Adverse weather in the European Union has sharply reduced prospects for wheat and barley harvests, contributing to a potentially 'explosive' global supply outlook for the cereals, analyst firm Strategie Grains said.
In a monthly report, the French firm reduced its forecast for 2021 soft wheat production in the 27-country EU by 1.5 million tonnes to 131.5 million tonnes.
Wet weather in the run-up to harvesting had led to disappointing yields in France and Germany while high temperatures in June had lowered yields in Poland and northern Europe, Strategie Grains said.
Comment: This may mean not only higher grain prices for human consumption, but also higher prices for meat, too.
And that's just grains and corn, crop losses caused by various factors are mounting over much of the planet, and have been for years now:
Richard Davies Floodlist Sat, 14 Aug 2021 20:18 UTC
One person died and another was seriously injured after torrential rain and flooding caused the wall of a house to collapse in El Paso, Texas, on 12 August 2021.
The victims were attempting to evacuate the house before the wall collapsed. "Firefighters worked to extricate the victims from under the wall as the living room continued to flood. Fire and Medical Services transported both to an area hospital where the woman was pronounced deceased," El Paso city officials said.
Further heavy rainfall since then has left wide areas of the city of El Paso were under torrents of water. Sandbags are being distributed to protect property. El Paso emergency services responded to several incidents of vehicles stranded or swept away after drivers attempted to drive through the floods. Roads were also flooded across the border in Mexico, causing traffic disruption in Ciudad Juárez.
Severe weather has once again affected areas of Russia's Black Sea coast, in particular in Krasnodar Region, where strong winds, hail and heavy rain have caused power outages and flooding.
As of 14 August, over 100,000 people were without power in the Krasnodar Region due to wind damage. Heavy rain has triggered flash floods in several areas, in particular in the resort city of Anapa where more than 450 people were evacuated including tourists from hotels.
Richard Davies Floodlist Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:07 UTC
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the highest level 5 risk alerts in Hiroshima
Authorities have issued evacuation orders after days of heavy rainfall in south and western Japan. One person has died and 2 are missing after a mudslide destroyed 2 houses in Nagasaki prefecture.
A landslide struck in the city of Unzen in Nagasaki prefecture early on 13 August following heavy rainfall. Two houses collapsed, burying 4 residents. As of 13 August rescue workers had located the body of one of the victims, while another was found alive but seriously injured. Two people are still missing. Search and rescue teams, including members of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, are working at the site. Areas of Unzen city are also flooded.
Record Rainfall and Evacuation Orders
Mount Unzen, near Unzen City, recorded 80.5 mm of rain in 1 hour on 13 August. A record 571.5 mm of rain fell in 24 hours and 743.0 mm in 48 hours to 13 August. The previous 24-hour high was 486 mm set in 2006, and the 48 hour was 510 mm, also set in 2006.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued heavy rain and mudslide warnings for several areas. Authorities have issued evacuation orders in 13 prefectures, affecting around 1.7 million households or 3.4 million people. The prefectures include Niigata, Toyama, Gifu, Shizuoka, Shimane, Hiroshima, Ehime, Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita and Kagoshima.
Flood triggered by a severe downpour on Tuesday in northeast Nigeria's Bauchi state killed five people and damaged 1,567 houses, an official said on Thursday.
According to Samaila Jarma, council chairman of Jama'are town in Bauchi, the flood from a local river was triggered by several hours of heavy rain on Tuesday, which damaged houses, farmlands and crops in seven villages of the area.
"We recovered five corpses from the water in submerged areas," he told reporters in a press briefing in Jama'are area, adding the bodies were buried in accordance with local tradition following a thorough investigation to establish their identity.
Jarma said the town council has also formed a committee to examine the damage and recommend appropriate measures to the state government.
Nigerian authorities had in May issued an alert to 28 out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in the country, warning of severe flooding this year.
A resort in the popular Spanish tourist area of Alicante has been hit by a "meteotsunami" which left streets and beaches flooded and boats adrift.
Santa Pola was hit on Wednesday night by the freak weather incident, which caused tsunami-like waves to hit the coastal area.
Waves of water splashed onto land, damaging fishing fleets and flooding coastal walks.
Called a rissaga in Catalan Spanish, a meteotsunami is triggered by drastic changes in atmosphere. They are often caused by weather events such as a heatwave.
Policía Local de Santa Pola said on their social media pages: "An unexpected meteorological phenomenon has surprised us tonight, with a sudden "rise in tide" that has caused many problems for the moored fishing fleet, even causing several boats to drift.
The Disaster Management Division (DMD) in India reported on 11 August that flooding has affected over 250,000 people in the eastern state of Bihar over the last few days. Seven rivers in the state, including the Ganges, are above the danger mark in 15 locations.
DMD reported 252,000 people affected across 125 villages in 5 districts, as of 10 August. The situation has worsened after further heavy rainfall over recent days, with more expected.
As of 11 August, rivers were above the danger mark in the districts of Vaishali, Katihar, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Jehanabad, Khagaria and Gopalganj.
Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, carried out an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas on 11 August 2021 and instructed officials to further step up relief and rescue operation in 12 affected districts.
Richard Davies Floodlist Mon, 09 Aug 2021 13:12 UTC
Regions of Russia's Far East are facing yet another wave of flooding after days of heavy rain caused river levels to rise.
Yevgeny Zinichev, head of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations EMERCOM, visited areas of Amur and Jewish Autonomous Oblasts (regions) on 07 August 2021. He described the situation as "extremely difficult".
In Amur Region, the Amur, Zeya, Selemdzha, Tom and Zavitaya rivers are all flowing above flood stage. As of 09 August, 182 homes were flooded, including 67 in the district of Belogorsky, 12 in Blagoveshchensk, 25 in Seryshevsky and 19 in Selemdzhinsky. Over 50 people have evacuated their homes and were staying in 3 temporary shelters. Furthermore, 1 bridge is damaged and 40 sections of highways are flooded leaving 28 settlements cut off by road.
More than 24,000 people in Russia's Far East have been affected by floods, the press service of the office of the Russian presidential envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District said on Tuesday.
"Four Far Eastern regions, namely the Amur region, the TransBaikal and Khabarovsk Territories, and the Jewish autonomous region, were affected by the flood. <...> More than 24,000 people have been affected by the flood, more than 1,000 living premises were recognized as unfit for living and 1,871 premises require repairs," it said.
The flood affected 145 settlements, 56 municipalities, more than 3,000 private houses, 8,900 land plots, and 160 social facilities. More than 950 kilometers of motorways, 102 bridges, seven railway sections were damaged.
According to the press service, more than 80% of those affected by the flooding have received a lump-sum allowance of 10,000 rubles (135 US dollars) from the federal budget. Those who have lost daily necessity property will receive a sum of 50,000 rubles (676 US dollars) and a sum of 100,000 rubles (1,352 US dollars) will be paid to those who lost their housing.
Comment: This may mean not only higher grain prices for human consumption, but also higher prices for meat, too.
And that's just grains and corn, crop losses caused by various factors are mounting over much of the planet, and have been for years now:
- Europe's drought-induced crop losses tripled in 50 years, threatening future global food supply chain
- Flooding in Europe sends price of potatoes soaring
- French winemakers count cost of 'worst frost in decades'
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