World weather news, August 2010

1st

In Nicosia, Cyprus, the temperature of 45.6C was the highest recorded since the beginning of last century, the second highest was 44.4C, recorded in Nicosia on August 8, 1956. The maximum temperature in Nicosia on Sunday was 8.4C higher than normal while minimum temperature reached 29C, 7C higher than normal. Prodromos, on the Troodos range, recorded a temperature of 36.1C, 8.2C above normal. Humidity was also high across Cyprus.

4th

Today in Russia the temperature reached 36.6C in Moscow; St. Petersburg reached 33.3C. Searing heat has invaded eastern Belarus, where readings to 37 C or 38 C have been reached. In the Ukraine, the worst of the heat has backed westward to Kiev, where August 4 has become the hottest day (37-38C) of the summer thus far. And it was near 40C yet again in Luhansk.

4th

Heavy rains hindered efforts by workers to repair reservoirs and place sandbags along breached riverbanks as the death toll from China's worst flooding in a decade climbed above 1,000. Thousands of workers rushed to repair 51 small reservoirs that suffered damage and to fortify riverbanks along the Songhua River after floods triggered by torrential rains pounded northeastern Jilin province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Flooding overwhelmed major roads after some portions of the Songhua reached water levels twice as high as normal. The death toll for China's worst flooding in a decade rose to 1,072 people, with 619 still missing. The floods have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage across 28 provinces and regions. There had been flooding all over China this year. About 875,000 homes have been destroyed, 9.61 million people evacuated, and 22 million acres (8.76 million hectares) of crops ruined, according to the state flood control office.

5th

The number of people hit by Pakistan's worst floods in generations rose to four million, as thousands waded through water or crammed into cars to escape drowning villages. The United Nations rushed a top envoy to Pakistan to mobilise international support and address the urgent plight of millions affected by torrential monsoon rains across the volatile country that have killed around 1,500. The disaster is now into its second week and the rains are spreading into Pakistan's most populous provinces of Punjab and Sindh, as anger mounts against the government response after villages and farmland were washed away.