RAIN

It's been a pretty dry spring and early summer here in Denmark; even my mother-in-law's lawn was looking a bit tired. However, that has now changed with a vengeance. This evening cloudbursts over Copenhagen dumped up to 150mm of water on the city, equivalent to 20% of the country's average annual rainfall, in the course of a few hours. Cellars have been flooded, causing some hospitals to close; parked cars are sitting under water; sewers are overflowing; some of the motorways around the capital are closed; and the Tivoli amusement park has had to be evacuated. Nothing like it has been seen during the past 30 years.

Nor is it over. More rain is forecast for tomorrow afternoon, and it is expected to be heavy.

I got used to experiencing this sort of thing - warm weather combined with downpours - during the rainy season in Tanzania. In some ways, it is reassuring to see that it can also happen in a country as well-organised and -functioning as Denmark. Nature needs to be respected.

Walter Blotscher