Heavy rains have triggered severe floods and mudslides in northern Turkey, killing at least one person and leaving others missing or injured. Turkey has been grappling with drought and a rapid succession of natural disasters that scientists believe are becoming more frequent and violent because of the climate crisis. The floods hit the Black Sea coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun
Continue reading...Category Archives: Flooding
Turkey floods: Heavy rains sweep away cars and leave villages without power
Floods caused by heavy rainfall hit Turkey's northern coast on Wednesday, sweeping away cars and leaving villages without power. State broadcaster TRT Haber reported one person died in the Bartin province. The flooding comes as areas in the country's south have battled wildfires for two weeks
Continue reading...‘A sample of hell’: Rohingya forced to rebuild camps again after deadly floods
At least 21,000 refugees displaced after heavy rain devastates Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the area
The process of rebuilding has begun once again for Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh after a week of heavy rains made thousands homeless.
The chest-high waters that flowed through parts of Cox’s Bazar have exposed the vulnerability of the area’s unplanned settlements, which have to be repeatedly repaired and rebuilt after flooding, cyclones and fires.
Continue reading...Thousands evacuate as North Korea floods damage homes and crops – video
More than 1,100 homes in North Korea were damaged, thousands of people evacuated and farms and roads washed away after days of heavy rains brought flooding, state media reported.
Continue reading...Refugees hit hardest as deadly floods sweep across continents
Death toll rises as storms continue to rip through communities, destroying homes and livelihoods
As heavy rains and floods dominate headlines around the world, displaced people and those living in conflict zones are among the worst affected.
Wind and heavy rain from monsoons and typhoons has bombarded much of Asia. There have also been downpours and flash floods in parts of Latin America and Africa.
Continue reading...Floods block food from reaching thousands of refugees in Colombia
Families fleeing drug gangs and paramilitaries have been cut off, with government accused of being ‘incapable’ of protecting them
Flooding and landslides have left thousands of refugees cut off from food supplies in Ituango, the conflict-strewn municipality in north-western Colombia.
Roads have been blocked by mud and debris after heavy rains, while helicopters have been unable to land. As a result, the delivery of food and medical supplies has been stymied, and communications cut off.
Continue reading...UK weather: flood warnings as Storm Evert moves eastwards
Unsettled weather forecast across England and Wales with ‘torrential thundery downpours’ in the east
The Met Office has issued weather and flood warnings as Storm Evert moved eastwards across Britain with thunderstorms forecast for the weekend.
Yellow wind warnings are in place for coastal areas in south-east England and East Anglia, and thunderstorm warnings for a swath of England from Nottingham to Norwich and north as far as Hull.
Continue reading...At least six Rohingya refugees killed as floods hit camps in Bangladesh
Shelters swept away as activists say people stuck in Cox’s Bazar are highly vulnerable to the ‘rapidly changing climate’
At least six Rohingya refugees were killed by landslides or drowned in flooding after rain inundated refugee camps in Bangladesh over recent days, deepening the despair among those living there.
Knee-deep waters coursed through the camps, battering fragile shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin and making at least 5,000 people homeless, according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).
Continue reading...‘What can we do?’ Chinese discuss role of climate crisis in deadly floods
Media and citizens have begun asking if China has properly prepared for climate emergency
At about 5pm last Tuesday, as heavy rainfall continued to pound her apartment building in Zhengzhou, the climate policy researcher Zhang Jin headed out to her local supermarket. But the buns and vegetables were almost all gone, and the queue in the supermarket was “over a hundred metres’ long”, she later recalled.
Related: China floods: thousands trapped without fresh water as rain moves north
Continue reading...Cars swept away as Belgian town hit by worst floods in decades – video
The southern Belgian town of Dinant was hit by the heaviest floods in decades on Saturday after a two-hour thunderstorm turned streets into torrential streams that washed away cars and pavements. It was the second time in just over a week that downpours have affected the region – more than 200 people died in flooding across Belgium and Germany last week. Although the latest flooding has been described as worse than previous weeks, no deaths or injuries have been reported
Thunderstorms leave roads and tube stations flooded in London
Environment Agency issues five flood warnings across southern England and 19 flood alerts including parts of Wales
Torrential rain has flooded roads and tube stations in London after thunderstorms hit the south of England on Sunday.
Barts Health NHS trust declared a major incident after the flooding led to problems at Whipps Cross hospital and Newham Hospital in the east of the city.
Continue reading...India floods: rescuers search for survivors among mud and debris
Death toll from heavy monsoon rains on western coast climbs to 76, with nearly 90,000 people evacuated
Rescuers in India combed through mud and debris on Saturday in a desperate search for survivors as the death toll from heavy monsoon rains climbed to 76, with nearly 90,000 people evacuated.
Torrential downpours have lashed India’s western coast in recent days, leaving dozens missing near the financial capital of Mumbai and causing the worst floods in decades in the resort state of Goa.
Continue reading...India monsoons: at least 112 dead in Maharashtra state
Torrential rains cause landslides as military personnel assist with rescue operations in coastal regions
At least 112 people have died in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, authorities have said, after torrential monsoon rains caused landslides and flooded low-lying areas, cutting off hundreds of villages.
Parts of India’s west coast received up to 594mm (23 inches) of rainfall over 24 hours, forcing authorities to evacuate people from vulnerable areas as they released water from dams that were threatening to overflow.
Continue reading...Home swept away by flood waters in Turkey – video
Footage shows the moment a house collapsed and was swept away in flood waters gushing through the streets of the Black Sea town of Arhavi, Turkey, on Thursday. Local media reports said nobody was hurt in the incident.
Access to dozens of villages in Artvin province were blocked and rescue efforts were under way, with officials saying 200 people had been evacuated. Floods are common along Turkey’s Black Sea coastal region at this time of year. Last week, at least six people were killed and two others went missing in flood waters in the province of Rize
Continue reading...China floods: aluminium alloy plant explodes in Henan province – video
Dramatic footage shows the moment an aluminium plant exploded in China's central Henan province after a record-breaking rain storm. Local government officials said Dengfeng Power Group's plant exploded when flood waters from a nearby river breached a wall and entered it
- China floods: death toll climbs as questions raised over preparedness
- ‘I might not make it’: passengers tell of horror as Chinese subway floods
- Death toll rises and thousands flee homes as floods hit China
Deadly rains hit central China as subways flood and tens of millions impacted – video
Heavy rains have flooded parts of central China's Henan province, upending the lives of tens of millions and leaving at least 12 dead. More than 20cm of rain fell in one hour in Zhengzhou, the regional capital, flooding the city's subway system and major roads. The heavy rains began on 17 July before severe downpours on 20 July
Continue reading...Catastrophic floods could hit Europe far more often, study finds
Slow-moving storms such as recent deluge in Germany could become 14 times more frequent by 2100
Catastrophic floods such as those that struck Europe recently could become much more frequent as a result of global heating, researchers say.
High-resolution computer models suggest that slow-moving storms could become 14 times more common over land by the end of the century in a worst-case scenario. The slower a storm moves, the more rain it dumps on a small area and the greater the risk of serious flooding.
Continue reading...Death toll rises and thousands flee homes as floods hit China
Torrential rainfall and burst rivers swamp Henan cities, with commuters trapped on subway trains
Days of torrential rain and massive flooding have hit China’s Henan province, bursting the banks of rivers, overwhelming dams and the public transport system and forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
At least 25 people have been killed and seven are missing in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou. The provincial authorities issued its highest level of weather warning. A year’s worth of rain – 640mm – fell in just three days. The city’s weather bureau said more than 552mm of rain had fallen between 7pm on Monday and 7pm on Tuesday, including 202mm between 4pm and 5pm on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Germany’s Greens cautious over linking floods to climate crisis
Party leaders hope public will draw its own conclusions from last week’s catastrophic floods
It was a slogan that cut to the chase: “Everybody is talking about Germany. We talk about the weather.”
The provocative message – itself an inversion of the title of an essay by Red Army Faction terror group founder Ulrike Meinhof (“Everybody talks about the weather. We don’t”) – was at the heart of the West German Green party’s 1990 election campaign, but has rarely felt more relevant than today as catastrophic floods in western Germany have brought extreme weather events to the centre of the national debate little more than two months before federal elections.
Continue reading...German flood alert system criticised for ‘monumental failure’
Questions raised over lack of warning as death toll passes 150 and villages are left without drinking water, power or gas
Germany is asking itself how one of the world’s richest countries managed to be taken by surprise by last week’s extreme weather events, as more details emerge of how early warnings about record rainfall and expected floods did not make their way to the communities most at risk.
In Erftstadt, south of Cologne, where a flooded gravel quarry swallowed up cars, houses and parts of a historic castle, residents who had installed the federal government’s weather warning app were advised on Wednesday to stay inside their house.
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