Category Archives: Extreme weather

India homeless shiver through New Delhi cold snap as scores die from exposure

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City records coldest January day in nearly a decade while temperatures across month plummet 2-6C below normal

India’s capital, New Delhi, is shivering through an unusually harsh bout of winter cold, blamed for killing scores of homeless people and leaving other hard-up residents struggling to keep warm.

The sprawling city’s 20 million inhabitants are accustomed to year-round weather extremes, from blistering summer heat to torrential downpours and thick, toxic smog at the end of autumn.

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Storm Ana: heavy floods hit southern Africa after week of torrential rain – video

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The death toll from tropical Storm Ana, which struck three southern African countries, has risen to 77 as emergency teams work to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of people. Ana made landfall in Madagascar on Monday before tracking across Mozambique and Malawi during the week, bringing high winds and torrential rain

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Dozens killed in Tropical Storm Ana as southern Africa braces for more wild weather

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Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi lashed by high winds and torrential rains, leaving nearly 80 people dead

The death toll from a storm that struck three southern African countries has risen to 77 as emergency teams battled to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of victims.

Tropical Storm Ana made landfall in Madagascar on Monday before ploughing into Mozambique and Malawi through the week, bringing torrential rains

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Aid agencies scale up Storm Ana response amid floods and rising death toll

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Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique worst affected with 77 people reported dead and 80,000 more forced from their homes

Humanitarian agencies have mounted an emergency response across southern Africa this week as the death toll from tropical Storm Ana reached 77.

Officials reported that at least 41 people had been killed in Madagascar, 18 in Mozambique and 11 in Malawi. The EU’s aid agency Echo said on Thursday that at least 350,000 people have been affected across the three countries, including more than 80,000 displaced from their homes. Flooding has cut off roads and damaged power and water supplies.

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At least four killed after tropical Storm Ana hits Malawi and Mozambique

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Search and rescue operations under way as dozens reported missing in region battered by extreme weather in recent years

At least four people have died and dozens are missing after strong winds and heavy downpours wreaked havoc in Malawi and Mozambique as Tropical Storm Ana made landfall on Monday.

Almost 16,000 people in the south of Malawi have been affected, according to the Red Cross, as search and rescue operations continue after the first cyclone of the region’s season. At least two people were killed and 66 injured in Mozambique on Monday and a further two people died on Tuesday in Malawi.

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Big Sur wildfire burns near California highway – video

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Hundreds of people in California were told to evacuate because of a new blaze as authorities were forced to shut one of the state's main highways. Firefighters were battling the blaze that broke out in rugged mountains in Big Sur on Friday night and quickly spread toward the sea, fanned by strong winds of up to 50mph. The blaze burned at least 2.3 square miles of brush and redwood trees

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‘We live and die by it’: climate crisis threatens Bangladesh’s Sundarbans

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Villagers rely more on the forest’s resources, threatening its ecosystem – and leaving them more vulnerable to cyclones

As he steps out of the mosque on the banks of the Kholpetua River, Mohammed Sabud Ali looks out at a view he has seen several times a day for most of his life. But never before has the sprawling Sundarbans mangrove forest felt so important to him.

The vast Sundarbans has always protected Bangladeshi coastal communities from the violent cyclones that regularly crash in from the Bay of Bengal, and they have always harvested its resources. But now, as the climate crisis encroaches, people are becoming even more dependent on the forest.

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Thank you for giving generously to the Guardian and Observer charity appeal

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This weekend is the last chance to donate to our 2021 appeal supporting those on the frontline of the climate emergency

In this year’s Guardian and Observer charity appeal we have supported communities and individuals hit hardest by the climate emergency, people who have seen their lives upended and livelihoods lost by extreme weather. It’s a topical issue, and not going away – and there is still time to donate: so far we have raised over £800,000.

Our appeal is shaped by vivid stories of climate emergency: floods, drought and wildfires; from reindeer killed by unnatural arctic heat to chronic crop failure by the shores of Lake Victoria. At its heart, however, lies inequality and poverty: the stark truth is the countries least responsible for global emissions have by far suffered worst from climate-induced disasters.

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World’s poorest bear brunt of climate crisis: 10 underreported emergencies

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Care International report highlights ‘deep injustice’ neglected by world’s media, as extreme weather along with Covid wipes out decades of progress

From Afghanistan to Ethiopia, about 235 million people worldwide needed assistance in 2021. But while some crises received global attention, others are lesser known.

Humanitarian organisation Care International has published its annual report of the 10 countries that had the least attention in online articles in five languages around the world in 2021, despite each having at least 1 million people affected by conflict or climate disasters.

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At least 22 stranded tourists dead at Pakistan hill station after heavy snowfall – video

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At least 22 tourists died in freezing temperatures after being stranded in their vehicles in northern Pakistan, where thousands had flocked to enjoy the snow. 

Some 1,000 vehicles are still stranded in Murree, 40 miles north-east of the capital Islamabad. 

'The local people are delivering blankets and food. Now we are only allowing vehicles carrying blankets and food towards Murree,' Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's interior minister, said.

Army platoons and paramilitary forces have been deployed to help the civil administration in rescue operations, he said.

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At least 22 dead as heavy snow traps vehicles in Pakistan resort

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Thousands affected at popular destination of Murree with eight of those killed from same family

At least 22 people have died after heavy snow trapped them in their vehicles as tens of thousands of visitors thronged Pakistan’s hill town of Murree, officials have said.

Atiq Ahmed, an Islamabad police officer, said eight of the 22 fatalities were from the family of fellow Islamabad police officer Naveed Iqbal, who also died. All 16 died of hypothermia, officials said.

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Filipinos count cost of climate crisis as typhoons get ever more destructive

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The Philippines adds little to global emissions but faces some of its worst effects in extreme weather. Climate justice is needed

A few days before Christmas, Super-typhoon Rai – known locally as Odette – ravaged the Philippines. The morning after the onslaught, on my way back to Iloilo City from San Jose, Antique, I could see the ocean still boiling; houses blown away and great trees knocked down, making roads impassable. The sights were terrifying.

Lost lives continue to climb two weeks on. Vast numbers of buildings were destroyed – from houses to schools; food crops lost to flooding. At first, I did not know what to feel – anger, helplessness? Later, I knew what I wanted: climate justice.

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Colorado wildfire: up to 1,000 buildings destroyed as Biden declares disaster

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At least seven reported injured while cause of the blaze remains under investigation

Up to 1,000 buildings may have been destroyed in the record wildfire that swept through a Colorado area abutting the Rocky Mountains, as Joe Biden declared the situation a disaster and experts warned that the climate crisis and suburban expansion contributed to the devastation.

After declaring that it was a miracle, based on the latest information, that no one was killed in the fire that roared with little notice through Boulder county on Thursday, officials said that more than 500 and as many as 1,000 homes and businesses may have been razed.

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24C in Spain, 15C in the Alps: oddly warm end to 2021 in parts of Europe

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Records broken in Bilbao and Segovia, and avalanche warnings in Alps where it is too warm even for fake snow

Spain registered record-breaking temperatures this week and areas of the Italian Alps are forecast to reach up to 15C above the seasonal average in the coming days as much of Europe experiences an anomalously warm start to the new year.

In Bilbao, northern Spain, temperatures hit 24.7C, a high not seen since record-keeping began in 1947. In Segovia, near Madrid, 22.7C was recorded, the highest since 1920, and nearby Avila reached 20.2C, its highest since 1983.

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A seed for all seasons: can ancient methods future-proof food security in the Andes?

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In Peru’s remote villages, farmers have used diverse crops to survive unpredictable weather for millennia. Now they are using this knowledge to adapt to the climate crisis

In a pastoral scene that has changed little in centuries, farmers wearing red woollen ponchos gather on a December morning in a semicircle to drink chicha, made from fermented maize, and mutter an invocation to Pachamama – Mother Earth – before sprinkling the dregs on the Andean soil.

Singing in Quechua, the language spread along the vast length of the Andes by the Incas, they hill the soil around plants in the numerous small plots terraced into a patchwork up and down the Peruvian mountainside.

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Typhoon Rai: more than 3m people directly affected in Philippines

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Some areas still cut off a week after disaster, with power outages and shortages of food and clean water

More than 3 million people have been directly affected by the devastation wreaked by Typhoon Rai, which caused widespread power outages and water shortages, and has left some areas completely cut off from relief teams even a week after the disaster.

Rai first hit the Philippines last Thursday, and has been described by the Red Cross as one of the worst typhoons to hit the country in December in five decades. The true scale of the destruction is still unknown because of the extensive communication cuts, and damage to roads, ports and airports.

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‘All I can think about is the children’s future’: drought devastates Kenya

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Nomads’ herds are dying along with rare wildlife as the longest dry spell in memory edges pastoralists ever nearer starvation

Dahabley smells of rotting flesh. Bodies of starved cows lie in various stages of decomposition, after being dragged to the outskirts of the village in Wajir county, north-east Kenya. They are added to on a near-daily basis and fester in the heat amid multiplying flies.

North-east Kenya is well used to spells of drought, but it is experiencing the worst in living memory. As the region’s short rainy season, which starts in October, draws to an end, parts of Wajir have only seen small showers and other areas have had no rain at all for more than a year.

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Aerial footage shows extent of tornado damage in Kentucky – video

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Drone footage has captured the devastation after a series of deadly tornadoes struck Kentucky on Friday. The US president, Joe Biden, declared a major federal disaster in the state, with officials saying the death toll could exceed 100 in Kentucky alone. 

The governor, Andy Beshear, said the tornadoes were the most destructive in the state’s history. One tornado that tore through four states over four hours of nighttime devastation is believed to be the longest distance for a tornado in US history. In Mayfield, a community of about 10,000 in the south-western corner of Kentucky, large twisters also destroyed fire and police stations

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