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Severe drought in its 4th year in Klein-Karoo, South Africa badly affecting crop production

Carolize Jansen
Fresh Plaza
Fri, 19 Jul 2019 13:25 UTC
Berg River dam, 29 June 2019
© My Franschhoek / Twitter
Berg River dam, 29 June 2019
Vegetable seed and fruit production badly affected, irrigation dams running dry

The water situation looks better in the Boland and Cape Town but alas, that doesn't tell the full story of the Western Cape: the Klein-Karoo has barely had rain or snow this winter and the dam levels are shocking: two important irrigation dams, the Kammanassie Dam and the Stompdrift Dam are 8% and 2% full respectively. The Poortjieskloof Dam is 0.2% full.

According to Agri Western Cape, many fruit orchards and wine vineyards in the Klein-Karoo have either already withered and died because of the drought, or have been removed to relieve pressure on extremely limited water sources.

The production of onion, carrot and beetroot seed in this important seed production area has been hit very hard by the acute shortage of irrigation water.
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Cloud Lightning

Man dies after being struck by lightning on Indiana lake


theindychannel.com
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 13:10 UTC
LIGHTNING
A coroner says a man died of cardiac arrest after being struck by lightning while boating on a northern Indiana lake.

Marshall County Coroner John Grolich says 65-year-old Richard Eberhardt and a friend were trying to reach shore at Lake of the Woods after a strong storm blew in Saturday, causing several lightning strikes in the area. Lightning struck hit Eberhardt before their pontoon could make it to shore.

Grolich says CPR was started immediately and emergency responders were dispatched, but Eberhardt was pronounced dead at the scene.

Eberhardt's friend was not injured.

Source: AP
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Attention

Lion population has declined by 50% in 25 years - only 25,000 left in Africa

Olivia Prentzel
National Geographic
Thu, 18 Jul 2019 12:24 UTC
lion
There are half as many African lions than there were 25 years ago. Conservation programs aim to protect the disappearing species by promoting human-lion cohabitation across the African savanna.

For every lion in the wild, there are 14 African elephants, and there are 15 Western lowland gorillas. There are more rhinos than lions, too.

The iconic species has disappeared from 94 percent of its historic range, which once included almost the entire African continent but is now limited to less than 1.71 million square kilometres. With fewer than an estimated 25,000 in Africa, lions are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which determines the conservation status of species.
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Cloud Precipitation

Deadly floods hit south and east China - 6 inches of rain in 3 hours


Al Jazeera
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:49 UTC
floods
Downpours cause widespread disruption from Sichuan to Fujian provinces.

Rain-triggered floods killed four tourists in east China's Jiangxi province, official media reported early on Monday. The heavy rains started on Sunday afternoon in a mountainous area in Yichun city.

Flooding caused by the downpour trapped 285 hikers from three tourist groups, according to the Jiangxi provincial emergency management bureau.

The remaining hikers were rescued by Monday morning after local authorities sent more than 530 rescuers to the affected area, according to the Xinhua news agency.

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Seismograph

Shallow 6.0-magnitude quake hits Balleny Islands region in the Antarctic Ocean

xuxin
Xinhua
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:21 UTC
grapf
© AFP
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Balleny Islands region at 10:33:24 GMT on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 61.2936 degrees south latitude and 154.063 degrees east longitude.
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Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorm events on the rise in Alberta

Lyle Adriano
Insurance Business
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 10:52 UTC
hail
Alberta is seeing an increase in the number of hailstorms it is experiencing this year - a troubling trend that has insurance experts worried.

More than 40 major hail storms have come through the province each summer, and over the last decade, these storms have caused billions of dollars' worth of damage.

"In the last decade, the number has been about $1 billion that the insurance industry has paid in severe weather damages across the country," Insurance Bureau of Canada director of consumer and industry relations Rob de Pruis told Global News in an interview.

Pruis added that in 2018 alone, the insurance industry paid in excess of $1.9 billion for severe weather damage claims.

Comment: A couple of the more notable reports from the province this July: 'Nothing left but the crying': Powerful hailstorm destroys pea crops on 20 farms in Mannville, Alberta

Calgary hit by huge hailstorm

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Sherlock

Flock of 58 native birds die after falling from sky bleeding from eyes in Australia

Phoebe Loomes
News.com.au
Mon, 15 Jul 2019 08:18 UTC
corellas
© Facebook
The corellas were found mysteriously bleeding from their beaks and eyes.
Dozens of native corella birds have died overnight after they fell from the sky in an Adelaide outer suburb.

Bleeding from their eyes and beaks, more than 50 gravely ill birds began falling from the sky at a soccer oval in One Tree Hill, a suburb on the outskirts of Adelaide, about 2.30pm yesterday.

Volunteers from Casper's Bird Rescue, founded by Sarah King, desperately tried to help the long-billed corellas, running to the oval and calling out for extra help on Facebook.

Ms King originally received a tip the birds had been shot, but vets working on the birds suspect they may have been poisoned.

Comment: While it's possible these birds may have been poisoned, there have been numerous reports over recent years where other flocks of bird species have mysteriously fallen dead from the sky, as well as numerous other animals that have died suddenly, in large numbers and often without explanation. It's also notable that, while extinction appears to be a threat to some animals, there are a number of native animals in Australia whose numbers have exploded:

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Sun

Thai farmers asked to delay rice planting as drought bites

Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat
Thai Visa News
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 23:43 UTC
A farmer plants rice in a paddy field in Thailand's Nakhonsawan province
© REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
FILE PHOTO: A farmer plants rice in a paddy field in Thailand's Nakhonsawan province, August 16, 2015.
The Thai government has asked farmers to delay planting rice because of drought and the pumping of water from reservoirs for irrigation threatens household supplies, an agriculture ministry official said on Monday.

Farmers in the world's second-biggest rice exporter usually plant their main crop in May, the beginning of the rainy season, for harvest between August and October.

But this year, the rain has been sparse and drought has been declared in more than a dozen provinces in northern and northeastern rice regions.

The government is considering measures such as cloud seeding to try to bring rain but in the meantime, farmers have been asked to hold off.

"We would like to ask farmers not to grow new crops of rice because there may not be enough water," Irrigation Department official Sanya Sangpumpong told Reuters.

The pumping of water to keep crops alive had led to a serious depletion of reservoirs, he said.

Comment: A Global Food Disaster is in The Making

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Cloud Precipitation

Monsoon death toll tops 650 with 10 million affected as rains unleash flood fury in South Asia


France24
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 18:24 UTC
In India, heavy rains since the start of July have killed at least 467 people with many districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam (pictured) states cut off because of flooding
© AFP
In India, heavy rains since the start of July have killed at least 467 people with many districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam (pictured) states cut off because of flooding
Severe floods and lightning have claimed the lives of more than 650 people across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, officials said Monday as the annual monsoon took its toll on the rainfed region.

More than 10 million people in the South Asian countries have been affected by the deluge, which has also forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

In India, heavy rains since the start of July have killed at least 467 people with many districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam states cut off because of flooding.

In Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, lightning strikes killed 37 people in separate incidents, a disaster management official told AFP. The latest fatalities took the northern state's toll to 228 dead.
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Attention

Dead blue whale found floating in Marbella, Spain

Laurence Dollimore
The Olive Press
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 11:29 UTC
TRAGIC: Whale in waters of Marbella port

TRAGIC: Whale in waters of Marbella port
The animal has been taken to experts at CREMA Aula del Mar de Malaga, where scientists will analyse the carcass

A whale has been found dead in the waters of Marbella.

The body of the huge mammal was discovered at around 10am on Friday.

Comment: Other dead whales have washed up in recent days off Argyle in Scotland and Cape Cod in Massachusetts with 2 found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.

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