Drone footage shows extent of flooding in New Zealand's South Island. Southland, on the southernmost tip, has become cut off after floodwaters washed away roads. Two thousand people have needed evacuation amid storms that forced the MetService to issue their first ever red weather warning
Continue reading...Category Archives: Natural disasters and extreme weather
New Zealand flooding: helicopter footage shows landslides and ruined roads – video
Fiordland in New Zealand’s South Island has been deluged by 1.1 metres of rain in the past three days alone, stranding hikers, causing landslides and washing away roads. The region usually receives about 10 metres of rain a year. Video from helicopters shows the extent of the destruction. Nearly 400 people in the township of Milford Sound have been cut off by the flooding after roads had to be closed
Continue reading...Australia fires: threat remains for ACT bushfires as NSW issued with smoke health warning – latest updates
A total fire ban remains in place across the capital territory as fires continue to burn, causing severe smoke and dust haze in NSW
A quick recap.
Looks like the forecast rain is heading over Canberra. We’ll wait to hear if this helps or hinders the firefighting efforts.
Rain heading through Canberra. Let's hope this brings some relief. No sign of the storm yet though. pic.twitter.com/YVJDd3HK3u
Continue reading...Saving Tallabrook Lodge: the battle against Australia’s raging fires – in pictures
Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers and reporter Christopher Knaus joined the Cowie family defending their property about 100km from Canberra
Continue reading...Australia fires: bushfires menace homes and lives – and firefighters warn winds will create new threats
Embers flare into an out-of-control blaze on ‘another difficult day’ in NSW and in the country around Canberra
• Terror on all sides: inside a firestorm tearing through the Australian bush
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says the Australian state has experienced “another difficult day” as multiple emergency fires burned across its south-east.
While five emergency warnings were in place on Saturday afternoon for blazes across the NSW south coast and south-east, at 9pm on Saturday evening just one remained at the highest level.
Continue reading...Canberra fires live updates: capital of Australia faces renewed bushfire threat – latest news
Huge fires to the south smother city with smoke amid weather forecast for heatwave and searing temperatures as Scott Morrison prepares to address National Press Club today. Follow live news and latest updates
From Tuesday night. A lot of ACT residents are comparing this fire to the devastating 2003 blaze.
Just a reminder of where we’re at. On Monday, a defence helicopter landed in the Namadgi national park, south of Canberra, and accidentally sparked what authorities have called the city’s “most serious” bushfire threat since the city’s devastating 2003 fires.
Tuesday saw dramatic images of the fire approaching Canberra’s southern suburbs, but conditions eased throughout the evening and the fire was downgraded from emergency level to watch and act just before midnight.
Continue reading...Strong earthquake shakes vast area from Mexico to Florida
- 7.7 magnitude quake struck in the sea south of Cuba
- No immediate reports of damage or injuries
A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck in the sea south of Cuba, shaking a vast area from Mexico to Florida and beyond, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.
Tsunami warnings for Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands were issued but lifted shortly afterward with no reports of major damage.
Continue reading...Africa is humanitarian ‘blind spot’: the world’s top 10 forgotten crises – report
Climate emergency is fuelling drought, food poverty and disaster in the global south but humanitarian crises under-reported
The African continent is a “blind spot” for coverage of the humanitarian crises that are being fuelled by the climate emergency, according to a new analysis [pdf].
Madagascar’s chronic food crisis, where 2.6 million people were affected by drought in 2019, came top of the list of 10 of the most under-reported crises last year, Care International’s annual survey found.
Continue reading...Scores dead as heavy rains bring landslides and evacuations in Brazil
Storms have submerged entire neighborhoods and sent homes tumbling down hillsides, causing more than 30,000 to flee
More than 30,000 people have been displaced by heavy rains in south-east Brazil that have killed 54 people and left 18 missing.
The storms have caused floods and landslides, submerging entire neighborhoods and sending homes tumbling down hillsides in the states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. Rains subsided by Monday, but were expected to resume later this week in some areas.
Continue reading...Mogadishu left reeling as conflict and climate shocks spark rush to capital
Forced from their homes by floods and fighting, 800,000 people have crammed into informal settlements in the Somali capital. Now efforts are afoot to bolster local resources
The number of Somalians being pushed out of the countryside and into the capital Mogadishu has reached an unprecedented high, putting pressure on the city’s already poor infrastructure and threatening its faltering recovery from three decades of conflict.
More than 800,000 internally displaced people dwell in informal settlements across Mogadishu, according to the office of the mayor. They are crammed into makeshift shelters with little or no sanitation and limited access to the most basic services. There are “critical” levels of malnutrition, according to an assessment by Somalia’s food security and nutrition analysis unit.
Continue reading...‘I hope God will help us’: search for Turkey earthquake survivors continues – video
The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit eastern Turkey stood at 29 on Saturday night and could rise further, warn officials.
Footage showed rescuers pulling the injured from under a collapsed building in Elâzığ province as the search for people continued
Continue reading...Turkey earthquake: death toll rises as search for survivors continues
At least 29 people killed and more than 1,200 injured in 6.8-magnitude quake
A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in eastern Turkey has killed at least 29 people, with the death toll expected to rise as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble in freezing winter conditions.
The quake late on Friday injured at least a further 1,200 people in the hardest-hit Elazig and Malatya provinces and was followed by more than 390 aftershocks, 14 of which had magnitudes above 4 which were felt as far away as Iran and Lebanon.
Continue reading...Bushfires, ash rain, dust storms and flash floods: two weeks in apocalyptic Australia
As the country lurches painfully from one extreme weather to another, residents are fearful of what they will face next
In Australia this summer, talking about the weather inevitably leads to talking about the apocalypse.
“When’s the plague of locusts going to arrive?” jokes one Sydney resident after hearing reports that her city is to receive another storm of giant hailstones on Friday afternoon, just a day after it sweltered in temperatures of 40C and toxic smoke kept people stuck indoors, away from the respite of the beach.
Continue reading...Australia fires live: homes feared lost in NSW bushfires as six firefighters reported injured – latest updates
Six volunteer firefighters reportedly taken to hospital with ‘serious injuries’ in truck rollover, names of three US firefighters killed in C-130 crash released, and Sydney covered in thick smoke haze. Follow the latest news and live updates
Thank you to the 41 firefighters from across the US who have arrived today to assist in managing Victoria’s ongoing and significant fire threat. Following briefing and training sessions, they will join local crews fighting fires in East Gippsland. pic.twitter.com/GZgT0zFe5C
Agriculture Victoria’s count of the number of animals killed in the Victorian fires has reached 6,422, the Weekly Times reports. Most of the losses were in the north-east, mainly in the upper Murray, where 5,440 animals – including 3,292 beef cattle and 1,735 sheep – were killed.
Continue reading...Fire raining on beaches, red skies and a billion animals killed: the new Australian summer | Brigid Delaney
Climate change has stopped being something to argue about. When you breathe in the ash and feel the pain in your heart, you can no longer deny it
Sometimes you can see the end of the old world and the beginning of the new one as clearly as a seam. Transformations that were once barely perceptible, recognisable only after the fact, this summer have become akin to a crossing. You can see the line as you step over it.
It’s the first summer of this new decade. Welcome. It’s the summer of ash washed up on the beaches, like a long, deranged message unfurled from its bottle. It’s the summer of a billion animals killed by flames and starvation, it’s collapsed biospheres, charred forests, epic dust storms, hailstones and racing clouds carrying fire.
Continue reading...Australia fires live: Canberra airport closed, reports of air tanker crash in NSW bushfires – latest updates
ACT residents near bushfire south of Canberra told to seek shelter as contact lost with large water-bombing plane fighting New South Wales bushfire. Follow latest news and live updates
There’s a steady stream of people arriving at the Moruya Showgrounds, which has been re-opened as an evacuation centre. For a lot of people, it’s becoming a home away from home.
One woman from Congo, just south of here, told me it was her third time here since New Years Eve.
The sky is looking ominous outside the Moruya showground where our reporter on the ground, Michael McGowan, captured this image.
Continue reading...Will Australia’s wildlife recover from this bushfire season?
Images of burned koalas and native animals fleeing the fire front have been beamed around the world. There are estimates that 1 billion animals have been impacted and experts fear that some plants and animals have been pushed to extinction. So how bad is the damage? And will Australia’s wildlife bounce back?
You can read Graham Readfearn’s articles on the impact of the fires on Kangaroo island wildlife, plus the mass fish kills in the wake of the fires.
Environment editor Adam Morton has written about the latest figures from the government on threatened species, and environment reporter Lisa Cox has written about the world heritage areas burned, plus a guide to the animals most at risk.
Continue reading...Huge hail batters Canberra as severe thunderstorms hit south-eastern Australia
Hail smashes into Parliament House and brings down trees in the ACT, with heavy rainfall hitting NSW, Queensland and Victoria
Australia’s south-east has been lashed by severe thunderstorms and large hailstones that destroyed buildings and cars in Canberra and left two tourists in hospital after they were injured by lightning.
Two supercell thunderstorms brought hail and heavy rain to cities and towns across the east coast on Monday, battering the outer suburbs of Sydney about 3pm, with 4.5cm hailstones recorded and strong winds bringing trees down over cars in the Sutherland area.
Continue reading...Large hailstones batter parts of Canberra — video
Golfball-size hailstones have hit Canberra as severe thunderstorms move through parts of south-eastern Australia. The hail struck parts of Canberra including Parliament House while roofs, windows and cars were damaged across the city. The wild weather follows weeks where the Australian capital has been enveloped in smoke from nearby bushfires
Continue reading...Huge dust storms in Australia hit central New South Wales
Videos posted to social media show the clouds turning day into night in some areas
Damaging winds produced by thunderstorms across central New South Wales have whipped up dust storms that turned daytime into night in some towns.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a series of severe thunderstorm warnings on Sunday evening for inland NSW with the associated winds generating massive dust clouds.
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