North Carolina Drowning: 2nd 500 Year Rain in 11 Years

As predicted, the whole east coast is soaking in rain.

North Carolina is expecting to see the Ark at any moment.

[Pink is 10″-12″ in 5 days; Blue is 15″ or over.]

Excessive rainfall in the Cape Fear region of North Carolina from a tropical conveyor belt including the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole has broken the total rainfall record from Hurricane Floyd in 1999. The Floyd rainfall has been described by the National Weather Service as a once-in-500-year event. The NWS reported this morning that the 19.66″ at Wilmington in the 3 days ending yesterday is the highest 3-day total precipitation in records that began in 1871.

Climate Progress

Coho Salmon Disappear

“The lack of rain this winter has contributed to what fisheries biologists say is, so far, the worst return of coho salmon in the recorded history of Marin County’s Lagunitas Creek watershed, one of California’s most critical ecosystems for the endangered fish.

Only a smattering of coho were spotted and only 20 egg nests, or redds, were seen in the two main tributaries – Lagunitas and San Geronimo creeks – during the annual winter survey of fish, watershed biologists said this week.

The paltry showing of redds represents an 89 percent drop in the number of returning offspring of parents that gave birth in the lush western Marin watershed three years ago. Last year at this time, 148 redds had been counted, then the lowest number in the 14 years that records have been kept…

…the primary cause is the unusually dry weather in Northern California, which has prevented salmon from swimming up the creeks. The rains in December were barely enough to breach sandbars on most beaches, forcing salmon up and down the coast to circle in the open ocean where they are vulnerable to sea lions and other predators.”

Coho Disappear

Millions Affected by Indian Flooding

We’ve been watching Fay dodge back and forth over Florida and before that the Carribean islands, leaving flooding and a dozen or so deaths. The people of north eastern India should have it so lucky. Monsoon rains have upped the ante from “just usual flooding,” to a “catastrophe. Over one million are cut off from food supplies and from the other modes and mechanisms of daily life.

Kohsi River

“It is not a normal flood, but a catastrophe,” said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after making an aerial survey of the ravaged districts.

Kumar said more than 1 million people were cut off from the rest of the country because the floods had washed away roads and made railway lines impassable.

India’s monsoon season, which lasts from June to September, brings rain vital for the country’s farmers but also massive destruction. Floods, mudslides, collapsing houses and lightning strikes kill hundreds of people every year.

This year’s monsoon has killed more than 330 people in India so far. In 2007, monsoon floods killed more than 2,200 people across South Asia and left 31 million others homeless, short of food or with other problems. The United Nations called last year’s floods the worst in living memory.”

Monsoon Flooding

Flooding in Eastern Europe

Floods in western Ukraine have killed 22 people, destroyed homes, farmland and roads and prompted the evacuation of 20,000 residents, officials said on Monday.

A senior government official [Ukraine] at the weekend described the flooding as the worst in a century.

Five Days of Rain

Flooding in New Mexico

New Mexico, for all the images of cactus and dry plains is no stranger to flooding. When the monsoon season hits the dry earth doesn’t soak in the rain and flash flooding is commonplace. The remnants of Hurricane Dolly, however, brought new records to the state.

an estimated 6.6 inches of rain fell in Ruidoso, N.M., over a 48-hour period. The state’s official single-day rainfall record of 2.3 inches was shattered when an estimated 4.6 inches fell there Saturday night and Sunday morning, the newspaper said.

New Mexico: Dolly Flooding

Cyprus Rainfall Has Fallen by about 20 percent over the past 35 years.

Drought-hit Cyprus to ship water from Greece

NICOSIA, April 21 (Reuters) – Cyprus, facing its worst drought in a decade, will start importing water from Greece within the next two months, Agriculture Minister Michalis Polinikis said on Monday.