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Welcome to the new normal.
© Reuters/Cathal McNaughtonWaves crash against the coastal wall in the village of Carnlough as high tides and strong winds cause some flooding in coastal areas of Northern Ireland January 3, 2014.
Gale force winds accompanied by monster waves, twice the height of a double-decker bus, eroded Britain's Atlantic coast on Friday. Dozens of houses were flooded, piers damaged, roads and railway tracks, including major ones, affected.
At Heathrow several flights had trouble landing because of the wind, while connections to and from Gatwick were hampered by the bad weather.
More than a hundred flood warnings were issued by Environment Agency Saturday morning. Four of those were severe. That was one-fifth Friday's rate. However weather forecasts for the coming days say it's not yet time to relax.
© Times-Picayune
The clean-up ruling by U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr., filed Dec. 20,marks the end of an unprecedented series of class-action lawsuits aimed at collecting damages from insurance companies or the federal government that could have totaled billions of dollars.
The final ruling was not unexpected. In earlier decisions Duval found the Army Corps of Engineers was immune from damages caused by failures of levees and floodwalls they designed and built, or from failure to maintain the rapidly eroding Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a now-closed shipping channel that helped decimate wetlands east of St. Bernard Parish.
In a ruling in April involving one of those cases, Duval pointed out that he had presided "over this hydra-like 'Katrina Umbrella' litigation for almost eight years. One central theme has been painfully obvious throughout this entire process," he wrote. "Many of the levees protecting New Orleans and the surrounding area were tragically flawed. ...
"However, lamentably, there has been no judicial relief for the hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of businesses impacted," he said. "The Flood Control Act of 1928 as interpreted over the years gives the United States Army Corps of Engineers virtually absolute immunity, no matter how negligent it might have been in designing and overseeing the construction of the levees."
Flood warnings have been issued across England and Wales as forecasters predict more heavy rain and strong winds for the first day of 2014. The Environment Agency said communities in Cumbria and parts of southern England were particularly at risk.
Hundreds of households are still recovering from storms that caused floods and power cuts over Christmas.
Scottish and Southern Energy customers who faced a prolonged blackout will be entitled to compensation payments.
A statement on the company's website said domestic and business customers without power for 48 hours could claim £54 plus an extra £54 for every subsequent 12 hours.
In total, 130,000 customers had power restored, but this was mostly within 48 hours. A spokeswoman was unable to say how many customers would be eligible for payments.
Meanwhile, Commons energy select committee chairman Tim Yeo has said the bosses of the UK's energy distribution companies are to face questioning by MPs about the power cuts and Energy Secretary Ed Davey has summoned them to an "urgent meeting" next week.
It comes after more than 150,000 properties across the UK were left without power, many for several days, during the storms over Christmas.
Mr Yeo said it was "ludicrous" that some people had to wait five days for their power to be restored.
© BBC NewsYalding in Kent has been badly affected by flooding
Scottish and Southern Energy customers who faced a prolonged blackout will be entitled to compensation payments.
A statement on the company's website said domestic and business customers without power for 48 hours could claim £54 plus an extra £54 for every subsequent 12 hours.
In total, 130,000 customers had power restored, but this was mostly within 48 hours. A spokeswoman was unable to say how many customers would be eligible for payments.
Meanwhile, Commons energy select committee chairman Tim Yeo has said the bosses of the UK's energy distribution companies are to face questioning by MPs about the power cuts and Energy Secretary Ed Davey has summoned them to an "urgent meeting" next week.
It comes after more than 150,000 properties across the UK were left without power, many for several days, during the storms over Christmas.
Mr Yeo said it was "ludicrous" that some people had to wait five days for their power to be restored.
© The Star An aerial view of a longhouse marooned by floods in Ulu Baram taken.
This follows the worsening situation in Ulu Baram, where access for some 7,000 people had been cut off as rain continues.
Several residents from the Marudi district and Long Lama sub-district have called The Star, saying they needed food supply.
The division's Welfare Department head Goh Yong Kiat confirmed that it had received appeals for food aid from residents across Baram.
As of yesterday afternoon, he said at least 28 longhouses had been affected by floods.
"We have sent food to 21 of the 28 longhouses and we are arranging for the others. The deployed assistance will help at least 985 families," Goh said, adding that they were liaising with Marudi's district office, which oversees the operations.
Goh said Ulu Baram had been inundated since Dec 22, with some longhouses recording water levels rising over one metre.
In Kuching, heavy rain coupled with high tide caused Bintulu in central Sarawak to be inundated, a rare occurrence for the town.
The following video is a sample of strange and extreme weather events that took place around the world in first two weeks of December 2013.
© ReutersPalestinian man holds a boy on a street flooded with sewage water in Gaza City
Eyewitnesses said many residential areas and farming land east of Gaza city were flooded when the Israeli authorities opened up the dams.
The residents of the area appealed to the concerned authorities to intervene before sewage water completely submerge their properties.
Earlier on Friday, Chairman of Government's Disaster Response Committee Yasser Shanti said the Israeli authorities opened up dams just to the east of the border with the Gaza Strip earlier in the day.
© Hadzme Mohd JaafarRani and his family lost everything in the flood.
They say the measures of the past proved futile this time after the water level rose more than 1m higher than the massive floods in 1971.
"When it started to rain on Dec 3, we went to sleep at my sister's house nearby because it had never flooded there," said 59-year-old Kamariah Othman.
"But at 4am the next day, we were woken by her neighbour when water started flowing into their house.
"Before we knew it, we were up to our waists in water."
The family moved to a cousin's house on a hill and have been staying there for the past few days.
The Philippines looked like it had been hit by a tsunami once Super-typhoon Haiyan roared through
