Global Rundown
- In mountainous Ugandan communities, where heavier rains are eroding hillsides, farmers are adopting more resilient growing practices.
- The annual number of flood deaths in the United States has gradually increased in recent years, a new analysis finds.
- A dam burst this week near the Tibet-Nepal border, killing several people and disrupting regional trade.
- Record-high temperatures have accelerated the melting of Pakistan’s glaciers this monsoon season, exacerbating deadly downstream flooding.
The Lead
More than 500,000 people along the Uganda-Kenya border are sustained by the jackfruit, avocado, coffee, onions, and maize that are farmed on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon, a 24 million year-old extinct volcano whose highest ridges are also a protected reserve, Yale Environment 360 reports.
The region’s fertile soils offer great potential for growth, and for years many farmers have been drawn to the ease of monocropping. But over the last two decades, intensifying heavy rains have coincided with a growing local population. According to a study published in March in the Journal of Mountain Science, forest cover in “the Mount Elgon biosphere reserve’s transition zone, where human activity is permitted,” has declined by 76.7 percent.
These changes have resulted in an increased number of deadly landslides on Mount Elgon and elsewhere throughout Uganda’s mountainous regions, such as those that occurred in November 2024. Mud and rock swept through several villages, killing at least 28 people. Farming has become an ever-precarious livelihood, though as Francis Gidegi told Yale Environment 360, “adapting is better than evacuating.”
Since 2017, and especially after November’s tragedy, agroforestry education and implementation efforts have become more widespread. In such a geography, strategic growth and water conservation is tantamount to protect against the threat of natural disaster. Farmers have begun to pair perennials with short-term crops, plant deep-root trees, and dig trenches into slopes to preserve water and protect against the threat of erosion. These methods also keep soils fertile for longer.
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This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
85
Average annual number of flood-related deaths in the U.S. between 2000 and 2024, though this figure has increased in recent years. According to a Washington Post analysis, most fatal floods are associated with tropical storms, “which studies show have become stronger and wetter amid rising global temperatures.” Of last year’s 145 flood-related deaths, 95 occurred during Hurricane Helene alone. Between 2013 and 2024, freshwater flooding accounted for 54 percent of deaths resulting from tropical cyclones — up from 27 percent in the previous 50 years. The Post’s analysis comes after more than 100 people died and at least 160 others are missing in central Texas after heavy rains — remnants of Tropical Storm Barry — surged the Guadalupe River and sent floodwaters sprawling over the weekend.
8
Number of people killed — while 31 remain missing — along the Tibet-Nepal border after a glacier-fed debris dam burst, Khabar Hub and Reuters report. Sediment, soil, and water poured into the Lhende and Kerung rivers, which, after crossing the Tibetan border into Nepal, together become the Bhotekoshi. Amidst the onrushing waters, Friendship Bridge collapsed near this confluence and shipping containers were swept away, disrupting trade in the region.
On the Radar
Since heavy monsoon rains began to fall on Pakistan beginning in June, 72 people have died and at least 130 have been injured in resulting floods, which have been exacerbated by accelerating glacial melt, the Guardian reports. In the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan region, temperatures at nearly 4,000 feet have exceeded 119 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the previous high record set in 1971. As a result of melting snow and ice, rivers have swelled and glacial lakes have burst, “triggering flash floods and landslides that have washed away villages and roads, cutting off some communities entirely and leaving others without power or drinking water.”
Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region
Lake Erie Heating: In the western basin of Lake Erie, the surface water temperature has risen to 78.8 degrees Fahrenheit and exceeded 86 degrees in other locations, both well above the July 31 average of 75.2 degrees, CBC reports. Scientists point to sustained heat waves as the cause of these temperature increases, and are keeping a close eye on the potential for algal blooms, which thrive in warmer conditions, to spread.
Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.
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