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Drought
in China leaves nearly 6 million lacking water
A boy herds sheep by a nearly dried up pond at a village in Shaoyang county, Hunan province, July 28, 2013.
BEIJING,
Aug. 5 (UPI) -- A drought has left nearly 6 million people without
water in 13 provincial-level areas in China, the Ministry of Civil
Affairs reported Monday.
About
4.3 million of the 5.95 million people affected by the drought, which
has continued since mid-June reside in Guizhou and Hunan provinces,
the ministry said.
More
than 4 million people were in need of government assistance, the
Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Monday.
The
report said the drought has caused direct economic losses of 12.1
billion yuan ($1.98 billion) and affected 2.09 million hectares
Hunan
province faces severe drought
The
village received no rainfall for 40 days after June 20, local media
reported. According to Xinhua News Agency, thirty-three counties and
cities in Hunan Province are facing severe drought, as it received
over 70 percent less rain than normal in July.
The
drought is affecting several provinces of south China, where flooding
used to be the overwhelming problem during summer. Picture taken July
28, 2013.
Japan:
29,700 hospitalized for heatstroke so far
A
total of 29,729 people were taken to hospital by ambulance for
heatstroke between May 27, when this year’s statistics started, and
Sunday, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said in a preliminary
report Tuesday.
Of
the total, 34 people died, while 772 suffered serious conditions
requiring hospital stays of at least three weeks, the agency said.
Chinese
heatwave in pictures: record summer temperatures in parts of China
A
bus is seen on fire on a street in Beijing. The fire might have been
due to high temperatures and no casualties have been reported, local
media said
Freak
hailstorm in North Denver, Co
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL45XL3G680
Flash Flooding Kills One
Strong storms will continue Tuesday in parts of Kansas, Missouri, and Kentucky. Flash flooding is now blamed for one death in Waynesville, Missouri.
Sudan:
Flash Floods - Aug 2013
An
estimated 98,500 people have been affected by heavy rain and flash
floods in several areas of Sudan between 1-4 Aug 2013. The floods
have killed 11 people and destroyed or damaged more than 14,000
houses. Khartoum and River Nile are the worst affected states.
Immediate needs include emergency shelter, health and water and
sanitation services.
Climate
report warns extreme weather events are now the norm
Climate
scientists in the United States say extreme weather events and
warming temperatures are the new norm.
ABC,
7
August, 2013
The
American Meteorological Society has released its annual snapshot of
the world's climate, which concludes disastrous weather events like
Hurricane Sandy in the US and droughts and floods in Australia,
Africa and South America will become more frequent.
The
report lists a raft of indicators that show a continuously warming
planet where ice sheets and glaciers will keep shrinking, and sea and
land temperatures will keep rising to record levels.
Last
year was a record-breaking year for the world's climate, with new
extremes for sea levels, temperatures, snow coverage and ice melts.
Arctic
ice levels reached record lows in 2012, and the polar region is
warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet, however on a
positive note at the other end of the world, Antarctica's climate
remained relatively stable and sea ice cover reached a record
maximum.
The
report also stated the world's highest levels of greenhouse gases
were released by burning fossil fuels last year.
Some
384 scientists from 54 countries contributed to the report, covering
all aspects of the planet, from the depths of the oceans to the
stratosphere.
Last
year was among the top 10 on record for global land and surface
temperature since modern data collection began.
'Planet
as whole becoming warmer place'
"The
findings are striking," Kathryn Sullivan, acting administrator
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told
AFP.
"Our
planet as a whole is becoming a warmer place."
Michael
Mann, a leading US climatologist at Pennsylvania State University who
was not involved in the research, added: "It's hard to read the
report and not be led to the conclusion that the task of reducing
carbon emissions is now more urgent than ever."
Globally,
2012 ranked as the eighth or ninth warmest year since records began
in the mid-to-late 1800s, according to four independent analysts
cited by the study.
"Surface
temperatures in the Arctic are increasing at a rate about two times
faster than the rest of the world," Jackie Richter-Menge,
research civil engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers, said.
Meanwhile,
permafrost temperatures reached record highs in northern Alaska and
97 per cent of the Greenland ice sheet showed some form of melt, four
times greater than the average melt for this time of year.
The
melt is also contributing to rising sea levels.
Average
global sea level reached a record high in 2012, 3.5 centimetres above
the 1993 to 2010 average.
"Most
recently, over the past seven years or so, it appears that the ice
melt is contributing more than twice as much to the global sea level
rise compared with warming waters," Jessica Blunden,
climatologist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, said.
Scientists
say the data should be of concern to people living in coastal areas
and that weather patterns from the past can no longer be used to
predict the future.
The
peer-reviewed report did not go into the causes for the trends but
experts said it should serve as a guide for policymakers as they
prepare for the effects of rising seas and warming weather on
communities and infrastructure.
The
amount of carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels also hit
new highs, after a slight decline in recent years that followed the
global financial crisis.
For
the first time, in Spring 2012, the atmospheric CO2 concentration
exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) at seven of the 13 Arctic
observation sites, the report said.
Global
average carbon dioxide reached 392.6 ppm, a 2.1 ppm increase from
2011, it said.
Droughts
and unusual rains struck different parts of the globe last year and
the the worst drought in the past three decades was noted in
north-eastern Brazil.
The
Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and the Sahel had its
wettest rainy season in 50 years, according to the report.
Dr
Sullivan said the findings "caution us, perhaps, to be looking
at a likely future where extremes and intensity of some extremes are
more frequent and more intense than what we have accounted for in the
past."
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