It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, November 08, 2021
Australia vows to sell coal 'for decades'
Issued on: 08/11/2021 -
Australia is one of the world's largest producers of coal William WEST AFP/File
WHICH IS WHY IT IS COAL MINING IN ALBERTA
Sydney (AFP) – Australia said Monday it will sell coal for "decades into the future" after spurning a pact to phase out the polluting fossil fuel to halt catastrophic climate change.
More than 40 countries pledged to eliminate coal use within decades during the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow, which aims to cap the warming of Earth since the Industrial Revolution to between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius.
Australia, along with some other major coal users such as China and the United States, did not sign up.
"We have said very clearly we are not closing coal mines and we are not closing coal-fired power stations," Australian Minister for Resources Keith Pitt told national broadcaster ABC.
Defending Australia's decision, Pitt said Australia had some of the world's highest quality coal.
"And that is why we will continue to have markets for decades into the future. And if they're buying... well, we are selling."
Demand for coal is expected to rise until 2030, the minister claimed.
"If we aren't to win that market, somebody else will," Pitt added.
"I would much rather it be Australia's high-quality product, delivering Australian jobs and building Australia's economy than coming from Indonesia or Russia or elsewhere."
Australia is one of the world's largest producers of coal and natural gas, but has also suffered under increasingly extreme climate-fuelled droughts, floods and bushfires in recent years.
Australia has suffered under increasingly extreme climate-fuelled droughts, floods and bushfires in recent years PETER PARKS AFP/File
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government unveiled last month a 2050 net zero emissions target but the plan was criticised for lacking detail and relying heavily on as-yet-unknown technological breakthroughs.
The Minerals Council of Australia, which represents large miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto, has said a 2050 target is achievable through significant investment in technology.
Pitt said some 300,000 Australians' jobs were reliant on the coal sector. The Minerals Council of Australia itself says the coal industry directly employs 50,000 workers while supporting another 120,000 jobs.
Major mining groups such as BHP say they are exiting the most polluting fossil fuels.
In its latest divestment, BHP announced Monday it had sold its 80 percent stake in a metallurgical coal mine in the eastern state of Queensland to Stanmore Resources for at least US$1.2 billion.
"As the world decarbonises, BHP is sharpening its focus on producing higher quality metallurgical coal sought after by global steelmakers to help increase efficiency and lower emissions," BHP head of Australian mining Edgar Basto said in a statement.
Sudanese protesters to pursue civil disobedience despite military crackdown
Issued on: 08/11/2021
Sudanese security forces on Sunday fired tear gas at multiple anti-coup rallies, with protesters in several cities joining a call for two-days of civil disobedience against last month's military takeover. FRANCE 24's Karim Yahiaoui reports from Khartoum.
Sudan security fires tear gas as anti-coup campaign starts
Sudaese women walk in front of tyres set ablaze by anti-coup demonstrators in the capital Khartoum, on November 7, 2021 - AFP
Khartoum (AFP) – Sudanese security forces on Sunday fired tear gas at an anti-coup rally by a group of teacher at the start of a two-day civil disobedience call against last month's military takeover.
Dozens of teachers carried banners reading "no, no to military rule" and called for a transition to "full civilian rule" at a rally outside the education ministry in the capital Khartoum.
Nationwide anti-coup protests -- including by tens of thousands on October 30 -- have occurred since the October 25 coup but have been met by a deadly crackdown. At least 14 demonstrators have been killed and about 300 wounded, according to the independent Central Committee of Sudan's Doctors.
"We organised a silent stand against the decisions by Burhan outside the ministry of education," said Mohamed al-Amin, a geography teacher who took part in that stand against the country's top general, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
"Police later came and fired tear gas at us though we were simply standing on the streets and carrying banners," he said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties but a union of Sudanese educators said "a large number of teachers were detained."
The teachers' rally came after the military leadership which carried out the coup replaced heads of department at the education ministry, as part of sweeping changes it made in multiple sectors.
"The protest rejects the return of remnants of the old regime" of ousted president Omar al-Bashir, the teachers union said in a Facebook post.
Sunday's rally followed calls for civil disobedience made by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an umbrella of unions which were instrumental in the 2018-2019 protests which ousted the longtime autocrat Bashir in April 2019.
"The Sudanese people have rejected the military coup," the SPA said on Twitter, vowing "no negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy".
"We will start by barricading the main streets to prepare for the mass civil disobedience on Sunday and Monday," it said, urging protesters to avoid confrontation with the security forces.
Since late Saturday, protesters were seen piling up bricks and large slabs to block streets in Khartoum and neighbouring cities, according to witnesses and AFP correspondents.
The latest resistance effort came almost two weeks after Burhan dissolved the government as well as the ruling joint military-civilian Sovereign Council that was supposed to lead the country toward full civilian rule.
Protesters built street barricades in Khartoum after the call for civil disobedience - AFP
Burhan also declared a state of emergency and detained Sudan's civilian leadership. Text messages
The SPA circulated its latest appeals via text messages to bypass internet outages since the putsch.
By Sunday morning, some shops were still open but others were shuttered in Khartoum and its twin cities of Omdurman and Khartoum-North, according to witnesses.
"Movement on the streets is less than usual but there is not full blockage of streets or closure of shops" after the civil disobedience call, said a witness from Omdurman who declined to give his name fearing reprisals.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was briefly detained but later placed under effective house arrest.
On Thursday, the military released four civilian members of his government but other key figures remain in detention.
The same day, security forces arrested other civilian leaders near a United Nations building in Khartoum following their meeting with UN special representative in Sudan Volker Perthes.
"We call upon the military leadership to cease arresting politicians and activists and to stop committing human rights violations," Perthes said in a statement on Friday.
Burhan insists it "was not a coup" but a move to "rectify the course of the transition."
87 teachers arrested in sit-in protesting Sudan coup
At least 87 teachers were arrested Sunday while conducting a sit-in in protest of Sudan's military coup late last month. Photo by EPA-EFE
Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Security forces in Sudan on Sunday arrested dozens of teachers protesting a coup that unseated the nation's prime minister last month.
At least 87 teachers were arrested during demonstrations in the capital city of Khartoum in opposition to the military assuming power and appointing members of former dictator Omar al-Bashir's regime to educational roles, the Sudanese Professionals Association said. The teacher's union said that security forces used tear gas to disperse the sit-in at the education ministry building.
Tear gas was also deployed to break up protests in the Burri neighborhood, witnesses said according to CNN.
Protests also took place in the cities of Medani, Nyala and Atbara Sunday.
Some hospital workers and other medical staff were also on strike Sunday although some continued to work as plans for the protests failed to reach them after internet services were badly disrupted during the coup.
Sudan's military on Oct. 25 seized control of the country, and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other government officials in an apparent coup.
It also imposed a state of emergency as protesters took to the streets, resulting in violence, and dissolved the governing Transitional Sovereignty Council, which Hamdok led.
On Sunday, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander in chief of the military, met with a delegation from the Arab league as he told them the military was committed to achieving "the Sudanese people's ambitions."
Sudan anti-coup protesters block streets
Despite a deadly crackdown, protests in Sudan have continued since the military coup, including this march by youths in Khartoum on November 4, 2021 - AFP/File
Issued on: 07/11/2021
Khartoum (AFP) – Sudanese anti-coup demonstrators built street barricades in and around the capital overnight Saturday following calls for civil disobedience to protest last month's military coup.
Activists were seen working in darkness to pile up bricks and large slabs to block streets in Khartoum and neighbouring cities, according to witnesses and AFP correspondents.
Their preparation followed calls for civil disobedience made by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an umbrella of unions which were instrumental in the 2018-2019 protests which ousted the longtime autocratic president Omar al-Bashir.
The SPA circulated its appeals via text messages to bypass internet outages since October 25, the day of the putsch.
"The Sudanese people have rejected the military coup," the SPA said on Twitter, vowing "no negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy"
"We will start by barricading the main streets to prepare for the mass civil disobedience on Sunday and Monday," it said, urging protesters to avoid confrontation with the security forces.
Nationwide protests -- including by tens of thousands on October 30 -- have been met by a deadly crackdown. At least 14 demonstrators have been killed and about 300 wounded, according to the independent Central Committee of Sudan's Doctors.
By Sunday morning, some shops were still open but others were shuttered in Khartoum and its twin cities of Omdurman and Khartoum-North, according to witnesses.
"Movement on the streets is less than usual but there is not full blockage of streets or closure of shops" after the civil disobedience call, said a witness from Omdurman who declined to give his name fearing reprisals.
Almost two weeks ago Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolved the government as well as the ruling joint military-civilian Sovereign Council that was supposed to lead the country toward full civilian rule.
He also declared a state of emergency and detained Sudan's civilian leadership, including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and members of his government.
Hamdok was later placed under effective house arrest and the military has since Thursday released four civilian members of his government.
The military takeover sparked international condemnation, including punitive aid cuts and demands for a swift return to civilian rule.
Burhan insists it "was not a coup" but a move to "rectify the course of the transition."
Yemen's Huthis sentence model to five years in prison
Issued on: 08/11/2021 -
This undated handout picture obtained on April 21, 2021 from the Facebook page of Entisar al-Hammadi shows her posing for a "selfie" at an unknown location -
Sanaa (AFP) – Yemen's rebel Huthi movement has sentenced a model to five years in prison over "drug abuse" and "prostitution", charges rejected by her defence and condemned by rights groups.
Entisar al-Hammadi, 20, was arrested in February at a checkpoint while on her way to a photo shoot in the capital Sanaa.
The Iran-backed Huthis took over Sanaa in 2014 and have been enforcing a morality campaign, particularly against women.
Rebel news agency Saba reported the five-year sentence late Sunday after a ruling by a court in Sanaa.
Hammadi's trial began in June in a procedure described by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as riddled with "irregularities and abuse".
According to her defence, Hammadi's popularity on social media, where she has thousands of followers, was the real reason behind her arrest.
Afrah Nassar, a Yemen researcher at HRW, tweeted to condemn the verdict: "The sentence is unfair and politically motivated."
In July Hammadi tried to commit suicide in a Sanaa jail run by the rebels, according to a rights group and her lawyer.
Born to an Ethiopian mother and Yemeni father, Hammadi has posted dozens of pictures on line in traditional costume, jeans or leather jacket, both with and without an Islamic headscarf.
She has thousands of followers on Instagram and Facebook.
According to HRW, Hammadi had worked as a model for four years and acted in two Yemeni TV series last year.
Amnesty International said in May that upon her arrest, Hammadi was "interrogated while blindfolded, physically and verbally abused, subjected to racist insults and forced to 'confess' to several offences -- including drug possession and prostitution".
Violence against women, especially in Huthi-controlled areas, has been on the rise since Yemen plunged into a civil war in 2014 that the United Nations says has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The Huthis control much of the north of the country, whose internationally-recognised government is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
Jack HEWSON Women represent half the population in Iraq, but are almost invisible in the public sphere. In this ultra-conservative society, a woman's place is neither at school nor at work, but out of sight at home. Yet some brave women have decided to fight against these traditions, despite the danger. FRANCE 24 went to meet them.
A street in the Caledon area of Ontario's Peel Region with municipally owned housing units. Peel is home to approximately 1.5 million people and has one of the highest rates of growth in the Greater Toronto Area. (Tina Mackenzie/CBC)
Urban planner David Harrison is standing in a field in Dartmouth, N.S., where, if all goes to plan, more than 300 units of sorely needed non-profit housing will grow over the next 10 years.
Harrison has spent two decades trying to get more developments like this one built, but not all of his efforts have been successful. He worries the supply is nowhere near enough.
"We're in a housing crisis here. It's a question of supply and affordability," he said. "I've not heard of a community in the province that doesn't have a housing problem."
The Dartmouth project's hopes are built around a federal program called the National Housing Co-investment Fund (NHCF), which offers low-cost loans for developers working on affordable housing projects.
Harrison's job is to help the Dartmouth project get ready to apply to NHCF, perhaps next year.
Urban planner David Harrison has spent two decades trying to get more developments built in the Dartmouth area. He worries the supply is nowhere near enough. (David Laughlin/CBC)
But four years into the National Housing Strategy, and with a new federal minister dedicated to housing, non-profit housing advocates say the NHCF needs a total revamp.
The program is the federal government's flagship initiative for building affordable housing, with a trove of more than $13.8 billion in loan money to build homes for families forced to choose between rent and groceries. But it's a trove some non-profit builders say they can't access.
In practice, the NHCF is failing to fulfil its potential, national housing advocates told a CBC News investigation into access to affordable housing.
"I think it was a bit of a poker game," said Ottawa-based housing policy consultant Steve Pomeroy.
The NHCF is administered by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which is the Crown corporation that administers Canada's National Housing Strategy. The CMHC is responsible for scrutinizing the applications from organizations that want to use NHCF to get construction loans, but Pomeroy says the CMHC's vetting process is creating insurmountable barriers.
"Three or four years on, we've now realized that's actually not working very well."
'We have got to get people off the streets'
The NHCF was launched in May 2018 with a target of building 60,000 new units and renovating 240,000 existing units across Canada over 10 years.
More than 90 per cent of NHCF users are non-profits or lower levels of government, like municipalities. The program was designed to appeal to community housing providers, many of which were initially excited to apply.
When municipal councillor Annette Groves talks to people in her ward in Caledon, Ont., she hears about the desperate need for housing.
Groves says she was brought to tears recently by a mother who fled an abusive relationship with her children and is now facing eviction.
"There's just not enough units available, there's just not enough housing," she said. "The pandemic has now brought that out even more to the forefront, that people just can't afford to live where they're living."
Groves is a councillor with the Region of Peel, an area near Toronto that encompasses Mississauga, Caledon and Brampton and is home to 1.5 million people.
Annette Groves, a regional councillor in the town of Caledon, Ont., says the area is in desperate need of more housing. (Tina Mackenzie/CBC)
"We can't afford to lose ... even one," said Groves. "To lose over 800 units will be devastating to a lot of people. We have got to get people off the streets. We have got to get them housed."
Steve Pomeroy says that in his experience, it's common for affordable housing proponents to struggle to meet these sorts of financial terms.
When asked about Peel's situation, the CMHC responded in a statement that it only commits to a portion of the costs on any project, but said, "should there be material changes to any NHCF agreement that could impact financial viability of any projects, or the ability to meet social outcomes, CMHC would work with our partners to explore available options."
Program criteria
Under the NHCF program criteria, at least 30 per cent of the units in any given project have to cost less than 80 per cent of the median market rent.
For a city like Halifax, the affordable units would have to cost no more than $879 a month. For Toronto, they'd have to be under $1,192 a month. Some non-profits aim for significantly less. Peel Region was targeting $750 a month, says Groves.
A key criterion of the program is that the building applicant must have a stash of funds contributed from another level of government, which means the non-profits have to make it through a round of funding applications before they can begin the NHCF loan application. In some cases, non-profits go to non-governmental donors, too.
The project also has to meet strict accessibility and energy efficiency requirements. If the project can't meet all the targets, it won't qualify for a CMHC loan.
Pomeroy says CMHC got out of the social housing sector in the 1980s, and as a result, much of its recent expertise is with commercial loans.
Steve Pomeroy is a housing policy consultant in Ottawa, and a senior research fellow with the Centre for Urban Research and Education at Carleton University. (CBC)
"So you've got these ... bean-counter finance kind of folks. They're trained to manage risk and they tend to go through a process that basically dots every I and crosses every T," he said.
While he acknowledges there must be a process of making sure non-profits are credit-worthy, he says many non-profits do not have the expertise or the money to navigate the complex application. He says the process also requires non-profits to shoulder significant costs and risks up front.
"You have to have your building permit in place, which means you have to have already hired an architect, completed working drawings — significant costs," Pomeroy said. He also said "[The non-profits] found that the CMHC just won't actually issue a formal approval and a financing agreement until very, very late in the process."
In a statement to CBC, the CMHC said it has made changes to NHCF in the past two years, including reducing turnaround time to approve applications by approximately 50 per cent.
But challenges remain for some non-profit housing proponents.
The Region of Peel, having already committed $335.3 million of its own money to the project, is hoping the Government of Ontario will chip in a further $319.6 million to secure the $276-million CMHC loan.
The Region of Peel, which includes Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, is home to approximately 1.5 million people. (Tina Mackenzie/CBC)
Program under budget in first 3 years
According to Jeff Morrison, head of the non-profit group Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, some of his members have stopped bothering to apply to NHCF at all.
Jeff Morrison is the executive director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association. (CHRA)
"There have been some success stories, but for many other providers, especially smaller housing providers, the program has proven to be incredibly difficult to navigate, to access," he said.
That lack of appeal may be reflected in the program's numbers.
Also as of March 31, CMHC reported it had committed just $3.6 billion under NHCF, with $2.3 billion of that amount in repayable loans and about $1.3 billion in contributions or forgivable loans.
That translates into 13,800 new units and repairs to 74,600 older units.
The CMHC said that number had risen to a commitment to 15,800 new units and the repair of more than 90,400 units by the end of June.
It noted actual spending takes time, "as the funds are advanced over the course of construction or repair."
Repayable loans aren't counted as a cost to the Canadian government, since the money must be repaid with interest. The true expense to the government is the cost of lending — for example, contributions, grants or a difference in interest rates.
Overall, the PBO concluded the Co-investment Fund had spent only half its budget in the first three years.
The CMHC said response to the program from the housing sector has "grown significantly" since the program began, but the agency was not able to provide data on how many applications were rejected.
The Crown corporation acknowledged the PBO report showed construction takes a long time and NHCF "faced initial challenges," but added the program is "on track to spend its entire budget by 2027."
Budget increasing
In the spring federal budget, the government said it planned to adjust the program by advancing $750 million to 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. It also said it would use NHCF to reallocate $250 million for more housing for survivors of domestic violence. Both budget amounts had been previously announced.
Jeff Morrison says more funding is good, but only if there are changes to the way the program is run.
"We're hoping that CMHC can accelerate their approvals process so that money can actually get out the door," he said.
"We need that money to be out there, in the regions, in Halifax, in places throughout the country, building new community housing. Because otherwise, it's doing nothing."
Shaina Luck is a reporter with CBC Nova Scotia. She has worked with national network programs, the CBC's Atlantic Investigative Unit, and the University of King's College school of journalism. Email: shaina.luck@cbc.ca
Crews clean up Sunday morning after a tree fell on two vehicles near East 6th Avenue and Victoria Drive in Vancouver. (Amy O'Brian/CBC)
Meteorologists issued heavy wind warnings for the Lower Mainland and other parts of B.C.'s coast on Sunday, one day after a rare waterspout was spotted over the ocean near Vancouver International Airport, bringing fierce winds to the UBC campus.
The winds toppled trees, blocked roads and disrupted transit on Saturday evening, sparking cleanup efforts and a brief tornado alert from Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The alert lasted only 24 minutes before the funnel cloud vanished, but the incident came amid a very windy weekend in the region, with worse conditions on the way.
Winds are forecast to reach at least 80 km/h starting Monday in Metro Vancouver, and are expected to reach 110 km/h on other parts of the B.C. coast, warned a special weather statement issued Sunday,
'It's scary'
Laura De Pascale was heading home from the UBC Fencing Club with a friend on Saturday when they saw lightning.
"Then it started pouring hail," she recalled. "There was just a bunch of swirling branches and leaves.
"And suddenly, I don't think I fully realized at the time, I didn't even notice the tree that fell behind my car."
She said the strong winds caused a trolley line to break and fall right outside her car door.
"Once you have power lines starting to come down on your car, it's scary," she said.
De Pascale and her friends were able to head home without injury but it's not an event she will soon forget.
"I still feel a bit of disbelief and it's hard not to think about what could have gone wrong."
No injuries have been reported from Saturday's weather event. Several people recorded videos of the waterspout, a tornado that forms above water, and posted them to social media.
Bus routes affected by downed trolley lines
TransLink said trolley repair likely won't begin until Monday morning, as arborists aren't expected to finish the clean-up of fallen trees and debris until late Sunday evening.
That means regular bus service may not commence until Tuesday.
Routes 004 and 014 will continue to use West 16th Avenue to reach the campus, while the 99 bus will use Chancellor Boulevard, Tina Lovgreen, spokesperson for TransLink, said in an emailed statement.
Winds picked up across Metro Vancouver over the weekend, with other parts of the region seeing downed trees and branches unrelated to the tornado.
Meteorologists continue to analyze the phenomenon that descended over UBC on Saturday around 5 p.m., but it's not the first time B.C.'s coast has seen a funnel cloud.
"Waterspouts can occur over the Strait of Georgia or other coastal waters throughout the year — it's not actually all that uncommon. However, this one was quite a large one," Bobby Sekhon, a federal meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told CBC News.
"Seeing it close to land is a little bit more rare, especially moving through land … certainly close to populated centres."
Sekhon said it was caused by a "broad trough" of low pressure, with cold air atop warm air, creating an "unstable environment" combined with "spin" in the atmosphere on Saturday.
"Those ingredients kind of came together and formed this waterspout," he said.
And although the phenomenon is not unprecedented in this region, this one was rare for its size — and how close it got to a major city.
He said winds in funnel clouds can hit 80 to 100 km/h or more, but this one did not register on local weather stations.
Sekhon said the chances of another waterspout or tornado are very slight.
"Any time you see a funnel or even worse, a tornado, over water or over land it can be life-threatening — there can be strong wind speeds," Sekhon said. "You want to stay away from anything that might be flying around."
With files from Nadia Jannif
'Ultra-rare' November tornado hits
Vancouver, B.C., damage reported
Nathan Howes Digital Reporter
Sunday, November 7th 2021, 9:52 pm - Witnesses in Vancouver, B.C., captured video and photos of a tornado over the Strait of Georgia Saturday that reportedly came ashore and caused minor tree damage at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and immediate vicinity. No injuries have been reported.
B.C. is not a hot spot for tornadoes at any time of the year, so for one to occur there in the heart of fall is certainly a rare occurrence.
Witnesses in Vancouver, B.C., captured video and photos of a tornado over the Strait of Georgia Saturday that reportedly came ashore and caused minor tree damage at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and immediate vicinity. No injuries have been reported.
At the time on Saturday evening, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) stated a waterspout was spotted west of Vancouver International Airport, and was moving north toward western Vancouver and the mouth of Howe Sound including Bowen Island, prompting tornado watches for Howe Sound and the North Shore.
The watches were soon dropped, and power outages and damage were reported at and surrounding the UBC campus, though it's not clear if the electricity cuts were related. The tornado is under investigation.
The Western University-based Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) sent out a tweet early Sunday morning calling it a "ultra-rare" November supercell tornado.
According to NTP, the City of Vancouver has only seen three tornadoes in recorded history (F1 in 1956, F0 in 1962, F0 in 1976), with twisters also occurring in nearby communities New Westminster (F1 in 1954), Steveston (F1 in 1964), Port Moody (F0 in 1988) and Pitt Meadows (F0 in 1991).
It didn't take long for the visuals to make it onto social media, and below is a selection of what has been circulating.
Cleanup underway after possible Vancouver tornado; more strong winds forecast
By Simon Little Global News Posted November 7, 2021 Video offers an up-close look at strong winds associated with a large waterspout that spotted on the edge of Metro Vancouver on Saturday. The unusual meteorological phenomenon prompted Environment Canada to briefly issue a tornado watch.
Cleanup efforts are underway after rare funnel cloud occurred near the University of British Columbia, and meteorologists are warning that another powerful storm is on the way.
A massive waterspout was spotted near Vancouver International Airport around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, and moved north in the Strait of Georgia to the edge of UBC before dissipating. The incident prompted Environment Canada to issue a rare tornado watch for the region.
On Sunday, Environment Canada said further investigation was required to determine whether a tornado occurred at the time of landfall, and to assess its strength.
“I can confirm it was basically we had a cold, unstable flow and in that was embedded some fairly convective cells and this one formed into a supercell, which spawned a tornadic water spout — and that means it’s basically a tornado that formed over the water,” Environment Canada Meteorologist Mike Gismondi said.
1:00Large waterspout swirls in Vancouver
“We’re not sure at this point whether or not at the time it moved on land, whether it was a tornado — we’re sending a couple of people out to take some photos and try and do an assessment of the damage to to confirm whether or not there was a tornado when it moved on to the land.”
Gismondi described the incident as “extremely rare,” noting that smaller waterspouts are common over the Strait of Georgia, but nothing this strong or long-lasting.
Strong winds from the system uprooted trees and sent branches flying in the UBC area Saturday evening, even damaging some vehicles.
Dozens of residents of the University Endowment Lands woke up Sunday morning to discover they were still without power.
TransLink said University Boulevard, one of the key routes to UBC, was closed to all traffic and that the number 004, 014 and 099 buses were all being diverted through West 16th Avenue and Chancellor Boulevard.
“Our crews are working hard to restore service as they wait for the City of Vancouver to clear the large number of fallen trees,” TransLink said in a media release.
“We have been advised, this could take several days, until regular access is opened to traffic on this route.”
0:4577% of Canadians think something needs to done on climate change: Ipsos poll77% of Canadians think something needs to done on climate change: Ipsos poll – Aug 26, 2021
Gismondi said it could be several days to a week before Environment Canada will be able to say more about the incident with certainty, and that data will be assessed by tornado experts in the prairies.
However, he said if the event is confirmed to be a tornado, it would likely be of “F0” strength, the weakest category.
He added that while it is difficult to attribute any individual extreme weather event to climate change, the recent string of incidents was noteworthy.
“This year, we’ve seen the heat dome and now this. And then we also had the deepest low (pressure system) off the Northwest Pacific ever recorded,” he said.
“You know, all in the same year certainly seems to be trending towards a pattern.” More strong winds in forecast
While another waterspout appears unlikely, Environment Canada issued special weather statements for most of the South and Central Coast warning of strong winds on Monday.
The alerts stretch from Metro Vancouver to Haida Gwaii, with the exception of central Vancouver Island. Environment Canada is warning of strong southeast winds of up to 110 km/h, except for the inner South Coast waters, where they are forecast to be up to 80 km/h.
“A rapidly deepening weather system will generate strong southeast winds over the west coast of Vancouver Island, Central Coast and Haida Gwaii beginning Monday evening,” Environment Canada said.
“The southeast winds will quickly progress into the inner south coast waters. The weather system will remain very intense Tuesday and these blustery conditions are expected to continue.”
Environment Canada said the exact track and strength of the storm systems remains uncertain, and urged people to monitor local media for updates.
Australia is one of the world's largest producers of coal William WEST AFP/File
