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2+ hour, 33+ min ago (149+ words) The death toll from recent devastating floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand has topped 1,200 with hundreds sRead full story here Death toll from Asia floods tops 1,200 with hundreds still missing PADANG, Indonesia - The death toll from recent devastating floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand has topped 1,200 with hundreds still missing, according to tallies from local authorities. Two separate cyclones made landfall on Indonesia and Sri Lanka on Nov. 26, leaving more than 700 dead and about 500 missing on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and 410 dead with about 350 still unaccounted for in Sri Lanka. Torrential rains prompted the Thai government to declare a state of emergency in the southern province of Songkhla on Nov. 25. Some 170 people have died in southern Thailand since the flooding began around a week earlier, according to local authorities....

4+ hour, 55+ min ago (295+ words) Emergency crews are racing to reach survivors and recover more bodies after the death toll from catastrophic floods and landslides surged past 1200 in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with more than 800 people missing. Days of heavy monsoon rains inundated vast areas, leaving thousands stranded and many clinging to rooftops waiting for help. The flooding and landslides killed at least 1230 people, with 659 people confirmed dead in Indonesia, 390 in Sri Lanka and 181 in Thailand, authorities said on Tuesday. In Indonesia, the hardest-hit nation, rescuers are struggling to access villages in Sumatra island, where roads have been washed out and bridges have collapsed. At least 475 people remain missing, according to the country's National Disaster Management Agency. Helicopters and boats have been deployed, but officials warn that worsening weather and damaged infrastructure are slowing operations. Military-led rescue teams in Sri Lanka continue to scour…...

7+ hour, 20+ min ago (397+ words) The West Australian is a leading news source in Perth and WA. Breaking local and world news from sport and business to lifestyle and current affairs....

9+ hour, 46+ min ago (26+ words) The West Australian is a leading news source in Perth and WA. Breaking local and world news from sport and business to lifestyle and current affairs....

11+ hour, 53+ min ago (262+ words) The Bureau of Meteorology has blamed Covid-era inflation and a Coalition government cap on public service headcount for cost blowouts in the IT project and the use of contractors such as Accenture in its controversial overhaul of the agency's website. The agency's new CEO, Dr Stuart Minchin, said the cost reflects the 'significant investment required to fully rebuild all the layers of technology and system that underpins the website'. BoM revealed last month the true cost of its new website to be $96.5m'after initially saying the user-facing aspect was just over $4m. It led to calls to explain why the cost had been so high given public outcry over issues with the new siteBoM asked to explain "what happened here" after cost of website redesign revealed to be $96.5m Continue reading... BoM chief defends $96.5m website redesign costs blowout in Senate estimates " video…...

13+ hour, 8+ min ago (746+ words) The toll in deadly flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,160 on Monday as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel to help survivors. Separate weather systems brought torrential, extended rainfall to the island of Sri Lanka and large parts of Indonesia's Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week. Much of the region is currently in its monsoon season but climate change is producing more extreme rain events and turbocharging storms. The World Health Organization said it was deploying rapid response teams and critical supplies to the region. The UN agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that it was "another reminder of how climate change is driving more frequent and more extreme weather events, with disastrous effects". The relentless rains left residents clinging to rooftops awaiting rescue by boat or helicopter, and cut…...

14+ hour, 57+ min ago (815+ words) Unlocking Microclimates: The Power of Precision Weather Models Imagine a farmer struggling with unpredictable crop yields due to localized weather patterns. Or a city planner grappling with designing heat-resilient infrastructure. Traditional weather forecasts, with their broad strokes, often fail to capture the nuances of these microclimates. But what if we could build weather models that zoom in on specific areas, providing ultra-detailed predictions? The core idea is to create a weather forecasting system that uses a variable-resolution grid. Think of it like a digital zoom lens for the atmosphere. We focus high computational power and fine-grained detail on regions of interest, such as a specific farm or urban area, while using a coarser resolution for surrounding regions. This 'stretched grid' approach lets us simulate local weather phenomena with unprecedented accuracy. It leverages machine learning to learn the relationships between observed…...

17+ hour, 6+ min ago (679+ words) Big consultants "at the trough" have been blamed for a staggering $96.5 million bill for the unpopular redesign of the Bureau of Meteorology's website. Bureaucrats at Australia's national weather agency faced questioning in Senate estimates on Monday night after the bill had initially been publicly quoted at $4.1m before it was later revealed as close to $100m. The Bureau's new chief executive officer Stuart Minchin had released the full costings just weeks after taking the top job, insisting he would deliver a new era of transparency to the BOM. Appearing before the hearing, Dr Minchin explained that the $96.5m bill for the website was actually part of a broader complete overhaul package worth close to $800m. Dr Minchin said while there were cost blow outs caused by COVID and inflation, he insisted the overhaul was always expected to be a significant cost. The program had…...

17+ hour, 49+ min ago (709+ words) The Bureau of Meteorology has been accused of falling prey to a consultancy firm's "land and expand" tactics, as the agency's new chief defends the $96 million cost of its widely loathed website during a combative Senate estimates hearing. Less than one month into a new job, BoM chief executive Stuart Minchin fronted up with Environment Minister Murray Watt to a highly anticipated grilling in a late-night session in Canberra on Monday night. The BoM's new website has been widely criticised by farmers, site designers and politicians for changes in the relaunch that made it difficult to navigate, with radar maps that made it difficult to read place names. The redesign gained national attention when it was revealed that the BoM's initial price tag of $4.1 million was actually $96 million, including design work by private consultancy Accenture Australia. The website upgrade was…...

17+ hour, 49+ min ago (709+ words) The Bureau of Meteorology has been accused of falling prey to a consultancy firm's "land and expand" tactics, as the agency's new chief defends the $96 million cost of its widely loathed website during a combative Senate estimates hearing. Less than one month into a new job, BoM chief executive Stuart Minchin fronted up with Environment Minister Murray Watt to a highly anticipated grilling in a late-night session in Canberra on Monday night. The BoM's new website has been widely criticised by farmers, site designers and politicians for changes in the relaunch that made it difficult to navigate, with radar maps that made it difficult to read place names. The redesign gained national attention when it was revealed that the BoM's initial price tag of $4.1 million was actually $96 million, including design work by private consultancy Accenture Australia. The website upgrade was…...