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Continue reading...Category Archives: Extreme weather
‘I thought I was a goner’: survivors detail harrowing stories of Canada mudslides
Emergency crews continue search for victims after flash floods tear through region
Emergency crews in western Canada continued searching on Friday for victims of flash floods and mudslides which tore through the region this week, as survivors described harrowing escapes from the disaster.
British Columbia declared its third state of emergency in a year on Wednesday after a month’s worth of rain fell in two days, swamping towns and cities, blocking major highways and leaving much of the province under water.
Continue reading...Canada storm: floods could lead to country-wide shortages as air force deployed to British Columbia– live
Latest updates: Canadian Armed Forces deployed to help residents after massive disruption around Vancouver and rest of province
It might seem trivial compared to the devastation caused, but Reuters is reporting that the floods could mean the US might suffer a Christmas tree shortage this year.
Canada is the world’s top exporter of natural Christmas trees, exporting about 2.3 million trees per year, with some 97% going to the US.
Continue reading...Aerial footage shows aftermath of catastrophic floods that hit British Columbia – video
Aerial footage shows the extent of catastrophic floods in mountain areas of Canada's British Columbia province. A powerful storm dumped a month’s worth of rain in two days across parts of the Pacific north-west in Canada and the US. Concerns are rising over remote mountain areas that have been hit with freezing temperatures
- ‘Mountainsides just collapsed’: Pacific north-west grapples with catastrophic floods
- How bad is the Pacific north-west flooding and what caused it?
- Pacific north-west storm wreaks havoc, with one dead and Vancouver cut off
Pacific north-west grapples with floods as troops deployed to British Columbia
Water levels show signs of dropping in Washington state while at least one dead in Canada and more fatalities feared
Troops have been deployed to British Columbia to help stranded residents and search areas hit by landslides and floods after a powerful storm dumped a month’s worth of rain in two days across a swath of the Pacific north-west in Canada and the US.
South of the border in Washington state, water levels showed signs of dropping on Wednesday after floods damaged three-quarters of the homes in the border town of Sumas, leaving 1,600 residents without power and forcing hundreds to flee.
Continue reading...Pacific north-west storm wreaks havoc, with one dead and Vancouver cut off
Fears death toll will rise after record rainfall destroys highways and leaves tens of thousands in the US and Canada without power
At least one person has been killed and several more are feared dead after a huge storm hit the Pacific north-west, destroying highways and leaving tens of thousands of people in Canada and the US without power.
Canada’s largest port was cut off by flood waters, as emergency crews in British Columbia announced on Tuesday that at least 10 vehicles had been swept off a highway during a landslide.
Continue reading...Stop talking, start acting, says Africa’s first extreme heat official
Rising temperatures are already killing people in Sierra Leone’s Freetown, says Eugenia Kargbo, who is planning how best to protect the hundreds of thousands living in informal settlements
When she was growing up, Eugenia Kargbo could have a leisurely stroll, jog or cycle around the streets of Freetown. But that easy life no longer exists in Sierra Leone’s capital for her two children. The city is so swelteringly hot that children run the constant risk of sunburn or heat rashes if they are outdoors for very long.
“Over the past 10 years, there has been a dramatic change,” says Kargbo, 34, who has been appointed as Freetown’s chief heat officer – the first such post in Africa and only the third globally, after Athens and Miami.
Continue reading...‘Living from flood to flood’: the crisis of Gambia’s sinking city
As well as floods, sewage and crocodiles, those living in Banjul’s slums face the effects of a climate crisis they did little to cause
Yedel Bah would move home if she could, but she can’t. With no income of her own, four children to feed and a husband who just about manages, her family lives from day to day, and from flood to flood, on the banks of a litter-strewn, stagnant canal.
Every rainy season, the neighbourhood of Tobacco Road in the Gambian capital, Banjul, braces for downpours of such intensity that the canal overflows, spilling its murky, pungent depths into the slum-like homes that run alongside it.
Continue reading...Australia news live update: net zero modelling released; Morrison comments on Aukus fallout
Federal government releases net zero modelling; Scott Morrison says ‘of course the French are upset’; Australia passes 90% first dose Covid vaccination milestone; Victoria records 1,115 cases and nine deaths; NSW records 286 cases and two deaths; state funeral for Bert Newton. Follow all the day’s news
- Affirmative consent laws to be introduced in Victoria in ‘incredible step forward’
- Voluntary assisted dying: Perrottet speaks of sick grandmother as he opposes NSW bill
- Eastern Australia braces for more wet and stormy weather with widespread flood warnings
- Watch: Scott Morrison says he has never lied in public office
- Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing
Accused drug smuggler Mostafa Baluch is due to appear before NSW court today after he was recaptured, extradited from the Gold Coast and slapped with an additional outstanding arrest warrant charge.
It’s alleged that Baluch is the financier behind a 900kg shipment of cocaine into Australia, and was on the run for nearly two weeks after allegedly cutting off his ankle monitor.
Continue reading...‘See these glaciers, before they melt’: living on the frontline of global heating
From extreme weather obliterating homes to rising sea levels ruining crops, climate breakdown is a terrifying daily reality for many
Throughout the 2021 United Nations climate change conference, the Guardian will be publishing the stories of the people whose lives have been upended – sometimes devastated – by the climate breakdown.
Continue reading...‘Killing us slowly’: dams and drought choke Syria’s water supply – in pictures
The dwindling flow of the Euphrates River combined with Turkey’s occupation of Alouk water station has disrupted access to water for 460,000 people
- Photographs by Daniela Sala
- World’s ‘calamitous’ water crisis being ignored in climate talks – WaterAid
Kenya’s water crisis leaves villagers at risk of violence and disease – in pictures
As rivers run dry, the desperate search for water has led to a rise in domestic abuse, conflict and illness
All photos by Cyril Zannettacci/Agence Vu for Action Against Hunger
Continue reading...‘Apocalypse soon’: reluctant Middle East forced to open eyes to climate crisis
With the region warming twice as fast as the rest of the world but oil spoils keeping regimes in power, leaders are in a bind
Northern Oman has just been battered by Cyclone Shaheen, the first tropical cyclone to make it that far west into the Gulf. Around Basra in southern Iraq this summer, pressure on the grid owing to 50C heat led to constant blackouts, with residents driving around in their cars to stay cool.
Kuwait broke the record for the hottest day ever in 2016 at 53.6, and its 10-day rolling average this summer was equally sweltering. Flash floods occurred in Jeddah, and more recently Mecca, while across Saudi Arabia average temperatures have increased by 2%, and the maximum temperatures by 2.5%, all just since the 1980s. In Qatar, the country with the highest per capita carbon emissions in the world and the biggest producer of liquid gas, the outdoors is already being air conditioned.
Continue reading...‘It still gives me nightmares’: the firefighters on the frontline as the world burns
As global heating sees a surge in wildfires, we hear from those tackling the blazes, who face injury, death and trauma, often without proper equipment or support
- Current approach to wildfires risks lives and wastes money, say experts
- Read more in the Harmed by heat series
In Greece, fires take up a lot of resources. There isn’t enough money to recruit the number of [firefighters] needed or to buy the necessary equipment. Volunteers plug the gaps.
Continue reading...Current approach to wildfires risks lives and wastes money, say experts
Researchers call for new firefighting techniques that focus on managing landscapes, as global heating sees increase in blazes
- ‘It still gives me nightmares’: the firefighters on the frontline as the world burns
- Read more in the Harmed by heat series
A new approach is urgently needed to tackle global wildfires as current methods are no longer working, draining the public purse and placing lives at risk, according to experts.
This summer saw some of the worst wildfires in history and underscored the destructive impacts of global heating. As Cop26 approaches and is expected to shine a light on the importance of protecting ecosystems and building defences to avoid loss of homes and lives, experts say a lack of foresight and funding worldwide means harmful wildfires will continue to rage, putting communities and firefighters in danger.
Continue reading...US west coast braces for ‘atmospheric river’ as huge storm brews
Northern California faces flash flood risk and threat of mudslides, especially in fire-charred areas
A huge Pacific storm is poised to unleash conditions known as an “atmospheric river”, with torrential rains and strong winds putting about 10 million people at risk of flash floods in parts of northern California this weekend.
The incoming tempest has raised fears of mudslides, especially in areas charred during record-setting wildfires this summer.
Continue reading...Too hot to handle: can our bodies withstand global heating?
Extreme heat can kill or cause long-term health problems – but for many unendurable temperatures are the new normal
The impact of extreme heat on the human body is not unlike what happens when a car overheats. Failure starts in one or two systems, and eventually it takes over the whole engine until the car stops.
That’s according to Mike McGeehin, environmental health epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “When the body can no longer cool itself it immediately impacts the circulatory system. The heart, the kidneys, and the body become more and more heated and eventually our cognitive abilities begin to desert us – and that’s when people begin fainting, eventually going into a coma and dying.”
Continue reading...China floods: bus falls into river as heavy rains destroy homes
At least three people dead and 11 others missing after incident in flood-hit Hebei province
A bus has fallen into a river in northern China, leaving at least three people dead and 11 others missing after flooding from heavy rains destroyed homes and covered farmland in two provinces.
Video posted online showed people on top of an almost submerged bus in a rushing river flowing over a nearby bridge outside the city of Shijiazhuang, about 165 miles (265km) south-west of Beijing.
Continue reading...Brazil: massive sandstorm smothers parts of São Paulo state – video
A sandstorm made by powerful winds whipping up dust from the ground has engulfed Barretos and surrounding towns north of the city of São Paulo. The storms were triggered by the worst drought to hit Brazil in nine decades, which depleted hydroelectric reservoirs, forcing the grid operator to fire up more expensive thermoelectric plants and the government to implement a 'water scarcity' power rate.
Continue reading...Record rainfall in Italy as extreme weather lashes country – video
Parts of Italy have been hit by extreme weather, with records broken for the amount of rainfall and St Mark's Square in Venice flooded. The commune of Rossiglione in Genoa, Liguria, received 74cm (29.2in) of rain in 12 hours, a European record, while Sicily was also battered by heavy rain and strong winds
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