The Stream, September 19: Manila Flooded by Tropical Storm

Natural Disasters
Water levels rose as much as 3 meters in areas of Manila as rains from tropical storm Mario flooded the Philippine capital, The New York Times reported. More than 500,000 people were evacuated from the city while schools, offices, transportation and electricity closed down.

Emergency supplies of bottled water are being shipped into Los Cabos, Mexico, following the category 3 hurricane that hit last weekend and stranded thousands of people, Reuters reported. Stores have been looted and some residents have resorted to destroying drain pipes to access scarce water.

So many forest fires are occurring in Southeast Asia this dry season that there is a shortage of fire-fighting planes, the Wall Street Journal reported. In Indonesia, firefighters do not have the planes to seed clouds and create rain, leaving many fires to spread and burn in remote locations.

Improved weather monitoring stations in the Solomon Islands are expected to help farmers and fishermen prepare for increasingly variable weather, AlertNet reported. New stations will be especially important for predicting floods, which have forced the relocation of an entire town on one of the islands.

Population
The global population will likely continue to rise throughout the current century to reach 11 billion, shooting past previous estimates of a peak of 9 billion in 2050, according to a new study by an international team of researchers, the Guardian reported. Continued population growth could place more pressure on resources like water and food, particularly as climates change.

Codi Kozacek

A news correspondent for Circle of Blue based out of Hawaii. She writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Her interests include food security, ecology and the Great Lakes.
Contact Codi Kozacek