A LOG OF EXTREME GLOBAL WEATHER EVENTS FROM JULY 2000 TO TODAY

"It is no longer a question of whether the earth's climate will change but when, where and by how much." John Robert T Watson, Chairman of the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, 1999.

The extreme global weather events listed below have all happened during the last three months. As stated above, none can be directly, individually attributed to human induced climate change, but together they demonstrate the alarming frequency of the occurrence of such events. Reflection on these recent events brings home the immediacy of climate change and gives an indication of the devastating impact that individual weather events have on the lives of the people affected.

The report is presented as excerpts from daily news reports.

MEXICO & BELIZE: October 2, 2000 | A powerful hurricane was last week edging on to land in eastern Mexico's Yucatan peninsular and north eastern Belize yesterday, pounding the area with heavy rains and 135mph winds prompting the authorities to evacuate high risk zones. Parts of Honduras and Nicaragua were deluged with water and put on alert for likely flooding. The Guardian 2/10/00

VIETNAM: September 20, 2000 | A swelling tide headed down the Mekong River in Cambodia towards southern Vietnam yesterday, threatening further casualties in the worst floods to hit the region in decades. Widespread flooding has already claimed up to 119 Cambodian lives since July and 31 this month in the three worst-hit provinces of Vietnam's Mekong Delta bordering Cambodia. On Monday, the Meteorological Department in Thailand, where floods have killed at least 28 people in recent weeks, warned central provinces to brace for further inundations. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says more than half a million homes have been flooded in the Mekong Delta, many up to the rafters, where house owners often remain precariously perched. It says 120,000-140,000 people had abandoned homes for higher ground since late last month and local authorities have told the Red Cross 300,000-400,000 more need evacuation. Water levels in one of Vietnam's three stricken Delta provinces, An Giang, rose another three centimetres overnight as a head of water created by unusually heavy monsoon rains flowed down the rust-red Mekong River from Cambodia.

VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA: September 19 2000 | 1.2m Cambodians and several thousand Vietnamese have been affected by floods which have killed about 100 people in the last two months. Unprecedented floods hit(ing) the Mekong river delta, as meteorologists predicted that the water would continue to rise. Guardian 19/9/00

USA: September 19, 2000 | The remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon spattered rain and threatened tornadoes over the U.S.southeast yesterday as residents in some parts of Florida swept water from flooded homes and hacked up fallen tree limbs.

JAPAN: September 13, 2000 | Flooding and landslides from Japan's worst rains in at least a century killed seven people, forced the evacuation of 45,000 and snarled transport through the nation's industrial heartland yesterday. The floodwaters poured through residential areas when two rivers burst their banks following the torrential rains. The downpour of up to 60 cm (18 inches) was spawned by typhoon Saomai some 2,200 km (1,300 miles) to the south, which struck the southern island of Okinawa.

CROATIA: September 1, 2000 | Croatia estimates the damage suffered from this year's drought and forest fires at 2.74 billion kuna $300 million), local media reported yesterday. The drought - now in its fifth month - could reduce fruit, grape and grain crops to just 30-50 percent of initial forecasts. Hail storms destroyed large areas under grapevine and other cultures, causing 107 million kuna in damage.

INDIA: September 1, 2000 | Waters of a swollen river in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have started to recede, officials said yesterday, after more than a week of floods that have brought misery to millions. The monsoon-driven floods, the worst in the southern state in decades, have left thousands homeless and damaged or destroyed large areas of crops. At least 165 people had died in the floods.

USA: August 28/29, 2000 | Uncontrolled blazes roaring across the U.S. West, as fire officials reported a total of more than 1.6 million acres (648,000 hectares) ablaze in 13 western states. Record and near-record temperatures in Kansas were shaping up to make the Midwestern state the hottest place in the United States yesterday, with a forecasted high of 110 degrees. And searing heat was also taking a toll in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas and parts of Missouri as forecasters predicted temperatures to climb well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the region. Farmers are watching their crops wither in the fields. Those growing corn, soybeans, sorghum and other fall crops are badly in need of rain and a respite from the heat, particularly those who farm dryland and rely on rain to provide needed moisture.

INDIA: August 28, 2000 | Environmentalists and citizens' groups said yesterday bad urban planning and illegal construction had aggravated flooding in southern India that killed 131 people last week.

CROATIA: August 25, 2000 | Fires caused by a long drought are raging along Croatia's Adriatic coast and its hinterland, ravaging pine forests and olive groves and threatening villages and roads, state media reported yesterday. The latest weather report, forecasting a continuing heatwave without any prospect of rain in days to come and stronger winds, boded ill for fire-fighting efforts.

CUBA: August 25, 2000 | Former hurricane Debby disintegrated into a scattered mass of thunderstorms yesterday over Cuba, where it was likely to bring much-needed rain and possibly flooding to drought-stricken areas. Debby's rains, which began to be felt in eastern Cuba shortly before dawn, would be a welcome reprieve for parched agricultural land, especially in Guantanamo, Las Tunas and Holguin. There has been a drought there since the end of 1999.

SLOVENIA: August 24, 2000 | The Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday that damage to crops caused by low rainfall was set to exceed the ministry's earlier forecast of some 25.2 billion tolars ($109 million). An extended period of drought from March until the end of June would cause losses of some 17 billion tolars, Agriculture Minister Ciril Smrkolj told a news conference. The catastrophic drought has caused huge damage, especially in eastern and southern Slovenia," he said.

TAIWAN: August 24, 2000 | Typhoon Bilis ripped through Taiwan yesterday leaving at least 11 people dead including eight orchard workers buried by a mudslide in a central area still recovering from a devastating earthquake.

KENYA: August 23, 2000 | More than three million people are facing starvation as drought sweeps through Kenya leaving hundreds dead and tens of thousands of cattle seeking sustenance on the streets of Nairobi. Eighty per cent of the country has been hit by drought. Daily Telegraph 23/8/00

INDIA August 14, 2000 | At least 4.5 million people have been made homeless by heavy flooding in India. In the northeastern state of Assam, which has suffered three waves of flooding as well as flash floods since the end of June, a huge river island has been engulfed by water and its 100,000 inhabitants have been forced to flee.

INDIA: August 10, 2000 | Overnight monsoon rain in India's northeast yesterday raised flood waters which are feared to have killed about 300 people in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh and made millions homeless. Official figures from the four countries show 184 people have died and 115 gone missing since swollen rivers began gushing off the Himalayas two weeks ago. Relief officials in Assam said three million people had been displaced and more than 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres) of crop area affected.

IRAN: August 4, 2000 | Iran's worst drought in 30 years has inflicted severe damage on the country's agriculture and livestock and threatens to displace millions of people, the United Nations said yesterday. Two years of consecutive droughts has affected 18 of Iran's 28 provinces and more than half of the country's 60 million population. According to the report, 2.8 million tonnes of Iran's wheat crops and 280,000 tonnes of barley have been destroyed and an estimated 800,000 head of livestock have died of malnutrition and thirst.

BRAZIL: August 4, 2000 | Mudslides triggered by five days of torrential rain in Brazil's northeast have killed at least 47 people and forced some 120,000 to abandon their homes in the region's worst flooding in 25 years

CANADA : July 17, 2000 | The death toll from Canada's worst tornado in 13 years rose to 10 yesterday as the military joined the search for more possible victims at a lakeside trailer park in Alberta ripped apart by Friday's storm.

JAPAN : July 10, 2000 | The Izu island chain south of Tokyo offers some of the clearest seas in the world. But over the past few weeks, it has offered visitors to the popular tourist destination just about everything nasty that nature can dish out. There have been a volcanic blast, landslides, mudslides, flooding, earthquakes, and to wash it all down, a typhoon pelted the area with strong winds, heavy rains and high waves.

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE : July 6, 2000 | Italy and the Balkans sizzled yesterday as a heat wave from the Sahara desert scorched a path through the region - killing four people, sending hundreds to hospital and damaging crops. Temperatures in Bucharest, Sofia and Belgrade hit record highs, and on the Italian island of Sardinia the thermometer touched 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). Four people died from the heat in Bulgaria. The baking heat also scorched crops - yet more bad news for the region's farmers who are still reeling from a winter drought. Fires continued to sweep vast areas, devastating forests, farmland and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes.

Source (unless otherwise stated): Planet Ark; the environment news from Reuters news agency.

Contact:

Roda Verheyen
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland

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