Torrid Times
- January 14th, 2011
- Posted by EUEditor
Heavy rain, mudlsides and floods have claimed the lives of at least 470 people in Brazil in the last two days; with the floods in Queensland and a heavy storm in Sri Lanka, dramatising an eerie climate pattern in the Southern Hemisphere.
The tragedy in Brazil is concentrated in hill country North of Rio de Janiero, with poor housing constructed on the slopes.
Thousands are reported missing.
In North-eastern Australia, 15 people have died in floods since the weekend, in Brisbane the capital of the State of Queensland, the small city of Toowoomba, and the Lockyer Valley farming area in between.
Grave fears are held for at least the same number of people among the missing.
Flooding across a very wide area of Queensland and New South Wales during the last three months had already taken the lives of more than ten people.
A cyclone crossing the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka has produced massive rainfall, contributing to analysis linking the extreme weather trend to climate change, and precipitating factors like the cool-water La Nina in the Pacific Ocean.
Reference
Al Jazeera, Doha, “Brazil flooding toll passes 400â€, 14.1.11.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/01/20111140122621565.html, (14.1.11).
BBC News, London, “Brazil flood and mudslide deaths rise as search goes onâ€, 13.1.11. www.bbc.co.uk, (14.1.11).
Picture  Brazil scene – al jazeera TV