We are seeing the very worst of our scientific predictions come to pass in these bushfires.

I had goosebumps watching surreal footage of the mass evacuation of people stranded on the south-east Australian coast.

‘The thing that really terrifies me is that weather conditions
considered extreme by today’s standards will seem sedate in the future.’

Once again, catastrophic bushfire conditions are bearing down on communities during increasingly horrific summers in Australia. It has been an unprecedented continuation of the horrendous bushfires that started as early as spring in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales.

As I write this, the Australian navy is evacuating over 800 people from the bushfire ravaged town of Mallacoota in eastern Victoria. Holiday makers are being forced to abandon their cars, complete with kids’ bikes strapped to the roof racks, ice melting in Eskies. People hoping for a carefree break over the new year are instead faced with the extraordinary position of having to flee for their lives.

Read the story from The Guardian by Joëlle Gergis - “We are seeing the very worst of our scientific predictions come to pass in these bushfires.” 

India monsoon: Hundreds dead in Kerala floods as rescuers work to evacuate survivors.

Rescuers have used helicopters and boats to evacuate thousands of people stranded on their rooftops following unprecedented flooding in the southern Indian state of Kerala that killed at least 320 people, with the actual death toll feared to be much higher.

Troops step up desperate rescue attempts in India's
 flood-stricken Kerala after more than 100 bodies
were found in just 24 hours.

With heavy rains stopping after a week, rescuers moved quickly to take those marooned by floods to 1500 state-run camps.

They used more than a dozen helicopters and about 400 boats across the state, relief officials said.

Read the story from The New Daily - “India monsoon: Hundreds dead in Kerala floods as rescuers work to evacuate survivors.”

(Climate change? Well, yes and no. The monsoons have long been a regular pattern for India and in fact, are depended upon by many people because of that regularity and the life-giving rain they bring. Probably the only thing that could be attributed to climate change is the ferocity and intensity of the present event, and that intensity fits near perfectly with what the climate scientists have predicted - Robert McLean)