Record-breaking heat wave strikes Pacific Northwest, causing power outages
Scientists from the US, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland collaborated to assess to what extent human-induced climate change made this heat wave hotter and more likely to occur.
Multiple cities in Oregon and Washington and the western provinces of Canada recorded temperatures far above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), including setting a new all-time Canadian temperature record of 49.6 degrees Celsius in the village of Lytton, British Columbia. Shortly after setting the record, Lytton, a town of 250 people with 1,000 more in nearby Indigenous reserves, was substantially destroyed in a wildfire, the report observed.
The report explains “The heatwave considered in this study is linked to a slow-moving strong high pressure system, sometimes called Omega-blocking or “heat dome,” which brings descending and thus warm and dry air, as well clear skies, further heating the near-surface air.
“Recent research suggests that climate change increases the chances for such stagnant high pressure systems in summer through weakening of the summer jet stream.
“An important feature of this extreme heatwave is that it occurred following a very dry spring over the Western U.S… Overall, it is difficult at this stage to assess the extent to which these factors either in isolation or combined provide a good explanation of why the observed temperatures were so much higher than anything ever recorded in this part of the world. Hence, more research is needed to understand the processes as well as potential influence of human-caused climate change on them.”
The human impact in a region largely unprepared for such an extreme heat event cannot be overstated. The report points out that “The exceptionally high temperatures led to spikes in sudden deaths, and sharp increases in hospital visits for heat-related illnesses and emergency calls. Heatwaves are one of the deadliest natural hazards … Currently available mortality estimates of at least several hundred additional deaths are almost certainly an underestimate. The full extent of the impact of this exceptional heat on population health will not be known for several months.”
Among the main findings in the report was the determination that “the occurrence of a heatwave with maximum daily temperatures as observed in the study area was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.”
And even though it was a rare event, as warming continues, it will become a lot less rare.
The researchers' findings presented two likely scenarios that caused the extreme jump in peak temperatures.
First: “This is a very low probability event, even in the current climate which already includes about 1.2 degrees Celsius of global warming — the statistical equivalent of really bad luck, albeit aggravated by climate change.”
Second: “Nonlinear interactions in the climate have substantially increased the probability of such extreme heat, much beyond the gradual increase in heat extremes that has been observed up to now.”
Even without the dreadful, perhaps terminal climate change crisis, the damage done to the environment by the capitalists is indisputable.
The researchers warned that “We need to investigate the second possibility further, although we note the climate models do not show it.” This event would have been “at least 150 times rarer without human-induced climate change.”
Looking into a future with 2 degrees Celsius of global warming (0.8 degrees Celsius warmer than today, which at current emission levels would be reached as early as the 2040s), this event would have been one degree warmer. An event like this, currently estimated to occur only once every 1000 years, would occur roughly every 5 to 10 years in that future world with 2 degrees Celsius of global warming.
The researchers warned, “Based on this first rapid analysis, we cannot say whether this was a so-called “freak” event (with a return time on the order of 1 in 1000 years or more) that largely occurred by chance, or whether our changing climate altered conditions conducive to heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest, which would imply that “bad luck” played a smaller role and this type of event would be more frequent in our current climate.
“In either case, the future will be characterized by more frequent, more severe, and longer heatwaves, highlighting the importance of significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the amount of additional warming.
“The latest heat-related death numbers are alarming, yet they are likely a severe undercount and the real toll will only become clear after mortality statistics are reviewed for the role of heat in exacerbating underlying conditions.”
The report concludes: “Our results provide a strong warning: our rapidly warming climate is bringing us into uncharted territory that has significant consequences for health, well-being, and livelihoods. Adaptation and mitigation are urgently needed to prepare societies for a very different future. Adaptation measures need to be much more ambitious and take account of the rising risk of heatwaves around the world, including surprises such as this unexpected extreme.”
While the federal and state governments tinker around with free market, capitalist “solutions” to climate change, such as the much-hyped Green New Deal, little to nothing has been done to prepare the infrastructure for the oncoming extreme heat waves that are already occurring and will become much more frequent in the very near future.
Extreme weather (both heat waves and deep freezes) affects millions of people and entire communities who are in most cases wholly unprepared to survive such recurring events.
Governments have not focused on preparing the infrastructure to help people survive, but rather, on “marketing new technologies” that enrich already massively wealthy corporations and individuals, such as Tesla, the maker of electric cars, which can only be purchased by an elite few.
Human-caused climate change could be re-named “Capitalist-Caused Climate Change,” a more apt description given the science as we now understand it. Massive multi-national oil companies such as Exxon-Mobil even admit they knew their industry would be causing an extreme global warming problem, as was widely reported in 2015, but covered up the information and kept pumping out fossil fuel filth anyway, harming people and the entire planet.
ADDENDUM
Another report by wsws.org, on Jul 16, notes that the cause for the recent floods in Germany and Belgium is definitely capitalogenic.
Flooding in Germany and Belgium leaves over 100 dead
Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall have led to severe devastation and at least 93 fatalities so far in the German regions of Rhineland-Palatinate (50) and North Rhine-Westphalia (43). At least nine people have also been killed in Belgium.
The actual death toll could be much higher. According to reports, 1,300 people are currently missing. On Friday morning, the Interior Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Roger Lewentz (Social Democratic Party), said, “One must say at present, while clearing basements we keep coming across people who have lost their lives in these floods, so I can’t say anything at all about the number where we will end up in the end.” It is a catastrophe, he said, and the situation remains dramatic.
After days of rain, the levels of the Rhine, Ruhr, Moselle and other small rivers and streams rose. Some of them turned into raging rivers and flooded entire towns and cities. In some cases, the water rose so quickly that residents were unable to escape to safety.
The district of Ahrweiler in the Eifel region of Rhineland-Palatinate was particularly hard hit. The town of Schuldei has been devastated. Four houses were swept away by the water, many more have been damaged and are in danger of collapse.
The typically small Ahr, a tributary of the Rhine, became a raging torrent due to the rain. Hundreds of houses along the riverbed were damaged. At least 19 people died in the Ahrweiler district. More than 30 people are still missing. It is not yet known whether they have travelled or found accommodation elsewhere, or whether they, too, were swept away.
Many people had to hold out for hours on the roofs of their houses until they could be rescued from the air. Power outages and disruption of phone networks exacerbated the situation for those affected. Relatives, friends and acquaintances have had difficulty finding out what has happened to their loved ones. At times, even the emergency phone line numbers were unreachable.
There were either no warnings from the authorities or they came so late that the residents could not get to safety in time.
One affected person from Ahrweiler told the WSWS that he and his family were warned only two hours before the floods. The sandbags they received contained no sand. Due to the approaching flood it was too late for them to find sand themselves. Within a short time, the basement and the lower area of the house were completely flooded.
While the German weather service warned of renewed heavy rain in many areas, thousands were evacuated. In the Ehrang district of Trier, 2,000 people were evacuated, including from a hospital and a retirement home.
At least 20 fatalities have been reported so far from the Cologne-Bonn area in North Rhine-Westphalia. Several people died in flooded basements. In Cologne, firefighters found a 72-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man in a basement flooded with water. In the Euskirchen district alone, there were 15 deaths. Three more fatalities were reported by police from Rheinbach.
The Steinbach Dam is located near the town of Euskirchen. It is threatening to overflow, endangering numerous towns in the vicinity.
Jul 16, 2021 / The CBC notes: Heavy rainfall has caused extreme mudslides and flooding in the western part of Germany and Belgium. At least 120 people have died and hundreds are missing. The Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Switzerland have also been affected by floodwaters.
There were also numerous fatalities in Solingen and in the Unna district. The cities of Hagen in the Ruhr region and Wuppertal in the Bergisches Land region are badly affected. In the Hochsauerlandkreis district, virtually the entire town of Altena is flooded. In Altena, a firefighter involved in rescuing people died. He was swept away by the floods. Another firefighter lost his life during an operation in Werdohl.
Neighbouring Belgium was also affected by the flood. The army has been deployed in four out of 10 provinces to participate in evacuations and search and rescue operations. Nine people have been confirmed dead so far, all in the east of the country near the German border. One person was killed in the town of Eupen, five in Verviers, and one in Pepinstar.
There were numerous evacuations in the province of Limburg, including the border town of Roermond, where 5,000 residents were reportedly brought to safety. Further south in Maastricht, thousands of people were also evacuated. The Belgian National Water Authority warned of record flooding of the Meuse River, which would inundate large parts of the province of Limburg with nearly 900,000 inhabitants.
Authorities have also issued an evacuation order to inhabitants of the city of Liege, which, as of 2013, had a population of over 195,000 people. They urged those “who still have the possibility of evacuating to do so if they find themselves in a zone floodable near the Meuse” river.
The peak of the flooding is not expected until Friday morning. The flood in Liege has been caused in part by the malfunctioning of the Monsin dam bridge in the town. First built in the 1930s, it has been under construction for a year, and only two of the gates out of six are currently operational. This meant the dam was unable to release a sufficient quantity of water, which instead flooded the centre of the town.
There are major fears that a construction crane in the area will be pulled away by the flooding, and that if it falls it could cut a power cable which powers multiple water pumping stations. The power distributors preventively cut the current in this line on Thursday.
The Wallonian water association warned the population not to consume tap water, “even boiled,” in seven communes of the Wallonian region. The electricity and gas networks are experiencing “disturbances on an unprecedented scale,” Resa, the main energy distributor in the province of Liege, announced.
The immense extent of the damage and the high number of fatalities, which will certainly increase in the following days, have several reasons. It is a result of the climate crisis created by capitalism, which leads to increasingly stark weather fluctuations—extreme heat and drought on the one hand, extreme rain and flooding on the other. At the same time, it is a result of decades of neglected and dilapidated infrastructure.
In recent years and decades, insufficient or no investment has been made in dam safety and flood protection, despite the fact that severe flooding has occurred repeatedly. Instead, hundreds of billions of euros have been given to corporations and banks, and spending on the military has increased enormously in Germany and throughout Europe.
The same politicians who are responsible for this policy are now feigning sympathy. The Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia and CDU candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, is travelling to Altena and Hagen on Thursday, to hold out the prospect of financial aid from the state. These are familiar empty promises. Many people are still waiting for promised aid from previous disasters.
The SPD Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, also visited Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, which was particularly hard hit, together with Federal Finance Minister and SPD candidate for chancellor Olaf Scholz. Scholz, who cut his holiday short, expressed his shock at the “tremendous destruction wrought by nature.”
As a sign of mourning, Dreyer announced that flags on public buildings in Rhineland-Palatinate would be flown at half-mast on Friday. “The damage of this disaster is unprecedented,” she said. Many people had lost everything and, unfortunately, the number of dead was also rising. “A first glimmer of hope in this dire hour,” however, was the promise by the federal government to quickly help the affected people. She thanked Scholz “for the strong signal of solidarity.”
Where the solidarity of Scholz and the entire ruling class really lies is well known. In the course of the so-called Corona bailout packages, hundreds of billions were transferred to the accounts of big corporations and the super-rich, which are now to be squeezed out of the working population. The military budget has also been increased by more than €10 billion in the last four years alone and is set to rise further after the federal elections in September.
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