Monday 20 November 2017

The most devastating 6 weeks on our planet: 50 million displaced 5 hurricanes 2 typhoones 2 devastating quakes unprecedented volcanic activity and massive wildfires

Hurricane Maria, Credit NASA
It was probably the most devastating 6 week period our planet has endured.
It was six weeks which had everything and could possibly give us all a glimpse into our planet's deadly future.

At the very end of August, Hurricane Harvey became the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting nearly $200 billion in damage, primarily from widespread flooding in the Houston metropolitan area, breaking the previous record set by Hurricane Katrina.
It was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year span in which no hurricanes made landfall at such an intensity in the country.
The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, displaced more than 30,000 people, and prompted more than 17,000 rescues.

Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Cape Verde-type hurricane, the strongest observed in the Atlantic since Wilma in 2005 in terms of maximum sustained winds.
It was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria two weeks later, and the costliest Caribbean hurricane, It was also the most intense Atlantic hurricane to strike the United States since Katrina in 2005, and the first major hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma in 2005.
Hurricane Jose was a powerful and erratic tropical cyclone which became the longest-lived Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Nadine in 2012.

Jose was the tenth named storm, fifth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season.
Jose developed into a tropical storm on September 5 from a tropical wave that left the west coast of Africa nearly a week prior.
Hurricane Maria is regarded as the worst natural disaster on record in Dominica and caused catastrophic damage and a major humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico.
The tenth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, Maria was the thirteenth named storm, seventh consecutive hurricane, fourth major hurricane, and the second Category 5 hurricane of the hyperactive 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. At its peak, the hurricane caused catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the northeastern Caribbean, compounding recovery efforts in the areas of the Leeward Islands already struck by Hurricane Irma just two weeks prior.

Hurricane Ophelia (known as Storm Ophelia in Ireland and the United Kingdom while extratropical) was the easternmost Atlantic major hurricane on record. The tenth consecutive hurricane and the sixth major hurricane of the very active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Ophelia had non-tropical origins from a decaying cold front on 6 October. Located within a favourable environment, the storm steadily strengthened over the next two days, drifting north and then southeastwards before becoming a hurricane on 11 October.

In September reports of devastating floods which killed more than 1,200 people across South Asia and causing 40 million evacuees in northern India, southern Nepal and northern Bangladesh.

An X9.3-class solar flare-the strongest solar flare in more than a decade EXPLODES from giant sunspot AR2673 on September the 6th.

Two days later the biggest Mexican earthquake in 100 years, a M8.2 triggered a tsunami.

A powerful typhoon ripped through southern Japan on Sunday (Sept 17), dumping torrential rain, grounding hundreds of domestic flights and halting train services.
Typhoon Talim made a landfall in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, packing winds of up to 162kmh, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Typhoon Doksuri tore through Vietnam, reducing structures to piles of debris and knocking out electricity and telecommunications in several provinces, in one of the worst storms to hit the country in years.
Some 123,000 homes were damaged and 100,000 people evacuated, and trees and power lines were torn down in five hard-hit provinces, the disaster agency said.

500,000 people evacuated from Japan and China with the heaviest rain in 40 years from Tropical Storm Talim.

Then a burst of volcanic activity as 13 of them burst into life mostly around the Pacific ring of fire.

And to top off the 6 weeks in style massive wildfires on both sides of the Atlantic cause devastation to California, Portugal and Spain.

xx

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