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A picturesque Baja town has been hammered repeatedly by the escalating tempo of flooding from tropical storms.

Why the frequency of floods now after so many quiet years? “I think it’s global warming,” said Christopher.

“Before we got here in 1982, there had been two floods on record,” Christopher, a retired Californian and Rotary Club member, told me. “The floods of 1914 and 1955. Then since 2006, we had three floods — almost one every year! I’m starting to get tired of rebuilding the roof and everything else.”

The first heavy downpour of the morning had carried debris and vegetation into the 2.7m by 2.7m culvert, starting a chain of events that led eventually to the flash flood.It was choked where it drained into the side of Delfi Orchard, so water was directed only into the side along Forum the Shopping Mall.When a second intense rainstorm the same morning added more water to the drains within a short period of time, the canal overflowed and water gushed up to the surface of Orchard Road, causing the worst floods there in 26 years.

Although national water agency PUB alerted the traffic police when the sensors at the start of each Stamford Canal channel indicated water levels were at 75 per cent, the water level rose too abruptly to get the alert out to shopkeepers.At a press conference yesterday, the PUB said the heavy rains were responsible for sweeping the debris into the drain.

What was unusual about Wednesday's storm was its intensity and its two peaks, he said. The first peak could have brought a certain amount of debris, and there was no way for PUB officers to safely check and clean it out. The next peak soon after might have brought even more debris.

Provence & Cote d'Azur: 25 reported dead and fears more bodies will be found as massive clean-up operation begins in the Var After the flood Apocalyptic visions are continuing to emerge from the Var in the wake of the torrential rainfall that has been plaguing the region since Tuesday. The scenes are almost impossible to comprehend: battered cars floating down rivers that were just a few days ago normal village streets, residents surrounded by water and stranded on roofs and terraces waiting to be airlifted to safety, buildings destroyed. Most devastating of all: the death toll is rising. The number of dead now lies at 25, the majority of fatalities occurring to people travelling in vehicles. As the water starts to go down, there are fears that more bodies will be found. The situation was not helped this morning as further rain storms hit the worst affected areas, which includes Les Arcs, Draguignan, Roquebrune and Trans. The latest weather disaster to hit the region, the worst flood recorded since 1827, has already left a tragic trail of destruction and death in its wake. Among the victims; a Dutch woman in Fréjus who was swept away in a caravan being towed by her husband; a 19-year-old mechanic who was crushed inside his car in Draguignan; and an 18-month-old baby who was taken by the water from his mother's arms in Roquebrune. Damage to property has been extensive. With homes flooded and commercial buildings torn apart, normal life has come to a standstill in many places and the area resembles more a conflict zone than a popular holiday destination in the South of France. 25,000 homes were still without electricity today and schools, shops and offices remain shut. People are being strongly advised to avoid travelling in the region. The A8 may be open but many of the surrounding smaller roads have been closed and the trains continue to be severely disrupted. Yesterday, government leaders rushed to the disaster site. Brice Hortefeux, Minister of the Interior, in the Var yesterday afternoon, said that this was “an unprecedented disaster in the region.” Joining Hortefeux was Hubert Falco, France’s Secretary of State and the mayor of Toulon, the Var capital. President Sarkozy is expected to arrive in the area early next week. One million euros has been made immediately available, from national funds, for the recovery operation and more will be provided. This same sum was given to Nice and Cannes in the aftermath of the coup de mer in April and the situation this time around is seemingly far worse. It is almost incomprehensible that two “natural disasters” of this scale could occur in the region one so soon after the other. It highlighted for the second time in almost as many months how important it is to be well prepared for extreme weather conditions. As water filled and flooded streets quickly on Tuesday night, it is clear that many urban and residential areas are not designed to cope with heavy rainfall. Furthermore, it has been suggested that this kind of catastrophe can be exacerbated because a culture of risk simply does not exist in France. French senator, Bruno Retailleau, speaking at a press conference this morning, said that France must take better precautions against the risk of floods, which are the nation’s most common 'natural disaster'. He went on to say that the country has the tools to work with and the regulations in place to take preemptive measures against freak weather behaviour but that these are not used adequately. HM

POQUOSON -- Hurricane Isabel flooded Sandy Firman's house in 2003, and now routine storms drive water into the roads and marshes close by. Several homes in this low-lying city, including Firman's, have been elevated about 10 feet to keep them above the ever-closer waters. "We used to not have it like that," said Firman, who has lived in Poquoson all of his 46 years. "But something has changed around here." One big thing that has changed is the sea level, which is rising -- an increase blamed on global warming.

In southeastern Virginia, the rising sea is a problem now, and scientists expect it to get much, much worse.

The sea level in this region has been rising about a foot a century -- the highest rate on the East Coast. Scientists project a potentially devastating rise of 2 to 7 feet by 2100.

HEAVY RAIN and deadly landslides have left 132 people dead and scores missing in southern China, authorities said yesterday, and over a million residents have been evacuated to safety. More storms are forecast and the death toll is expected to rise.More than 10 million people in south China’s nine provinces have been affected by severe floods, the ministry of water resources said, with power cuts, collapsed reservoirs and damage to roads also taking their toll.

Flooding is an annual event in China along the banks of the Yangtze river, which divides north and south China, and the Pearl river delta, which forms the focus of China’s economic powerhouse in Guangdong province. But this year’s floods have been heavier than usual and follow an intense period of drought in the region in the south and eastern seaboard, which left millions without drinking water and destroyed more than 12 million acres of crops.

The intense rainstorms started in mid-June in the provinces, which include Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan, and the state-run CCTV station broadcast footage of rescues by boat and helicopter as the People’s Liberation Army rescue teams arrived at the site.

A storm system that stagnated over the Lower Mississippi Valley on May 1st–2nd killed 29 people and flooded thousands of homes and businesses. The storms spawned dozens of tornadoes and brought record amounts of rain to numerous locations in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Preliminary reports indicated that more than 200 daily, monthly, and all-time precipitation records were broken across the three states. According to the National Weather Service, Bowling Green, Kentucky set an all-time daily rainfall record for May of 4.75 inches (120 mm) on May 1st. However, that record was broken the following day as 4.92 inches (125 mm) of precipitation was recorded. The combined total of 9.67 inches (246 mm) was the greatest two-day rainfall total for the area since records began in 1870. In Nashville, the most rain ever recorded in a single calendar day fell on May 2nd—7.25 inches (184 mm)—making the precipitation received on the previous day (6.32 inches or 161 mm) the third-greatest rainfall total in Nashville's history. This led to a record two-day total of 13.53 inches (344 mm), more than doubling the previous record of 6.68 inches (170 mm) received from the remnants of Hurricane Fredrick on September 13th–14th, 1979. By just the second day of the month, Nashville had already recorded its wettest May on record and fifth wettest month ever. The torrential rains caused several rivers to crest at record levels. According to a local U.S. Geological Survey official, the flows on various rivers in the Nashville area exceeded those from the historic 1927 and 1975 floods. The Cumberland River in Nashville crested at 51.85 feet (15.80 m) on May 3rd, nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) above its flood stage—the highest level since an early 1960s flood control project was built (Source: AP). The Duck River in Centerville, Tennessee crested at 47.5 feet (14.4 m), smashing the old record of 37 feet (11.7 m) set in 1983. Fifty-two of Tennesse's 95 counties were declared disaster areas by the governor, as were 73 of Kentucky's 120 counties. Preliminary estimates placed damages at more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars

With torrential rains and record flooding hitting the Nashville area, Tennesseans are getting a first-hand glimpse of the future due to climate change. While individual storms can be driven by a number of factors, more frequent and heavy rains are one of the impacts of climate change that people are already experiencing in many areas of the United States. “While major storms are expected this time of year in the U.S. Southeast, global warming contributes to higher air and sea temperatures that in turn promote increased moisture in the atmosphere and more intense rainfall events,” said Dr. Kevin Trenberth, Head of the Climate Analysis Division at the National Center on Atmospheric Research.  “Any resulting flooding has a direct consequence on people’s well-being and livelihood.  Unless we address the root causes of climate change, we are likely to see more of these extreme storms in our future.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently reported that the southeastern United States has witnessed a 20 percent increase in heavy precipitation from 1958-2007, which is driven by climate change.

Oklahoma City's rainiest day in history brought rampaging floods to the city and surrounding areas yesterday, as widespread rain amounts of 8 - 11 inches deluged the city. Fortunately, no confirmed deaths or injuries have been blamed on the mayhem, though damage is extensive. Oklahoma City's Will Rogers Airport received 7.62" of rain yesterday, smashing the record for the rainiest day in city history. According to the National Climatic Data Center, the city's previous rainiest day occurred September 22, 1970, when 7.53 inches fell. Some rivers continue to rise due to all the rain, and the Canadian River east of downtown Oklahoma City is four feet over flood stage, with major flooding expected today.

The incidence of cardiovascular, respiratory and water-borne diseases is rising in Uruguay in tandem with climate change, while dengue fever and malaria lurk at the country's borders. Higher temperatures are encouraging the presence of insect vectors carrying diseases that were eradicated decades ago, experts say.Increasingly frequent spells of extreme weather particularly affect the health of the poorest, who live in overcrowded conditions in precarious dwellings lacking sanitation, in the shantytowns that have sprung up at an exponential rate since the 1990s in the Montevideo metropolitan area. Many of them are on low-lying land exposed to flooding. Diarrhoea, hepatitis A and leptospirosis are some of the most common illnesses resulting from flooding and inadequate disposal of human waste, the head of the Health Ministry's Environmental and Occupational Health Division, Carmen Ciganda, told IPS. "These diseases are not exactly caused by climate change, but they are associated with it and become more prevalent when there are floods or droughts," she said. At the Pereira Rossell Hospital, the country's main children's hospital, respiratory diseases climbed from 17.7 percent in 2003 to 23.3 percent in 2007, and leptospirosis cases increased from 64 in 2006 to 106 in 2007. But Ciganda warned of threats that so far have been kept at bay beyond the country's borders. "If our climate becomes more tropical, conditions will be more favourable for the vectors that transmit diseases like dengue, yellow fever and malaria," she said. The average yearly temperature in Uruguay has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius in the last 100 years, and spring and summer average temperatures are now higher than they were in the early 20th century, while rainfall has become heavier and more frequent in the last 50 years.

"Since 2007, the mosquito has been detected in the capital city. Longer summers, and the delayed onset of cold weather (in the southern hemisphere winter) until late May, mean that the mosquitoes do not go into hibernation and continue to reproduce for a longer time," the coordinator of the Departmental Emergency Committee in Montevideo, Daniel Soria, told IPS. He said frequent heavy rainfall, a result of climate variability, hampers the struggle to prevent dengue and other diseases entering the country. "When 50 or 60 millimetres of rainwater falls in less than half an hour, it overwhelms the sewer system in Montevideo, and people in the shanty towns suffer most," he said. "Flooding of the Miguelete, Pantanoso and Carrasco rivers, which flow across the city, causes a lot of erosion, so people are constantly having to be evacuated." In Uruguay, nearly 60,000 people were evacuated between 1997 and 2008, and over half a million were affected in various ways from floods following a 30 percent increase in rainfall. The trend is expected to worsen in future, according to official reports.

Four days after rainstorms pummeled my hometown, problems mount. Major portions of the city are still submerged beneath floodwaters. Thousands are displaced from their homes, the contents of their lives soaked, mud-caked and molding. Thousands more have no electricity or plumbing. The city faces severe drinking water shortages, with several water treatment facilities paralyzed.

in the coming months, as Nashvillians reflect on this shock, we may conclude that we've gotten a firsthand glimpse of the symptoms of a warming planet.

the unprecedented intensity of this storm -- which produced the largest volume of rainfall from a single storm on record in the state of Tennessee -- is closely tied to warming climate trends.

Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low-lying Caribbean islands. Seasonal winds, storms and high tides combine to submerge the tiny islands, crowded with huts of yellow cane and faded palm fronds, leaving them ankle-deep in emerald water for days on end.Pablo Preciado, leader of the island of Carti Sugdub, remembers that in his childhood floods were rare, brief and barely wetted his toes. "Now it's something else. It's serious," he said.

The increase of a few inches in flood depth is consistent with a global sea level rise over Preciado's 64 years of life and has been made worse by coral mining by the islanders that reduced a buffer against the waves.Carti Sugdub is one of a handful of islands in an archipelago off Panama's northeastern coast, where the government says climate change threatens the livelihood of nearly half of the 32,000 semi-autonomous Kuna people.The 2,000 inhabitants of Carti Sugdub plan to move to coastal areas within the Kuna's autonomous territory on the Panama mainland. They are eyeing foothills a half-hour walk from the swampy beach areas."The water level is rising. The move is imminent," said Preciado, who has been leading a group of villagers clearing tropical forest for the new settlement.

"This is no longer about a scientist saying that climate change and the change in sea level will flood (a people) and affect them," said Hector Guzman, a marine biologist and coral specialist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. "This is happening now in the real world."

In 1970-2008, disasters caused by climate change (storms, floods, droughts, forest fires, extreme temperatures, and health) cost LAC countries US$81.4 billion a year.

New Weather Patterns Threaten U.S. Breadbasket

The Midwest climate has already become wetter and warmer, said Gene Takle, an atmospheric scientist at Iowa State University.

One of Takle's studies used Iowa's experience to show the stress already showing up in the Midwest states, which are major food exporters to other countries as well. For example, precipitation has risen gradually in Iowa over the past century, but can vary widely from year to year. Springs now are wetter, and autumns drier. That can make corn-planting difficult, but dry the grain more quickly in the fall. Records show a rise in absolute humidity, threatening crops with a higher risk of disease and harmful fungi.

Thursday Flood Risk (and the most severe 30 days in Minnesota history?)

Paul's Star Tribune Outlook for the Twin Cities and all of Minnesota

we just lived through an incredible 30-day period. According to the local National Weather Service Office in Chanhassen we experienced 395 severe storms between June 17 and July 17. That compares to 120 severe storms in all of 2009! So in a mere 30 days we saw more than 3 TIMES more severe weather than we did all of last year.

The Three Gorges dam on China's longest river, the Yangtze, is standing up to its biggest flood control test since completion last year, officials say. Floodwaters in the giant reservoir rose 4m (13ft) overnight, and are now just 20m below the dam's maximum capacity.

The flow of the water overnight was the fastest ever recorded, at 70,000 cubic metres per second. Dr Cao Guangjing, head of China Three Gorges Corporation, told the BBC that 40,000 cubic metres/second were released, with 30,000 cubic metres/second of water held back in the reservoir.

More than 35 million people across China have been affected by the poor weather and 1.2 million have been relocated. China is facing its worst floods since 1998, when more than 4,000 people died, and 18 million people were displaced, the China Daily newspaper said.

Most people in Cambodia depend on farming for their livelihoods. 84 percent live in rural areas. Many live in high risk areas from flooding, droughts and cyclones. Kim Rattana of Caritas Cambodia said, "One of the biggest challenges we are facing in our development work is the increasing occurrence of natural disaster. What we have achieved over many years is being destroyed by storms and washed away by floods." Last year, Typhoon Ketsana destroyed hundreds of homes in Cambodia. Caritas Cambodia had to provide 30,000 people with relief items and food. Low water levels in the Mekong this year, the lifeline that runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, are threatening the livelihoods of more than 60 million people who live along it. In Cambodia, drought has already destroyed harvests and made fishing very difficult.

People in Cambodia don’t have the resources to adapt. That means they are extremely vulnerable to extreme or unpredictable weather. Climate variability has also brought health risks for some of Cambodia's most vulnerable communities. People are vulnerable to diseases like dengue fever, typhoid and diarrhea. Cambodia’s Ministry of Health predicts that under changing climate conditions will increase incidence of malaria by as much as 16 percent. Poor infrastructures and high poverty rates make malaria treatment unaffordable for large segments of the population. Only 55% of the population has access to public health facilities.