Top videos: Wild storms, volcano lightning and Taylor Swift guitar smash
Eternal flames, wild weather, volcano lightning and a weird Taylor Swift guitar smash headline this week’s top videos.
There was also a big birthday for a former US president and the “comet of the century”.
Hurricane Helene
More than one million people were without power and hundreds were missing after Hurricane Helene hit widespread areas including Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina this week in the United States. More than 200 were feared dead.
This weather reporter managed to file news from right inside the storm.
@weather Watch the moment Helene knocks out power as the storm lashes #PerryPerry,idaFlorida,nd and rain. Stream live at the link in bio. #weatherchannel #fyp #foryou #storm #weathertok #storm #stormcoverage #stormtracking #hurricane #hurricanehelene #hurricane #florida #fl #floridacheck #floridaweather #fl #perryflorida
And there was also incredible footage of the damage the storm did:
Wild Swift election moment
A 67-year-old man paid $US4000 for a Taylor Swift guitar at auction this week … then immediately smashed it. The man, Gary Estes, told NBC it was a joke.
“There was nothing malicious or anything about it,” Estes said. “It was just a joke at an auction that we had to raise money for kids, right? And that’s all it was. There was nothing mean about it, nothing bad about it. It was just a joke that they were making up on the stage, and we just followed through with a joke.”
The auctioneer, Craig Meier, said it was “a political thing”. Swift recently endorsed Kamala Harris.
Comet of the century
Comet ‘Tsuchinshan-ATLAS’ put on quite the show in the Northern Hemisphere this weekend, including over San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
Happy birthday Jimmy
This week, Jimmy Carter became the first former US president to turn 100. About 25 members of his family filled Carter’s home on Tuesday, and ate cupcakes on the lawn while fighter jets flew over as a tribute.
Blunt promise
The singer will seemingly do anything for one of his albums to re-chart … including legally changing his name to whatever his fans decide if his 20-year-old album Back To Bedlam can get back to No.1.
Volcano lightning
National Geographic this week shared extraordinary vision of volcano lightning from Guatemala.
Volcano lightning is, according to Wikipedia: “An electrical discharge caused by a volcanic eruption rather than from an ordinary thunderstorm. Volcanic lightning arises from colliding, fragmenting particles of volcanic ash, which generate static electricity within the volcanic plume, leading to the name dirty thunderstorm.”
@natgeomagarab شهد هؤلاء المغامرون تفاعلًا دراميًا فريدًا بين عناصر الطبيعة، حيث تفاعلت الصواعق البرقية مع قمة بركان “فويغو” في غواتيمالا.. ترتبط هذه الظاهرة بالعديد من العوامل الطبيعية ومنها ارتفاع قمة البركان التي تبلغ نحو 3700 متر، كما أن تصادم الجسيمات الدقيقة ضمن سحب الرماد يؤدي إلى توليد شحنات كهربائية | 📹: secretparadise
United States eternal flame
A TikTok traveller this week introduced her followers to a stunning natural wonder in Chestnut Ridge Park, western New York.
This “eternal flame” is a spot in a small grotto at the base of a waterfall that constantly emits natural gas, which can be lit to show a small flame.
@cornyonthemacabretravel #eternalflame #phenomenon #atlasobscura @Atlas Obscura #newyork #westernnewyork #wny #cornyonthemacabre #eternalflamefalls #chestnutridge #CapCut
Line for Pesto the penguin
Pesto the large baby penguin has sent Melbourne into meltdown. Have a look at the line for the animal at the Melbourne Aquarium this week.
@blondematthew Big penguin, little aquarium.
@chalowey Pesto the penguin 🐧 #zookeeper #pesto #penguin #fyp #pestothepenguin
Bombs away
And finally, a reminder from Japan that you never know what lies beneath the surface, with an undetonated World War II bomb exploding unexpectedly near an airport.
Trump, Melania arrive in flood-stricken Texas
