India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with the media on the opening day of the parliament session in New Delhi, India, 17 June 2019. Photo: Adnan Abidi / REUTERS

India PM calls for water conservation push as drought hits crops

By Devjyot Ghoshal 30 June 2019 NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday pushed for greater grassroots water conservation efforts amid concerns weak monsoon rains would push millions of drought-hit people to the edge and hammer agricultural production in Asia’s third-biggest economy. The monsoon season is responsible for around 70% of […]

“Day Zero” in India looming for millions

By Dr. Jeff Masters 6 June 2019 (Weather Underground) – In early 2018, a three-year drought pushed Cape Town, South Africa, within weeks of experiencing “Day Zero”—the day when the city would run out of water and the taps be shut off. Fortunately, extreme water conservation efforts and the arrival of timely rains pushed “Day […]

Extreme rainfall events are connected across the world

By Hayley Dunning 30 January 2019 (Imperial College London) – Extreme rainfall – defined as the top five percent of rainy days – often forms a pattern at the local level, for example tracking across Europe. But new research, published today in Nature, reveals that there are also larger-scale global patterns to extreme rainfall events.These […]

Crocodile warning issued as Australia city faces “unprecedented areas of flooding” – Authorities deliberately flood 2,000 Queensland homes after record downpours

By Guy Davies 4 February 2019 LONDON (ABC News) – The Australian government is warning citizens to be on the look out for crocodiles and snakes in the streets amid severe rainfall and flooding in north Queensland over the past few days. “Crocodiles prefer calmer waters and they may move around in search of a […]

Historic flooding in Australia to continue, worsen across Queensland into the new week – “Unprecedented” rainfall drives Daintree River level to break 118-year record

By Faith Eherts and Adam Douty 2 February 2019 (AccuWeather) – Record-setting rainfall in recent days has led to widespread flooding, land slips, road closures and evacuations across Queensland. Flood dangers and travel disruptions will continue with little change expected in the coming week. In northern Queensland this past week, Cairns recorded a daily rainfall […]

Did Kerala’s dams exacerbate India’s once-in-century floods?

By Euan Rocha, Rajendra Jadhav, and Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Alex Richardson 10 October 2018 KOCHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – Joby Pathrose, a farmer living a kilometre away from the usually languid Periyar river in southern India, was woken in the night by the sound of rushing waters. Hours later his plantations and everything he owned were […]

New landslide kills 21, buries houses in Philippines – “The ground in the area is still vibrating”

By Bullit Marquez and Joeal Calupitan 20 September 2018NAGA, Philippines (AP) – A massive landslide buried dozens of homes near a central Philippine mountain Thursday, killing at least 15 people and sending rescuers scrambling to find survivors after some sent text messages pleading for help. The slide surged down on about 30 houses in two […]

Philippines starts massive evacuations as Super Typhoon Mangkhut closes in – “We’re worried for the 10 million people living in the path of this destructive storm”

MANILA, Philippines, 13 September 2018 (NBC News) – Philippine authorities began evacuating thousands of people Thursday from the path of the most powerful typhoon this year, closing schools, readying bulldozers for landslides and placing rescuers and troops on full alert in the country’s north. More than 4 million people live in areas at most risk […]

Rivers and wells in post-flood Kerala dry up – Kilometers-long cracks in earth cause depletion of groundwater reserves – Kerala state requests $655 million for relief funding

Thiruvananthapuram, 13 September 2018 (PTI) – With mercury levels rising and abnormal drying up of rivers and wells reported in flood-hit Kerala, the state government has decided to conduct scientific studies on the post-flood phenomenon in the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment to carry out […]

Did environmental degradation worsen Kerala’s flood tragedy?

By Anjana Pasricha 24 August 2018 NEW DELHI (VOA News) – As India’s southern Kerala state looks at the task of rebuilding in the aftermath of devastating floods that swept away homes, inundated farmland and destroyed infrastructure, environmentalists have raised the question: Could the damage have been reduced if more attention had been paid to […]

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