By Helen Davidson 21 October 2018 (The Guardian) – Climate change is already exacerbating domestic and international conflicts, and governments must take steps to ensure it does not get worse, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has said. Peter Maurer told Guardian Australia it was already making an impact and humanitarian […]
By Colin Dwyer 24 October 2018 (NPR) – A massive typhoon slammed into a U.S. territory in the west Pacific, lashing the Northern Mariana Islands with gusts of Category 5 intensity Wednesday night local time. Super Typhoon Yutu brought to bear maximum sustained winds of about 180 mph — much more powerful, in other words, […]
Dr. Jeff Masters 2 October 2018 (Weather Underground) – In a rare display of atmospheric violence, two Category 5 storms simultaneously churned across the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday morning. At 8 pm EDT Monday evening, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center elevated Hurricane Walaka a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds, and just three hours […]
25 September 2018 (UN News) – If there was one issue that was a recurrent theme on Tuesday on the first day of the United Nations General Assembly‘s annual general debate, it was the potentially catastrophic impact of climate change , from Secretary-General António Guterres’s opening address warning global Heads of State and Government that […]
15 September 2018 (BBC News) – Some 14 people have been killed in a massive storm which brought destruction to the northern Philippines, a presidential adviser says. Typhoon Mangkhut ripped through the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, and is now moving west towards China. Almost all buildings in the city of Tuguegarao sustained some damage, […]
By Kate Lyons 30 August 2018 (The Guardian) – The prime minister of Samoa has called climate change an “existential threat … for all our Pacific family” and said that any world leader who denied climate change’s existence should be taken to a mental hospital.In a searing speech delivered on Thursday night during a visit […]
By Virginia Harrison 1 September 2018 (BBC News) – Suicide attempts and horrifying acts of self-harm are drawing fresh attention to the suffering of refugee children on Nauru, in what is being described as a “mental health crisis”. The tiny island nation, site of Australia’s controversial offshore processing centre, has long been plagued with allegations […]
By Jason Samenow 27 August 2018 (The Washington Post) – Hurricane Lane, which collapsed in spectacular fashion as it drew close to Hawaiian Islands, could have been much worse. Had it held together and edged slightly farther north, severe rain, wind and surf would have bombarded Oahu and Maui. Instead, those islands were grazed.Even so, […]
By Mark Thiessen 26 August 2018 (AP) – Hurricane Lane secured its place in the history books before it quickly dissipated into a tropical storm and moved off from Hawaii. The storm caused damage, mostly on the Big Island, where rivers raged near Hilo and nearly 40 people had to be rescued from homes. There […]
By Daniel Manzo and Emily Shapiro 24 August 2018(ABC News) – As Hurricane Lane lurches north, the Category 3 storm has already dumped more than 31 inches of rain on Hawaii’s Big Island, bringing catastrophic flooding.The life-threatening flooding could even lead to landslides or mudslides.Rainfall rates in the outer bands of the hurricane may reach […]