GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

SEPTEMBER 2021

EUROPE

Severe flooding wreaked havoc in several parts of Spain, forcing the closure of roads and leaving around 10000 customers without power(1st-2nd). The worst-hit was the town of Alcanar in the northeast of Catalonia, where some streets turned into raging
rivers, sweeping away cars towards to coastline. Catalonia's regional weather service Meteocat said 233.5 mm of rain fell in Alcanar in 24 hours on the 1st, including 77.7 mm in 30 minutes. The nearby town of Port dels Alfacs recorded 51.5 mm of rain in
30 minutes. Intense rain and flooding was also reported in the central Castilla-La Mancha and Navarra regions, halting the high-speed rail link between the Spanish capital Madrid and Toledo.

Lot-et-Garonne Department in southwest France was hit by record-breaking rainfall, inundating streets of the city of Agen with more than 2 m of water (8th)r. According to MeteoFrance, La Garenne station in Agen recorded 128.8 mm of rain between 1900 and
2200 LT, with as much as 80.5 mm in just one hour. The amount broke the previous 24-hour rainfall record set on 12 February 1990, at 74 mm.

Severe thunderstorms accompanied by powerful wind gusts hit the Gard department in Southern France in the morning (14th). In just three hours, the equivalent of more than 2 months of rain fell on Gard's southern and western regions, in particular Nimes.
A mass of hot and humid air rose over France at the beginning of the week in an increasingly unstable atmosphere, with thunderstorms affecting most of the country on Tuesday, Meteo France meteorologists said. Supplied with moisture coming from the
Mediterranean, they were particularly intense in southern France, causing remarkable accumulations of rain around the Gulf of Lions. In Nimes, the intensity of the rain was historic. A weather station in Saint-Dionizy recorded 244 mm of rain in just 3
hours, 'an episode which statistically occurs less than once in a century.' This is an absolute record for the Gard department and very close to the 3-hour rainfall record for the entire country - 253 mm set in Montpellier in 2014.

Torrential downpours hit parts of southern Spain, causing severe flash flooding in the province of Huelva (23rd). The floods inundated homes and swept away vehicles in the cities of Huelva and Lepe, and caused more than 600 emergency interventions.
According to the Andalusian Meteorological Agency, parts of the province received as much as 100 mm of rain in a 12-hour period today. According to AEMET, the town of Cartaya recorded 118 mm in 24 hours, with 112.4 mm in just 1 hour.

A waterspout struck the German port city of Kiel, throwing people from boats and damaging property (29th). Several rowers out in the water were injured as winds of over 100 km/h lashed the northern coast, police said. Four people were seriously hurt in
Kiel's dockside area. The roofs of some buildings were torn off and trees were uprooted when the system came ashore.


METERRAINIAN

At least two people have been killed after a tornado swept through an Italian island (10th). Nine others were injured as the whirlwind overturned cars and ripped off roofs on the tourist hotspot of Pantelleria, according to Italy's civil protection
agency.

According to the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, a record-breaking 96 mm of rain was registered at the meteorological station of Bezigrad, Ljubljana between 1900 and 2000 UTC, in a total fall of 122 mm, which exceeds the 250-year return
period (29th). In just 10 minutes, the city received 25 mm. The previous 1-hour record in the capital was 62 mm on 11 August 1951. In 4 hours to 2200 UTC emergency services received more than 2700 calls from affected citizens, with some of from their
stranded in their vehicles. More than 500 buildings were flooded in the capital alone (the area worst affected), as well as roads, parking lots, and underpasses.

UNITED STATES

California experienced its hottest summer on record this year as the climate crisis caused deadly heatwaves and intense wildfires in the state and across the American west (1st). Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah totaling 18.4% of the contiguous US also
endured record hot summers, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sixteen other states recorded a top-five warmest summer. Across the lower 48 states, the average temperature in June, July and August was 76 F, 2.6 degC above
average, which slightly exceeds that of the Dust Bowl summer of 1936.

INDONESIA

Heavy rains affecting parts of Indonesia caused rivers to overflow, floods and landslides (13th-14th). According to the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management, at least 11839 people have been affected and
approximately 2570 houses have been damaged or destroyed in West Java, Papua, East Kalimantan, Banten ad Riau Provinces. One of the hardest-hit areas is Banten Province, where about 140 people have been displaced across Pandeglang, Serang, and Lebak
Regencies. In Papua Province, rescue operations have been hampered by damaged roads and material covering the access.

ASIA

More than 1.2 million people have been affected after heavy rains over the past couple of days caused rivers to overflow and embankments to fail in the Indian state of West Bengal (21st). The situation worsened after dam releases in the neighboring state
of Jharkhand. At least 10 people have lost their lives and 1300 were forced to evacuate, state authorities said on the 20th. The worst-hit areas are the districts of Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur.

TROPICAL

Remnants of Hurricane Ida inundated parts of the U.S. Northeast and spawned large and extremely dangerous tornadoes on these two days (1st-2nd) . Numerous roads and homes were flooded across the region forcing authorities to launch rescue operations in
New York, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, western New Jersey, and Maryland. The NWS recorded 80 mm of rain in Central Park in one hour, surpassing the 49.2 mm that fell in one hour during Tropical Storm Henri on 22 August, which was believed at the
time to be the most ever recorded in the park. There were multiple Flash Flood Warnings and rare Flash Flood Emergencies for New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Newark, Jersey City, Bridgeport, New Haven, and Stamford. Over 50 people were reported
to have died as a result of the conditions.

Tropical Storm Nicholas slowed to a crawl over the Houston area after making landfall as a hurricane, knocking out power to a half-million homes and businesses and dumping more than a foot of rain along an area swamped by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 (14th).
Nicholas made landfall on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula and was soon downgraded to a tropical storm. It was about 10 miles south-east of Houston, with maximum winds of 45 mph as of 10 a.m., according to the National Hurricane Center.
Scientists say damaging storms are becoming more frequent and more intense as part of human-caused climate change. According to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach, only four other years since 1966 have had 14 or more named
storms by 12 September: 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2020. Galveston, Texas, saw nearly 14 inches of rain from Nicholas, while Houston reported more than 6 inches.

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