Deadly deluge

Bangladesh
With floodwater pouring in through their windows, thousands of people affected by South Asia's deadly deluge are being forced to share the limited high ground with venomous snakes, surrounded by filthy water. With almost half of Bangladesh submerged, and torrential rains pelting Nepal and India, more than 25 people have died as a result of the weather since Saturday. In Indian states Assam and Bihar, more than 24 people, including three children, were killed in weather-related incidents since Sunday morning, bringing the death toll to 75 in a week. "The floods situation has turned worse overnight." Bihar's residents fear an epidemic as bodies cannot be buried or cremated, with graveyards and cremation grounds under water. Torrential rains in Nepal's western Gulmi district caused a landslide that smothered seven farm workers. Snakes driven out of their usual habitat fatally bit nine people in villages in Bangladesh's flooded northern Pabna district in the last few days. The lives of millions of other people in the subcontinent are simply on hold as they sit on their roofs, high ground or in relief camps, most relying on their governments to bring food, clean water, clothes and medicine. In China, floods, landslides and mud flows triggered by torrential rains have killed 652 people so far this year, with more heavy rains forecast. Authorities in central China's Henan province were scrambling to save 69 miners trapped in an underground coal mine for more than 24 hours after flooding and landslides blocked their exit routes.

Related News: New Zealand

Stewart Island deluge causes floods, slips

Satellite Image of Stewart Island
More than a month's worth of rain has fallen on Stewart Island in the past five days, causing flooding and widespread slips which have left some residents with no access to their homes.

MetService readings show a record 177mm has pelted the island at the South West Cape since Wednesday, while further north in Oban, 118mm has fallen.

High winds and heavy seas also played havoc, pulling roads into the sea and causing landslips 30m wide.

Heat wave wreaks havoc across Southeast Europe

Southeast Europe
Drought, fire, electricity outages and water shortages are among the effects of a heat wave that has afflicted Southeast Europe during the past weeks. Rivers are drying up, and crops are being destroyed at an UNPRECEDENTED level. Even when the searing temperatures have abated, the impact – in terms of the economy – could be felt for a long time to come.

RELATED NEWS
VIETNAM - A heat wave threatens to accompany droughts and spark epidemics in Vietnam until September, experts say. Localities in the northern-lowlands, northern-central provinces and the west-Central Highlands region will be hardest hit by the hot spell, which might bring water shortages and human and cattle disease outbreaks. However, the heat will also be accompanied by heavy rains in all other areas of the country through October. Severe hot spells have already hurt the central region, triggering in several forest fires and prolonged droughts in Nghe An province, where rivers and lakes have dried up, causing a serious shortage of water.

Source: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com

NowPublic

Panic in the Philippines, as Bulusan Volcano Shows Unrest

Philippines
Photo: A column of ash and volcanic debris shooting up from the Mt. Bulusan volcano in the central Philippines on Tuesday.

(AP Photo)

MANILA, Philippines: The Bulusan volcano in the central Philippines spewed ash early Tuesday, blanketing fields and villages as far as five kilometers (three miles) away, but there was no immediate sign of a major eruption, scientists said.

The 1,560-meter (5,150-foot) Mount Bulusan has been showing signs of unrest with on-and-off ash and steam explosions since March 2006.

"We are keeping an eye on some villages in Juban and Irosin town. An ash explosion can occur there anytime," said Bella Tubianosa from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

She said the latest burst sent ash falling five kilometers (three miles) west of the volcano, which is in Sorsogon province about 390 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Manila.

Television reports said the ash column caused panic in the surrounding area, with residents running out of their homes.

RELATED VIDEO

Floods, fires ravage South Africa

South Africa

Flooding in Cape Town has displaced some 38,000 people, mostly from squatter camps around the South African city, a local official says.

Food and blankets are being distributed to those affected, who are being housed in municipal buildings.

On the other side of the country, in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, bushfires have killed at least 19 people and destroyed over 30,000 acres of land.

RELATED NEWS

Fires force mass evacuations on Spain's Canary Islands

Bushfires sweeping across Spain's Canary Islands have ravaged thousands of hectares and forced authorities to evacuate about 11,000 people.

Spanish Environment Minister Cristina Narbona announced a state of "maximum alert" and said additional planes were being sent to the picturesque archipelago off Africa's western coast to battle the flames.

The fires, which broke out on Friday, have covered 24,000 hectares on the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife after being fanned by strong winds.

Heat wave sizzles past six-day stretch

California, USA
Photo: Javier Rodriguez of Selma stays afloat on the Kings River with the help of a child's raft while cooling off Sunday with his family at Reedley Beach.

Temperatures in Fresno reached a high of 100 degrees Sunday, tying a six-day stretch of triple-digit weather from earlier this month.

The 100-degree-plus weather is expected to last through at least Thursday, said meteorologist David Spector with the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Tornado spotted in south Iceland

Iceland

A tornado, which is a very rare sight in Iceland, was spotted on Skeidarársandur plane of sand in south Iceland of Friday. The tornado touched the ground for about five minutes and whirled up sand and dust.

Rain, hail and lighting followed the tornado, as picked up by the Icelandic Meteorological Office’s lightning sensors, Fréttabladid reports.

According to meteorologist Einar Sveinbjörnsson weather conditions that create tornados are very rare in Iceland and therefore tornados aren’t spotted often on the island, though they have been spotted on a few occasions before.

Related News

New Zealand:Taranaki hit by another tornado

Taranaki has been struck by another tornado just a few weeks after a series of destructive twisters caused widespread damage.

Drip, drip of global warming spells change in northern Russia

Russia
Photo: A herder tends to his herd of reindeer in Kanchalan, Chukotka region, 12 July 2007. Questions are being asked about global warming across northern Russia. While there are fears for wildlife, there is growing optimism about the Arctic maritime passage that runs across the top of Russia from the Bering Straits to the north Atlantic.(AFP/File/Natalia Kolesnikova)

KANCHALAN, Russia (AFP) - It is summer in this reindeer-herding village in northern Russia and with not an iceberg in sight, residents are acquiring a taste for bathing in the local river.

"We used to have ice on the river all year round. The warming process is speeding up," said the worried head of the state-controlled reindeer company at Kanchalan, Arkady Makhushkin.

"The reindeers' health is suffering. Their meat isn't so tasty," he said, explaining that the animals had to be herded greater distances to find cooler grazing grounds in upland areas.

As he tries to work out the effects of rising temperatures on his 32,000 reindeer, questions are being asked about global warming across northern Russia, from Chukotka region in the east, where Kanchalan is located, to Murmansk in the west.

Firefighters struggle to contain blazes in south Europe

Spain
Photo: A member of the new military team "Unidad Militar de Emergencia" (Emergency Military Team) looks at a fire burning in Cercado on the Spanish Canary Island of Gran Canaria.(AFP/Desiree Martin)

MADRID (AFP) - Firefighters backed by helicopters struggled Sunday to douse major forest fires across southern Europe as special prayers were held in Romania for an end to a deadly heatwave searing the continent.

Firefighters staged an uphill battle to extinguish the flames which have ravaged forests in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, as well as Spain's Canary Islands off the western coast of Africa.

In Bulgaria, where 23,000 hectares (nearly 57,000 acres) of woodland have been burned in the scorching temperatures of the past week, fires continued to rage in the south and centre. Photo:This image of fires burning across Greece and the Balkans was acquired by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument on 26 July 2007 Credits: ESA.

The region around Chepelare was on high alert amid warnings that the 10th century monastery of Rila -- which has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO -- could be in danger.

Bulgarian police said they have now arrested 20 people on suspicion of starting the forest fires.

Meanwhile, some 1,000 people gathered Sunday in the Romanian town of Iasi, offering prayers to seek deliverance from a heatwave that is a vast swathe of southern Europe. Click

The ceremony, organised by the Orthodox church, was held in the country's heat-ravaged north-east.

The faithful gathered around a 30-metre (99-foot-) high cross built on a hilltop to pray for lower temperatures and much-needed rain for their crops.

Unnatural sea waves, cause of concern

Bhubaneswar, Jul 29 (PTI)
Waves crashing against the shore is nothing new for the inhabitants of two of Orissa's seaside tourist resorts - Puri and Gopalpur. But what they have been witnessing for the last few months has come as a shock. "The sea has been behaving in an UNNATURAL manner with high waves lashing against the coast and damaging structures. It seems the sea is inching inside." While the sea waves have washed away nearly 500 metres of a newly-constructed road on the outskirts of Puri, several walls of hotels and a lighthouse at Gopalpur, down south in Ganjam district, have collapsed under the pounding of the sea. "I have been observing this phenomenon since August last year, but no action has been initiated about it." There have been reports about the Bay of Bengal eroding the coast in the Satbhaya area of Kendrapara district and swallowing up at least five of the seven coastal villages in a cluster over the last few years. However, this was something new in towns like Puri and Gopalpur where the administration is monitoring the situation with concern. A study conducted recently said that 23% of India's shoreline was getting eroded with four states - Maharashtra, Orissa, Karnataka and Kerala - being the worst affected. In Orissa, over 100 km out of the state's 480-km coastline was facing erosion while the problem was more acute in Kerala. It also said that the growth of long sand pits at the Chilika Lagoon on the coast indicated littoral movement and subsequent silt deposition. Within the last fortnight, the sea has devoured a large portion of the road in Puri linking Baliapanda with Sipasarubali - where a tourist resort is proposed to be developed - causing panic among the inhabitants. The road had been constructed recently, even as new buildings, apartment blocks and hotels were coming up in the areas as the resort town was expanding. Six new buildings are now facing direct threat from the sea. Grave concern was expressed about the situation in Penthakata area of the town where a population of about 20,000 fishermen are living virtually on the edge of the sea.

Landslides, Flashfloods Kill 32, Displace Over 20,000 People In Nepal

Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal (AHN) - New landslides and flashfloods, triggered by torrential rain have killed 13 more people across Nepal, with the death toll reaching 32 for the week, officials said.

The floods have displaced more than 20,000 families, Nepal's Home Ministry said.

The Ministry said it has deployed rescue helicopters, food and other relief materials to those affected areas.

The floods have seriously affected the southern districts of Nepal, especially Nepalgunj and Janakpur, where the rescue efforts have been hampered by the increasing water levels. Market places, educational institutions and transportation service have remained closed down for about a week because of the flooding in southern Nepal.

Related News
Floods, torrential rains wreak havoc across South Asia

Thousands marooned, dozens dead in India, Nepal and Bangladesh

PATNA: Floods caused by incessant rains and rising water levels in major levels have displaced hundreds of thousands of people across the South Asia.

Country gasps through heat wave

Israel
Even as temperatures began to drop on Sunday, the heat wave that has rocked Israel continued to wreak havoc. Electricity consumption in Israel reached a NEW HIGH on Sunday, hitting a RECORD 10,040 megawatts consumed by 3 p.m. On Sunday afternoon, a French tourist died of heat stroke while hiking. Over the weekend, a 15-year-old yeshiva student collapsed and died during a hike, due to dehydration. Another 14 people in northern Israel have been hospitalized for dehydration since the heat wave started last week. Injuries resulting from direct exposure to the sun were not the only dangers of the most recent heat wave. Fires have been flaring up all over the country. Over the last thirty years, Israel's average temperature at dawn has risen by over two degrees centigrade.

Oldonyo L'engai Residents Refuse to Vacate Area

Tanzania
Members of the Maasai community living around Oldonyo L'engai mountain of Ngorongoro have refused to vacate the area, despite recent advisory from local authorities, that the active volcano in the vicinity may erupt due to ongoing tremors. The local residents said that some experts have just assured them that the volcanic mountain will not erupt in two centuries time. The Maasai have also expressed their surprise regarding what they described as recent 'speculations' that the L'engai Volcano had both 'erupted' and 'caused damage.' The residents refuted reports of serious eruption, though they admitted that the Mountain had been releasing some fumes in the last ten days. Being the epicenter for the ongoing series of earthquakes, the area around the L'engai has been suffering from constant tremors and rumblings, however as far as the local residents are concerned, it is a 'normal' occurrence and doesn't necessarily spell danger. As it happens, the entire area surrounding both Oldonyo L'engai and the adjacent Lake Natron have, since last week, been experiencing a number gigantic earth movements resulting in rocks catapulting into the air. Oldonyo L'engai is the only volcano in the world that erupts Natro-carbonatite, a highly fluid lava, containing almost no silicon. About 15 tremors have so far rocked the area and out of those 13 were minor quakes, while the two that struck on July 15 were so big that some of the ridges criss-crossing the vast landscape cracked and threw out huge rocks, some of which hit and damaged a number of residential houses in the vicinity. Similar incidents have been reported in Engaruka parts of Monduli where the surrounding hills have been sending huge rocks down due to the quakes. However reports were refuted that some school buildings in Engaruka had collapsed due to the volcano. Only one house suffered deep cracks but it was due to tremors, not the volcano. Two girls of Orkum village were hit by rocks while drawing water from a deep valley. The tremors caused the rock above to fall below where the children were. They both suffered only minor injuries. This is also contrary to some reports that the children had been scalded by volcanic lava. A March 2006 major volcanic eruption was the first ferocious eruption to be recorded since

200,000 marooned in northern Bangladesh floods

Bangladesh
Photo: Pedestrians wade through a flooded street in Dhaka.

July 29, 2007
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) - At least 200,000 people have been marooned in northern Bangladesh, as monsoon rains and snow melt from the Himalayas hit the flood-prone nation, state-run media said.

The military has begun to evacuate people and distribute relief as major rivers burst their banks and inundated low areas in the north, the state-run BSS news agency said.

Unconfirmed reports said at least 10 people have so far died of drowning and snake-bites in the area. Last month, landslides triggered by heavy rains killed at least 126 people in southeastern city of Chittagong on the bay of Bengal.

The government's flood forecasting and warning centre said the situation could worsen in the next few days as major monsoon and Himalayan-glacier fed rivers -- the Ganges and the Brahmaputra that flow through Bangladesh -- are expected to crest.

The Brahmaputra, the source of two-thirds of river water in the country, was flowing at least 25 centimetres (one foot) above danger levels, the centre said.

Humanitarian Crisis

Iraq
Photo: Iraqi refugees wait to register their names at the U.N. Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) centre in the Douma suburb of Damascus July 19, 2007. Syria hosts more than one million Iraqi refugees who fled their homeland after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA)

Related News
LONDON - About 8 million Iraqis — nearly a third of the population — need immediate emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, relief agencies said Monday.
Those Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, said the report by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq.
The report said 15 percent of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat, and 70 percent are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. It also said 28 percent of children are malnourished, compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion.

Fires still rage across southern Europe

Southern Europe

Photo: A firefighter tries to extinguish a fire close to the Croatian southern Adriatic resort of Dubrovnik [AFP]

July 28, 2007

An extreme heatwave continues to rage across southern Europe as firefighters struggle to contain the blazes that have burned thousands of hectares in the region.
In Bulgaria, 23,000 hectares of forest and farmland have burned over the past week.
The country also experienced its hottest temperatures since records began, above 45 degrees Celsius in some places.
Some 7,000 firefighters and 2,500 army troops continued to battle blazes.

27 die, nearly three million hit by floods in eastern India

India
Photo: This skinny cow was trying to find a bit of shelter from today's rain storms, July 29

July 28, 2007
GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - At least 27 people have died and nearly three million hit by floods triggered by torrential monsoon rains in eastern India, officials said Saturday.

Fourteen people were swept away in swirling floods in eastern Bihar state that wreaked havoc with most rivers running in spate, officials said.

Two million people were hit by the floods which inundated homes and farms in 11 districts of Bihar, India's second most populous state, they said.

Landslips and flash-floods killed 13 more people in Assam and Meghalaya and displaced around 750,000 people in the two adjoining states, prompting authorities to send an appeal for help to military units, officials said.

The overnight deaths took the rain- and flood-related national toll to almost 800 since the onset of monsoon in India in June from a tally compiled from local officials and media reports.

Army on alert as floods displace 600,000 in India's northeast

Photo: Indian villagers navigate through floodwaters near the village of Bordoloni in Dhemaji district

GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - Indian army soldiers and civil rescue teams remain on standby in north-eastern Assam state as flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains displaced 600,000 people, officials said Friday.

"The overall flood situation is grim with all the rivers and their tributaries in spate," Bhumidhar Barman, Assam's revenue, relief and rehabilitation minister, told AFP.
"We have asked the army and other security and civil agencies to be on standby."
A government statement said 600,000 people were hit by the floods in 12 of Assams 27 districts in the past week.

EXTREME WEATHER

The latest headlines, photos, and video about weather around the globe

Flood areas brace for more heavy rain

Breaking Earth News

Great Britain

Photo: Camilla greets residents in Tewkesbury

Flood victims still trying to recover from the last deluge have been warned to stay home tonight as torrential rain is forecast to hit southern Britain in the next 24 hours.
The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for central and southern England and Wales and said there was a risk of further flooding.
Heavy and persistent rain will begin tonight and continue tomorrow, bringing further misery to Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire, where widespread flooding has affected thousands of households.
Chief Constable Tim Brain from Gloucestershire Police today warned residents to stay home tonight, and only venture out unless absolutely necessary.

Farm worries mount as drought expands across Minnesota

Breaking Earth News
Minnesota, USA

MINNEAPOLIS
Minnesota is dry and getting drier.
A band of severe drought now extends from the southwestern corner of the state, through the Twin Cities, up to the northeastern tip. The only part of Minnesota that isn't short on rain is a portion of the northwest, an updated map released Thursday by the National Drought Mitigation Center shows.
"We are in desperate need of rainfall," said Curt Watson, a farmer in Renville County in west-central Minnesota.
Eighty-two percent of the state is now rated abnormally dry, while 35 percent is in moderate drought and 24 percent is in severe drought, according to the drought center. Only 18 percent of the state is close to normal.

The Environmental Crossroads 2007

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Related Regional News
1,100 cattle die in heat wave

As many as 1,100 cattle, most of them being finished for sale in feedlots, died in the high heat and humidity. It's a rare occurrence that caught many off guard."I don't remember that kind of loss in our state in recent years," Holland said. "It's a disaster for some people.''
The lethal combination of heat and humidity, coupled with a lack of breeze and the continued hot temperatures overnight, contributed to the deaths, he said."If we can get some cooler temperatures, even at night, and some breeze, it should ease," Holland said.
Temperatures, which have held steady in the 90s, are expected to fall into the low 80s in much of eastern South Dakota on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Breaking News

More Cattle Deaths Reported

The heat-related death toll for cattle in northeastern and east-central South Dakota continues to mount. It's now estimated that more than 2,800 cattle were killed during the heat spell earlier this week.

Sweltering Europe braces for more fires

Breaking Earth News

European Continent



Three heat-related deaths were reported in Greece overnight as southern Europe blistered under a devastating heatwave and environmentalists blamed many of the fires raging in Italy on arsonists. Greek authorities said two elderly women were found dead in the Peloponnese village of Diakofto where a fire was raging for a third day. A 76-year-old man died on Wednesday evening in another fire in the village of Mamoussia. The blaze destroyed homes there and in two other towns, Pyrgaki and Melissia. The inferno broke out in the area some 200km from Athens on Tuesday and has yet to be brought under control. A dozen other fires were still burning across the country, much of which wilted under temperatures of 45 C. There were major blazes on the islands of Kefalonia and Zakynthos in the Ionian sea, at Chios island in the Aegean, Hydra south of Athens and in Kastoria and Kozani, in the north. Two Greek Canadair pilots have already died while trying to douse a forest fire, as well as three firefighters. In Italy, at least 4500ha of protected areas have burned in the past three weeks. "Most of the fires of the past few days have been of a criminal nature. It is well known that fire almost always serves to get rid of trees and other natural obstacles to make way for new hotels, villas or pastures." In Bulgaria, some 950ha in the centre and northeast were on fire, prompting Sofia to seek aid from the European Union, NATO and Russia. A state of emergency was declared Wednesday in the central Kazanlak region and northeastern Dabovo. Temperatures have dropped, but winds are still fanning the fires. In Slovakia, a fire sparked by lightning raged overnight through the Slovensky Raj national park in the country's east. Croatia's Dalmatian coast was ablaze with dozens of fires, and 1400 tourists and residents were evacuated on Wednesday from the island of Solta, where some 400ha of forest and olive groves burned down and homes were threatened. Worst-hit Hungary, where up to 500 people may have died last week from heat-related causes, was enjoying a significant drop in temperatures with the welcome arrival of a cool front.

RELATED NEWS ARCHIVES

ASH RAINS DOWN ON THE CAPITAL(ATHENS)
Hundreds killed in European heatwave

While Britain wades through its washed-out summer, hundreds of lives in Eastern and southern Europe have been lost in a week of stifling temperatures and forest fires.
An estimated 500 deaths were attributed to the hottest weather for a century in Hungary, while temperature records were also set in Bulgaria and Greece. The mercury soared to 45C (113F) in Athens yesterday.
Albania, Bosnia and Macedonia each declared a state of emergency as hospitals struggled to cope with victims of heat-related conditions.

Flooding Reaching Unprecedented Levels in Sudan

Sudan, Africa
July 26, 2007

Khartoum
Floods that have already left thousands of families homeless in Sudan have reached a critical stage in several states, an official from the government's emergency response committee said.

"The river levels have exceeded those of previous years, especially in the Nile River state [northern Sudan]," said General Awad Widatallah Hussein, spokesman for the committee, on 26 July.

The government Humanitarian Aid Commission reported on 24 July that the level of the Blue Nile at Khartoum, the capital, was "far above" the record levels seen at this time of year in 1988. Readings from several monitoring stations show the Nile to be more than a metre higher than in 1988.

At least 59 people have been killed and more than 35,000 families left homeless by rains and floods affecting 12 of the 26 states, he said.

RELATED NEWS ARCHIVES

Floods destroy 15,000 homes in Sudan

FLASH floods across central and eastern Sudan have killed 20 people and destroyed 15,000 houses, the head of the civil defence authority said, predicting worse weather conditions to come.

RELATED VIDEO

Heavy rain triggers landslides in quake-damaged Niigata

Japan

Photo: A collapsed utility pole is pictured in an area where heavy rain triggered a landslide, on Thursday morning in Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture.

July 26, 2007

NIIGATA -- Heavy rain hit earthquake-damaged areas of Niigata Prefecture on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, triggering landslides that cut off roads, officials said.
Local officials said heavy rain was recorded in both Kashiwazaki and the town of Kariwa, which received major damage in the earthquake that struck Niigata Prefecture on July 16.
The rain triggered landslides that cut off roads in some areas, officials said.
The downpour sparked fears of river flooding in Kashiwazaki, prompting officials to move 13 elderly people from an elementary school housing about 130 evacuees to a separate shelter.

More areas go under flood waters

Breading Earth News

Bangladesh

Photo: Floodwater washed away 60 metres of Brahmaputra Flood Control Embankment at Khokshabari near Sirajganj town yesterday, leaving many areas of the town inundated. PHOTO: STAR

The flood situation across the country worsened yesterday as heavy rain continued raising the water level in almost all the major rivers including the Jamuna and Padma. In the next couple of days, it is likely to take a more alarming turn in the districts adjacent to the rivers. Many fresh areas went under water forcing more and more people to leave their houses and herd themselves to a higher ground. Ferry service on Aricha-Nagarbari route remained snapped due to floods, after the flood waters washed away the pontoons at the Nagarbari end. Collapse of levees in some districts including Sirajganj and river erosion in Bogra have also contributed to inundation of new areas. Low-lying areas in Gaibandha, Bogra, Jamalpur, Sirajganj, Pabna and Tangail are likely to go under water by the next 24 to 72 hours. The Ganges-Padma too kept rising at all points and was flowing 30 cm and 11 cm above danger level. In the 24 hours ending at 6:00pm yesterday, the Met Office recorded 200 millimetres of rain in Sunamganj and 180mms at Lorergarh. Four villages at Bera upazila and low laying areas at Shujanagar upazila went under water. More than 20 villages in Belkuchi, Sirajganj sadar, Shahzadpur and Chowhaly upazila headquarters and Kazipur municipality have gone under water, forcing some 500 weaving factories and 40 educational institutions to be closed. About 1,000 ponds in Kalmakanda, Durgapur, Atpara, Madan, Mohonganj and Khaliajuri upazilas have been inundated and fish of an estimated price of Tk 10 crore has been carried away in flood waters.

Sun Loses Its Spots As Solar Cycle 23 Bottoms With A Cold Wet Southern Winter

The latest image of the Sun from SOHO. To See more of the Sun Click here. Credit: NASA/ESA.

Boulder CO (SPX) Jul 25, 2007
While sidewalks crackle in the summer heat, NASA scientists are keeping a close eye on the sun. It is almost spotless, a sign that the Sun may have reached solar minimum. Scientists are now watching for the first spot of the new solar cycle to appear. The 11 year long solar cycle is marked by two extremes, solar minimum and solar maximum. Solar minimum is the period of least solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During this time sunspot and solar flare activity diminishes, and often does not occur for days at a time.
NOAA's Space Environment Center, Boulder CO, forecasts that the next solar cycle should begin in March 2008 and should peak in late 2011 or mid 2012.

Earth facing ever-growing water shortage

Photo: Canadian Pakistan Sind Technician and local farmer test the quality of water from a new artesian well.

TORONTO -- Some of the world's most powerful nations are getting increasingly desperate for fresh water and observers are concerned that a day will come when countries will fight for the dwindling resource.
Countries in the Middle East and Africa have long dealt with water shortages but now the likes of China, India and the United States are grappling with the problem.
And the United Nations says five billion people will be living in areas with limited water availability by 2025, which will only exacerbate tensions and demand for the limited supply.
Water management has been pushed to the top of the political agenda in some countries and military leaders are now being drawn into long-term planning to help strategize how governments will face their dry futures.
Climate change and subsequent consequences like water scarcity present a serious threat to national security, said a panel of 11 retired three-star and four-star American admirals and generals in a recent report for the CNA Corp., a non-profit organization.
While it's not yet expected that water will be the sole cause of a war, the report suggests a fight over natural resources could be the final straw that pushes countries into conflict.

Death toll grows as heat sizzles to record

Breaking Earth News

Hong Kong

The heatwave has continued to take its toll, with two deaths and more than a dozen people falling ill in the past few days, and the temperature soaring to a record high on southern Hong Kong Island.

According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the temperature hit a record high of 38 degrees Celsius at Repulse Bay on Hong Kong Island yesterday, while temperatures of above 36 degrees Celsius were recorded in parts of northern New Territories.
The highest temperature on record was 36.1 degrees, which was registered on August 19, 1900, and August 18, 1990.

HEATWAVE/DROUGHT

TAIWAN - Taitung County in eastern Taiwan has been hit hard by the MOST SERIOUS DROUGHT IN 30 YEARS, leaving government officials scratching their heads trying to find water to save crops. Officials said Wednesday that although they have diverted water from four streams in the county to help farmers, the volume of water still falls short of what farmers need to begin second-stage rice planting, and more than 50 percent of the tea crop has already withered. Taitung County has not had its usual share of rain since early this year. Citing an example, they noted that the county's Chihshang township, one of Taiwan's main centers for producing organic rice, has recorded a total rainfall of only 258 mm thus far this year - less than one third of the normal amount - and that the expected plum rain season between May and July has never appeared. Now water wells in Chihshang township are running dry, something local residents say they have not seen in 60 years.

TURKEY is facing a new heat wave coming in from the Balkans and the middle Mediterranean region. Temperatures are expected to rise by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius across the country, with meteorologists predicting the thermometer to rise over 40 C in western Turkey. In particular, experts say the heat will be at its peak at 5 p.m. The whole country is experiencing ONE OF ITS HOTTEST SUMMERS SINCE RECORDS BEGAN. Temperatures are already 8 to 10 degrees above seasonal norms. The same problem is being experienced throughout the Balkans and southeast Europe, leaving no one untouched by the extreme weather. The western and Aegean regions of Turkey are already being hit by the new heat wave. In Ýstanbul, the mercury is predicted to shoot to 40 degrees, but coupled with a 60-percent humidity rate it will feel much higher. In the Aegean region, the temperatures are expected to range between 38 and 44 degrees. The highest temperatures observed in Turkey yesterday: 43 in Edirne, 41 in Kýrklareli, 40 in Balýkesir. Forests in Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece have been ravaged by flames this week, blamed on record-high temperatures after the dry winter.

58 dead in Indonesia floods, landslides

Indonesia

Map showing the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, where search and rescue workers struggled in bad weatherto reach survivors in flooded and landslide-hit Central Sulawesi, as the death toll from the disaster rose to 58.
(AFP/Graphic)

Indonesian search and rescue workers struggled in bad weather Tuesday to reach survivors in flooded and landslide-hit Central Sulawesi, as the death toll from the disaster rose to 58.

The floods have affected some 36,000 people and are the latest in a string of natural catastrophes to hit Indonesia, where activists have long warned that logging and a failure to reforest denuded land will lead to repeat tragedies.

The head of the Central Sulawesi disaster control task force, Frits Abbas, said that 58 people had been killed, but the bodies of most victims were still buried under debris.

Days of heavy rains sparked floods that inundated Central Sulawesi's Morowali district on Sunday, demolishing hundreds of homes and severing transport links.

On Tuesday, two-metre (-yard) high waters also swept through Banggai district to the east, said Rustam Pakaya, from the health ministry's crisis centre in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

The floods have affected some 20,000 people in 16 villages there, he said, while the homes of some 16,000 others in Morowali were inundated.

Video: 2000 Evacuated From Oxford

Breaking Earth News Video
London - Large parts of southern and central Britain remained in the grip of severe flooding on Wednesday, with the university town of Oxford the latest to be hit by the rising water of the Thames.

The authorities said some 250 people left their homes in Oxford voluntarily overnight as the river Thames burst its banks following the volumes of water flowing into it from tributaries.

Up to 2 000 people in the renowned university city have now been evacuated to take shelter in a football stadium.

Assam Villages Washed Away Without a Trace

India
Photo: People wade through a flooded road after heavy rains in the eastern Indian state of Bihar July 25, 2007. Floods have inundated large stretches of the country since the start of this year's monsoon season, killing about 750 people and displacing more than eight million.
REUTERS/KRISHNA MURARI KISHAN

July 25, 2007
Elderly Tulan Dutta stared blankly from a raised mud embankment with the swirling grey floodwaters washing away a cluster of huts in his village in front of his eyes.

Dutta and his family of 12, including three grandchildren, are among an estimated 5,000 people in Assam's Dhemaji district whose lives will never be the same again. Dhemaji is about 500 km east of Guwahati, the principal city in the northeast Indian state of Assam.

'God's curse has fallen on us. The floodwaters washed away everything without a trace,' Dutta told IANS as tears welled in his eyes.

The flash floods a fortnight ago caught everyone by surprise with the river Kumatia, a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra, suddenly changing its course.

'The Kumatia is now flowing through some 15 villages comprising about 1,000 families. Its course has changed and it seems these people have very little chance to get back to their homes in the future,' Dhemaji District Magistrate D.N. Mishra said with a voice filled with emotions.

China floods spread to north after at least 500 die

Breaking Earth News
China
Photo: People take photos at a flooded bank area of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, July 25, 2007



BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) - Water levels have risen to critical levels along vast Chinese rivers and floods have spread to the north while a tornado hammered 33 villages in the east and two central provinces suffered drought, media said on Thursday. More than 500 people have been killed since the summer floods started, but the disaster has failed to gain world attention surrounding floods in England in which three deaths have been reported.

State television showed pictures of uprooted trees, downed electricity poles and houses without roofs by the tornado. Nearly 100,000 trees were uprooted or severed and large areas of crops were destroyed, causing economic losses of 22 million yuan ($2.9 million), the China Youth Daily said. There have been no reports of casualties from the tornado, which hit in the early morning, but water levels along the Huai remained at alarming levels.

IN PHOTOS: DEADLY CHINA FLOODS
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Point Radix on alert

Trinidad & Tobago
Photo: On the lookout: Shayana Rahim looks through binoculars to view signs of a suspected underwater volcano off Point Radix, Ortoire yesterday.

July 25, 2007
Fishermen and small craft operators have been warned to avoid sailing offshore at Point Radix, Ortoire as emergency agencies investigate reports of an active underwater volcano.

Office of Disaster Prepared-ness and Management (ODPM) CEO Paul Saunders yesterday confirmed the authorities had issued safety warnings for ships and other vessels to exercise caution off the Point Radix coastline. However, Saunders advised that it was too early to say what was the nature of the activity out at sea.
The suspected volcanic activity was discovered some five miles off Point Radix on Monday by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Amateur Radio League (TTARL) which immediately notified the ODPM and the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Unit.

'Mud volcano' growing offshore



THE ROILING waters five miles off Trinidad's east coast might be a sign of a mud volcano growing on the ocean floor, belching out methane gas along with a slurry of mud and sediment, experts believe.
Photo: RUMBLING SEA: A pirogue, bottom right, moves past what appears to be the activities of a "mud volcano" off Radix Point, Mayaro yesterday.

The Worst Flooding In Living Memory

Great Britain

Photo: Sunset over flooded Gloucestershire pic: Andy Coates

The Environment Agency has issued flood warnings for several stretches of the Thames from Oxford, through Windsor to Shepperton and Teddington.

Worst flooding for decades
Monsoon-like rainstorms have overwhelmed swathes of Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire - and insurers have said the final repair bill could top £2bn.

The floods have been described as the worst in modern history.
An Environment Agency spokesman said: "We have not seen flooding of this magnitude before. The benchmark was 1947 and this has already exceeded it."

BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF FLOOD DEVASTATION

Video footage captured from Sky News's helicopter highlights the extent of the flooding across Gloucestershire