all. I did extensive traveling for work before I gave up the rat race to go back to school 2 years ago. I was all over the US and Canada and yes, there are times that traveling just 1 mile seems too much to me as well. I gave up flying for work after 9/11 - too much BS just to get on a plane by the time you check-in 2+ hours early and go through the strip and body cavity searches. I drew the line when I was asked at LaGuardia Airport in NYC by someone who was not a native citizen of the US but was working for the TSA to remove my shirt and t-shirt because they were setting off the detectors. I refused and got the most complete and thorough pat down and groping I had ever experienced. I hope it was good for them because it was not for me. Anyway, when I restricted myself to driving, my company kept me within a day's drive of my home base. So I missed out on the Hawaii installations and getting a chance to see all 50 states and Puerto Rico. No, I have not been there yet either. I like your description of Idaho as a "deep province". Anyplace that is not on the go 24/7, 365 days a year is considered backwards in the US. Idaho is famous for its potatoes and the outdoor activities it supports. You do not hear people say that they want to go and visit Idaho. Most actually would try to avoid it at all costs.
With regard to natural disasters, I think it is going to be the long-term effects of our careless ways and the results of global warming that does us in. While everyone is still hyped up about the "big one" doomsday earthquake that is supposed to make Arizona oceanfront property and create an island out of the land mass that holds San Francisco and the LA megalopolis, I feel that it is going to be the changes in climate and the cascading effects of those changes that is a worst disaster than an earthquake could ever be. It is going to become too hot and dry to raise crops and grow food. Water levels are going to rise as the polar ice melts. We are going to lose what little protection we have from the sun's damaging rays when the ozone layer breaks up. The earth is going to end up like Mars, except for instead of being cold and covered in ice, it is going to be dry, dusty, barren, and void of any semblance of life. If either of these happens - earthquake in LA or tsunami in NYC, it would be the beginning of the end. My feeling is that these will happen as a direct result of the changes in the weather patterns on the planet. I do not feel that man should inflict himself or herself upon the world and inhabit places that truly are not inhabitable i.e. the deserts. We are spending way too much in money, resources and time to try to make a dry desolate area a lush oasis in which people will want to live. Water, while a natural, renewable resource, is not magically going to just spontaneously create itself when it gets to the point that it so dry in this area that the current supply cannot keep up with the demand. The amount of power used to make the interior climates of people's homes, offices, and stores comfortable and cool is outrageous. They already have had to divert water at the dam to raise the river levels so as to maintain the ecosystems that exist because the water levels are dropping and remaining low. I think we are going to destroy our environment then all hell is going to break loose with the earthquakes, fires, tsunamis, and flooding. No place is immune from the effects; coastal areas or the interior of the country. That is how I see the natural disaster scenario playing itself out. :sm (20): :sm (19):
 

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I am sorry about your experience at the airport...I've never travelled by plane.

Its amazing that you have travelled so much. Thanks for the pics, I know understand why they mocked Sarah Palin during the election campaign - Alaska is beautiful but really a harsh place to live.

The US consumes a lot of energy yes, I heard than on Times Square, famous for its bright advertisements, the lights are going off because they consume a lot of electicity and with the Global Economic now in full swing, the city authorities have decided to reduce the number of ads.

LoL

Interesting thoughts on natural disasters. The effects of the global warming are already felt around the world, I agree but it will take something very catastrophic to turn the earth arid in our lifetime.

In the long run, earth will be toeast yes because its fate is tight to that of the Sun.
 
Rain and winds, loads of rain and high winds...

20 degrees centigrade in temperature...
 
Ohhh, how I wish we could have some rain here too.

Summer in the Netherlands and Great Britain sucks though.

Cold water in the seas, 20'C - SUCKS!!! Rain, wind like fucking autumn.

Summers in Southern Europe are sunny and hot, now its baking hot yes but we will be down to 35'C soon.
 
It was mildy thundery and windy and rainy!!!
That is =D
 
Too hot today 27c ( that's hot for here) if I hadn't been stuck at work all day I would have been out swimming in the local river with some of my mates.
 
Yep sometimes , but the water here is so cold most have shrunk and tried to hide up thier own asses for some warmth. lol.
 
Cold? Even in summer? Damn, how many degrees celsius?

The black sea gets up to 27'C every summer, you can stay in the sea for hours, its like a pool of warm pee.
 
On a realy hot day the water might get up to 15c , all of the rivers and lochs around here are very deep so the water never gets a chance to warm up.
 
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