PM touts ban on disposable barbecues as areas hit by wildfires – but some Labour MPs will be hoping for more ambitious ideas to tackle crisis
Andy Burnham will chair an emergency Cobra meeting in response to extreme heat, which has caused wildfires and plunged many parts of Britain into drought.
The prime minister will meet ministers, officials and agencies as high temperatures continue across the UK, with temperatures of 33C forecast on Wednesday and up to 38C on Thursday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: England ‘desperately unprepared’ for effects of crisis including water shortages and heatwaves
Just 20 staff are working on climate adaptation within a key government department tasked with protecting the environment and maintaining food security, a freedom of information request has revealed.
The officials make up 0.3% of staff within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Continue reading...Most of the zoo’s 16 lions have struggled to cope with high humidity this summer
Three lions from a Tokyo zoo have died from suspected heatstroke and others are undergoing treatment, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, as the big cats struggle in Japan’s high levels of humidity.
Japan sweltered through its hottest summer on record last year and parts of the country have hit 40C in recent weeks, qualifying for the new “cruelly hot day” designation.
Continue reading...Farmers warn impact of high temperatures, drought and wildfires on range of foodstuffs means costs will increase
Farmers across Europe are warning of a slump in food production and rising prices as crops from maize to salads suffer as a result of extreme heat, drought and wildfires.
Olive groves have also been hit as the climate crisis drives temperatures across the continent to fresh record highs, meaning the cost of olive oil – already at elevated levels – is expected to start rising again.
Continue reading...Fire department says two-person crew of one aircraft killed in incident during gale-force winds to west of capital
Two firefighting helicopters have collided west of Athens, killing the two-person crew of one of the aircraft, as efforts to control a massive wildfire barrelling towards the outskirts of the Greek capital intensified.
Footage showed one of the helicopters losing control in the face of gale-force winds that have pushed flames towards settlements on Athens’ western fringes.
Continue reading...António Guterres says strengthening El Niño will help push the world’s climate crisis into ‘uncharted territory’
India’s monsoon is in danger and hotter, drier conditions are forecast across much of the world as a stronger El Niño weather system is taking hold, weather experts have warned.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said the strengthening El Niño was “adding fuel to a planet already on fire” and pushing the world into “uncharted territory”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Danielle Kirton calls on Ed Miliband to help her get answers about why evacuation order came too late
The bereaved daughter of a British couple who died in a Spanish wildfire is calling on the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, to get answers from Spain’s government about why her parents were not told to evacuate until it was too late.
Severe wildfires have burned across Spain and France since early July, killing people, destroying thousands of homes and forcing more than 300,000 people to flee.
Continue reading...Figures show hot, dry, windy conditions in EU are 43% more severe than the average over last 20 years
Fire weather in the EU has broken records for severity for this time of year, data shows, as firefighters race to extinguish blazes across the Mediterranean.
Inflamed by carbon pollution, the hot, dry and windy weather across the EU from the start of the year until the end of July has been 43% more severe than the average for the same period over the last two decades, data from the European Forest Fire Information Service (Effis) shows.
Continue reading...Temperatures of 95-105F (35-40C) are expected, spanning Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest
About 70 million people in the US are set to face excessive heat advisories as dangerously hot temperatures scorch much of the country’s southern and central states.
The third major “heat dome” event to hit the US in the past month is gathering strength over the weekend, spanning a vast swathe of the country, from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest.
Continue reading...At least 90 active blazes in British Columbia in what PM says is one of the country’s most intense seasons on record
Fresh wildfires have broken out in western Canada and forests continued to burn in Ontario as the country battled what the prime minister, Mark Carney, called one of the most intense wildfire seasons on record.
Nearly 34,000 lightning strikes over the past week led to a series of fires and evacuation orders in southern British Columbia. There were 25 evacuation orders and 90 active wildfires in the province as of Friday morning, and authorities said warming and drying conditions could cause them to grow.
Continue reading...Soaring temperatures fuel demand for air conditioners and outdoor goods, helping retailers beat expectations in June
Online sales reached their highest share of retail spending in five years last month as record heat fuelled demand for air conditioners, outdoor products and clothing.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the volume of retail sales in Great Britain rose 1% month on month in June, beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.3% decline, helped by hot weather and World Cup spending.
Continue reading...Storm warnings stretch from Florida to Louisiana as Bertha brings heavy rain, flooding risk and possible tornadoes
Tropical Storm Bertha strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday but was expected to weaken this week as it chugs closer to the US, potentially bringing coastal flooding and heavy rain from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.
Those areas along the northern Gulf coast were under a tropical storm warning through Wednesday and could see rain and flooding into Thursday morning, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. New Orleans also was under a tropical storm warning.
Continue reading...Victims were Provo’s fire captain, his wife and their three sons, who were hiking in Bicknell amid heavy rains
Five family members who had set out for a day of hiking were killed after a flash flood swept through canyons of southern Utah on Friday, law enforcement officials said.
The victims were a captain in the Provo fire department, his wife and their sons, according to fire officials. A daughter who was not on the trip survived.
Continue reading...Poor air quality from wildfires continues to plague New York City as several neighborhoods hit by thunderstorms
Saturday is delivering a double dose of dangerous weather across the north-eastern US, with smoky skies from Canadian wildfires giving way to severe thunderstorms that have already triggered a flash flood warning as torrential rain pounds parts of the region.
After a brief break on Friday, smoke from the wildfires moved back into New York City and surrounding communities on Saturday, sending air quality back into unhealthy levels.
Continue reading...£200,000 investment comes after harvests in Britain hit by wet winter, spring frost and hail, then heatwaves
The owner of Ribena is to invest £200,000 in helping blackcurrant bushes withstand stress after extreme weather put a squeeze on this year’s UK harvest.
That harvest is now under way in the berry’s main growing regions including East Anglia, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Kent and Scotland. It is expected to be about 10% below the average of 10,000 tonnes, as the climate crisis drives extreme weather across Britain and elsewhere.
Continue reading...Adaptation to frightening new normal and reducing emissions further and faster is critical, scientists warn
Dozens of people drowned, hundreds had to be rescued and thousands were displaced when floods struck the coasts of west Africa last month.
Now scientists have concluded that the rains that caused the floods were supercharged by climate breakdown. Global heating, they say, turned what should have been a routine weather event into a climate catastrophe.
Continue reading...Firework displays cancelled as Paris military parade asserts ‘France’s rearmament … and Europe’s strategic awakening’
Emmanuel Macron has presided over his final Bastille Day parade in Paris amid a searing heatwave and wildfires that forced authorities around the country to cancel traditional firework displays and balls celebrating France’s national day.
The French president was joined for the annual military procession and flypast by his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and two dozen other national leaders.
Continue reading...Another 20 people were rescued from a campground after a building collapsed due to heavy rain and flooding
Heavy rainfall and widespread flooding battered parts of Missouri on Friday, forcing the helicopter evacuations of more than 200 children and staff from a summer camp and the rescues of about 20 people who had moved to safety on a campground building that then collapsed.
With nearby roads washed away and more rain in the forecast, the children were trapped at Camp Taum Sauk in the small south-eastern community of Lesterville, according Sgt Eddie Young of the state’s highway patrol. The army national guard used Black Hawk helicopters to fly them to a nearby elementary school and reunite them with their families, he said.
Continue reading...Blaze made worse by heat, strong wind and plentiful dry vegetation amid hollowing out of rural population
As firefighters struggle to quell the flames ravaging southern Spain and doctors treat the injured, a horrific picture of the fallout is emerging.
At least 12 people died in a fast-spreading inferno that ripped through Almería on Thursday, many trapped in cars as they sought to escape a blaze that scorched 3,800 hectares (9,390 acres). Overwhelmed authorities say eight people have been injured and 23 cannot be accounted for.
Continue reading...Twenty-three people missing and four Britons thought to be among those who died trying to flee Almería blaze
At least 12 people have been killed and 23 are unaccounted for after one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires broke out in the south-eastern province of Almería as the country endures its second heatwave of the summer.
The regional government of Andalucía said the victims, four of whom are believed to be British, had died while trying to escape the flames near the village of Bédar in the municipality of Los Gallardos.
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