Cities cancel carnival festivities as rescue workers search for victims and clear roads
At least 36 people have died and dozens are missing after torrential rain brought flooding and landslides to coastal areas of south-east Brazil over the weekend as the country geared up for its annual carnival celebrations.
Rescue efforts continued in São Paulo state on Monday as more than 500 workers searched for victims, cleared roads and tried to reconnect isolated communities.
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New Zealand’s national power grid operator has declared a “grid emergency” and warned that power might not be restored to some for “for days to weeks, rather than hours”.
The widespread power cuts in Hawkes Bay and Bay of Plenty happened after a substation flooded during severe rain from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Continue reading...Damaging storm causes wind gusts up to 160km/h. This blog is now closed
Rain and wind expected to intensify
The approach of Cyclone Gabrielle is bringing particularly strong winds, heavy rain and huge swells to Auckland and nearby regions.
The impact of Gabrielle is still in its early stages and further serious and severe weather is still expected for Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) later today into Tuesday morning.
Now is not the time for complacency.
Continue reading...National Trust project shows family home of ‘nature’s engineers’ and how they have improved the environment for other wildlife
They can be seen chugging around their watery domain like small furry tugboats, gnawing away at saplings or nuzzling up to each other. The sound of babbling water and birdsong provides a pleasing soundtrack.
A new online tour is being launched on Thursday of an enclosure on the Holnicote estate in Somerset that is home to a family of five beavers. In what is billed as the first of its kind, the tour allows viewers to navigate through the 2.7-acre Exmoor enclosure where two adult beavers and their three offspring live and work.
Continue reading...Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia have increased kangaroo harvest quotas for 2023 but impact from floods yet to be assessed
Animal welfare advocates are calling for a moratorium on commercial and recreational shooting of wildlife affected by the devastating Murray-Darling floods.
Wildlife Victoria has called for the “immediate cessation” of the Victorian government’s kangaroo harvesting program and a moratorium on the annual duck hunting season, which usually begins in March.
Continue reading...Rising flood waters have cut north Queensland’s main transport corridor, the Bruce Highway, with more rain on the way. Follow the day’s news live
Dreyfus opens discussion about judicial watchdog
Today the attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, will open consultation for the creation of a federal judicial commission, to police what he described as the “relatively rare” instances of “problematic conduct by judges”.
The three diseases that we’re focusing on on this trip – malaria, HIV and tuberculosis – three diseases that Australia has a good control over or good management over.
HIV cases are on the rise for a range of different reasons. Tuberculosis is just devastating and any young child with tuberculosis is an extremely confronting and devastating thing to see it’s a horrible disease. And malaria is an ongoing killer.
Continue reading...Thermometers forecast to fall to -2C in London, -1C in Cardiff and -3C in Edinburgh and Belfast
People across large parts of the UK have been told to watch out for ice as they make their way to work and school on Monday, after temperatures plunged overnight.
Thermometers were forecast to fall to -2C in London, -1C in Cardiff and -3C in Edinburgh and Belfast. Temperatures in Highland areas of Scotland could be as low as -10C.
Continue reading...Officials urge residents to remain on guard for further damage, with 6,000 under evacuation orders
With rain-soaked California expected to see several more rounds of stormy weather over the weekend and into next week, state and federal officials pleaded with residents on Friday to stay alert to the possibility of more flooding and damage.
A series of storms has walloped the state since late December, leaving at least 19 people dead. On Friday, 6,000 people were under evacuation orders and another 20,000 households were without power, said Nancy Ward, the director of the California governor’s office of emergency services.
Continue reading...Piles of rubbish fill the space normally taken by summer visitors, with businesses facing the loss of a season’s earnings
Caravan parks and more than 100 national parks remain closed across New South Wales and Victoria after widespread flooding damaged infrastructure, filled waterholes with debris and made some areas unsafe for swimming.
The summer holidays would usually be the busiest time of year for the McLean Beach holiday park in Deniliquin, in the NSW Riverina region.
Continue reading...Victorian premier says there will not be a state service for cardinal, out of respect for victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Follow live
Visa processing problems in spotlight
Pat Conroy acknowledged ongoing visa processing issues and said the government was “hopeful that we can get a resolution on that issue”:
People in Papua New Guinea are also very keen on our Pacific engagement visa, which is about creating 3,000 permanent migration spots each year into Australia … and there’s also lots of interest in Papua New Guineans working, studying in Australia as well.
His message around democracies is that [it is] incumbent upon politicians in both countries [to] defend democracy and we defend democracy by demonstrating it’s the best system to deliver actual benefits for the people that we govern. So that’s about investing in stronger health outcomes, lifting stronger economic outcomes.
Continue reading...Sun Cable placed in voluntary administration. Follow the day’s news live
Australian involvement in construction of Aukus submarines important, acting defence minister says
More on submarines. In an interview with ABC Radio, the veterans affairs and acting defence minister, Matt Keogh, has reaffirmed the government’s confidence it can reach its deadline of acquiring nuclear submarines by the end of the next decade.
We’re certainly alive to the concerns that were raised in that letter that those congressmen wrote, but we’ve been engaging with the Biden administration, very positively … The American government and the UK Government are as committed as the Australian government to this project and see that there is a pathway forward on how we will go about procuring these submarines.
The industrial base for all of the three countries – Australia included - is critical to achieving those outcomes and making sure that we’re able to grow the pie by bringing the Australian industrial base into those existing industrial bases is very important.
Continue reading...International funders join Pakistan PM and UN secretary general in Geneva to agree recovery plan following ‘monsoon on steroids’
The international community has promised $10.5bn (£8.77bn) to help Pakistan rebuild after last summer’s catastrophic floods, described by UN secretary general António Guterres as a “monsoon on steroids.”
The pledges were made on Monday at the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by Pakistan’s prime minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Guterres.
Continue reading...Rain and flood warnings issued for much of Wales and western parts of England and Scotland
Some homes and businesses could be flooded in parts of the UK on Tuesday, forecasters have warned.
The Met Office has issued three yellow warnings for “persistent heavy rain” throughout the day, covering much of Wales and north-west England.
Continue reading...An estimated 100 homes are feared uninhabitable in WA communities where it’s not uncommon to have up to 20 people living in a house
Massive flooding in Western Australia may have left hundreds of people homeless, bringing the region’s pre-existing overcrowding crisis into sharp relief, local residents say.
An estimated 100 homes across the Kimberley were feared uninhabitable in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Ellie, according to Tyronne Garstone, the chief executive of Kimberley Land Council, the peak Indigenous body in the Kimberley region. And with many people in the area living in multigenerational homes or with extended family, the extent of potential homelessness is immense, he said.
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More than 80% of council areas declared disasters in the past four years, Watt says
Murray Watt was hesitant to attribute the individual disaster in the Kimberley to climate change, unlike his colleague Chris Bowen. But he said the overall pattern of increasing disasters was “undoubtedly climate change”:
I don’t think that you can point to one particular event and say it’s due to climate change, but there is no doubt that we are seeing before our eyes is climate change happening. We know from all the scientists that we’re going to be facing more of these intense events more frequently.
I was actually advised yesterday by our agency that just in the last 12 months we’ve seen 316 of Australia’s 537 council areas disaster-declared: that’s about 60% of the council areas in the country. And if you go back four years to the black summer, 438 council areas in Australia have been disaster-declared, which is over 80%.
A lot of people aren’t aware but the wet season in northern Western Australia … generally doesn’t begin until later this month. So their wettest months actually tend to be February and March rather than starting as early as January. So to have this amount of water come through the system this early in the wet season is a concern.
Continue reading...Fitzroy River Bridge among those apparently collapsed after record flooding in state’s north destroys roads and isolates communities
Engineers will assess the destruction of major bridges on the trucking route connecting Western Australia and the Northern Territory on Wednesday amid concerns key infrastructure could could take months, or even years, to fix.
Main Roads WA and structural engineers will assess the Fitzroy River Bridge on the Great Northern Highway, as photos and videos emerge showing that the bridge has collapsed after being hit with record floods.
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Voice leaders ‘tired of political games’
A leading Indigenous voice to parliament advocate has lashed the “tired political games” marring discussion around the proposed advisory body, AAP reports.
Constitutions are for principle. The machinery is for parliament. The High Court of Australia was recognised in 1901 and set up via legislation several years later … it’s a normal constitutional approach.
The Uluru Statement was issued to the Australian people because as Australians we are tired of political games. This isn’t about politicians and politicking, this is about the Australian people and our future.
You can’t just say to the Australian public as the prime minister, ‘you vote at an election … on a Saturday and we’ll give you the detail on the Monday’. It’s a very serious decision to change our constitution.
Continue reading...Federal opposition leader wants Labor to legislate its preferred model before referendum is held this year. This blog is now closed
‘I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation’
Peter Dutton is asked about whether the prime minister has been given a copy of his letter – Anthony Albanese has said he has not received it – and Dutton says a copy has been provided to the prime minister’s office and he expects “he will respond in due course”.
I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Certainly not racist. It’s not being opposed to reconciliation. It’s all about, frankly, just being informed about what it is they’re being asked to vote on. I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask the prime minister to provide that.
I’ve met with the prime minister and I’m grateful for the meetings that we’ve had and he knows that I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation.
I’m speaking of millions of Australians, we’re asking you the reasonable questions.
Continue reading...Trucks normally travel direct from Perth to Fitzroy Crossing but new return trip halfway across Australia is ‘equal to a one-way trip from Paris to Vladivostok’
Triple road trains delivering essential supplies to Western Australia’s flood-stricken Kimberley communities face week-long 12,000km return trips from Perth as they are forced to detour halfway across the country due to washed-out roads and bridges.
Instead of travelling directly from Perth to the Kimberley region – a 4,600km return trip – trucks will be forced east to Port Augusta in South Australia, before travelling the length of Australia to Katherine in the Northern Territory, then heading back west to WA.
Continue reading...Ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie brings once-in-a-century flooding, forcing evacuations and road closures
Towns are cut off and residents have been evacuated in military planes during “the worst flooding Western Australia has ever seen”.
Authorities are working to let remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region know of the danger, to relocate those who want to leave and deliver critical supplies. Derby, Broome and Noonkanbah have already been isolated.
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