“As a crippling drought and mismanagement have left more than a dozen Australian towns and villages without a reliable source of water, the country is beginning to confront a question that strikes at its very identity: Is life in Australia’s vast interior compatible with the age of climate change?
“In the outback — a landscape central to Australian lore, far removed in distance and spirit from the coastal metropolises — rivers and lakes are disappearing, amplifying fears that wide swaths of rural territory may eventually have to be abandoned.”
nytimes.com/2019/12/08/world/australia/water-drought-climate.html
“Record-breaking temperatures have rocked the Top End since the start of December as Northern Australia swelters through a heatwave.
“Senior Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Billy Lynch said an unseasonably strong high-pressure system across the southern parts of the country was responsible for the mercury-melting heat.”
“The Brisbane suburb of Archerfield hit 40.2 degrees on Friday, making it the warmest December day in the area since records began in 1929. The previous record was 39.8 degrees in 1944.
“The Scenic Rim town of Beaudesert reached 41 degrees on Friday, breaking the previous record of 40.7 degrees in 2013.”
“Aerial pictures show a “firenado,” also known as a fire tornado, rolling across Queensland, Australia, as emergency crews across the country continue to battle more than 100 bushfires.”
Video:
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/weather/2019/12/08/australia-bushfire-firenado-queensland-nr-vpx.cnn
“East Gippsland residents threatened by out-of-control bushfires were urged to leave their homes on Monday, with temperatures in parts of Victoria forecast to reach as high as 43C.
“Extreme fire danger warnings issued for the Mallee district, while Wimmera and northern country were issued a severe warning. All three were under total fire bans.”
“Nearly a thousand tourists stranded by flooding in a tiny New Zealand alpine town woke on Monday to clear, sunny weather, but little other good news: there was still no way in or out by road.
““It’s the first time we’ve seen the sky in about six or seven days, so that’s nice,” said Khira MacWatt, from Aberdeen, who is among those stranded in Franz Josef, a picturesque town nestled into a glacier on New Zealand’s South Island, after bad weather caused major flooding.”
“The cost of fighting this summer’s Alaska wildfires has topped $300 million, and state and local officials say the final tally may not be known for years.
“The new figure also does not include the cost to Alaskans who saw their land torched and homes burned.”
“Faced with an unprecedented string of wildfires across California, overtime costs for firefighters have surged by 65% in the last decade, pushing annual wages to nearly $5 billion, according to a Times analysis of state payroll records.
“The overtime spending is further evidence of a statewide toll…”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-08/wildfire-firefighter-overtime-budget
“A new mobile phone app has been devised to help Inuit hunters in northern Canada avoid an increasingly dangerous effect of climate change: unpredictable sea ice…
“Named after the Inuktitut word for sea ice, Siku is intended to provide an all-in-one system of critical information for hunters.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/08/app-sea-ice-inuit-hunters-canada-arctic
“Kunuk has spent his entire life on this sheep farm [Greenland]. He says the summers are longer now than when he was a child — lasting from May to October — and drought has become a problem…
“Kunuk says the effects of a warming climate are obvious on the land and the fjord, which now has less ice than before, and in daily life for many of the 56,000 people who live in Greenland — including him.”
“The rain was falling hard outside when Jade Croft gave birth to her baby girl at 4.26am, following an emergency C-section at Doncaster Royal Infirmary [UK]. She was well prepared for the arrival of Indie…”
“Floated along by barge, one of the 10-ton barriers designed to relieve Venice‘s perennial flooding looks like a giant plaything: an oversized hinged yellow Lego…
“Concerns that high tides are becoming more frequent because of climate change have increased the urgency. While the concept is simple, its realisation has been anything but.”
“Firefighters rescued at least 8 people from submerged vehicles in southern Israel as several roads flooded after heavy rains late Sunday night.
“In Ashkelon, six people, including a pregnant woman, were pulled from water-logged cars. Several of them were trapped in an underground parking lot that flooded.”
“At least 16 bodies have been recovered after torrential rain caused landslides in western Uganda, the Red Cross has said.
“”Our team continues to recover more bodies including some that are trapped by cocoa trees in Bundibugyo hills. It is a very devastating moment,” the humanitarian agency said in a tweet on Sunday.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/flooding-western-uganda-kills-dozen-191208144314601.html
“Farmers have lost more than 21,400 cattle in Matabeleland [Zimbabwe] as this year’s drought — regarded as the worst in four decades — takes its toll.
“It is feared the figures could be more as some deaths are not being captured. Most animals are succumbing to depleted grazing fields and diminishing water sources.”
https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/21-000-cattle-lost-to-drought
“Thousands of dead fish lie on cracked earth, deposited by a receding dam and farmers’ animals are dying in their hundreds.
“Community members [Karoo, South Africa] say the only thing they can do now, is pray for rain.”
https://www.enca.com/news/karoo-residents-experience-worst-drought-more-century
“Heavy, uncompromising rains have left parts of Gauteng submerged. Centurion has been the worst-hit area, with Midrand and Pretoria also experiencing the terrible aftermath of the downpours…
“The devastation is going to be widespread. Business premises have already reported damage to their operations, and several homes have been pummeled by flood water.”
“Over 10,000 thousand people have been displaced while several others affected due to the floods caused by torrential rains in the Tamil dominated Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.
“Sri Lanka has been receiving torrential rains for couple of weeks…”
“Heavy rains in Greater Bandung [Indonesia] since Friday afternoon have caused the Cisangkuy River, part of West Java’s longest river, the Citarum, to overflow…
“…inundating with floodwater 11 of the 13 community units (RWs) in Kamasan village in Banjaran district, Bandung regency, at night.”
“Northern Philippines has been hit by some of its worst flooding in decades, with torrents of muddy runoff forcing 66,000 from their homes and prompting rescues of trapped locals, authorities said Friday.
“Luzon island, the nation’s largest, has been hit by a string of storms that have battered its northern tip…”
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/06/19/floods-force-66000-from-homes-in-cagayan-other-parts-of-luzon
“Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth, is experiencing a rare phenomenon.
“Flowers are blooming due to unprecedented rainfall… abnormal weather believed to be caused by global warming has seen heavy rain hit the desert in recent years.”
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191208_16/
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