“At least three people have died and more than 170 others have been injured after a tornado hit the Cuban capital Havana.
“Several neighbourhoods in the city have been badly affected by the cyclone, which was swept in from the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday evening, according to local media reports.
“Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, announced on Monday three people had been killed, while dozens more were being treated for .
““The damage is severe, so far we regret the loss of 3 human lives and treated 172 injured,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Photographs circulated online showed roofs torn off buildings, upturned cars and flooded streets in several Havana neighbourhoods.”
“In the Chicago area, snow will begin on Sunday night. Then the “coldest air mass in years” will hit the region on Tuesday with extreme cold lasting through Friday, the weather service said. Record low temperatures are likely by midweek.
““I cannot stress how dangerously cold it will be,” said Mike Doll, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. “An entire generation has gone by without experiencing this type of cold in the Chicago area.””
“A lobe of the polar vortex is on an express route to extreme southwestern Ontario later on Tuesday, lingering well into Wednesday. What’s the big deal? Well, all-time record minimum high temperatures are expected to be at least challenged on Wednesday for parts of southern Ontario.”
“The Cantabrian Government [Spain] asks the population to exercise extreme caution since there is an exceptional situation due to the intense rains and floods, in which infrastructures and natural environments present important damages…
“…especially with the generalized rains that are expected for the whole week.”
https://www.publico.es/espana/inundaciones-dejan-cantabria-156-evacuados-1686-llamadas-112.html
“Algeria’s civil protection unit said Saturday five people died after being swept away by flood waters as a cold snap in the Maghreb brought snow to several of the country’s regions…
“Elsewhere in North Africa, neighbouring Tunisia’s interior ministry said on Friday two people were killed by flooding and cold weather, after heavy snowfall.”
https://citizen.co.za/news/news-africa/2071289/flooding-kills-five-in-snow-hit-algeria/
“As the drought intensifies, villages in the parched belt of Marathwada [India] face a spiralling water crisis.”
“Flooding in five districts in the state [of Sabah, Malaysia] continues to worsen, with more people being forced to flee their homes. As of noon today, 2,607 people have been evacuated to 19 flood relief centres across the state…
“The areas were inundated with floodwaters following non-stop rain since Friday.”
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/01/454916/number-sabah-flood-victims-soars-2607
“Hydrometeorological disasters such as floods, landslides and strong winds have hit several areas across Indonesia. Dozens of people have been killed and thousands displaced in the last week…
“The BNPB recorded that the worst hydrometeorological disaster in the past few weeks was in South Sulawesi, with at least 69 people killed and 6,700 others displaced by floods and landslides that hit 12 regencies and one city across the province last week.”
“Philippines – Nearly 20,000 individuals fled their homes in the Davao Region as the trough or extension of a low pressure area triggered floods and landslides.
“Leslie Francisco, spokesperson of the region’s Office of Civil Defense, said on Sunday, January 27, that a resident of Barangay Tapia in Montevista, Compostela Valley, was killed in a landslide.”
https://www.rappler.com/nation/222027-people-evacuated-flooding-davao-region-january-2019
“Communities were cut off, farmers stranded and cows washed offshore as heavy rain pelted northeast Australia on Sunday, with one major river breaking 118-year-old floodwater records…. local authorities warned that some residents in remote areas could be cut off for days.
“The heritage listed Daintree Rainforest received more than 300 millimetres of rain in just 24 hours and Northern Queensland is bracing for monsoonal conditions for the rest of the week.”
https://www.enca.com/news/record-breaking-floods-hit-north-australia
“There’s no rain in sight as [Australia’s] Gold Coast reaches the end of what could be the driest January ever recorded. The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed it had only rained five times this month and across the city an average of just 3.8mm had fallen. The figure is dramatically below the long-term average of 171.7mm for January in the past several years, with just 51.6mm in 2018.”
“Regional Water Minister Niall Blair on Monday afternoon confirmed the [mass fish] deaths at Menindee weir and along parts of the Darling River affecting bony herring, golden perch and carp.
“”The conditions out there are showing a lot of fish that are near the surface of the water, gasping for air,” he told reporters in Sydney.
“He said it is an “environmental catastrophe” and conditions could potentially deteriorate further.”
https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5872900/another-nsw-mass-fish-kill-a-catastrophe/
“Hawke’s Bay and parts of the Upper South Island [New Zealand] have reached 37C as temperatures continue to climb this afternoon. Meanwhile in the Wider Nelson area, Richmond’s minimum temperature of 24.3C has set a new record. Records began in the area 157 years ago.”
https://www.newsie.co.nz/news/138659-heatwave-breaks-157year-record.html
“Brazilian rescuers on Sunday soldiered on in the search for hundreds of people missing after a breached mining dam triggered a deadly mudslide, but hopes of finding survivors dimmed more than two days after the disaster.
“Search efforts were paralyzed for much of the day on fears another dam could give way in the Vale SA iron ore mining complex in the state of Minas Gerais.”
“The retreat of Arctic glaciers is exposing landscapes that haven’t seen the sun for nearly 120,000 years.
“These rocky vistas have very likely been covered in ice since the Eemian, a period in which average temperatures were up to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) warmer than present, and sea levels up to 30 feet (9 meters) higher.
“”The last century of warmth is likely greater than any century prior to this going back 120,000 years,” said study leader Simon Pendleton, a doctoral student at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.”
https://www.livescience.com/64605-arctic-glaciers-melt-hidden-landscape.html
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