Europe Has Summer of Extreme Weather

Flooding, fires and droughts have left Europe reeling over the past several months as weather-related calamities have uprooted one country after another.

Thousands of tourists and residents were forced to flee ahead of raging wildfires that have engulfed parts of the Canary Islands since the weekend, the latest in a string of bizarre, weather-related calamities to hit Europe this summer.

Local officials said that at least 13,000 people evacuated homes, hotels, campgrounds and other areas of the seven Canaries, Spanish territory in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of southern Morocco. More than 86,000 acres have been burned or otherwise affected by the fires since Friday, mostly on the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, according to a spokeswoman for the islands' government who was not allowed to be quoted by name.

Worst Drought in a Generation

This is something that has gone largely unnoticed in the media. The entire western half of North America is in the grips of a crippling drought.

"America is facing its worst summer drought since the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Or perhaps worse still.

From the mountains and desert of the West, now into an eighth consecutive dry year, to the wheat farms of Alabama, where crops are failing because of rainfall levels 12 inches lower than usual, to the vast soupy expanse of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida, which has become so dry it actually caught fire a couple of weeks ago, a continent is crying out for water.

In the south-east, usually a lush, humid region, it is the driest few months since records began in 1895. California and Nevada, where burgeoning population centres co-exist with an often harsh, barren landscape, have seen less rain over the past year than at any time since 1924. The Sierra Nevada range, which straddles the two states, received only 27 per cent of its usual snowfall in winter, with immediate knock-on effects on water supplies for the populations of Las Vegas and Los Angeles."

Crippling Drought in Australia

Australia is facing the worst drought that nation has ever seen, requiring the government to enact drastic measure to ensure the agriculture sector is not decimated and that the population has an adequate water supply.

From The Independent:

Australia is in the midst of a crippling drought, the country's worst on record. Many towns and cities have been forced to enact drastic water restrictions as reservoirs have run dry. Rivers have been reduced to a trickle. The drought has severely damaged the agricultural sector. Farmers are raising emaciated cattle and sheep. Cotton-lint production has plummeted. Wine grape and rice output has collapsed. Agricultural production has fallen by almost one-quarter in a year. And it is estimated that the drought has knocked three-quarters to 1 per cent off the country's growth as a whole.

And now the government is reaching for desperate measures. Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, has announced there may be a ban on the use of the country's largest river system for irrigation unless there is significant rainfall over the next two months. The government is preparing to wrest regulatory control of the Murray and Darling rivers from the five states through which they run to ensure that water is reserved for urban drinking supplies and farmers' domestic use.

Crops Decimated in Southeast

In damage estimates being compared to that of a hurricane, the southern states are seeing utter destruction of peach, apple, blueberry and hay crops due to the record cold temperatures being experienced there. In some areas, 90% of the yearly crop has been destroyed. This will not only raise the price of fruit in your local supermaket, but will also increase the cost of meat as farmers have to pay more for things like hay and other livestock feed that have been affected.

CNN reports:

In South Carolina, at least 90 percent of the peach crop was destroyed and officials said Wednesday they would seek federal aid.

"This is comparable to a hurricane," Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers said of the damage to the state's $40 million-a-year industry. "Growers say we'll be fortunate to get 10 percent of a crop."

In Georgia, farmers and agriculture officials were still assessing the damage, but the weekend freeze may have wiped out more than half the state's peach crop.

"There's no doubt we had damage," said Joe McManus, a commodities specialist with the Georgia Farm Bureau. "It's just a matter of to what extent. Peaches, I'm hearing 50 [percent] plus."

The freeze also killed off a large portion of Georgia's $60 million-a-year blueberry crop.

"Most anything that was green got damaged," said Danny Stanalan, extension coordinator for southeast Georgia's Bacon County. "Our blueberries took a hard hit."

Personal Savings at Lowest Point in 70 Years

An ominous sign of potential disaster, Americans have less money in savings than they did during the Great Depression - seventy years ago. But wait, it gets worse. When people dipped into their savings and spent more than they had back in 1932, it was to afford the basic necessities of life. In other words, they depleted their savings to survive. Today, people are spending their savings cash to buy boats, televisions and other, worthless garbage. AP Reports:

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent, meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned but they also dipped into savings or increased borrowing to finance purchases. The 2006 figure was lower than a negative 0.4 percent in 2005 and was the poorest showing since a negative 1.5 percent savings rate in 1933 during the Great Depression.

If our country faces a major economic crisis in the future, such as the havoc that would be unleashed during a pandemic flu outbreak, millions of people could lose everything - their homes, jobs, cars, credit and future.

We have been warned on countless occasions to save money, food and other essentials so that we can adequately protect our families should catastrophe strike. Nowadays, unfortunately, many people rely on the government to pick up the tab should a real emergency present itself. But if these figures are correct, then the millions of people left unprepared and financially destitute will utterly overload any basic services the government can provide. It's a recipe for societal chaos and personal ruin.

Start saving money and set aside food storage now! There's a good chance that if catastrophe does strike, you'll not only be providing for your own family, but potentially hundreds of people who will come flooding to your door for assistance!

Buy Fruit While You Can

While this is only a major problem in California, the winter is still young. There are still 3 more months through which Florida must remain freeze-free. If anything happens to those crops, we're in a lot of trouble. For the time being, expect prices to rise for citrus, strawberries and avocados. So far, this has cost $1 billion in crop destruction, and may amount to the worst such case in California's history. AP Reports:

Three nights of freezing temperatures have destroyed up to three-quarters of California's $1 billion citrus crop, according to an estimate issued Monday as forecasters warned the weather could continue.

Other crops, including avocados and strawberries, also have suffered damage in the cold snap, agricultural officials said.

"This is one of those freezes that, unfortunately, we'll all remember," said A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The latest freeze will likely surpass the damage done by a three-day cold snap in December 1998 that destroyed 85 percent of California's citrus crop, a loss valued at $700 million, Kawamura said.