MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Rene Bruemmer – “ST. PAUL DE L’ILE AUX NOIX, Que. — A fish is lying in the mud at farmer Jacquelin Bisaillon’s feet. It’s a silver-scaled carp about 30 centimetres long, and dead. Which is odd, because Bisaillon is standing three-quarters of a kilometre away from the nearest river in what should be his field of freshly planted corn.

Dealing with the worst spring flooding in 140 years along Quebec’s Richelieu River brings with it many unexpected challenges, farmers like Bisaillon are discovering, including how to pump out his flooded fields without having neighbours call the police, or being fined by Quebec’s Environment Ministry for harming carp swimming in the 4,000 hectares of farmers’ fields that are now lakes.

‘There are many problems we’ve never seen before,’ he said Sunday, standing next to the hectares of water covering his land. ‘Like trying to pump out our fields, but we can’t because the dikes holding back the river are broken, and they can’t be repaired because there’s too much water.'”  Read more.

A week of rain in forecast for Quebec flood zone – “Water levels on the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain continue to fall, but there’s concern things could stall if the skies open up. Some 3,000 homes are flooded and 1,000 people have been evacuated since heavy rains and the spring thaw swelled waterways from Montreal’s south shore to the U.S. border. Quebec’s flood forecasting centre says precipitation should hit the region on Friday and continue into next week.” Read more.

By Tom McGregor – “The longest waterway in Asia, the Yangtze River, which is China’s most important shipping route, has been shut down by the worst drought in 50 years that has kept cargo ships stranded and 400,000 people without drinking water.

The Daily Telegraph of London reports that, ‘water-levels have sunk as low as 10 ft. in the main thoroughfare of the 3,900 mile long river that stretches from the glaciers of the Tibetan plateaus to the coastal city of Shanghai.’

The Yangtze River basin is home to 1/3 of China’s population and is responsible for 40 percent of the nation’s economic growth.” Read more.

By JIM SALTER, MICHAEL J. CRUMB – “WYATT, Mo. — Blasting open a levee and submerging more than 200 square miles of Missouri farmland has likely gouged away fertile topsoil, deposited mountains of debris to clear and may even hamper farming in some places for years, experts say.

The planned explosions this week to ease the Mississippi River flooding threatening the town of Cairo, Ill., appear to have succeeded — but their effects on the farmland, where wheat, corn and soybeans are grown — could take months or even years to become clear. The Missouri Farm Bureau said the damage will likely exceed $100 million for this year alone.

‘Where the breach is, water just roars through and scours the ground. It’s like pouring water in a sand pile. There is that deep crevice that’s created,’ said John Hawkins, a spokesman for the Illinois Farm Bureau. ‘For some farmers, it could take a generation to recoup that area.'”  Read more.

“NAIROBI, 20 April 2011 (IRIN) – Officials and aid workers in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region have raised the alarm over the plight of drought-stricken villagers urgently needing food and water.

‘We are experiencing the worst drought we have seen in decades; since the beginning of March, we have buried 54 people who died from the effects of the drought, seven of them today [20 April],’ said Ali Barow, leader of the small town of Guulane, 220km northeast of Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Barow said Guulane and the surrounding villages of Eil Barwaaqo, Hirka Dheere and Hagarey, with an estimated population of 20,000-25,000, were suffering the effects of a prolonged drought.”  Read more.