A herd of wild buffalo wade through floodwaters at Kaziranga National Park in the India's northeast state of Assam, 24 July 2019. Photo: Biju BORO / AFP Photo

Rare rhinos among more than 200 animals killed by devastating India floods

GUWAHATI, 24 July 2019 (AFP) – Devastating floods have killed more than 200 wild animals—including 17 threatened one-horned rhinos—in one of India’s best-known national parks, officials said Wednesday. Forty percent of Kaziranga National Park in Assam has been left under water following 10 days of torrential rains that have also killed more than 71 people […]

Radar estimates of rainfall in Arkansas from Tropical Depression Barry, 16 July 2019. Arkansas is now the fifth state to post a new tropical storm or hurricane rainfall record since 2017, joining Texas, Hawaii, North Carolina, and South Carolina. These exceptional rainstorms keep happening and appear to be part of a trend toward more extreme events connected to climate change. Graphic: WeatherMatrix

Tropical Depression Barry’s 14.58” of rain in Arkansas breaks all-time state record – Arkansas becomes fifth U.S. state to set tropical storm rainfall record in past two years

By Dr. Jeff Masters 17 July 2019 (Weather Underground) – Rainfall from Tropical Depression Barry deluged southwest Arkansas over the past three days, with the 14.58” that fell at Murfreesboro on July 14 – 16 breaking the all-time state record for precipitation from a tropical cyclone. Barry’s heavy rains that fell over southwest Arkansas inundated multiple highways, including […]

Puddles are seen in farm fields as heavy rains caused unprecedented delays in U.S. corn planting in the spring of 2019, near Sheffield, Illinois, 13 June 2019. Photo: Tom Polansek / REUTERS

U.S. farmers now face extreme heat wave after floods and trade war – “We’ve never seen a year like this”

By Emma Newburger 20 July 2019 (CNBC) – In the past year, torrential rains have dumped water on U.S. farmlands, destroying acreage and delaying crops from getting planted on time. Now, farmers face another hurdle: a stifling heat wave that’s spreading across the United States and is expected to be the worst in the farm […]

A young man looks for mud crabs and snakehead fish as he walks on the parched bed of Chembarambakkam Lake, on the outskirts of Chennai, on 21 May 2019. Photo: Arun Sankar / AFP / Getty Images

In Chennai, water is now more expensive than petrol – 600 million people dealing with high to extreme water shortages – “I know what I am doing is wrong, but we are in a situation where you have to do what you can to survive”

By Karim Raslan 21 July 2019 (The Star) – Nearly four years ago, the south Indian city of Chennai (capital of Tamil Nadu) was under water. The worst floods in living history – the result of cyclones from the Bay of Bengal – had reduced this manufacturing and services powerhouse of eleven million to a […]

A woman wades through a flooded street during monsoon rain in Mumbai, July 2019. Photo: PTI

Deluge and drought: A tale of two Indian cities – Worst floods in 14 years cripple Mumbai while Chennai thirsts for a drop of water – “It’s scary and the problem persists every year despite government promises”

2 July 2019 (Gulf News) – Mumbai: Wall collapses in Mumbai and nearby towns, caused by the worst monsoon rains in a single day in 14 years, killed 30 people on Tuesday and disrupted rail and air traffic, prompting officials to shut schools and offices. Financial markets were open in the city of 18 million […]

Satellite view of Tropical Storm Barry, 12 July 2019. Photo: NOAA

Devastating floods possible as Tropical Storm Barry sloshes into Louisiana – “It doesn’t matter what the storm is called. We are still expecting a major rainfall flood event.”

By Bob Henson 12 July 2019 (Weather Underground) – Residents of southeast Louisiana need to finalize preparations for widespread and severe flooding this weekend with the approach of Tropical Storm Barry. Packing top sustained winds of 65 mph, slow-moving Barry will push its way onshore Saturday, possibly as a Category 1 hurricane. What matters most […]

Estimates of rainfall rates in the Washington, D.C. area on 8 July 2019 from NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory. Graphic: NASA

Wettest 12 months in U.S. history, yet again

By Bob Henson 9 July 2019 (Weather Underground) – Topping a remarkable record that was set just a month earlier, the year-long period ending in June was the wettest 12-month span in U.S. records that go back to 1895. For the 48 contiguous U.S. states, precipitation averaged 37.86” over the period from July 2018 to […]

Estimated precipitation from radar combined with rain gauge data during the record rainfall in the Washington, D.C. region on 8 July 2019. Data: Pivotal Weather. Graphic: The Washington Post

Record downpour paralyzes Washington, D.C. with flash flood – “This event goes off the scale”

By Jason Samenow, Ian Livingston, and Jeff Halverson 8 July 2019 (The Washington Post) – A month’s worth of rain deluged the immediate D.C. area early Monday, resulting in one of its most extreme flooding events in years. The record-setting cloudburst unleashed four inches of water in a single hour, way too much for a […]

Example of coastal flooding in Alamitos Bay, California with 0.25 m of sea level rise and storms. This example illustrate that there are locations with significant flood risks for small amounts of sea level rise when storms are considered. Graphic: Barnard, et al., 2019 / Scientific Reports

Trump officials deleting mentions of “climate change” from U.S. Geological Survey press releases – “It’s an insult to the science”

By Scott Waldman 8 July 2019 (Science) – A March news release from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) touted a new study that could be useful for infrastructure planning along the California coastline. At least that’s how President Donald Trump’s administration conveyed it. The news release hardly stood out. It focused on the methodology of […]

Satellite view of the proliferation of small dams in the Amazon rainforest, visible as “water mirrors”. Photo: Imazon / Sentinel 2

The silent proliferation of small dams in the Amazon rainforest

By Francy Nava 6 July 2019 (Imazon) – Recent land cover mapping in Amazonia has identified a considerable number of water mirrors in rural properties, indicating the presence of small dams supporting agricultural activities. In Sorriso-MT, for example, Arvor, et al., (2018) identified a five-fold increase in the number of dams (86 to 522) in […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial