Category Archives: Extreme weather

Storm Hans causes havoc in Norway with heaviest rain in 25 years forecast

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Landslides, a stranded town and two deaths so far reported as extreme weather sweeps across south of the country

A powerful storm has brought destruction to Norway, causing landslides and leaving an entire town stranded, as meteorologists warned of the strongest rainfall in a quarter of a century.

The storm – named Storm Hans – has killed two people, ripped off roofs and caused widespread disruption across northern Europe in a summer that started with wildfires across much of the region.

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Storms in US north-east leave two dead and lead to thousands of flight cancellations

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Tornado watches and warnings posted across 10 states from Tennessee to New York

A wave of destructively strong storms moving through the US north-east have left two people dead, caused thousands of flight cancellations and left more than 1.1m homes and businesses without power.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater DC area, lasting until 9pm, as well as a flood warning extending through Tuesday morning. A special statement warned: “There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.”

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California judge pauses sweeping of homeless encampments amid heatwave

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Order was issued against the city of Sacramento after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order

Amid a heatwave that is sweeping through parts of the American west, a federal judge in California has placed a temporary ban on sweeps of homeless encampments.

US district court judge Troy L Nunley issued the order against the city of Sacramento on 3 August, after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order by sweeping an encampment during a time of excessive heat, which is anything over 90F.

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South Korea to evacuate scout jamboree as typhoon looms

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Site has been plagued by issues including heatwave that left hundreds ill last week

All participants at this year’s World Scout Jamboree in South Korea will be evacuated from the campsite before the scheduled end date of 12 August due to a typhoon that is expected to make landfall over the Korean peninsula in the coming days, in the latest blow to the event.

The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) said it had received confirmation from the South Korean government that, due to the expected impact of Typhoon Khanun, an early departure would be planned for all participants at the global youth event in the south-western county of Buan.

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UK Scouts says £1m cost of relocating jamboree will affect its work for years

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Head of Scout Association says event in South Korea had been poorly organised even before threat of Typhoon Khanun

The £1m cost of relocating the 4,500-strong UK contingent at the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea will affect the work of the Scout Association for as much as five years, the organisation’s boss has said.

Matt Hyde, the UK Scouts chief executive, said the association had been forced to dip into its reserves after the event’s organisers decided to clear the campsite five days early because of an incoming typhoon that is expected to make landfall over the Korean peninsula in the coming days.

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China floods: at least 14 killed after torrential rain in north-east

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Clean-up operations continue after rainfall destroys infrastructure and floods entire districts in aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri

At least 14 people are dead after torrential rain hit China’s north-eastern Jilin province, state media has reported, in the latest fatalities from more than a week of weather-related disasters across the country.

Thousands of troops have been sent into affected areas of Jilin and neighbouring Heilongjiang to assist with the flood response, evacuations, distributing supplies and fixing damaged roads. State media outlet Xinhua said about 2,000 soldiers and 5,000 members of the People’s Armed Police paramilitary force had been deployed.

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Winter heatwave in Andes is sign of things to come, scientists warn

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Human-caused climate disruption and El Niño push temperature in mountains to 37C

Exceptional winter heat in the Andean mountains of South America has surged to 37C, prompting local scientists to warn the worst may be yet to come as human-caused climate disruption and El Niño cause havoc across the region.

The heatwave in the central Chilean Andes is melting the snow below 3,000 metres (9,840ft), which will have knock-on effects for people living in downstream valleys who depend on meltwater during the spring and summer.

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A year on, the devastating long-term effects of Pakistan’s floods are revealed

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Country’s health and economy ruined as Islamic charity says rich nations must compensate those suffering worst of climate crisis

A year after Pakistan’s worst floods in living memory, a report by Islamic Relief Worldwide has revealed the devastating long-term impact on people, especially children, and argued that rich nations must compensate those countries most affected by the climate emergency.

Researchers from Islamic Relief who talked to people in the flood-affected areas found 40% of the children they surveyed had stunted growth and 25% were underweight as families struggle to access food and healthcare. About 80% of mothers reported sickness among children, with outbreaks of diarrhoea, malaria and dengue fever increasing.

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Anger in China over plan to use cities as ‘moat’ to save Beijing from floods

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Communist party secretary for Hebei made comments after visiting flood-hit areas earlier this week

Chinese social media users have reacted angrily to comments from a local Communist party official suggesting that the city of Zhuozhou and other flood-hit areas near Beijing should be used as a “moat for the capital”.

Ni Yuefeng, the Communist party secretary for Hebei, a province that borders the capital on three sides, made the comments after visiting flooded areas earlier this week. Typhoon Doksuri has ripped through north-east China, destroying homes and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate.

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Weather tracker: Typhoons Talim and Doksuri batter China

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Thousands of people evacuated from homes in Beijing, while South America swelters during heatwave

China has been battered by two typhoons in recent weeks that have caused severe flooding across the east coast. Typhoon Talim hit the south on 17 July, with gusts of 85mph (137km/h), according to the Guangdong weather bureau.

Days later, on 28 July, Typhoon Doksuri struck Fujian province on China’s south-eastern coast with gusts above 100mph.

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Typhoon Khanun leaves two dead in Japan and 166,000 homes without power

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Heavy rains and high winds lash Okinawa and Kagoshima, as storm slowly moves north-west before forecast change in direction towards mainland

About 166,000 households in south-western Japan’s Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures were without power as Typhoon Khanun continued to hit with heavy rain and gusty winds, prolonging the damage potential.

The storm in the East China Sea was heading north-west at a slow speed with gusts of 222km/h (138mph), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. It was projected to change direction to move east towards the country’s mainland until Tuesday, but its path was not determined, public broadcaster NHK said.

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Chinese firefighter ‘dies heroic death’ as Beijing reports heaviest rain in 140 years

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Extreme weather comes as China’s foreign ministry denies reports that it obstructed discussions on climate crisis at G20 meetings

China’s government awarded martyr status to a firefighter who died as he tried to rescue people trapped by heavy flooding that has pummelled Beijing and surrounding areas in the heaviest rain in at least 140 years.

Feng Zhen, a firefighter in Beijing’s Haidian district, was washed away by flood waters as he tried to rescue three people from a school building on Monday. The people escaped the area safely, but after receiving medical treatment Feng “died a heroic death”, according to state media.

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Aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri brought Beijing floods, meteorologists explain

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Rising ocean temperatures caused by climate crisis are also said to be causing China’s extreme weather

Summers in China are often wet, sometimes very wet, but nothing like the drenching that has engulfed Beijing and its neighbouring provinces this week.

As Beijing authorities lifted the flood alert on Wednesday morning, after the city’s heaviest rainfall for 140 years, 21 people across the region were confirmed dead. Dozens more were missing.

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Greek PM offers tourists affected by wildfires a free stay in Rhodes next year

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledges ‘inconvenience for visitors’ after 20,000 people were evacuated

Tourists whose holidays on the Greek island of Rhodes were cut short due to intense wildfires are being offered a one-week free stay next year, the Greek prime minister said.

Holidaymakers and local people were forced to flee homes and hotels as the fires burned for days in July, with about 20,000 tourists rescued from danger in the largest evacuation ever undertaken by the country.

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China: 31,000 forced to flee homes in Beijing as Typhoon Doksuri brings heavy rains

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Strongest storm to hit country in years has also caused widespread flooding and evacuations in province of Fujian

Two people are reported to have died in severe flooding that has engulfed parts of Beijing, as Typhoon Doksuri passed through China’s capital.

People’s Daily reported on Monday that two people were found unresponsive in a river in Mentougou, a district in west Beijing that has suffered some of the worst flooding. According to state broadcaster CCTV, more than 31,000 people have evacuated their homes in the city.

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Greece wildfires under control but strong winds still a threat, say officials

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‘No active front’ in Rhodes, Corfu and central Greece blazes as more than 460 firefighters remain on alert

Wildfires that have scorched Greece for more than two weeks are under control, but firefighters remain in key hotspots as strong winds remain a threat, officials have said.

“Scattered fire pockets are being extinguished,” the fire department said on Saturday, adding that there was “no active front” in the three biggest wildfires in Rhodes, Corfu and central Greece that forced thousands of people to flee.

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‘This is another beast’: UN chief heat officer on living amid fires, how to cool cities and fears for her daughter

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Eleni Myrivili, whose job is to help cities prepare for extreme heat, says many people do not understand how deadly it can be

It is “shocking” how little people know about the danger of hot weather, the United Nations global chief heat officer has said, as high temperatures bake cities across the northern hemisphere and politicians backslide on climate promises.

A study this month found that extreme heat in Europe last summer killed 61,000 people, most of whom were women and older people. As well as killing people through heatstroke, hot weather can push the bodies of people with heart and lung disease into deadly overdrive.

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Most fires in Greece were started ‘by human hand’, government says

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Official blames arsonists for the majority of 667 blazes that have spread in the extreme weather

Most of the 667 fires that have erupted across Greece in recent weeks were started “by human hand”, the country’s senior climate crisis official has said.

As the Mediterranean country emerges from an unprecedented, 15-day period of heatwave-induced infernos, the scale of the destruction is finally being laid bare.

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More than 170m Americans under heat alerts as heatwave expands

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Between 250 and 275 million will face heat indexes of 90F as heatwave moves into parts of Great Plains, midwest and north-east

Over 170 million Americans are under heat alerts this week, according to the National Weather Service, as a heat wave that has affected the southern US for weeks has expanded into parts of the Great Plains, midwest and north-east US.

Between 250 and 275 million people in the US will face heat indexes of at least 90F (32C), as the US braces for the hottest weather of the summer averaged across the country.

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‘Everyone is indoors’: life on pause on hottest day of Greek heatwave

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There were few people to be seen in Mystras as temperatures were forecast to reach 46C

“It’s hot,” said Panagiotis Vahaviolos, with some understatement. “So hot it’s a little difficult to move.” On the hottest day of the longest and most intense heatwave to befall Greece since record-keeping began, the restaurateur had sought sanctuary in the shadows to escape the fierce sun.

Neither he, nor anyone else, if they could help it, was moving in Mystras, the settlement beneath the great hilltop fortress that is the country’s most significant Byzantine site. In temperatures nudging 44C, life had come to a standstill. With the exception of holidaymakers who had reached the village’s flag-stoned central square, there were few people to be seen.

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