Floods
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Cloud Precipitation

Flooding, heavy rainfall distress over 1 million people in China


RT
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 02:25 UTC
Image
© Reuters/China Daily

Street lamps are seen among floodwaters next to partially submerged buildings by an over flowing river at the ancient town as heavy rainfall hits Fenghuang county, Hunan province July 15, 2014.
Hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate with over 1 million people in total affected in China as heavy rainstorms batter Hunan and Guizhou provinces, with reports of several deaths and mass destruction.

Some 720,000 people from 240 townships in Hunan are now affected, the provincial flood control headquarters said on Tuesday, Xinhua reports. At least 460 homes have been destroyed and 149,400 residents have been relocated.

The ancient town of Fenghang was flooded with more than 120,000 locals and tourists evacuated since Monday night. Multiple temporary settlements have been set up to cater for the displaced people. Power supply in the region has also been cut off, prompting the local hydrographical bureau to issue a red alert, at 10:10 am local time.

Comment: At least 18 killed in China rainstorms

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Cloud Lightning

Typhoon Rammasun kills 38 in Philippines, millions without power


BBC News
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 06:50 UTC
Typhoon Rammasun
© APThe typhoon ripped off tin roofs and felled trees as it swept through provinces south of the Philippines
A powerful storm that battered the central Philippines has killed 38 people and left millions without power.

Ten more people were injured by Typhoon Rammasun and another eight remain missing, according to authorities.

The typhoon swept through the country on Tuesday night before making a shift away from Manila on Wednesday.

More than 530,000 people took refuge in evacuation centres. Many of those who died were killed while outdoors by falling trees and flying debris.

Millions living in provinces southeast of the capital still have no power, according to news agencies.

Officials have managed to restore power to only half of Luzon, which has 17 million people.

Much of the eastern region of Bicol, which was hit first by the storm and is home to five million, is also without electricity.

Manila was hit by widespread blackouts as well, but most of the city's power has since been restored.

Officials said more than one million people were affected by the storm. Most of them were from Bicol.

The storm is now heading westwards towards China's Hainan island. The Tropical Storm Risk website is predicting it will gain in strength to Category 2 - one grade below its strength in the Philippines - within 24 hours.
Typhoon Rammasun
© ReutersOfficials estimate the typhoon caused about $1 million (£580,000) in damage to infrastructure
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Cloud Lightning

3 dead in Japan as Typhoon Neoguri makes landfall and sets off a landslide

Elaine Lies
Reuters
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 05:30 UTC
Neoguri Japan
© Reuters/KyotoDamaged cars and buildings are seen after a landslide caused by heavy rains due to Typhoon Neoguri in Nagiso town, Nagano prefecture, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 10, 2014.
Heavy rain battered a wide swathe of Japan on Thursday, sending rivers over their banks and setting off a landslide as a weakened but still dangerous storm made landfall and headed east, leaving three people dead.

Neoguri, which first threatened Japan as a super typhoon this week, had weakened to a tropical storm by the time it ploughed ashore on the westernmost main island of Kyushu. But it was still packing wind gusts of up to 126 kph (78 mph).

Heavy rains prompted the cancellation of hundreds of flights and trains and closed schools. The storm also fed into a stalled seasonal rain front, threatening flooding in distant regions.
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Cloud Precipitation

Recent Brazil flood evacuees increase tenfold to over 50,000


Yahoo News
Sun, 29 Jun 2014 16:50 UTC
Recife flood
© AFPPeople wait to cross a flooded street during a torrential rain in Recife on June 26, 2014 during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil
Severe flooding caused by a week of torrential rain in southern Brazil has forced more than 50,000 people from their homes, officials said Sunday, increasing an earlier estimate almost tenfold.

The emergency agency for Santa Catarina state said 40,000 people had been forced to leave their homes, while neighboring Rio Grande do Sul said 10,700 people had evacuated, revising earlier estimates as the extent of the damage became clear.
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Cloud Lightning

Canadian prairie flooding prompts evacuations in western Manitoba


CBC News
Wed, 02 Jul 2014 17:24 UTC
Sask Floods
© CBC News (Courtesy Mike Beckie)Roads and culverts have collapsed in a number of areas in southeast Saskatchewan due to torrential rains on the weekend. This section of Highway 2 is washed out just south of Imperial, Sask.
Widespread overland flooding in Saskatchewan and Manitoba prompted the evacuation of some homes in western Manitoba on Tuesday night.

The Rural Municipality of Wallace issued a mandatory evacuation order for an area almost five kilometres south of the Trans-Canada Highway from Kirkella, Man., a community near the Saskatchewan border, east to Road 161W.

Residents in the affected area were urged to leave by 9 p.m. CT, as an influx of water was coming quickly. Evacuees were asked to report to a reception centre in nearby Virden, Man.

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were affected by the municipality's evacuation order.

Earlier in the evening, emergency officials in Virden put out an evacuation order for homes on the south side of Kenderdine Street, south of Highway 257 and east of Scallion Creek.


Comment:


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Snowflake Cold

Killing freeze predicted for U.S. Midwest this Fall

Boyce Thompson
SurvivalBackpack
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 11:29 UTC
simon atkins weather
Simon Atkins
An early freeze in the Great Plains may cut corn production by 8%, according to Simon Atkins, CEO of Advanced Forecasting Corporation, who presented his long-range forecast in a webinar on Monday.

The cause: above-average volcanic eruptions around the world for the last nine months, including three in the last month - in Eastern Russia, Alaska and Indonesia. The release of sulfur into the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions reflects sunlight back out to space.

The meteorologist predicted cooler-than-normal summer temperatures "because of well-above-normal volcanic eruptions going back to the fall of 2013. We are not going to see many hot periods. Sure, there will be a few days here and there where temperatures reach 100 degrees in Oklahoma, but it's not going to be very common."

"What's going to be more common is more moisture coming in off the Eastern seaboard of the U.S., and it will be pushing frontal boundaries from east to west, cooling down even parts of the Midwest in July and August," he continued. "We think the first two weeks of September will be warmer. But then it will be getting quite a bit colder toward the end of September, and even into October."

These cooler temperatures could damage the corn crop, Atkins explained.

"We think there's going to be an early frost [in the Plains west of Kansas], which could reduce the number of bushels per acre of corn - maybe by around 8%, our current rate of prediction," he said. "It will be a killing freeze, at least 10 to 15 days earlier than normal."

Meanwhile, Atkins expects flash flooding in the Midwest this week, from Nebraska down to Arkansas, even reaching into parts of the Tennessee River Valley. "Some of these winds will reach 80 miles per hour with hail, producing lots of flash flooding. Some fields in the Midwest will suffer from too much rain," he said.

Comment: As happy as the increase in rainfall will make some farmers in the short term, this is one of the precursors of the onset of a new Ice Age. The increase in rainfall, coupled with temperatures that don't reach expected summer highs, means that winter snows never really go away. This increases the reflection of solar radiation away from Earth, further causing the temperature to fall. The cycle is self-reinforcing. Add to that the reflecting properties of volcanic eruptions, and the cycle speeds up even more.

Fire and Ice: The Day After Tomorrow
Volcanoes Played Pivotal Role In Ancient Ice Age, Mass Extinction
Forget warming - beware the new ice age

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Cloud Precipitation

Bulgaria floods kills at least 12 in Varna and Dobrich


BBC News
Sat, 21 Jun 2014 06:10 UTC
Flooding in Bulgaria
© AFPThe flooding in Bulgaria follows on from similar deluges in the Balkans last month
At least 12 people have died and several are missing after torrential rain and heavy floods hit eastern Bulgaria, officials say.

Floodwaters in the Black Sea port city of Varna surged up to 1m (3.2ft).

Many residents had to be rescued as cars were swept away. Hundreds have been left without electricity or food.

There have been hailstorms and heavy rain in several parts of Bulgaria in recent days. Forecasts say the extreme weather is set to continue.

Ten people died in Varna, including two children. There were also at least another two deaths reported a few miles north in Dobrich, where electricity was down and water was said to be flowing through the streets.

Forecasters said that the equivalent of a month's rain fell in the regions of Varna and Burgas over the past 24 hours.
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Eye 1

Scottish independence campaigner claims MI5 is leading dirty tricks campaign


UK Independent
Fri, 13 Jun 2014 16:35 UTC


Image
Jim Sillars, former deputy leader of the SNP, believes MI5 are conducting a dirty tricks campaign against the Yes Scotland movement
A veteran campaigner for Scottish independence has accused so-called cybernats who subjected author JK Rowling to a tirade of internet abuse of "opening the door" to a possible MI5 dirty tricks campaign to scupper a Yes vote in the forthcoming referendum.

Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars claimed it was "naïve" to think that the security forces were not involved in seeking to influence the outcome of September's ballot which could see the break-up of the UK.

He told The Independent that he was personally aware of one secret agent having arrived in Glasgow.

Mr Sillars said that those who posted the abusive comments - including one sent from a hacked charity Twitter feed - viciously lambasting Ms Rowling for her £1m donation to pro-union Better Together this week had meant to harm the independence cause. "I don't know who did. Somebody did it that is inimical to the yes campaign," he said.

Comment: Mr. Sillars is most likely correct about the involvement of British intelligence in a 'dirty tricks' campaign to keep Scotland within the union. MI5 is an organisation that is populated, at the highest levels, by dyed-in-the-wool British Imperialists who, ideologically-speaking, are still living at the height of the British Empire some 200 years ago. The case of Northern Ireland, and the dirty tricks that the same imperialists used against the Irish Republican movement, including the same type of covert demonisation and discreditation of the opposition, supports the idea that the covert forces of the British empire are working against Scottish independence.

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Cloud Precipitation

Iguazú Falls in Brazil are carrying 33 times their usual water flow rate following record-breaking rainfall

Jesus Diaz
Sploid
Wed, 11 Jun 2014 15:31 UTC
Following massive rainfalls in Misiones, Argentina, and Santa Catarina and Paraná, Brazil, the famous Iguazú Falls are now overflowing, carrying 46,300 cubic meters per second - 33 times the usual water flow rate. The images and video are unbelievable. I hope you have your arks ready, my friends.

The previous record was in 1992, when the river reached 36,000 cubic meters per second, about 10,000 cubic meters per second less than the current flow rate. Authorities have closed the area.

This is how the famous Iguazú Falls normally look, with their usual flow rate of 1500 cubic meters per second:

Iguazu Falls
Iguazu falls 1
This is how they are looking right now at 46,300 cubic meters per second:
Iguazu falls Flood

Iguazu Falls flood 1
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Cloud Lightning

Brazil floods kill nine


globalpost
Mon, 09 Jun 2014 17:15 UTC
Brazil flood
© ReutersGoalposts stand in a soccer field flooded by the waters of the Paraguay River in Asuncion on May 30, 2014.
Flooding caused by torrential rains over the weekend has killed at least nine people and left three missing in southern Brazil, officials said Monday, declaring an emergency in 77 towns.

The flood-hit areas include the state of Parana, whose capital, Curitiba, is one of the 12 host cities for the World Cup, which opens Thursday.

The worst-affected areas however are located around 300 kilometers (185 miles) from Curitiba.

More than 55,000 people's homes were flooded in the 77 towns where Parana Governor Beto Richa declared a state of emergency.
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