Tag: drought

England’s drought-hit summer 2022 joint hottest on record

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – England had its joint hottest summer on record this year, tied with 2018, the country’s meteorological agency said Thursday as it unveiled provisional mean temperature statistics for the three-month period. The announcement comes with most of England and Wales gripped by drought after exceptionally high temperatures and several heatwaves alongside minimal rainfall, mirroring conditions seen across northwest Europe. England also smashed its all-time temperature record in July, when the mercury […]

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Niger tries artificial rainmaking to ease drought

NIAMEY, Niger (AFP) – Niger has deployed rainmaking planes in a bid to alleviate a drought that has sparked fears of a food crisis in the desert nation, weather authorities said Thursday. “We had to do something about this drought,” said Katiellou Gaptia Lawan, head of the national meteorology institute. Niger has been parched by “many extended dry spells that are upsetting the development of crops and pastures”. The Sahel country — the world’s poorest […]

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Half of China hit by drought in worst heatwave on record

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — A crippling drought exacerbated by a record heat wave has spread out across half of China and reached the normally frigid Tibetan Plateau, according to official data released ahead of more searing temperatures on Thursday. The world’s second-largest economy has been hit by heatwaves, flash floods and droughts — phenomena that scientists say are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. Southern China has recorded its longest continuous […]

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Boiling heat and no water: taps run dry in southern Iraq

AL-AGHAWAT, Iraq (AFP) – Younes Ajil turns on the tap in his home but nothing comes out: dozens of villages are without running water in drought-hit Iraq, surviving on sporadic tanker-truck deliveries and salty wells. For everything from drinking to bathing and washing dishes and clothes, Ajil and his eight children wait at their home in Al-Aghawat for trucked-in water from the Diwaniyah provincial authorities once or twice a week. In burning summer temperatures that […]

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Flash flood warning issued for drought-hit western US

  LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Drought-stricken parts of the western United States were warned Friday to be on alert for flash flooding, with up to six inches (15 centimeters) of rain expected in some areas. The National Weather Service said “a significant heavy rainfall event” could strike Arizona and New Mexico, leading to sudden inundations — especially in areas previously ravaged by wildfires. Very heavy rainfall is “forecast for portions of southeastern Arizona […]

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Dutch anglers save fish as Rhine drought bites

by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse GIESBEEK, Netherlands (AFP) — Angler Mark Kouwenhoven grins as he wades into what’s left of a dried-up Dutch lake where his colleagues are throwing slime-coated fish into buckets. It’s not the kind of catch they’re used to — but that’s because this time they’re helping the government to save the fish from the drought gripping Europe. Each fish will be moved nearby to the River IJssel, a Dutch branch […]

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Water levels on Italy’s Lake Garda drop to 15-year low

SIRMIONE, Italy (AFP) – The pedalos lie far from the water’s edge and the flat stone slabs around the Sirmione peninsula are exposed after drought reduced the level of Italy’s Lake Garda to a 15-year low. Italy’s largest lake, a major tourist destination nestled among mountains in the north of the country, is suffering like many others from months without rain. “We are currently at 30 centimetres (12 inches) above the (benchmark) hydrographic level,” compared […]

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Drought officially declared in several parts of England

London, United Kingdom | AFP | The UK government on Friday officially declared a drought in several parts of England, following months of record low rainfall and unprecedented temperatures in recent weeks. At a meeting of the National Drought Group, the government’s Environment Agency said the “drought trigger threshold had been met” in parts of southwestern, southern, central and eastern England. Drought was last officially declared in England in 2018. The Environment Agency on Friday […]

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Millions hungry but drought overlooked as Kenya prepares to vote

by Nick Perry Agence France-Presse PURAPUL, Kenya (AFP) — In the dust bowl of Kenya’s drought-stricken north, the people of Purapul are edging closer to starvation, surviving on nothing but wild berries as their children waste away from hunger. Loka Metir knows the bitter fruits make her children sick, further weakening their frail condition. But it hasn’t rained properly in three years, and there’s simply nothing else to eat. “This is the only way to […]

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‘Desperate for water’: drought hits Mexican industrial powerhouse

by Sofia Miselem Agence France-Presse MONTERREY, Mexico (AFP) — Maria Celia Navarro smiles wistfully as she remembers the now-unthinkable luxury of taking a shower in her home before a water shortage struck one of Mexico’s wealthiest cities. Nestled in mountains a few hours’ drive from the US border, industrial powerhouse Monterrey boasts living standards that many Mexicans could only dream of. Residents of the northern city, whose metropolitan area is home to around five million […]

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Western US drought brings Great Salt Lake to lowest level on record

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Water in Utah’s Great Salt Lake has fallen to its lowest level ever recorded, authorities announced this week, a result of the ongoing drought impacting the western United States which scientists warn has been exacerbated by climate change. The average depth of the massive saltwater lake, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, fluctuates naturally with the seasons and local precipitation. But the economically and environmentally important basin has never […]

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Unprecedented water curbs kick in for drought-hit Los Angeles

  by Laurent BANGUET Unprecedented restrictions on water usage went into effect Wednesday in the Los Angeles area, which like most of California is in the grip of severe drought for the third consecutive year. More than six million customers are affected by the new measures, which limit watering gardens to one day a week and only during the coolest hours, under penalty of a fine and reduced water flow. The goal is to reduce […]

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