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Alice Springs counts cost of torrential downpour, faces risk of mosquito-borne diseases
Alice Springs counts cost of torrential downpour, faces risk of mosquito-borne diseases
With more than 200mm of rain hitting some parts of Alice Springs since Wednesday, dozens of houses across Alice Springs have found themselves battling rising floodwater.
Environmental health officers have also begun preparing for a spike in the number of mosquitoes, warning of an increased risk of contracting a rare and potentially fatal mosquito-borne encephalitis virus.
Northern Territory Emergency Services (NTES) volunteers worked around the clock in Alice Springs as rain fell late last week and over the weekend.
NTES Duty Officer Ian Smith said volunteers have attended 75 jobs since Wednesday with most of the calls coming through on Friday night.
“The majority of jobs were water backed up in the drains and then flowing into people’s premises,” he said.
“We had sandbags across people’s doors and occasionally [we] would have diversions put into place just to stop the flow.”
On Friday night, Hartley Street in the Alice Springs CBD was awash with water.
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More rain forecast for flood-hit SE Asia – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English
More rain forecast for flood-hit SE Asia – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English.
People in South East Asia have been warned to prepare for more flooding, after days of heavy rain across the region that has killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands in Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
Weather forecasters on Sunday warned that much of Malaysia will see more storms in the next three days; Thailand and Sri Lankan authorities also warned their people to brace for more floods.
“We expect another surge in heavy rain followed by strong winds brought by the seasonal northeast monsoon, which usually continues till March,” a Malaysian meteorological department official told AFP news agency.
According to officials, more than 200,000 people across the region have been left homeless because of the floods.
There are fears the death toll could rise as communities have been left stranded without food or medicine.
BBC News – Storm pounds northern California
BBC News – Storm pounds northern California.
More than 220,000 people are without power after heavy rains and high winds slammed northern California.
The storm brought rainfall of more than an inch an hour in San Francisco and winds gusts of 140mph (225km/h) in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Flooding has already closed two major motorways in the area, delayed public transport, cancelled 240 flights and shut ferry services.
The rain is much needed in the drought-hit state but mudslides are a concern.
Power cuts were widespread, from the suburban area south of San Francisco to Humboldt, near the Oregon border.
“It’s a two-pronged punch – it’s wind and rain,” National Weather Service forecaster Diana Henderson said. “Once the ground gets saturated and the winds are howling, there’s a bigger chance of trees going down on power lines.”
There were multiple vehicle accidents but no series injuries.
Rain and floods also led to rare weather-related school closures for students in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz County.
Some 240 flights at San Francisco’s airport were cancelled and delays averaged two hours, said a spokesman.
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A Coming California Earthquake? | Armstrong Economics
A Coming California Earthquake? | Armstrong Economics.
California’s Drought Ranks Worst in at Least 1,200 Years. The flooding that is taking place warns of something else. The major earthquakes correlate to these periods of extreme drought and then extreme rainfall. That may place added street on the fault lines. We warned last April that there is a rising trend in magnitude. Our models correlate everything and as such this correlation between earthquakes, drought, and excessive rain fall is something that warrants much more study. As the Economic Confidence Model turns down, we should be aware that it appears the ECM includes nature. 
The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake disrupted the capital flows and send capital rushing from East to West. This resulted in bank weakness in NYC and eventually failures in 1907. That set in motion an investigation and the the birth of the Federal Reserve with 12 independent branches to manage the capital flows.
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What Will Weather Do in 2015? Forecasters Say El Nino Looms – Bloomberg
What Will Weather Do in 2015? Forecasters Say El Nino Looms – Bloomberg.
Forecasters in Australia and New Zealand warned El Nino may soon be back, reviving concern that the weather pattern that can bring drought to parts of Asia and rains to South America may return for the first time since 2010.
Tropical Pacific temperatures have exceeded El Nino levels for a month and the Southern Oscillation Index, or SOI, has remained at or near thresholds for three months, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement today. Patterns are consistent with a weak event developing, New Zealand’s National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research said separately.
El Ninos, caused by periodic warmings of the Pacific, can roil agricultural markets worldwide as farmers contend with drought across parts of Asia or too much rain in South America. Palm oil, cocoa, coffee and sugar are among crops most at risk, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Forecasters, including scientists from Australia, raised the possibility of an El Nino developing earlier this year, before tempering their outlook as conditions for the event didn’t develop.
“Further warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean is likely, so it also remains possible that the ocean and atmosphere will fully couple in the coming weeks to months,” Australia’s bureau said in the fortnightly update. “If an El Nino is established, models suggest it will be weak, or moderate at best.”
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Only a Few Drops of Water at the Lima Climate Summit — Global Issues
Only a Few Drops of Water at the Lima Climate Summit — Global Issues.
Climate change already threatens water supplies for agriculture due to the reduction in the availability of fresh water, which is expected to be aggravated over the next decades. It also causes drought, torrential rainfall, flooding and a rise in the sea level, which together affect the global water situation.
“Water is a priority in adaptation,” Lina Dabbagh, an activist with the Climate Action Network International (CAN-I), told Tierramérica. “In Latin America it’s an extremely serious matter. But the idea is not to associate it with the international climate change negotiations, because the issue has its space in other forums.”
Dabbagh, who will attend the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was referring to the inclusion of water in discussions of the Sustainable Development Goals – which will build upon the Millennium Development Goals for the post-2015 development agenda – and the U.N. inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater and sanitation related issues, U.N. Water.
The schedule for the conference only includes four panels that refer to water: “Water holds the key for mitigation, adaptation and for building resilience: towards a climate deal”, “Africa & Caribbean South-South knowledge exchange on Water Security & Climate Resilient Development”, “A new Security Agenda: safeguarding water, food, energy and health security in a changing climate”, and “Mountains and water – from understanding to action”.
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Brazilian Judge Sides With Tribe Over Land Threatened by Dams | Environment News Service
Brazilian Judge Sides With Tribe Over Land Threatened by Dams | Environment News Service.
BRASILIA, Brazil, November 6, 2014 (ENS) – In a struggle between a Brazilian indigenous tribe and the federal government over two dams that would flood lands claimed by the tribe, a federal judge has ruled that the government must immediately publish its report delineating the tribe’s territory that has been withheld for more than a year.
Last week, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Public Prosecutors’ Office, federal judge Rafael Leite Paulo issued a ruling that requires FUNAI, the federal agency responsible for indigenous people, to publish its report within 15 days and determine the final decision on demarcation of the Sawre Muybu territory.
In October 2013, after completing 12 years of field studies, FUNAI completed a technical report confirming the status of Sawre Muybu as the Munduruku people’s traditional indigenous territory.
But under pressure from the administration of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, FUNAI and the Ministry of Justice have refused to officially publish the report, stalling demarcation.
The court ruled, “The process is stopped without a valid basis, but only by invoking a generic and empty claim prioritization of the regions Center-South, Southeast and Northeast, and so, the rights of indigenous peoples would be perpetually postponed…”
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