MONUMENTAL DELUGE: Widespread Flooding – The Latest Reports Of High Tides, Heavy Rainfall, Flash Floods, Sea Level Rise, And Catastrophic Storms!

February 11, 2015 - EARTH - The following list constitutes the latest reports of high tides, heavy rainfall, flash floods, widespread flooding, sea level rise and catastrophic storms.

Jakarta Floods Force 6,000 Evacuations

The 2015 Jakarta floods continue as more heavy rain falls on the Indonesian capital. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) of Indonesia confirmed earlier today that 5,986 people have been forced to evacuate their homes after floods continued to inundate wide areas of the city.

UPDATE: Australian news agency AAP are reporting that Jakarta police say that one person has died after being swept away by flood water in central Jakarta.

The heavy rain began on Sunday 08 February 2015. By Monday, west, north, central areas, including the President’s palace, were all under water. Traffic, trains and buses were al brought to a standstill, with many streets under water between 30 and 80 cm deep.

BNPD said 14 different relief centres have been set up for the displaced. They said that floods have affected 307 neighbourhoods (over 100 of them in west Jakarta) located in 97 urban villages in 33 sub-districts.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency report that nearly 5,000 houses have been flooded across the city, affecting 15,517 people, many of whom remain in their homes. It is assumed that the 5,986 people who were evacuated were in areas where the floods had increased enough to pose a serious threat to safety.

More Rain to Come

Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika / BMKG) has forecast further heavy rainfall for Jakarta and Upper Areas around the city until at least Thursday 12 February 2015.


WATCH: Monsoon brings flooding misery to Jakarta.

With streets and ground already saturated and river levels rising fast, more heavy rain could push Jakarta towards a similar flood disaster to those experienced in 2007, when 54 people died, and 2013, when 47 people died.

Rainfall Figures

Recent rainfall figures from WMO for the Jakarta area are show below. Figures are for a 24 hour period between 09 and 10 February 2015.

Jakarta/Soekarno-Hatta – 123 mm
Jakarta/Observatory – 278 mm
Jakarta/Tanjung Priok – 310 mm

Floods return to Bolivia - 15 Dead, Over 10,000 Homes Damaged

The floodwaters are waste deep in places and rescue services have been using dinghies to help trapped residents [EPA]

Torrential rains have returned to Bolivia and much of the country is struggling to cope with the deluge.

According to government officials, at least 15 people have died so far this rainy season and more than 10,000 homes have been damaged.

The heavy downpours have been going on for many weeks now.

The floodwaters are waste deep in places and rescue services have been using dinghies to help trapped residents out of their homes.

Seven people died in the central region of Cochambamba, which hosts Bolivia’s fourth largest city. They have already had 138mm of rain here this month. The January average is 96mm.

Oscar Cabrera, the vice minister for civil defence, explained "the situation is getting more complicated with the growth of the rivers".

Areas to the north of La Paz have been "seriously affected" and risk further property damage.

The city of Reyes, which is located 260km to the north of the capital, recorded 133mm of rain in the 24 hours into Wednesday morning. That amounts to just over half the January average of 256mm.

The 2014 rainy season was the worst in living memory, with 60 dead and 60,000 families affected.

Like this year, there were also huge losses in the agricultural sector.

However, Cabrera said there have been improvements in the country’s ability to cope with such emergencies.

Landslides and Floods in Peru after Heavy Rain

Heavy rain in Peru over the last 3 days has caused landslides and flooding in 3 regions of the country according to Peru’s National Civil Defense Institute, INDECI.

Arequipa

A storm and heavy rainfall on 09 February affected at least 20 homes and inundated roads in the
districts of Sachaca and Cerro Colorado in the province of Arequipa.

San Martin

Areas of San Martin were affected by flooding earlier this year, displacing at least 3,000 people.

Overflowing river Huallaga, San Martin, Peru, January 2015. Photo: Government of San Martin, Peru

On 08 February 2015 more heavy rain caused a landslide in the district of Tarapoto, blocking a section of the main road between Tarapoto and Yurimaguas.

This comes after a landslide in the same area on 01 February which killed one person and injured 3 others. Tarapoto is largely inaccessible by road and the Peru air force have been bringing in supplies and transporting people by plane since 02 February.

Lima

Heavy rain caused a landslides and flooding in the districts of Lurigancho – Chosica, Ricardo Palma and Chaclacayo around 30 km outside Lima.


WATCH: Heavy rains trigger mudslides in Peru.

The worst affected area is Lurigancho – Chosica where the heavy rain has destroyed six houses, displacing around 30 people. INDECI report that 96 families have been affected.

INDECI are providing food, supplies and e technical assistance to local authorities in response actions in areas affected by landslides caused by heavy rains.

Evros Floods, Greece – 30,000 Hectares of Farmland Underwater

Map of the Evros / Maritsa River, Europe. Image: WikiMedia, licensed under Creative Commons

Flooding continues to affect the regional unit of Evros in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, north-eastern Greece, due to the overflowing of the Evros (Maritsa) river.

Flood first struck in the area on 01 February 2015, when heavy rain resulted in flooding and evacuations in Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia and later in Turkey. Evacuations are still in effect and as yet, flood waters haven’t receded enough for many of those displaced to be able to return home.

Damage to Agriculture

Local media are reporting that between 20,000 and 30,000 hectares (75 to 115 square miles) of farm land remains under water, and the flooding in Evros is likely to have a devastating effect on the local rural economy.

Much of this region depends on farming for its income. Although levels of the Evros river may be falling, it is expected that it will take much longer for flood water to drain from farm land.

The president of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives Ebro Lazarus Kitsikidis told the Greek news site in.gr that there is now a fear that farmers will miss as much as 80% of the growing season. He said that it could take another month for the farm land to fully drain and therefore most of the flooded fields will not be able be sown in time for the forthcoming growing season.

File photo: Floods in Evros, 2010. Photo credit: Joanna

Severe Weather Warnings

Severe weather conditions, including heavy snowfall and rainfall and strong winds, are forecast for most areas of the country on 9 February and Greece’s Meteorological Service has issued Red and Orange Alerts.

Weather warnings for Greece. Source: Meteo Alarm

Flooding on the Increase in Central USA

The central US is experiencing flooding more often now than it was 50 years ago, new research shows. The study across 14 states finds rivers over much of the region are breaching their banks more frequently, leading to a greater number of floods.

The researchers attribute the increase in flooding to rising temperatures in the region and more days with heavy rainfall.

Flooded houses Cedar Rapids 2008. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey

Serious Flooding

In recent decades, the central US has been hit by a number of serious and widespread floods. Flooding in the spring of 1993 and summer of 2008 affected as many as ten states, for example. The disaster saw hundreds of counties declared Presidential Disaster Areas, giving them access to emergency relief funding.
Scientists have since been trying to work out whether floods are getting worse or if what we’re seeing in this part of the US is down to natural variability.

To investigate changes in river flooding, scientists look at historical records of river flow and the maximum amount of water they can hold before overflowing. The flow, or ‘discharge’, of a river is measured by instruments at different points along its course.

Studies in the past have found the maximum flow through rivers hasn’t changed much over the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. But a new study, published in Nature Climate Change, finds that rivers are hitting these high flows more often.

More Frequent Peaks

The researchers analysed records of river flows from 774 instrument stations across the central US, including Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan. They counted how many times each river hit a point where there was so much water flowing through it that it was likely to cause a flood.

Map showing the 774 US Geological Survey stations used in this study. Source: Mallakpour & Villarini (2015)

A third of river stations (34 per cent) are passing their critical flooding thresholds more often now than they were 50 years ago, the study finds. Nine per cent of stations are seeing flooding occur less often. The results for the other stations aren’t statistically significant, which means the scientists can’t be sure the trend hasn’t happened by chance.

Across the region as a whole, the trend is towards more frequent flooding, the paper concludes:

“Overall, our analysis reveals that the largest flood peaks have not been strongly increasing in this broad belt of the central US, but, rather, the region has been experiencing a greater number of flood events.”

Map showing frequency of annual flooding from 1962 to 2011. Blue and red triangles show increases and decreases, respectively.
Grey areas show locations that did not experience a statistically significant change. Source: Mallakpour & Villarini (2015)

The researchers found very similar results when they analysed a subset of the record, which includes 68 ‘pristine’ locations. These are stations away from urban development, reservoirs or lakes, which might affect how quickly rainwater finds its way into streams and rivers.

Changing Rainfall Patterns

What’s causing the floods to occur more often? One factor is changing rainfall patterns, the researchers say. Using the same 14 US states as before, the researchers studied how rainfall has changed over the last 50 years. The number of days with heavy rainfall has gone up over much of the region, as the blue shading in the map below shows.

Map showing frequency of annual heavy rainfall days from 1962 to 2011. Blue and red areas show increases and decreases, respectively. Grey areas show
locations that did not experience a statistically significant change. Source: Mallakpour & Villarini (2015)

Rising temperatures are also contributing to more frequent flood events, says lead author Dr Gabriele Villarini, from the University of Iowa. This is occurring as warmer springs cause more snowmelt to flow into swelling rivers. Spring temperatures have risen over much of the central US in the last 60 years, the paper explains.

Spring snowmelt is a particular problem for flooding in the northern part of the central US, Villarini says, which tends to receive more snow in the winter.

Map showing seasonal temperature from 1948 to 2011. Blue and red areas show increases and decreases, respectively. Grey areas show locations that did not
experience a statistically significant change. Source: Mallakpour & Villarini (2015)

Human Activity

The paper doesn’t tackle the question of whether the increase in river flooding in the central US is being caused by human activity. But an increase in heavy rainfall fits in with what scientists expect as the Earth warms up.

As temperatures rise, basic physics says this will cause an increase in moisture in the atmosphere, so when it rains, it falls in heavier bursts. A recent study found the probability of seeing an extremely wet winter like the UK did last year is 25 per cent higher than it was before humans started influencing the climate, for example.
Mallakpour, I. and Villarini, G. (2015) The changing nature of flooding across the central United States, Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/nclimate2516

The above report is by Robert McSweeney for Carbon Brief and originally appeared here.


- Floodlist | Al Jazeera.