More than 30 people have died in the Indian city after an intense burst of rainfall caused flooding and landslides, as changing monsoon patterns because of the climate crisis lead to more extreme rains across India.
The landslide in the eastern suburb of Chembur enveloped homes as people were sleeping and killed at least 21, according to the National Disaster Response Force
Continue reading...CDU leader Armin Laschet caught laughing on camera as president delivered solemn address
More flash-floods have devastated towns in Austria, Bavaria and eastern Germany, as the frontrunner to replace the chancellor, Angela Merkel, was forced to apologise after seeming to make light of a catastrophic situation that has claimed the lives of more than 150 people.
The Alpine district of Berchtesgadener Land declared a state of emergency on Saturday evening after heavy rainfall led to flooded streets and landslides, leaving at least one person dead.
Continue reading...Most are built for middle-class professionals rather than oligarchs, with trend raising flood concerns
With their underground swimming pools, cinemas and art galleries, London’s luxury basement developments have long provoked envy and disgust as depositories for the hidden wealth of the super-rich.
But a study that has mapped all the 7,328 basements approved by 32 boroughs and the City of London between 2008 and 2019 has found that the majority of these developments were built for middle-class professionals rather than oligarchs, with the researchers saying they have become as normal as loft conversions.
Continue reading...In Tucson, a fire department swift water team rescued a father and his two daughters from the roof of their vehicle on Wednesday after they drove into a usually dry wash and got stranded in floodwaters, said Golder Ranch Fire District spokesman Capt Adam Jarrold. In Flagstaff, floodwaters have inundated communities in the shadow of a mountain that burned in 2019 and adjacent neighbourhoods, sending at least one vehicle floating down a city street.
Continue reading...Belgian TV station VTM recorded the partial collapse of a house in the town of Pepinster while interviewing its mayor, Philippe Godin, on Thursday. The back wall of the flooded house began to cave in as he spoke, with the situation deteriorating quickly as furniture and other household goods fell through the collapsing floors. Moments later cameras caught two people jumping from the rooftop of the house into a neighbouring building.
Continue reading...At least 110 people have died in devastating floods across parts of western Germany and Belgium. Search and rescue operations are continuing with hundreds still unaccounted for
Continue reading...At a meeting with Joe Biden at the White House, Angela Merkel talked of the devastating flooding in Germany that has killed more than 80 people, with scores still missing in one district alone. The German chancellor expressed her deep sympathy for victims of the 'catastrophe', the extent of which will only be seen in the coming days. On behalf of hmself and the American people, the US president also passed on his sincere condolences.
On Friday morning, German media reported at least 81 people had died in the two worst-hit states, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, with 50 and at least 30 deaths respectively.
On Thursday night, authorities in the district of Ahrweiler said the death toll was expected to climb, and they were trying to trace about 1,300 missing people, although the high figure is thought to be a result of damaged mobile phone networks
Continue reading...Search for missing continues, with Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg also affected
The death toll from catastrophic floods in western Germany and Belgium has risen to more than 170, as emergency services continued their search for hundreds still missing.
The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said he was “stunned” by the devastation caused by the flooding and pledged support to the families of those killed and to cities and towns facing significant damage. It is Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century.
Continue reading...At least 58 people have died and dozens more were missing in Germany on Thursday as swollen rivers caused by record rainfall across western Europe swept through towns and villages. Many of the victims died around the wine-growing region of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate state, police said, and dozens were still unaccounted for, after the Ahr river that flows into the Rhine broke its banks and brought down half a dozen houses
Continue reading...Raging floods caused by heavy rain devastated parts of Germany and Belgium on Thursday, killing more than 40 people, destroying buildings and sweeping away vehicles. The full extent of the damage remains unclear because many villages were cut off by floodwaters and landslides
Continue reading...More missing as buildings give way amid heavy rain and flooding
At least 38 people have died and dozens are missing or awaiting rescue from rooftops after heavy rain and floods caused buildings to collapse in two western German states.
Up to 70 people were reported missing after several houses collapsed overnight in Schuld in the Eifel mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate state.
Continue reading...Heavy rain and floods have caused the collapse of six houses in Germany’s western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, leaving at least 38 people dead and many missing or stranded on rooftops. Two firemen drowned and the army was deployed to help stranded residents on Wednesday, after a slow-moving low-pressure weather system caused once-in-a-generation floods
Continue reading...As Pakistan’s supreme court backs bulldozing of homes blamed for floods, critics say government has no proper plans for residents
Maqsooda Bibi, 62, did not know the house she had lived in all her life would be demolished, forcing her whole family to become homeless. But on Monday, Pakistan’s supreme court backed the Sindh government in bulldozing her home and hundreds of others, legalising the eviction of thousands who live along narrow waterways – nullahs – that crisscross Karachi.
The verdict came as Bibi and hundreds of others held a protest outside the court. “We hoped that the court would ask the government not to make us homeless, but it did the opposite. Our children also protested on Sunday and urged the supreme court to stop demolition. It seems no one here cares for the future of the poor.”
Continue reading...James Merlino details financial support on offer to people who have had property damaged in the floods and wild weather
Thousands of Victorians remain without power, days after a deadly storm lashed eastern parts of the state.
Emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp confirmed 39,000 homes remain without power on Sunday, down from 300,000 immediately after the storm, which began on Wednesday night.
Continue reading...People evacuated from Traralgon given the all clear to go home but heavy rain continues to impact large parts of the state
Tens of thousands of Victorian residents remained without power or telecommunications as heavy rainfall and flooding continued to impact large parts of the state.
Communities without phone coverage and unable to call triple-zero included: Trentham, King Lake, Dandenong Ranges, South Gippsland, Gembrook, Pyalong, Don Valley, Healesville, Lancefield and Woori Yallock.
Continue reading...Victoria and Queensland record no new Covid cases; court approves robodebt settlement. Follow live
A flood evacuation warning has been re-issued for Traralgon in Victoria’s Gippsland region, reports AAP.
Anyone near the Traralgon Creek was being told early on Friday afternoon to evacuate now.
Andrew Grech, a partner at Gordon Legal, is on the ABC now responding to the federal court judgment on the robodebt class action.
I think for many people, there’s been a lack of accountability, both of the ministers involved and senior public servants involved.
We think that it’s important that, through the proper parliamentary processes and, if necessary, through a royal commission, that those questions be answered for people, so that they can actually have far more closure on all those issues.
Continue reading...Traditional owners are standing together to protect the Fitzroy – a ‘beautiful, living water system’. Just watch out for the bird-sized spiders …
A Nyikina man, Mark Coles Smith, and his fellow travellers began their 400km journey down the mighty Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) on a flood plain covered in giant spiders.
“Bird-sized” spiders were clinging to the canopy, jostling for space on branches protruding above flood water that stretched for kilometres in every direction.
Continue reading...Refugee organisation says 30m new displacements last year were due to floods, storms or wildfires
Intense storms and flooding triggered three times more displacements than violent conflicts did last year, as the number of people internally displaced worldwide hit the highest level on record.
There were at least 55 million internally displaced people (IDPs) by the end of last year, according to figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).
Continue reading...Empty car belonging to Adele Morrison, 78, was pulled from swollen river in March during torrential rain on mid-north coast
A body believed to be an elderly New South Wales woman whose empty car was pulled from flood waters has been found washed up on a riverbank.
Adele Morrison, 78, was last seen at a shopping centre in Gloucester after leaving home in Port Macquarie on 16 March, as a one-in-100-year flood event began on the mid-north NSW coast.
Continue reading...Buildings covered in plants do more than just make the cityscape attractive – they contribute to human wellbeing, biodiversity, and action on climate change
Our cities are dominated by glass-faced edifices that overheat like greenhouses then guzzle energy to cool down. Instead, we could have buildings that are intimately connected to the living systems that have evolved with us, that celebrate the human-nature connection that is central to our wellbeing.
As more of us in Australia live in urban areas and our cities grow, bringing nature into our cities is a key part of establishing and rebuilding that connection. As well as bringing beauty into urban environments, we know that people are healthier when they are connected to nature. Research also shows that crime rates decrease in areas with street trees and that property values increase.
Continue reading...