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IRI Climate Information Digest - Impacts July 1999

CLIMATE AND HEALTH

  • Media reports indicate a malaria outbreak in western Kenya has been prolonged due to irregular rains in the region and has spread to the highlands where transmission of the disease is normally low.

HAZARDS/THREATS

  • Recent flooding in China's Yangtze River basin (Anhui and Zhejiang provinces) has caused an estimated $2.97 billion USD worth of damage and affected 59 million people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
  • Flooding associated with summer monsoon rainfall has affected the states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, and Tipura in India and much of Bangladesh (OCHA).
  • The Southwest US and Mexico have experienced heavy rainfall, flooding, and in several locations, landslides, resulting from a very active North American monsoon.
  • Drought has affected Chile for nearly a year resulting in severe reduction in agricultural productivity and frequent power supply problems. The central bank stated the current economic problems were largely a  result of the severe drought.
  • Large scale forest fires associated with a prolonged heat wave have damaged 586,153 hectares in northern Russia according to an OCHA report.
  • Drought emergencies have been declared by the governors of several states in the eastern US where heat waves associated with very dry conditions persisted in July.

AGRICULTURE

  • Warm dry weather over much of India promoted planting of coarse grains, oilseeds, cotton and sugarcane in early July, while beneficial rain brought relief to groundnut areas of west-central regions later in the month.
  • Widespread showers benefited corn in the main corn belt and eased long-term drought in north-central Mexico.
  • Heavy showers caused flooding in the eastern Yangtze valley, resulting in $1.06 billion USD of crop damages according to an OCHA report, while dry weather dominated the North China Plain, stressing vegetative to reproductive summer crops.

FISHERIES

    Catch of small pelagics in Peru for the first semester of 1999 have returned to levels similar to those of 1996-97, following the dramatic decline in 1998 (a result in large part of the El Nino event).  However, the fishmeal industry as a whole remains in a critical situation as fishing firms of various sizes are reported to be on the verge of bankruptcy. With fishmeal prices at relatively low levels, combined with low prices for competitive soy products, firms are unable to cover their operational costs, let alone repay their bank debts which have accumulated to unprecedented levels.  Catch during July was minimal, as fishing for anchovy was restricted as the stocks showed signs of spawning. Experts are not in agreement on the current state of the stock and there is uncertainty as to when the fishing may resume.
     
Material for this portion of the IRI Climate Information Digest has been extracted from the IRI Climate Data Library, the NOAA NCEP Climate Prediction Center, the USDA/NOAA Joint Agricultural Weather Facility and the Fishmeal Exporters Organization. Additional information was obtained from the CHGE, and the UN/OCHA.