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Scientists have weighed the water that fell on Texas during the record-breaking Hurricane Harvey in August.

They calculate, by measuring how much the Earth was compressed, that the Category 4 storm dropped 127 billion tonnes, or 34 trillion gallons.

“One person asked me how many stadia is that. It’s 26,000 New Orleans Superdomes,” said Adrian Borsa from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

His numbers were released as other scientists stated that this year’s big hurricanes had a clear human influence.

Harvey, Irma and Maria ripped through the US Gulf states and the Caribbean, leading to widespread flooding and wind damage.

Researchers told the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union here in New Orleans that the heavy rainfall seen in Harvey was very likely exacerbated by the extra warming associated with increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Sea surface temperatures were particularly high in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico this hurricane season. Warm ocean water acts as a fuel for the storms.

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Harvey devastated parts of the Texas coastline because it stalled, concentrating its deluge in a very narrow region. It was one of the heaviest precipitation events in recorded hurricane history.

• Four key effects of Hurricane Harvey
• Harvey: The climate link

Standard rain gauges recorded upwards of 1,270mm (50 inches) of precipitation in places. But these were point measurements and Dr Borsa attempted to get a much broader view by measuring how much the Earth moved in response to the weight of overlying water.

This was detected by a network of high-precision GPS stations. “It’s like you sitting down on a mattress – it depresses; you stand up and it rebounds. The Earth behaves very similarly, like a rubber block.

“So the Earth is recording the effects of the loads acting on its surface.”

The GPS network is dense enough that a very wide picture of activity can be discerned. “It gives us a holistic view, not just point measurements,” Dr Borsa told BBC News.

• Maps of how Harvey changed Texas

What is especially smart is that the system can see the immediate change after the storm as water runs off the land through rivers, but also captures the much slower effect of water removal through evaporation, driven by the warmth of the Sun. This takes several weeks.

“One of the big deficiencies in our models is that evapotranspiration – that’s the Sun and plants doing their things – is not currently directly observed, and it’s half of the total water budget. I think GPS is going to be able to provide very useful information about this.”

At the same AGU gathering, the American Meteorological Association revealed that its annual report on extreme weather events had identified three that would “not have been possible” without the influence of human-induced climate change.

These were: the record-breaking global temperatures in 2016; the 2016 heat wave across Asia and the high ocean temperatures measured off the coast of Alaska.

These were events that happened because “we have created a new climate,” said National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) climate scientist Stephanie Herring.

The report also concluded that other heat waves around the world were made more intense by climate change and that Arctic warming was “most likely” not possible without it.

The coral bleaching event in the Great Barrier Reef and other marine ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean were also amplified by “human-caused warming of the ocean”.

The research is primarily based on comparing models, or simulations, of our climate. “We run a model that shows what the world looks like today and we can validate those models against what is actually happening,” explained Dr Herring.

“Then we compare it to a model of an ‘alternative world’ in which – theoretically – climate change never happened; as if humans didn’t emit greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution.

“So we can look at a world with climate change and a world without it.”

Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS

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US Republican lawmakers say they have agreed to a deal paving the way for the biggest overhaul of the country’s tax system in 30 years, US media report.

There has been no full announcement but reports suggest a plan to bring the US corporate tax rate down to 21% from the current 35%.

The top individual income tax would also reportedly drop to 37% from 39.6%

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch told reporters: “I think we’ve got a pretty good deal”.

President Trump campaigned on a pledge to cut taxes, and passing legislation would mark a significant victory.

He appeared on Wednesday with several middle-class families he said would benefit from the overhaul in a final push for the tax plan. Mr Trump said he would like Congress to send him a bill by Christmas.

Republicans in the the US House of Representatives and Senate agreed at a policy luncheon on a deal to merge their two tax proposals into one bill for Mr Trump to sign into law, according to US media reports.

The 21% rate of corporate tax is above the 20% rate President Trump has previously called for. Reports suggest the reduction will come into effect in 2018, rather than in 2019 as the Senate version had proposed.

• What you may have missed in US tax plan
• Reality Check: Will tax plan hurt Trump?

Democrats argue that the tax cuts will favour only the rich, offer little to the middle class and add as much as $1.5 trillion to the $20tn national debt over 10 years.

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office have both said wealthier taxpayers would benefit disproportionately from the cuts.

Concerns have been raised by both Republicans and Democrats over the impact of the tax cuts on government borrowing.

Final passage of the bill could still be difficult, but Republicans hope to hold a vote on the tax bill next week.

However, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called on Republicans to delay the vote until Alabama’s next senator, Democrat Doug Jones, arrives in Washington.

Mr Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore for Alabama’s senate seat in a special election to replace US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday.

“It would be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly elected senator from Alabama the opportunity to cast his vote,” Mr Schumer said.

With Mr Jones in the Senate, Republicans will hold a razor thin 51-49 majority.

Bringing the bill to a vote this month would allow Alabama Republican Senator Luther Strange, who was appointed to temporarily fill the vacant senate seat, a chance to vote on it.

The Senate passed its initial version of the plan with one vote to spare, after Republican Senator Bob Corker said he could not support it due to its impact on the national debt.

Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS

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US President Donald Trump has distanced himself from Roy Moore after the Republican suffered a historic defeat for the party in conservative Alabama.

The victory for Democrat Doug Jones narrows the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49, which could complicate Mr Trump’s legislative plans.

Mr Moore’s campaign was rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct made by several women, which he denied.

Mr Jones is the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat for Alabama in 25 years.

• Donald Trump tumbles to earth with a bump
• Republicans ponder ‘humbling’ result

Despite top Republicans deserting ultra-conservative Mr Moore amid claims of child molestation, the US president had offered his full endorsement.

Mr Trump even recorded an automated phone message for the embattled Senate candidate in the days leading up to the election.

In his first reaction on Twitter, Mr Trump congratulated the Democratic victor Mr Jones.

But he went on to remind his followers that he initially supported Mr Moore’s mainstream Republican opponent, Luther Strange, in the party’s primary election.

He added “if last night’s election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate”.

Mr Jones told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday that he received calls from President Trump, Democratic leader Senator Chuck Schumer and his Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell.

• Knives out for Steve Bannon
• USA Today savages Trump over Gillibrand comments

He said Mr Trump made a “very gracious” phone call and extended an invitation to the White House.

Mr Jones added that he has not yet spoken to Mr Moore.

“I’m going to let him make that decision,” he said.

The Alabama seat was made vacant by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this year.

A flawed candidate – or an anti-Trump wave?

Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Alabama will have a Democrat in the US Senate.

It’s an outcome that seemed all but impossible a year ago and still seemed unlikely even as voters headed to the polls on Tuesday.

The ramifications of this unexpected victory are clear.

The Republican majority in the Senate will narrow, considerably improving the chances Democrats could gain control of the chamber in the 2018 mid-term elections.

It could also be seen as a rebuke of President Donald Trump, who gave full-throated support to Roy Moore even when other leaders in his party were hesitant.

After winning governor races in Virginia and New Jersey in November, some Democratic supporters will be hoping that an anti-Trump electoral wave is forming.

But Mr Moore was such a flawed candidate that it may be too early to tell.

• Read more from Anthony

How did the race unfold?

Mr Jones won with 49.9% of the vote, to Mr Moore’s 48.4%. All votes from precincts around the state have been counted.

Mr Moore has refused to concede, with the 70-year-old former judge telling supporters “realise that when the vote is this close that it’s not over”.

The margin of victory is well above the half a percentage point which would have triggered a recount.

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But Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, quoted by the Washington Post, said a recount could still be ordered if a review of write-in votes and overseas ballots narrowed it to within this range.

Even if the final result is outside the 0.5% margin, either candidate can request a recount if they are prepared to pay the costs.

Mr Jones told his supporters in a victory speech that the “entire race has been about dignity and respect”.

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The 63-year-old is a former lawyer known for helping convict two Ku Klux Klan members who bombed a black church in 1963 in Birmingham, killing four girls. He has never held elected office.

• Who is Alabama Democrat Doug Jones?

Women voters helped Mr Jones to victory

Black voters overwhelmingly picked Mr Jones

What effect will the election have on the Senate?

Although, the election narrows the already slender Republican majority, Luther Strange – the Republican appointed to replace Mr Sessions as an interim senator in February – is likely to remain in the seat until January.

This means the party will still have time to pass its tax-cut bill and vote on any year-end budgetary resolutions, but after that the window for legislative success narrows considerably, says the BBC’s Anthony Zurcher.

After Mr Jones takes his seat, the Republicans can only afford to lose one vote – in the event of a 50-50 split Vice-President Mike Pence will have the casting vote.

Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS