In this episode of Climate Breaking News:
Landslides in Nepal, India, China
On July 8, 2020, in the southwestern part of China, torrential rains caused floods and landslides which resulted in the death of people.
Massive landslides of soil that soaked in rains, hit 3 (three) settlements in Guizhou Province. At least 150 (one hundred and fifty) residents were evacuated to a safe place. Infrastructure was also severely damaged.
From July 8 to 10, 2020, monsoon rains in Nepal caused floods and numerous landslides in several areas in the province of Bagmati Pradesh and Gandaki Pradesh.
There have been reports of casualties and missing people.
Due to difficult weather conditions, many houses and roads were seriously damaged, the rescuers had difficulties in reaching the sites of the tragedy.
In the municipality of Barabis alone, 14 homes were washed away by flood.
Also, due to the incessant 48-hours downpour, the Narayani river and several other water bodies in the country overflowed.
According to the National Disaster Risk Administration, this season in Nepal has become the deadliest in 11 years.
On July 10, 2020, a series of landslides also occurred in northeast India in the Arunachal Pradesh region.
There have been reports of casualties and missing people.
The landslides occurred due to extensive showers that lasted for 5 consecutive days.
For instance, in Itanagar, 142 (one hundred forty-two) mm of precipitation fell which caused landslides. The water level in rivers rose.
Homes were damaged, traffic was disrupted.
Tornadoes and tropical storm Fay in the USA
On July 10, 2020, record snowfall was recorded in the administrative center in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. The depth of the snow cover was 1.5 meters. And in the area of the Las Leñas ski resort, the snow was as much as 4 meters deep. Unusual enough, these regions have not had this kind of snow cover for years, and this year this amount of snow fell within just ten days. At the same time, in the province of Rio Negro, a temperature record was registered - minus 23 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, in the southern regions of Brazil there were large-scale floods and landslides.
Four cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul have declared an emergency. Unfortunately, there have been casualties.
In several states, due to intense rains, local rivers overflowed their banks.
As of 11 July 2020, over 7,000 (seven thousand) people were forced to leave their homes.
Thousands of houses were damaged and flooded.
Tornadoes are raging again in the Great Plains region of the Midwest of the United States. On July 8, 2020, numerous tornadoes were witnessed in western Minnesota. Unfortunately, one casualty has been reported. Homes and farms were damaged. Tornadoes are most active in May and June, but few have been reported this year. I would like to note that not only climatologists, but also ordinary people observe a one-to-two months seasonality shift in their regions.
On July 11, 2020, Tropical Storm Fay reached the shores of the northeast coast of the United States.
The hardest hit was in areas near Atlantic City, New Jersey.
While in some areas of Delaware, up to 150 (one hundred and fifty) mm of precipitation fell, compared to the earlier average norm of about 50 (fifty) mm. Earlier on July 9, more than a month's amount of rainfall fell in the Ocean City, Maryland state. Many streets were flooded, as a result traffic was obstructed. This tropical storm, being the sixth in a row since the start of the season, was the record-earliest in the Atlantic since the 1960s (nineteen hundred sixties) satellite observation.
Rising water levels in the largest lake in Africa - Victoria
On July 8, 2020, a low-pressure system not typical for this season with showers and thunderstorms hit Cyprus.
Although rains with thunderstorms are common on the island, such a sharp cold snap is typical only for winter, and not in July, when the temperature reaches the annual maximum.
Also this year in Cyprus there is generally an increase in such weather differences. In June alone, similar climatic anomalies occurred at least three times.
Meteorologists said that such phenomena are directly related to global climate change and are not typical for this region, because they usually occur in the northern parts of the Earth.
In Africa, in the largest Lake Victoria, the water level has risen by more than 1 (one) m since autumn 2019 and continues to rise.
According to experts, prolonged rains contributed to the increase of the water level. Another factor is the imbalance between the water flow rate and the rate of its evaporation, because precipitation falls faster than water from the lake evaporates.
Apart from that, 20% of the incoming water relies on several rivers that are located upstream, some of which originate hundreds of kilometers. Recently, the water flows from rivers into the lake have almost doubled.
Compared to October last year, water flows to the upper Nile in Uganda have doubled.
Many Uganda residents depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. As the lake level rises, drinking water systems, infrastructure, medical facilities and hydroelectric power plants have already suffered. From the coastline, layers of soil with plants were washed away, which led to the emergence of floating islands with trees, which, falling into turbines, lead to power outages.
An eyewitness report from Kenya on climate change
My name is Martin Aketch. I work with … basically I work with a farm - I’m an extension officer in Kenya, based in Nairobi.
In Kenya we normally have the long rain starting from March to June. And the short rain starts from, I think, around September and all the way to November, but it ceases in December.
So basically that has been the norm for like thirty-forty years ago, up to that. But over the last three or four years, we’ve seen severe changes in terms of the short and the long rain.
So like, last year, in 2019, the short rain started around August and it continued up to December. In some areas, it went all along connected to the long rain which was supposed to start in February. So it’s like, we have a rainy season that starts in August and it continues all the way up to now. I’m guessing now … So in between December and February, we have like a few rains but basically it was raining throughout.
So, what we’ve seen with that is that there are a lot of floods. So many people are displaced from their normal place of residence.
We’ve also seen changes in terms of even how people conduct normal life activities.
So again, normally in Nairobi, for example, we have the colder season, where the cold season starts from around June, and then it continues up to August (I think in your time zone that should be summer, if I’m not wrong).
So, last year, again, we saw something different. It wasn’t that cold that we expected, it was a safely cold. It was warmer until just one month, in the month of June. And then in the month of July, we expected it to be very cold - it was reduced and then it continues. And then from there, we had the rain, the normal rain that we normally have in August.
So, basically, we have seen unstructured... unstructured rain for patterns who had not followed the normal rain for patterns. And this basically all to help people kinda in their farming activities, their normal life.
So those are some of the changes that we are experiencing in Kenya.
Of course, again, the last year 2019 the long rain normally started in March. In some places, it delayed up to around May.
So, those are some of the changes in terms of climate change.
Floods Russia, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Armenia
On July 14, torrential rain fell in Krasnodar, Russia. Almost a monthly amount of rainfall fell within just a few hours, in the central part of the city.
As a result, many roads and areas were flooded. Tram traffic was stopped, and the passengers had to be evacuated by rescuers.
A day earlier, in southern Krasnoyarsk Oblast’, in the Sayano-Shushenski nature reserve, a summer snowfall occurred, with the air temperature being slightly above zero.
It is also noted that at this time of the year, snow is unusual even in the highlands of the reserve. As for the altitudes of about 1500 (one and a half thousand) meters above sea level it is an absolutely unusual phenomenon.
This summer in Shushensky and other districts of the southern Krasnoyarsk Oblast’ is rather unusual. There are rains, thunderstorms, strong winds and hail almost every day, which damage crops and property of the locals.
On July 12-13, 2020, floods and landslides also occurred in northeastern Turkey after heavy rains.
Unfortunately, casualties have been reported. Several people were injured.
In the city of Çayeli, Rize province, more than two months' amount of rainfall fell within just 24 hours. The natural force damaged a number of houses and destroyed highways.
On July 13, 2020, an extensive shower with hail hit the Armenian city of Gyumri.
In just a couple of hours, the city’s streets and roads were under water, and a large amount of hail turned into ice. Houses were flooded. People got stuck in their vehicles on the roads, waiting for the arrival of rescuers.
To conclude the report, I would like to note that floods are continuing in the countries of South Asia.
Monsoon rains have already affected nearly 4 (four) million people, and about a third of Bangladesh is under water.
Heavy rains have led to the overflow of the two main river systems of the Himalayas - the Brahmaputra and the Ganges, which flow through India and Bangladesh.
Unfortunately, due to natural disasters, many people died, while tens of thousands of residents had to leave their homes.
More and more people are suffering from the effects of climate change. Natural disasters affect entire countries and even continents. After all, the climate is changing much faster than previously thought.
Humanity will not be able to influence these changes, since these processes occur cyclically.
Today, no one is insured against the possibility of losing everything in one day: property, shelter, and maybe the most valuable of all - life.
When material values dominate over spiritual values in a society, any natural disaster becomes an insurmountable obstacle for most people. Only those who are ready and able to unite, to act selflessly and help their neighbors, have chances to survive in these conditions.
We can build a creative society in the shortest possible time. A society in which, as the first foundation says, the highest value is a human Life.
Detailed information about the way out of the current climate situation can be found in the unique videos with the participation of Igor Mikhailovich Danilov
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