Heavy rains and emerging waters continue to wreak havoc in countries including Nigeria, Thailand and Vietnam
The year 2022 has been drenched in many parts of the world, catastrophically. A year of disastrous flooding would likely have peaked in Pakistan, where a third of the country was flooded due to heavy rains in June, killing more than 1,000 people in what U. N. Secretary-General António Guterres called an unprecedented herbal disaster.
While floods are herbal phenomena, lasting aftermath of storms, the man-made climate crisis is amplifying their damage. Rising sea levels, driven by melting glaciers and thermal expansion of water, are flooding coastal areas, while warmer temperatures bring in moisture. accumulate in the atmosphere, which is then released as rain or snow.
Scientists said flash flooding was a challenge in some countries, with short, violent rain surges causing everything from discomfort to chaos.
As global warming, the type of flooding noticed this year from Australia to Nigeria will likely become more common. to Pakistan in September. Olivier Milman
Nigeria has been embroiled in its worst floods in a decade, affecting at least 18 of its 36 states and killing more than six hundred people, with more than a million people internally displaced.
Several points have been blamed, adding to the country’s land-use plan, crisis management, governance and lack of investment in climate infrastructure. The climate crisis has led to heavier and more unpredictable rainfall.
“To a large extent, most of Nigeria’s floodplain has been poorly controlled and not prioritized,” said Adedamola Ogunsesan, assignment manager at the Nigeria Conservation Foundation. “The initial precautionary formula has not addressed how we will respond in the event of flooding. There is no transparent data on the evacuation procedure and guarantee of protection.
Similar floods were observed across the country in 2012, killing more than three hundred people and displacing millions after excess water was released from the Lagdo dam in northern Cameroon.
Most of the affected states are in the southeast and north-central regions, where many communities have been isolated and lack food, clean water and fuel. “There are some communities, especially in rural areas, where other people are now sleeping in canoes and moving,” said Yeri Dekumo, special assistant to the governor of Bayelsa state, one of the hardest-hit states.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to deal with the country since the floods began 4 weeks ago, and no state of emergency has been declared. Nigeria’s Meteorological Agency said the country is bracing for additional flooding. Opé Adetayo in Lagos
Heavy rains in southeastern Australia this month forced thousands of people from their homes. The flooding affected at least 16 rivers in the states of New South Wales and Victoria, as well as the island state of Tasmania.
River flooding flooded Melbourne’s western suburbs, while others worked evacuating livestock, digging trenches and sandbagged houses as rivers overflowed.
In the north of the Victorian town of Echuca, which lies at the junction of 3 rivers, citizens are bracing for what is expected to be the worst flooding in 150 years, hoping that a 2km long transitional floor dike will protect the city centre from emerging waters.
Another Victorian city, Kerang, expects to be cut off from the rest of the state for up to two weeks. This is the time in 11 years that citizens have had to prepare for a flood “once every hundred years. “.
There have been many reports of local wildlife caught in the floods. Images emerged of kangaroos jumping in murky waters, emus wading in a submerged courtyard and echidna staring at a plastic bottle.
The floods were the result of heavy rainfall in spaces with full watersheds and soils still saturated by two years of rainy La Niña summers. For the first time in decades, some dams are at full capacity. Sydney had its wettest year on record, while in other spaces, centuries-old rainfall records were broken in October. In a single hour on October 7, Melbourne gained some of its average monthly rainfall.
It comes six months after floods devastated stretches of Queensland’s east coast and northern New South Wales. Donna Lu in Melbourne
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Unusually heavy monsoon rains and flash floods ravaged several Southeast Asian countries this week, killing dozens and forcing thousands to flee their homes and key agricultural areas.
Heavy rains are expected to continue this week in Thailand, where 59 of the country’s 77 provinces have already been affected by floods affecting some 450,000 homes and more than 100,000 hectares of farmland, according to reports. The Thai government has reportedly earmarked around 23 billion baht (£538 million) for assistance.
Tourism and cleanup efforts in the holiday destination of Phuket were delayed due to fresh rains on Wednesday, where locals described the recent storms as the worst the island has experienced in 30 years.
In central Vietnam, with more storms on the way, the death toll from flooding rose to 10, according to local reports, while more than 11,000 homes were submerged in the coastal region of Da Nang.
The Cambodian government blamed above-normal water levels in part for the drowning deaths of 11 children when a ferry sank last week. Provinces
Unpredictable rains after a severe drought have severely affected the region in recent years, and scientists point to climate-induced patterns through climate change. Fiona Kelliher in Phnom Penh
Northern Venezuela devastated the town of El Castaño on Monday when a dam collapsed under pressure from heavy rains. The resulting torrent swept away everything in its path.
Most of the city’s citizens have been evacuated and efforts are underway to try to open a passage near the city that remains isolated due to flooding and upcoming power outages. The army has sent 2,800 troops to the domain to help with recovery efforts.
El Castaño is the latest town in Aragua state to be devastated by heavy rains in recent weeks. At least 54 other people were killed on Oct. 8 when landslides ripped through the town of Las Tejerías.
The mistakes have been linked to the climate crisis, with 35 days of average rain falling in a single day in Las Tejerias. Luke Taylor in Bogotá