Category Archives: Extreme weather

Spain braces for more rain after hail piles up during violent storms

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Cold front heads towards east of country and Balearics as Madrid reels from flash-floods

Parts of eastern Spain and the Balearic islands are bracing for heavy rains after Madrid and the surrounding area were battered by violent storms, torrential hail, and flash flooding.

Roads around the Spanish capital were flooded, flights diverted from Barajas airport and underground services affected on Monday night as an isolated depression at high levels moved across the centre of the Iberian peninsula.

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Weatherwatch: 2018 heatwave left people praying for rain

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While temperatures in the UK were just about tolerable last summer, Europe faced serious extremes

Last year brought the summer of the heatwave. As Britain baked in sunshine, the England men’s football team even managed to reach a World Cup semi-final.

But while temperatures in Britain remained just the right side of uncomfortably hot, much of Europe experienced serious extremes, in the continent’s warmest August on record. And far from being confined to the area around the Mediterranean, even Scandinavia had worryingly hot weather.

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Lightning strikes kill five and injure 100 in Poland and Slovakia

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Dead include two children after thunderstorm in trekking location in the Tatra mountains

At least five people, including two children, have died and more than 100 have been injured during a sudden thunderstorm in Poland and Slovakia’s Tatra mountains, according to rescuers.

Most of the victims were in Poland, where lightning struck a metal cross atop Mount Giewont as well as a metal chain near the summit, according to local media. The four dead in Poland included two children, a spokeswoman for the Polish air ambulance service, Kinga Czerwinska, told the news broadcaster TVN24. One person died in Slovakia.

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Typhoon Lekima: 30 killed in eastern China after landslide

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Thousands of flights cancelled as natural dam collapses north of Wenzhou

A powerful typhoon left at least 30 people dead in China, after a landslide backed up a river that broke through debris and inundated homes, state media reported on Sunday.

Another 20 people remained missing, the official Xinhua News Agency said, and more than a million people were evacuated, state broadcaster CCTV has reported.

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I followed the advice for Paris’s hottest day – it didn’t help | Megan Clement

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From walking the dog at midnight to a dip in the canal, I tested the heatwave plan as the city reached 42.6C. Here’s how it went

Last week, as Paris faced down its hottest day since records began, the city authorities declared their readiness. Since the notorious heatwave of 2003 that killed thousands across France, the capital has put in place a heat strategy: cooling areas, a checking system for vulnerable people, shady parks kept open all night.

Could these strategies actually work against a predicted record temperature of 42C (107.6F)? A study released this week shows that the world has never warmed faster than now. By 2050, the average temperature in the hottest month in Paris will rise by six degrees. This heatwave might be the new normal.

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Indian navy rescues more than 800 people from train stranded in floodwaters

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Mahalaxmi Express stuck for about 12 hours near Mumbai when river burst its banks after torrential rain

Indian navy helicopters and emergency service boats came to the rescue of more than 800 people stranded on a train in floods near Mumbai on Saturday. Some reports have the number of people affected at over 1,000.

The Mahalaxmi Express left Mumbai late on Friday for Kolhapur but travelled only 60 kilometres (37 miles) before it became stranded after a river burst its banks in torrential rain, covering the tracks.

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All-time temperature records tumble again as heatwave sears Europe

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Highs in Germany, Netherlands and Belgium exceeded for second time in 24 hours

Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have recorded all-time national temperature highs for the second day running and Paris has had its hottest day ever as the second dangerous heatwave of the summer sears western Europe.

The extreme temperatures follow a similar heatwave last month that made it the hottest June on record. Scientists say the climate crisis is making summer heatwaves five times more likely and significantly more intense.

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Netherlands and Belgium record highest ever temperatures

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All-time records in Germany and Luxembourg could also fall in continent-wide heatwave

The Netherlands and Belgium have recorded their highest ever temperatures as the second extreme heatwave in consecutive months to be linked by scientists to the climate emergency advances across the continent.

The Dutch meteorological service, KNMI, said the temperature reached 39.1C (102F) at Gilze-Rijen airbase near the southern city of Tilburg on Wednesday afternoon, exceeding the previous high of 38.6C set in August 1944.

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Paris authorities scotch rumours of radioactive tap water as ‘fake news’

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Viral message claims water has harmful tritium levels as country faces heatwave

As France faces a scorching new heatwave this week, Paris authorities have urged residents to keep calm and carry on drinking tap water after rumours spread that the capital’s water supplies had been contaminated with harmful levels of the radioactive isotope tritium.

The Paris region prefecture insisted the city’s tap water did not present any risk for public health and said rumours circulating on social media were “fake news”.

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Hurricane Barry: storm strengthens as officials warn of heavy rain to come

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  • New Orleans residents told to seek shelter as 50,000 lose power
  • NHC director details ‘amazing amount of moisture’

Tropical Storm Barry strengthened into a category one hurricane on Saturday as it neared the Louisiana coast, threatening millions with heavy rains and storm surge. The storm was expected to weaken after it moved inland but forecasters encouraged residents in New Orleans to be patient and stay vigilant.

More than 12 hours after city officials anticipating crippling and potentially historic flooding told residents to “shelter in place”, a few rays of sun peeked through the clouds on Saturday morning, adding a glint to the mostly dry city streets.

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Greece: 20-minute storm kills six tourists in Halkidiki – video report

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Six people have been killed and dozens more injured in fierce storms in northern Greece. Strong winds and hail hit the popular Halkidiki region near the city of Thessaloniki late on Wednesday. Television footage showed overturned cars, fallen trees, torn roofs and mudslides. The freak storm lasted about 20 minutes, according to witnesses interviewed by the state broadcaster ERT

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‘Biggest compliment yet’: Greta Thunberg welcomes oil chief’s ‘greatest threat’ label

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Activists say comments by Opec head prove world opinion is turning against fossil fuels

Greta Thunberg and other climate activists have said it is a badge of honour that the head of the world’s most powerful oil cartel believes their campaign may be the “greatest threat” to the fossil fuel industry.

The criticism of striking students by the trillion-dollar Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) highlights the growing reputational concerns of oil companies as public protests intensify along with extreme weather.

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Climate change made European heatwave at least five times likelier

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Searing heat shows crisis is ‘here and now’, say scientists, and worse than predicted

The record-breaking heatwave that struck France and other European nations in June was made at least five – and possibly 100 – times more likely by the climate crisis, scientists have calculated.

Such heatwaves are also about 4C hotter than a century ago, the researchers said. Furthermore, the heatwaves hitting Europe are more frequent and more severe than climate models have predicted, they said.

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Firefighters battle forest blaze in central Spain

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With 38C forecast, emergency services work to contain fire in Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid region

Firefighters in central Spain are battling strong winds and high temperatures as they struggle to control a fire that has already destroyed over 5,000 acres in the provinces of Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid.

The fire broke out in Almorox near Toledo on Friday just as the one in Tarragona province in north-east Spain was brought under control, having reduced some 15,000 acres of woodland to ashes.

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France records all-time highest temperature of 45.9C

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Record for mainland France falls in southern commune of Gallargues-le-Montueux as Europe swelters in heatwave

France recorded temperatures nearly two degrees higher than its previous record and firefighters continued to battle historic wildfires in Spain as much of western Europe remained in the grip of an extreme early-summer heatwave on Friday.

The French state weather forecaster, Météo-France, said the temperature in Gallargues-le-Montueux in the Gard département hit 45.9C at 4.20pm on Friday.

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‘Hell is coming’: week-long heatwave begins across Europe

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Temperatures could hit 40C from Spain to Switzerland, with authorities urging children and older people to stay indoors

Authorities have urged children and older people to stay indoors and issued severe warnings against dehydration and heatstroke as an unprecedented week-long heatwave begins its advance across continental Europe.

Meteorologists said temperatures would reach or even exceed 40C from Spain to Switzerland as hot air was sucked up from the Sahara by the combination of a storm stalling over the Atlantic and high pressure over central Europe.

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Continental Europe braced for ‘potentially dangerous’ heatwave

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High pressure pulling hot air northward from Africa will send temperatures soaring

A potentially record-breaking heatwave is forecast to grip much of continental Europe next week, with temperatures in cities from Spain to Germany expected to exceed 32C and climb to more than 38C or even 40C in the hottest areas.

The combination of a storm stalled over the Atlantic and high pressure over central Europe would pull very hot air from Africa northward, leading to a “potentially dangerous heatwave over a large portion of western and central Europe”, forecaster AccuWeather said.

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Chennai in crisis as authorities blamed for dire water shortage

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Four reservoirs supplying India’s sixth largest city dry up as state accused of inaction

Authorities in Chennai have been criticised for failing to deal with a crippling water shortage that has brought the Indian city to crisis point, leaving taps dry in homes and forcing schools, offices and restaurants to close as temperatures soar.

The four reservoirs supplying the bulk of the city’s drinking water have completely dried up, leading the Chennai Metro Water to cut the water it provides by about 40%.

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Climate crisis seriously damaging human health, report finds

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National academies say effects include spread of diseases and worse mental health

A report by experts from 27 national science academies has set out the widespread damage global heating is already causing to people’s health and the increasingly serious impacts expected in future.

Scorching heatwaves and floods will claim more victims as extreme weather increases but there are serious indirect effects too, from spreading mosquito-borne diseases to worsening mental health.

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