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Analysis: Climate crisis unfolds in Italy with melting ice and drought

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Analysis: Climate crisis unfolds in Italy with melting ice and drought

It’s been a tough few weeks on the local weather entrance right here in Italy.

Heat temperatures are a part of the issue, however clearly, this hasn’t simply acquired to do with the seasons altering.

The latest deaths of 11 folks after a glacier collapsed on a well-liked mountaineering path on the Marmolada mountain wasn’t simply an accident.

With temperatures which have elevated by round 2 levels Celcius — twice the worldwide common — not solely has ice been melting sooner previously few years, however specialists reckon that occasions like this are more likely to enhance.

Italian scientists have warned that the Marmolada glacier will now not exist within the subsequent 25 to 30 years as glaciers within the Alps retreat.

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It’s neither the primary nor the final instance of what has been unfolding in entrance of our eyes for fairly a while. In 2019, issues already regarded fairly unhealthy.

Again then, I used to be reporting on the Planpincieux glacier within the Italian Alps – close to Courmayeur. I went up by helicopter to see for myself — an enormous block of ice that was about to interrupt off from the mountain.

Because the producer and I have been flying over the glacier, I bear in mind desirous about the devastating penalties that the autumn of such an enormous mass might have had. Consultants warned then that it might take simply 80 seconds for the equal of 100 Olympic swimming swimming pools of frozen water to succeed in the valley flooring.

A member of a particular staff tasked with monitoring the glacier’s actions advised me that the glacier was sliding downwards at a mean velocity of 35 to 40 centimetres per day.

The glacier collapse was not the one main tragedy to remind us of the local weather disaster’ influence.

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The Po river — Italy’s largest river has change into nearly unrecognisable. Seeing it in individual is definitely surprising.

A widespread desert now exists the place water used to stream. The riverbed has emerged, bringing to the floor particles and shells that have been usually mendacity underwater.

An professional advised me that this occurred in simply six months however the phenomenon will not be new.

There have been water crises a number of instances over the previous 20 years however at present’s present drought is the worst that has ever been recorded within the final 70 years.

Along with the cumulative results of the previous, rainfall has decreased by half for the reason that starting of the yr and with much less snow than typical, lakes will not be on the similar stage.

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Agricultural manufacturing has been the primary to really feel the influence, but in addition 700,000 folks residing within the space use the water for home use. And the rising stream of seawater into the Po river makes irrigation nearly unattainable.

So what’s the answer and the way might this newest disaster be prevented?

I put the query to the Basin Authority which stated lowering water being pumped out for crop irrigation would undoubtedly assist.

“Now we have to speed up the inexperienced transition course of. Everybody is aware of it exists. Subsequent yr could possibly be even worse,” the Secretary Basic of the Authority warned.

However options can’t be applied with out political choices. The authority suggested the federal government on the necessity to use cash from the EU restoration fund to take care of the drought.

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A state of emergency was already declared in a number of areas, however there may be a lot extra that could possibly be completed.

The Basin Authority’s secretary-general confirmed there’s an issue in relation to who’s taking such choices.

One among Italy’s most important issues, one thing that already emerged through the pandemic, is that always choices might be taken at completely different ranges each regional and nationwide.

However because the disaster worsens, actually, one thing must be completed.

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Spain searches for bodies after unprecedented flooding claims at least 158 lives

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Spain searches for bodies after unprecedented flooding claims at least 158 lives

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Crews searched for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings Thursday as residents salvaged what they could from their ruined homes following monstrous flash floods in Spain that claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone.

More horrors emerged Thursday from the debris and ubiquitous layers of mud left by the walls of water that produced Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory. The damage recalled the aftermath of a tsunami, with survivors left to pick up the pieces as they mourn their loved ones.

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AT LEAST 63 DEAD IN DEVASTATING FLASH FLOODS ACROSS EASTERN SPAIN, OFFICIALS SAY

Cars were piled on one another like fallen dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items all mired in mud that covered streets in dozens of communities in Valencia, a region south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.

An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found.

“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said early Thursday before the death toll spiked from 95 on Wednesday night.

Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in its path. The floods demolished bridges and left roads unrecognizable.

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Luís Sánchez, a welder, said he saved several people who were trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of Valencia city. The road rapidly became a floating graveyard strewn with hundreds of vehicles.

“I saw bodies floating past. I called out, but nothing,” Sánchez said. “The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”

Regional authorities said late Wednesday that rescuers in helicopters saved some 70 people stranded on rooftops and in cars, but ground crews were far from done.

Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024.  (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

“Our priority is to find the victims and the missing so we can help end the suffering of their families,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said after meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday, the first of three official days of mourning.

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An ‘extraordinary’ deluge

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flood event in recent memory. Scientists link it to climate change, which is also behind increasingly high temperatures and droughts in Spain and the heating up of the Mediterranean Sea.

Human-caused climate change has doubled the likelihood of a storm like this week’s deluge in Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, comprising dozens of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather.

Spain has been suffering from an almost two-year drought, meaning that when the deluge happened late Tuesday and early Wednesday, the ground was so hard that it could not absorb the rain, leading to flash floods.

The violent weather event surprised regional government officials. Spain’s national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian town of Chiva than it had in the preceding 20 months, calling the deluge “extraordinary.”

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In Paiporta, a community of 25,000 next to Valencia city where mayor Maribel Albalat said Thursday that not fewer than 62 people had perished.

“(Paiporta) never has floods, we never have this kind of problem. And we found a lot of elderly people in the town center,” Albalat told national broadcaster RTVE. “There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages … it was a real trap.’

Farms damaged

While the most suffering was inflicted on municipalities near the city of Valencia, the storms unleashed their fury over huge swaths of the south and eastern coast of the Iberian peninsula. Two fatalities were confirmed in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region and one in southern Andalusia.

Greenhouses and farms across southern Spain, known as Europe’s garden for its exported produce, were also ruined by heavy rains and flooding. The storms spawned a freak tornado in Valencia and a hail storm that punched holes in cars in Andalusia. Homes were left without water as far southwest as Malaga in Andalusia.

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Heavy rains continued Thursday farther north as the Spanish weather agency issued alerts for several counties in Castellón, in the eastern Valencia region, and for Tarragona in Catalonia, as well as southwest Cadiz.

“This storm front is still with us,” the prime minister said. “Stay home and heed the official recommendation and you will help save lives.”

The search goes on amid the destruction

Over 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency rescue units joined regional and local emergency workers in the search for bodies and survivors.

“We are searching house by house,” Ángel Martínez, with a military emergency unit, told Spain’s national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.

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An Associated Press journalist saw rescuers remove seven body bags from an underground garage in Barrio de la Torre on Thursday.

Many residents in both towns had to walk long distances in sticky mud to find food and water. Many of their cars had been destroyed and the mud, destruction and debris left by the storm made some roads unpassable. Some pushed shopping carts along sodden streets while others carried their children to keep them out of the muck.

Valencia regional President Carlos Mazón on Thursday asked if Spain’s army could assist with distributing basic goods to the population.

The National Police arrest 39 people for looting on Wednesday. The Civil Guard deployed officers to stop further thefts from homes, cars and shopping malls.

Some 150,000 people in Valencia were without electricity on Wednesday, but roughly half had power by Thursday, Spanish news agency EFE reported. An unknown number did not have running water and were relying on whatever bottled water they could find.

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The region remained partly isolated with several roads cut off and train lines interrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid. Officials said it will take two to three weeks to repair that damaged line.

A man wept as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his home in Catarroja, south of Valencia. It looked as though a bomb had detonated inside, obliterating furniture and belongings, and stripping the paint off some walls.

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Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

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Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

The Hungarian prime minister arrived in Vienna on Thursday, where he was received by parliamentary president Walter Rosenkranz in a meeting condemned by several Austrian political parties.

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Despite criticism from other political parties, Austria’s newly elected parliament president, Walter Rosenkranz of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Vienna as his first official guest. 

The controversial visit took place in the Austrian parliament’s reception room, with the entire leadership of the FPÖ, including leader Herbert Kickl, reportedly in attendance. 

After the meeting concluded, Orbán had a separate, private meeting with Kickl. However, nothing was initially revealed about the content of their conversation.

Rosenkranz said the meeting had been arranged before he took office.

Other Austrian parties, including the Greens and Social Democrats, had resisted Orbán’s visit. Green party parliamentary leader Sigrid Maurer said the FPÖ views Orbán as a role model, which should be considered “an absolute warning signal.” 

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FPÖ finished first in the recent Austrian parliamentary elections, garnering 29.2% of the vote in the country’s first far-right election win since World War II.

Experts say the party managed to tap into Austrian anxiety on housing and healthcare, as well as often successfully blaming migration for a host of other issues. 

As is customary within Austria, the group with the highest number of votes appoints the President of Parliament – hence Rosenkranz being elected to the second-highest state office in the country last week. 

Orbán will reportedly not meet with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer during the visit.

Far-right alliance in Europe

Austria’s Freedom Party and Orbán’s Fidesz party both belong to the new European far-right group Patriots for Europe.  

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The party shares a deep aversion to the Green Deal, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s flagship initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and have challenged the project of European integration as well as the power granted to EU institutions.  

Patriots for Europe are also opposed to providing Ukraine with military equipment, question the efficiency of Western sanctions against Moscow and want to maintain close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government. 

It is the third-largest group in the European Parliament, boasting dozens of MEPs from countries like France, Italy and the Netherlands. 

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Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House

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Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House
By Hannah Lang (Reuters) – The cryptocurrency industry has spent years clashing with Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration over regulatory issues, but executives expect an easier ride from Washington, regardless of who wins the White House next week. Crypto asset managers including Bitwise …
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