Categories
Russian death toll due to heatwave, and drinking too much vodka
Scores of Russians have died in the past few weeks amid a heatwave that shows no sign of breaking.
Many of the dead have drowned after taking a swim - often after having drunk too much vodka.
For the past two weeks temperatures across much of western Russia have soared past 35C, in the hottest and longest heatwave in decades.
Russia is also suffering what is thought to be the worst drought in more than 100 years.
There has been virtually no rain since winter and crops are shrivelling.
"We've had 10mm of rain, scorching hot temperatures over 35C, which have just burnt all the crops up," says Colin Hinchley, a Briton who now farms in Penza near the Volga river, in southern Russia.
"Winter wheat crops are 50% of the yield, and spring crops, in some cases, are going to be virtually none."
A state of emergency has been imposed in 16 Russian regions, and the government is increasing loans to try to help farmers avoid bankruptcy.
"It's a major calamity, the situation is extremely serious," said Viktor Zubkov, the first deputy prime minister responsible for agriculture.
Schoolchildren drown
In the centre of Moscow, teams of tanker trucks roam the streets spraying water to try to stop the asphalt from melting.
At lakes and rivers around Moscow groups of revellers can be seen knocking back vodka and then plunging into the water.
The result is predictable - 233 people have drowned in the last week alone.
In one incident six schoolchildren drowned, because the summer camp employees looking after them were drunk.
The heatwave is expected to last another week. By then Moscow may well have broken through its highest ever temperature of 36.6C.
Many of the dead have drowned after taking a swim - often after having drunk too much vodka.
For the past two weeks temperatures across much of western Russia have soared past 35C, in the hottest and longest heatwave in decades.
Russia is also suffering what is thought to be the worst drought in more than 100 years.
There has been virtually no rain since winter and crops are shrivelling.
"We've had 10mm of rain, scorching hot temperatures over 35C, which have just burnt all the crops up," says Colin Hinchley, a Briton who now farms in Penza near the Volga river, in southern Russia.
"Winter wheat crops are 50% of the yield, and spring crops, in some cases, are going to be virtually none."
A state of emergency has been imposed in 16 Russian regions, and the government is increasing loans to try to help farmers avoid bankruptcy.
"It's a major calamity, the situation is extremely serious," said Viktor Zubkov, the first deputy prime minister responsible for agriculture.
Schoolchildren drown
In the centre of Moscow, teams of tanker trucks roam the streets spraying water to try to stop the asphalt from melting.
At lakes and rivers around Moscow groups of revellers can be seen knocking back vodka and then plunging into the water.
The result is predictable - 233 people have drowned in the last week alone.
In one incident six schoolchildren drowned, because the summer camp employees looking after them were drunk.
The heatwave is expected to last another week. By then Moscow may well have broken through its highest ever temperature of 36.6C.
Comments
well I got nothing
Guy 1: "Hey, it's pretty hot out here. What ever shall we do?"
Guy 2: "Lets drink vodka...and oh hey. Do you think this asphalt is going to melt from the heat? Maybe we should water it down."
Guy 1: "Sounds like a plan. I'm sure no other countries get this hot."
Fucking retards.
wwtf? lol its hot like that here in AZ constantly...and we dont have that issue.
plus in order for asphalt to be made dont they have to heat it to 200-300 degrees to cure it?
35C is what....100-105 degrees?
im tired of the 114-117 were getting.
our asphalt stays intact, and it dosnt get sticky. lol
however the tar in the cracks gets nice and gooey. lol
i was in Florida last year and it was 95 with 90%+ humidity...and it was pretty sticky lol. I thought the humidity here during monsoon season was bad....
Fuck i never wanna go back to florida. first night i was in florida we were in tallahasse driving through to Miami, and i walked out of the hotel room and my glasses instantly fogged up. lol