Weather

“Highly unusual rains have followed a series of storms along Peru’s northern coast after a period of severe drought… The rains have caused many rivers in Peru to overflow and triggered mudslides on the steep Andean hillsides” (Deutsche Welle, March 20, 2017). To date, over 70 Peruvians have lost their lives and nearly 100,000 have lost everything! Over 600,000 people have suffered damage to their homes.

January brought record-setting summer weather to New Zealand. In the eastern parts of the country, extreme drought is causing problems. Yet, in the west of the South Island, rainfall has been more than double what is typical, and the flooding rains are causing problems for farmers and leaving damaged and water-logged pastures. Dry conditions in the east are rivaling or breaking records that have stood for 100 years (New Zealand Herald, January 31, 2017).

…is still a natural disaster for the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands whose lives have been affected by it. If you’ve been watching the news, over the past few weeks, this is what you have seen unfold in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and its surrounding areas in the southern United States: thousands without power, entire towns flooded, and droves of homeless people facing uncertain futures—or have you?