"All the state's cities, except Manaos, where it's raining sporadically, have a problem," the secretary of the state government, Jose Melo, said.

The emergency declaration affected 61 cities, he added.

"But it is the 1,200 hamlets bordering dry lakes and small rivers where the situation is the most serious: a lack of drinkable water and provisions," the official told local media.

The official state of emergency allows the state government to authorize spending without having to first put out public tenders, and obtain government assistance. The federal government already has released 2.2 million dollars to buy medicine and provisions.

Amazonas state is the biggest in Brazil, and is covered 92 percent by the Amazon rainforest, home to the world's richest biodiversity.

The region bakes in intense heat of about 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) at this time of year.

The level of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon River, dropped 12 meters (39 feet) between July and October to a depth of almost 16 meters (52 feet), just shy of the level in 1963 during the region's worst drought in the past century. September hottest recorded month: US weather agency

Washington (AFP) Oct 14, 2005 September was the hottest month recorded on the planet Earth since 1880, US weather trackers said Friday.

The global temperature was 0.63 degree C (1.1 degree F) above the mean going back to 1880, when the first reliable instrument recordings were available, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, part of the US Commerce Department.

Earth's second-hottest month was September 2003, but September 2005 was only the fourth-hottest month ever for the United States, NOAA said.

This year, the US state of Louisiana, where New Orleans in located, had its hottest September in 111 years. The US Gulf Coast was battered by the first of two hurricanes on August 29, during a particularly active tropical storm season.

NOAA and other meteorologists follow the temperatures of tropical waters closely, because the strength of tropical storms is related to the temperatures of the waters of the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

On September 28, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported shrinkage of the Arctic ice cap for the fourth consecutive year, as evidence of global climate change.

"Considering the record low amounts of sea ice this year leading up to the month of September, 2005 will almost certainly surpass 2002 as the lowest amount of ice cover in more than a century," said Julienne Stroeve of NSIDC.

"If current rates of decline in sea ice continue, the summertime Arctic could be completely ice-free well before the end of this century," she said.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Related Links
TerraDaily
Search TerraDaily
Subscribe To TerraDaily Express

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only