Posted on 06/05/2005 9:37:28 PM PDT by STARWISE
Snowfall in Somalia reported
Wed. June 01, 2005 10:36 am.
The first snowfall on this part of the world has claimed one life and caused extensive damage to properties. Puntland, northeastern part of Somalia has never recorded snowfall before last night when snow storms with high winds destroyed homes in Rako town.
The storm left a blanket of snow on the ground, something residents had never seen in their lives before. Aside from this unexplained snowfall on this tropical land, Somalia has experienced very strange weather in the past few months.
Floods killed people and forced rivers to overflow banks in almost all parts of the country. Many cities from Hargeisa in the north to Baladweyn in central were affected badly by heavy rains and floods. Many people were killed and thousands of livestock washed away by this strange weather. The country is still struggling to recover from last month’s killer weather.
With no effective central government, Somalia doesn’t have weather prediction or climate monitoring systems in place. Somalis think this unusual weather and last night’s previously unheard of snowfall are part of the global warming phenomena.
GLOBAL WARMING ALERT!!!;)
And no doubt, its Bush's fault.....
Odd, they can't form a government capable of carrying out the trash but they feel capable of pontificating on Global Warming while freezing their kiesters off....
Sort of like Al Gore giving a speech on Global Warning on the coldest day in the history of New York City (or at least in the top 10.)
It's our CIA weather machine, of course!
Snow in Samalia. Global warming = snow. That is wierd.
I guess they can't make their "minds" up. Ice Age or frying to death.
I don't worry about either.
This has been posted about 4 times already; it's a single source report...
It's overwhelmingly likely it's HAIL, not snow, or just plain BS.
Based on temp reports it was physically impossible for it to have snowed on the date claimed in the location claimed.
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China on high alert as flood claims 204 lives
REUTERS, BEIJING
June 5: Wide areas of southern China were placed on high alert on Sunday for further flooding, as officials said more than 204 people had been killed and over 100,000 homes destroyed by floods in the past week.
Heavy rains were expected to trigger further floods and landslides in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the coming 10 days, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Vice Premier Hui Liangyu called on local governments to ensure the safety of major rivers and prepare for annual floods.
Xinhua put the death toll from flooding at over 204 people so far and said another 17 million people were affected. Some 138,000 homes had been destroyed.
The death toll in the south-central province of Hunan, one of the worst hit areas, had risen to 75, with nearly 50 people still unaccounted for, China Central Television (CCTV) said.
Unspecified numbers of deaths have also been reported in the nation's western provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou.
AFP report adds:The seasonal downpours have affected more than 17 million people so far, including those who have lost property and others who have had to flee flooded areas, the Xinhua news agency said.
Official statistics showed that 614,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of farmland were also destroyed and 137,900 rooms were damaged, Xinhua said. China calculates damage to buildings by room.
Governments across the country have been ordered to mobilize manpower and resources to battle the floods, in particular to prevent major rivers and reservoirs from being breached.
Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said at a meeting of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters Saturday that measures should be taken to reduce human casualties and keep property loss at a minimum, Xinhua said.
Hui has also demanded the prompt relocation of people made homeless by the flooding and the safeguarding of reservoirs to protect water supplies.
Heavy downpours and fast-moving mountain torrents have battered several provinces, including Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou, since May 30, killing tens of thousands of livestock.
Emergency relief supplies were rushed to flood-hit areas to help hundreds of thousands of people forced from their homes, reports said.
Officials said they had dispatched rice, clean water and other relief materials while the health ministry issued an urgent circular calling for immediate measures to stem outbreaks of disease.
The worst-affected province was Hunan where by Friday 60 people had been killed.
The mountainous landscape of the area and flood damage to roads added to the difficulty of the rescue effort, officials said.
Photographs from Hunan showed bridges washed away and tree trunks and other debris strewn along river banks and roads.
Police were seen carrying the injured on makeshift stretchers as villagers fled the destruction with their meagre belongings on their backs.
Many people in Xinshao were injured when buildings crumbled as the gushing streams of water hit. Officials last week said medicine was desperately needed.
In Qijiang county in the southwestern Chongqing municipality 500 houses were flattened and another 2,000 damaged by late Saturday following 12 hours of continuous rains and the ensuing floods, Xinhua said.
More than 300 landslides were reported, halting local railway and road transport.
Some 2,000 passengers were stranded at the Qijiang Railway Station Saturday. Authorities dispatched 51 passenger buses to transport them by road when highway traffic resumed.
The level of the Qijiang River reached 223.5 meters (738 feet) by Saturday afternoon, 3.5 meters above the danger mark.
In southern Guangdong province, the rainstorms caused an estimated total economic loss of 55.38 million yuan (6.69 million US dollars), according to official figures.
Thousands of people perish every year from floods, landslides and mudflows in China, with millions left homeless, and officials have warned this year's floods could be worse than usual.
The China Meteorological Administration warned last month of an "apocalyptic" summer of severe drought and floods.
Is this the "snowstorm in hell" we've been expecting?
Only from the perspective of our short lives coupled with a bit of propaganda sent out by people with an agenda
Ooops -- sorry, all. I admit ..the first time I didn't search .. thought it was so unbelievable and I hadn't heard of it. My apologies.
D'ya think maybe they have their equivalent of April Fool's Day on June first over there?
Thanks for posting the story. I would have never read this otherwise.
Do you ever get the feeling that there is a contest among some to be the first to point out to a duplicate poster that "search can be your friend"?
Where's the "COLD DAY IN HELL" Alert!
Suppose this is what they mean by hell freezing over?
LOL -- sometimes ;).
On the original post of this article.
This is the reason you post once and just bump the post. Otherwise you miss much of the discussion. It is just makes sense.
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