The Dying Earth; Extreme weather

“The British army has been called in to assist with the rescue effort in Cumbria after a month's worth of rain fell in 24 hours over the weekend. A month's worth of rain fell in 24 hours. The village of Kendal and the city of Carlisle are hard hit”

Storm Desmond in the UK- over a month's rain in 24 hours

Storm Desmond: army aids rescue effort as communities struggle after floods

At least 60,000 homes are without power, villages and towns are cut off and clean water could run out after storm affects treatment works and water mains

Thousands of homes without power after UK floods

Tens of thousands of homes have been left without power after a storm swept across northern Britain.The county of Cumbria was worst affected. Gales, flooding and landslides caused traffic chaos and forced the evacuation of families in several towns.Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports.

Thedevastation from above: Aerial photographs show widespread floodingacross Cumbria caused by Storm Desmond as residents tell of despairafter £48million flood defences fail to do their job

• Aerial photos show the vast flooding across Cumbria after Storm Desmond brought 13.5 inches of rain in 24 hours
• Pensioners, children and pets had to be rescued from their homes in Carlisle as the military were called in to help
• More than 60,000 homes across north west have been left without power due to the devastation caused by floods
• David Cameron said the government will do all it can to help and announced emergency Cobra meeting later today
  

Worldwide Extreme Floods Sep-December 2015 - Japan/Brazil/India Chennai/UK Cumbria/USA South Florida

Apocalytical storm in Paraguay destroys parts of the capital city – Most powerful storm in 18 years

That’s the most powerful storm in the past 18 years of Paraguay.

The storm hit the capital and surrounding on Friday, December 4, 2015 and killed a boy and a baby. Moreover, drinkable water, electricity were and roads collapsed. The state of Emergency has been declared.

The storm mainly affected the capital city and the metropolitan area iss the largest in the last 18 years according to wind and precipitation data.

The storm began at 4.20 am. 90 millimeters of rain fell in just two hours and wind speeds reached 100 mph.

Adelaide swelters through hottest December night since 1897, as fourth day of heatwave expected

Adelaide has sweltered through its hottest December night in more than a century, as hot and gusty winds blew in from the east.

The temperature was above 33 degrees Celsius for much of the night and the mercury only started easing about 4:00am before dipping just under 31C after sunrise.

Weather bureau duty forecaster Simon Timke said it was one of the hottest December nights in a long time.

"Certainly the hottest for some time — we have to go back over 100 years to have a December night as hot as we just had," he told 891 ABC Adelaide.

The overnight minimum for Adelaide was 30.7 degrees at 7:17am, which was the hottest for December since 1897 when the low got to only 31.8C.

A fourth day of heatwave conditions is expected to see Adelaide's temperature peak at about 38C today ahead of a slight cool change.

Mr Timke said the wind would change direction during the day and bring some relief overnight and on Tuesday.

"We'll just see the temperatures gradually drop during the overnight period, so it will [still] be very hot during the day," he said.

"We'll sort of see that wind swing around a bit to more of a sea breeze direction during the afternoon.

"There is a slight chance we could see a shower ... possibly even a rumble of thunder."

But he said any thunderstorm activity was most likely to be over northern Eyre Peninsula and some far northern parts of South Australia.

Gusty winds worry firefighters

Meanwhile, fire crews are keeping a close watch on the lower north, where a massive bushfire erupted at Pinery last month.

Blustery winds caused a number of flare-ups in the region overnight.

Crews tackled trees which burst into flames, as well as grass and crop fires at Pinery, Hamley Bridge and Reid.

Country Fire Service official Daniel Hamilton said he expected crews would have their work cut out for them as winds changed direction during Monday.

"Certainly — across the state in eight fire ban districts we have severe ratings," he said.

State Emergency Service crews were busy across metropolitan Adelaide overnight, particularly in the northern suburbs.

The winds have brought down powerlines and trees.

SA Power Networks said there were outages affecting areas including the north-east and southern suburbs.