Noah's Radio

Droughts are long, heat waves kill the most vulnerable and least visible, but of all the more obvious climate crises effects, floods affect the most people most dramatically in the shortest time, and in a defined area.

The floods that have attacked remote third world lands don't make the news, and even the ones earlier this summer in Texas passed without much notice, but perhaps two separate and quite large incidents this weekend will obtain some media focus.

In China, storms are expected to continue battering the Yangtze and Huai river valleys, where 150 people died last week because of floods. As reported by a Chinese news agency, floods have affected nearly half of China since May, with some 400 dead. Now there are the heavy storms themselves, with lightning and hail, causing landslides as well as flooding.

In England, the Guardian reports: More than 350,000 people are facing days without fresh water supplies and a clean-up operation lasting months as devastating floods this weekend left communities cut off across central and southern England. The disasters required emergency help from the RAF in "one of its largest peacetime operations", but though the response seems a lot better than the US government managed in the Katrina debacle, there's controversy about preparedness and government actions, especially as the rains--two months worth in one day--were forecast two days ahead of time. "The government defended its handling of the crisis, but the chief executive of the Environment Agency, Lady Young, said it would cost £1bn a year to prevent further flooding, and predicted worsening conditions in future due to climate change;"

Meanwhile, weather services in Denmark and Sweden issued warnings of heavy rainfall that could cause flooding.