The fire in Cherry Valley, north-west of Palm Springs, prompted authorities to issue new evacuation orders as crews fought the blaze
Continue reading...Category Archives: Natural disasters and extreme weather
Apple wildfire: thousands ordered to evacuate as southern California blaze grows
Fire explodes in size as crews battle the flames in triple-digit heat in mountains east of Los Angeles
Thousands of people were under evacuation orders Sunday after a wildfire in mountains east of Los Angeles exploded in size as crews battled the flames in triple-digit heat.
The fire, dubbed the Apple Fire by local firefighters, was straddling Riverside and San Bernardino counties and consumed more than 23sq miles (about 60sq km) of dry brush and timber, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Continue reading...Florida closes beaches as Hurricane Isaias barrels through Bahamas
State readies evacuation centers with social-distancing measures as Bahamas and North Carolina order evacuations
Hurricane Isaias ripped shingles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved its way through the Bahamas early on Saturday and headed toward the Florida coast, where officials in Miami said they were closing beaches, marinas and parks.
Miami’s mayor, Carlos Giménez, said on Friday that 20 evacuation centers were on standby that could be set up with Covid-19 safety measures.
Continue reading...Hurricane Isaias drenches Bahamas as Florida braces for storm
Storm expected to produce 4-8in of rain in Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands and remain hurricane for few days
Forecasters declared a hurricane watch for parts of the Florida coastline on Friday, as Hurricane Isaias drenched areas of the Bahamas devastated by Dorian last year, on track for the US east coast.
Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 75mph and was expected to remain a hurricane for a few days, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.
Continue reading...Hurricane Hanna moves towards Texas as storm Gonzalo nears Caribbean
Hanna is first hurricane of 2020 Atlantic season and could bring 6in to 12in of rain through Sunday night
Hurricane Hanna rumbled toward the Texas Gulf coast on Saturday, lashing the shore with wind gusts and rain and threatening to bring storm surge and tornadoes to a part of the country trying to cope with a spike in coronavirus cases.
Related: 'A summer unlike any other': heatwaves and Covid-19 are a deadly combination
Continue reading...‘A critical situation’: Bangladesh in crisis as monsoon floods follow super-cyclone
Despite flood planning efforts hundreds have been killed and millions hit as third of land is submerged by non-stop rain
Bangladesh could be plunged into a humanitarian crisis as it undergoes the most prolonged monsoon flooding in decades while it is still recovering from the effects of super-cyclone Amphan.
Despite the UN has lauding its new initiatives for early intervention aimed at preparing communities for crisis, 550 people have been killed and 9.6 million affected by the disaster in Bangladesh, Nepal and north-eastern India, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Continue reading...Flooding in Assam and Nepal kills hundreds and displaces millions
Hurried evacuation of millions of residents will increase coronavirus cases, officials say
Severe flooding in India’s tea-growing state of Assam and neighbouring Nepal has killed at least 200 people and displaced millions, severely hampering efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus.
In Assam, heavy monsoon rains burst the banks of the Brahmaputra River, causing more than 2,000 villages to be enveloped in floods and mudslides and displacing 2.75 million people in the past two weeks. There have been 85 deaths reported in the state.
Continue reading...New Zealand scientists invent volcano warning system
Researchers claim system could save lives in situations like the Whakaari/White Island eruption in 2019, which killed 21 people
New Zealand scientists say they have invented a warning system to predict volcanic eruptions that may prevent future tragedies such as the blast that killed 21 people on White Island/Whakaari in 2019.
University of Auckland academics David Dempsey and Shane Cronin say their research “shows patterns of seismic activity before an eruption that make advance warning possible”.
Continue reading...Huge swells on NSW Central Coast leave Wamberal homes at risk of collapse due to beach erosion
Several houses on Ocean View Drive now dangerously close to cliff edge as huge waves wash away beaches
Beachfront homes along the New South Wales Central Coast have been left dangling over the ocean and in danger of collapse after powerful surf caused massive erosion.
A powerful low across Australia’s east coast earlier in the week created large swells and high waves battering some coastal areas.
Continue reading...Deadly floods and landslides in Japan – in pictures
Heavy rain that caused deadly floods in southern Japan has moved north-east, hammering large areas of the country’s main island, swelling rivers, triggering mudslides and destroying homes and roads. At least 58 people have died over several days of flooding
Continue reading...Wuhan residents told to stay indoors again after record rainfall
City at centre of coronavirus outbreak faces new crisis as China suffers weeks of flooding
People living in Wuhan, the central Chinese city that bore the brunt of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, have been told stay indoors once more after record rainfall prompted authorities to raise the city’s emergency response to the second highest-level.
A prolonged period of heavy rain is the latest disaster to strike China, where people are only just recovering from the coronavirus outbreak.
Continue reading...Rescuers search for survivors of Japan floods as more heavy rain expected
At least 50 people have been killed after the river Kuma in Kyushu burst its banks, triggering floods and mudslides
Rescue workers were combing through the wreckage of houses hit by flooding and landslides in Japan after extreme weather left more than 50 people dead or missing on the southern island of Kyushu.
The Kyodo news agency said 40 people had died in the floods and at least 11 were missing. Among the dead were 14 residents of an elderly care home in Kuma village, Kumamoto, where the nearby Kuma river flooded. More torrential rain is forecast for coming days.
Continue reading...Japan floods leave dozens dead, including nursing home residents
Record rainfall triggers landslides in western Kumamoto region, stranding hundreds
Deep floodwaters and the risk of further mudslides have hampered search and rescue operations after heavy rain in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen residents died and scores were left stranded.
Helicopters and boats rescued more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. More than 40,000 troops, the coastguard and fire brigades took part in the operation.
Continue reading...Record rainfall triggers floods and landslides in Japan – video
Record heavy rain in western Japan has caused widespread flooding and landslides, forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for more than 76,000 residents. Television footage shows homes and vehicles in Kumamoto prefecture partly submerged, and several bridges have been washed away
- Japan floods: nursing home residents feared dead
- At least two people die as record heavy rain lashes Japan
Britain still failing on climate crisis, warn advisers
Committee urges that companies must meet green standards to qualify for Covid-19 corporate bailouts
Ministers are bracing themselves for a powerful new rebuke from the government’s own advisers over the nation’s inadequate response to the climate crisis. In its annual progress report, to be published on Thursday, the Committee on Climate Change will lambast continuing failures by the government to tackle the issues of overheating homes, flash floods, loss of biodiversity and the other threats posed as our planet continues to overheat dangerously.
Last year, the committee complained that no areas of the UK’s response to the climate crisis were being tackled properly. “The whole thing is run by the government like a Dad’s Army,” said the committee’s chairman, Lord Deben.
Continue reading...Quake-hit Kathmandu rises from the wreckage – in pictures
Five years after the Nepal earthquake many buildings still lie in ruins. But homeowners and conservationists are working to overcome bureaucratic hurdles to rebuild and preserve the area’s unique heritage, says resident photographer and journalist Pete Pattisson
Continue reading...The Vanuatu island in the eye of the storm
Pentecost Island, devastated by Cyclone Harold in April, has been left a silent shadow of its former self. But its people endure
Touching down on the island of Pentecost in Vanuatu, it takes hours to notice the silence. After a while it hits you: there’s no birdsong, no insects buzzing and chittering. There is no wind in the trees.
You don’t register the silence at first because your eyes are overwhelmed with the magnitude of the destruction. The eye of category 5 Cyclone Harold passed directly over the central and southern half of this remote and mountainous island on April 5.
Continue reading...Powerful landslide sweeps away buildings in Norway – video
Eight houses have been swept into the sea in Norway after a powerful landslide near the town of Alta. The landslide was filmed by a local resident, Jan Egil Bakkedal – one of the houses that was lost belonged to him – who said he ran for his life when he realised what was happening.
Continue reading...Cyclone Nisarga: India evacuates 100,000 as Mumbai awaits historic storm
First cyclone in 70 years for financial capital sparks rush to transfer Covid-19 patients and sanitise temporary shelters
At least 100,000 people including coronavirus patients were being moved to safety as India’s west coast braced for a cyclone – the first such storm to threaten Mumbai in more than 70 years.
Authorities in India’s financial capital, which is struggling to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, evacuated nearly 150 virus patients from a recently built field hospital to a facility with a concrete roof as a precautionary measure, officials said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Water-bombing pilots ‘consistently tasked too late’ when fighting bushfires, royal commission hears
Aircraft chief describes frustration at losing vital time while inquiry also told firefighter radios in different areas ‘largely incompatible’
Pilots flying water-bombing aircraft are “consistently tasked too late for fires” and sit idle on the tarmac until conditions worsen, the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements has been told.
The inquiry also heard that the radio networks used by firefighting agencies in each jurisdiction are “largely incompatible” with each other and the lack of national coordination meant that resources were not always used effectively.
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