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FloodsS
Severe flooding has hit the Eastern Belgian town of Dison. Flood waters coursed through the streets of the town, carrying away cars, household items and even a shipping container. The floods come on the back of major flooding in Paris and northern France, Germany, Ukraine and Romania. Simultaneous severe flooding has occurred in the USA in Texas, Australia, Russia, Mexico and China.
Massive storm across Australia's East Coast — 3 dead, 3 missing. Nearly half a meter of rain fell on Wooli (469mm) in 24 hours. Record rain and flooding occurred in NSW, Victoria, and Tasmania. Sympathies to victims and their families.
There is a lot we could say, but for the moment, marvel at the government brain that bans unauthorized sandbags, but taxes people to stop the storms.
The Big-gov solution — fine residents a quarter of a million dollars if they use sandbags.
© ABC 7:30 ReportHouses left hanging as gardens and a pool disappear.
The Big-gov solution — fine residents a quarter of a million dollars if they use sandbags.
Families whose multi-million-dollar Sydney homes were last night beginning to break away in another king tide could have faced fines of up to $250,000 if they even used sand bags to try to protect their properties.Or make that a million dollar fine:
Houses at Collaroy have been under threat since at least 1974 but the council has failed to build a sea wall or pump sand on to the beach because of environmental concerns and a belief that it was spending public money for the benefit of private landholders.
Planning Minister Rob Stokes is proposing to increase fines to $1 million for residents who use sandbags to try to protect their properties as part of a new coastal management bill before parliament.
The council has been considering the issue of sea walls since at least 1992. A proposal in 2002 to build a sea wall was shelved after thousands of residents in the area protested. One concern was that sea walls could cause loss of sand.
© Tasmania PoliceLatrobe in Tasmania's north was inundated as the river burst its banks.
Police fear for safety of two people missing in rising waters, while hundreds of people are evacuated in Devonport, Launceston, Wynyard and Deloraine
Northern Tasmania is grappling with the most devastating flooding it has experienced in decades after a severe weather system that devastated Queensland and New South Wales hit the state on Monday.
As night fell, police held grave concerns for two elderly people reported missing in the Tasmanian floodwaters, which continue to rise.
By Monday night more than 100 people in Latrobe in Tasmania had been evacuated by helicopter and boat, including a family of three rescued from the roof of their car. Residents in St Leonards, in Launceston, had also been evacuated.
Evacuation centres have been established in Devonport, Launceston, Wynyard and Deloraine, with 3,500 homes without power and significant livestock losses at dairy farms along the Mersey river.
One 81-year-old farmer near the river was swept away by flood waters as he went to check on his livestock, and was reported missing by his wife on Monday afternoon. Police are still searching for him, along with one other elderly person also missing.
© AP Photo/David J. PhillipHomes surrounded by floodwaters are shown in this aerial view, Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Rosharon, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings.
Only the wheels of an Army transport truck were visible after swift floodwaters washed the 2½-ton vehicle from a low-water crossing on Thursday, killing nine soldiers, Coryell County emergency medical services chief Jeff Mincy told the Killeen Daily Herald. Mincy said he arrived at the scene about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, and that firefighters had already pulled the three surviving soldiers from the rushing waters of usually dry Owl Creek.
"I can't estimate how fast it was flowing, but it was faster than I would have felt comfortable putting anything into the water," Mincy said. "When we did find the vehicle, we could see the tires sticking up out of the water, so in that position where the vehicle settled, it had to have been about 8 feet deep."
The bodies of five soldiers from the Central Texas post were recovered Thursday and four were found Friday, while the three surviving soldiers were discharged Friday from Fort Hood's hospital and returned to duty.
Two cars are pictured being swept down in the floods at Toombul shopping centre near Brisbane. Australia's east coast is being battered by gale-force winds, strong rains and floods
The eastern states woke to horrendous storms on Saturday morning with gale-force winds and heavy rain forcing the Bureau of Meteorology to issue severe weather warnings, including a flood-watch for the entire New South Wales coast - the first in 30 years.
The extreme system is being blamed as a possible cause of a horror smash near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, that claimed the life of a man and woman on Saturday morning when an out of control truck jack-knifed and ploughed into a mini-van.
The driver of the van died at the scene on the Warrego Highway while his female passenger died in hospital later in the afternoon. The truck driver escaped serious injury and was taken to hospital.
The storms wreaked havoc across Sydney on Saturday, bringing down several trees in Napier Street, Paddington - resulting in thousands of dollars damage to parked cars
© Pierre Terdjman for The New York TimesThe banks of the Seine on Friday. The river reached its highest level since 1982.
The Seine has continued to swell since the river burst its banks on Wednesday, raising alarms throughout the city. As of 10 p.m. on Friday, its waters had reached 20 feet. The river was expected to crest on Saturday morning at up to 21.3 feet, and to remain at high levels throughout the weekend, the French Environment Ministry said in a statement.
© Christian Hartmann / ReutersFrench firefighters evacuate residents from a flooded area after heavy rainfall in Nemours, France, on June 1, 2016.
Flooding across Western Europe this week has killed at least 15 people and displaced tens of thousands. That figure includes 10 dead in southern Germany, two in France, two in Romania, and one in Belgium, with more rain expected this weekend, the BBC reports.
The storms have also hit Austria, the Netherlands and Poland, with officials saying climate change is likely to blame. A study released in March 2014 predicts climate-change related flooding in Europe will double by 2050, with costly damage that spans borders.
In Texas, floods have killed at least 12 people, including seven who died late last week and five soldiers from Fort Hood who died Thursday when their Army truck overturned in a flooded creek. Four other service members are still missing.
CNN notes this is the second year in a row for 500-year floodsto hit the state.
"It just so happens that parts of Texas have seen them now in back-to-back years, and maybe even twice this year," CNN Senior Meteorologist Brandon Miller told the network. "The odds of that happening are infinitesimally small."
Comment: El Nino is a climatological phenomenon that has been recorded for centuries. To attribute these disasters to "anthropogenic (man-made) global warming" is ridiculous. Planet Earth has its own cycles and rhythms. However, there may be a connection between man and natural earth events, but not as most people would think.
Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection
© EPARoads in the town of Simbach in Southern Germany have turned to rivers, with cars covered by the rising water......devastating scenes which are being observed all around the world.
Just think, the worst is probably yet to come!
Let's start with the 'biblical' floods currently sweeping across western and eastern Europe. Days of downpours have caused ten deaths in Germany, two in France and Romania and one in Belgium. The River Seine in Paris is six meters higher than normal.
Germany
In Germany, 10 people have been killed, including four in Baden-Wuerttemberg in flooding that hit Sunday and Monday.
River Seine overflows causing the Louvre to close down, thousands flee homes amid state of emergency
© Kenzo Tribouillard / AFPA picture taken on June 2, 2016 shows the river Seine bursting its banks next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
French President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency on Thursday due to the flooding, which has been caused by the Loire and Seine rivers bursting their banks following heavy downpours. The leader promised money to help local authorities deal with the damage.
Comment: UPDATE: Paris ready for 6m peak flood
Flood waters now predicted to reach 6.2m as red alert is lifted in last department, Seine-et-Marne
AS FLOODS started to ease in towns and villages upstream of Paris the capital is preparing for midday, when the waters should reach their highest at about 6metres.
That is about 10cm higher than had been expected and will further impact commuter transport with the RER C line that runs along the bank of the Seine already closed in the inner city plus the strategic St Michel Metro at the bottom of Boulevard St Michel, which was under water.
Already this morning there were reports of 240km of traffic jams on the roads into Paris instead of the 150km 'normally'.
The floods have claimed three victims - a 74-year-old horseman who was swept away in Grégy-en-Yerre, a three-year-old boy who was found drowned in the basement of his house at Sens and an 86-year-old woman found dead in her home at Souppes-sur-Loing - and Environment Minister Ségolène Royal fears more will be found as waters recede.
Yesterday morning flood levels on the Seine were at 4.88m above normal level at 10.00 and last night it had reached 5.37m at 21.00. This morning at 10.00 it was at 5.64m - that is nearly two storeys high - and the rising water had already started floods further downstream with Seine-Saint-Denis to the north-east and Essonne to the south-west also affected.
So far the water is below the last severe flood, in 1982 when it reached 6.18m and still two metres below the 100-year-flood of 1910, which was 8.62m.
© @dennisvdkolk/TwitterFlooded streets in Asten, Brabant, 1 June 2016
The code yellow warning applies to the provinces Noord-Brabant, Limburg, Gelderland, Drenthe, Groningen and Overijssel. It'll be in effect between 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
According to the KNMI, the storms will be accompanied by strong wind and heavy rains, between 30 and 40 mm/hour. There is also chance of lightning strikes. "Avoid open waters and open areas, do not take shelter under trees. Follow weather reports and warnings", the institute writes.
The A74 highway from Germany in the direction of Venlo will be closed all Thursday due toe flooding, according to traffic service VID.
© Dukke Dukke
Comment: Yet more flooding continues around the world. See also:
Floods around the world: USA, Mexico, Russia, China, France, Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, Romania