photo by Zer Cabatuan (Flickr CC)

The worst flooding to hit the Philippines in 3 years has left much of the capital city Manila underwater.

At least 19 people have died (9 family members in a single landslide in Quezon City) and a total of 1.2 residents of metro Manila were affected by the monsoon rains.

After 12 days of rain, sun was forecast for Thursday with cleanup and rescue efforts underway as of Wednesday.

From the Associated Press:

Manila was drenched with more than half of a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours. A storm off eastern China that intensified the southwest monsoon moved away and the weather started improving Wednesday, according to government forecaster Glaiza Escullar.

For more on the floods in Manila see the following video reports from ITN News and Al Jazeera English.

photo by gosef (Flickr CC)

A couple of weeks ago severe storms ravaged parts of the United States.

The UK experienced the wettest June on record and July has been just as wet. Flash floods and freak weather have plagued the nation and more flooding is on the way.

Over in Russia recent flooding in the south of the country has produced very grim results: at least 171 people have died and thousands left homeless due to flash floods.

It’s not just humans that are suffering the effects of extreme weather and flooding. In northeast India severe flooding has killed around 600 animals in the region’s largest animal park.

Kaziranga National Park in Assam state is home to the over two thirds of the world’s remaining 3,100 one-horned rhino population. Among the dead animals are 14 rhinos and 2 baby elephants.

From AFP:

Assam has been the focus of severe regional flooding in recent weeks, triggered by heavy monsoon rains that caused the Brahmaputra river to burst its banks, inundating large areas of the state.

The human dimension to India’s flooding is tragic as well, with 130 deaths and 6 million displaced as a result of the floods.

For footage of the tragic flooding at Kaziranga National Park see the following video report.

photo by Tiffany Key (gu choki pa on Flickr CC)

As powerful Typhoon Roke approaches Japan’s mainland authorities are appealing to 1,3 million residents to evacuate their homes and move to higher ground.

5 people are already believed to be dead from heavy rains, flooding and strong winds, which are set to increase as the typhoon makes landfall in central Japan.

From AFP:

In Nagoya, in central Japan’s Aichi prefecture, officials have advised about one million residents to leave their homes because of fears that rivers might burst their banks.

The storm is expected to move northwards up the coast to Tokyo. So far over 200 domestic flights have been cancelled in Japan. Some train services have also been stopped and factories closed.

Earlier this month tropical storm Talas left 100 in Japan missing or dead.

See the Guardian for more developments on Typhoon Roke as they come in, including video footage of the flooding.

Image by Oxfam International (source: Flickr)

2010 was a record-breaking year for natural disasters. According to Insurance ERM, a website dedicated to enterprise risk management, this makes 2010 the second-highest year of natural catastrophes since 1980. With a current yearly average of 785 natural catastrophes, 2010 saw in increase of more than 20% in occurrences of natural disasters. Furthermore, the high number of weather related natural disasters like storms and floods, about 90% of all reported catastrophes in 2010, is a further indication of advancing climate change.

Several major catastrophes in 2010 resulted in substantial losses and an exceptionally high number of fatalities. The overall picture last year was dominated by an accumulation of severe earthquakes to an extent seldom experienced in recent decades.
- Insurance ERM website

Five of the natural disasters recorded last year where categorized as “great natural catastrophes” based on the United Nations definition: the earthquakes in Haiti (January 12th), the earthquakes in Chile (February 27th) and the earthquakes in central China (April 13th), the heat-wave in Russia (July to September) and the floods in Pakistan (also July to September).

2010’s natural disasters killed a total of 295.000 people. According to the data from Insurance ERM high numbers of natural catastrophes, in particular hurricanes and earthquake activity, are expected to continue this year and into the future, to some extend due to climate change.

The probability is that climate change is contributing to some of the warming of the world’s oceans. This influence will increase further and, together with the continuing natural warm phase in the North Atlantic, is likely to mean a further high level of hurricane activity in the coming years.
- Insurance ERM website

Image by Beatrice Murch (source: Flickr)

For the past couple of days Venezuela has been dealing with torrential rain showers and massive flooding claiming at least 30 lives and leaving more than 5000 people homeless. Amongst the victims are City Council President Miguel Zavala and a police inspector. Many of the death were killed after being swept away by strong water currents or died when their houses collapsed on top of them.

The state of alarm that was issued for the state of Vargas in the northern part of Venezuela has now been expanded to three states. Airports and oil refineries where closed, roads where blocked and thousands of houses where destroyed because of the rain showers.

Venezuela is used to heavy rains in November. But this year the rain season continued past it’s usual end and it doesn’t look as if it’s over yet. Heavy rain showers are forecast to continue to afflict the region for at least another 24 hours.

Image by michael warren (source: Flickr)

Last weekend we reported that parts of Belgium and The Netherlands were flooded due to torrential rains. In the meantime, the situation in those countries is slowly returning to normal. But it seems the rain showers are not over yet.

After heavy rainfall its now Southwest England that is battling floods. Police and military are working together to get people into safety, evacuating them by helicopter from their cars or houses.

The towns of St Austell and St Blazey are the worst off. A Mudslide near Lostwithiel made train transport to Cornwall impossible while the town of Mevagissey, completely surrounded by water, is being evacuated.

Image by S Baker (source: Flickr)

Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo was hit by heavy rainshowers today. As a result, an extensive part of the city and surroundings are flooded. According to city officials, this is the heaviest rainfall in over 18 years. Schools are closed, power supply is disturbed and even the parliament was evacuated. Meteorologists expect the heavy rain showers are not over yet.

]]> http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/11/06/climate-change-in-light-of-the-recent-floods-in-pakistan/feed/ 0 http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/10/05/breaking-news-flash-floods-and-mudslides-kill-56-people-in-indonesia/ http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/10/05/breaking-news-flash-floods-and-mudslides-kill-56-people-in-indonesia/#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:42:07 +0000 Arkisaeo http://www.greenfudge.org/?p=14640

Floods are taking the world by storm lately–literally. We have them in the US, they’re happening over in Asia and Europe, and all of them are claiming lives. This latest report focuses on the area of West Papua, Indonesia, where at least 56 people were killed by flooding.

Dozens of others are still missing and over 60 people were injured, many with broken bones and most needing to be life-flighted (transported via helicopter) to medical services.

In addition to the dead and wounded, hundreds of homes were destroyed, 30 of which were completely flattened by the storm. Schools, hospitals and a hotel were also damaged, along with roads and bridges. Add to that power outages and downed phone lines, and you have one big mess on your hands. The only good news at this point is police and the military are on their way with tents, food and medical supplies.

More will be posted as updates happen.

By Heidi Marshall

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photo by Marufish (Flickr CC)

The South Asian country of Bangladesh is one of the places in the world considered most vulnerable to climate change. It is also one of the poorest nations on Earth.

In Bangladesh, reducing CO2 emissions and implementing cap and trade schemes are not the issue. Already used to catastrophic flooding compounded by intense poverty, Bangladeshis are in the business of climate change adaptation.
This is climate change ground zero.

As Himalayan glaciers melt and heavy rains perennially flood Bangladesh – a hot country of flood planes located on the Ganges River Delta – its people have no choice but to adapt.

The United Nations estimates that by the end of the century, 18 percent of the country will disappear, leaving 30 million people displaced.

–CNN

For an insight into how this impoverished, yet resourceful nation is dealing with rising water levels, see the following report from CNN Eco Solutions:

Bangladeshis rely on floating schools amid flooding

Also check out the below accompanying video report:

Floods are a part of the history of India and Pakistan, and the Monsoon season in this region has always been heavy and unpredictable. However, most years, the clouds that rise from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal do follow somewhat of a pattern. The latter, in particular, usually take a northwestern route, passing over the entire subcontinent from the eastern plains to the mountains in the North West, distributing rain fairly evenly across their path.

This summer, due to historically high temperatures, the clouds carried much more water than expected. In addition, this time, due to low pressure systems in the region, the clouds arising from the Bay of Bengal disgorged the bulk of their water content in heavy quantities in Pakistan’s mountainous north. This resulted in flash floods as the water made its way down through uncountable ravines and gorges which join the Indus and its major tributaries before flowing down through the KP province and Punjab to Sindh. The Arabian Sea monsoon system, taking a more northerly path and disgorging in the Suleiman ranges, led to flash floods in Baluchistan. The resulting waters flowed into southern Punjab and Sindh.

Image source: Oxfam.org.uk

The worst hit by far as been the KP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) Province, who faced this catastrophe first with no idea of what lay in store. Sindh, on the other hand, had some time to prepare its people before the water from the mountains engulfed the delta. While this warning did help somewhat with the logistics of evacuation, it has not of course stopped the incessant rains and the fact that barrages in the area are now facing unprecedented water flows they are simply not equipped to deal with. The Guddu and Sukkur barrages have had to face flows of 1.148 million cusecs and 1.115 million cusecs respectively and this water passed through Kotri barrage on the 12-13^th of August. Kotri barrage was designed to discharge 875,000 cusecs; the highest flow it has been faced with to date was 981,000 cusecs in 1956.

Meanwhile, rains continue in other parts of Pakistan as well. Almost a quarter of the total area of the country has been ravaged in these past three weeks. The number of people affected has been estimated at about 20 million. However, this figure is far from final, as rains continue in parts of the country. Moreover, since statistics are seldom collected from a large part of Pakistan’s rural and otherwise inaccessible areas, a glance at the map of the affected areas – all of which have a high population concentration – leads one to believe that this figure is conservative, at best.

The people affected include many who may have survived and in fact not even lost their loved ones, but whose houses, crops, cities, shops and investments have been washed away. There are numerous news stories about people who are alive but only with their very young children, the clothes on their back and a paltry few hundred rupees in their pockets. Hundreds of thousands of houses in the rural areas, mostly mud houses, have been totally washed away. Millions of acres of standing crops have been destroyed. Hundreds of miles of major roads and railway have been submerged in water resulting in virtual isolation. This disconnect, in turn, has led to food and fuel shortage in parts of the country, especially Peshawar, the capital of the KP province.

Thousands of schools have been a casualty of the flooding and the education system is in jeopardy. The KP government alone has announced that so far they have enumerated 400 schools which cannot be reopened.

A health-care crisis has also been caused, as thousands of small town and rural dispensaries and hospitals were submerged and patients barely managed to evacuate. This has brought health services to a virtual standstill in the flood affected regions. Courts and government offices have stopped functioning in innumerable areas and even though figures are still pouring in, there is as yet no total tally available. All that is known is that approximately a quarter of the country has been almost completely inundated. The many and disastrous implications of this one fact would take pages and pages to enumerate.

Despite the nightmare they have already caused, the floods are not yet over because the monsoons continue and can continue until the end of August.

As a country, we never had sufficient resources to deal with a catastrophe of this dimension. It has been reported that we did not have even 2% of the required number of boats needed for evacuation purposes. Even after the army brought all their helicopters, we still did not have as many as were needed for the relief effort in KP alone.

There have been numerous and continuing reports of helicopters being grounded due to inclement weather, of boats men not wanting to ply because the waters were too rough and even reports of boats drowning.  Figures from the KP province alone suggest that in that region over a 1000 people have died and many hundreds of thousands rendered homeless or marooned.

According to the Meteorological office, such floods and heavy rains have not taken place in over a century, and reliable records before that are not available. With such a large catastrophe, and such meager resources, it is but natural that a certain amount of chaos should result. Part of this chaos is the leveling of charges and the discovery of many misdemeanors and large scale corruptions which people say have added to the destruction. It is alleged that affairs at the Guddu Barrage on the Indus were mishandled, resulting in a far more disastrous flooding in southern Punjab and northern Sindh than would have otherwise been the case. Additionally, it has been discovered that at this pivotal point in time, ten gates of the Taunsa barrage are not working due to a digital malfunction.

Image source: Oxfam.org.uk

Many power generation companies have stopped working due to a water breach into their facilities. Among them are KAPCO (Kot Addu Power Company), the Lal Pir Thermal Power plant and PakGen Power Plant. An oil refinery in the Gujrat Qasba area has shut down completely and PSO’s (Pakistan State Oil) main oil depot in Mehmood Kot has stopped supplying to the entire northern region of the country while its work force has been evacuated from the warehouse.

It is hard to foresee what the consequences of this power generation breakdown will be, in a country that was already suffering from a 30% power shortage. The implications of the suspension of oil, gas and food supplies to the entire country are going to be devastating, especially in the month Ramzan. Every minute, news comes in of more deaths, road inundations, bridges collapsing, thousands of acres of crops and houses being destroyed and gas, oil and electricity supplies being stopped; The UN has stated that it will take billions of dollars for Pakistan to recover from these floods. Needless to say we need money and we need it now. Many trusted organizations are carrying out relief efforts throughout the country. I think it is the need of the hour that we all contribute, in whatever way we can, to help rebuild the lives of those who have lost all they had.

Organizations supporting flood relief work in Pakistan:

UNICEF-USA: https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?idb=784883377&df_id=1661&1661.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr010=vmk328n351.app17b

Save the Children – New Zealand: https://secure.flo2cash.co.nz/donations/savethechildren/donate.aspx

Oxfam: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/pakistan-floods/index.php

photo credit: Globovisión

Pakistan, China, Australia, Afghanistan, India, Colombia, Central Europe and the US state of Iowa have all recently experienced destructive, though greatly varied, levels of flooding.

According to the prime minister of Pakistan, some 20 million people have already been affected by the floods there, while the UN puts the number at 14 million. The first case of cholera has also been confirmed.

Independence Day in flood-hit Pakistan

Over 2,000 people have been killed in China so far this year as a result of floods, which have triggered mudslides, buried villages and washed away homes. A further 600 people are still missing with more heavy rains on the way.

China braced for more rain as death toll rises

In the north of Colombia, the city of Barranquilla experienced flash floods. This video from ITN News shows a young man rescuing two girls who were stranded in a taxi in the middle of swiftly flowing flood currents.

Dramatic rescue during flash floods in Colombia

Last week floods also plagued Central Europe; affecting parts of Germany, Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. For a video report from Euronews on those flash floods click on the below link:

Flash flooding hits Central Europe

Additional resources:

Associated Press – Flooding Kills 1 in Iowa; Hundreds Evacuated

flooding from the Danube in Romania, photo by cod_gabriel (Flickr Creative Commons)

From Australia to China to Pakistan to Russia and central Europe, this summer has so far been characterized by extreme weather events such as torrential rains, flooding, drought and wildfires.

In the following video report by ITN News, climate scientist Thomas R. Karl explains how the current extreme weather events across the globe are linked and most likely connected to human activity. Karl is the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Services office in Washington DC.

From an article by the Associated Press:

Russia and central Asia this year happen to be the epicentres of very warm conditions this summer. To accompany those warm conditions, we’re seeing very heavy precipitation in the monsoon areas in Pakistan. These events are not disconnected. The climate system is connected.

–Thomas R. Karl

The ITN video also shows footage of the storms and flooding in China, Pakistan and Australia, as well as the wildfires in Russia.

Climate expert explains extreme global weather

photo by DFID – UK Department for International Development

While individual events like heat waves, cold snaps, floods and droughts cannot be attributed to man made climate change on an individual basis, scientists at the World Meteorological Association (WMO) say global warming exacerbates the intensity of recent extreme weather.

The floods in China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the heat wave and resultant wild fires in Russia and the intense rain in central Europe all point to the fact that extreme weather events have tripled since 1980.

From an article by Reuters:

Recent extremes include mudslides in China and heat records from Finland to Kuwait — adding to evidence of a changing climate even as U.N. negotiations on a new global treaty for costly cuts in greenhouse gas emissions have stalled.

Whatever the cause of specific weather events – the change in Asia’s monsoons is largely attributed to La Niña – a warming of the planet ‘is likely to bring more events of this sort’, according to Henning Rodhe, professor emeritus of chemical meteorology at Stockholm University, in reference to the current heat wave in Russia.

The heat in Russia is also climatically linked to the flooding in Pakistan.

From an article in the Economist:

Peter Stott, the head of climate monitoring at Britain’s Met Office, says that a change in the jet stream, which is part of the bigger pattern of gridlock in the upper atmosphere, has allowed more warm, moist monsoonal air to flow north to Pakistan. At the same time, says Professor Hoskins, cold air has been entering the region in the upper parts of the atmosphere, flowing south from Siberia as part of the same persistent pattern that is keeping Russia hot. The influx of cold air on top of warm, moist air favours the sort of deep convection that creates powerful storms, turning moisture in the air into water on the ground very efficiently.

How climate change will effect future weather patterns may be ultimately unpredictable – but the evidence seems to point to the likelihood that there will be more heat waves and more intense floods on the way.

photo by Globovisión (Flickr Creative Commons)

On Saturday heavy rains fell on Gansu province in northern China, resulting in landslides which buried at least three villages.

The death toll from the mudslides has now reached 702, according to Chinese officials, with more than 1,000 people still missing.

China has been experiencing its most severe flooding in a decade – and more rain is forecast for later in the week.

Rescue efforts are at their most intense in Zhouqu county, the area worst hit by the floods.

From an AFP report:

More than 7,000 soldiers and rescuers were hunting around-the-clock for survivors in Zhouqu, the county seat, where homes were torn apart and streets buried in mud as deep as two metres (six feet) in spots.

The mudslide pushed earth, streets, houses and cars into the Bailong River in Zhouqu, blocking its flow and causing flooding. A 5 km (3 mile) long and 500 meter-wide area was flattened and half the county submerged.

Meanwhile in Pakistan, some 1,500 people have died during two weeks of the South Asian country’s worst flooding ever.

From report by the Associated Press:

The United Nations said the government’s estimate of 13.8 million people affected by the country’s worst-ever floods exceeded the combined total of three recent megadisasters — the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Besides China and Pakistan, areas in India and North Korea have also experienced death and destruction due to the floods.

photo credit: Globovisión

Heavy rains have caused rivers to burst their banks in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. A total of 14 have died so far from the flooding and more are missing.

According to Australian broadsheet The Age the Neisse River, which forms part of the border between Germany and Poland before flowing into the Czech Republic, has swelled to a height of 7.07 meters, over three times its normal level ‘and the highest since records began in 1912’.

More rivers are expected to soon burst their banks, such as the Spree in Germany.

For more on the story see this dpa/AFP/Reuters report.

Click here to watch a video report on the situation from Deutsche Welle.

Raw footage of the flooding in central Europe – courtesy of Russia Today – can be seen below:

Death toll rises in Germany, Poland floods as hail hits Serbia

(U.S. Air Force photo by Lt. Col. Jimmie Barrow/RELEASED)

The latest figures from Xinhua News put the death toll due to massive floods in Pakistan at 900. A further one million people are homeless as a result of the recent monsoon rains.

The deluge has destroyed schools, homes, hospitals, roads, railroads and other infrastructure, causing billions of euros in damage. Rescue teams including the Pakistani military, along with civil government groups, are working around the clock to save the more than one million who remain stranded, but manpower and facilities are insufficient and international help is urgently needed.

Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has requested United Nations and international community for the urgent help in the country’s worst flood for last 81 years which is now hitting the Western, Southern and eastern provinces of the country,local televisions reported.

–Xinhua News

Those stranded face food, water and medicine shortages, along with other dangers posed by the floods.

Afghanistan is also struggling to cope with heavy flooding.

For more see this video report from the Associated Press:

Floods Kill Hundreds in Pakistan

Additional resources:

BBC News – Pakistan and Afghanistan grapple with massive floods

photo by El_Enigma (Flickr Creative Commons)

It was only three months ago that southern China was suffering from its worst drought in living memory. Now the heaviest rains in over a decade are causing floods, mudslides and other destruction there, as well as threatening the integrity of the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in Hubei province.

According to a BBC report, Chinese authorities have stated that the recent flooding left 823 people dead and 437 missing, the latest count including 37 deaths after a bridge collapsed in Henan province and a further 21 who are feared dead due to mudslides in Sichuan province.

From a separate BBC report:

Recent bad weather has killed 1,250 people in China, government officials say. The economic losses across the country are estimated to be more than $22bn (£14bn).

The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric project, but its recent water flow has reached just 10% under the dam’s maximum capacity.

From an Associated Press report:

Thousands of workers sandbagged riverbanks and checked reservoirs in Wuhan city in central Hubei province in preparation for potential floods expected to flow from the swollen Yangtze and Han rivers, an official with the Yangtze water resources commission said. “Right now the Han river in Hubei province is on the verge of breaching warning levels,” said the official, who gave his name as Zhang.

China’s monsoon rains usually slow in August, but whether this turns out to be the case this year is impossible to accurately predict.

Graham Land

photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video (Flickr Creative Commons)

Tropical storm Conson, aka typhoon Basyang, is currently battering southern China after heavy rains and flooding have already punished the country for weeks.

The economic damage from China’s recent weather woes totals in billions of dollars, while evacuations in the affected areas have been widespread.

From an Al Jazeera English report/video:

Swollen rivers and landslides have already killed 135 people across the country since the start of July. More than 35 million people have had their lives disrupted by the floods and landslides, and more than a million people have been displaced.

The Philippines also suffered heavy damage from Conson/Basyang, including 65 deaths, damage to infrastructure and losses in the agricultural and fishing industries, according to a report in the Manila Bulletin.

A pipeline in Cavite province, Philippines was also damaged during the typhoon, resulting in an oil leak, according to an ABS-CBN News report.

For more on the storms and flooding in China watch the following ITN video report:

China floods cause chaos

Graham Land

photo by Philip (\!/_PeacePlusOne on Flickr Creative Commons)

According to China’s Civil Affairs Ministry, rainstorms and floods have left at least 118 people dead and a further 47 missing in southern China this month.

Damage from the flooding includes the destruction of some 101,000 houses, the relocation of 1.1 million people and an estimated financial toll of around $3.3bn (€2.6bn).

From a xinhuanet.com report:

By 4 p.m. Wednesday, more than 32.3 million people in 10 southern provinces and Chongqing Municipality had been affected by continuous rainstorms and floods, the ministry said.

Euronews reports that Japan’s northern Kyushu and Chugoku regions have experienced severe flooding, resulting 85,000 evacuation orders. More heavy rains are being forecasted for the regions.

The Philippines was also hit by extreme weather in the form of Typhoon Conson, the first typhoon of this year’s season, which struck the Southeast Asian country on Wednesday. The powerful tropical storm ripped through northeast Quezon and the central island of Luzon before battering the capital, Manila.

At least 22 people in the Philippines are dead as a result of Typhoon Conson and millions are stuck without electricity.

From a BBC News report:

Twelve people were reported injured and 57 are thought to be missing after the storm which had winds of 120km/h (75mph).

The typhoon is expected to hit Macau and China’s mainland later in the week.

Graham Land

Additional resources:

AFP – Typhoon pounds Philippines