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5.2 Disaster events

Disasters took a heavy toll on all continents during the period from July to October 2017. The period was characterized by the continuation of the complex emergency with a drought component in the Horn of Africa, heat waves and drought in Europa and North America, numerous tropical storms and cyclones essentially in Asia and especially the Caribbean, and exceptional floods in southern Asia.

Cyclones

Numerous tropical cyclones and storms occurred over the reporting period in the Pacific and Atlantic basins. Their tracks are illustrated in figure 5.1, and some of their features have been assembled in table 5.3. For now, only little quantitative information is available for some of them.

One of the earliest storms in the period (Talas) made landfall in the provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh in central Vietnam. Overall, about 100,000 hectares of crops were damaged as the event also affected South China (Hainan), Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar.

Other relatively minor events include Noru, Franklin, Hato, Doksuri, Khanum, Ophelia, and Odette. Each created havoc, sometimes severely affecting local economies, and most stood out for some specific feature. For instance, Noru, which affected essentially Japan, subsisted for an exceptionally long duration of more than three weeks. Hato (late August) formed near the Philippines and made landfall in China on 23 August. According to Xinhua News Agency, Hato was the strongest typhoon of the year, having destroyed 50,000 hectares of farmland and creating damage amounting US$1.87 billion. In spite of floods in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Fujian, and Guizhou, as well as in Lào Cai in Vietnam, agricultural damage was contained. Doksuri (mid-September) affected the same countries as Hato, but also created damage in Laos and Thailand and, to a limited extent, in the Philippines. Khanum and Ophelia both occurred in October. The first was responsible for deadly floods and landslides in Vietnam. Ophelia is much of a curiosity as it moved eastward from the Caribbean, made landfall in Ireland on October 16 and eventually died at a unusually high latitude in Russia. This most easternmost hurricane on record created US$1.2 billion in damages in Ireland.

Table 5.3. Main characteristics of major cyclonic events occurring in July-October 2017

Name		Date		Wind speed	Countries affected	Fatalities	Damage
International	Other	Start	End	Wind speed	Countries affected	Fatalities	Total	Agriculture
Talas		14 July	17 July	95 (10)	VNM, CHN (Hainan), LAO, THA, MMR	14	73 M (VNM)	100 kHa
Noru		19 July	9 Aug.	175 (10)	JPN	2	55 M	?
Nesat	Gorio	25 July	30 July	150 (10)	PHL, CHN	2	118 M	6 M
Franklin		7 Aug.	10 Aug.	140 (1)	BLZ, CYM, MEX, USA	0	?
Harvey		17 Aug.	3 Sep.	215 (1)	SUR, GUY, NIC, HND, BLZ, CYM, MEX, USA	63	200 G	150 M (USA)
Hato	Isang	19 Aug.	25 Aug.	185 (10)	PHL, CHN, VMM	26	5 G	0.2 kHa
Irma		30 Aug.	6 Sep.	295 (1)	CPV, CUB, USA	134	> 63 G
Doksuri	Maring	10 Sep.	16 Sep.	150 (10)	PHL, CHN, VNM, LAO, THA, MMR, BGD, MYS	28	741 M	30 kHa (VNM)
Maria		16 Sep.	3 Oct.	280 (1)	DMA, DOM, HTI, KNA, USA	66	55 G	> 1 G
Nate		4 Oct.	11 Oct.	150 (1)	CRI, CYM, SLV, HND, GTM, NIC, PAN, CUB, USA	45	> 685 M
Khanum	Odette	11 Oct.	16 Oct.	175 (10)	PHL, CHN	1	200 M
Ophelia		9 Oct.	20 Oct.	185 (1)	PRT, ESP, FRA, IRL, GBR, NOR, SWE, RUS	3	> 1.2 G

Notes: Wind speed is the “sustained” highest wind speed in km/hour, referring to a 10 or 1 minute period. Countries affected are identified by their 3-letter ISO 3166 codes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3. Total damage is given in million (M) or billion (G) U.S. dollars. Agricultural damage is given as the total damage (M or G) or in thousands of hectares (kHa). Most impact estimates are very rough underestimates. They stem from several sources and mostly from Wikipedia. Unless otherwise indicated, the damage refers to the whole life cycle of the event.

The most spectacular and damaging cyclones include Harvey in late August, creating much damage in Texas, and the hurricane triad Irma-Maria-Nate that affected largely the same Caribbean areas between early September and mid-October.

Harvey was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2005. It coincided with a warm phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), a cycle of temperature in the North Atlantic. It affected an estimated 13 million people and destroyed US$23 billion worth of property in the United States, mostly in Texas. The state is one of the largest producer of cattle and cotton in the country, and a large share of the exports of U.S. agricultural products transit through Texas (for example, 25 percent of wheat but also sizeable volumes of maize and soybeans.) About three quarters of the rice harvest had been completed by late August but cotton harvest was still underway. The resulting total damage to all the sectors of agriculture are currently put at about 200 million U.S. dollars.

Figure 5.1. Tracks of the 2017 season tropical cyclones in the Atlantic (a) and Pacific (b) basins

(a)

(b)

Note: Colors identify the category on the Saffir-Simpson scale (SS) with blue then green for tropical storms and pale yellow to red for tropical cyclones proper. The SS scale is based on wind speeds. Source of images: Wikipedia.

Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Nate followed roughly parallel northwest tracks and all eventually made landfall in the United States. The track of Irma remained north of the large Caribbean islands, but nevertheless affected the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, and eventually Florida in the United States, where the damage to agriculture (essentially citrus) was put at US$2.5 billion. Minor impact is reported from Puerto Rico and Georgia. Mid-September, Hurricane Maria literally destroyed agriculture in the Dominican Republic where all “trees” (bananas and palms) in the country were reported to have been “flattened” for a loss amounting to billions of U.S. dollars. Some sources even asserted that in some areas the destruction was beyond “agriculture” and affected the “ecosystem," meaning the roots of the local livelihoods system, for instance in Dominica. In relative terms, the island was the most severely affected in the whole Caribbean. In Puerto Rico, losses are estimated at US$50 billion. About 80 percent of agriculture was destroyed, amounting to a loss of US$780 million. Bananas were heavily affected throughout the region (such as with a 100 percent loss in Guadeloupe). At the beginning of October, Hurricane Nate followed a somewhat more southern track than Irma and Maria, hitting several central American countries. It was labelled “one of the main disasters in Costa Rica” by national sources. Rainfall locally exceeded 400 mm per day along the southern border, and 76 out of 85 cantons were declared in emergency. Among the hardest hit crops were 120,000 hectares of sugar cane, vegetables, grains, melons and papayas, and rice.

Figure 5.2. Trees downed by Hurricane Maria in Dominica

Source: http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/09/28/agriculture-sector-dominica-destroyed-hurricane-maria/

The three hurricanes affected countries where tourism contributes a fair share to the national income, but where nonetheless at least 25 percent of the population lives off the land. Based on the recent experience with Hurricane Matthew in Haiti and Enawo in Madagascar, rebuilding the agricultural sector is likely to take long, resulting in deteriorated food security for many months to come.

Drought and fires

In Asia, drought is reported mainly from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (Korea DPR) and Mongolia. At the end of July, FAO and Reliefweb reported that the shortage of rainfall in some key crop producing areas in the country was such that rice (the main staple), maize, potatoes, and soybean could drop by as much as 30 percent in the provinces of South and North Pyongyang, South and North Hwanghae, and Nampo City. The Mongolian drought follows a long spell of above average rainfall and occurred from mid-August.

A heat wave (dry weather and high temperature) that affected much of western Europe started in June and affected England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the Mediterranean. Fires were widespread especially around the Mediterranean (Greece, France, and especially Corsica, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Albania, and Tunisia). Winds that accompanied hurricane Ophelia made the situation worse in Spain and Portugal. More than 60 people died and hundreds of thousands of forest hectares were lost.

In North America, wildfires became widespread in the western United States and Canada, mostly in California, south-central Oregon, Nevada, and British Columbia. The fires have destroyed at least 5,700 homes and businesses, making them the deadliest and most destructive group of wildfires in the history of California. At least 32 people were killed and at mid-October hundreds remained unaccounted for. Also in mid-October, the total burned area in the United States and Canada combined was estimated at 6.4 million hectares, with about equal areas in each country.

Floods and landslides

Floods are reported from all continents, but mostly from Asia where they were associated with the listed tropical cyclones or a particularly active monsoon in southern Asia.

Figure 5.3. A man cleans his house in Freetown after the mudslides

Source: Olivia Acland, UNDP 2017, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Sierra%20Leone%20Sit%20Update%20no%208.pdf.

In Africa in July, Ghana experienced major floods in several regions, including Greater Accra, Central Region, Western Region, and Eastern Region, which were all declared flood emergency areas. In Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, devastating mudslides and floods claimed over 500 lives in mid-August; many are still missing and presumed dead. At the end of August, floods were also reported from Nigeria and Ethiopia.

In South America, August and mid-September witnessed excess precipitation and resulting floods over most of the national territory in Guatemala, with the exceptions of Santa Rosa and Chimaltenango Departments. Alta Verapaz, Petén, and Suchitepéquez were particularly wet. In Peru, floods occurred at the end of July and early August, including some areas already affected by the Putumayo floods that were reported on in the previous CropWatch bulletins.

Floods of exceptional extent occurred at the end of July and during August in parts of southern and southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Vietnam (with landslides and flash floods especially in the north), and Nepal (Koshi, and neighboring Bihar in India) where about 50 percent of the districts have been affected by landslides and flooding in late August. Floods also occurred in Thailand and Myanmar (140,000 people affected), and especially in several Indian states (11 million affected) including Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttarkand, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh where about 104 people have died, more than 3000 villages were submerged, and almost 3 million villagers have been affected by flooding, according to local officials. In Assam alone, heavy rain created havoc for close to 1,100,000 people in over 3300 villages in 21 out of 32 districts. Flooding worsened on 22 July, when new areas were submerged by the rising waters of the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries.

Figure 5.4. Flooded areas in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh as of 29 August 2017

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/30/mumbai-paralysed-by-floods-as-india-and-region-hit-by-worst-monsoon-rains-in-years.

In the same region, neighboring Bangladesh is said to be the victim of “unprecedented conditions,” perhaps the worst floods in 100 years, accompanied by numerous landslides in the hilly areas of Chittagong. In total, 4.8 million people in 26 districts were affected by the floods, especially after rivers broke embankments in low-lying areas such as Sylhet, Moulvibazar, and eight more districts. At the maximum extension of floods, one third of the country was estimated to be under water. Xinhua reported on 19 August that, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies, a major humanitarian crisis was unfolding across large areas in South Asia, with more than 16 million people affected by monsoon floods.

In India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, the three countries where the worst floods occurred, 40 million people had their lives disrupted, a million houses were lost, and at least 1200 persons died. In Bihar alone over 700,000 hectares have been destroyed. In Nepal food crops have been wiped out by the floods in the major farming lands in the southern lowlands. As most farmers in the region practice subsistence agriculture and food production, the resulting nutritional state of the population is bound to suffer.