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Tag: extreme weather
Democratic Candidates Must Remain The Standard Bearers On Climate Change

Democratic Candidates Must Remain The Standard Bearers On Climate Change

During the last Democratic debate, moderators from CNN failed to ask even a single question about climate change or clean energy. In fact, despite record global temperatures in the past months, extreme flooding from North Carolina to Scotland, and increasingly dire predictions about shrinking coasts and expanding deserts, there has been far too little conversation about climate change so far during the 2016 campaign.

Failing to address climate change is a mistake—one the party, the nation, and ultimately the world cannot afford to repeat at next Sunday’s fourth #DemDebate.

With Lindsey Graham out of the race, the Republican field is—at least until the eventual nominee might choose to rush to the center for the general election—effectively a wash for serious policy prescriptions on climate change. Between Sen. Ted Cruz inviting climate deniers to Congress, Sen. Marco “I’m Not a Scientist” Rubio’s wishy-washiness, and frontrunner Donald Trump’s characteristically confusing and wrong conviction that climate change doesn’t exist, there is scant hope for the GOP to offer anything substantive on this front.

But “because the Republicans aren’t doing it” isn’t the only reason for the Democrats to talk about climate change; if that were our only criteria for debate topics, each one would take days.

For one thing, fighting climate change is a national security issue. The men and women of the U.S. military are the ones deployed to deal with the consequences of climate change, whether that means resource shortages that empower extremist groups in already fragile states, or natural disasters requiring urgent humanitarian aid. And whatever love some lobbyists may have for fossil fuels, I know plenty of sailors who protected traffic through the Persian Gulf choke point and personally saw soldiers protecting fuel convoys in Iraq who have a clear view of oil’s harmful effect on our—and their—safety.

Moreover, fighting climate change isn’t a zero-sum game between economy and environment. When we work to move towards 50 percent clean energy nationwide by the year 2030, we are creating the clean energy tech that will drive the next century just like oil did the last and getting the jump on our competitors around the world. And a bonus? Almost 10 percent of those employed in the solar industry in particular are U.S. veterans, finding an outlet for their technical and leadership skills after returning home.

But beyond these benefits, President Obama’s efforts to coordinate and lead the global fight against climate change should simply be a point of pride for the Democratic Party. At home, his EPA’s Clean Power Plan raised standards across the board while letting states choose how to meet their individualized targets. And abroad, his State Department secured not only the first bilateral climate deal ever with China, but also a truly global climate deal that creates a reporting structure to hold every country—rich and poor, large and small—accountable for showing progress on the world stage.

This election, voters will head to the polls juggling national security and economic issues alike. Climate change touches both of these policy areas and more, and it is time for Democratic candidates to press their advantage on this key national challenge. 2016 is a chance for every candidate who shares the values of security and prosperity to continue President Obama’s legacy of decisive, comprehensive action. Here’s hoping we hear that incredibly opportunity reflected on the debate stage next week.

—

Jonathan Freeman is a fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a Ph.D. student in international relations at the London School of Economics. He has deployed twice to Iraq, once to Afghanistan, and is currently in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Photo: Participants are seen in silhouette as they look at a screen showing a world map with climate anomalies during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, December 8, 2015.  REUTERS/Stephane Mahe 

Storms Snarl U.S Travel, Threaten Rare Winter Tornadoes

Storms Snarl U.S Travel, Threaten Rare Winter Tornadoes

By Mary Wisniewski

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Snow, sleet and hail snarled transportation in large parts of the United States on Monday during one of the busiest travel times of the year, after dozens died in U.S. storms that were just some of the wild weather seen worldwide over the Christmas holiday period.

More than 40 people were killed by tornadoes and floods during the holiday season in the United States, where rare winter tornado warnings were issued in Alabama on Monday.

Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida panhandle were expected to bear the brunt of the of the day’s strongest storms, said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Michael Leseney.

As of about 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), more than 1,940 U.S. flights had been canceled on Monday, according to FlightAware.com, while another 2,790 delays were reported. Chicago-area airports were worst hit with hundreds of flights canceled as the city was swept by sleet and hail.

More than a foot (30 cm) of snow was forecast for southwestern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota, and snow was also falling in Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.

A flash flood warning was in effect in eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, the National Weather Service said. Thirteen people died in flash floods in those two states during the weekend.

The U.S. storms came as other countries struggled with extreme weather and stressed holiday infrastructure.

In Britain, hundreds of troops were deployed and a government agency said a “complete rethink” of flood defenses was needed after swathes of northern England were inundated by rivers that burst their banks.

Severe weather also hit parts of Australia, where more than 100 homes were lost in Christmas Day brushfires.

Then on Sunday a freight train carrying sulphuric acid derailed in the Outback, and a Queensland Rail spokeswoman told local media that floods had stopped crews reaching the scene. (Video here)

‘RIPPED OUR WORLD APART’

The bad U.S. weather caused two candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, to cancel campaign events in Iowa.

Winter storms that brought ice and high winds to Oklahoma downed power lines and 54,000 customers were without power on Monday in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas, Oklahoma Gas & Electric said. Local news reports said there were 100,000 without power across the state.

Operators of the Kerr and Pensacola dams, about 160 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, warned they would have to release large amounts of water due to the storm and area residents might be forced to evacuate their homes.

Six tornadoes were reported on Sunday – three in Arkansas, one in Texas, and two in Mississippi.

Texas was cleaning up from weekend tornadoes that killed at least 11 people in the Dallas area and damaged about 1,600 structures and homes. One twister in the city of Garland had winds of up to 200 miles per hour (322 km per hour) and killed eight people, including a 30-year-old woman and her year-old son.

“We are very blessed that we didn’t have more injuries and more fatalities,” Garland’s Mayor Douglas Athas told CNN.

In the Dallas suburbs of Garland and Rowlett, which were devastated by tornadoes on Saturday, many residents turned to social media to tell stories of survival and to ask for help finding lost pets.

Briana Landrum posted a photo of her living room couch surrounded by wreckage where her house once stood in Rowlett. Her two cats are missing, she wrote, and the freezing rain has made searching for her “sweet babies” difficult.

“All I remember is the windows all shattering and insulation went everywhere,” she wrote. “The roof fell on us one second and the next, it was gone … The tornado ripped our world apart.”Ten deaths and 58 injuries were reported in Mississippi from the Christmas holiday storms, Governor Phil Bryant said at a news conference. Hundreds of homes were damaged.

In flooded southern Missouri, dozens of adults and children forced from their homes took refuge at Red Cross shelters.

Red Cross spokeswoman Julie Stolting said there was no telling when they might be able to return home. “But we’re feeding them, we’re sheltering them, we’re providing health services,” she said.

Some roads still were closed in New Mexico, where storms on Sunday dumped as much as 18 inches of snow on eastern parts of the state. Highways with difficult driving conditions included interstate highways 25 and 10.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski in Chicago, Heide Brandes in Oklahoma City, Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida, Lisa Maria Garza in Dallas, Laila Kearney in New York, Sara Catania in Los Angeles, and Emily Stephenson; Writing by Mary Wisniewski and Daniel Wallis; Editing by Bill Trott)

Photo: A sign sits underwater located in the downtown area of Elba, Alabama, December 26, 2015. REUTERS/Marvin Gentry

Southern U.S. States Clean Up After Storms Kill At Least 10

Southern U.S. States Clean Up After Storms Kill At Least 10

By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) – Southern U.S. states began digging out on Thursday after severe storms including some 20 tornadoes pounded the region, flattening homes, downing trees and killing at least 10 people.

With about 100 million Americans expected to travel over the Christmas holidays, the National Weather Service forecast isolated severe thunderstorms from the mid-Atlantic region to the Gulf Coast and record warmth to New York.

The storm system on Wednesday packed high winds and triggered more than 20 tornadoes in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, authorities said.

A large tornado tore a 100-mile (160-km) path through northern Mississippi, demolishing or heavily damaging dozens of homes and other buildings in a six-county area before plowing into western Tennessee, authorities said.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for seven of the state’s counties.

“This could have been a lot worse. We’re just praying everybody can have a recovery,” Kelvin Buck, the mayor of Holly Springs, Mississippi, told CNN.

He said he was out assessing the damage and emergency workers were looking for any other victims from the tornado, which killed a 7-year-old boy in the area.

A spokesman for the Mississippi Highway Patrol told CNN that six people were killed in the state and 40 were injured. Three people died in Tennessee and one in Arkansas, according to authorities.

Thirteen counties in Tennessee reported damage, with a post office destroyed and a state highway washed out. Up to 15 homes were damaged in McNairy County, the state emergency management office said.

Emergency crews in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee were searching for several people reported missing.

Scores of people were injured in the region.

An 18-year-old Arkansas woman died and a toddler was injured when a tree crashed into a house after being uprooted by powerful winds, according to emergency officials.

In Michigan and Wisconsin, about 15,000 homes and businesses were without electricity after winds reaching 50 miles per hour (80 km per hour) downed power lines. The National Weather Service issued a gale force wind warning for Lake Michigan, where waves could reach 15 feet (4.6 meters).

The storms on Wednesday snarled holiday travel plans in Florida, and the American Automobile Association predicted 100 million Americans were expected to travel during the holiday period beginning on Wednesday, 91 million of them by car.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere and Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Jason Neely, Jeffrey Benkoe and Paul Simao)

Photographed through raindrops on a window, a worker makes his way toward a plane parked at Reagan National Airport in Washington December 23, 2015.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

 

 

Typhoon Kills Eight, Displaces Nearly 18,000 In Philippines

Typhoon Kills Eight, Displaces Nearly 18,000 In Philippines

By Girlie Linao, dpa

MANILA — Typhoon Kalmaegi killed eight people and displaced nearly 18,000 people as it battered the northern Philippines on the weekend, the national disaster relief agency said Monday.

More than a dozen ferry trips and nearly 50 domestic flights were cancelled as the storm hit Sunday, cutting off electricity in eight northern provinces.

Kalmaegi was packing maximum winds of 120 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 150 kph, the weather bureau said.

Schools were closed in Manila and northern provinces, where 17,633 people were forced to flee their homes, the national disaster relief agency said.

At least eight people died when a ferry sank Saturday evening in rough seas off the eastern province of Leyte, the navy said.

Three bodies were recovered shortly after the accident, five more were retrieved on Monday by navy ships, navy Lieutenant Commander Marineth Domingo said.

“The five cadavers included an infant girl,” she said.

Rescuers saved 113 people from the boat that was en route to the southern city of Surigao.

In Manila, 15 crew members were rescued from a docked vessel that capsized after being battered by strong winds and big waves on Sunday evening, the Office of Civil Defense said.

The ship was undergoing repairs at the Manila port. Seven of the crew members boarded a life raft, while the rest swam towards the shore, the office said.

Kalmaegi left some roads and bridges impassable in the northern Philippines, officials said.

The weather bureau said the typhoon, which blew out of the Philippines on Monday, would bring more trailing rains to the northern provinces, while the seas would continue to be rough.

AFP Photo/Jay Directo

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