Category Archives: Extreme weather

Deadly floods and storms affected more than 400,000 people in Europe in 2024

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European State of the Climate report ‘lays bare’ impact of fossil fuels on continent during its hottest 12 months on record

The home-wrecking storms and floods that swept Europe last year affected 413,000 people, a report has found, as fossil fuel pollution forced the continent to suffer through its hottest year on record.

Dramatic scenes of cars piled up on inundated streets and bridges being ripped away by raging torrents were seen around the continent in 2024, with “high” floods on 30% of the European river network and 12% crossing the “severe” flood threshold, according to the European State of the Climate report.

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Outback publican finds hostelry coated in mud as residents return to tiny Queensland outpost after flooding

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Avadale’s one police officer says damage is heartbreaking but locals are resilient – ‘They’ll get it done’

When Koss Siwers returned to his pub in outback Queensland nothing was where he left it and pretty much everything was coated with mud.

Residents of Adavale, 900km west of Brisbane, have started coming back to the tiny outpost after evacuations forced by widespread flooding.

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Chaos in China as cold vortex from Mongolia brings strongest April winds in decades

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Flights cancelled, train services suspended and tourist attractions closed as weather service says wind speeds could surpass records set in 1951

Strong winds caused havoc in Beijing and parts of northern China on Saturday, forcing hundreds of flights to be cancelled, attractions to close and rail lines to be suspended, state media said.

The powerful winds stemmed mainly from a cold vortex system formed over Mongolia that was moving east and south, sweeping across northern China from Friday and through the weekend, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said.

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Tropical Cyclone Errol likely to form off north coast of Western Australia this weekend

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Weather bureau predicts high-pressure system will bring above-average temperatures across south-east Australia

A cyclone is likely to form off the northern coast of Western Australia this weekend, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has warned, as south-east Australia prepares for unseasonably warm weather.

The bureau on Saturday morning issued a warning that a tropical low in the Timor Sea north-west of Darwin was moving south-west and was expected to intensify into a cyclone later in the day.

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Days of severe storms leave 18 dead as rising rivers threaten US south and midwest

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Power and gas shut off in regions as flooding worsens, threatening waterlogged and badly damaged communities

After days of intense rain and wind killed at least 18 people in the US south and midwest, rivers rose and flooding worsened on Sunday in those regions, threatening waterlogged and badly damaged communities.

Utility companies scrambled to shut off power and gas from Texas to Ohio while cities closed roads and deployed sandbags to protect homes and businesses.

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Greece’s Aegean islands reel from ‘lake of mud’ flash floods before Easter rush

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Authorities race to complete clean-up operation after devastation from gales and heaviest rainfall in 20 years

People on the Aegean islands, more used in April to the sight and scent of spring’s blossoms, have been left reeling from flash floods spurred by typhoon-strength gales, with authorities calling a state of emergency in some of Greece’s most popular destinations less than three weeks before Easter.

“It’s a total catastrophe and it happened in just two hours,” said Costas Bizas, the mayor of Paros, the island worst hit by weather not seen in decades. “We need all the help we can get.”

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Queensland’s recovery to ‘take months and years’ after floods sweep across vast interior

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Bureau of Meteorology predicts flooding could continue for weeks as stock losses already estimated at over 150,000

Queensland’s premier has declared “day one” of a recovery that will take years as the state prepares to wake to clear skies that should reveal the vast scale of its outback floods.

But despite forecasts the rain will pass for soaked central and south-west Queensland by Thursday, towns and homesteads could be cut off or at risk of flooding for weeks to come, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior meteorologist, Dean Narramore.

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Small town flown out as ‘dynamic’ flooding hits large parts of Queensland

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Floodwaters have cut roads and isolated central and south-west communities after days of rain, forcing many to flee

Flood warnings remain in place for large parts of Queensland with heavy rainfall to continue on Saturday after significant falls overnight.

Inland parts of the state affected by severe floods in recent days are subject to major flood warnings, including on the Thomson, Barcoo, Bullo, Paroo and Warrego rivers.

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Three dead as Texas-Mexico border hit by severe flooding

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Harlingen receives more than 21in of rain this week, with 200 people still waiting to be rescued from their homes

At least three people have died after severe storms along the Texas-Mexico border, officials said on Friday.

Meanwhile, crews were rescuing residents trapped in their homes by drenching rains a day earlier, which also forced drivers to abandon their vehicles on flooded roads and shut down an airport.

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Stockpile 72 hours of supplies in case of disaster or attack, EU tells citizens

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Bloc’s first preparedness strategy urges people to prepare for floods, fires, pandemics or military strikes

People in the EU are being advised to stockpile enough food, water and essentials for 72 hours as part of a European strategy that aims to increase readiness for catastrophic floods and fires, pandemics and military attacks.

Outlining its first preparedness strategy, the European Commission said it wanted to encourage citizens to take “proactive measures to prepare for crises, such as developing household emergency plans and stockpiling essential supplies”.

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Alaska teen dies in avalanche, the state’s fourth snow slide fatality this month

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Tucker Challan, 16, was found on Sunday after triggering and being buried in an avalanche in Turnagain Pass

A teenager has died after triggering an avalanche, the fourth person killed in snow slides in Alaska this month.

Alaska State Troopers said the body of 16-year-old Tucker Challan of Soldotna was recovered from the avalanche on Sunday by the Alaska mountain rescue group.

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Three wildfires burn more than 3,300 acres in North and South Carolina

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South Carolina governor declares emergency as North Carolina announces mandatory evacuation in Polk county

Three major wildfires that broke out in one North Carolina county still recovering from Hurricane Helene have exploded to burn more than 3,000 acres combined as South Carolina’s governor declared an emergency in response to a growing wildfire in the Blue Ridge mountains.

The North Carolina department of public safety announced a mandatory evacuation starting at 8.20pm on Saturday for parts of Polk county in western North Carolina about 80 miles (129km) west of Charlotte.

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Monster storm system in US south kills at least 35 people

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Several people killed in Kansas dust storm while scattered tornadoes cause fatalities in Missouri

Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the US, wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that killed at least 35 people as more severe weather was expected.

In western Kansas, a dust storm was reported to have killed eight people as high winds produced blowing dust over the interstate, causing collisions of more than 71 vehicles on the I-70.

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Weather tracker: Cyclone Jude causes chaos in Mozambique

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More than 200mm of rain fell in 24 hours, destroying 900 homes and leaving 40,000 people without power

Cyclone Jude was the third cyclone to hit Mozambique this season. First spotted as a depression last Friday to the south-west of the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, it intensified over the next few days to a moderate tropical storm, affecting northern Madagascar on Saturday and killing at least one person.

Jude strengthened into a tropical cyclone as it tracked westwards over the Mozambique Channel, where sea surface temperatures of close to 30C provided the heat and moisture necessary to fuel the cyclone.

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Atmospheric river to wallop California as study finds storms getting worse

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Thunderstorms and high winds forecast for San Francisco Bay while southern California under flood watch

A powerful atmospheric river storm was set to wallop California on Wednesday evening, drenching large swaths of the state with rain and bringing several feet of snow to the mountains – the latest in a wave of intense storms that new research shows are getting worse.

Much of northern California was under a winter storm warning because of the gusty winds and heavy snow in the forecast that the National Weather Service (NWS) said would lead to “difficult to impossible travel conditions”. Severe thunderstorms and high winds were predicted across the San Francisco Bay area, according to reports.

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Argentina flooding: 16 killed as two girls swept away by rising waters

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Authorities warn more fatalities expected as a year’s worth of rain falls on Bahía Blanca in eight hours

Rescue teams in Argentina are searching for two girls, aged one and five, who were swept away by severe floods that ripped through Buenos Aires province, killing at least 16 people.

A year’s worth of rain fell on the city of Bahía Blanca and the town of Cerri on Friday, rapidly inundating neighbourhoods and destroying homes, bridges and roads. The rainfall – 400mm (15.7in) recorded in just eight hours – was more than twice the city’s previous record of 175mm (6.8in) set in 1930.

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Almost 230,000 properties without power as ex-tropical cyclone brings more dangerous rain

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South-east Queensland and northern NSW face further heavy downpours

More than 230,000 households and businesses are without power and flash flooding alerts have been issued for coastal areas in the aftermath of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

The warnings follow heavy rain across southeast Queensland overnight and are clustered around the Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan and Ipswich council areas.

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Gold Coast residents told to ‘take shelter now’ as NSW authorities search for man missing in Cyclone Alfred flood waters

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Almost 100,000 homes in Queensland and NSW were without power on Friday evening as cyclone crawled towards the coast

Millions of people are sheltering from Tropical Cyclone Alfred as it crashes into the coast of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales bringing destructive winds and heavy rain.

The slow-moving weather system was finally expected to make landfall after speeding up overnight on Friday and into Saturday morning as it moved towards Brisbane.

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Tropical Cyclone Alfred live updates: wind and rain intensify as category 2 storm nears south-east Queensland and northern NSW

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BoM path track map predicts TC Alfred will cross coast on Saturday near Brisbane, the first storm of its size to do so in decades. Follow the latest updates today

Welfare recipients told to perform mutual obligations as cyclone bears down

We have a news story this morning about the impact the cyclone is already having on life in Queensland.

Fallen trees and giant stands of bamboo blocked the single road to our farm until the army and council brought heavy machinery to clear a path some time after.

We were without running water or power for days, maybe weeks, the packing shed a makeshift kitchen where we ate meals cooked off a gas barbecue and drank instant coffee made with rainwater and UHT milk to the hum of a generator.

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Welfare recipients told to perform mutual obligations as Tropical Cyclone Alfred bears down on Queensland

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Disability employment provider Help asked jobseekers to perform telephone appointments before later clarifying they were voluntary

Private employment agencies across Queensland have given jobseekers the impression they still need to perform their mutual obligations, despite there being a pause across large swaths of the state while it prepares for Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

The mutual obligations scheme forces jobseekers to complete tasks such as applying for jobs or attending training, or risk their payments being stopped.

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