Category Archives: Extreme weather

Hurricane Beryl: Caribbean leader calls out rich countries for climate failures as ‘horrendous’ storm makes landfall

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Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines calls Cop ‘largely a talk shop’ and beseeches west to honor commitments

The prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has decried a lack of political will in western Europe and the US to tackle global climate crisis as Hurricane Beryl has made landfall as an “extremely dangerous” category 4 storm.

Speaking from his residence in SVG on Monday, Ralph Gonsalves described the unfolding catastrophe as the “monster” storm ripped off rooftops, including that of the 204-year-old St George’s Anglican cathedral in the country’s capital, Kingstown.

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Canada’s 2023 wildfires created four times more emissions than planes did last year – report

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Months-long fires spewed about the same amount of carbon dioxide that 647m cars put in the air in a year, data shows

Catastrophic Canadian warming-fueled wildfires last year pumped more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air than India did by burning fossil fuels, setting ablaze an area of forest larger than the US state of West Virginia, new research has found.

Scientists at the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland calculated how devastating the impacts of the months-long fires in Canada in 2023 that sullied the air around large parts of the globe. They figured it put 3.28bn tons (2.98 metric tons) of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air, according to a study update published in Thursday’s Global Change Biology. The update is not peer-reviewed, but the original study was.

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Weather tracker: southern China hit by floods as north suffers from drought

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Heavy rainfall in Guangdong causes flooding, landslides and mudslides, while northern China gripped by heatwave

Guangdong province in southern China has once more experienced severe flooding, two months after the late April floods and landslides led to more than 50 deaths.

On Sunday 16 June, heavy rainfall affected the area, with an average of 199mm falling in Pingyuan county. The town of Sishui experienced the highest rainfall totals of 367mm, with three others in the area recording more than 300mm.

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Floods drive people from homes in Iowa as much of US swelters in extreme heat

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Residents rescued by boat as Governor Kim Reynolds declares disaster in 21 counties in north of state

Floodwaters forced people out of their homes in parts of Iowa, the result of weeks of rain, while much of the US longed for relief on Saturday from yet another round of extraordinary heat.

Sirens blared at 2am in Rock Valley, Iowa, population 4,200, where people in hundreds of homes were told to get out as the Rock River could no longer take rain that has slammed the region. The city lacked running water because wells were unusable.

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Heatwaves and wildfires strike across US as tropical storm forms in gulf

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Tropical storm due to form in Gulf of Mexico, adding to extreme weather as north-east and midwest bake

Potential Tropical Cyclone One – a slow churning system of low atmospheric pressure in the Gulf of Mexico – was badgering the Texas coast but had not fully developed, meteorologists said on Wednesday.

The storm, which will be named Tropical Storm Alberto when it forms fully, is set to unleash powerful winds, heavy rain and flood threats across the entire southern US, Mexico and Central America. Storm-force winds, which stretch more than 400 miles (640km) from the storm’s center, are already affecting southern Texas.

This article was amended on 19 June 2024 to correct a quotation from Bill Nye.

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Search for missing pilgrims continues after hajj heat deaths

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Relatives seek news of missing loved ones after hundreds reported dead as temperatures hit 51.8C in Saudi Arabia

Friends and family of missing hajj pilgrims have been searching hospitals and pleading online for news, fearing the worst after hundreds died during the annual rites in Saudi Arabia.

Arab diplomats on Tuesday told Agence France-Presse at least 550 pilgrims had died this year, the majority due to heat-related illnesses after temperatures reached 51.8C (125F) in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

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Weather tracker: Mexico and southern Texas brace for torrential rain

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Disturbance in south-west Gulf of Mexico has 60% chance of developing into a hurricane over next seven days

A weather system is set to move over southern Texas and Mexico through this week, bringing vast quantities of rain. The National Hurricane Center noted a tropical disturbance in the south-west Gulf of Mexico that has a 60% chance of developing into a tropical depression during the next seven days. This potential tropical depression, essentially an area of low pressure, may be in a spot where the environmental conditions are good for its gradual development, and could end up moving towards hurricane status.

But even if it does not turn into a hurricane, heavy rain is expected to affect southern Texas and Mexico. Southern Texas may experience up to 100mm (3.9in) of rainfall on Wednesday through to Friday, and some Mexican states bordering the gulf may have up to 150mm. Rainfall totals of this magnitude, especially within such a small time frame, can cause catastrophic, life-threatening flooding.

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At least 14 pilgrims die during hajj pilgrimage amid soaring temperatures

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Jordanians died in Saudi Arabia after suffering heatstroke, said officials, with temperatures reaching 47C in Mecca

At least 14 Jordanian pilgrims have died while on the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as temperatures soar in the kingdom.

Jordan’s foreign ministry said “14 Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others were missing” during the performance of hajj rituals. It said its nationals had died “after suffering sun stroke due to the extreme heatwave” and that it had coordinated with Saudi authorities to bury the dead in Saudi Arabia, or transfer them to Jordan.

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US braces for ‘dangerous’ conditions as heatwave to hit midwest and north-east

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Meteorologists warn that heat will spread east through the week, with ‘heat dome’ expected to trap high temperatures

Millions of Americans are facing “dangerously hot conditions”, the National Weather Service said, with a heatwave set to hit the midwest and north-east US from Monday.

Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania were all under heat warnings starting Monday, with alerts in place until Friday evening. Meteorologists warned that the heat will spread east through the week, with a “heat dome” expected to trap high temperatures across New York, Washington DC and Boston.

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Weather tracker: State of emergency in Florida as heavy rain causes flooding

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Emergency services conduct at least 40 rescues and schools, courts and railways closed in some counties

Significant amounts of rain in the past two days have led the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, to declare a state of emergency for the counties of Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota, while the mayors of Miami-Dade, Miami and Fort Lauderdale also declared a state of emergency.

This has resulted in a number of closures for public schools, courts and Dania Beach’s city hall, where there were at least 40 rescues by emergency services. Rail routes across Miami and the surrounding area were also suspended. The flooding occurred after more than 380mm (15in) of rain fell on several southern Florida cities in just two days.

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Visitors to Greece appear ill informed about heatwave risk, warn rescuers

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Call for better trail signage and backing for walking clubs as concerns grow over tourists encountering searing heat

With Greece gripped by unusually high temperatures, fears are growing that foreign visitors are not aware or being properly informed of the risks posed by overexertion in the searing heat.

Over the past week, three search and rescue operations have been started for tourists who have gone missing during treks on far-flung islands, including one for the popular TV presenter Michael Mosley, who was found dead on the island of Symi.

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Brazil’s devastating floods hit ‘Black population on the periphery’ hardest

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Porto Alegre’s poorest neighborhoods, often closest to rivers and with the worst infrastructure, bore brunt of crisis

It had been raining for nearly a week when the floodwaters first reached Marcelo Moreira Ferreira’s home in Porto Alegre, the capital of Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul.

His wife and their four children left to seek shelter with relatives, but Ferreira, 51, wanted to stay: his father had built the modest one-storey structure and he had lived there his entire life.

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Acropolis closed during hottest hours as earliest-ever heatwave of year hits Greece

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Temperatures expected to reach 43C in Athens and across country, prompting school closures and health warnings

The Acropolis, Greece’s most visited tourist site, was closed to the public during the hottest hours of Wednesday as the season’s earliest-ever heatwave swept the country, prompting school closures and health warnings.

The culture ministry had said the Unesco-listed archaeological site in Athens would close from midday to 5pm (09.00 to 14.00 GMT), with temperatures expected to reach 43C (109F) on Wednesday and Thursday.

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Trump vows to end taxation of tips at sweltering Las Vegas rally

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Ex-president makes direct appeal to service workers in swing state Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way

At a campaign rally Sunday in sweltering hot Las Vegas, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told the crowd he would seek to end taxation of income from tips, a direct appeal to service workers in the swing state of Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way ahead of the 5 November election.

That promise reveals one more point to a vague Trump tax plan that has so far included pledges of tax relief to middle-income workers and small businesses. Current law requires tipped employees to report those tips as income.

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‘Be prepared for many days of isolation’: emergency services urge NSW residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate

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Rain easing but SES says risk to communities remains as wet weather causes Warragamba Dam to spill for third month running

Some New South Wales residents told to flee rising flood waters have been given the all-clear to return as heavy rainfall, which caused a major dam to spill, eases and water levels recede.

Spills had slowed from Warragamba Dam late on Saturday but more than a dozen riverside communities had been warned the flooding emergency remained.

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More intense, frequent tropical cyclones may devastate seabird colonies – study

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Up to 90% ‘lost in the blink of an eye’, say scientists studying Cyclone Ilsa’s effect on birds on Western Australian island

Increased tropical cyclones due to global heating could lead to dramatic declines in seabird populations, according to a new study.

Scientists found that after Cyclone Ilsa – a category-5 tropical cyclone – hit Bedout Island in Western Australia in April 2023, several seabird populations experienced a collapse of 80-90% due to the storm at the internationally important breeding site.

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Tornado kills child and injures mother after tree slams into Michigan home

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Storms in US midwest and on east coast cause chaos as workers respond to reports of people trapped in collapsed structures

Tornadoes in the US midwest and on the east coast were causing chaos on Wednesday, killing a two-year-old boy and injuring his mother outside Detroit when a tree fell on their suburban home.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, emergency workers were responding to reports of collapsed structures with people trapped inside after another tornado there.

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Devastating Brazil floods made twice as likely by burning of fossil fuels and trees

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Scientists say calamities on same scale as disaster that has killed 169 will become more common if emissions not cut

The unusually intense, prolonged and extensive flooding that has devastated southern Brazil was made at least twice as likely by human burning of fossil fuels and trees, a study has shown.

The record disaster has led to 169 deaths, ruined homes and wrecked harvests, and was worsened by deforestation, investment cuts and human incompetence.

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Two killed and others missing in floods in southern Germany

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Thousands have evacuated their homes, as more frequent severe weather in the country raises fears over climate change

Two people have died, others are missing and thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes in southern Germany after torrential rain caused widespread flooding.

A 22-year-old firefighter died when the inflatable boat his rescue crew was in capsized on the river near Pfaffenbach an der Ilm, 30 miles (50km) from Munich. The body of a woman who had gone missing on Saturday was found by rescue workers in the cellar of her house in Upper Bavaria.

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Rescue worker dies amid flooding in southern Germany

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Heavy rain that trapped people in their homes and reportedly caused a train derailment is forecast to continue

A volunteer firefighter died during a rescue operation during heavy rain and flooding in the south of Germany, local police said on Sunday.

Four emergency workers were attempting to reach people trapped by the flood waters near Pfaffenhofen in the region of Bavaria when their boat capsized.

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