Environment Agency calls for urgent action to protect country from river and coastal floods
Entire communities might need to be moved away from coasts and rivers as the UK takes urgent action to prepare for an average global temperature rise of 4C, the Environment Agency warned.
The agency said on Thursday that difficult decisions would have to be taken in the coming years to make sure the UK was resilient amid flooding that would not be held back by higher land defences.
Continue reading...Five people are dead and aid workers have reported scenes of destruction in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth, the second tropical cyclone to lay waste to swathes of Mozambique in five weeks. Rescuers have moved in to help people trapped by rapidly rising flood water in the northern city of Pemba, a United Nations spokesman said, as the storm dumps more rain on the region
Continue reading...People trapped by rising flood water as Cyclone Kenneth dumps more rain on the region
Five people have died and aid workers have reported scenes of destruction in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth, the second tropical cyclone to lay waste to swathes of Mozambique in five weeks.
Rescuers have moved in to help people trapped by rapidly rising flood water in the northern city of Pemba, home to 200,000 people, a United Nations spokesman said, as Kenneth dumped more rain on the region.
Continue reading...Millions of survivors face dire conditions after the tropical cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique’s coast, unleashing hurricane-force wind and rain that flooded swathes of the country. More than two million people have been affected in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, where the storm killed 60 and displaced nearly a million people. Hundreds are still missing in Mozambique and Zimbabwe
Continue reading...People in rural areas were not told about red alert days before Idai struck, says city official
The Mozambican government failed to warn people in the areas worst hit by Cyclone Idai despite a “red alert” being issued two days before it struck, the mayor of the city of Beira has said.
The southern African country was completely unprepared for the disaster and “profound negligence” led to many deaths, said the mayor, Daviz Simango, who is also the leader of an opposition party.
Continue reading...Five people test positive for waterborne disease in flooded port city of Beira amid warnings outbreak will spread
The first cases of cholera have been reported in the cyclone-ravaged Mozambican city of Beira, complicating an already massive and complex emergency in the southern African country.
The announcement of five cases of the waterborne disease follows days of mounting fears that cholera and other diseases could break out in the squalid conditions in which tens of thousands have been living since Cyclone Idai struck on 14 March, killing at least 700 people across the region.
Continue reading...State of emergency declared in South Island after severe downpour that washed away bridge
A woman has been found dead in New Zealand following a severe downpour that washed away a bridge and prompted a state of emergency in the South Island.
Police on Wednesday said the elderly woman’s body had washed up on a riverbank north of the town of Hokitika, in the West Coast region.
Continue reading...Devastated areas of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi brace for the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera and malaria
Cyclone Idai’s death toll has risen above 750 in the three southern African countries hit 10 days ago by the storm, as workers try to restore electricity and water and prevent an outbreak of cholera.
In Mozambique the number of dead has risen to 446, with 259 dead in Zimbabwe and at least 56 dead in Malawi.
Continue reading...In cities and villages across Mozambique the huge need for aid and assistance is not being met by a chaotic rescue effort
The main road connecting the cyclone-devastated Mozambican city of Beira to neighbouring Zimbabwe comes to an abrupt end. A section almost 100 metres wide is almost entirely underwater, an angry muddy gash where the tarmac was ripped away by the floods and raging currents.
A week after the onset of Cyclone Idai, as the waters have receded in some places, some of those trapped in villages in the midst of the flood waters have at last managed to get out with huge effort.
Continue reading...In the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, Zimbabwean Graham Taylor has described the ‘total devastation, carnage and deaths’. Taylor was travelling through the flood-hit countryside of Mozambique. ‘As far as I could look and walk I came across two, three, four hundred bodies floating and on the side of the road,’ he said
Continue reading...Workers appeal for more helicopters as flood waters keep rising after Cyclone Idai
Rescue teams in Mozambique are struggling to reach the thousands of people stranded on roofs and in trees and urgently need more helicopters and boats as post-cyclone flood waters continue to rise.
Mozambique, which was hit by Cyclone Idai over the weekend, has declared a state of emergency and is appealing for international help.
Continue reading...Some are offering free flights to shuttle stranded residents to and from Fremont, and bringing in supplies
A Nebraska city walled off by massive flooding is getting a big lift from private pilots who are offering free flights to shuttle stranded residents to and from their hometown.
Flooding from the Platte River and other waterways is so bad that just one highway lane into Fremont remains uncovered, authorities said Monday. Emergency responders have restricted access for safety reasons, leaving residents in the city of 26,000 stuck on an island in the middle of Nebraska farm country, about 40 miles north-west of Omaha. The flooding in Fremont comes as communities in several midwestern states grapple with swollen rivers and breached or overtopped levees following heavy rain and snowmelt.
Continue reading...Hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate as a statewide emergency was declared after rivers overflowed their banks and multiple levees failed
Continue reading...Flash floods in Indonesia's eastern Papua province have left at least 50 people dead and 59 people injured. The floods in Sentani, near the provincial capital of Jayapura, were triggered by torrential rain and subsequent landslides on Saturday
• At least 50 people killed by flash floods in eastern Indonesia
Torrential rain in Papua province triggers landslides, damaging dozens of homes
At least 50 people have been killed by flash floods in Indonesia’s eastern Papua province.
The floods in Sentani, near the provincial capital of Jayapura, were triggered by torrential rain and subsequent landslides on Saturday, and also left 59 people injured.
Continue reading...Thousands of homes swept away as rains follow devastating drought, with UN ‘shocked’ by lack of crisis funding support
Afghanistan has been hit with the worst flooding in seven years, with 20 dead, thousands of homes swept away and many families, already displaced by drought, forced to leave their homes for the second time.
The latest climate shock, which affected eight provinces including Kandahar, came as the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan criticised the European Commission for its “wholly insufficient” response to hunger and suffering in a country already in the grip of what analysts describe as the world’s deadliest conflict.
Continue reading...The water level in the Lake Berryessa reservoir, 75 miles north of San Francisco, has risen so much that, unusually, water is pouring into its overflow pipe, as can be seen in footage published by The Vacaville Reporter. The overflow, known as the Morning Glory Spillway, or simply the Glory Hole, drains water once the reservoir is over capacity and shoots it into a creek below the Monticello Dam.
Continue reading...The next 15 megacities #14: Surat’s battle to hold back water has raged since its first flood wall in 1664. As its population soars, India’s ‘diamond city’ needs new solutions
Look up as you walk around Surat and you might spot “HFL 8.8.2006” daubed in red paint on a wall above your head. HFL stands for “high flood level”, and the inscriptions are 15 feet above the ground in places – a fading memory of the devastating floods of August 2006, which killed 150 people, according to official estimates (unofficial counts put the death toll at over 500). More than 60% of the city was underwater and damage was estimated at $2bn.
Surat’s geography – it lies at the mouth of the Tapi river, near the Arabian Sea – makes it prone to flooding, and it experiences a major inundation every four years on average.
Continue reading...Hundreds of residents in Townsville have been evacuated and two men are missing as the area is hit with a year’s worth of rainfall in nine days
• Townsville flooding: two missing as questions mount over dam release
Continue reading...State government warns residents to beware of crocodiles and snakes, which were reportedly heading into suburban areas
After eight days of heavy monsoonal rain, authorities in the north Queensland city of Townsville had no choice but to open the floodgates of the Ross River Dam, deliberately flooding about 2,000 homes.
The decision was made as the Queensland government also published a warning to people to beware of crocodiles, snakes and other wildlife, which were reported to have left the swollen river and headed into some suburban areas.
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