Category Archives: Flooding

East Libya postpones Derna reconstruction conference amid calls for unity

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Rival governments urged to work together to best manage donations for city after catastrophic flooding

The government in eastern Libya has been forced to postpone a reconstruction conference for the stricken city of Derna amid concerns about how donations will be spent and a lack of coordination with the west of the country.

A large part of Derna was destroyed on the night of 10 September when severe flooding caused two dams above the town to burst. The death toll has been put at more than 10,000, but no official figure is yet deemed accurate.

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New York declares state of emergency amid heavy rainfall and flash flooding

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About 8.5 million people under flash flood warnings with 1-2in of rain an hour expected in Brooklyn and Queens

Parts of New York City were swamped with dangerous flash flooding on Friday as intense rainfall continued after pouring all night, and a state of emergency was declared amid warnings from officials that the deluge could turn deadly.

About 8.5 million people were under flash flood warnings in the New York City area, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The city’s concrete and pavement exacerbated flooding, as overwhelmed sewers failed to adequately drain rainwater during the heavy and sustained downpours.

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Weather tracker: South Africa floods kill at least 11 people

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Cape Town mayor declares major incident as roads closed and 80,000 people left without electricity

Extreme rain and strong winds across South Africa’s Western Cape province have caused flooding, torn off roofs, destroyed crops and damaged roads this week. It is estimated that the 48-hour rainfall totals between Sunday and Monday were between 100mm to 200mm (4-8in) in this region.

According to the Cape Town Disaster Risk Management Centre, 12,000 people were affected, but a further 80,000 people were left without electricity, according to the national power utility. The mayor of Cape Town signed a major incident declaration for additional resources and relief measures as 80 roads have been closed, 200 farm workers have been stranded and rail services have been suspended in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces.

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Officials detained as Libya awaits inquiry into deadly floods

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Eight questioned over claims that negligence and mistakes contributed to disaster in which thousands died

Libya’s chief prosecutor has ordered the detention of eight current and former officials pending a full inquiry into the collapse of two dams during torrential rain that left thousands dead in the port city of Derna this month.

There have been widespread claims that local officials knew the dams were too weak to withstand flooding but for various reasons no structural repairs were undertaken. The Libyan State Audit Bureau has submitted evidence that funds were made available for repair work that was never undertaken.

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‘The least we can do is care for their children’: Libyans rally to protect Derna’s orphans

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Hundreds of traumatised children are thought to have lost their families in disaster

People in western Libya have rallied round to provide care and breastmilk for young children orphaned by the devastating floods that hit the coastal city of Derna on 10 September.

Hundreds of traumatised babies and young children are thought to have lost their parents in Derna, where whole neighbourhoods were wiped out after two dams broke.

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Queenstown declares state of emergency after flooding hits New Zealand tourist hub

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Town facing twin crises after already putting in place a boil water notice following a parasite outbreak

Queenstown declared a state of emergency after heavy rains caused flooding, compounding problems for New Zealand’s biggest tourist town which had already put in place a boil water notice over water parasite fears.

More than 100 people were evacuated on Thursday after rains caused “several flooding and debris events” according to Queenstown Lakes mayor Glyn Lewers.

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Global heating made Greece and Libya floods more likely, study says

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Report says climate change made rainfall heavier but human factors turned extreme weather into humanitarian disaster

Carbon pollution led to heavier rains and stronger floods in Greece and Libya this month but other human factors were responsible for “turning the extreme weather into a humanitarian disaster”, scientists have said.

Global heating made the levels of rainfall that devastated the Mediterranean in early September up to 50 times more likely in Libya and up to 10 times more likely in Greece, according to a study from World Weather Attribution that used established methods but had not yet been peer-reviewed.

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Eastern Libya orders journalists out of flood-hit Derna after protests

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Media crackdown follows reports that police officers had detained and questioned Libyan reporters

Libya’s eastern government has ordered journalists to leave Derna after angry protests against the authorities a week after a flood killed thousands of residents.

Hundreds of people gathered on Monday outside Sahaba mosque in the city, chanting slogans. Some sat on its gold-domed roof. Later in the evening, a crowd set fire to the house of the man who was Derna’s mayor at the time of the disaster, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi.

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Libya flood: international aid arrives as authorities open investigation

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WHO says aid to help 250,000 people has arrived in Benghazi as death toll estimated at more than 11,000

International aid is arriving in Libya from the UN, Europe and Middle Eastern countries, offering some relief to thousands after flooding submerged the port city of Derna.

The World Health Organization said “the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified”, with 9,000 more still missing, as it announced 29 tonnes of aid had arrived in the eastern city of Benghazi, enough to help 250,000 people.

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Libyan authorities seal off most of flood-hit Derna in effort to limit deaths

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Only emergency workers to be allowed into devastated area over fears of contamination from dead bodies in limited water supply

Libyan authorities have largely sealed off the flood-devastated port town of Derna from civilians in an effort to give space to emergency aid workers and amid concern that contamination of standing water may add to the already horrific death toll.

Salem Al-Ferjani, director general of the ambulance and emergency service in eastern Libya, said that only search and rescue teams would be allowed to enter parts of the town most affected by the flooding that has left at least 11,000 dead according to official projections. Many citizens have already left the town voluntarily.

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‘The waters carried my son away in front of my eyes’: anguished Libyans mourn lost loved ones

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Relatives grieve and search in desperation as Derna’s mayor fears death toll from floods may exceed 20,000

Omar al-Rifadi has been searching for his missing 20-year-old daughter ever since disaster struck the Libyan city of Derna on Sunday, when she disappeared, lost in the darkness amid a catastrophic flood that claimed the lives of thousands and swept many into the sea.

“I walked on foot to look for her. I went to all the hospitals and schools. But luck was not on my side,” the 52-year-old said, tears streaming down his face.

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Libya’s floods are result of climate crisis meeting a failed state

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Storm Daniel was by no means the only factor behind the devastation wrought on the city of Derna

When the climate crisis meets a failed state, the outcome is the kind of disaster that Libya is witnessing in Derna.

Any city would have struggled with the extraordinary level of precipitation that Storm Daniel visited upon Libya’s northern coast. In its earlier, milder form, the storm caused severe damage in Greece before it crossed the Mediterranean.

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Greek PM under attack over handling of Storm Daniel disaster response

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis faces biggest crisis yet as residents ask where money for ‘immediate’ flood relief has gone

The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is facing his biggest crisis yet as – less than a week after rainstorms left vast tracts of the country’s heartlands under water – his government has come under attack for its handling of the disaster that left 15 dead.

Health experts have described conditions in the flood-stricken Thessaly region – one of Greece’s richest agricultural areas – as ripe for the spread of infectious diseases after a summer of unprecedented heat-induced forest fires.

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Greek rescuers work through night to locate villagers trapped by flood

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Death toll reaches 12 as hundreds still thought to be marooned after deadly downpours

Rescuers in central Greece were working through the night to locate people trapped in villages deluged by flood waters as the death toll from rainstorms rose to at least 12.

Emergency services, backed by elite commando units and an ever-growing army of volunteers, sought to find hundreds still thought to be marooned in homes five days after downpours, described as the worst in the country’s history, struck.

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Hundreds of people rescued from flooded villages in Greece

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Officials say many people are still trapped in central areas of the country hit by Storm Daniel

Firefighters backed by the army have rescued hundreds of people from villages in central Greece cut off by floods that have claimed at least 10 lives.

“More than 2,850 people have been rescued since the beginning of the bad weather,” Yannis Artopios, a fire department spokesperson told the broadcaster Mega on Saturday.

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Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria hit by fatal flash floods

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At least 12 people die across three countries as torrential rainstorms cause severe damage to buildings, roads and bridges

At least 12 people have died in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria as flash floods from torrential rainstorms turned rivers into torrents, swept away bridges and inundated streets, homes and public buildings.

Greece’s climate crisis and civil protection minister, Vassilis Kikilias, said after an emergency cabinet meeting: “This is the most extreme phenomenon in terms of the maximum amount of rain in a 24-hour period since records began in the country.”

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Foul fumes and sewage spills in Tory stronghold of Michael Gove

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Aggrieved residents tell of issues in constituency of housing secretary planning to rip up pollution laws

While Michael Gove was deciding to weaken pollution laws for new housing developments this week, his own constituency was being plagued by the stench of human waste.

People living on the outskirts of Camberley, the largest town in Gove’s constituency of Surrey Heath, have been complaining for months that foul-smelling fumes from the local sewage works have ruined their summers, causing even the washing they hang out to stink.

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Storm Hilary could still threaten life, experts say, as nearly 25m under flood warnings in US south-west – live

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Storm downgraded to post-tropical cyclone as of Monday morning but mudslides still possible

First responders rescued over a dozen unhoused people who were trapped in knee-deep water in Southern California, AP reported.

Fire officials saved 13 people who were caught in a flooded homeless encampment near the San Diego River.

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Storm Hans: railway bridge collapses in southern Norway

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Middle section of Randklev Bridge on Oslo-to-Trondheim line slid into Lågen River on Monday morning

A critical railway bridge in Norway has collapsed into a river after a storm caused widespread damage to infrastructure.

The middle part of the Randklev Bridge in Ringebu, which is crossed by the Dovre line connecting Oslo and Trondheim, slid into the Lågen River on Monday morning.

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China floods: at least 14 killed after torrential rain in north-east

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Clean-up operations continue after rainfall destroys infrastructure and floods entire districts in aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri

At least 14 people are dead after torrential rain hit China’s north-eastern Jilin province, state media has reported, in the latest fatalities from more than a week of weather-related disasters across the country.

Thousands of troops have been sent into affected areas of Jilin and neighbouring Heilongjiang to assist with the flood response, evacuations, distributing supplies and fixing damaged roads. State media outlet Xinhua said about 2,000 soldiers and 5,000 members of the People’s Armed Police paramilitary force had been deployed.

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