Subject: April 14: 1999 Sydney hailstorm
The 1999 Sydney hailstorm was the costliest natural disaster in
Australian insurance history, causing extensive damage along the east
coast of New South Wales. The storm developed south of Sydney on the
afternoon of 14 April, 1999 and struck the city's eastern suburbs,
including the central business district, later that evening. The storm
dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in its path. Insured
damages caused by the storm were over A$1.7 billion, with the total
damage bill (including uninsured damages) estimated to be around A$2.3
billion, equivalent to US$1.5 billion. It was the costliest in
Australian history in terms of insured damages, overtaking the 1989
Newcastle earthquake that had resulted in A$1.1 billion in insured
damages. Lightning also claimed one life during the storm, and the
event caused approximately 50 injuries. The storm was classified as a
supercell following further analysis of its erratic nature and extreme
attributes. During the event, the Bureau of Meteorology was
consistently surprised at the frequent changes in direction, as well
as the severity of the hail and the duration of the storm. The event
was also unique as the time of year and general conditions in the
region were not seen as conducive for an extreme storm cell to form.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1471:
Wars of the Roses: The Yorkists under Edward IV defeated the
Lancastrians near the town of Barnet, killing Richard Neville, Earl of
Warwick.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barnet)
1865:
Actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth shot U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_assassination)
1931:
King Alfonso XIII left Spain. The Second Spanish Republic was
proclaimed by a provisional government led by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Spanish_Republic)
1956:
The use of the quadruplex videotape was first demonstrated in
public.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quadruplex_videotape)
1970:
An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 exploded, causing the NASA
spacecraft to lose most of its oxygen and electrical power.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13)
1978:
Thousands of Georgians demonstrated in Tbilisi against an attempt by
the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR to change the constitutional
status of the Georgian language.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Tbilisi_Demonstrations)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
persiflage: Good-natured banter; raillery.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/persiflage)
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Wikiquote of the day:
hat really matters is that there is so much faith and love and
kindliness which we can share with and provoke in others, and that by
cleanly, simple, generous living we approach perfection in the highest
and most lovely of all arts. ... But you, I think, have always
comprehended this.
-- James Branch Cabell
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell)