Bosnia hit by worst floods in a century. Weather Extremes : ’Once in a Hundred Year’ Storm Pounds Christchurch, New Zealand. ’Once in a Hundred Year’ Storm Pounds Christchurch, New Zealand A powerful extra-tropical storm sideswiped the coast of New Zealand’s South Island bringing gales and flooding to the city of Christchurch and the heaviest rainfall seen in almost 40 years.
A satellite image of the powerful storm swirling off the coast of New Zealand’s South Island on March 4th. NASA image. The powerful storm pounded the Christchurch area between March 3-5 with wind gusts up to 119 km/h (74 mph) and rainfall of 151.6 mm (5.97”) as officially measured at Christchurch’s weather station. Of this amount 100 mm (3.94”) fell in just a single 24-hour period on March 4-5.
New Zealand rainfall totals for the week ending March 7th. Flooding and storms in UK are clear signs of climate change, says Lord Stern. Flood-hit UK must prepare for more extreme weather, says climate adviser. Britain needs to face up to a radical change in weather conditions that could be the result of global warming, and spend much more on flood defences, Sir David King, the government's special envoy on climate change, has said.
Amid the worst floods for decades, King said the UK must do more to manage the problem, potentially doubling spending to £1bn a year by 2020, as extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent. The former chief scientific adviser spoke out as the UK braced itself for further disruption from wind and storms, with 84 flood warnings in England and Wales, and a further 220 areas on alert. The storms and floods have claimed three lives, including that of a man thought to have drowned after his mobility scooter fell into the river Thames at Osney in Oxford on Saturday night.
A teenager remains missing in Devon. "If we really want to manage this problem, and I'm sure that all of us do, we will have to do two things," he said. Philippines: Floods and Landslides - Jan 2014. Munich Climate-Insurance Initiative. In recent years there have been more and more indicators that climatic change is already influencing the frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the years 2001 to 2004 were among the five warmest recorded worldwide since 1861. A study from MIT showed that, since the 1970s, major tropical storms both in the Atlantic and the Pacific region have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent.1 Emmanuel projects that this global warming-induced trend will continue in the future.The year 2005 set a record for the hurricanes in the North Atlantic: never before since records have been kept (1850) have so many named tropical storms (7 by the end of July) developed so early in the season, the absolute record of a whole season of 21 (in 1933) was beaten in 2005 with 27 tropical storms. Nigeria floods test government's disaster plans.
Heavy rains have unleashed floods in parts of Nigeria, testing the country's emergency preparedness one year after its worst flooding in decades.
Some 35,000 people have been affected, most of them in five states, according to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). The 2012 floods affected about 7 million people. According to Nigeria's National Emergency Management Authority (Nema), this year's floods have displaced about 600 people and caused one fatality in northern Kano, and about 20 bodies were unearthed at a cemetery in the state's Yan Kaba area. In Katsina, also in the north, 55 farms were inundated by heavy rains.
A Nema spokesman, Ibrahim Farinloye, said early warning and rapid relocation of communities helped prevent greater loss of lives.
Thailand flood reaches Bangkok. Thailand’s floods: Rising damp. Floods leave wake of destruction. Hundreds of people are thought to be dead or missing after severe flooding in central Burma.
As floodwaters disperse the scale of the destruction in Burma’s Magwe division is becoming clear. In Pakokku more than 1700 are still in temporary shelters, many have lost their homes, their livelihoods and their loved ones. In the early hours of October 20th flood waters surged into the area, uprooting trees and houses while many were still sleeping. Domestic news are quoting the official number of dead and missing at 215. But as bodies continue to be recovered some estimate the actual death toll could be far higher. And 3 days after floods hit, towns such as Kyaukse, home of Burma’s former dictator Than Shwe, are still submerged. Thailand Flooding. Posted Oct 14, 2011 Share This Gallery inShare16 (AP) — Workers and volunteers piled sandbags outside buildings in central Bangkok and erected barriers in its subway to ward off possible weekend flooding as high water that devastated parts of central Thailand flowed toward the low-lying metropolis.
While the government sought to reassure Bangkok’s 9 million people that the capital would be spared, it also sent sometimes confusing messages that raised anxieties and sent residents on shopping sprees to stockpile food, medicine and other essentials. The worst floods in a half-century have submerged entire towns across Thailand’s central plains, devastating rice crops and halting hundreds of factories. Some 8.2 million people in 61 of Thailand’s 77 provinces have been affected by the flooding, which has killed 283 people since July.
An aerial view of the Chaophraya river on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 in Ayutthaya province, central Thailand.