First Hurricane Irma blew through. Then the electricity went out. Then a work crew made an error while working on a pump station in the sewage system. And soon, 2,000 gallons of raw sewage was spilling onto a quiet residential street of ranch houses in Edgewater, a town south of Daytona Beach. Benirose Demetita, administrator of Regency Elderly Care across the street, … [Read more...]
From Paris to Houston, climate change is an undeniable truth
It's been over 10 years since the release of former US Vice President Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. The 2006 documentary film premiered at Sundance and went on to win two Academy Awards with its combined use of breathtaking shots of Earth’s landscapes and Gore's politician's charm in order to talk about environmental issues. But the real lasting legacy of the film is how … [Read more...]
Typhoon Talim bringing wind and floods to China and Taiwan
A strengthening tropical system has its eyes set on Taiwan and eastern China during the second half of this week. Talim is currently a typhoon about 400 miles east of Taiwan. Further intensification is expected as Talim tracks to the northwest towards Taiwan through late Wednesday. “Favorable environmental conditions along the path of Talim will allow the typhoon to … [Read more...]
3 Dead as Hurricane Irma batters Florida coast
Hurricane Irma bore down on southern Florida on Sunday with 130 mile-per-hour (210 kph) winds, flooding Miami streets and knocking out power to more than 1.6 million homes and businesses. Even before it came ashore, Florida was feeling Irma's fury with at least one man killed, a woman forced to deliver her own baby and trees and apartment towers swaying in high winds. The … [Read more...]
Hurricane victims should be Trump’s wake-up call on climate change
On December 12, French President Emmanuel Macron is gathering in Paris all the world's leaders who concluded the COP21 climate agreement two years ago, when the world unanimously agreed for the first time that it was necessary to slash greenhouse gas emissions and restrain global warming if human life were to survive on Earth. Leaders of virtually every country who signed … [Read more...]
Nightmarish scenes in Houston: a global warning
Let there be no doubt: the horrific damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey was an almost entirely man-made catastrophe, one fingerprinted by all-too-human neglect, corruption and denial. If we needed a reminder of the power of water to destroy an American city, Hurricane Harvey provided it. In Houston, a fast-growing metropolis of more than 2 million people, it wasn't the wind that … [Read more...]
Strongest ever Atlantic storm causes ‘major damage’ in Caribbean
The most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history has destroyed buildings and caused major flooding on several Caribbean islands, as British tourists are evacuated from the region amid warnings the storm will be "potentially catastrophic". The island of Barbuda was the first to bear the brunt of Hurricane Irma - a category five storm with winds of 185mph - early … [Read more...]
1,200 dead from monsoon rains in Bangladesh, India and Nepal
A month of severe monsoon rains, which peaked earlier this week, resulted in the deaths of at least 1, 200 people across India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and left two thirds of Bangladesh underwater. According to the United Nations, around 41 million people have been affected by flooding and landslides that have ensued due to the monsoon across the subcontinent. They … [Read more...]
Sierra Leone mudslides: responding to the crisis
It was a strange thing to be supporting Street Child’s response to the mudslides in Sierra Leone from Maiduguri, the epicenter of the Boko Haram crisis in North-East Nigeria. As head of programmes for West Africa, I am normally based in Sierra Leone, in Freetown, where mudslides and floods killed at least 500 people in the early hours of Monday 14th August when an entire … [Read more...]
Inside the Knysna inferno: smoke on the water
Writer, journalist, producer and musician CHRIS DU PLESSIS lost his home and everything in it during the recent fires that raged through Knysna. Here he attempts to dissect the schizoid frenzy that comes with the experience. It’s a damn good question actually. What DO you pack if your house is about to burn down? I found myself living the cliché on Wednesday, 6 June 2017, as … [Read more...]
China landslide: desperate search for survivors continues
Thousands of rescuers are searching through rubble to find 93 people missing after a landslide devastated their village in Sichuan province, southwestern China. Dozens of homes were buried when the landslide hit Xinmo village in Mao County, Aba Prefecture Saturday morning. According to the Mao County Government Press Office 10 bodies had been recovered since the beginning … [Read more...]
Experts warned about Garden Route fires
A group of scientists led by eminent NMMU botanist Professor Richard Cowling warned nearly a decade ago that the uncontrolled spread of alien vegetation posed a fire threat that could devastate the Garden Route. Contained in an article in the 2009 edition of the Veld & Flora magazine, which The Herald accessed yesterday after an alert from the Endangered Wildlife Trust … [Read more...]
Climate change evident in Cape storm and Knysna fires
The mother of all storms. The worst drought in a century. More intense fires than any in living memory. The hottest years on record. This is the new normal. South Africa’s climate is changing and with that comes extreme weather. Events such as crippling storms and droughts, which used to happen once a century, will happen every decade, or more frequently. We know this. There … [Read more...]
