Deadly Storms Batter Poland

Poland: A dozen people dead or injured in violent storm rehearsals

Powerful winds ripped off roofs, cut cables and  toppled trees causing damage in multiple areas across the country, as torrential rains triggered flash flooding, said reports .

Massive Heatwave Hits Europe (Round 3)

Dry conditions destroy crops in Central and Eastern Europe

Additionally, a drought is severely affecting agricultural areas of southern Poland, amid where crops bone dry condition and the blazing heat, said a report.

“The heatwave has also forced Poland to restrict electricity supplies to industry, pushing some firms to limit production.”

Meanwhile, soaring temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius have broken multiple record across Germany. Record heat has also affected River Elbe in Dresden, with ware levels falling to extreme lows.

Record-breaking heatwave is also affecting France, Italy, Sweden and Ukraine, according to local reports.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service has issued the following bulletin:

Heat building into the West

Temperatures will soar this week in the West. The hottest temperatures will be felt in the deserts of southern Calif. and Ariz. where Excessive Heat Watches are in effect. Temperatures could exceed 115 [46°C] in some locations. Farther north, these hot temperatures will contribute to fire danger in parts of northern California and the Pacific Northwest where Red Flag Warnings are in effect.

 

State of Emergency Declared in Lithuania due to Deadly Swine Fever

EMERGING & RE-EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
DEADLY AFRICAN SWINE FEVER
SCENARIOS 444, 333, 078,  011
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Deadly African Swine Fever Spreads in Lithuania

Lithuanian government has declared a  state of emergency following an outbreak of the deadly African swine fever (ASF) in Ignalina region.

African swine fever was originally discovered in Lithuania in January 2014, and soon spread to neighboring Latvia resulting in high death rates among pigs in both countries.

Poland confirmed its first case of African swine fever (ASF) last week at a farm near Bialystok, close to Belarus border.

The admission by Polish authorities followed numerous reports of African Swine Fever cases among wild boar populations in northeast Poland.

Polish pork exports in the first quarter of 2014 dropped by at least 6 percent due to the ASF outbreak, with China and Russia imposing restrictions on imports.

Meanwhile, ASF has killed thousands of pigs in Adjumani District of Uganda since the outbreak of the viral disease in November 2013.

ASF Virus

• ASF spreads extremely rapidly because it’s highly contagious and has a complex epidemiology.
• The virus can survive in a protein environment, especially in meat and meat products, for long periods.
• The disease mortality rate is almost 100 percent.
• ASF has no vaccine as of now.

 

Balkan Historic Flood Disaster Update

EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC EVENTS
DEADLY HAZARDS
EXTREME RAIN EVENT
HISTORIC FLOODING
SCENARIO 023
STATES OF EMERGENCY 
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Dozens killed, 85,000 Evacuated, Many Homes Destroyed, States of Emergency Declared in Bosnia, Serbia

The worst flooding ever recorded across the Balkans have submerged Serbia and Bosnia, killing at least two dozen people and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.

More than 300,000 households were without power across the two countries and Poland.

“This is a catastrophe. Nature has never been so cruel to us,” declared Serbian Energy Minister Aleksandar Antic. [Clearly, Mr Antic doesn’t read this blog. Editor]]

The government of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared a state of disaster on Thursday after extreme rain events caused rivers to burst their banks flooding a large number of infrastructure, housing facilities and agricultural areas.

Flooding also triggered numerous landslides in the mountainous regions, burying entire communities, destroying roads and bridges.

Floodwaters left many parts of Serbia isolated, accessible only by boat.

“This is the greatest flooding disaster ever. Not just in the past 100 years; this has never happened in Serbia’s history,” Serbia’s Prime Minister told reporters.

“More rain fell in one day than in four months,” he said.

Serbia declared a state of emergency across the country Thursday, and asked for international help, as rescuers continued to evacuate tens of thousands of people by boat, most of them from the rooftops.

Meanwhile, Bosnia’s Center for the Removal of Landmines warned that mines laid during the 1992-95 war could be dislodged by floods and landslides, Reuters reported.

Several towns in Serbia, including Krupanj in the Mačva District (population; 5,000) have been almost completely destroyed.

More than 800 landslides have occurred across the deluged region.

Cost of Damage

FIRE-EARTH Models estimate the total cost of damage caused by flooding and landslides in the Balkans at more than $2 billion, based on initial reports, as of posting. The estimate includes the cost of flood damage to Tamnava coal mines, in the Kolubara coal basin.

Links to Recent Historic Floods

• Historic Flooding Turns Deadly in Serbia, Bosnia  May 15, 2014
• ‘Historic’ Flooding Submerges Pensacola, FL  April 30, 2014

Flood Disaster Warnings Issued in Central Europe

Czech government declares a state of emergency in most of the country

Flooding in Czech Republic threatens the historic center of capital Prague, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

Levels on the Vltava river that runs through Prague’s center continued to rise Monday. Flood-related incidents have left a dozen people dead or missing, and forced thousands of people to flee their homes in low-lying areas of Prague and western half of the country.

• The Czech Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency in seven of the country’s 14 administrative regions.
• Authorities have shut a dozen subway stations in the capital.
• Many roads and train routes are also closed.
• All schools in the capital Prague will be closed Monday.

Flooding has also wreaked havoc across Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Severe Flooding in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Dresden, Passau, Rosenheim and several other German cities have declared states of emergency due to severe flooding, with Passau requesting help from the federal army.

At least a dozen people were killed, several others reported missing and hundreds evacuated from their homes as floodwaters continue rising in Germany, Austria and Switzerland following days of torrential rain.

Major Flood Warning in Slovakia

Slovak authorities have issued the highest level of flood warning for the length of the Danube River in the country, as   water level on the river at the confluence with the Morava River topped 7.20 meters and continued rising.

• Slovakia’s State Shipping Administration has banned all traffic on the Danube River in the country until further notice.

Related Links

• Hundred Evacuated Amid Flooding in Central Europe

Image of the Day: Polluting Poland!

Energy Dinosaur Poland relies on polluting coal for about 92 percent of its electricity production.

Poland’s 105 coal-burning power plants produce 60 percent of its CO2 emissions

A Greenpeace activist carries a banner during a protest to create a “Stop” sign next to an excavator at Jozwin-2B, a state-owned (KWB) open pit brown coal mine in Konin, western Poland November 24, 2008. REUTERS/Nick Cobbing/Greenpeace /Handout.

“Poland’s economy is based on coal and any real alternative like nuclear, is a long way off,” says Tadeusz Skotnicki, production chief at the 110-year-old Wujek coal mine in the heart of southern Poland’s Silesian coal basin.

Image of the Day: Heat Wave in Northern Europe

On the calendar, Scandinavian summer starts on June 21 in 2008, but summer temperatures had already settled over much of northern Europe by early June. This image shows land surface temperatures—how hot the ground is to the touch, a measure that is different than the air temperatures reported in the news—as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite between June 2 and June 8, 2008.

The image compares the average temperature between June 2 and June 8, 2008, to average temperatures recorded during the same period in June 2000 through 2007. Areas that were warmer than average are red, while cooler than average conditions are represented in blue.The heat that dominated the weather in northern Europe in early June is evident in the dark red that covers Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and parts of Germany and Poland. Southern Europe experienced cooler than average temperatures during the period.

The intense heat and dry weather led to dangerous fire conditions in Scandinavia. Both Norway and Sweden were plagued with several forest fires in early June. A fire that burned for several days in southern Norway was the largest in the country’s history, causing an estimated ten million dollars worth of damage, reported The Norway Post on June 17, 2008.

You can download a 9-kilometer-resolution KMZ file of global land surface temperature anomaly suitable for use with Google Earth.

• References
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur. (2008, June 13). Norway asks for help to tackle large forest blaze. Monsters and Critics. Accessed June 20, 2008.
• Solholm, R. (2008, June 17). State pays part of cost of forest fire. The Norway Post. Accessed June 20, 2008.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data obtained from the Goddard Land Processes data archives. Caption by Holli Riebeek.

Photo of the day!

Drax Coal-fired Power Station

With six 660 MW generating units and a maximum capacity of 3,945 MW, producing around 24 TWh (86.4 petajoules) annually, Drax is the largest coal-fired power station in England (near Selby in North Yorkshire).

Commissioned in 1974, Drax generates 7% of electrical power required by Britain. It has a maximum potential consumption of 36,000 tons of coal a day. It takes around 7 million to 11 million tons annually, generating around 1.5 million tons of ash and 22.8 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. (Source)

Cooling Towers, Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire, England. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. (Credit: Ian Britton via FreeFoto ).

The biggest emitter of CO2 in Britain, Drax is the second largest coal-fired plant in Europe after Bełchatów, in Poland.

Related Links:

• List of least carbon efficient power stations
• Carbon Monitoring for Action – CARMA