INDIA STORM USA TORNADO

Nine killed by storm in eastern India Tue Apr 25, 6:45 AM

ET KOLKATA (AFP) - At least nine people were killed and scores injured in a tropical storm that hit the eastern Indian city of Kolkata and surrounding districts overnight. The storm, accompanied by rains, snapped power lines and uprooted trees stalling traffic on city roads late Monday, West Bengal state's inspector general of police Raj Kanojia said Tuesday.Biswarup Mukherjee, a spokesman for Kolkata Electric Supply Limited, said large areas of the city had been without power.The storm also threw rail and air services into disarray, he said.G.C. Bose, director of the regional meteorological office in Kolkata, said the storm packed windspeeds of up to 109 kilometres (68 miles) per hour.

He forecast more winds and rains for Tuesday in Kolkata and its outlying areas. Of the nine dead, four were electrocuted when overhead electricity lines gave way in the winds, Kanojia said.Two others died when their houses collapsed while three were crushed when trees fell on their vehicles, he said. "Scores of people were also wounded. We don't have an exact figure," the
police official said. The rain and winds forced political parties campaigning for state polls in Kolkata due on April 27 to cut short their programmes and scurry for cover. Many flights in and out of Kolkata were delayed due to the storm with some diverted, an airport spokesman said.

Tornadoes Touch Down in Central Oklahoma
By ASHLEY GIBSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 25, 9:48 AM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY - A powerful storm system spawned at least two tornadoes and several severe thunderstorms, causing damage in central and northeastern areas of the state Monday, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.West of Oklahoma City, two tornadoes tore through sparsely populated areas of Canadian County, damaging hangars at the
municipal airport south of El Reno. Television footage showed debris from the buildings being lifted and flung about as the tornado moved overhead. Parts of the hangars' roofs were ripped away and a couple of airplanes were moved outside.

Damage from the storms, which formed near U.S. Highway 81 and Interstate 40 about 40 miles west of Oklahoma City, appeared to be isolated, Lt. Stewart Meyer, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman said. Nearby, employees and patrons watched as the twisters danced west and south of the Denny's Restaurant along I-40, restaurant manager Danielle Landers said."We had about seven tables at the time," she said. "There were a few people that wanted to go outside and see the tornadoes, but most people waited inside until the storm passed. We didn't see any damage."Near Tulsa, a storm toppled trees and damaged at least one house, a mobile home and an auto dealership as it moved through around 1 p.m.

Resident Leslie Shanks said he saw a tornado twist a tree in his front yard and noticed that another tree had fallen onto the back of his house."It hit and was gone," Shanks told the Tulsa World. Some 2,618 Oklahoma Gas & Electric customers and between 3,000 and 4,000 AEP-PSO customers lost electric power at the height of the storms. Service had been restored to
all but 1,200 AEP-PSO customers by 8 p.m., officials said.

Nicaragua's San Cristobal volcano spews cinders, gas
Mon Apr 24, 2:12 PM ET

MANAGUA (AFP) - The San Cristobal volcano near here has entered an eruption phase with cinder and gases spewing from its crater amid increased seismic activity, according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (Ineter). The volcano, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Managua, has had "moderate explosions in its crater that have released gases and volcanic cinder" carried by winds toward towns 25 kilometers (16 miles) away, the institute said.

The 1,745-meter (5,745-feet) San Cristobal volcano has been active for several years, but seismic activity, small eruptions and gas releases in the crater, have increased since Friday.
"In every period there is a phase of strong activity with high tremors" during which explosions can occur inside the crater, Ineter said.

Between 30,000 and 50,000 people live around the volcano. The last time a significant eruption phase occurred was November 1999, with moderate explosions coming from the crater.