Of late, Binch had begun to scour the Reuters and AP press reports that chattered off the center's teleprinter day and night. There was a pile on his desk this morning and he skimmed through them before he did anything else. It had become a kind of ritual.
His secretary, Janis Swan, poured a cup of coffee, added the three regulation heaped spoonfuls of sugar, and placed it by his elbow. She was middle-aged and unmarried, neither of which seemed to bother her. "Is the world still in one piece?" she inquired laconically.
"Just about," Binch muttered, distracted, intent on the reports.
prj217 29-0668 sa
brazil, july 14, reuter--longest drought in living memory continues in extreme south, with extensive losses to soybean, corn, and rice production.
severe flooding in minas gerais and rio de janeiro states in southeast, with estimated 6,000 homeless and many crops lost. flooding is reported along the sao francisco valley where several dams burst, contributing to height of flood. --reuter tl/sb
Drought in one part of the country, floods in another. Not unheard of, Binch thought, sipping his coffee, but not usual either. He picked up the next off the pile.
nnnnnnnn a485 14-2235 cc
china, july 13, reuter-drought from previous season
continues to affect crops in heuongjiang, anhewi, zheijang, and hupei provinces.
wuhan (central china) has received only 426 mm of rain between march and june, this being the lowest value since records began in 1880.
tornadoes hit parts of zheijang province in late june depositing hail 1 (one) meter deep in places. --reuter vn/4pp
"These really set you up for the day," Janis said, leaning over his shoulder. "Couldn't you just read the obituaries instead?" "Haven't you got anything to do?" Binch grumbled at her. "What exactly are you looking for?"
Binch slid another report in front of him, sighing. "Wish I knew."
13 july aa71256 ap
bulletin: moscow, ussr
floods caused by heavy rain have affected the don, sim, and oka basins. water levels have risen 7-11 meters and inundated 270,000 hectares of farmland, the region's worst floods in 80 years. during mid-june 450 sq km of forest and agricultural land were under water in the kiev oblast region.
the pripet river near chernobyl rayon has never been
so high during 96 years of observation.
flooding has also been reported along the volga and
yenisei rivers due to the melting of the snowpack.
this is thought to be related to an early start to
navigation on the ob and yenisei rivers following last
winter.
2197 r/tf 45-6
"Looks like the floods have it today," Janis observed. "Do you want some more coffee?"
"No," Binch said. "Thanks." He riffled through the rest of the pile, his round face set in a pugnacious expression, as if the man in the moon were scowling. Poland . . . serious flooding . . . river Warta 1.5 meters above danger level. France . . . wettest spring and summer on record. India . . . snow and hailstorms . . . one thousand five hundred people and four thousand cattle dead. Indonesia . . . torrential rain brings floods . . . seventy people reported killed by landslides . . .
It suddenly occurred to him that he was acting just as Brad Zittel had. Looking for signs of catastrophe and finding them--as of course you could if you surveyed the world at large.
