Tindor Sikunyongana is trying to run a welding business which these days means buying a diesel generator with costly fuel he can’t always afford. Like everyone in Zambia, Sikunyongana is facing a daily struggle to find and afford electricity during a climate-induced energy crisis that’s robbed the southern African country of almost all its power. “Only God knows when this crisis will end,” said Sikunyongana. His generator ran out of diesel and spluttered to a halt as he spoke. “You see what I mean?” he said. The sun rises near Kariba dam in Siavonga, Zambia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Zambia’s worst electricity blackouts in memory have been caused by a severe drought in the region that has left the critical Kariba dam, the source of Sikunyongana’s woes,...
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Greece's worst fire this year amid months of drought Waterbombing aircraft battle flames on Athens' outskirts Evacuations ordered in 30 areas, power cuts in region Winds to strengthen, high fire alert through Thursday Greece's worst wildfire this year spread into the Athens suburbs on Monday, forcing hundreds of people to flee as it torched trees, homes and cars overnight and choked busy roads with smoke and ash. The government has called in help from fellow EU members to tackle the fire that is burning out of control for a second day, fanned by gale force winds that pushed it from the wooded hills north of the city. Firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire burning in Dionysos, Greece, August 12, 2024. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis Firefighters said flames, threat...
Read MoreUnusual heat wave turns winter upside down in southern hemisphere The parched shoreline and shrinking depths of Lake Titicaca are prompting growing alarm that an ago-old way of life around South America's largest lake is slipping away as a brutal heat wave wreaks havoc on the southern hemisphere's winter. Like many places suffering deadly consequences of climate change, the sprawling freshwater lake nestled in the Andes mountains on Bolivia's border with Peru now features a water level approaching an all-time low. Juan Carlos Carratia watches the shore of Lake Titicaca, in the drought season, in Chua, Bolivia August 3, 2023. REUTERS/Claudia Morales Globally, July was the hottest month on record, as prolonged dry spells take an especially heavy toll on humans and animals alike....
Read MoreJust months after enduring floods that destroyed crops and submerged entire communities, thousands of families in the Brazilian Amazon are now dealing with severe drought that, at least in some areas, is the worst in decades. The low level of the Amazon River, at the center of the largest drainage system in the world, has put dozens of municipalities under alert. The fast-decreasing river water level is due to lower-than-expected rainfall during August and September, according to Luna Gripp, a geosciences researcher who monitors the western Amazon’s river levels for the Brazilian Geological Survey. A man walks in an area impacted by drought near the Solimões River, in Tefe, Amazonas state, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros) As most of Amazonas state is not ...
Read MoreItaly’s worst drought in 70 years has exposed the piers of an ancient bridge over the Tiber River once used by Roman emperors but which fell into disrepair by the third century. Two piers of Nero’s Bridge have been visible much of the summer near the Vittorio Emanuele bridge that traverses the river near the Vatican, a pile of moss-covered rocks where seagulls now sun themselves. The ruins of the ancient Roman Neronian bridge, emerge from the river bed of the Tiber river, in Rome, Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) The bridge was built in the first century for Emperor Nero to reach his gardens near the Janiculum Hill near what is present-day St. Peter’s Square, said historian Anthony Majanlahti. The bridge was already falling apart by the third century, traffic was...
Read MoreAfrica’s migratory birds are threatened by changing weather patterns in the center and east of the continent that have depleted natural water systems and caused a devastating drought. Hotter and drier conditions due to climate change make it difficult for traveling species who are losing their water sources and breeding grounds, with many now endangered or forced to alter their migration patterns entirely by settling in cooler northern areas. Roughly 10% of Africa’s more than 2,000 bird species, including dozens of migratory birds, are threatened, with 28 species — such as the Madagascar fish eagle, the Taita falcon and hooded vultures — classed as “critically endangered.” Over one-third of them are especially vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather, an analysis by environm...
Read MoreHussam al-Aqouli remembers the exact spot along southern Iraq’s Lake Sawa where his two daughters once dipped their feet into clear waters. Now he stands there two years on and the barren earth cracks beneath him. This year, for the first time in its centuries-long history, the lake dried up. A combination of mismanagement by local investors, government neglect and climate change has ground down its azure shores to chunks of salt. Lake Sawa is only the latest casualty in this broad country-wide struggle with water shortages that experts say is induced by climate change, including record low rainfall and back-to-back drought. The stress on water resources is driving up competition for the precious resource among businessmen, farmers and herders, with the poorest Iraqis counting among...
Read MoreA ghost village that has emerged as drought has nearly emptied a dam on the Spanish-Portuguese border is drawing crowds of tourists with its eerie, grey ruins. With the reservoir at 15% of its capacity, details of a life frozen in 1992, when the Aceredo village in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region was flooded to create the Alto Lindoso reservoir, are being revealed once more. The roof of a house is seen in the ancient village of Aceredo that had been submerged by Limia river in the 1990s after the dam was built in Concello de Lobios, Spain, February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Miguel Vidal “It’s as if I’m watching a movie. I have a feeling of sadness,” said 65-year-old pensioner Maximino Perez Romero, from A Coruna. “My feeling is that this is what will happen over the years due to droug...
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