Floods
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Cloud Precipitation

According to Texas A&M expert the rainfall from Harvey shattered every record

Keith Randall,
Watts Up With That
Thu, 07 Sep 2017 15:20 UTC
Hurricane harvey rainfall
© Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesChris Ginter wades through deep floodwaters on September 6, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Ginter, a Houston resident, has been taking local residents to their flooded homes in his monster truck which can drive through waters up to 4 feet deep.
Hurricane Harvey was billed as a once-in-every-500-year event, and it more than lived up to its billing. It produced rainfall amounts that will re-write the weather books in Texas and the United States, says a Texas A&M University expert.

John Nielsen-Gammon, who is a Regents Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M and also serves as Texas State Climatologist, says Harvey set new standards for historic rainfall and flooding.
"Harvey is head and shoulders above all previous multi-day storms ever recorded in the continental United States," says Nielsen-Gammon.

"I examined 18 different combinations of storm lengths and area sizes, from two days long to five days long, and standard areas from 1,000 square miles to 50,000 square miles. According to the preliminary data, Harvey was the worst in all but one."
Nielsen-Gammon said that the most amazing record is for the five-day total over an area of 10,000 square miles.
"For Harvey to average 34.72 inches over five days across that large an area is ridiculous," Nielsen-Gammon says. "The previous all-time United States record, set in Texas back in 1899, was estimated at 21.39 inches. Harvey exceeded that record by 62 percent."
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Bizarro Earth

As hurricanes slam the Southern US, the West is literally on fire

Carey Wedler
The AntiMedia
Tue, 05 Sep 2017 21:19 UTC
Wildfires Western US
© fireweatheravalanche.org
Amid the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and the impending destruction of Hurricane Irma, many Americans may not be aware that the western region of the country is suffering the opposite wrath of mother nature. From southern California to Washington, wildfires are engulfing thousands of acres of land and prompting thousands of evacuations. Many of the states battling the wildfires have been doing so all summer.

On Saturday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency across the state due to the risk of wildfires, and the National Weather Service warned that 26 of the state's 39 counties were at very high or extreme risk. According to the Washington Department of Ecology, "[a]lmost all of WA [was] awash in wildfire smoke" on Sunday. The department noted air quality in many areas had suffered as a result. According to NASA satellite imagery, smoke is also being pushed eastward across the U.S
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Bizarro Earth

The 275 trillion pounds of water from Hurricane Harvey deformed the earth's crust in Houston

Alexis C. Madrigal
The Atlantic
Tue, 05 Sep 2017 00:00 UTC
Hurricane Harvey
An aerial photograph reveals the huge swathes of flooded land in Houston, Texas on Sunday. Hurricane Harvey blustered through the town on Friday and Saturday, bringing with it unprecedented downpour and triggering life-threatening floods.
The weight of water can deform the Earth's crust, if there's enough of it. And we can measure that change with the ultraprecise global-positioning satellites humans have launched into orbit.

On Monday, Chris Milliner of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted a simple map visualizing data from the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory. It showed that the GPS data from special stations around Houston detected that the whole area had been pushed down roughly two centimeters by the weight of the water that fell during Hurricane Harvey.
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Cloud Precipitation

Flooding in Africa in August killed 25 times more people than Hurricane Harvey did


Quartz
Mon, 04 Sep 2017 15:21 UTC
Workers are seen digging graves at Paloko cemetery in Waterloo, Sierra Leone
Workers are seen digging graves at Paloko cemetery in Waterloo, Sierra Leone
The rainy season is usually welcomed in parts of Africa as a timely break from the heat of the dry season. But so far, in 2017, the rains have given way to flood disasters which have led to a death toll numbering in hundreds.

Like severe floods in southern Asia, the disasters in Africa have been largely under-reported compared to similar events in Houston where Hurricane Harvey, a once in a "500-year storm" has wreaked havoc. But while the devastation in Houston could have hardly been avoided, many of the recent flood disasters in Africa have been exacerbated by years of poorly planned drainage systems. In another contrast, while rescue and relief operations in Houston have successfully saved countless lives and helped survivors, the same can't be said in parts of Africa that have been badly flooded, worsening the death toll. Across Texas, 50 people have been reported dead due to the tropical storm but across Africa, intense rains and mudslides killed at least 1,240 people in August.
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Cloud Precipitation

Worst monsoons in recent history kill 1,200 and displace over 40 million in India, Nepal & Bangladesh (PHOTOS & VIDEOS)


RT
Wed, 30 Aug 2017 15:25 UTC
floods in India
© Punit Paranjpe / AFPIndians wade through a flooded street during heavy rain showers in Mumbai on August 29, 2017
India, Nepal and Bangladesh are battling some of the worst monsoon rains in recent history, which have left around 1,200 people dead and 41 million people affected. In India more than 32 million people have reportedly been impacted by downpours.

Vast areas of land across all three countries are underwater, according to the Red Cross. "Rainwater from the Himalayas is travelling down through Nepal's lower-lying areas, through swollen rivers in north-east India and eventually through the floodplains of Bangladesh," it said in a statement.

Comment: (Update - Sept. 2): The death toll is now at least 1,400 across India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Hundreds of towns and villages have been submerged by the devastating floods which have now persisted for over two months, affecting an estimated 40 million people.

Tens of thousands of people have taken refuge in relief camps that are short of food and vulnerable to disease.
...
The devastating flooding has sparked anger across the affected areas but authorities have tried to distance themselves from culpability by highlighting the scale of this year's deluge.

"If you get a whole year's rain in one to two days, how will you handle it? No preparation and planning will work," said Anirudh Kumar, of the disaster management department in the Indian state of Bihar.
bihar india flood
© Cathal McNaughton / ReutersA woman wades through a flooded village in the eastern state of Bihar, India August 22, 2017.


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Cloud Precipitation

Flash flood hits Karachi, Pakistan killing 16, at least 11 electrocuted

Sophia Saifi and Steve George
CNN
Fri, 01 Sep 2017 11:43 UTC
FLOOD
Flash monsoon flooding in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, has claimed the lives of at least 16 people, most of them children, officials confirmed Friday.

At least 11 deaths have been attributed to electrocution, as rising waters become electrified in low-lying urban areas, according to the Edhi Foundation, the city's main emergency aid agency.

Karachi is the latest major South Asian city to be hit by heavy monsoon rains amid a widening flood-related crisis engulfing much of the region. More than 1,200 have died and upwards of 41 million people have been affected in neighboring India, Nepal and Bangladesh, according to estimates provided by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Figures released by the city's Meteorological Department show Karachi normally receives an average of 19.9mm of rain in September. On Wednesday, northern parts of the city received 97mm, equivalent to five times that amount.

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Hearts

Hero saves 50 people from floods in Port Arthur, Texas after official rescuers failed to arrive

Emma Parry
The Sun
Thu, 31 Aug 2017 11:40 UTC
Gaelon Phillips rescuer Hurrican Harvey
Gaelon Phillips took matters in his own hands after waiting hours for official rescuers to show when his Texas home town of Port Arthur in Hurricane Harvey aftermath
A man has been hailed a hero after rescuing 50 people from homes deluged by Hurricane Harvey floods in Texas after official rescues failed to show up.

Gaelon Phillips, 23, waited for around seven to eight hours in his hometown of Port Arthur for a rescue helicopter to show up - before being told they couldn't take his family because they were so busy.

The artist and music producer, whose Facebook page was filling up with messages from friends and neighbours begging to be rescued, then decided to take matters into his own hands.

Gaelon's uncle and a friend came round with a boat and together they worked tirelessly all Wednesday to rescue 50 stricken people - including newborn babies, elderly people and the sick - and get them to dry land.
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Cow

Hurricane Harvey wreaks havoc on cattle across Texas

Tony Dreibus
Successful Farming
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 11:25 UTC
flood
Cattle ranchers in southeastern Texas had been moving livestock out of areas in the path of Hurricane Harvey for several days before the storm made landfall, but losses are likely as few anticipated the sheer breadth of the storm.

"Most of the producers started last Monday moving cattle out of the coastal region," said Texas A&M Extension specialist Tom 'Andy' Vestal. "By Tuesday or Wednesday they were asking producers who had cattle along rivers and watersheds to move their cattle. A lot of these guys have dealt with high water but nothing like this. Who could've imagined 40 to 44 inches of rainfall?"

About 1.2 million beef cows are in the 54 counties that have been declared disaster areas due to Hurricane Harvey, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The total is a "conservative estimate" and encompasses 27% of the state's herd, according to Texas A&M University livestock economist David Anderson.

Texas is the biggest cattle and calf producer in the U.S. and has the largest feedlot herd at 2.42 million head, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Gross income in 2015 from cattle sales and marketing totaled $11.5 billion, according to the Department of Agriculture.
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Umbrella

Trump visits flood-stricken Louisiana - Clinton can't be bothered going - Obama still playing golf


RT
Fri, 19 Aug 2016 16:02 UTC
trump louisiana
© Max Becherer/AP Trump hands out kids' toys at an emergency shelter in southern Louisiana
With at least 13 people dead and some 40,000 homes damaged by flooding in Louisiana, the Red Cross has called the resulting devastation the worst US disaster since the 2012 Hurricane Sandy. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is visiting the state.

The Red Cross said Thursday that it has served about 100,000 meals and snacks at shelters housing flood victims in several Louisiana parishes reeling from record rainfall that began about a week ago, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. The relief organization said that it expects to spend about $30 million amid flood recovery efforts, adding that Louisiana flooding in the past week has triggered the largest Red Cross response in the US since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

"Thousands of people in Louisiana have lost everything they own and need our help now," said Brad Kieserman, the Red Cross' vice president of disaster services operations and logistics, according to CNN. At least 13 people have died in the flooding, while an estimated 40,000 homes have suffered at least some damage. More than 30,000 residents and 1,400 pets have been assisted in vacating flooded areas by the US Coast Guard, National Guard, emergency responders, and others.

Comment: Hillary posted something on Facebook about the situation in Louisiana, while Obama is happy on holidays at Martha's Vineyard.

Meanwhile the Clinton campaign is going on and on about their imaginary 'Trump-Putin bromance'. Say what you want about Trump but, with this photo-op, he may just have won the 2016 US presidential elections.

One woman told Trump, "We knew you'd be here!" A man teared up with thankfulness.

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Cloud Precipitation

Monsoon floods brings Mumbai to a standstill

Rajendra Jadhav and Swati Bhat
Reuters
Tue, 29 Aug 2017 20:51 UTC
Heavy rain, flooding paralyze India's financial hub
Heavy rain, flooding paralyze India's financial hub
Heavy monsoon rains brought India's financial capital to a halt on Tuesday, with authorities struggling to evacuate people with the scheduled high tide adding to the chaos.

Incessant rain flooded several parts of Mumbai and paralyzed train services used by millions of commuters daily, with many stranded at stations and hundreds of others walking home through waist-deep water on railway tracks.

Poor visibility also forced airport authorities to divert some flights while most were delayed by up to an hour.

Thousands, some abandoning their water-logged cars, waded through waist-deep water to reach home after some parts of the city received as much as 297.6 millimeters (11.72 inches)of rainfall. Children were sent home early from school.

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