Photographs of tornado damage in South Africa are courtesy of ER24's Bethlehem Branch Manager Neels Moller.
A deadly tornado hit the town of Bethlehem in Free State South Africa on Saturday leaving at least eight people dead, many others injured and several buildings damaged or destroyed.
The tornado was reported by ER24's Bethlehem Branch when they arrived on the scene to assist the victims. ER24 is a private, national emergency medical care service that responds to emergency situations in South Africa, according to their web site.
In the town of Kestell, several people were injured when the tornado destroyed several informal settlements, according to Onweer-online.nl administrator Marga. As of Sunday afternoon, there was no further information available about the number of people injured.
Onweer-online.nl is a large weather community located in the Netherlands and Belgium. Marga wrote in an email that the site follows weather events globally.
According to Marga, five lions also escaped on Saturday when a tree fell on the gate of their enclosure. The lions were all recaptured early Sunday morning (local time).
Additional photographs from the storm can be seen on the ER24 Flickr page.
The focus for severe storms will move into the Ohio Valley and resume over New York state on Wednesday.
So far this year California has seen 1,569 wildfires, 85 percent more than in an average year.
The Memorial Day weekend will begin cool, windy and rainy in New England and part of the mid-Atlantic.
GOES-East failed again late Tuesday. It is one of the main satellites meteorologists use for the eastern part of the United States and the tropical Atlantic.
The tornado tore through a path 17 miles long on Monday and had wind speeds as high as 200 mph.
On the two-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that leveled Joplin, Mo., the town has deployed assistance to Moore, Okla.
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Liberal, KS (1933)
A powerful F4 tornado (winds 207-260 mph)
hidden in a dust storm devastates the business
district. 4 people were killed and 150 were
injured. Tornado estimated to be 600 yards
wide at times.
New Brunswick, NJ (1804)
Tornado destroyed 2 barns, 1 hotel and 3
houses. "The damage done in this village
cannot be less than $1,500 or $2,000." New
York Evening Post, June 5, 1904.
Sichuan Province China (1986)
More than 35,000 homes and 7,700 acres of
crops were destroyed by a devastating
hailstorm. Reports indicated that 100 people
were killed and 9,000 injured. (Reports vary
as to the exact date of the hailstorm.)
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