Sudan has declared a three-month state of emergency after flooding that has killed and injured dozens of people and damaged more than 100,000 homes, according to the government.
Much of the flooding was triggered by heavy seasonal rains, mainly in neighbouring Ethiopia, which caused the Nile to rise to nearly 17.5 metres (57ft) at the end of August – the highest level in 100 years, according to the authorities
Continue reading...Extreme floods have hit the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River, which recorded the largest inflow of water in its history, prompting officials to promise it could withstand the flows.
Several outlets of the dam have been opened to discharge water, the largest release since its construction. A breach would be embarrassing for China, which took 12 years to build the dam, displacing millions and submerging swaths of land.
Meanwhile, upstream from the dam, officials in the city of Chongqing, Sichuan province, evacuated almost 300,000 residents. Levels along the Yangtze nearby have reached heights not seen since 1981
Continue reading...Officials seek to reassure public after world’s largest hydro-electric dam nears capacity amid heavy floods
Extreme floods have hit China’s Three Gorges dam, which recorded the largest inflow of water in its history, prompting officials to assure the public it would not be breached.
Inflows to the world’s largest hydro-electric dam reached 75m litres of water a second, according to state media. By Thursday morning, 11 outlets of the dam had been opened to discharge 49.2m litres of water a second, the largest release since its construction.
Continue reading...SES orders parts of Moruya, Nowra and Captains Flat to evacuate as kayaker in Canberra dies and 400 calls for help come from Sydney and Blue Mountains
Several New South Wales south coast communities were on high alert on Monday morning as river levels continued to rise and towns evacuated.
The body of a kayaker was found in swollen river waters in southern Canberra on Sunday. He became separated from a group on the Murrumbidgee River near Canberra about 2pm on Sunday, after his boat became stuck under a bridge.
Continue reading...India’s commercial capital grinds to a halt after heaviest August rainfall in 47 years causes widespread flooding
The heaviest monsoon downpour in nearly 50 years has brought Mumbai to a standstill, with stranded passengers at railway stations having to be rescued by dinghies from waist-high water.
People who live in areas normally unaffected by the annual monsoon flooding looked out from their high-rise flats at new swirling rivers outside caused by the heaviest single day’s rain recorded in August in 47 years.
Continue reading...Despite flood planning efforts hundreds have been killed and millions hit as third of land is submerged by non-stop rain
Bangladesh could be plunged into a humanitarian crisis as it undergoes the most prolonged monsoon flooding in decades while it is still recovering from the effects of super-cyclone Amphan.
Despite the UN has lauding its new initiatives for early intervention aimed at preparing communities for crisis, 550 people have been killed and 9.6 million affected by the disaster in Bangladesh, Nepal and north-eastern India, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Continue reading...Hurried evacuation of millions of residents will increase coronavirus cases, officials say
Severe flooding in India’s tea-growing state of Assam and neighbouring Nepal has killed at least 200 people and displaced millions, severely hampering efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus.
In Assam, heavy monsoon rains burst the banks of the Brahmaputra River, causing more than 2,000 villages to be enveloped in floods and mudslides and displacing 2.75 million people in the past two weeks. There have been 85 deaths reported in the state.
Continue reading...Designed in 1984 and expected to be in service a decade ago, the project is still incomplete
Italy has successfully conducted the first full test of Venice’s flood defence system, a much-delayed project designed in 1984 but still incomplete a decade after it was due to come into service.
Amid much fanfare, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, activated the 78 mobile barriers of the Mose dam on Friday. “We’re here for a test, not a parade,” Conte, who was greeted in Venice by activists who have long protested against the project, told reporters. “The government wants to check the progress of the work.”
Continue reading...City at centre of coronavirus outbreak faces new crisis as China suffers weeks of flooding
People living in Wuhan, the central Chinese city that bore the brunt of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, have been told stay indoors once more after record rainfall prompted authorities to raise the city’s emergency response to the second highest-level.
A prolonged period of heavy rain is the latest disaster to strike China, where people are only just recovering from the coronavirus outbreak.
Continue reading...At least 50 people have been killed after the river Kuma in Kyushu burst its banks, triggering floods and mudslides
Rescue workers were combing through the wreckage of houses hit by flooding and landslides in Japan after extreme weather left more than 50 people dead or missing on the southern island of Kyushu.
The Kyodo news agency said 40 people had died in the floods and at least 11 were missing. Among the dead were 14 residents of an elderly care home in Kuma village, Kumamoto, where the nearby Kuma river flooded. More torrential rain is forecast for coming days.
Continue reading...Record rainfall triggers landslides in western Kumamoto region, stranding hundreds
Deep floodwaters and the risk of further mudslides have hampered search and rescue operations after heavy rain in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen residents died and scores were left stranded.
Helicopters and boats rescued more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. More than 40,000 troops, the coastguard and fire brigades took part in the operation.
Continue reading...Committee urges that companies must meet green standards to qualify for Covid-19 corporate bailouts
Ministers are bracing themselves for a powerful new rebuke from the government’s own advisers over the nation’s inadequate response to the climate crisis. In its annual progress report, to be published on Thursday, the Committee on Climate Change will lambast continuing failures by the government to tackle the issues of overheating homes, flash floods, loss of biodiversity and the other threats posed as our planet continues to overheat dangerously.
Last year, the committee complained that no areas of the UK’s response to the climate crisis were being tackled properly. “The whole thing is run by the government like a Dad’s Army,” said the committee’s chairman, Lord Deben.
Continue reading...Record-breaking rainfall has devastated communities – and with thousands displaced and more rain predicted the picture is bleak
Using a short piece of nylon line with a hook at one end and a long thin stick on the other, a mechanic and a nightclub doorman have only caught one small fish all day.
“I’ve never been a fisherman before,” says Erick Ochieng on the edge of a flooded creek in the port city of Kisumu on the banks of Lake Victoria. “I used to work as a bouncer but nightclubs have closed. Sometimes my family sleeps without eating.”
Continue reading...Catastrophic flooding could potentially release toxic pollution from site contaminated by Dow Chemical
Catastrophic flooding triggered by dam failures in Michigan could potentially release toxic pollution from a site contaminated by the industrial giant Dow Chemical.
Dow’s facility in Midland, Michigan, where the company is headquartered along the Tittabawassee River, manufactured chlorine-based products beginning in the early 1900s. The company discharged dioxins, chemical compounds which can cause reproductive harm and cancer, into the river.
Continue reading...Despite Egypt’s fears of ‘hydro hegemony’ and concerns it will worsen water shortages in Sudan, Ethiopia’s controversial dam project is close to fruition
From his office in central Khartoum, Ahmed al-Mufti prepares every day for what he believes is the water war to come.
This conviction led Mufti, a prominent human rights lawyer and water expert, to quit the Sudanese delegation that is negotiating Nile water issues with Egypt and Ethiopia.
Continue reading...South-west and north-west of England, Wales and Northern Ireland are likely to be worst hit
Heavy downpours are expected to cause more flooding to homes and businesses over the weekend, as the latest storm to hit the UK takes hold.
Yellow weather warnings are in place for Storm Jorge on Friday, with the south-west and north-west of England, Wales and Northern Ireland expected to experience the worst of the deluge.
Continue reading...75mph winds expected to bring more torrential downpours to one of wettest Februarys ever
A storm is expected to bring further bands of torrential rain to flood-hit communities as it sweeps across Britain.
Forecasters have issued a yellow weather warning as the 75mph storm brings a fresh deluge of rain, up to 50mm (2in) in some places.
Continue reading...Rivers Severn, Teme and Wye will remain high as rain builds up again from Wednesday morning
Flood-hit UK communities are braced for further heavy rain as river levels continue to threaten to breach barriers.
Hundreds of properties have been flooded and at-risk areas evacuated across England and Wales after the downpours brought by Storm Dennis.
Continue reading...Labour says PM’s decision not to visit flood sites or call Cobra meeting is ‘a disgrace’
Severe flood warnings remain in place and rescue operations were continuing in stricken communities on Monday evening, as the government faced criticism for its response to what has been described as unprecedented flooding in parts of the country.
With thousands of properties flooded after a month’s worth of rain fell on parts of Britain over the weekend, and more than 200 flood warnings still in place, Labour said it was “a disgrace” that the prime minister was not visiting affected towns and villages and was resisting calls to convene the Cobra emergencies committee.
Continue reading...Without urgent action, rising sea levels by end of century could leave cities under water
A series of detailed maps have laid bare the scale of possible forest fires, floods, droughts and deluges that Europe could face by the end of the century without urgent action to adapt to and confront global heating.
An average one-metre rise in sea levels by the end of the century – without any flood prevention action – would mean 90% of the surface of Hull would be under water, according to the European Environment Agency.
Continue reading...