2017 costliest year ever for natural disasters in Indian subcontinent

Weather and climate disasters cost countries about $ 320 billion last year with major monsoon floods in the Indian subcontinent and severe droughts in parts of East Africa contributing to making 2017 the most expensive year on record.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in its State of Climate 2017 report said that the North Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest ever for the US and eradicated decades of development gains in small islands in the Caribbean, such as Dominica.  According to the report, Major monsoon floods in the…

From wildfires to floods, climate change keeps coming for Montecito, California

Montecito came back to life on Friday. The 9,000-person town to the east of Santa Barbara had been empty since Tuesday, when mandatory evacuations forced residents out of their homes for the fifth time in four months.

This week, it was a channel of tropical moisture called the Pineapple Express, dumping bands of intense rain and triggering flash floods throughout Southern California. In January, it was a once-in-a-200-year storm that dropped half an inch of water in five minutes, unleashing massive mudslides that ripped houses from their foundations and killed 27. In December, it was the deadly Thomas Fire that incinerated 280,000 acres — the largest wildfire in California history…