Snow Storm Buries South Island, New Zealand

“Many Sheep and Cattle Won’t Survive the Snow”

A record-breaking snow storm has dumped more than 2m of snow on Maniototo Plain, New Zealand, making parts of Otago region no-go zones,  raising fears that stock won’t survive the extreme weather.

“This is the biggest snow dump we’ve had, ever,”said a local farmer, a young calf may not survive the night with temperatures falling as  low as -12ºC.

The extreme weather’s has now persisted for five days, and some of the sheep and cattle just won’t survive, said a report.

Still frame from NZ’s TV1 News coverage of the storm that hit most of New Zealand on 20/21 June 2013 – See below for the full video clip.

The storm also lashed the capital Wellington, causing “tens of millions of dollars” in insured damages alone, said the Insurance Council of New Zealand.

Severe gales with winds of up to 200km/h struck Wellington, lifting roofs, felling trees and closing roads.

“More than $36 million of insured damage was caused by a storm that lashed the country in late April. That was one of the most damaging storms in the past five years and the Nelson and Bay of Plenty regions were the most affected,” said a report.

“I expect the damage from this storm will be more than that,” said the Insurance Council.

“Flooding was also reported in the Canterbury townships of Leeston, Doyleston, Southbridge, Tai Tapu and Lincoln and there were slips in Otago and Lyttelton.” NZN reported.

Heavy rain and sleet since Wednesday has triggered the worst flooding in decades in the Canterbury region, submerging farms, houses and businesses, and the rain continues to fall, said the report.

TV1 News coverage of the storm that hit most of New Zealand on 20/21 June 2013 bringing heavy snow to the South Island and severe gales to Wellington.

-oOo-

Canmore “Wiped Off the Map” amid Historic Alberta Flooding

“The beautiful town of Canmore is basically wiped off the map”

Karen, a reader from Canada, wrote earlier today:

So far there has been about 175,000 evacuated from 25 communities in Alberta.  The water level in the Saddledome is over 10 rows.  The world famous Calgary Stampede grounds are flooded.  The down town area looks like Venice with water on all the streets.   Power is shut off to all the high rises, and may be out for over a week or more depending on water levels. They had to move the animals out of the zoo. Bridges have been wiped out.  They are expecting about another 8 or so bridges to go as it works its way down steam to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.  They have already started evacuations there.  It has never ever been anything near this for as long as people can know of, and we are expecting more rain yet.  There are waterfalls on mountains where there never has been before,  The beautiful town of Canmore is basically wiped off the map.

Calgary and High River

Calgary remains under a state of emergency, although river levels have receded.

“This is incredible. I’ve seen a little bit of flooding in Calgary before. I don’t think any of us have seen anything like this before. The magnitude is just extraordinary,” said the Canadian Prime Minister, who is from Calgary.

The town of High River, south-west of Calgary, where three bodies have been recovered, remained under mandatory evacuation .

Meantime, Alberta Premier said the destruction in High River was “indescribable,” warning that cities and towns  downstream of Calgary were yet to experience the full force of the raging floodwaters.

Medicine Hat

“Evacuation notices went out to 10,000 homes along lower-lying areas of Medicine Hat last night,” said a report.

Authorities have evacuated about 15,000 people from more than 3,700 homes in Medicine Hat and they plan to shut off power and gas from those houses as a safety precaution, CBC reported.

Major Flooding in southern Alberta 

 

Mandatory Evacuations

As of Friday a.m. the following neighborhoods were placed  under mandatory evacuation:

• Beltline
• Bonnybrook
• Bowness
• Bridgeland Industrial Area
• Chinatown/Eau Claire
• Cliff Bungalow
• Deer Run
• Discovery Ridge
• Douglasdale
• Downtown/East Village
• Elbow Park
• Erlton
• Inglewood
• Hillhurst
• Mission
• Montgomery
• Quarry Park
• Rideau
• Riverbend
• Riverdale
• Roxboro
• Stanley Park/Elboya
• Sunnyside
• Victoria Park
• Westmount
• Windsor Park

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DISASTER CALENDAR – June 23, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN:

993 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 993 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity [To be updated.]
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

Emergency Declared in Malaysia as Indonesia Smoke Pollution Worsens

Malaysia declares state of emergency as API reaches 746

The Malaysian government has declared a state of emergency in two parts of the southern state of Johor—Muar and Ledang— as smoke from land-clearing fires in Indonesia forced air pollution way above the level considered hazardous.

The Air Pollution Index (API) in Muar skyrocketed to 741 Sunday morning.

AQI Chart

API of >300  is considered as “Hazardous,” at which level everyone could experience very serious health effects, thus requiring the health authorities to issue a “Health Alert.”