Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Country faces more than 5,000 fires, with yellow smoke reaching the capital as neighbouring Brazil and Argentina face blazes
Devastating wildfires have broken out across across Paraguay, as drought and record high temperatures continue to exacerbate blazes across South America.
Triple-digit temperatures could spark new fires just a few weeks after a record heatwave
California is bracing for another dangerously warm weekend, with dry winds, parched vegetation, and triple-digit temperatures threatening to ignite new fires and complicating containment efforts in an embattled state.
With only a few weeks’ reprieve after a record heatwave in early September, firefighters have made progress in containing the dozens of blazes tearing across the region. But fatigued crews – many of whom have spent weeks fighting on the frontline – are preparing for a potentially rough week ahead.
Extreme weather, locust invasions and violence have forced people to flee their homes
Millions of people were uprooted from their homes by conflict, violence and natural disasters in the first six months of this year, research has found.
Nearly 15m new internal displacements were recorded in more than 120 countries between January and June by the Swiss-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).
Schoolchildren to protest on Friday in first such action since coronavirus pandemic struck
Schoolchildren around the world are being urged to go on strike to protest against a lack of action on the climate crisis.
Children and their supporters are invited to take to the streets on Friday, if it is safe to do so, or to go online with their protests “in whatever way suits you best”, according to the organisers.
Two dead, one missing and nearly a thousand rescued as floods damage Thessaly
After pounding parts of western and central Greece meteorologists have predicted a rare Mediterranean hurricane is headed south towards the island of Crete.
Authorities struggling to contain the impact of the cyclone – a so-called medicane, named Ianos – said two people had died and at least one was missing as torrential rain and gale-force winds wielded a trail of destruction.
Naming shifts to Greek letters after 21-name list is exhausted
Texas coast prepares for tropical storm Beta
So many powerful storms have formed over the Atlantic this year that for only the second time, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has run out of names, meaning it is now naming tropical storms and hurricanes with letters from the Greek alphabet.
There are 21 names available each year. The list ends with those beginning with W and excludes Q, U, X, Y and Z. Once that list is exhausted, the nomenclature system switches to the Greek alphabet.
Dozens of people are missing and at least 23 people are believed to have been killed as historic wildfires in the western US forced evacuations, stretched fire crews thin and spawned misinformation.
Residents of Portland, Oregon, awoke on Friday to air thick with smoke pollution that dimmed the sun and turned the skies blood-orange red. Hundreds of firefighters are battling two large wildfires that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state.
Washington state’s governor, Jay Inslee, said today that the fires in the state have burned nearly 937 sq miles (2,426km).
“We’ve had this trauma all over Washington,” Inslee said, KHQ-TV reported. The governor was touring the farm town of Malden, which is 35 miles south of Spokane: “But this is the place where the whole heart of the town was torn out.”
Stunned residents of the small Oregon town of Phoenix walked through a scene of devastation Thursday after one of the state’s many wildfires wiped out much of their community, including a mobile home park, houses and businesses, the AP reports on the ground.
There were flames across the street from me, flames to the right of me, flames to the left of me. I just watched everything burn.”
Burned out cars, charred lawn ornaments, rubble. That’s what’s left of this Phoenix mobile home park, which covers abt 20 acres. Flames and smoldering embers still visible here. Everything is blackened by fire.
About a million hectares (2.3m acres) have been burned so far in California as uncontrolled fires driven by high winds and unprecedented temperatures rage across the west coast of the US. The state governor, Gavin Newsom, has said he has 'no patience for climate change deniers' as the experience of the past few days was proof
Rene becomes storm number 17 of the year, forming earlier than the previous record-holder, Rita in 2005
Tropical storm Rene has formed in the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the Atlantic’s earliest R-named storm on record, as the year’s extremely active hurricane season continued.
Rene formed on Monday, breaking the previous record held by Rita in 2005, which formed 18 September.
A fire in California that has burned more than 7,000 acres was caused by a 'pyrotechnic device used at a gender reveal party', according to the the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Almost 12,500 firefighters are battling 22 major fires across the state, according to Cal Fire
Triple-digit temperatures spread over much of the state
Heat sparks new wildfires and one hiker dies on trail
California is sweltering under a record-breaking heatwave this holiday weekend, with dangerous conditions that have sparked several new wildfires and raised widespread public health concerns.
Triple-digit temperatures have spread over much of the state, including a record-high of 125F (52C) in Death Valley on Saturday. In southern California, Malibu authorities reported that one hiker died due to heat while on a trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Dante Addug called his partner as water entered the Gulf Livestock 1 cargo ship but family has not heard from him since
The last time the captain of the Gulf Livestock 1 spoke to his partner, Typhoon Maysak was battering the ship and water was already flowing in. It was 8.30pm on Tuesday.
“He informed her that water had entered the ship. The last thing he said was he will go to the bridge to check the situation,” Maya Addug-Sanchez, the captain’s sister, told the Guardian. Addug’s family hasn’t heard from him since.
Lifeboat spotted but strong winds and rain hamper rescue of crew from Philippines, New Zealand and Australia
The Japanese coastguard is looking for a cargo ship carrying livestock and dozens of crew members that went missing after issuing a distress signal during typhoon Maysak.
The Panamanian-registered vessel, called Gulf Livestock 1, sent the distress call from the East China Sea, to the west of Amami Oshima Island in south-western Japan, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.
Six fatalities recorded in Louisiana, including a teen girl who died after a tree fell on her home and a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning
Hurricane Laura, the most powerful hurricane to strike the US this year, moved across Louisiana on a northerly path on Thursday, after threatening an “unsurvivable storm surge” on the coast and tropical force weather as far as Tennessee.
The storm slammed into western Louisiana overnight with gusts of up to 150mph and could cause “catastrophic conditions”, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Not until 11 hours after landfall did it finally weaken.
Lake Charles felt the full force of Hurricane Laura and now residents who rode out the disaster are picking up the pieces
Classie Ballou lives on the fifth floor of Chateau du Lac, an eight-story retirement home in the Louisiana city of Lake Charles. “I made it through Rita,” he said from a park bench in the rubble of downtown as he reflected on the fury of Hurricane Laura that had just roared through his home town. “Honestly, I thought it wasn’t going to be that bad.”
He shook his head. “If I were doing it over, I would leave.”
As Hurricane Laura has weakened slightly, the national weather service in Houston has been able to relax slightly some of the warnings that were in place, and has reduced the scope of the areas facing southeast Texas.
Here's the latest advisory on Hurricane Laura (4AM CDT). Laura has weakened slightly as it moves northward over Louisiana, but remains as a major hurricane with max sustained winds of 120 mph.
Weather conditions this month include soaring temperatures and earliest-forming ‘J’ storm
A heatwave has brought sweltering conditions to much of north-west Europe and the UK this month. Temperatures have exceeded 30C (86F) across France for several days, climbing to the low 40s in the south-west of the country. The heat has exacerbated a drought, with 72 of 96 regional departments subject to water restrictions.
Europe is not alone in experiencing intense heat. High temperatures in California have resulted in increased demand for electricity as residents increasingly rely on air conditioning.
Large wildfires can heat air so much that huge clouds develop and in strong winds these can rotate and sometimes produce a tornado
A wildfire in northern California spawned at least one fire tornado – or “firenado” – on Saturday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning as the state continues to endure a heatwave and wildfires.
“Extremely dangerous fire behavior noted on the #LoyaltonFire! Rotating columns and potential for fire whirls,” NWS Reno tweeted on Saturday.
At least eight people dead after storm sparks flash floods on island of Evia
The body of a man missing after a storm sparked flash floods on the Greek island of Evia over the weekend has been recovered, Greece’s coastguard has said, bringing the death toll from the storm to eight.
Rescue crews had been searching for the 72-year-old since Sunday when he was reported missing after flooding swept away cars and sent residents of some villages scrambling to their roofs to await rescue.