WEATHER IS BREAKING RECORDS AROUND THE WORLD
The climate this year is being called a “100-year weather rarity.” The world has experienced a string of record-breaking
weather events from early 2007, from tropical storms, to floods, heat waves, snowfalls in South Africa,
and to the Arabian Peninsula's first tropical cyclone.
South Asia's worst monsoon flooding in recent
memory has affected
30 million people in India,
Bangladesh and Nepal, destroying
croplands, livestock and property and
raising fears of a health
crisis in the densely-populated
region.
Heavy rains also doused
southern China in June, with
nearly 14 million people affected by
floods
and
landslides that killed 120 people.
There had also been
abnormally heavy rains in
northern Europe, UK, N Korea,
Sudan, Mozambique, the Sahel of north Africa,
Uruguay, the US and Australia.
England
and Wales had
their wettest
May
and June since records
began
in 1766, resulting in
extensive flooding, more
than $6 billion in damage,
and nine deaths. Germany swung from
its driest April since
country-wide observations
started in 1901 to its
wettest May on record.
In S America, Uruguay had its worst
flooding since 1959 in
May. Huge waves swamped
68 islands in the Maldives
in May, and the Arabian
Sea had its first documented
cyclone in June,
touching Oman and Iran.
There have been extreme heat
waves in south
eastern
Europe and Russia.
In many European
countries,
April was the
warmest ever recorded.
The World Meteorological Organisation said
global land surface temperatures
in January and
April were likely the
warmest since records began in 1880, at more than
1C higher than the
average
for those months.
And
in South
Africa and South America
this year there was unusual snowfall.
Although the recent wacky
weather has no clear-cut cause, the extreme weather is getting more scientists
to sound the alarm.
Y’shua the Messiah prophesied about endtime weather conditions?
“There will be mighty and
violent earthquakes in various places, and plagues, (pestilences, malignant,
contagious or
infectious diseases, and deadly, devastating epidemics), and famines; and
there will be terrors
and great signs from
heaven … And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon earth
despair among nations,
with perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men's hearts will faint
from
terror, being apprehensive
of what is coming upon the world; for the very powers of the heavens will
be
shaken.”
(Luke 21:11,
25-26)
Some of the latest Prophecy in August:
U.S. MASSIVE STORMS, BIBLICAL FLOODS, SCORCHING HEAT
Aug. 10, 07 - A massive weather system roared through New York City, dumping up to 3 inches of rain,
paralyzing the mass transit system and spawning a tornado that touched down in Brooklyn.
It's believed to be the first twister to hit Brooklyn since the late 1800s. Classified as an F2 tornado, capable of winds
between 111 and 135 mph, the twister snapped tree trunks like toothpicks, peeled open roofs and ripped off the
sides of stately old brownstone homes. The rain sent torrents of water into the nation's largest subway system,
stopping trains in their tracks.
It seems the southern part of the US is melting in extreme heat. Temperatures in more than a dozen cities have
hit 100 degrees or higher. With humidity, it felt like 115 degrees.
UNITED STATES: WORST DELUGE IN
DECADES
Aug 22, 07. Two
storm systems swept across central USA, bringing devastating floods to parts of
Ohio,
Nebraska, Illinois,
Indiana,
Texas, Oklahoma,
Iowa
and
Missouri.
Thunderstorms dumped heavy rain which
in some locations was
measured by the foot.
In Ohio it was the worst flooding in 94 years. The Blanchard River
was 7 feet above flood stage.
Thousands of homes were damaged
in Wisconsin and
Minnesota
as the
storm swept through. The Oklahoma Governor
said: "What hit the state was essentially a
small hurricane, and it devastated many communities throughout the state." The
storms destroyed damaged nearly 500 homes in the three Oklahoma counties alone.
HEAVY RAINS, TORNADO CONTINUE TO FLOOD MIDWEST
Nearly a week of powerful storms, heavy rain and devastating flooding across the upper Midwest has damaged
hundreds of homes and has been blamed for at least 17 deaths. About 310,000 homes and businesses in northern
Illinois, 100,000 in Michigan and 30,000 in northern Indiana were without power afterward.
Aug 24. Ferocious thunderstorms, heat and humidity have added to the Midwest's flooding misery, as thousands
of people returned to their damaged homes, many without electricity to run fans or pumps.
The storm system struck Michigan, and Chicago was pounded for a second straight day by 70 mph winds that
killed a motorcyclist and spawned a tornado that ripped out hundreds of trees. An industrial facility's roof c
ollapsed, injuring 40 people. About 500 flights at O'Hare International Airport were canceled
Another band of thunderstorms drenched areas from Missouri, through Iowa and into Illinois and Wisconsin.
Most of southern Iowa was under a flash flood watch as 8 inches of rain fell. Flooding in Ohio was blamed
for the death of a 92-year-old man who drowned trying to get to safety after his car became trapped in floodwater near
Findlay.
HUNDREDS DEAD' IN N KOREA FLOODS
Aug 14. 07. Flooding in North Korea that has killed hundreds of people is worse than last year's massive floods,
officials have told the World Food Programme (WFP). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6945315.stm
NORTH KOREA BEGS FOR AID AS FLOODING RAISES FEARS OF FAMINE
Aug 15, 07. North Korea appealed for international aid yesterday after the worst floods in 40 years killed hundreds
of people and washed away the homes of hundreds of thousands more.
“The floods have lifted
up, O YHWH, the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their
pounding waves.”
(Psalms 93:3)
ASIA: FLOOD VICTIMS ATTACKED BY DISEASE AND WILD ANIMALS
South Asia subdivisions affected by flooding between
July 3 and August 15 2007 (marked in blue).
Aug 17, 07. Flood victims in India are fighting off hungry animals and battled waterborne diseases in South Asia as
unrelenting monsoon rains cause fresh flooding in the region, already battered by weeks of bad weather.
In the state of Bihar, wild animals have attacked dozens of villagers. Jackals and monkeys are biting women and children
and snatching bread from their hands. They are also killing goats and small rabbits. The wild animals faced a shortage
of prey since huge areas of the state were under water.
Doctors said they had dozens or reports of animals attacking villagers, and they are rushing anti-rabies vaccines to
every district, said a government doctor.
In the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, around 60 people are believed to have died after a cloudburst caused a
landslide that buried an entire village.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, the toll from floods has risen to more than 500.
More than half the low-lying nation has been affected by the flooding, and officials said typhoid, hepatitis
and diarrhoea had broken out in most flood-hit areas. So far, more than 50,000 people have been treated for
diarrhoea and dysentery.
Each year, monsoon rains cause death and destruction in South Asia, but the annual downpours are vital for
the region's agricultural production and overall economic growth. – Source Reuters
DEADLY FLOODS AFFLICT AFRICA'S SAHEL
Aug 15, 07. A few weeks ago farmers in parts of Africa's arid Sahel region were fretting that late rains had failed
their crops. Now many are struggling to survive after downpours swept away food stocks, destroyed thousands
of homes and killed well over 100 people across the Sahel.
In Sudan, the worst affected by recent weather, floods have carried away or drowned more than 70 people since the rains
began. At least 365,000 people there have lost food stocks, possessions, including 50,000 whose homes were completely
destroyed.
In Chad also storms destroyed hundreds of homes and killed thousands of livestock -- the main form of wealth for
many of the region's farming and nomadic peoples.
"It's a disastrous situation. Lots of people have taken refuge in trees or in schools -- those which were not flattened,"
a journalist working a local radio station said. "This is the first time anything like this has happened here. There's a
sense of being powerless." - Source Reuters
NIGER: FLOODS WREAK HAVOC ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Aug 23, 07. Large-scale flooding has hit seven of Niger's eight regions, affecting close to 13,000 people across the
country, some of whom may be inaccessible to aid organisations.
Since mid-July, rains have flooded at least 36 villages, destroyed close to 1,300 homes and killed three people.
12,979 people are known to have lost their homes, farmlands, or both. There's been a total destruction of crops.
Flooding has not yet reached last year's levels, when rains affected 44,000 people, but the numbers will certainly rise,
because the rains won't stop until September.
AUSTRALIA: FLOOD HAVOC ON SUNSHINE COAST
Aug 22-24, 07. Floodwaters and torrential rain caused widespread havoc on the whole of the Sunshine Coast and
Wide Bay regions north of Brisbane.
Winds of up to 80km/h lashed the Sunshine Coast as a low pressure system moved north. Power was cut to thousands
of homes and businesses, rail and ferry services were cancelled and beaches closed. The area has recorded a new local
rainfall record, with 713mm falling in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday. Flash flooding has cut off roads and closed
local schools.
Authorities remain on alert after a one-in-100-year deluge over the past two days caused flash-flooding, forcing
dozens of people to be rescued from homes and cars in the Sunshine Coast.
HAWAII: 5.3 EARTHQUAKE AS HURRICANE LOOMS
Hawaii. Aug 14, 07 - An earthquake on Monday jolted the Big Island of Hawaii, which is already under a hurricane
watch and a tropical storm warning. The last recorded hurricane to hit the island of Hawaii was the Kohala
Cyclone in 1871.
PERU:
POWERFUL 8.0 EARTHQUAKE
Aug 15, 07.
A powerful
8.0 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of Peru, on 15 August, killing more than
500 people,
injuring at least 1,500
people, and leaving thousands homeless.
The center of the
destruction was in Peru's southern desert, in the oasis city of
Ica and the nearby
port of
Pisco,
about 125 miles southeast of
the capital, Lima. In Ica, a city of 120,000 near the epicenter, a fourth of the
buildings collapsed.
Pisco's mayor said at least
200 people were buried in the rubble of a church where they had been attending a
service.
"The dead are also scattered
by the dozens on the streets. We don't have lights, water, communications. Most
houses
have fallen. Churches,
stores, hotels - everything is destroyed," the mayor said, sobbing.
President Alan
Garcia thanked God that the earthquake had not caused "a catastrophe with an
immense number of
victims." In 1970,
a 7.9 earthquake high in the Peruvian Andes triggered a landslide that buried
the town of Yungay
and killed 66,000
people.
The earthquake's magnitude
was initially 7.9, but it was 8.0 on Thursday by the
U.S. Geological Survey.
At least 15 major
aftershocks followed, some as strong as magnitude-6.3.
Map, and report on Aug 19. >
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6953486.stm
HURRICANE DEAN’S SWEEP FROM
CARRIBEAN TO MEXICO
Aug 19 07.
Hurricane Dean, the
first hurricane of the Atlantic season,
began in the eastern Caribbean
and moved in a westerly
direction claiming at least 12 lives in
Haiti and Jamaica, where it uprooted trees, flooded
roads and collapsed some buildings.
Downed utility poles left thousands
without electricity or telephone service. Dean then raked the Cayman Islands,
but these islands escaped the full brunt
of the storm.
It continued westward where
it strengthened into a monstrous Category 5 hurricane (the highest category) on
20th,
as its first rain and winds
began slamming the coasts of Mexico and Belize with sustained winds up to 165
mph (265 kph),
and gusts that reached 200
mph (322 kph).
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of the storm, as workers hammered plywood over the windows
of hotels along the tourist strip, where Hurricane Wilma caused $3 billion
in losses in 2005.
Dean toppled trees and houses on the Mexican peninsula and in the neighbouring country of Belize, and brought
torrential rain and havoc as it crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on 21st Aug.
Mexico's state oil company,
Petroleos de Mexico, evacuated all of its 14,000+ offshore workers in the
southern Gulf of
Mexico, including the
giant
Cantarell oil field, which
Dean was soon
pounding after weakening as it crossed the Yucatan peninsula.
Shutting the 407 oil wells in the Campeche Sound resulted in a production loss of 2.7 million barrels of oil and 2.6 billion
cubic feet of natural gas per day.
The hurricane then moved across the Gulf into southern Mexico.
Hurricane Dean was the
third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall since record keeping
began in the 1850s.
Category Five
storms are rare - only three have hit the US since record-keeping began.
The worst storm to hit Latin America in modern times was 1998's Hurricane Mitch, which killed nearly 11,000
people and left more than 8,000 missing, most in Honduras and Nicaragua.
 MORE DEADLY WILDFIRES HIT SOUTHERN EUROPE
DEATH TOLL MOUNTS IN GREECE
Aug 24. Forest fires are again ravaging swathes of southern Europe. A multitude of blazes killed at least 41 people in
Greece, where fire fighters have battled multiple forest fires since June after several heat waves and months of drought,
with temperatures recently touching 40C (104F)
Many people have been trapped by fires fanned by winds of up to 87 kph. The fires moved so fast that people were
cut off before they could escape. At least nine people are reported to have burnt to death in their cars as they attempted to
flee the flames Fire crews said they had found at least 30 bodies in villages near the town, as they searched burned out cars
and houses.
Tens of thousands of
hectares (acres) of forests and dozens of houses have been burned.
The prime
minister called the situation "an
unspeakable
tragedy" and appealed to the EU for help.
In Italy, several fires burned this week with one causing the death of an 80-year-old man in Sicily where hundreds were
evacuated from their homes. Several hundred people were also evacuated from villages in southern Italy as fires swept
through the region.
Portugal was also hit this week. Some 400 firefighters, aided by water planes and helicopters, are battling forest fires
near the suburbs of Lisbon.
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