The French capital of Paris and huge parts of Europe, are still looking like a War Zone after the devastation during the weekend and the new Storm Monday. Recovery and clearance had hardly begun when the new hurricane reached Spain, France and Italy, as the previous one had reached France, Switzerland, Germany and, Belgium and Great Britain. The number of confirmed deaths are so far well over hundred. The winds reached at least 220 km/h and are the most powerful ever measured in France. Millions of people are still without electricity. Airports and railroads are just now being operable again. WEEK 2 2000 - Dec 27nd to Jan 2nd
UNDER SIEGE
And Germany is not much better off.
- This is the worst hurricane in Germany ever, Petra Fechner, meteorologist in the city of Offenback, says decisively.
Two hurricanes overlapping each other like this, is extremely rare and unheard of in Europe.
When asked if this, in their opinion, was caused by the human created Global Warming, most people appeared confused and fervently denied it.
This is exactly the «assembly line» effect warned about in public forums and publications the last ten years, that recovery is hardly begun after one «natural» disaster before a new one is moving in.
JUST A TASTE
The violently bad weather we’ve seen both recently, in Europe and Venezuela, and during the last year, all over the world, is just a taste, just peanuts of what’s to come, according to Klaus Topfer by United Nations Environmental Panel, UNEP. He thinks the human created changes in global climate and weather patterns, have gone too far to be turned back. Hurricanes, typhoons, floods, torrential rain, ice melting, landslides, rise in sea level will only grow more disastrous in the years to come. And it will not stabilize, but continue to worsen, until everyone, everywhere is severely affected by it and there’s no single place left to hide. Most people have had the luxury of being able to ignore it. Soon that will no longer be possible.
Entered 1999-12-29