Houses washed away and road cut off as dam collapses amid heavy rains and floods across country
At least 45 people died when a makeshift dam burst its banks near a southern town in Kenya’s Rift valley in the early hours of Monday, police said, as torrential rains and floods hit the country.
The disaster raises the total death toll over the March-May wet season in Kenya to more than 100, as heavier-than-usual rainfall pounds east Africa, compounded by El Niño weather pattern.
Continue reading...Governor issues state of emergency for 12 counties as authorities confirm a four-month-old baby was among the dead in Holdenville
At least four people, including a baby, were killed after a series of tornadoes struck Oklahoma on Saturday, amid a weekend of extreme weather that left dozens injured and a trail of destruction across the midwest.
Local authorities confirmed that a four-month-old infant was among the two people dead in Holdenville – one of the hardest hit towns in Oklahoma, located 80 miles south-east of Oklahoma City – where about 20 tornadoes hit late Saturday, leveling buildings and ripping off roofs. The victims have not been named, but at least four others were injured as the tornado left a path of devastation through the town of around 6,000 people.
Continue reading...Total deaths reach 76 and more than 130,000 displaced as weeks of flooding also affects east African neighbours
Seventy-six people in Kenya have died because of flooding triggered by torrential downpours since March, the government has said, warning residents “to brace for even heavier rainfall”.
Kenya and its east African neighbours have been battered by stronger than usual rain in recent weeks, compounded by the El Niño weather system.
Continue reading...Rain in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi kills at least 90 people and damages farmland and infrastructure
Eastern Africa has experienced heavy rain in recent weeks, with flooding in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. About 100,000 people have been displaced or otherwise affected in each country, with 32 reported deaths in Kenya and 58 in Tanzania, alongside damage to farmland and infrastructure.
There are also fears that large areas of standing water could give rise to outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
Continue reading...World Weather Attribution group says intensified El Niño effects caused torrential rain, but rules out cloud seeding as cause
Fossil fuels and concrete combined to worsen the “death trap” conditions during recent record flooding in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, a study has found.
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution team said downpours in El Niño years such as this one had become 10-40% heavier in the region as a result of human-cased climate disruption, while a lack of natural drainage quickly turned roads into rivers.
Continue reading...Europeans are dying from hot weather 30% more than they did two decades ago, report finds
Scorching weather has baked Europe in more days of “extreme heat stress” than its scientists have ever seen.
Heat-trapping pollutants that clog the atmosphere helped push temperatures in Europe last year to the highest or second-highest levels ever recorded, according to the EU’s Earth-watching service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Continue reading...Officials urge municipalities to begin emergency planning after major rivers and reservoirs threaten to overflow
Major rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people.
Calling the situation “grim”, local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are hitting water levels in a rare spike that only has a one-in-50 chance of happening in any given year, the state broadcaster CCTV news said on Sunday.
Continue reading...Passengers report being stranded in the desert city as the international hub struggles in the wake of unusually heavy rain
Dubai is wrestling with the aftermath of extraordinary torrential rains that flooded the desert city, with residents describing harrowing stories of spending the night in their cars, and air passengers enduring chaotic scenes at airports.
Up to 259.5mm (10.2in) of rain fell on the usually arid country of the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the most since records began 75 years ago. The state-run WAM news agency called the rains on Tuesday “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949”.
Continue reading...City records more than 142mm of rain in a day, about as much as it expects in a year and a half, as highways and malls flooded
Highways and malls have been flooded, schools have been closed, and flights disrupted at one of the world’s busiest airports after the United Arab Emirates experienced what the government described as its largest amount of rainfall in 75 years.
At least one person was killed, a 70-year-old man who police said was swept away in his car in Ras Al Khaimah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates.
Continue reading...Flood and frozen pipe damage caused by series of storms, says Association of British Insurers
Storms and heavy rain pushed up weather-related home insurance claims in the UK by more than a third last year to a record £573m, according to industry data.
The repair bill for storm damage and other extreme weather during 2023 was £150m more than in 2022, the Association of British Insurers said, contributing to an overall 10% rise in residential property claims settled last year.
Continue reading...Worst-ever fire season in 2023 saw 15m hectare burned, eight firefighters killed and 230,000 people evacuated
Canada risks another “catastrophic” wildfire season, the federal government has warned, forecasting higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Niño weather conditions.
Last year, Canada endured its worst-ever fire season, with more than 6,600 blazes burning 15m hectares (37m acres), an area roughly seven times the annual average. Eight firefighters died and 230,000 people were evacuated from their homes.
Continue reading...Kremlin official warns of more difficult days ahead after towns and cities overwhelmed by major rivers swollen by snowmelt
Russia and Kazakhstan have ordered more than 100,000 people to evacuate after swiftly melting snow swelled rivers beyond bursting point in the worst flooding in the area for at least 70 years.
The deluge of meltwater overwhelmed many settlements in the Ural mountains, Siberia and areas of Kazakhstan close to rivers such as the Ural and Tobol, which local officials said had risen by metres in a matter of hours to the highest levels ever recorded.
Continue reading...Federal emergency declared in Orenburg region and at least 6,000 homes inundated after Ural River overflows
Flood waters were rising in two cities in Russia’s Ural mountains on Sunday after Europe’s third-longest river burst through a dam, flooding at least 6,000 homes and forcing thousands of people to flee.
The Ural River, which rises in the Ural Mountains and flows into the Caspian Sea, swelled several metres in just hours on Friday and burst through a dam embankment in Orsk – one of the hardest-hit cities – 1,800km (1,100 miles) east of Moscow.
Continue reading...Deaths, including those of two children, occured in three separate incidents, two in Zakopane and one in Rabka-Zdrój
Five people have been killed by falling trees as strong winds battered southern Poland on Monday, reaching a speed of 96mph (155km/h) in the highest parts of the Tatra mountains.
In the town of Rabka-Zdrój, two women and a six-year-old died after a tree crushed them, firefighters said.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall brings landslides to country’s south-east. Elsewhere, a wild temperature fluctuation in Iberia
Brazil was hit by devastating floods over the weekend that have so far claimed 20 lives in the resultant landslides and mudslides. There was heavy rainfall in parts of the south-east, including Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis and the larger Espírito Santo region, with hourly rainfall totals of about 20mm recorded in places. Cumulative totals from Friday through Sunday were close to 250mm, particularly along the coast: this is far higher than the monthly average.
Landslides and mudslides occurred across the region, and a number of houses collapsed. Rescue operations are under way to look for people who may have been stranded by the floods. Although there may still be a few showers over the following days, the worst of the rain has now passed.
Continue reading...Meanwhile, South Sudan has ordered schools to shut amid extreme heatwave
A cyclone warning has been issued in northern Australia for coastal communities from the island of Groote Eylandt to the Northern Territory/Queensland border. Tropical Cyclone Megan, which developed in the Gulf of Carpentaria on Saturday, has been declared a category 3 cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Megan is forecast to make landfall on Monday, but has already brought gale-force winds and heavy rainfall to some areas over the weekend. Groote Eylandt was cut off after more than 400mm of rain in just 24 hours on Sunday.
There is a chance that Megan could strengthen further into a category 4 storm before making landfall, with the potential for damaging wind gusts of up to 125km/h. Megan is the fifth named cyclone in Australian waters so far this season, which is below the average of about 10 by this stage of the year.
Continue reading...Authorities advise parents to keep children indoors during extreme heatwave, expected to last two weeks
South Sudan is closing all schools from Monday in preparation for an extreme heatwave expected to last two weeks.
The health and education ministries have advised parents to keep all children indoors as temperatures are expected to soar to 45C (113F).
Continue reading...Wind gusts of up to 220km/h expected to bring heavy rain and flooding to coastal communities
Top End communities are bracing for the crossing of severe Tropical Cyclone Megan, with destructive wind gusts of up to 220km/h expected to bring widespread damage, heavy rainfall and potential flooding to coastal communities into next week.
The cyclone formed over the Gulf of Carpentaria, east of Groote Eylandt, on Saturday afternoon and was moving south towards the Northern Territory and Queensland border as a category-two system on Sunday morning.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall linked to low-pressure system hits south of Java with flood depths of up to 80cm in Semarang
Semarang, the provincial capital of Central Java in Indonesia, experienced severe flooding overnight on Wednesday. This rainfall was linked to a low-pressure system to the south of Java, which brought close to 200mm of rainfall to the area by Thursday daytime. Further rainfall is forecast over the coming week.
Flood depths of up to 80cm have been reported in the old town, with many roads and one railway station closed. There have been 10 reported landslides, and the authorities have advised people who live under clifftops and close to riverbanks to evacuate the area.
Continue reading...Road conditions are dangerous along the route the group is believed to have taken from Kalgoorlie to Tjuntjuntjara, police say
Severe weather is hampering search efforts for seven people who are missing amid ongoing flooding in remote Western Australia.
The group – which includes four children and two elderly drivers – left Kalgoorlie, about 600km east of Perth, on Sunday and were travelling in two vehicles north-east to the Tjuntjuntjara Aboriginal community.
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