“Floods and heavy rains across four countries have left at least 86 people dead, displaced tens of thousands, and added fresh misery to people in impoverished rural areas long suffering from drought.
Unusually heavy rains mixed with melting mountain snows and struck parched lands unable to absorb water with disastrous results in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria…
“Millions of people need both immediate, life-saving humanitarian assistance, and a way out of this protracted crisis,” said Afghan Red Crescent Secretary-General Nilab Mobarez. “The floods are the latest disaster to bitterly test the resilience of people already stretched to breaking point by drought.”
“The devastating Nepal rainstorm, which swept the districts of Bara and Parsa, has claimed the lives of 35 people as of Tuesday, according to Province 2 Minister for Internal Affairs and Law, Gyanendra Kumar Yadav.
“”As per the statistics, 35 people are confirmed dead and hundreds of others are injured,” Yadav told the media after the conclusion of a cabinet meeting.”
“IMD released a warning of 31 March of “heat waves in many places and a severe heat wave at isolated pockets” in Madhya Pradesh till 4 April. Temperatures in most places, they added, have risen by at least 3.1°C above “normal” levels.
“The highest temperature (of 44.5°C) was recorded in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone city on 30 March.”
“Top Asian finance ministers and central bankers are due to have a summit in northern Thailand this week, and they’ll need pollution masks if they want to avoid breathing toxic air.
“Wildfires and crop burning are blanketing the region with smog, prompting Thailand’s junta leader Prayuth Chan-Ocha to fly to Chiang Mai — the area’s tourist hot-spot — early Tuesday to review the crisis. The city’s air quality index was 379 as he visited, the worst major urban reading globally and a level that’s hazardous…”
“Townsville locals {Queensland, Australia] have resorted to couch surfing and caravans in a bid to keep a roof over their heads, as rental vacancies in the city have reached an all-time low.”
“Tasmania’s March weather was mild overall, with Dover’s 40.1 degrees in March 2 the hottest March day ever recorded in the state. That temperature was well above the previous record of 38.0 degrees, which was set at Campania in March 2008, Bureau of Meteorology Tasmania climatologist Ian Barnes-Keoghan said.”
“Dolphin survival and reproductive rates suffered a significant decline following a 2011 marine heatwave affecting around 1,000km of Western Australia’s coastline.
“The findings, published in Current Biology and representing an international collaboration of researchers and universities, including Zurich and Bristol, have important implications for marine conservation and mitigating the effects of climate change.”
“A real storm hit the city of Río Tercero, Colombia. The heavy rain began on Saturday evening and continued until much of Sunday, totaling 260 millimeters [10+ inches] that flooded several areas.
“Several were cars that ended up ruined. According to testimonies of neighbors to ElDoce.tv , the water rose in a matter of minutes and did not give time to put the vehicles to guard.”
“A wall of rocks and sandbags on Monday protected scenic Clarksville, Missouri, from the surging Mississippi River as spring flooding swamped fields, threatened homes and temporarily shut down a bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois.
“Heavy rain over much of the Midwest on Saturday caused another spike in water levels along the river and its tributaries, especially in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.”
“Federal scientists and academics are warning that Canada’s climate is warming rapidly and faster than the global average, saying human behaviour must change to slow the shift…
“The report says that Canada is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world and that Northern Canada is warming even more quickly, nearly three times the global rate. Three of the past five years have been the warmest on record…”
“On Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, the temperature has increased by 5.6°C in the last 50 years. “That the temperature in Denmark has increased by 1.2 degrees in just the last 20 years is concerning.
“It makes you fear that climate change is only just beginning to really be felt. So what will happen over the next 20 years?”, TV2 meteorologist Peter Tanev said to the broadcaster.”
“Climate change is shifting spring forward in the UK and disrupt the life cycles of eco-systems, a 50 year study has confirmed.
“Aphids, moths and butterflies are now flying and birds are laying eggs much earlier than in the mid-20th century, according to researchers. This means that butterflies are hatching earlier and birds are laying their eggs sooner than in 1967.”
“The south of Spain has witnessed some amazing scenes as freak weather hit the region this afternoon (Monday).
“Comarcal Televisión in the Valle del Guadalentín, with coverage in Lorca, Águilas, Puerto Lumbreras and Mazarrón has shared footage that shows a white-out after a hail storm hit the region.”
“Commercial banks in South Africa face enormous credit risks due to agricultural producers defaulting on loans and being increasingly unable to provide security for loans.
“This was underscored by the fact that 61% of the approximately R160 billion in farming debt in South Africa was owed to commercial banks, said Prof Sanlie Middelberg of North-West University’s School of Accounting Sciences in Potchefstroom. She told Farmer’s Weekly that many farmers were unable to repay their loans due to failed harvests, ever-increasing input costs, and low livestock prices.”
“Flooding linked to Cyclone Idai, which lashed southeast Africa last month, could reduce Malawi’s staple maize crop by around 20 percent this farming season, Agriculture Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha said on Tuesday. “The floods washed away 71,111 hectares, translating into about 639,999 metric tonnes of potential maize production in five agricultural development divisions, effectively reducing our projected yield for this year,” Mwanamvekha told Reuters.”
“Cholera has infected at least 1,052 people in Mozambique’s cyclone-hit region, the health ministry said on Monday in a new report, marking a massive increase from 139 cases reported four days ago.
“The new data represents on average more than 200 cases of new infections each day.”
“Australia continued a string of “hottest ever” months in March, the government said Monday, as global warming emerges as the hot button issue in national elections just weeks away.
“The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the country had experienced the warmest March on record, with mean maximum and minimum temperatures above average for nearly all of the vast continent nation.
“BOM said the national mean temperature was 2.13 degrees centigrade (3.83 degrees Fahrenheit) above the long-term average for the month of March.
“It was the fourth month in a row of record heat in the country, and January was Australia’s hottest month ever, with mean temperatures across the continent exceeding 30 degrees Celsius for the first time.”
“Researchers have touched down in the Iron Range rainforest in Queensland’s Cape York to map what they fear is decades of damage wrought by Cyclone Trevor.
“The cyclone made landfall on the eastern Cape York coast earlier this month, bringing relentless wind and heavy rain for several days.
“”It looks bad at the moment, the trees are down, there are no leaves and it’s a different world,” said ecologist Gabrielle Davidson.”
“Okarito residents [New Zealand] are disgusted as decades of old rubbish has turned their once pristine West Coast beach into a tip.
“The historic Fox Landfill ripped open in last week’s storm, washing rubbish out to sea. It’s left landfill waste strewn across 100 kilometres of the West Coast beach. The storm that hit the region eroded away the closed and capped landfill site near Fox Glacier.”
“Alaska residents accustomed to subzero temperatures are experiencing a heat wave of sorts that is shattering records, with the thermometer jumping to more than 16.7 degrees Celsius above normal in some regions.”
“Inuvik, well north of the Arctic Circle [Canadian] averaged a daily high temperature of about -4ºC through March, well above its usual March average high of -16.8, and on one afternoon the temperature climbed all the way to 8.7ºC.
“To give that some perspective, Winnipeg, Man., some 4500 km to the south, averaged -2.9ºC, and recorded a high temperature for the month of 9.2ºC.”
“B.C.’s January was unusually warm, February was brutally cold and March is threatening to rewrite the record books for drought. “There has been a lot of huge fluctuation,” said Armel Castellan, a meteorologist for Environment Canada. Fort St. John has received a minuscule 0.8 per cent of its normal precipitation.”
“It appears wildfire season has come early in the B.C. Interior with reports of two wildfires burning west of Chase, B.C., in the Shuswap region.
“The B.C. Wildfire Services’ active wildfires interactive map shows both blazes are burning on the north side of the Thompson River, southeast of Niskonlith Lake.”
“At least 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of U.S. farmland were flooded after the “bomb cyclone” storm left wide swaths of nine major grain-producing states under water in March, satellite data analyzed by Gro Intelligence showed.
““There’s thousands of acres that won’t be able to be planted,” Ryan Sonderup, 36, of Fullerton, Nebraska, who has been farming for 18 years, said in a recent interview.”
“After a quiet first two days in April, the threat for severe weather will return to the south-central United States at midweek. Cool weather will usher April in on Monday, but temperatures are expected to rebound across the South Central states by midweek… “This is often a classic setup for supercell thunderstorms, which can produce damaging straight-line winds, very large hail and tornadoes,” Sojda said.”
“Nearly two dozen Florida homes have been evacuated because of a 500-acre wildfire that grew rapidly overnight because of downed trees from Hurricane Michael.
“Authorities say the fire broke out Saturday in the Panhandle about 10 miles east of Panama City and quickly grew to 500 acres by Sunday afternoon. At least 35 structures are in danger.”
“The intense rains have caused the overflow of the Perene River, in the Peruvian department of Junín, which already affects thousands of families throughout the province of Chanchamayo…
“According to official Peruvian sources, more than 13,000 people have been affected by the floods and at least fifty-one have died this rainy season.”
“Two years after a mudslide that killed more than 300 people in the Colombian rainforest town of Mocoa, local authorities are struggling to get the funds to resettle tens of thousands of residents living in areas at risk of flooding.
“Torrential rains on March 31, 2017, triggered a deadly torrent of mud, debris and rocks, and caused rivers to burst their banks, washing away entire neighborhoods.”
“Austria has seen the hottest 12 months in its more than 250 years of recorded history through to the end of March, the Central Institute of Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) stated in a press release on Friday.
“The year 2018 had already set a new calendar-year temperature record, though the months from April 2018 to March 2019 now make up the hottest 12-month span since temperatures were first recorded in 1767.”
“In the area of Sarajevo Canton, 13 wildfires were active, which were caused by the spring cleaning of gardens and courtyards, was confirmed for Fena by the Dispatch Center of the Professional Fire Brigade of Sarajevo Canton.”
“Heavy rain on Friday night and Saturday caused huge problems and damage in the north [Cyprus] with crews scrambling to help the residents of flooded houses and drivers stranded on roads.
“Reports said crews scrambled to assist people whose homes were flooded while a long stretch of the Nicosia to Famagusta road was shut to traffic because of the water.”
“Dramatic footage of dead livestock and of displaced Syrians struggling to walk in knee-high water has emerged after storms battered the region for several days.
“Informal camps in northern Syria were hard hit by the torrential rains, said Ismail Abdallah, a volunteer with the White Helmets rescue group. These included Atmeh and Azaz near the Turkish border, as well as Al Bab north of Aleppo.”
“Flash floods have killed at least 32 people in western Afghanistan, destroyed homes and swept through makeshift shelters that housed displaced families, a government official said on Saturday.
“Flooding caused by heavy rains started spreading on Thursday and left a trail of devastation across seven provinces, said Hasibullah Shir Khani, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.”
“Rescuers are struggling to reach villages in southern Nepal that were cut off by a rainstorm that has killed 25 people and injured hundreds more.
“The storm swept through villages in a farming region of Bara and Parsa districts in southern Nepal, about 120km south of capital Kathmandu, on Sunday night.”
“Kozhikode district [Kerala, India] collector Sambasiva Rao had also issued a strict directive asking people not to engage in outdoor work between 11 am and 3 pm until mid-April.”
“Villagers plead for government help while dams recede to record-lows. The Northeast of [Thailand] is currently the area most affected by the drought, while many other districts are going through similar struggles as water levels in ponds and rivers plunge. El Nino, the weather pattern that has caused the severe drought, will worsen water shortages this year…”
“Cholera cases among Cyclone Idai survivors have doubled in the space of 48 hours, according to authorities. Spread by contaminated food and water, the disease is a major concern for hundreds of thousands of people now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools or damaged homes in Mozambique.
“Cases have so far been discovered in the port city of Beira, whose half a million residents – especially those in crowded, poor neighbourhoods – are at particular risk.”
“The results of the 2018 research study about the ocean heat has pushed the UN to express its concerns about the effects of global warming and how it affects marine life.
“In the latest overview of the State of the Climate, The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that the oceans heat levels have been its highest in the last four years. The figures that were previously announced were taken from the provisional drafts of the report that has been submitted by the agency.”
“The Russian Arctic is increasingly hot. The vast area that covers an overwhelming part of the country is undergoing unprecedented warming. At record speed…
“And in parts of the region, the heat is gaining breath-taking force. In the Kara Sea, average air temperatures in the period 1998-2018 were as much as 4,77 degrees above normal…
“According to Roshydromet, wintertime air temperatures along the Northern Sea Route have never been as high as in 2018. Since the late 1990s, the winter temperatures in the area has increased with as much as 5 degrees and summer temperatures with 1 percent.”
“”Startling” is a word you don’t often hear from an Alaskan meteorologist with over three decades of experience, especially in a place used to wild swings in weather.
“But this month’s warmth in the state is out of bounds, even for Rick Thoman…
“On Saturday, villages along the northern coast of Alaska, right on the Arctic Ocean, are expected to spike to 40 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.”
“The paper indicates that once the Younger Dryas settled in, air temperatures in Greenland dropped by about six degrees.
“”These results suggest that changes in ocean circulation precede major global climate events,” he said. “So we should therefore take seriously the evidence that suggests the AMOC has been slowing down over the past century or more.””
“Record-breaking flooding has forced dozens of people on a South Dakota reservation to evacuate and ranchers were working Thursday to get their livestock to higher ground while waiting for a river to crest…
““Everybody is afraid that their livelihoods are going to be swept up by the water, obviously,” Bald Eagle said. “It is really a critical time for the livestock folks because right now their cattle are all calving.””
“Due to weather conditions, the threat of wildfires is growing in Alabama. The Alabama Forestry Commission was called out to a fire in the Mount Olive community Thursday afternoon. It was contained, but it has been a busy week for the firefighters.
““Between Friday morning and Sunday night, we had 134 fires statewide. Burned about 1,900 acres,” Coleen Vansant with the Alabama Forestry Commission said.”
“According to the Antena 3 television images , it is possible to observe two children in cubes paddling with their own hands until they reach the school. Weather forecasts continue to point to worsening weather, and heavy rains will continue until next week.
“The government has already decreed a state of emergency in 650 districts in the Iquitos region of Peru.”
“With the official start of hurricane season more than two months away, you may have missed an anomaly earlier this week. What started as a depression Saturday became a rare tropical storm Sunday off the southeast coast of Brazil Sunday, according to NOAA… Short-lived Iba was the first named tropical storm in the South Atlantic in nearly 10 years.”
“The cyclone [Idia], which the UN has called the worst weather-related disaster to hit the southern hemisphere, has directly claimed nearly 900 lives in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, according to official estimates. Aid workers reckon the figure is very much higher. An exact count may never be known: many bodies have been washed out to sea.
“Yet the aftermath of the storm may prove even more deadly…”
“Following deadly flooding, more heavy rain is forecast by the end of the week across the Middle East.
“A storm moving through the eastern Mediterranean Sea into Friday night will bring periods of rain and some mountain snow with it to southern Turkey, northern Syria and far-northern Iraq.”
“From Gujarat and Maharashtra, through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh [India], the dismal South-West and North-East monsoons of 2018 have triggered yet another drought across the country.
“The water crisis, coupled with rising summer temperatures, is hurting rural livelihoods and triggering migration from the affected States.”
“Two people were killed by summer storms that wreaked havoc in several northern and northeastern provinces of Thailand on Thursday, and the weather office warns of more harsh weather to come.
“The forecast is for storms to bring heavy rain, gusting winds and sometimes hail, to many upper provinces on Saturday, Sunday and into next week.”
“The temperature dipped below 39 degrees at Rabbit Flat in the Tanami Desert on Tuesday. It was the first time the heat had dipped below 39 since November 30 last year. The official measurement of 38.4 degrees on Tuesday brought to an end the longest run of days over 39 degrees in Australian history…
“Rabbit Flat recorded 115 days over 39 degrees to smash the old record of 106 days at the more famous Marble Bar in Western Australia, which recorded the dubious feat between November 1921 and March 1922.”
“The world is seeing record sea level rises and devastating floods, storms, heatwaves and wildfires as climate change impacts grow, a United Nations (UN) report has said.
“The organisation’s secretary general Antonio Guterres said “there is no longer any time for delay” on tackling climate change as the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) state of the climate 2018 report was published.”
“Hundreds of Portuguese firefighters struggled on Wednesday to contain wildfires which erupted far earlier in the season than usual because of unexpectedly hot and windy weather.
“Ten fires were burning across the country, most in the north, several months before the late spring season when fire crews are normally in place. Meteorologists said global warming had made it difficult to predict where blazes would erupt.
““We are having significant fire outbreaks in areas where we didn’t know the risk was high,” Miguel Miranda, president of the Portuguese Institute of Meteorology (IPMA), told Portuguese radio station TSF. “We are in unexplored territory, we have never been through this.””
“In February, the Met Office reported an average temperature of 6°C in the UK, which is 2.4°C above the 1981-2010 long-term average.
“A southerly incursion from north Africa brought record-breaking temperatures and dry sunny weather throughout most parts of the country in the latter half of the month.”
“As many as ten Iraqi provinces in central and southern Iraq could announce a state of emergency after more than three days of torrential rains and unprecedented floods, a government official said. Mahdi Rashid, the director of the Public Authority for Dams and Reservoirs at the Ministry of Water Resources, said the rising water levels could force the ministry to announce a state of emergency in ten Iraqi cities.”
“Heavy flooding continued in Iran on Tuesday March, 26, 2019 as 30 provinces geared up for days of a sudden disaster… At least 30 of Iran’s 31 provinces witnessed flood conditions on Monday as reports indicate at least 120 dead in the city of Shiraz alone…
“Floods that began in northern parts of Iran earlier in the month are quickly propagating to other areas in Iran. At least 30 provinces have been affected by the floods. The worst-hit provinces include those on the shores of Caspian Sea, the skirts of the Zagros mountain range, central and southern Iran.”
“Afghanistan’s summer harvest will be one of the most critical in years, especially of wheat, its biggest cereal crop, as the country recovers from floods and the worst drought in decades, government and aid organization officials say…
“Floods in March complicated the recovery. Heavy rains killed at least 63 people and destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 homes, affecting 119,600 people, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs “
“”Our results suggest that extreme dry and wet events will increasingly co-occur, such as the switch from extreme drought to severe flooding we saw in California in the recent past,” says lead author Gavin D. Madakumbura. “At least in terms of disaster mitigation and water security, there would be significant benefits to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C to dampen the intensification of event-to-event variability.””
“The southern hemisphere has been struck by some unusual storms recently… Southeast Africa is not often struck by big cyclones and Idai was particularly bad because it moved slowly, allowing huge amounts of rain to fall for a long time over a relatively small area, causing disastrous flooding in low-lying areas.
“The Indian Ocean has already experienced seven cyclones this year, compared with an average of three.”
“A state of emergency entered a third day on Thursday after severe weather took its toll and killed one woman in West Coast, New Zealand.
“As the storm has moved towards North lsland, local authority hoped the state of emergency could be lifted by the end of Thursday, but nothing was guaranteed.”
“The past month is likely to be one of the warmest March months on record in New Zealand, following the country’s third warmest summer on record. It comes after 2018 was the equal-second warmest year recorded…
“Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll said there was a chance of another atmospheric river – similar to the one that deluged the West Coast this week – coming down from the tropics during April.”
“The famed island [Easter Island] is starting to feel the impact of climate change, from the cooler waters caused by fluctuating global temperatures to a record drought, which has drained the island’s wetlands and put its freshwater reserves at risk…
“Fiercer sea swells are eroding parts of the shore and the island is getting less rainfall, making 2017 the driest year on record. Last year was only slightly better.”
“We haven’t needed the umbrella that much over the past few weeks [in Vancouver], and this unseasonably dry weather is lowering the risk of flooding in B.C.
“This March is on pace to be one of the driest on record. Just 33 mm of precipitation has been recorded at YVR this month, which is less than a third of what we typically get.”
“The question is not if, but when, and how bad. Manitobans anxious about spring flooding learned a little more Wednesday. The province’s infrastructure minister, Ron Schuler shared the latest information from the Hydrologic Forecast Centre in Winnipeg. He said the province is mobilizing to deal with a flood “at or above 2009 levels,” with peak levels expected on the Red River at Emerson, Man. between April 12-23.”
“Record flooding in the Midwest is now threatening the safety of more than a million private water wells.
“The National Ground Water Association estimates that people living in more than 300 counties across 10 states have their groundwater threatened from bacterial and industrial contamination carried by flood waters.”
“This spring’s floods will shape this summer’s dead zone. The area of low oxygen is an annual occurrence driven in large part by nutrient-laden runoff that washes down the Mississippi River and its many tributaries, fueling algae blooms when it reaches the Gulf.
“The dead zone in 2017 was the largest that’s ever been recorded at nearly 9,000 square miles, and while it’s much too early to say exactly how big this summer’s dead zone will be, the flooding we’ve seen so far doesn’t bode well. “
“A storm will bring unwelcome rain and the threat of locally severe thunderstorms to portions of the central United States through the end of the week.
“…Rainfall can be steady across central and southern areas of the Plains and Mississippi Valley, aggravating the flooding situation…”
“Brevard [Florida] residents were surprised when a powerful squall line brought an unwelcome hazard to their morning commute: hail. Wendesday’s storms formed ahead of an incoming cold front, packing heavy rain, lightning and gusty winds in addition to hail. Many residents and visitors took to Twitter to share images of falling hail, which was dime to golf ball-size in some places, and report damage.”
“When the Arctic warmed after the ice age 10,000 years ago, it created perfect conditions for drought.
“According to new research led by a University of Wyoming scientist, similar changes could be in store today because a warming Arctic weakens the temperature difference between the tropics and the poles. This, in turn, results in less precipitation, weaker cyclones and weaker mid-latitude westerly wind flow—a recipe for prolonged drought.”
“Large swaths of Alaska have seen record or near-record warmth this March said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy. And the trend isn’t quitting.
“Well above-average temperatures are expected to continue this week. Daily temperature records have broken around the state, and toppled all-time March records in the greater Arctic region. Last week, Alaska saw its earliest ever 70-degree Fahrenheit temperature.
“This exceptional warmth has been stoked by a mix of weather events and a rapidly warming climate.
“The magnitude and persistence of the warmth is particularly striking to me this winter in parts of Alaska,” Zack Labe, a climate scientist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of California at Irvine, said over email.”
“A Canadian mountaineer has revealed why he made the dangerous climb down the world’s second largest ice sheet to collect data on the impact of global warming. Will Gadd, 52, from Canmore, Alberta, assisted American Professor Jason Gulley in exploring the Greenland ice sheet after noticing the ‘radical changes’ in glaciers.
“The record-breaking ice climber said: ‘In our lifetime we’re seeing radical changes and it’s not something I can ignore.”
“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now says that flood waters have reached eight Superfund sites in Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska, according to Bloomberg.
“Because flood water levels remain high, it isn’t possible for EPA personnel to reach the sites and test these sites, which are in need of major environmental cleanup due to the presence of hazardous waste and toxic chemicals such as arsenic and cyanide, to name a few poisonous chemicals…”
“Colorado recorded its lowest barometric pressure on record earlier this month during the so-called bomb cyclone, essentially confirming the storm as the strongest in the state’s recorded history.
“A central pressure reading of 970.4 millibars in Lamar on March 13 made it the lowest sea level pressure reading ever recorded in the state…”
“In the open air and next to the highway live near 200 families in the San Vicente de Vinces enclosure, province of Los Ríos, after the flood of the Pocas river [Ecuador]. Between pain and anguish, they sleep in improvised tents and under plastic with the few things they could recover. For now, they only harbor the hope that the heavy rains will diminish.
“According to a report presented by the Vice President of the Republic Otto Sonnenholzner, until Monday 25 March there are 20 deaths…”
“If a super typhoon hits the Tokyo metropolitan area and causes floods that coincide with high tide, it would be necessary to evacuate 2.55 million of the capital’s residents and send many to places other than their local evacuation center, an estimate has shown.”
“A woman has been found dead in New Zealand following a severe downpour that washed away a bridge and prompted a state of emergency in the South Island…
“Meteorologists have described the event as significant, even by the area’s rainy standards, with some parts struck by more than 800mm of rain in a once-in-a-century downpour.”
“A hail storm that ripped through an avocado orchard in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales last week has destroyed an estimated 4 million avocados.
“Aussie Orchards’ managing director Colin Foyster said 80 per cent of the fruit on the 12,000 trees at the Pretty Gully farm was knocked off and onto the ground.”
“Heavy flooding continued in Iran on Tuesday as many provinces geared up for days of waterlogged misery and authorities warned of possible floods in the capital Tehran as well the oil-rich south.
“President Hassan Rouhani promised compensation for all financial losses and called for the armed forces to help in flooded areas.”
“Mozambique said on Wednesday five cases of cholera had been confirmed around the badly damaged port city of Beira after a powerful cyclone killed more than 700 people across a swathe of southern Africa.
“Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique around midnight on March 14 before tearing through neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and wrecking an area of 3,000 sq km (1,200 sq miles).”
“Germany’s meteorological agency DWD says 2018 was the warmest in the country since records began. The agency said Tuesday that the annual average temperature in Germany was 10.5 degrees Celsius (50.9 Fahrenheit) last year — higher than at any time since [records began in] 1881.
“The number of days when the mercury rose above 25 C and 30 C also beat previous records, including from the intense but shorter-lived summer of 2003.”
“Many insect pollinator species are disappearing from areas of Great Britain, a new study has found.
“The research, led by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, measured the presence of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across the country, from 1980 to 2013. It showed one third of species experienced declines in terms of areas in which they were found…”
“At least 19 people have been killed and about 100 more injured in flash floods in southern Iran.
“Dramatic footage showed crumpled cars piled up deep in mud and water and people clinging to lamp posts after floods swept through the city of Shiraz, where most of the deaths occurred on Monday.
“Pirhossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s emergency medical services, said four children were among those who died, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.
“High water is said to have damaged thousands of houses in the city and other towns, and 26 out of 31 regions are on high alert for imminent flooding because of torrential rain forecast for the coming days.
“The spread of flooding to the south comes after days of floods in the north which affected more than 56,000 people living in 270 villages and small towns in the regions of Golestan and Mazandaran on the Caspian Sea.”
“It’s not even peak summer season yet, but Mumbai was sweating it out at 40.3 degrees Celsius on Monday… seven degrees above normal, according to the IMD’s Santacruz observatory.
“Many Mumbaikars took to social media to share news of the heat, some even sharing screenshots of temperatures in their localities.”
“Homes in Boodarie near the WA Pilbara town of Port Hedland are being evacuated after the suburb was cut off by rising floodwaters following ex-Tropical Cyclone Veronica.”
“A Cape York grazier has fears thousands of cattle stranded in floodwaters could be dead in the aftermath of Cyclone Trevor…
“The cyclone swept through the cape on its way to the Northern Territory early last week, but flooding rains continued to fill the river systems into the weekend.”
“As gale-force winds create huge dust storms in Victoria’s Central Gippsland [Australia], farmers say it is time to call the drought a natural disaster as the little remaining topsoil is blown away from paddocks.
“Winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour battered bare paddocks across Giffard and Seaspray yesterday, causing sandy topsoil to build up along fences and roads.”
“A state of emergency has been declared in Westland [NZ] as torrential rain brings flooding to the region, with the Waiho Bridge, south of Franz Josef Glacier, totally washed away.
“The heavy rain raised rivers to record levels, closed roads and prompted evacuation warnings in the area. Some parts of Westland face up to 800 millimetres of rain [31.5 inches] during the downpour. The town of Haast is experiencing a one-in-100-year flood…”
“The Sunday evening hail storms that left parts of Frisco, McKinney and Allen with a trail of broken windshields will likely be a $300-$400 million storm.
“Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the industry trade group, the Insurance Council of Texas, said a 4 square-mile area in Collin County sustained the the most serious damage and that early projections place the amount of insured losses at $300-400 million.”
“…Kevin Low, a hydrologist with the National Weather Services’ Missouri Basin River Forecast Center, said streams running into the Missouri are high. Two major rivers in South Dakota, the Big Sioux and the White River, are flooding. He said the snowpack was heavy, and it’s held on later than normal into the spring.
“What’s more, the soil across the upper Midwest is too wet to absorb much more water. And to top it all off, forecasters are predicting a better-than-average chance for major thunderstorms this spring.”
“Last week’s record warmth in Alberta will shortly give way to a return to winter-like form, with a storm set to bring messy weather, including heavy snow in some areas.”
“Ant invasions are on the rise due to Ireland’s warmest winter on record.
“While ants typically invade during summer time, the country’s record-breaking winter temperatures saw a spike in the number of homes and businesses experiencing ant infestations.
“With such high invasion numbers, pest controllers Rentokil has seen a massive increase in the number of ant callouts in the first two months of this year, compared with the same period last year.”
“Asian hornets are set to invade Britain as the country faces a sizzling three-month heatwave.
“Nests have been found in New Alresford and Brockenhurst in Hampshire’s New Forest tourist hotspot, leading to fears that families could be attacked.
“The hornets have already killed five people in France and hibernating queens will soon be waking up in the UK. Christine McClellan, of the Isle of Wight Beekeeping Association, told the Daily Star: “It is vital that we increase the urgent awareness to this impending disaster.””
“In 2018, record drought across Germany caused crop failures and left farmers struggling. Germany’s meteorological office says the droughts were not a once off and is setting up an early warning system to help farmers…
“The grain farmer hopes 2018 was an exception not soon to be repeated, otherwise he says the outlook for German agriculture is grim.”
“About 1.85 million people have now been affected by Cyclone Idai and its aftermath in Mozambique alone, U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday, as aid workers raced to fathom the scale of the disaster and determine what help is most urgently needed…
“At least 686 people have been killed by the storm and its aftermath across the three countries, a figure that could rise as relief workers prepare for what they say are inevitable outbreaks of diseases including malaria and cholera.”
“Australian researchers have discovered huge underwater lakes beneath the largest glacier in east Antarctica.
“The lakes were detected by scientists setting off small explosives 2m below the surface of the Totten glacier and listening to the reflected sound.
“The Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Dr Ben Galton-Fenzi said the research was critical to helping scientists predict how the melting of Antarctic glaciers would change the world’s oceans.”
“Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the production of energy reached a new record in 2018, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Tuesday.
“CO2 emissions are the main driving force behind global warming, which scientists fear could spiral out of control unless drastic action is taken to reduce global emissions.”
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Weekday updates on both climate change and the global economy. Stay current with what’s happening around the world with a quick scan of top news.
“Floods and heavy rains across four countries have left at least 86 people dead, displaced tens of thousands, and added fresh misery to people in impoverished rural areas long suffering from drought.
“The devastating Nepal rainstorm, which swept the districts of Bara and Parsa, has claimed the lives of 35 people as of Tuesday, according to Province 2 Minister for Internal Affairs and Law, Gyanendra Kumar Yadav. 
“IMD released a warning of 31 March of “heat waves in many places and a severe heat wave at isolated pockets” in Madhya Pradesh till 4 April. Temperatures in most places, they added, have risen by at least 3.1°C above “normal” levels. 
“Top Asian finance ministers and central bankers are due to have a summit in northern Thailand this week, and they’ll need pollution masks if they want to avoid breathing toxic air. 
“Townsville locals {Queensland, Australia] have resorted to couch surfing and caravans in a bid to keep a roof over their heads, as rental vacancies in the city have reached an all-time low.”
“Dolphin survival and reproductive rates suffered a significant decline following a 2011 marine heatwave affecting around 1,000km of Western Australia’s coastline. 
“A real storm hit the city of Río Tercero, Colombia. The heavy rain began on Saturday evening and continued until much of Sunday, totaling 260 millimeters [10+ inches] that flooded several areas. 
“Residents of Caracas are standing in long lines waiting to fill drums with water as a national power crisis stretches into a fourth week… 
“A wall of rocks and sandbags on Monday protected scenic Clarksville, Missouri, from the surging Mississippi River as spring flooding swamped fields, threatened homes and temporarily shut down a bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois. 
“Federal scientists and academics are warning that Canada’s climate is warming rapidly and faster than the global average, saying human behaviour must change to slow the shift… 
“On Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, the temperature has increased by 5.6°C in the last 50 years. “That the temperature in Denmark has increased by 1.2 degrees in just the last 20 years is concerning. 
“Tourists were left fleeing a huge wave after part of a glacier broke off and collapsed into the sea in Iceland. 
“Climate change is shifting spring forward in the UK and disrupt the life cycles of eco-systems, a 50 year study has confirmed. 
“The south of Spain has witnessed some amazing scenes as freak weather hit the region this afternoon (Monday). 
“Commercial banks in South Africa face enormous credit risks due to agricultural producers defaulting on loans and being increasingly unable to provide security for loans. 
“Cholera has infected at least 1,052 people in Mozambique’s cyclone-hit region, the health ministry said on Monday in a new report, marking a massive increase from 139 cases reported four days ago. 
“Australia continued a string of “hottest ever” months in March, the government said Monday, as global warming emerges as the hot button issue in national elections just weeks away.
“Researchers have touched down in the Iron Range rainforest in Queensland’s Cape York to map what they fear is decades of damage wrought by Cyclone Trevor. 
“Okarito residents [New Zealand] are disgusted as decades of old rubbish has turned their once pristine West Coast beach into a tip. 
“Inuvik, well north of the Arctic Circle [Canadian] averaged a daily high temperature of about -4ºC through March, well above its usual March average high of -16.8, and on one afternoon the temperature climbed all the way to 8.7ºC. 
“It appears wildfire season has come early in the B.C. Interior with reports of two wildfires burning west of Chase, B.C., in the Shuswap region. 
“At least 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of U.S. farmland were flooded after the “bomb cyclone” storm left wide swaths of nine major grain-producing states under water in March, satellite data analyzed by Gro Intelligence showed.
“Nearly two dozen Florida homes have been evacuated because of a 500-acre wildfire that grew rapidly overnight because of downed trees from Hurricane Michael. 
“The intense rains have caused the overflow of the Perene River, in the Peruvian department of Junín, which already affects thousands of families throughout the province of Chanchamayo… 
“Two years after a mudslide that killed more than 300 people in the Colombian rainforest town of Mocoa, local authorities are struggling to get the funds to resettle tens of thousands of residents living in areas at risk of flooding. 
“Austria has seen the hottest 12 months in its more than 250 years of recorded history through to the end of March, the Central Institute of Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) stated in a press release on Friday. 
“Heavy rain on Friday night and Saturday caused huge problems and damage in the north [Cyprus] with crews scrambling to help the residents of flooded houses and drivers stranded on roads. 
“Dramatic footage of dead livestock and of displaced Syrians struggling to walk in knee-high water has emerged after storms battered the region for several days. 
“Iran said on Saturday it faced an emergency in a southwestern province threatened by flooding and worked to evacuate dozens of villages… 
“Flash floods have killed at least 32 people in western Afghanistan, destroyed homes and swept through makeshift shelters that housed displaced families, a government official said on Saturday. 
“Rescuers are struggling to reach villages in southern Nepal that were cut off by a rainstorm that has killed 25 people and injured hundreds more. 
“The results of the 2018 research study about the ocean heat has pushed the UN to express its concerns about the effects of global warming and how it affects marine life.
“This month corals in Lord Howe Island Marine Park began showing signs of bleaching. 
“The Russian Arctic is increasingly hot. The vast area that covers an overwhelming part of the country is undergoing unprecedented warming. At record speed…
“”Startling” is a word you don’t often hear from an Alaskan meteorologist with over three decades of experience, especially in a place used to wild swings in weather. 
“The paper indicates that once the Younger Dryas settled in, air temperatures in Greenland dropped by about six degrees. 
“Record-breaking flooding has forced dozens of people on a South Dakota reservation to evacuate and ranchers were working Thursday to get their livestock to higher ground while waiting for a river to crest… 
“Due to weather conditions, the threat of wildfires is growing in Alabama. The Alabama Forestry Commission was called out to a fire in the Mount Olive community Thursday afternoon. It was contained, but it has been a busy week for the firefighters. 
“According to the Antena 3 television images , it is possible to observe two children in cubes paddling with their own hands until they reach the school. Weather forecasts continue to point to worsening weather, and heavy rains will continue until next week. 
“The cyclone [Idia], which the UN has called the worst weather-related disaster to hit the southern hemisphere, has directly claimed nearly 900 lives in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, according to official estimates. Aid workers reckon the figure is very much higher. An exact count may never be known: many bodies have been washed out to sea. 
“Following deadly flooding, more heavy rain is forecast by the end of the week across the Middle East. 
“From Gujarat and Maharashtra, through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh [India], the dismal South-West and North-East monsoons of 2018 have triggered yet another drought across the country. 
“Two people were killed by summer storms that wreaked havoc in several northern and northeastern provinces of Thailand on Thursday, and the weather office warns of more harsh weather to come. 
“The temperature dipped below 39 degrees at Rabbit Flat in the Tanami Desert on Tuesday. It was the first time the heat had dipped below 39 since November 30 last year. The official measurement of 38.4 degrees on Tuesday brought to an end the longest run of days over 39 degrees in Australian history… 
“The world is seeing record sea level rises and devastating floods, storms, heatwaves and wildfires as climate change impacts grow, a United Nations (UN) report has said.
“Hundreds of Portuguese firefighters struggled on Wednesday to contain wildfires which erupted far earlier in the season than usual because of unexpectedly hot and windy weather.
“In February, the Met Office reported an average temperature of 6°C in the UK, which is 2.4°C above the 1981-2010 long-term average. 
“Heavy flooding continued in Iran on Tuesday March, 26, 2019 as 30 provinces geared up for days of a sudden disaster… At least 30 of Iran’s 31 provinces witnessed flood conditions on Monday as reports indicate at least 120 dead in the city of Shiraz alone… 
“Afghanistan’s summer harvest will be one of the most critical in years, especially of wheat, its biggest cereal crop, as the country recovers from floods and the worst drought in decades, government and aid organization officials say… 
“The southern hemisphere has been struck by some unusual storms recently… Southeast Africa is not often struck by big cyclones and Idai was particularly bad because it moved slowly, allowing huge amounts of rain to fall for a long time over a relatively small area, causing disastrous flooding in low-lying areas.
“The island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean has been battered by Tropical Cyclone Joaninha. 
“A state of emergency entered a third day on Thursday after severe weather took its toll and killed one woman in West Coast, New Zealand. 
“The past month is likely to be one of the warmest March months on record in New Zealand, following the country’s third warmest summer on record. It comes after 2018 was the equal-second warmest year recorded… 
“The famed island [Easter Island] is starting to feel the impact of climate change, from the cooler waters caused by fluctuating global temperatures to a record drought, which has drained the island’s wetlands and put its freshwater reserves at risk… 
“We haven’t needed the umbrella that much over the past few weeks [in Vancouver], and this unseasonably dry weather is lowering the risk of flooding in B.C. 
“Record flooding in the Midwest is now threatening the safety of more than a million private water wells. 
“This spring’s floods will shape this summer’s dead zone. The area of low oxygen is an annual occurrence driven in large part by nutrient-laden runoff that washes down the Mississippi River and its many tributaries, fueling algae blooms when it reaches the Gulf. 
“A storm will bring unwelcome rain and the threat of locally severe thunderstorms to portions of the central United States through the end of the week. 
“The Pentagon has sent to Congress a letter containing a list of bases most at risk from climate change threats within the next 20 years. 
“Peruvian Amazon underwater. At least 51 people died after heavy rains hit the Peruvian Amazon. 
“When the Arctic warmed after the ice age 10,000 years ago, it created perfect conditions for drought. 
“It’s unusually warm in The Last Frontier. 
“A Canadian mountaineer has revealed why he made the dangerous climb down the world’s second largest ice sheet to collect data on the impact of global warming. Will Gadd, 52, from Canmore, Alberta, assisted American Professor Jason Gulley in exploring the Greenland ice sheet after noticing the ‘radical changes’ in glaciers.
“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now says that flood waters have reached eight Superfund sites in Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska, according to Bloomberg. 
“2018 was the wettest year on record across the Washington region. 
“Colorado recorded its lowest barometric pressure on record earlier this month during the so-called bomb cyclone, essentially confirming the storm as the strongest in the state’s recorded history. 
“In the open air and next to the highway live near 200 families in the San Vicente de Vinces enclosure, province of Los Ríos, after the flood of the Pocas river [Ecuador]. Between pain and anguish, they sleep in improvised tents and under plastic with the few things they could recover. For now, they only harbor the hope that the heavy rains will diminish. 
“A woman has been found dead in New Zealand following a severe downpour that washed away a bridge and prompted a state of emergency in the South Island… 
“A hail storm that ripped through an avocado orchard in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales last week has destroyed an estimated 4 million avocados. 
“A mere eight months after Kerala was hit by devastating floods that ravaged its landscape, a severe heatwave is roiling life in Kerala…
“Roads between Awenay Shar and Hiran City 2 — in eastern Erbil — have flooded due to heavy rains since Sunday. 
“Mozambique said on Wednesday five cases of cholera had been confirmed around the badly damaged port city of Beira after a powerful cyclone killed more than 700 people across a swathe of southern Africa. 
“The first report on the impact of climate change in Spain gathers worrisome data: 
“Germany’s meteorological agency DWD says 2018 was the warmest in the country since records began. The agency said Tuesday that the annual average temperature in Germany was 10.5 degrees Celsius (50.9 Fahrenheit) last year — higher than at any time since [records began in] 1881. 
“Many insect pollinator species are disappearing from areas of Great Britain, a new study has found. 
“At least 19 people have been killed and about 100 more injured in flash floods in southern Iran.
“A border crossing linking Syria’s Kurdish-administered areas to Iraq’s northern Kurdish region has been flooded due to heavy rains. 
“It’s not even peak summer season yet, but Mumbai was sweating it out at 40.3 degrees Celsius on Monday… seven degrees above normal, according to the IMD’s Santacruz observatory. 
“A Cape York grazier has fears thousands of cattle stranded in floodwaters could be dead in the aftermath of Cyclone Trevor… 
“As gale-force winds create huge dust storms in Victoria’s Central Gippsland [Australia], farmers say it is time to call the drought a natural disaster as the little remaining topsoil is blown away from paddocks. 
“A state of emergency has been declared in Westland [NZ] as torrential rain brings flooding to the region, with the Waiho Bridge, south of Franz Josef Glacier, totally washed away. 
“Intense rains in Ecuador killed 20 people and left more than 20,000 homeless…
“Heavy downpour caused several emergencies in Medellín [Colombia]; Heavy downpour caused several emergencies in Medellín. 
“The Sunday evening hail storms that left parts of Frisco, McKinney and Allen with a trail of broken windshields will likely be a $300-$400 million storm. 
“…Kevin Low, a hydrologist with the National Weather Services’ Missouri Basin River Forecast Center, said streams running into the Missouri are high. Two major rivers in South Dakota, the Big Sioux and the White River, are flooding. He said the snowpack was heavy, and it’s held on later than normal into the spring. 
“The sudden squall followed soaking, record-challenging rains the previous day [Washington DC].”
“Ant invasions are on the rise due to Ireland’s warmest winter on record. 
“Asian hornets are set to invade Britain as the country faces a sizzling three-month heatwave. 
“In 2018, record drought across Germany caused crop failures and left farmers struggling. Germany’s meteorological office says the droughts were not a once off and is setting up an early warning system to help farmers… 
“About 1.85 million people have now been affected by Cyclone Idai and its aftermath in Mozambique alone, U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday, as aid workers raced to fathom the scale of the disaster and determine what help is most urgently needed… 
“Australian researchers have discovered huge underwater lakes beneath the largest glacier in east Antarctica. 
“Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the production of energy reached a new record in 2018, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Tuesday. 