Earth Changes

Heavy rain continues in Namibia, flash floods hit Windhoek

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Wed, 13 Jan 2021 12:26 UTC

DANGER … Flooding in the Eros suburb of Windho

Heavy rain has continued to fall in parts of Namibia, with flash flooding reported in the capital, Windhoek from 11 January, 2021.

Flooding has affected the city since late December. In a statement of 07 January, the city government said emergency response teams attended to 14 flood-related incidents from 30 December 2020 to 05 January 2021. Around 80 households, mostly in areas of Otjomuise, were affected. The city plans to relocate at least 65 households adversely affected by flooding.

Further flash flooding struck in the city from 11 January, blocking roads and causing problems for motorists. Several rivers broke their banks, including the Gammams river.

Windhoek has already seen around 200mm of rain since the start of the year. In 24 hours to 13 January, the city recorded 61mm of rain. The average for January is around 85 mm.

M6.0 earthquake hits west of Jayapura, Indonesia

Volcano Discovery
Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:01 UTC

Date & time: 12 Jan 2021 18:17:40 UTC - 14 hours ago
Local time at epicenter: Wednesday, 13 Jan 2021 3:17 am (GMT +9)
Magnitude: 6
Depth: 56.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 2.94°S / 136.94°E (Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea, Indonesia)

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Food crisis is coming into focus

Adapt 2030
Tue, 12 Jan 2021 13:25 UTC

Rice prices spiking across the planet as crop losses begin in tropical regions of the planet causing China to import broken rice as a staple, a huge cultural anomaly as broken rice is considered animal food, not dinner table worthy. Worlds largest insect protein opens in Illinois as Australian crops rotting in the fields with no laborers to harvest this years crop.

Comment: As well as natural disasters devastating crop growth, the insane response to the coronavirus crisis and losing value of currency in Western nations in particular, have made the production, availability, purchasing and distribution of food - a MAJOR global issue the likes of which we haven't seen in generations.

See related articles:

Near electricity blackout over Europe was triggered in France due to "Polar Cold Wave"

P Gosselin
No Tricks Zone
Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:59 UTC

A further analysis of last Friday's European near power blackout shows that the problem had begun already one day earlier in France, due to cold weather, says a German expert.

At wind energy protest group Vernunftkraft Bayern, Jörn Künzle provides background on what was behind Europe's near blackout last Friday, January 8, 2021.

We recently reported on this here.

Disturbance began in France

Quoting energy expert Dr. Michael Schneeberger, "The disturbance in the European grid was triggered in France. Already on January 7, France's RTE (Le Réseau de Transport de l'Électricité) was forced to take essential parts of the electricity-intensive industry off the power grid. The RED alert level was ordered for the entire network of France."

Snoqualmie Pass, Washington sees 23 inches of new snow in 24 hours, reports record-breaking snow this winter

Erin Robinson
kxly.com
Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:03 UTC

Snoqualmie Pass has been hit hard and has seen record-breaking snow this winter.

As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, the pass saw 23 inches of snow in a 24-hour span.

The Washington State Department of Transportation said the current snowpack is at 102 inches, which is rare for January and the accumulative snowfall as of January 12 was 236 inches - the highest in 10 years.

All of that said, if you are heading across the pass, make sure you are prepared for winter driving. Keep chains in your vehicle and take it slow to avoid slide-offs or collisions.

The French Riviera suffers "a winter like no other"

Cap Allon
Electroverse
Tue, 12 Jan 2021 11:48 UTC

The south of France has suffered exceptionally chilly temperatures this winter, with reports calling it "a winter like no other".

Woolly hats, coats, scarves and gloves are a strange sight along the Côte d'Azur (aka the French Riviera), reports monaco-tribune.com, even at this time of year. Normally, a light jacket is all that is needed to keep warm under the winter sun, but temperatures at the close of 2020 and the during the first third of January 2021 have held a baguette-clasping 6 to 7 degrees Celsius below average.

The French Riviera is susceptible to two different types of cold, explains weather expert Paul Marquis in an article on francetvinfo.fr: "Arctic maritime air comes from the North Pole, from the north-west — it's a moist air, it's humid. Continental air comes from Russia — it's much drier, and that is what we are experiencing along the coastline at the moment," says Marquis.

As recently as November, 2020 we were warned by François Guerquin, Director of Plan Bleu, the Mediterranean arm of the UN's Environment Programme, that "the future of the Mediterranean is at a tipping point."

Guerquin had a hand in the influential The State of Environment and Development in the Mediterranean Report (RED 2020) which evaluates the impact of climate change on the Mediterranean basin.

Comment: Meanwhile last week in neighbouring Espagne: Spain breaks coldest temperature record AGAIN at -35.8C, just a day after new one set

300 trucks blocked in Spain due to record snowfall

Fresh Plaza
Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:30 UTC

Filomena, the first snowstorm of the year in Spain, which has also brought cold and rain, and which arrived on Thursday in the Peninsula, forced 300 large trucks to remain in an area enabled for them in the industrial estate of Bulilla, in the outskirts of the municipality of Villena, where they were diverted by traffic police agents due to the risk posed by the movement of heavy vehicles on the A-31 highway, in the direction of Albacete.

At about 10:30 am on Friday, the agents allowed the drivers bound for Valencia to continue their route, but the rest of the vehicles were forced to wait.

Red Cross volunteers arrived in the area to offer drivers food kits, hot coffee and blankets to allow them to combat the low temperatures that are being recorded in the province.

Source: informacion.es

Violent storm caused floods in Santa Rosa, Argentina

Telam
YouTube
Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:17 UTC

The Municipality of Santa Rosa assists with mattresses, blankets and food reinforcement to the families who yesterday lost practically everything in the rain and hail storm, which caused flooding in different sectors of the capital city, mainly in the peripheral neighborhoods in which with boats , firefighters and policemen had to evacuate about a hundred families.

3 killed in elephant attacks on the same day in Jashpur, India

Republic World
Mon, 11 Jan 2021 10:44 UTC

Three persons have been killed in separate incidents of attack by elephants in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district, a forest official said on Monday.

The incidents took place late Sunday evening in Pathalgaon forest range of the district, located around 450 km from the state capital Raipur, he said.

As per the official, a 50-year-old native of Saraitola village, identified as one Dilsai Ram Chauhan, was returning on foot after work from nearby Dumarbahar village when he was attacked by an elephant.

Despite being advised by forest personnel not to take that route because of the presence of jumbos, Chauhan took the route, he said.

Comment: A day later in the same country a tea garden worker was killed by elephant in Alipurduar, West Bengal. Meanwhile over in Kenya a wildlife tour operator died as a result of a similar attack.