“In Angola, there has not been enough rain to end months of severe drought that has left 2.3 million people struggling to get the food they need.
“According to UNICEF, recent rainfall in Angola has been erratic and below what is expected.
“Angola’s President Joao Lourenco declared a state of emergency in January and acknowledges that the people need help.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/angola-drought-millions-struggle-food-190507144311791.html
“Namibia is facing a “natural disaster” because of poor rains, President Hage Geingob says. He has declared a state of emergency – the second in three years – over the situation, mobilising all government agencies to respond to the drought.
“The lack of rain has already left 500,000 people – one in five Namibians – without access to enough food… The sparsely-populated country has seen a succession of droughts since 2013.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/48185946
“The heavy rains were predicted in many parts of Kenya yesterday pummelled the neighbourhood of Ruaka.
“The region which is in Kiambu county is very hilly and that can result in landslides when it pours heavily.”
https://mpasho.co.ke/ruaka-heavy-rains-cause-landslides/
“The rain has flooded areas of the city and forced the closure of some roads. Dar-es-Salaam has seen 144mm of rain in the last two days, fast approaching the average of 198mm that is expected in the entire month of May.
“Zanzibar has seen even more, with the airport reporting 328mm [roughly 13 inches] of rain in the last three days.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/roads-closed-flooding-hits-dar-es-salam-190507083430691.html
“Areas recovering from destructive Cyclone Fani will have to endure dangerous temperatures this week as a heat wave builds across northern and eastern India.
“The heat already turned deadly with at least three deaths from sunstroke reported in Andhra Pradesh, according to OneIndia. The hottest locations on any given day will endure temperatures near 45-46 C (113-115 F).”
“Natural disasters affected about 1.7 million people in China last month, with 47 killed, 3 missing and 15,000 relocated, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management Tuesday. Destroying houses and damaging crops, natural disasters caused direct economic losses of 3.23 billion yuan in April (about 477.71 million U.S. dollars), the ministry said.
“The country was mainly hit by floods and hailstorms last month…”
https://reliefweb.int/report/china/natural-disasters-affect-17-mln-people-china-april
“Torrential rain is pounding eastern Indonesia with the village of Saumlaki on Yamdena Island reporting 281mm [11 inches] of rain in the last two days. As thunderstorms begin to consolidate into a tropical cyclone, there are fears that more heavy rain could trigger landslides in the region.
“Conditions in the Banda Sea in eastern Indonesia are currently favourable for cyclone development.”
“A huge dust storm blanketed the north-west Victorian town of Mildura on Tuesday afternoon, turning daylight to midnight in a matter of minutes as the front blew in from the west.
“Tanvi Mor, who was at the airport when the storm came in about 5pm, said “it seemed to be swallowing Mildura”. Mor said it was Mildura’s worst dust storm in 40 years… “Normally this time of year we’ve had enough rain and we don’t see dust,” he said.”
“Fires, floods and the worst drought in living memory have ravaged Australia in the past year, laying waste to thousands of homes, devastating the livelihoods of farmers and wreaking millions of dollars’ worth of damage. In January, record-breaking temperatures soared so high, for so long that asphalt roads started to melt.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/07/australia/australia-climate-election-intl/index.html
“Some 40,000 Paraguayans have been evacuated in recent weeks because of flooding from heavy rains across the South American nation… more than 10,000 of the evacuees live in the capital of Asuncion…
“The other evacuees are scattered across the country along the rain-swollen Paraguay River. Its normal stage is 4 metres (13.10 feet), but it has reached 6.92 metres (22.7 feet) in the capital due to unusually heavy rains since March.”
“A fungal plant disease from Asia has been spreading across banana-growing areas of Latin America and the Caribbean since the 1960s.
“New research suggests that climate change is aiding the spread of this highly destructive plant infection. Black sigatoka, commonly known as “black leaf streak,” can reduce the fruit produced by infected plants by up to 80%…”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/07/health/banana-disease-climate-change-trnd/index.html
“The Barbados-based Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) on Monday urged Caribbean countries to “closely monitor water resources and try to conserve as much as possible, at least until June/July” as the drought situation in the region worsens.”
https://wicnews.com/caribbean/caribbean-countries-warned-conserve-water-drought-worsens-451619172/
“The heat wave that has been felt in much of Mexico, caused by an atmospheric high pressure system, will intensify from today, so day temperatures are expected from hot to extremely hot in the coast of the Mexican Pacific, the southern Gulf of Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula.
“Therefore, temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius [104f] are estimated in many regions.”
https://www.turquesanews.mx/cancun/pronostican-calor-extremo-en-quintana-roo/
“Hundreds of students were stranded in an elementary school Tuesday night as heavy rain hit southeast Texas.
“A massive downpour kept buses and parents off the roads in Cleveland, Texas and forced Southside Elementary to keep students inside, Cleveland Independent School District spokesperson Susan Ard told CNN.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/08/us/texas-flooding-students-trapped/index.html
“Waves of flooding that began in March have caused significant damage to farmland, homes and businesses throughout the Midwest. At least seven deaths since March have been blamed on flooding.
“Rivers at many communities have been above flood stage for more than six weeks. The worst may not be over. Heavy rain over the central U.S., expected to continue through Thursday, is creating new problems.”
“It’s only the first week of May, but Western Washington is headed into a very August-like stretch of weather… “We’re very concerned already,” state Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Janet Pearce said Tuesday.
“”Our fire season is here now. It’s starting a little earlier than usual.””
https://patch.com/washington/seattle/freak-spring-heat-puget-sound-bad-thing
“US objections to wording on climate change prevented Arctic nations signing a joint statement at a summit in Finland, delegates said. It is the first time such a statement has been cancelled since the Arctic Council was set up in 1996.
“”Arctic sea lanes could become the 21st-Century Suez and Panama Canals,” Mr Pompeo said. At short notice he cancelled talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday, in a surprise move.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48185793
“Experts say landslides are becoming more common in Iceland, partially around glaciers and along the island’s south coast.
“Geologist and landslide researcher Þorsteinn Sæmundsson told RÚV there is a need to increase monitoring of areas which are at risk of such geological events, especially those which happen to be popular tourist sites.”
https://www.icelandreview.com/news/increasing-danger-of-landslides-in-iceland/
“When permafrost thaws, ancient carbon, sometimes frozen for hundreds of thousands of years, is freed up. As the planet continues to warm, more and more of this frozen carbon is escaping.”
“A forecaster spokesperson said that from May 4-6, “a mass of cold polar air directly from the Arctic [hit, leading to] frosts over lowlands to the foothills of the Pyrenees, often in the range of 0°C to -2°C. Some records, some more than 50 years old, were broken.”
“Among the longest-standing records broken were those registered at Barcelonnette, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (-7.4°C), a weather station that had been open since 1959, which previously had a cold record for May dating back to 1979.”
“A bomb cyclone is set to bring damaging winds, heavy rainfall and localized severe thunderstorms to parts of western Europe beginning on Wednesday… Due to its rapid pressure fall, the storm achieved bomb cyclone status and will bring dangerous weather to parts of western Europe into Thursday.”
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