Climate 3 Dec 2018 Flooding Emergency in Iraq
“Iraqi authorities on Sunday declared a state of emergency after flash flooding and torrential rainfall battered Nineveh, further exacerbating the plight of the war-torn province.
“In a statement, the provincial government urged “residents to stay away from the valley corridor as rescue teams are trying to take people out of the flooded areas”.
“Rainfall swept through several districts inside Nineveh’s capital Mosul, as well as the south of the province, where eyewitnesses said the water level had risen to seven meters in Gassab Valley…
“Last month, …floods killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.”
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/iraq-s-nineveh-province-declares-state-of-emergency-following-flash-flooding-1.798252
“Meteorologists in Saudi Arabia have issued a red warning for heavy rain in Madinah province…
“Heavy rain has caused flooding across the Kingdom in recent weeks with a number of fatalities and disruption for transport. The General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection said Friday further torrential rain was forecast for several regions of the Kingdom.”
https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=542266
“Photojournalist Mário Macilau has produced a black-and-white series on the people of Namaacha and Changalane, near Maputo, in Mozambique.
“Macilau believes climate change has had a negative impact on the lives of the people of Mozambique… Here are some of Macilau’s pictures, commissioned by WaterAid, with accounts from the people he has photographed:”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-46385367
“Cotton yield in India is likely to decline this year to hit a three-year low due to crop damage following drought in its major growing states including Gujarat in Maharasthra, the two states jointly contributing half of India’s cotton output….
“Deficient and erratic southwest monsoon followed by a long dry spell this winter season has impacted the standing crop. “
“As Perth sweltered through its hottest day in nearly nine months, residents in the Wheatbelt were taking cover as hailstorms lashed the region.
“Perth reached its maximum temperature of 37.8C just after 1pm – the hottest day since March 21 and a touch above the 36C forecasters had predicted. Meanwhile, a severe hailstorm left parts of the Wheatbelt looking like a winter wonderland.”
https://thewest.com.au/news/weather/hail-blankets-wheatbelt-as-perth-sweats-in-37c-ng-b881039514z
“Destructive winds, large hail and heavy rainfall are set to hit central Queensland, with no relief for those experiencing the heatwave, as the Bureau of Meterology warns the weather might make fire conditions worse. BOM warned severe storms would make their way to the area around Rockhampton, Gladstone, Bundaberg and Biloela on Monday as a south-easterly change and upper trough moved into Queensland.”
“The wait for El Nino continues, but scientists are already gearing up for its impacts.
“Chief among those is how it warms the planet as a whole. In this age of climate change, 2019 is already shaping up to be an extremely hot year, but El Nino could give it a little boost.”
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2018/12/the-looming-elniois-upping-odds-of-record-heat-in-2019/
“Wildfires in California in 2018 released the rough equivalent of about 68 million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide — about the same amount of carbon emissions as are produced in a year to provide electricity to the state, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Friday. The carbon dioxide figure — based on data analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey — is more than 15 percent of all emissions produced by California in a year…”
“A series of tornadoes stirred up damage from the Plains to southeast Georgia over the weekend. A swarm of tornadoes rocked central Illinois on Saturday, making it one of the most violent December days in the state’s history.
“There were over 20 preliminary tornado reports, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.”
“In Utah… summer temperatures are sizzling – the nighttime lows are getting higher, and the state continues to struggle with the impacts of protracted drought.
“”We are continually seeing these heat records broken,” McInerney said. “Three summers ago, we had 21 straight days with temperatures of 95 degrees or above.”
“Saturday’s rain made for a record-setting day in Lexington, Kentucky. Now 2018 has become the wettest year in Lexington history.
“So far, 66.97 inches of rain have fallen in 2018, as of 8 p.m. Saturday, surpassing rainfall totals in 2011 to break the record.”
https://lex18.com/news/2018/12/02/2018-rainfall-breaks-record-for-wettest-year-in-lexington/
“It was drier and warmer across South Florida this fall, but West Palm Beach felt it a little more than the rest of us, with its driest fall since record-keeping began in 1888, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.”
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/fl-ne-wpb-driest-fall-2018-story.html
“Atlantic City International Airport, southeastern New Jersey’s official climate station, had a high temperature of 64 degrees Sunday, tying the previous record.”
“The herring in the waters off the German port city of Kiel – both a symbol of the seaside region and a staple food that locals eat salted, pickled or fried – have plummeted to about a third of their population in the 1990s.
“Cod have declined drastically, too. And they are getting smaller and thinner.”
“The UN climate change summit begins on Monday with a warning that today’s generation is the last that can prevent catastrophic global warming, as well as the first to be suffering its impacts.
“Almost 200 nations were set to meet in Poland for two weeks, aiming to hammer out a vital agreement to turn the carbon-cutting vision set in Paris in 2015 into reality. Moves to rapidly ramp up action would be another key goal, with current pledges leaving the world on track for a disastrous 3C of warming.”
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“Global temperatures have continued to rise in the past 10 months, with 2018 expected to be the fourth warmest year on record.
“The most notable storms of the season were hurricanes Florence and Michael. Florence, once a major hurricane, weakened before stalling above the Carolina coast in September, dumping a massive amount of rain that caused devastating river flooding. Michael, which came weeks later, intensified rapidly to near Category 5 strength before slamming into Mexico Beach on Oct. 10, reducing most of it to rubble. It was the strongest storm on record ever to hit the Panhandle and had the third lowest central pressure and fourth highest wind speed of any storm ever recorded to hit the continental U.S.”
“As rain hit California on Thursday, officials prepared for the threats of mudslides and debris flows in areas affected by wildfires. 
“Environment Canada says a warm air mass settled over the province in the wake of the atmospheric river, resulting in some long-held temperature records tumbling. Abbotsford saw the mercury hit a toasty 16.6 C, breaking a 2011 record of 15.1 set in 2011. 
Flooding and landslides in parts of Bogota, Colombia. 
“Tourists planning a winter getaway on a romantic cruise along Europe’s rivers are facing stranded ships and long coach journeys after the dry summer left water levels at record lows. 
“Record low temperatures were registered in many part of the Czech Republic on Thursday morning. 
“The isle of Corfu, Karpenisi, Agrinio, Tripoli and Nafpaktos and many other areas in western and central Greece suffered severe damage this week from storm “Penelope”. The weather system, which has lashed Greece since Sunday, brought heavy rain and high winds to the entire nation. Bridges have been destroyed, towns flooded, and roads so extensively damaged that villages have been cut off from all contact with the outside world.”
“Tony Griffiths, who has a property south of Jerramungup in Western Australia’s Great Southern, said if significant summer rains did not arrive, his farm would run out of water in two months. “At this time of the year we’re usually running 3,000 sheep and at this stage, we’re running 1,500 and I’ll be getting rid of another half of them come January,” Mr Griffiths said. “There are some farmers around here now that just about have no water, even house water.”
“The first ever “catastrophic” bushfire warning in Queensland, Australia, prompted a large-scale evacuation on Wednesday. The main town under threat was spared, but the intensity of fire conditions has caused concern. As the sky blackened and her horses whinnied in the smoke, Fayleen Zemlicoff debated the “very last minute” she could remain at home. Ferocious winds were flicking embers from a bushfire towards her. The smoke was so intense it was “like a volcano had gone off”, she said.”
“Sydney is in mop-up mode after a “one-in-100-year” event poured more than 100mm of rain across the city. 
“A record-breaking heatwave in north Queensland will further increase above-average marine temperatures, heightening the risk of another coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef next year, scientists say.
“Torrential rain and gale force winds lashed Australia’s biggest city of Sydney on Wednesday causing commuter chaos, flooding streets, railway stations and homes, grounding flights and leaving hundreds of people without electricity.
“Thousands of Australians have been told to evacuate their homes as powerful bushfires threaten properties in Queensland. The state’s fire danger warning has been raised to “catastrophic” – the highest level – for the first time. 
“Farmers south of Jerramungup — about five hours drive from Perth — say their properties have been turned into dust bowls and moonscapes by a freak drought that has devastated their community. 
“California has had a particularly devastating fire season this year, breaking records for the largest fire by burned area and for the deadliest blaze — and that destruction is visible from space. In this staggering image captured by NASA’s Terra satellite on Nov. 25, nine different burn scars left behind by this year’s fire season are visible. (The image doesn’t capture wildfire scars dotting the southern half of the state, like the one left by the Woolsey Fire that burned earlier this month.)”
“It’s already one of the coldest and snowiest starts to the winter season in parts of the Northeast, Midwest and Plains, and we haven’t finished November yet. 
“Up to 4,000 homes and businesses across Ireland awoke to power outages this morning and a number of flights have been cancelled as Storm Diana moves in. 
“The arrival of a storm system dubbed Penelope has brought gusty winds, intense rainfall and flooding in several parts of Greece. So far, the weather system has mainly affected central regions and the Peloponnese, with the biggest problems recorded at the mountainous region of Agrafa, in the regional unit of Evrytania. Several landslides were reported at the bridge of Paleokaria, blocking the roads leading to three villages.”
“Rounds of deadly flooding have struck the Middle East over the past month, resulting in deaths in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. Life-threatening flooding will once again be a concern as thunderstorms develop over parts of the Middle East starting on Thursday afternoon. Thunderstorms will develop across northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Jordan and far western Iraq Thursday afternoon before spreading south and east Thursday night.”
“As my new research shows, the trend in the South Indian Ocean is shifting. Category 5 tropical cyclones didn’t exist in this ocean before 1994. They were recorded for the North Atlantic, North Pacific and South Pacific Oceans throughout most of the 20th century. 
“Countries are failing to take the action needed to stave off the worst effects of climate change, a UN report has found, and the commitments made in the 2015 Paris agreement will not be met unless governments introduce additional measures as a matter of urgency.
“Aid agencies and government workers in Iraq scrambled on Tuesday to support tens of thousands of displaced people caught in flooding that killed at least 21 people.
“Almost two months’ worth of rain fell in some parts of Dubai on Monday during torrential downpours that caused flash flooding and chaos across the city… During the deluge, which primarily affected Dubai, Dubai Police responded to 150 road accidents and more than 2,500 emergency calls.”
“Almost 4 million people in Afghanistan are on the verge of famine as a result of the worst drought in a lifetime, Toby Lanzer, the deputy special representative for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said on Tuesday. 
“Dramatic footage shows a quadruple waterspout stun tourists on a remote Thai island. It happened as dark grey storm clouds gathered on the beach in Koh Lipe, in the south of the country, yesterday morning.
“As Usagi, the ninth storm of the year to form off the Vietnamese coast, dropped heavy rain on the south central Khanh Hoa Province, water levels rose in rivers and several locations were flooded. In Cam Ranh town, many places have been inundated. In some places, the water is several meters deep… 
“About 1,500 people have been displaced, up to 600 homes evacuated and at least four properties lost as unprecedented bushfires continue to burn in the Deepwater National Park region, south of Gladstone [Queensland, Australia]… The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed more record-breaking temperatures on Tuesday, including maximums of 43.9 degrees Celsius in Cooktown and 42.3C in Innisfail.”
“Commuters are being urged not to drive to work on Wednesday with wild weather and torrential downpours forecast for heavily populated areas of New South Wales… Two months rain could fall in a matter of hours, forecasters have said, with Sydney rivers including the Hawkesbury, Nepean, Cooks and Georges all on flood watch.”
“Wildfires, floods, drought and melting snow caps — this has been California’s new normal in the past decade. The State that produces over half of America’s food has been facing extreme weather on an unprecedented scale. 
“A strong early winter storm hit the Midwest Sunday into Monday, causing widespread flight cancellations and dangerous road conditions. The storm dumped more than a foot of snow over parts of Illinois, bringing blizzard warnings across the greater Chicago area. Although the area is known for battling wintry conditions, Chicago normally just sees 1.2 inches of the white stuff during the month of November…”
“Extreme heatwaves will scorch the UK as rising sea levels swallow large expanses of the coastline within just a few decades, experts have warned. 
“Italy’s southern and central-southern regions experienced yet more bad weather over the weekend, with two tornadoes striking the peninsula in the space of a single day on Sunday. The area was hit by hailstorms and flooding in October, killing a young mother and her two sons in Calabria. In Capo di Leuca, a small town on the very tip of the heel of Italy’s boot, the Menamé bar-restaurant was completely destroyed on Sunday by a whirlwind…”
“Over the last few years Arctic scientists have reported a surprising finding: large areas of the Arctic are turning brown. This is in part due to extreme events linked to winter weather, such as sudden, short-lived periods of extreme warmth. 
“There is a 75-80% chance of a climate-warming El Niño event by February, according to the latest analysis from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization. The last El Niño event ended in 2016 and helped make that year the hottest ever recorded by adding to the heating caused by humanity’s carbon emissions.”
“Heat records have been smashed across Queensland, with Proserpine in Queensland’s Whitsunday region hitting 44.9 degrees on Monday.
“More than 70 wildfires are burning across Queensland as an extreme, unprecedented heatwave blasts the state. Record-breaking heat, unseasonable low humidity, dust storms and thunderstorms that may not bring rain are forecast in parts of the state in the week ahead. A massive blaze at Deepwater, north of Bundaberg, has razed thousands of kilometres of bushland and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people.”
“Sydneysiders are being warned to brace themselves for wild weather with heavy rainfall expected to cause flash flooding in the city and elsewhere across NSW. The Bureau of Meteorology on Monday issued a flood watch and severe weather warning with a low-pressure system likely to dump heavy rain on coastal areas from Wednesday morning.”
“Dunedin [NZ] has set a record for November rainfall. Niwa climate scientist Nava Fedaeff said Dunedin surpassed its previous wettest November record at 10pm on Saturday. 
“The Pygmy Killer whales are a tropical breed and it’s very rare to see them in New Zealand waters, Project Jonah spokesperson Daren Grover said. Mr Grover said it was likely that rising sea temperatures were encouraging some breeds to travel further out of their usual grounds. “Last year we had some record coastal temperatures. It could be the start of us seeing more unusual species visiting New Zealand shores.”
“While parts of southern Vietnam are still recovering from last week’s deadly flooding and mudslides from former Tropical Storm Toraji, destructive tropical weather is again impacting the area… Usagi is forecast to continue to track westward into southern Vietnam, eventually turning northwest into Cambodia on Monday night. It will unload heavy rainfall, raise the risk for mudslides and cause local wind damage.”
“Some 8.8 cm of snow fell in Seoul on Saturday, the biggest amount on record and a staggering quantity for the season’s first snow. 
“China is witnessing the melting of its glaciers as global temperatures rise. A report released by international environmental protection organization Greenpeace shows that against the background of global warming, glaciers in China have been melting at a rapid pace since the 1990s. Compared with the 1950s, 82.2 percent of China’s glaciers are shrinking, and the entire area has decreased by 18 percent, according to the report.”
“The Humboldt Glacier in the Andes has been melting rapidly and will be gone before scientists even got a chance to study it fully.”
“Winter Storm Bruce is bringing heavy snowfall to the central Plains region in the US, hitting some areas with whiteout or near-whiteout conditions. Chicago and Kansas City are under blizzard warning. And the wintry weather is seriously affecting post-Thanksgiving travel on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year in the US. Over 1,000 flights have been canceled and over 3,200 more delayed due to the weather conditions.”
“An unusual number of sea turtles have washed ashore in New England in the recent cold snap, many dead and appearing to have been “flash-frozen”. 
“Environment Canada said Saturday that 13.2 cm of snow fell on Friday, which marks a new snowfall record for Nov. 23. The previous record was set in 1942 when 9.4 cm of snow fell… 
“Global warming is being blamed for Scotland’s worst salmon season in living memory. Some beats on famous rivers like the Spey and the Nith recorded not a single salmon caught during the entire season. 
“Gwembe on Tuesday hit a record high temperature of 40 degrees Celsius… 
“Over 200,000 people in 15 of Sudan’s 18 states have been affected by heavy rains and flash floods between June and early November, according to the Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC). 
“Saudi Arabia is set for another two days of heavy rainfall across different regions, according to a weather expert… these conditions will stretch across northern, southwestern and eastern parts of Saudi, likely causing flash floods in these regions… 
“Heavy rains have battered Iraq over the past two days leading to intense flooding, the health ministry and United Nations said on Sunday, with a large number of dead and tens of thousands displaced. Women and children were among the 21 dead, health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr told AFP, some of whom had drowned. Other victims died in car accidents, were electrocuted, or were trapped when their houses collapsed. At least 180 more were injured, he added.”
“It’s the end of November. Supposedly the thick of winter in the northern hemisphere. The chill should have set in, the woollens should have come out. But nothing of this sort has been happening for some years now. As we write this sitting in Delhi, it’s a clear sunny day, with the day temperature touching 28 degrees Celsius. Most of north India is the same… and it has been declared the warmest November the continent has ever seen.”
“Threats from the US and China trade war, the growing risk of disease and extreme weather have threatened the global food price stability for 2019.
“The amount of insured claims paid out for Typhoon Jebi, which made landfall in Japan on September 4, has reached close to $5.2 billion, making it the most costly Typhoon for re/insurers to ever hit the country. Data from the General Insurance Association of Japan shows that 825,091 insurance claims have been accepted as a result of Jebi; 108,928 were for automobiles, 694,310 from property fire insurance policies and 21,853 from other miscellaneous lines of business.”
“Tragedy struck in the wee hours of Friday, November 16. Coastal and delta districts in Tamil Nadu were witness to the devastation of Gaja, a severe cyclonic storm, that left in its wake, a trail of destruction… 
“Heavy rainfall overnight Wednesday in Kabul resulted in widespread flooding of roads throughout the city – posing enormous challenges to commuters on Thursday morning… 
“Overnight rain has flooded many camps and villages in northern Iraq and in the Kurdistan Region including a Yezidi camp in Duhok province. 
“Torrential rain and thunderstorms hit the province of Mecca [Saudi Arabia] this morning, disrupting the movement of the traffic to a standstill. Video recordings posted on social media websites showed rainwater flooding avenues and streets in various parts of the city. The Civil Defence General Directorate implemented the emergency contingency and rescued cars and vehicles which were trapped in flooding water.”
“Israel’s Hadashot TV news reports that neighboring Jordan has requested that the Jewish state provided it with even more water than stipulated in the peace agreement between the two countries… 
“Despite the downpours in recent days [in Cyprus], rainfall so far this month is at 22 per cent of the November average. 
“The Mediterranean island of Cyprus isn’t somewhere you might normally associate with record levels of waste… But a new study — and lots of digging — has found that beaches in northern Cyprus have the second highest amount of microplastics among beaches studied across the world. 
“Climate change is playing a major role in the Netherlands sinking more than expected, say researchers. A team from Delft University of Technology made the conclusion after publishing the first nationwide figures on subsidence. 
“It felt like winter across parts of the western and northeastern United States on Thanksgiving Day as heavy snow and biting winds impacted the regions… The famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was the coldest on record with temperatures in the lower 20s throughout much of the morning in New York City… Providence, Rhode Island; Buffalo, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; and Bangor, Maine, are just a sample of cities that experienced their coldest Thanksgiving on record with temperatures as much as 30 degrees below normal.”
“Dust storms, raging bushfires, gale-force winds, heatwaves, thunder and snow, flash flooding and driving rain—Australia is enduring a bout of wild weather that’s hit all parts of the vast continent in recent days. Varied weather is not uncommon during spring in the southern hemisphere nation as summer beckons. But rare and dramatic scenes of red dust storms shrouding towns and thundersnow—lightning strikes in thunderstorms that produce snow—in the alpine regions have left some scratching their heads.”
“China’s trade war with the United States has tended to dominate the news agenda in the past year. But a bigger challenge for Beijing could be the threat of a water crisis which would submerge the world’s second-largest economy and wash away growth.