Category Archives: Extreme weather

‘A sample of hell’: Rohingya forced to rebuild camps again after deadly floods

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At least 21,000 refugees displaced after heavy rain devastates Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the area

The process of rebuilding has begun once again for Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh after a week of heavy rains made thousands homeless.

The chest-high waters that flowed through parts of Cox’s Bazar have exposed the vulnerability of the area’s unplanned settlements, which have to be repeatedly repaired and rebuilt after flooding, cyclones and fires.

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Extreme heat cooks mussels in their shells on Canada coast – video

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More than 1bn marine animals along Canada’s Pacific coast are likely to have died in this year’s heatwave, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems unaccustomed to extreme temperatures. Christopher Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, walks along the shore of Porteau Cove Provincial Park in British Columbia. The crunch heard in the video is the shells of dead mussels underfoot that perished during low tide as temperatures spiked across the region

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Climate crisis: what one month of extreme weather looks like – video

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In the last month, devastating weather extremes have hit regions across the world. From flash floods in Belgium to deadly temperatures in the US, from wildfires in Siberia to landslides in India, it has been an unprecedented period of chaotic weather. Climate scientists have long predicted that human-caused climate disruption would lead to more flooding, heatwaves, droughts, storms and other forms of extreme weather, but even they have been shocked by the scale of these scenes


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At least six Rohingya refugees killed as floods hit camps in Bangladesh

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Shelters swept away as activists say people stuck in Cox’s Bazar are highly vulnerable to the ‘rapidly changing climate’

At least six Rohingya refugees were killed by landslides or drowned in flooding after rain inundated refugee camps in Bangladesh over recent days, deepening the despair among those living there.

Knee-deep waters coursed through the camps, battering fragile shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin and making at least 5,000 people homeless, according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).

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New Zealand rated best place to survive global societal collapse

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Study citing ‘perilous state’ of industrial civilisation ranks temperate islands top for resilience

New Zealand, Iceland, the UK, Tasmania and Ireland are the places best suited to survive a global collapse of society, according to a study.

The researchers said human civilisation was “in a perilous state” due to the highly interconnected and energy-intensive society that had developed and the environmental damage this had caused.

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Violent hailstorm smashes windscreens and halts traffic in northern Italy – video

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A violent hailstorm in northern Italy brought part of the highway between Milan and Naples to a brief standstill on Monday. Hundreds of cars were damaged as the hail battered their windscreens, forcing drivers to pull up by the roadside, and causing authorities to close some of the route for a short time. A number of people were hurt, mainly by glass shards from cracked windscreens. No one is believed to have been seriously injured

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‘Record-shattering’ heat becoming much more likely, says climate study

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More heatwaves even worse than those seen recently in north-west of America forecast in research

“Record-shattering” heatwaves, even worse than the one that recently hit north-west America, are set to become much more likely in future, according to research. The study is a stark new warning on the rapidly escalating risks the climate emergency poses to lives.

The shocking temperature extremes suffered in the Pacific north-west and in Australia 2019-2020 were “exactly what we are talking about”, said the scientists. But they said the world had yet to see anything close to the worst impacts possible, even under the global heating that had already happened.

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‘There’s nothing left in Lytton’: the Canadian village destroyed by wildfire – picture essay

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The fire that devastated Lytton is still burning – and First Nation residents say the lack of help from the British Columbia government has been ‘sickening’

Vince Abbott had an afternoon of fishing planned – he was going angling for spring salmon in the nearby river – when he heard shouts of panic and felt a searing heat.

After three punishing days of record-breaking temperatures in the Canadian village of Lytton earlier this month, Abbott was accustomed to the discomfort of the dry, sometimes overpowering, summer heat. But this felt different.

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‘We need a lot of help’: Germans sift through debris after devastating floods

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Trucks, diggers and volunteers try to clear mud and ruined belongings from wrecked homes and businesses

A brown line one and a half metres high on the kitchen wall marks where the waters reached when Christian Ulrich’s house was inundated. The electrician stands amid the mud-splattered walls and his voice breaks as he recalls how he had barely enough time after the warning came to reach the cellar to get food and water and send his mother up the stairs. He had just managed to let in the neighbours who had banged on the door for help, when there was an “almighty crash – like an explosion” as a huge wave of water rolled in from the back and front of the house, so strong it pushed out the front door and many of the windows.

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Home swept away by flood waters in Turkey – video

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Footage shows the moment a house collapsed and was swept away in flood waters gushing through the streets of the Black Sea town of Arhavi, Turkey, on Thursday. Local media reports said nobody was hurt in the incident.

Access to dozens of villages in Artvin province were blocked and rescue efforts were under way, with officials saying 200 people had been evacuated. Floods are common along Turkey’s Black Sea coastal region at this time of year. Last week, at least six people were killed and two others went missing in flood waters in the province of Rize

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‘There’s magic in misery’: ultramarathon runners cross Death Valley – in a drought

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A hundred athletes are picked each year for the 135-mile race. This time the climate was especially brutal

In the Badwater Basin at the bottom of California’s Death Valley, the air feels like a giant hair dryer and the pavement can melt the soles of your shoes.

Yet on Monday night, 100 of the world’s top endurance runners set off on what has become known as “the world’s toughest foot race”, carving 135 miles of terrain through one of the planet’s most extreme climates at the most intense time of year.

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China floods: death toll climbs as questions raised over preparedness

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Public scrutiny has focused on contradictory statements from local media and differences between posts by authorities and public

The official death toll from central China’s devastating floods has risen to 33, as the public began to ask questions about the readiness of authorities for the disaster.

Cleanup efforts were under way in Henan province and the capital city Zhengzhou on Thursday, after a record breaking rain storm flooded the city’s streets and subway, damaged dams and reservoirs, collapsed roads, cut power to at least one hospital and was linked to a massive explosion at a factory in Dengfeng city.

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More than 80 wildfires rage across western US – video report

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The Bootleg fire in Oregon, now roughly the size of Los Angeles, is so intense that it has created its own weather system, causing winds that have further fanned its flames. It has been burning for two weeks and barely a third of its perimeter has been contained. The Dixie fire in California exploded in size to roughly 94 sq miles (243 sq km) on Tuesday, and is only 15% contained. It broke out on 13 July

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Aerial shots of New York show hazy skies from western US wildfires – video

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New York officials have told vulnerable people to stay indoors because of sooty air pollution from wildfires in western US states that have drifted across the country. Residents of New York City, 2,000 miles away from the blazes, witnessed a fiery sunrise on Tuesday. The Bootleg fire in Oregon has become so large and hot it is creating its own weather system, causing winds that have further fanned its flames

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Thunderstorms and lightning threaten to spur more fires in US west

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More than 80 major wildfires currently burning in western states as Bootleg fire reaches 537 sq miles

Oregon’s explosive summer of wildfire is threatening to escalate further, with thunderstorms and lightning set to spur more of the blazes that have torn through much of a parched, dangerously hot US west this year.

Related: Heat exhaustion, apocalyptic scenes: what it’s like fighting the US’s biggest wildfire

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Huge Oregon blaze grows as wildfires burn across western US

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Bootleg Fire, largest wildfire in US and one of at least 70 wildfires, torches more dry forest landscape in Oregon

The largest wildfire in the US torched more dry forest landscape in Oregon on Sunday, one of dozens of major blazes burning across the west as critically dangerous fire weather loomed in the coming days.

The destructive Bootleg Fire just north of the California border grew to more than 476 sq miles (1,210 sq km), an area about the size of Los Angeles.

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At least 70 large wildfires burning in US west as fears mount over conditions

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Bootleg is now the largest US forest fire at 281,208 acres and just 22% contained as ‘excessive heat’ forecast

At least 70 large wildfires are burning across the US west and nearby states – engulfing more than 1m acres in flames – as fears mount that shifting conditions can worsen an already dire situation. Significant areas of these states are in the grips of drought conditions that are considered “extreme” and “exceptional” – the most severe categories.

Related: Heat exhaustion, apocalyptic scenes: what it’s like fighting the US’s biggest wildfire

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