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Authorities said more than nine million people \u2014 nearly a third of the country\u2019s population \u2014 was at high risk of flooding and landslides.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka power surge<\/h4>\n
In parts of Asia, drought linked to El Nino has raised the prospect of hydropower shortages due to hotter and drier weather.<\/p>\n
But for now, Sri Lanka\u2019s state-owned electricity company has withdrawn a proposed price increase, citing El Nino-linked heavy rain that has improved hydro reservoir storage.<\/p>\n
However, the country is expected to face severe drought conditions in the first half of 2027, which officials said would force authorities to turn to more expensive \u2014 and polluting \u2014 thermal generation.<\/p>\n
Currently, about 70 percent of Sri Lanka\u2019s electricity demand is met by renewables \u2014 \u00a0mainly hydro and solar \u2014 while the remainder comes from coal and diesel.<\/p>\n
Philippines\u2019 response fund<\/h4>\n
The Philippines said this week it has set aside over $980 million for an \u201cEl Nino response plan\u201d that will \u201cmitigate the impact of the climate risk on agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agriculture accounts for about 8% of the Philippines\u2019 gross domestic product and employs one in four Filipinos, according to government figures.<\/p>\n
The agriculture department said production of unmilled rice fell 18 percent in the three months to September on impacts from El Nino and the Iran war, which has spiked fuel and fertiliser prices.<\/p>\n
In November, the country expects \u201cbelow normal to way below normal rainfall,\u201d the state weather service said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
El Nino in numbers<\/h4>\n
Three: the number of times a November disruption to the polar vortex has happened since records began in the 1950s. Scientists said this week they were observing an unprecedented early disruption that raises the risk of cold snaps and is likely linked to El Nino.<\/p>\n
20: the percentage change that 2026 equals or exceeds 2024 as the warmest year on record, according to the Copernicus monitor.<\/p>\n
33: the number of countries that broke October heat records, according to an AFP analysis of Copernicus data.<\/p>\n
Food price increases<\/h4>\n
El Nino disturbs global weather patterns, bringing heavy rain to some regions and drought to others.<\/p>\n
Both can impact harvests and production of crops for animal feed.<\/p>\n
Floods can be particularly devastating, destroying stored food and damaging the infrastructure and transportation needed to get products to market.<\/p>\n
All these elements can push up prices, and the impacts \u201ccan emerge well before harvests are completed,\u201d said Maximo Torero, chief economist at the United Nations\u2019 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).<\/p>\n
\u201cMarkets react to expectations of future shortages and uncertainty itself can generate volatility,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s El Nino impacts are exacerbated by the price shocks caused by the Iran war, which has raised the cost of fuel and fertiliser for farmers, and impacted household spending globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor vulnerable households, even moderate food price increases can have huge consequences,\u201d said Torero.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoor families spend a large share of their incomes on food and therefore have limited capacity to absorb price shocks and spikes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The consequences can include reduced food consumption, poorer quality diets and \u201cultimately, increased food insecurity and malnutrition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In September, the FAO said it had received just one fifth of the $202 million it requested to prepare for El Nino-linked food crisis in 22 high-risk countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Published – November 10, 2026 08:03 am IST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An exceptionally strong El Nino is driving weather disruptions around the globe, stoking food security fears and increasing the chances that 2026 will be the second-hottest year on record, experts say. Here is how the climate phenomenon has been playing out around the world in the last week. Heat record The world is on track […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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