April 14, 2022 - 501,095,900 confirmed infections; 6,186,310 deaths
April 15, 2021 – 138,278,420 confirmed infections; 2,973,058 deaths
US (Map)
April 14, 2022 - 80,483,900 confirmed infections; 986,510 deaths
April 15, 2021 – 31,421,361 confirmed infections; 564,402 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
April 14, 2022 - 3,734,000 confirmed infections; 100,116 deaths
April 15, 2021 – 1,560,000 confirmed infections; 53,500 deaths
News blues
The world surpasses half a billion known coronavirus cases, amid concerns about testing.***
The Biden administration announced it is extending the nationwide mask requirement for airplanes and public transit for 15 days as it monitors an uptick in COVID-19 cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was extending the order, which was set to expire on April 18, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron subvariant that is now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the U.S.
I’m intending to wear masks every moment of my return trip to California anyway, but…
Read more >>
They were very real yesterday. Video clips of flooding in and around Durban (3:00 mins)
Flood aftermath: view 1 (2:17 mins) and view 2 (3:54 mins)
More than 300 dead >>
***
The Lincoln Project: Last week in the Republican Party - April 13, 2022 (2:12 mins)
***
Healthy planet, anyone?
How much greenhouse gas emissions the world emits in the coming decades is unknown. … It will depend on what people around the world will do now and in the future.In this situation, it’s helpful to create scenarios that cover a range of possible futures. This is what the ‘Shared Socioeconomic Pathways’ (SSPs) are. SSPs are the possible futures that climate researchers in the IPCC consider in their models.Read more and use the IPCC Climate Scenario Explorer >>
SSPs do not tell us what the world will look like. Instead, they tell us what the world could look like.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
That heavy rainfall that fell on KZN? Those predictions of flooding?They were very real yesterday. Video clips of flooding in and around Durban (3:00 mins)
Flood aftermath: view 1 (2:17 mins) and view 2 (3:54 mins)
More than 300 dead >>
Stormwater drainage infrastructureRead more >>
Many in the business community say the damage was made worse by a failure on the part of the provincial government and the Durban municipality to maintain drainage infrastructure and prepare for eventualities such as these.
Now, the Durban Chamber of Commerce has called for the government to undertake a “serious review” of the stormwater drainage system along the road networks.
It wants the local and provincial governments of eThekwini to share their disaster management plans, including their programmes of infrastructure maintenance and development to improve drainage and traffic congestion.
“There needs to be a serious review of stormwater drainage systems related to our local and provincial road networks to ensure that rainwater can easily drain away,”
Indeed, there really “needs to be a serious review of stormwater drainage systems - all infrastructure - related to our local and provincial road networks to ensure that rainwater can easily drain away.”
My “timely” - 6 YEARS – nagging the local roads department to attend to the blocked culverts paid off, albeit in miniscule fashion.
Plenty more nagging ahead.
Frankly, I doubt that public entity – supported by residents’ property taxes, including mine - will ever devote the people power needed to address infrastructure problems, including my small one: clearing the second totally blocked culvert and removing silt that continues to threaten to rise to levels that block water from draining.
Nevertheless, their recent small efforts helped. This, after I kvetched to local council people then to the head guy in Pietermaritzburg. His terse email to the local office to get the work done galvanized the local team. Had I complained with less dedication, this house’s downstairs would be under water.
The good news? The sheer volume of water pushing into the open culvert cleared out debris and silt. Water is flowing better than it has for some years. The overflowing stream banks, last week not visible, are still overflowing, but the water level has dropped after reaching a depth in the lower garden of more than 1 meter (3 feet).
Alas, the sump formed by the backhoe operator is now a convex hump rather than a hole, due to silt runoff from the dirt road.
I will continue kvetching to the roads department although their workload increased exponentially with the flooding across the province. I will write another email, in report format and accompanied by photos and video clips, to the head guy in Pietermaritzburg. He’ll send a terse email to the local team. The local team will show up, mill around, scrape debris here and there, depart. And the cycle will be unbroken (4:00 mins)
And… amid the flooding, Escom – South Africa’s parastatal electricity company – is “load shedding” again. Our electricity schedule: two hours off at 8:00 pm.
Nevertheless, their recent small efforts helped. This, after I kvetched to local council people then to the head guy in Pietermaritzburg. His terse email to the local office to get the work done galvanized the local team. Had I complained with less dedication, this house’s downstairs would be under water.
The good news? The sheer volume of water pushing into the open culvert cleared out debris and silt. Water is flowing better than it has for some years. The overflowing stream banks, last week not visible, are still overflowing, but the water level has dropped after reaching a depth in the lower garden of more than 1 meter (3 feet).
Alas, the sump formed by the backhoe operator is now a convex hump rather than a hole, due to silt runoff from the dirt road.
I will continue kvetching to the roads department although their workload increased exponentially with the flooding across the province. I will write another email, in report format and accompanied by photos and video clips, to the head guy in Pietermaritzburg. He’ll send a terse email to the local team. The local team will show up, mill around, scrape debris here and there, depart. And the cycle will be unbroken (4:00 mins)
And… amid the flooding, Escom – South Africa’s parastatal electricity company – is “load shedding” again. Our electricity schedule: two hours off at 8:00 pm.
Try pumping away massive amounts of excess water without electricity.
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:16am
Sunset: 5:41pm
San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:35am
Sunset: 7:43pm
***
“Clear” weather predicted today. Alas, more rain predicted for the Easter Bunny weekend:KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:16am
Sunset: 5:41pm
San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:35am
Sunset: 7:43pm
