Massive Storms, Biblical Floods, Scorching Heat*

Weather Is Breaking Records and Making Headlines Around the World

Aug. 10, 2007 —

New York City is cleaning up this morning after a massive weather system
roared through Wednesday, dumping up to 3 inches of rain, paralyzing the
mass transit system and spawning a tornado that touched down in Brooklyn.

It's believed to be the first twister to hit Brooklyn since the late 1800s.

Classified as an F2 tornado, capable of winds between 111 mph and 135
mph, the twister snapped tree trunks like toothpicks, peeled open roofs
and ripped off the sides of stately old brownstone homes.

The rain sent torrents of water into the nation's largest subway system,
stopping trains in their tracks. Some had to be backed up to retreat
from rising water. Thousands of commuters were stranded, late to work or
never got there at all.

New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer is demanding the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, which runs the subway system, explain why
measures to improve storm drainage apparently did not work.

One Brooklyn man may have said it best, "Whaddayoutalkin' about a
tornado? We ain't in Kansas!"

Extreme Weather From Coast to Coast

This 100-year weather rarity is just one of a laundry list of extreme
weather events around the world this year   from Asia, where tropical
storms are adding to new rainfall records, to England's wettest
three-month period ever, to the Arabian Peninsula's first tropical cyclone..

In the United States, it seems like the South is melting in the heat,
parts of Texas have 10 times the normal rainfall last month and dozens
of wildfires are scorching the bone-dry West.

Although the recent wacky weather has no clear-cut cause, the extreme
weather is getting more scientists to sound the alarm.

"We've only seen the beginning part of the impact of global warming and
I think people on the street are starting to feel it with more intense
heat waves and more intense weather," said Brenda Ekwurzel, of the Union
of Concerned Scientists.

In Atlanta, they're sweating through triple digits   100 degrees for the
first time in seven years. The air is hard to breathe and a code red
smog alert has gone into effect.

Relief agencies have already delivered water to the elderly in Atlanta
and scores of other cities.

Richmond, Va.; Columbia, S.C.; and Baltimore are just three of more than
a dozen cities whose temperatures have hit 100 degrees or higher. With
humidity, it felt even worse. In parts of North Carolina, it felt like
115 degrees; some places are even handing out free fans.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures