Houston was flooded by a record-shattering rainfall on Tuesday. Almost 17 inches of rain had fallen by 2 PM Monday, and more rain is in the forecast. Large areas of the city were flooded, and the waters rose so fast that residents in low-lying parts of the city were unable to leave their homes. Emergency services were overwhelmed, and many residents became involved in ad-hoc community efforts to escape the rising water. The 5 deaths all involved vehicles becoming submerged. In once case, two people were found dead in a car that had driven around a barricade and entered a flash flood area.
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An investigation that was launched last fall into allegations that petroleum giant Exxon Mobil misled shareholders regarding what it knew about global warming has recently gained a large number of new backers. Attorneys general from 15 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have announced their support for the investigation, originally launched by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in November of 2015. Schneiderman is using New York state’s Martin Act to investigate potential fraud that the company’s campaign of climate change denial may have perpetrated.
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It might only have a subtle effect, but it’s still measurable: the distribution of Earth’s glacial ice has an impact on how the planet spins, both in terms of the speed of our blue sphere’s rotation, and in the slow wobble that the Earth’s axis makes over it’s 26,000-year circle around the sky.
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There’s really no place to hide from the heat: new reports from both ends of the world show just some of the consequences of a steadily warming planet. The NSIDC and NASA have announced a new record low in the Arctic sea ice cover, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is suffering a devastating bleaching event — both the result of higher global temperatures.
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