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🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Elections & Politics

Minister tells Britons to stock up for days of supplies after ‘supersize’ El Niño warning

From The Guardian · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The UK government is preparing a campaign encouraging households to store enough food and water to cope for several days during national emergencies.
  • Forecasters expect an exceptionally strong El Niño, with increased risks of wildfires, floods, and a wet, stormy winter in the UK.
  • Scientists and UN officials warned that the climate phenomenon could intensify disruption from droughts, floods, and rising global temperatures.

Britons are being urged to keep several days’ worth of food and water at home as forecasters warn that an exceptionally strong El Niño could bring more extreme weather worldwide and a stormier winter to the UK.

Environment Secretary Angela Eagle said the expected conditions made household preparation more important. The government is planning a campaign asking citizens to prepare for national emergencies, including periods without power or running water.

We’re about to experience probably the largest El Niño that has ever been seen, and that will lead to drier summers, wetter winters, with more extreme storms in this country.

· Angela EagleThe UK environment secretary explained why households should prepare for severe weather and possible emergencies.

“We’re about to experience probably the largest El Niño that has ever been seen,” Eagle told the Guardian. She said the phenomenon could bring drier summers, wetter winters, and more extreme storms to Britain, while causing greater flooding in Asia. A basic supply of food, she added, could help people cope until emergency services reached them.

If you’ve got a store of a bit of food that can keep you going for a while before the emergency services can get to you, you’re going to be a lot better off than if you haven’t.

· Angela EagleEagle urged people to keep basic supplies at home.

El Niño occurs when changes in Pacific winds raise ocean temperatures and transfer large amounts of heat into the atmosphere. Recent data put the ocean temperature in the central El Niño region at 2.6C above the 30-year average. That is close to the satellite-era record anomaly of 3.1C, recorded in 2015, and the peak is still months away.

The average of 14 models forecasts a peak of about 4C in November. Climate analyst Zeke Hausfather said coral, tree-ring, and historical-document records indicated that no El Niño in the past millennium had reached this level. The article also says the event will add heat to an atmosphere already warming because of global heating, with 2027 expected to break the record for the hottest year ever recorded.

El Niño is being supersized before our eyes. The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up.

· António GuterresThe UN secretary-general warned about the intensifying climate risks linked to El Niño.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “El Niño is being supersized before our eyes.” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo warned that the phenomenon could deliver a severe blow to communities and economies as droughts and floods increase.

El Niño has the potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world.

· Celeste SauloThe WMO secretary-general warned that drought and flood impacts could worsen as El Niño intensifies.
About this summary

Originally published by The Guardian in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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