B
Blackwater
Guest
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Monsoon rains in South Asia have driven
millions from their homes and caused what the United Nations says is
the worst flooding in living memory.
A villager transports his mother to safety on a raft through
floodwaters on Thursday near the Kaziranga National park in India.
More than 1,000 people have been killed or injured by rising waters,
but aid agencies say the figure is expected to rise sharply.
U.N. children's body UNICEF said it had lost track of how many people
had been affected by the floods across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Nepal.
So far about 20 million people are known to have fled their homes or
trapped in villages at risk from landslides, snakebites and disease.
"Hundreds of thousands have lost their homes, their possessions,
livestock and fields and will have to begin their lives from scratch
when flood waters recede," UNICEF said.
The devastation comes on the heels of severe flooding in southern
Pakistan, caused when Cyclone Yemyin struck the country's provinces of
Balochistan and Sindh in late June.
India appears to have been hardest hit by the latest inundations with
floodwaters striking the densely-populated and poor states of Bihar
and Uttar Pradesh.
"According to government estimates, the cumulative number of human
casualties stands at 1,103 in 138 affected districts and more than
112,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed though these figures are
set to rise as the situation unfolds," UNICEF said. It was not clear
whether the casualty figure includes injured as well as dead.
Authorities in Bihar say at least 30 people have died amid the rains
and flooding.
- - - - -
It wasn't six months ago I heard climatologists moaning
about how India was going to dry out and how the Ganges
was shrinking to a polluted trickle all because of Global
Warming.
Some trickle, eh ?
Well ... maybe GW is just going to amplify EXTREMES. You
know, bigger droughts AND bigger floods ? Maybe they'll
come up with another scenerio next month ?
Face it, long-term climate forecasting is pure voodoo. You
may spot a very general trend, but details elude entirely.
"Generally warmer" can mean "generally drier" or "generally
wetter" or "generally more erratic" or any variation - all
in the same place over the span of years or decades.
Anytime you hear AlGore or his buddies offering what sound
like exact predictions - throw a tomato at them, they're
lying. They haven't a CLUE what the weather is really going
to be like in West Virginia or New Delhi 10,20 or 50 years
from now. At best they can say "slightly warmer" , but
beyond that - rain, shine, sleet or hail - zip, nada,
no damned way. It's a 'butterfly effect' with a hundred
billion mutually-interacting butterflies involved.
millions from their homes and caused what the United Nations says is
the worst flooding in living memory.
A villager transports his mother to safety on a raft through
floodwaters on Thursday near the Kaziranga National park in India.
More than 1,000 people have been killed or injured by rising waters,
but aid agencies say the figure is expected to rise sharply.
U.N. children's body UNICEF said it had lost track of how many people
had been affected by the floods across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Nepal.
So far about 20 million people are known to have fled their homes or
trapped in villages at risk from landslides, snakebites and disease.
"Hundreds of thousands have lost their homes, their possessions,
livestock and fields and will have to begin their lives from scratch
when flood waters recede," UNICEF said.
The devastation comes on the heels of severe flooding in southern
Pakistan, caused when Cyclone Yemyin struck the country's provinces of
Balochistan and Sindh in late June.
India appears to have been hardest hit by the latest inundations with
floodwaters striking the densely-populated and poor states of Bihar
and Uttar Pradesh.
"According to government estimates, the cumulative number of human
casualties stands at 1,103 in 138 affected districts and more than
112,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed though these figures are
set to rise as the situation unfolds," UNICEF said. It was not clear
whether the casualty figure includes injured as well as dead.
Authorities in Bihar say at least 30 people have died amid the rains
and flooding.
- - - - -
It wasn't six months ago I heard climatologists moaning
about how India was going to dry out and how the Ganges
was shrinking to a polluted trickle all because of Global
Warming.
Some trickle, eh ?
Well ... maybe GW is just going to amplify EXTREMES. You
know, bigger droughts AND bigger floods ? Maybe they'll
come up with another scenerio next month ?
Face it, long-term climate forecasting is pure voodoo. You
may spot a very general trend, but details elude entirely.
"Generally warmer" can mean "generally drier" or "generally
wetter" or "generally more erratic" or any variation - all
in the same place over the span of years or decades.
Anytime you hear AlGore or his buddies offering what sound
like exact predictions - throw a tomato at them, they're
lying. They haven't a CLUE what the weather is really going
to be like in West Virginia or New Delhi 10,20 or 50 years
from now. At best they can say "slightly warmer" , but
beyond that - rain, shine, sleet or hail - zip, nada,
no damned way. It's a 'butterfly effect' with a hundred
billion mutually-interacting butterflies involved.
