Category Archives: Landslides

Firefighters in Sicily rescue 400 rare library books from precipice after landslide

Posted on by

Landslide in Niscemi in January tore away entire slope of town and carved 4km chasm

Firefighters in Sicily have rescued about 400 rare books from a library in Niscemi that hangs on the edge of a mudflow, after a devastating landslide in January tore away an entire slope of the town and carved a 4km chasm.

The library stands on the lip of the precipice gouged out by the landslide, with part of the building in effect hanging in mid-air. The recovery operation, which began on Monday, was preceded by a detailed study of floor plans and interior photographs to map the position of the books.

Continue reading...

Firefighters in Sicily rescue 400 rare library books from precipice after landslide

Posted on by

Landslide in Niscemi in January tore away entire slope of town and carved 4km chasm

Firefighters in Sicily have rescued about 400 rare books from a library in Niscemi that hangs on the edge of a mudflow, after a devastating landslide in January tore away an entire slope of the town and carved a 4km chasm.

The library stands on the lip of the precipice gouged out by the landslide, with part of the building in effect hanging in mid-air. The recovery operation, which began on Monday, was preceded by a detailed study of floor plans and interior photographs to map the position of the books.

Continue reading...

Floods and landslides in Brazil kill at least 30 after record rainfall

Posted on by

Firefighters search for 39 people missing in debris after river burst and houses were swept away

Three firefighters pulled a man’s body from the mud amid the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in south-eastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains.

A river in the state of Minas Gerais burst its banks and streets became raging currents of brown water after an overnight downpour in a region that has seen record rain this month.

Continue reading...

Flash flood in Indian Kashmir leaves at least 56 dead and scores missing

Posted on by

People on popular pilgrimage route were washed away by flood waters triggered by cloudburst, officials say

At least 56 people have died and 80 are missing after a sudden rainstorm in Indian Kashmir, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week.

The incident in the town of Chashoti, Kishtwar district, occurred at a stopover point on a pilgrimage route. Days earlier, a flood and mudslide engulfed a village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

Continue reading...

Mornington Peninsula house falls down cliff in landslide

Posted on by

One person taken to Frankston hospital after home collapses at Penny Lane in McCrae south-east of Melbourne

A house on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula has collapsed down a cliff in a landslide on Tuesday morning, with one person taken to hospital.

The house on Penny Lane in McCrae collapsed shortly before 9am on Tuesday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Devon cliff collapse leaves Sidmouth cottage teetering by 400ft drop

Posted on by

Council closes coastal path and warns beachgoers to stay clear after landslip at Jacob’s Ladder Beach

The views from the old thatched cottage perched on top of Sidmouth cliffs in Devon have always been spectacular.

Now, though, they are downright terrifying after part of the 185m-year-old sandstone cliff collapsed, leaving the period property teetering on the edge of a 400ft drop.

Continue reading...

Alaska landslide kills one person and injures three

Posted on by

Landslide in city of Ketchikan also damaged homes and infrastructure, and Alaska governor declared emergency

A landslide in the Alaska city of Ketchikan killed one person and injured three others while prompting a mandatory evacuation, authorities said.

Three people were taken to Ketchikan medical center after the landslide, which struck at about 4pm local time on Sunday. It also damaged homes and infrastructure, the Ketchikan gateway borough and city officials said in a joint statement on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Death toll from landslides in India’s Kerala state rises to 166

Posted on by

Almost 200 people still missing after heavy rains and access problems hamper second day of rescue operation

The death toll from a series of landslides in Kerala has risen to 166 and almost 200 people are still missing as the southern Indian state reels from one of its worst disasters in years.

Hundreds of homes were swept away and crushed by two huge consecutive landslides in the hilly district of Wayanad in the middle of the night on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

India landslides: death toll passes 100 with dozens feared missing

Posted on by

Heavy rainfall, difficult terrain, destroyed roads and collapsed bridge have hampered rescue efforts in Kerala

At least 108 people have died and dozens more are missing after heavy rain led to a series of landslides in the Indian state of Kerala, with rescue operations hampered by poor weather conditions and the destruction of roads and bridges.

The Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, confirmed the bodies of 108 people had been uncovered so far and dozens more were missing, feared dead after three massive landslides surged down the hills of the Western Ghats in Wayanad in southern India. About 128 people were injured in the disaster and thousands were moved to camps for safety.

Continue reading...

Floods and landslide kill more than a dozen people in Indonesia’s Sulawesi island

Posted on by

Officials say a landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday after torrential rain pounded the area

A flood and a landslide have hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 14 people, according to officials.

The landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday just after 1am local time, Abdul Muhari, spokesperson of Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Landslide reduces LA home to rubble and leaves two other houses on edge

Posted on by

Slide occurred in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood, where the fire department evacuated several people from a residence

A landslide in a wealthy neighborhood reduced a Los Angeles house under renovation to a jumble of lumber, pulled the pool and deck away from a second home, and left the pool at a third residence on the edge of a huge fissure early Wednesday.

The slide occurred just before 3am in Sherman Oaks, a neighborhood of expensive homes about 12 miles (19km) north-west of downtown. An initial search found no victims, but several people were evacuated from one house, the Los Angeles fire department said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Shasta: two children killed in hillside collapse following California storms

Posted on by

Sheriff’s office said victims, pronounced dead at the scene, were caught in debris and fell down the northern California hillside

Two children were killed when a hillside collapsed along a river in northern California, which has been hit by a series of winter storms.

The Shasta county sheriff’s office said in a statement that the two victims were caught in debris that came down from a hillside near Shasta dam on Thursday morning and had fallen down the hillside. They were pronounced dead at the scene, the office said.

Continue reading...

Philippines rescuers find girl alive 60 hours after landslide

Posted on by

Three-year-old has given fresh hope of finding more survivors in a gold-mining village where death toll has climbed to 27

The rescue of a child nearly 60 hours after a landslide hit a gold-mining village in the southern Philippines has been hailed as a “miracle” after searchers had given up hope of finding more survivors.

The girl, who the Philippine Red Cross said was three years old, had been among scores of people missing after the rain-induced landslide hit the village.

Continue reading...

China landslide kills eight and buries dozens in Yunnan province

Posted on by

Preliminary investigations show 47 people missing in mountainous region, state broadcaster reports

Forty-seven people were buried in a landslide, with eight reported dead, in south-western Yunnan province, Chinese state media reported.

China Central Television said on Monday that about 18 households were buried, and more than 200 people evacuated.

Continue reading...

Alaska landslide: girl, 11, confirmed as fourth victim with two still missing

Posted on by

Crew recovers body of Kara Heller, whose parents and sister found dead, and look for third child of family and their neighbor

Authorities recovered the body of an 11-year-old girl Saturday evening from the debris of a landslide in south-east Alaska that tore down a wooded mountainside days earlier, smashing into homes in a remote fishing village.

The girl, Kara Heller, was the fourth person confirmed killed by last Monday night’s landslide.

Continue reading...

Victims of deadly landslide in Alaska include five members of same family

Posted on by

The Heller family was at home when the rockslide buried their home on Friday; neighbor Otto Florschutz was also killed

The deadly landslide in south-east Alaska early this week killed five family members and their neighbor, a commercial fisher who made a longshot bid for the state’s lone seat in the US House last year, authorities said on Friday.

Timothy Heller, 44, and Beth Heller, 36 – plus their children Mara, 16; Derek, 12; and Kara, 11 – were at home on Monday night when the landslide struck near the island community of Wrangell. Search crews found the bodies of the parents and the oldest child late on Monday or early Tuesday; the younger children remain missing, as does neighbor Otto Florschutz, 65, the Alaska public safety department said in a statement that identified the victims of the disaster.

Continue reading...

Three dead and three missing after Alaska landslide

Posted on by

Slide estimated 450ft wide occurred near Wrangell, a small fishing community, and cut off power to about 75 homes

A landslide that ripped down a sopping, heavily forested mountainside in south-east Alaska killed three people, injured a woman and left three other people missing as it smashed into three homes in a remote fishing community, authorities said Tuesday.

Rescue crews found the body of a girl in an initial search and late Tuesday the bodies of two adults were found by a drone operator.

Continue reading...

Remote Scottish community still cut off a month after 6,000-tonne landslip

Posted on by

Teacher now travelling by boat to educate children at two different school sites on either side of impasse

Businesses in a remote peninsula of Scotland are fighting to survive and children are unable to attend their local school nearly a month after record-breaking rainfall caused a severe landslip, which cut off a vital road link to the wider peninsula.

The Craignish peninsula in Argyll was battered by heavy rain in early October, causing a landslip on the A816 near Ardfern which left 6,000 tonnes of debris covering the road and rendered it impassable.

Continue reading...

Floods and landslides kill at least 49 people in northern India

Posted on by

Dozens missing after days of heavy rain wash away vehicles and destroy buildings in Himalayan region

At least 49 people have been killed and dozens are thought to be missing after intense rain caused floods and landslides in the Indian Himalayan region.

Days of torrential downpours have washed away vehicles, demolished buildings and destroyed bridges in the northern states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India’s monsoon season but experts say the climate crisis is increasing their frequency and severity.

Continue reading...

Geological mystery in California as homes slowly slide into canyon

Posted on by

Cause of landslide that destroyed a dozen homes remains unclear as officials say nothing can be done to stop descent

Three days after a landslide destroyed a dozen hillside homes in southern California, the cause of the disaster is still unclear, even as the homes continue their slow descent into a canyon.

Sixteen people have been displaced since the land between the homes began shifting and sliding over the weekend.

Continue reading...