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© Stefano Rellandini / ReutersA general view of Saint Peter's Square, Vatican.
Leading biologists, ecologists and economists from around the world have been invited to a conference in the Vatican this week, where the impending mass extinction event facing our planet will be addressed and possible solutions formulated.
"By the beginning of the next century we face the prospect of losing half our wildlife... The extinctions we face pose an even greater threat to civilization than climate change - for the simple reason they are irreversible," biology Professor Peter Raven, of the Missouri Botanical Garden told the Observer.
"That the symposia are being held at the Papal Academy is also symbolic. It shows that the ancient hostility between science and the church, at least on the issue of preserving Earth's services, has been quelled," said economist Sir Partha Dasgupta, of Cambridge University.
© Office of the Governor, Metropolitan RegionFlooding along the Maipo River in San Alfonso.
The heavy rains also caused problems for the urban water systems in the Metropolitan region including the country's capital, Santiago. Increased turbidity in the Maipo River prompted water company Aguas Andinas to cut water supply from early 26 February, affecting around 1,440,000 people in 33 communes of the Metropolitan region. Businesses and schools have been closed as a result of lack of water supply.
Authorities declared a Red Alert for the Province of Santiago and the communes of San Bernardo and Puente Alto for the interruption of supply of drinking water, effective from 26 February 2017. With the Red Alert statement, all necessary and available resources will be mobilized to act and control the situation, given the extent and severity of the event.
Carabineros de la Prefectura Aérea sobrevuelan Ruta G-25, sector San Gabriel, en labores de búsqueda, apoyo y cooperación a la comunidad. pic.twitter.com/UPz5A1C3f9
— Carabineros de Chile (@Carabdechile) February 26, 2017
© Getty ImagesA man boards a bus on a flooded street as a powerful storm moves across Southern California on February 17, 2017 near Sun Valley, California.
Also, the state's Central Valley region where agriculture is dominant continued to show improvement from abnormally dry conditions.
"The precipitation that fell this week continued to reduce long-term drought in California," the monitor said Thursday. "Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, which have been the epicenter of drought in California in recent weeks, received much-needed rainfall."
The monitor said more than 8 inches of rain was reported at two stations near Santa Barbara and almost 7 inches nearby at Ojai. Ventura County's community of Thousand Oaks also experienced well over 6 inches of rain.
"It's been raining a lot and gone a tremendous way towards eliminating surface drought conditions in California," said Richard Heim, a meteorologist with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's National Centers for Environmental Information and the author of this week's monitor.
Added Heim, "We felt it was time that the extreme drought [category] went away." He said this week's monitor is the first time since Aug. 6, 2013, that California is free of "extreme" drought conditions.
© UNGRDAftermath of the floods in Rivera, Huila, Colombia, February 2017.
At least one person was killed in floods in Gachetá in Cundinamarca. Around 2,000 people have been evacuated after flooding in Rivera, Huila, where over 100 homes have been destroyed. In Antioquia minor flooding affected the cities of Medellín and Itagüí and parts of the Aburrá Valley between 21 and 23 February.
Colombia's meteorological agency IDEAM (Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales) says that the conditions are unusual and the heavy rain is falling during what would normally be considered the dry season.
© Noah Berger / AFP/Getty ImagesFloodwater surrounds homes in San Jose on Wednesday. Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes as neighborhoods were inundated.
That happened over the weekend, sending massive amounts of water into the Coyote Creek, which runs through the heart of San Jose.
By Tuesday, the creek was overflowing at numerous locations, inundating neighborhoods, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing the frantic evacuations of more than 14,000 residents, who remained out of their homes Wednesday.
The worst flooding to hit Silicon Valley in a century left San Jose reeling and residents angry about why they were not given more warning that a disaster was imminent. Even city officials on Wednesday conceded they were caught off guard by the severity of the flooding and vowed a full investigation into what went wrong.
"If the first time a resident is aware that they need to get out of a home is when they see a firefighter in a boat, then clearly there has been a failure," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. "There is no question that we'll need to do things differently next time."
Comment: Record rainfall is straining California's whole flood control network. Yesterday the gates at Shasta Dam were opened for the first time in 19 years to ensure they worked properly. The event has happened only twice in 34 years - in 1998 and 1983. Don Bader, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the dam said, "If this next series of storms comes through, then we very may well need to use them."
© Len Ramirez / KPIX 5The lower spillway waterfall at Anderson Dam in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017.
The heavy rains prompted the National Weather Service to warn of a dam failure outside Carson City, Nev., saying that it was "not a drill" and that residents should "move to higher ground now."
But less than 90 minutes after issuing the alert, the agency changed its report to say the retention basin in Dayton, Nev., had not failed. Instead, it was full and overflowing into drainage areas, the weather service said.
Comment: Part of Highway 50 in Sierra has closed due to a collapse in the road near Bridal Veil Falls in El Dorado County:
The Anderson Dam in Santa Clara county is spilling over for the first time in 11 years.
The man-made lake reached full capacity and began cascading over the spillway and into Coyote Creek on Saturday, the latest dramatic event to unfold amid a relentless rainy season.
Flooding along Coyote Creek is expected on Tuesday as the reservoir continues to spill over.
"The update for today is that we are seeing quite a large flow of water from the current storms," said Marty Grimes, a spokesperson for Santa Clara County Water District. "It hasn't peaked yet. It will certainly spill all day today and could continue all week, depending on how much rain comes from the next storm. We expect flooding on Coyote Creek later today in a few low spots."
© Rob Byrne
"It's very hectic with the flooding," said Thabo Sematle, spokesperson for the North West department of community safety and transport management.
Sematle said Wolmaransstad had experienced severe flooding, causing the closure of the N12 running through the small North West town since midday on Tuesday.
He said other areas that experienced flooding was the N14 between Vryburg and Kuruman in the Northern Cape, as well as the roads leading into Ottosdal from Mahikeng and Delareyville.
Many rivers in Northern California are at or above flood stage after a series of powerful storms hit the state in recent months. There are reports of flooded streets and trees and debris crashing into roadways. More than a dozen reports of flooding and debris flows have come in Monday from as far south as Monterey and as far north as Santa Rosa, according to The Weather Channel.
Two people have lost their lives Monday morning on a rural road between Oakdale and Waterford after head-on crash due to wet road, bringing the total death toll in California to 9 in just a few days.
I-80 westbound is currently closed from the Nevada state line through Donner Pass due to multiple vehicle collisions.
Comment: What a phenomenal turn-around by Mother Nature: 3 months ago, California's reservoirs were bone dry - now they're bursting at the seams!
© Nic Coury/Monterey County Weekly via APA man walks through floodwaters Monday in Salinas. Forecasters issued flash flood warnings Monday throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California.
It was only the second time the spillway had been used, and the first time in 20 years, as officials sought to keep the Don Pedro Reservoir from overflowing.
Residents along the Tuolumne River were not forced to evacuate, but "we are strongly encouraging people to seek shelter and move to higher ground," Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said at a news conference. "Our No. 1 priority is the safety and security of the people here in Stanislaus County."
The Don Pedro release came as much of the state's northern half was being hit with a colossal drenching — one expected to drop as much as 9 inches of rain in areas from Santa Cruz County along the coast to the Feather River Basin, far inland. People living along waterways braced for flash floods and evacuations.
It came with memories still fresh of the crisis that developed just over a week ago at Oroville Dam, some 180 miles to the north. Both spillways were damaged, and fears of catastrophic flooding prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people.
Comment: To understand what's going on, check out our book explaining how all these events are part of a natural climate shift, and why it's taking place now: Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.