Under Reported Weather Events

Venice Italy Knee Deep In On Water

In our fast moving world some stories that should be noted often are overlooked and ignored. We all saw and heard about hurricane Sandy, in addition to flooding the subway system of New York and halting financial trading Sandy may of even tilted the Presidential election. If Sandy had indeed made a difference in the election outcome one might say Sandy has had the impact of also altering our future. While we are becoming more use to these uncommon "weather occurrences", it is possible that we should be viewing them as a warning of worse yet to come.

Most of the world took little notice that on July 21 Beijing suffered its largest rainfall in 60 years. The storm caused widespread destruction and tragedy throughout China's capital, leaving 37 people dead. The rainstorm that created a record breaking 16 inches of rain and has caused $1.6 billion in flood damage. The storm started on Saturday afternoon and continued late into the night flooding everything in its path including major roads and underpasses while also crushing and collapsing homes.

I recently saw a picture of Venice Italy where the tourist in the famous Saint Marx Square found more then a little water. Heavy rain and a storm surge had left Venice severely flooded, it was the lagoon city's sixth worst flood on record. Residents and tourists were left to wade through the city on Sunday, with 70 percent of the city flooded, including pathways along Venice's fabled canals. By late afternoon the level had receded slightly to 4.6 feet above normal. The storm has also caused chaos across northern Italy, including Tuscany. Heavy rainfall and floods in Toscana caused hundreds of residents to flee their homes, in one area 9 inches of rainfall was recorded in just four hours.

Are stories like these that a busy world often overlooks or discounts the "canary in the coal mine"? A great number of hot and cold record breaking temperatures have been shattered across the world over the last few years. Droughts and other harsh climate changes that negatively effects crop yields hold the potential to turn our lives upside-down.This is not a new concern for me, for years I have preached quality over quantity and questioned the sustainability of the course mankind has chosen to pursue. It will take years or even decades to make a difference after we alter our lifestyles. Sadly efforts and pain to reset our course will not take place till the pain becomes massive.

To those interested the two post below also deal with the issue of sustainability;
                http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2012/05/another-earth-needed.html
                http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-worlds-10-worst-problems.html