Torrential Rain In UK As Mediterrenean Hotspots Approach 110F - AFP

[hatrack]

A man was drowned in Britain by rising flood waters as torrential rain lashed Britain Monday, while in southern Europe a heatwave brought more deaths and disastrous fires. Emergency services in the city of Hull, in northeast England, worked for more than three hours to try to rescue the man, believed to be in his 20s, after his foot became trapped while he was apparently trying to clear a drain. Firefighters were unable to free his foot as the water inexorably rose.

Elsewhere in the country rivers broke their banks, flooding roads and homes from Devon in south-west England, to Yorkshire in the north.

The Environment Agency, which monitors weather risks nationwide, issued four severe flood warnings and 21 standard flood warnings amid forecasts that some places would receive a normal month's rain in just 24 hours.

EDIT

Temperatures were expected to reach 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 Fahrenheit) in some areas on Monday and will remain around that level during the week, the Greek weather service (EMY) said. On the island of Cyprus a 72-year-old woman died of heatstroke on Monday as the holiday island sizzled in temperatures above 40 degres Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The Mediterranean island is famed for its year-long sunshine but temperatures of 42 degrees now being recorded in the capital are extreme.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070625151830.5vt69jky.html

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Just like 2003. Only worse.

It's also pretty hot and/or stormy through most of Asia.

We North Americans don't know how lucky we have been.

--p!

[villager]

2. Ironically, the Mediterranean has already been "destroyed" once by humankind...

.....with the heavy deforesting of 2,000 or so years ago... leading the present dry climates there which will now be further exacerbated...

[Xipe Totec]

3. And a couple of times before humans even existed

Not to take anything away from our present man-made ecological disaster, but...

The straits of Gibraltar have closed more than once, causing the Mediterranean to dry out completely.

There are salt deposits underneath the Mediterranean created by these events.

[villager]

4. well, of course. And Suns blow up, and universes contract...

But why the hell is our species bent on hastening Armageddon?

[Xipe Totec]

5. Point is, life will go on,

even if we manage to punch our own ticket and join the dinosaurs as yet another failed experiment.

[villager]

6. I know, I know -- I'm just not at that "towel-throwing" point, yet...

n/t

[Xipe Totec]

7. I'm keeping my towel and waiting for the Vogons

:evilgrin:

[villager]

8. shouldn't we be applying for "highway construction" jobs then?

;-)

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. "a sixth of the annual rainfall in 12 hours" - risk of a dam collapse

Hundreds have left villages near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, amid fears the nearby Ulley dam could collapse.
...
Police have closed the M1 northbound between junctions 34 to 32, and southbound between junctions 36 and 34, because of the risk the Ulley dam poses
...
The Environment Agency labelled current weather conditions "phenomenal".

The agency's flood expert, Phil Rothwell, said: "We've had a sixth of the annual rainfall in 12 hours.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6239828.stm

The dam and reservoir are small, but it's still a problem downstream.

[T_i_B]

10. And my home town of Sheffield now looks like New Orleans after Katrina!

Not good.