India city-dwellers criss-cross chest-deep waters to flee or rescue loved ones

Residents clutching babies and food packets thronged flooded streets in India's Chennai on Friday, braving chest-deep water to reach higher ground or heading the other way to rescue relatives amid fears swollen lakes will spread more destruction.

After a lull from the heaviest rains in a century that have killed at least 280 people this week, another rain burst was forecast to hit the low-lying coastal city within hours. But officials said brimming lakes were the main concern.

"The rain is not a problem now, it is the overflowing river and 30 lakes that continue to flood four districts," a senior home ministry official in New Delhi told Reuters.

Read More

Habitat loss seen as rising threat to world's migratory birds

Habitat destruction along routes taken by the world's migratory birds poses an increasing peril to these long-distance fliers, with a vast majority crossing terrain that nations are inadequately protecting, according to scientists.

The researchers said on Thursday they tracked the migratory routes, stopover locations, breeding grounds and wintering locations of 1,451 migratory species and assessed about 450,000 protected areas like national parks and other reserves.

They found 1,324 species, about 91 percent, journeyed through locales that were not safeguarded from threats like development.

Read More

El Niño monthly indicator reaches level not seen since 1997

A key monthly indicator for El Niño has reached a level not seen since 1997, according to the U.S. weather agency, when the weather pattern caused heavy rains and flooding in parts of South America and severe drought hit crops in Indonesia.

El Niño, the "little boy," is driven by warm surface water in the eastern Pacific Ocean and its strength is measured by how much higher temperatures are over three-month averages.

In November, temperatures in the Niño 3.4 region, the central band of affected ocean running either side of the equator from 5S-5N and 170-120W, were 2.34 degrees Celsius above average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on its website.

Read More