Floods
S


Bizarro Earth

For fourth year running, downpours and floods hit Saudi capital


Agence France-Presse
Sun, 17 Nov 2013 14:41 UTC
Saudi Floods
© AFP/Fayez NureldineA Saudi labourer tries to clear a flooded street in northern Riyadh, on November 17, 2013, after heavy rains fell overnight in the Saudi capital, causing floods and traffic jams.
Riyadh - Rare heavy downpours triggered flash floods in the Saudi capital on Sunday forcing schools and universities to close and prompting calls by the authorities for citizens to remain indoors.

At least three people were reported missing, the state news agency SPA said quoting civil defence spokesman Colonel Abdullah al-Harithi.

He added that authorities assisted dozens of people trapped by the floods, a rare phenomenon to hit the capital of the desert kingdom.

Heavy rains, accompanied by thunderstorms, have lashed Riyadh since late Saturday triggering flash floods in several districts and cutting off power in the city's north, according to residents.
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Cloud Precipitation

Saudi capital hit with rare floods, residents urged to stay indoors


RT
Sun, 17 Nov 2013 08:02 UTC
Saudi Arabia Flood
© AFP Photo / Fayez NureldineCars drive through a flooded street in northern Riyadh, on November 17, 2013, after heavy rains fell overnight in the Saudi capital, caused floods and traffic jams which forced the Saudi Eduction Ministry to suspend studies in schools and universities for one day
Severe flooding is being reported in Saudi Arabia, especially in the kingdom's capital of Riyadh, with the government closing schools and urging people to stay indoors amid heavy rain. Flooding is rare in the country dominated by the Arabian Desert.

Witnesses in Riaydh, which is also the country's largest city, are reporting flooded streets and shops. Pictures posted on Twitter show cars drowning in rainwater.

Comment: So though it is described as a rare event, flooding according to the article also happened in May this year and in 2009 and 2011. Perhaps the rarity of flooding is a thing of the past for Saudi Arabia and many other places. In quick google search reveals just how common this is:

2009: Saudi Arabia floods leave 77 dead

2011: Saudi Arabia to Punish Officials for Damage After Jeddah Floods

April 2012: 18 Killed in Saudi Arabia Floods over Past Week

May 2013: Flash floods in Saudi Arabia leave 13 dead

August 2013: Eight people killed in Saudi Arabia flash floods

Increased precipitation is happening the world over and when the temperatures start going south then the precipitation will fall as snow and the onset of a mini/normal ice age is on the cards.

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Cloud Lightning

NOAA images show wind farms distort weather radar data, affecting their primary mission of forecasting and safety

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 21:54 UTC
"Chaotic wind velocities associated with the rotating turbine blades triggers the doppler radar mesocyclone detection algorithm"

Note: this essay was written by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Burlington, Vermont and tipped to me by a reader. Vermont's wind farm acreage pales in comparison to places like the Texas and Oklahoma, where there are literally thousands of acres of wind farms right in the middle of tornado alley. I've been there and seen them firsthand.
wind farm doppler
Certified Consulting Meteorologist Mike Smith writes:

"While driving to Norman, OK recently I saw the newest "wind farm" to the west of Interstate 35 southwest of Tonkawa. Wind farms show up as bright ground clutter on weather radars and here it is."
One has to wonder just how much trouble wind farms are causing the nation's doppler radar warning system. It looks like a classic case of the law of unintended consequences at work. - Anthony



National Weather Service WSR-88D Radar and Wind Farm Impacts

Introduction

The most valuable tool used by the National Weather Service (NWS) to detect precipitation is the radar. Radar stands for Radio, Detection, and Ranging, and has been used to detect precipitation since the 1940′s, with most of the technology coming from the military.
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Blue Planet

SOTT Focus: Preparation for the coming storm

Larry Bowers
Sott.net
Mon, 11 Nov 2013 09:25 UTC
Our current collective condition has never been more precarious - at least not in our lifetime. Worldwide economic collapse seems certain, only the timing and severity can be debated. The planet seems to be convulsing through all kinds of changes, from weather extremes to increased earthquake/volcanic activity, to mass animal die-offs, to greatly increased bolide/fireball events.
Image
© sott.netRecent US fireball reports (including sound and fragmentation)
Some of these changes are reflected in changes we can see occurring on other planets in our solar system, and may be related to the bizarre behavior of our sun and/or the nature of space around our solar system. Respected meteorologists and atmospheric scientists are warning of an impending ice age - the beginning of which could occur rapidly and with little warning. Secondary concerns have been widely expressed regarding worldwide food supply, not to mention rising prices and environmental instability.

The point here is not to stimulate panic. The point is to focus on what we can do as individuals and groups to prepare a living environment that is mindful of potential threats - an environment we can create with the means at our disposal. Just thinking and planning around this is preparation itself.
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Ambulance

10,000 feared killed in Philippines by super typhoon Haiyan


RT
Sun, 10 Nov 2013 01:34 UTC
Typhoon Haiyan
© Reuters / Erik De CastroA view of destroyed houses after super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city in central Philippines November 9, 2013
An estimated 10,000 people might have been killed in the central Philippine province of Leyte alone, which was almost completely destroyed by the powerful typhoon Haiyan, local authorities said.

The typhoon has devastated up to 80 percent of the Leyte province area as it ripped through the Philippines, Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria told Reuters.

"We had a meeting last night with the governor and other officials. The governor said based on their estimate, 10,000 died," Soria said.

The Red Cross said earlier that 1,200 people we confirmed dead in the Philippines.
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Bizarro Earth

Super typhoon Haiyan makes landfall in the Philippines

Doyle Rice
USA Today
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:29 UTC
Typhoon Haiyan
© Kit Recebido, epaFilipino residents sleep on the floor at a gymnasium turned into an evacuation center in Sorsogon City, Bicol region, Philippines, on Nov. 7.
It is one of the most intense storms in world history.

Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall early Friday morning in Guiuan, a small city in Samar province in the eastern Philippines.

It reached the fragile island chain as the most powerful typhoon or hurricane in recorded history, says meteorologist Jeff Masters of Weather Underground

Thousands of people evacuated villages in the central Philippines on Thursday Haiyan took aim the region, which was devastated by an earthquake last month.

Haiyan had intensified and accelerated as it moved closer to the country with sustained winds of 195 mph and gusts of 235 mph, according to the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

No Atlantic or eastern Pacific hurricane has ever been stronger than Haiyan (typhoons are the same type of storms as hurricanes).

About 10 million people live on the central Philippine islands and are most at risk from a direct strike from Haiyan.
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Cloud Precipitation

Arrests in China follow protests over response to catastrophic floods


The Guardian
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 08:18 UTC

A farmer clears dead pigs at a flooded pig farm in the typhoon-hit Yuyao city in Zhejiang province after Typhoon Fitow flooded the city.
© China Daily/ReutersA farmer clears dead pigs at a flooded pig farm in the typhoon-hit Yuyao city in Zhejiang province after Typhoon Fitow flooded the city.
Undisclosed number of people held as thousands protest over allegedly botched response to flooding in eastern city of Yuyao

Arrests have been made after large anti-government protests in an eastern Chinese city hit by catastrophic flooding, an official newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Thousands took part in theprotest in the Zhejiang province city of Yuyao on Tuesday and an undisclosed number were arrested for "radical acts", including pelting police with bricks and flipping over government vehicles, the official English-language Global Times reported. It said residents were angered over an allegedly botched response to the flooding and the slow restoration of electricity and other basic services.

Such protests, termed mass incidents by the government, occur regularly around China, sparked by incidents ranging from traffic accidents to industrial pollution and official abuses of power. Public outrage is often exacerbated by perceptions of special treatment for the rich and powerful and by distant and unresponsive autocratic leaders appointed from above by the Communist party.
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Cloud Precipitation

19 killed as Odisha flood situation remains grim


The Hindu
Sun, 27 Oct 2013 15:14 UTC
Odisha flood
© PTIResidents of Raghunath Pur crossing a waterlogged road after torrential rain on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
The flood situation in Odisha continued to remain grim on Sunday, mainly in worst-hit Ganjam district, as the death toll rose to 19.

"All the deaths were due to wall collapse and drowning," Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mohapatra said.

The low pressured induced rains led to fresh floods in Budhabalang river in Mayurbhanj district with water gushing into district headquarters town of Baripada and 50 villages, official source said.

In Khurda district, breaches occurred near Patapur, Manikapur, Achutarajpur and Srinibaspur of Banapur area after the Salia Dam overflowed, the sources said.

The very heavy rainfall damaged 96 distribution transformers of the Central Electricity Supply in the district.

A population of 16.50 lakh people were affected in 10 districts, as over 60 villages remained marooned in worst-hit Ganjam, the sources said.

The state government was hopeful that the situation would improve soon as the severity of the week - long rains had started declining in most areas.

"Though most parts of coastal Odisha are experiencing rain, the intensity has reduced and the situation will gradually improve," Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patro said.

In a sign of relief to the people of Ganjam, major rivers like Rusikulya, Godahada and Vansadhara were now flowing below the danger mark.


Comment: 1 lakh is 100,000, so 16.50 lakh is 1,65 million

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Nuke

Unprecedented deluge leaks radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear plant into Pacific Ocean


NHK World
Mon, 21 Oct 2013 05:21 UTC
Image
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says water has overflowed 12 barriers around tanks holding radioactive water. Tokyo Electric Power Company says some of the water may have reached the ocean.

The utility says workers found water overflowing from five barriers Sunday afternoon. They found additional overflows in seven barriers Sunday evening.

TEPCO says the barriers are 30-centimeter-high. Some of them have already contained at least 20-centimeters of rain water. But workers can pump out only a couple of centimeters a day.

More than 100 millimeters of rain was recorded at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant over four hours on Sunday afternoon.

The operator of the crippled plant also says workers released some of the water accumulated inside barriers into the ground. The utility says the water met safety standards for radioactivity approved by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
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Windsock

Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Phailin makes landfall in India: 500,000 evacuated


The Extinction Protocol
Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:01 UTC
Cyclone Phailin
© weather.comCyclone Phailin
From the BBC - "As many as 500,000 people in India have been evacuated as a massive cyclone sweeps through the Bay of Bengal towards the east coast.

Cyclone Phailin, categorized as "very severe" by weather forecasters, is expected to hit Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states on Saturday evening.

The Meteorological Department has predicted the storm will bring winds of up to 220km/h (136mph).

A super-cyclone in 1999 killed more than 10,000 people in Orissa.

But officials say this time they are better prepared, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Orissa reports.

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