Event Chronicle

14 August 2024

Dry July in Belgium

August 1st, 2024. The head of forecasting at the Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute advised that there had only been 5 days of rain in Brussels in July 2024, the lowest for 137 years. The observation site at Uccle, in the southern suburbs of Brussels has been collecting data since 1833. Lower numbers of rain days were were observed in 1885 (2 days),1869 (4 days) and 1835 (4 days). The Belgian drought comes 3 years after the wettest July on record at the site.

1 August 2024

Vermont Flooding

30th July, 2024. Around 8 inches of rain fell in 5 hours in the Northeast Kingdom (Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties), causing major infrastructure damage with homes carried away by the flood. The 24 hour state record for Vermont remains 9.92 inches (252mm) from a 1999 event. Observer data from St Johnsbury cited 4.99 inches in 1 day as the local record from 1913. Data from the National Weather Service shows totals of 7.81 inches (198mm) in 5 hours, 4.38 inches (111mm) in 2 hours. Multiple media sites suggest this event correlates to a 1:1000 annual chance (unverified). Significant rain and floods had occurred in the area earlier in July from Hurricane Beryl resulting in greater runoff.

31 July 2024

Typhoon Gaemi

July 29th, 2024. Multiple locations in Kaohsiung City County, Taiwan received over 1300mm rainfall in 24 hours during Typhoon Gaemi with event totals of around 1900mm over 3 days.

25 July 2024

Hottest Day

July 21st, 22nd and 23rd this year all exceeded the previous 2023 record for global temperature with 22nd setting the new record in data going back to 1980.

17 July 2024

Intense Rainfall for Toronto

16th July, 2024. Environment Canada confirm over 4 inches, (100mm) fell in the City in about 2.5 hours during the morning of Tuesday 16th, making it the 5th wettest day at Pearson Airport. Intensities of 30mm in 30 minutes were observed in the city, caused by training thunderstorms. This followed storms on the afternoon of 15th. The Don Valley area saw the greatest impact, largely related to road flooding. The Don Valley had a significant population living close to the watercourse until Hurricane Hazel in 1954, after which the homes were expropriated and land used for an expressway and parkland.

Don Valley Parkway. 16th July, 2024 (Source Globe and Mail)

16 July 2024

UK Farming Output Fell in 2023

July 16th, 2024. Income from farming in England reduced by 19% year on year following the wettest 18 month period since 1836, according to data from the UK Govt and UK Met office. Farming contribution to the UK economy reduced by 8.7% to 1 billion GBP. The cause was part price collapse, and part poor yields caused by the extended wet weather.

6 July 2024

Wisconsin Dam Failure

July 5th, 2024. Five and a half Inches (140mm) of rain fell over the Manawa City Mill Pond, a gated small dam in Waupaca County, WI. The speed of the event saw the right abutment overtopped that subsequently failed through erosion. Unofficial data from Manawa shows rainfall of 4.12 inches (105mm) in 1 hour with 1.69 inches (43 mm) in 20 minutes, and 1.1 inches in 10 minutes within an event total of 5.5 inches (140mm). The timeline provided at the post event public meeting by the City of Manawa advises the gate openings were set on forecast rain of around 1.25 inches, that morning. The dam operator was back on site by 11am and witnessed the dam overtopping. The embankment failed completely around 1pm. Impacts included flooded homes and impacts to the functioning of the wastewater treatment plant. Manawa City has around 1400 inhabitants. The impoundment was 192 acres (0.77km2) with a max depth of 12 feet (3.65 metres).

3 July 2024

Earliest Major Hurricane on Record

July 3rd, 2024. Hurricane Beryl became the earliest category 5 system on record in the Atlantic, and only the second to occur in July, after Emily in 2005. It was also the earliest hurricane development so far east, at 49.3 degrees west, and is in the top 6 considering intensification time with 42 hours from tropical storm to maximum strength. It is the only 1 of those 6 to occur outside the month of September.

Switzerland – Rhone River Records

June 30th, 2024. The Rhone River exceeded peak height records at multiple locations above Lake Geneva, in Valais Canton. The peak discharge at Reckingen was 32% greater than any previous rated discharge in 101 years of available record, commencing 1903. Stations at Sion (108 year record) , Branson (83 year record) and Brig (59 year record) also exceeded previous record flood peaks.

25 June 2024

Minnesota Partial Dam Failure

June 25th, 2024. Southern Minnesota. Rapidan Dam partially failed with water eroding the left abutment during a flood event . The dam was built in 1910 for hydroelectricity by impounding the Blue Earth River, but ceased energy production in 2019 following flood damage. Ice damage also occurred in 2020. The 87 ft (26.5 metres) high dam dam has a catchment of 2430 square miles, or 6239 Km2.

23 June 2024

Swiss Flash Floods and Intense Rainfall

June 21st, 2024. Switzerland. Rainfall led to significant flash flood impacts in the Moesa River valley in Switzerland. Official totals show around 100mm of rain within 1 hour around Grono, with unofficial data showing 15mm in five minutes ending at 19:35 at one site. Landslides resulted in fatalities. Part of the A13 road was undermined by erosion. The discharge at Lumino increased from 214m3/s to 594 m3/s in 30 minutes from 19:45, according to Swiss Govt flood warning data. The catchment area to Lumino is 472km2.

21 June 2024

Widespread China Flooding

June 25, 2024. Multiple Chinese provinces have experienced major flood events in the last week. A record flood in Meizhou City led to fatalities. Chinese media estimates the cost in two provinces alone to be of the order of US$650 million.

20 June 2024

Majorca Airport flooded

June 11 2024. Majorca airport was inundated by intense rainfall with event totals of 130mm in around 90 minutes recorded. Intensities reached 144 mm/hr with standing water knee deep around aircraft aprons.

29 April 2024

Kenya Rail Embankment Failure

April 28th 2024. According to The Nation, Heavy rains in the Rift Valley led to build up of water behind a rail embankment and blocked culvert in Mai Mahiu. The embankment subsequently failed with a flash flood impacting downstream villages and leading to 48 fatalities. Initial reports of the failure of a nearby dam were incorrect. Learnings relate to risk around unplanned storage of water and culvert sizing.

19 April 2024

Dubai Floods

April 16th 2024. Record rainfall with event totals of 160mm recorded at Dubai Airport and major impacts to the city and infrastructure. Records go back 75 years. According to the UAE media office, 254.8mm was the highest 24 hour total just east of Al-Ain around the Khatm-al-Shakla border post. 18 deaths occurred in Oman in flash floods. Reports that the floods were caused by cloud seeding were not founded in truth according to experts globally (Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, University of Reading in the UK, and Monash University, Australia).

13 April 2024

Extraordinary Perth Rainfall

April 12th, 2024. Thunderstorm activity saw extraordinary rainfall intensity in the Clarkson area in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. Rainfall totals exceeded 100mm at 4 locations with the bulk of the rainfall happening in 30 minutes around lunchtime. 5 minute totals included 25mm (300mm/hr.) and 40mm (480mm/hr.) at separate, unofficial sites. Significant local flooding resulted.

11 April 2024

Alpine Glacial Retreat

April 10th 2024. 92/93 Glaciers monitored by the Austrian Alpine club retreated in 2023 accoring to their latest survey, released yesterday. 79 measured glaciers were on average 23.9 metres shorter in 2023 than 2022. Switzerland has also reported 4% of it’s total glacial volume disappeared in 2023.

15 March 2024

Brisbane Overnight Temperature

March 15th, 2024. Bureau of Meteorology. Brisbane recorded 74 nights above 20°C before the minimum dropped. This broke the previous record, set in 1978, of 59 days.

11 March 2024

Hobart Overnight Temperature Confusion

March 10th, 2024. Bureau of Meteorology. The overnight temperature in Hobart (9-10th) was reported in the media to be the hottest for 112 years. Official records show a discrepancy. The March record minimum of 21.1 (March, 1906) and the overall minimum record of 24.7 °C, set in February 1912 remain. The discrepancy is due to timing. Temperatures above 26°C were recorded overnight in Hobart but by about 6am on 10th March, the temperature had started to fall meaning in the 24 hours to 9am, the minimum was 16.9°C.

1 March 2024

Whakaari White Island Judgement

The sentencing and judgement into the Whakaari White Island eruption contains learnings on the application of monitoring and managing natural hazard risk in so far as reasonably practicable. (SFARP). Key learnings relate to training, communication and systems testing.

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