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The weird weather continues worldwide: Cyclone Cleopatra devastated the Italian island of Sardinia on Monday leaving at least 16 people dead and more still missing. Flash floods – in some areas up to 3 metres (10ft) high – swept away cars and bridges and surged into people’s homes without warning.

The worst-hit area was Olbia in the north-east, where regional governor Ugo Cappellacci told SkyTG24 television that several bridges were down, and that there was a similar situation near the central town of Nuoro.

"The situation is tragic," he said. "The hotels in Olbia are full of people who have had to escape, but there are thousands who have damage to their homes."
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Despite predicting an extremely active hurricane season for this year, climatologists have been astounded by a virtually unprecedented lack of hurricanes. So far this season, which began on June 1st and runs to November 30, a total of eight tropical storms have developed, and typically the first hurricanes have formed by 10th August each year, but we are now halfway through the season without a single storm reaching hurricane status. This could become the latest start to the season since satellites began to record storm activity in 1967.
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The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has warned that the 2013 hurricane season is expected to be ‘extremely active.’ This is in part because of unusually warm water temperatures that are already extending further north than normal. Last season’s Superstorm Sandy remained powerful even as it extended into waters off the US Northeastern Corridor because waters in the region were unseasonably warm. Hurricane season starts June 1 and continues for six months. 13 to 20 tropical storms are expected this year, with 7  to 11 of them becoming hurricanes.
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The areas hit by Hurricane Sandy have mostly been rebuilt, but there is one dangerous problem still lurking there: MOLD. It’s erupting in fuzzy streaks of brown and black in flooded houses. Some of it could even be deadly if inhaled, but so far, there have been no cases of respiratory illness, so this type of mold may not be toxic.
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