El Nino

Lots of ‘nuisance’ flooding

Lots of ‘nuisance’ flooding

Majuro and other islands in RMI have seen many “nuisance inundations” since late last year during peak high tides — and such was the case earlier this month during the full moon as drivers traveling along the airport causeway roads had to dodge rocks and debris tossed up by waves. But these recent flooding incidents […]

US declares drought disaster

US declares drought disaster

President Barack Obama’s Presidential Disaster Declaration (PDD) late last week has opened the doors to additional US federal aid for drought relief in the Marshall Islands. “The PDD allows us to tap into FEMA resources,” said USAID Office for Disaster Assistance Regional Advisor Dan Dieckhaus, who is based at the US Embassy in Majuro. Earlier […]

El Niño water struggles

El Niño water struggles

“One of the strongest El Niño events in recorded history remains entrenched across the equatorial Pacific Ocean,” said Guam-based weather officials in their latest drought update. The report said “all locations across the Marshall Islands are in a severe or extreme drought.” They also predict that there will likely be “severe damage to food crops […]

Drought continues unabated

Drought continues unabated

As the El Niño-caused drought continues in the north Pacific, all three of the US-affiliated island nations have declared emergency conditions to speed government-provided relief. “Extreme drought continues across much of Micronesia” and is worsening, said Guam-based US National Weather Service officials in a bulletin last week. The Marshall Islands was first to declare a […]

RMI drought intensifies

A drought announcement was issued Friday by US Weather officials, describing increasingly dry conditions to be expected in the Marshall Islands, Palau and Yap as a result of one of the worst El Niño’s to hit the Pacific in recent times. Parts of the Marshall Islands are already into a period of “moderate to severe […]