Desert Locusts Confirmed In Congo: First Infestation In That Country Since 1944

[hatrack]

A small group of desert locusts has entered Congo, marking the first time the voracious insects have been seen in the Central African country since 1944, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency said Tuesday as U.N. agencies warned of a “major hunger threat” in East Africa from the flying pests.

Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda have been battling the swarms in the worst locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in 70 years. The U.N. said swarms have also been sighted in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Tanzania and recently reached South Sudan, a country where roughly half the population already faces hunger after years of civil war.

A joint statement Tuesday from FAO director-general Qu Dongyu, U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, and World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley called the swarms of locusts “a scourge of biblical proportions” and “a graphic and shocking reminder of this region’s vulnerability.”

The FAO said mature locusts, carried in part by the wind, arrived on the western shore of Lake Albert in eastern Congo on Friday near the town of Bunia. The country has not seen locusts for 75 years, it said.

EDIT

https://desdemonadespair.net/2020/02/east-africas-huge-locust-outbreak-spreads-to-central-africa-congo-sees-locusts-for-first-time-in-75-years.html

[Squinch]

1. Plague? Check. Locusts? Check. Famine? Check. Lakes of fire? Anyone got any lakes of fire yet?

[hatrack]

4. How about a massive glacial outburst flood? Water, not fire, but you get the drift . . .

On 23 February 2020 (corrected – this was erroneously reported as 24 February 2020) an enormous, catastrophic debris flow tore down the Salkantay River in Santa Teresa, Peru. This event has killed at least four people, with a further 13 reported to be missing. Given the magnitude of the flow, this number is probably uncertain.

A mudflow on this scale usually requires an extraordinary cause. Diario Correo in Peru has an explanation – this event was caused by glacial collapse on Salkantay mountain. This hypothesis is proposed by Oscar Vilca Gómez, who the article describes as a specialist in Hydrology and Glaciology. He visited the site site of the detachment as part of a research team from the National Institute for Glacier Research of the Ministry of Environment. They propose that an ice / rock avalanche detached from the mountain, crossed the Salkantay Cocha lake, and generated the huge debris flow.

EDIT

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/28/1922684/-Massive-catastrophic-glacier-collapse-and-deadly-mud-flow-near-Machu-Picchu-Peru?utm_campaign=trending

[Farmer-Rick]

2. You would think that God of that bible would set up much more explicit warnings.

Like why not add meltibg ice caps, extinctions and coral reef destruction. We always have locust and disease somewhere on this planet.

Ah well, that god was kind of hard to understand anyway.

[DetlefK]

3. They are really fascinating critters:

Normally, they live solitary. But scientists found out that the stress of overcrowded living-conditions trigger their swarm-phase. Their brown-greenish carapace changes to vivid yellow and black and these calm creatures become hectic and jumpy.