Category Archives: Natural Disasters

Intense waves and floods batter California waterfront homes and boardwalks

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Boardwalk destroyed in Long Beach and homes damaged, while Baja California in Mexico and Las Vegas also affected

Southern California coastal communities are picking up the pieces after a weekend of extreme weather brought flooding that overtook city streets and intense waves battered beachside homes.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel hit Mexico’s Baja California over the weekend as well as southern California and Las Vegas. While meteorologists noted that Rachel weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it approached California, it still left a trail of destruction.

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Thousands without power in Florida and Alabama as Isaias moves north

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At least four deaths linked to storm amid warnings of flash flooding that could stretch into Appalachians

As what was left of Hurricane Isaias moved north on Sunday, bringing moderate to heavy rainfall across the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region, nearly 396,000 customers across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama remained without power.

Heavy rainfall associated with the storm could bring isolated flash flooding and strong wind gusts and remain a threat across the south-eastern US, especially near the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). That could bring scattered power outages and downed trees and power lines. Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected to continue along the Gulf and south-eastern Atlantic coasts.

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Dozens injured and buildings damaged as tornadoes hit Sicily

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Marsala on island’s west coast badly affected after powerful storm approached from Mediterranean

Two tornadoes have struck the coastal town of Marsala in western Sicily, injuring dozens of people, damaging buildings including a school, and overturning cars.

A series of videos began to circulate on Friday morning showing two waterspouts approaching the Sicilian town from the sea as people braced for their arrival.

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Nor’easter storm batters US east coast with heavy winds and power outages

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At least one person killed and nearly 150,000 households lost electricity from North Carolina to New England

A strong, deadly storm known as a nor’easter battered the US’s east coast over the weekend, bringing power outages, flooding, damaging winds and hazardous ocean conditions.

Trees and power lines were knocked down across the region, at least one person was killed and hundreds of thousands were left without electricity as officials cautioned that conditions could deteriorate further.

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Nepal-Tibet deaths from flash flooding rise amid race to free workers in tunnel

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Total of 804 confirmed dead and more than 3,000 missing amid threat of fresh inundation

Rescuers in Nepal and Tibet have battled through leg-sucking mud amid the threat of fresh flooding to search for thousands of people still missing after a deadly wall of water swept through the Himalayan border zone, engulfing entire villages.

The latest updates on Sunday put the number of missing at 3,048, including hundreds of foreigners. There was a total of 804 confirmed deaths across Nepal and Tibet, and reports of some bodies swept downstream possibly as far as India.

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Cash settlements on home insurance claims leaving vulnerable Australians short-changed, Asic says

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Corporate regulator finds insurers settling most claims with cash rather than by managing repairs or rebuilding, warning of ‘unfair outcomes’ for homeowners

Home insurers are overwhelmingly paying cash to settle claims, leaving Australians to foot blowouts in repair costs for their cyclone-damaged homes.

The corporate regulator is calling for “realistic” bigger payouts, warning the practice could cause “unfair outcomes” for people already in vulnerable positions.

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Daughter traces mother and aunt’s last known location in Nepal through TikTok video

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Tulshi Patel says mother Hemangini Jitendra Patel and aunt Hema Sunil Amin were last seen at Friendship Bridge on Nepal-China border

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

The daughter of a woman missing in Nepal has told how she traced her mother’s location through a TikTok video posted hours before the devastating flash flood hit.

The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and sweeping away entire villages, have killed at least 675 people, while more than 3,000 remain missing.

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Number of missing in Nepal and Tibet rises to 3,000 as bad weather hampers search

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Nepal requests foreign ⁠help in identification and storing of bodies, DNA testing and rescuing people from tunnels

Poor weather temporarily hampered aerial rescue operations in Nepal on Saturday as the search for thousands of missing people in areas devastated by catastrophic flash floods along the border with China continued.

The combined toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 691 dead and more than 3,000 people missing after China’s latest update on Sunday. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, while Nepal’s disaster agency said late Saturday that the death toll had climbed to 675 with 2,498 people missing.

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Flash floods on Nepal-Tibet border leave scores dead and hundreds missing

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At least 157 people dead and hundreds of tourists among missing after roads, bridges and power plants swept away

At least 157 people have been killed and hundreds, including large numbers of foreign tourists, are missing after flash floods ⁠hit the Himalayan border areas of ⁠Nepal and Tibet in China, police have said, with parts of India also at risk.

The disaster was caused by a torrent of mud, water and debris that burst from the banks of a river that runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away in Nepal, ⁠while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties”.

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Dozens injured as earthquake hits near Naples in seismic swarm

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At least five taken to hospital and about 300 evacuated in strongest quake to hit southern Italian region in 40 years

At least 26 people have been injured after a 4.7-magnitude earthquake rocked a region near Naples, in southern Italy.

The quake, which occurred at 7.46pm on Friday night, caused power outages, disrupted public transport and damaged a pier in Campi Flegrei, the site of Europe’s largest volcanic crater.

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AusAlert test will blast emergency warning siren over most phones in Australia on Monday. Here’s what to know

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National emergency test alert will be sent to all mobile devices on 27 July, with domestic violence advocates advising how to turn off safe phones

Virtually every phone in the country will blare an emergency siren at 2pm AEST on Monday 27 July as part of the first Australia-wide test of a new national warning system called AusAlert.

Most phones, and some smartwatches and tablets, will receive a pop-up notification and an alert sound that cannot be silenced – even if your device is on “do not disturb” or silent mode.

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Earthquake in Peru leaves at least six dead

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More than 30 injured and 300 displaced after buildings collapse near Sicaya

A 5.5-magnitude earthquake shook the Andes region of Peru, killing at least six people, authorities said Sunday. More than 30 people were injured and 300 have been displaced.

The US Geological Survey reported the quake struck on Saturday at 9.24pm, with its epicentre located 2km (1.2 miles) west-south-west of the city of Sicaya in Huancayo province. It was 10km (6.2 miles) deep.

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Rodríguez defends Venezuela’s emergency earthquake response as number of bodies expected to soar

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Interim president says unrest will not break out despite anger at official response to the 24 June disaster

Venezuela’s interim president has defended her country’s emergency response to the twin earthquakes that have killed more than 3,000 people, vowing the country would not descend into social unrest.

Many Venezuelans have expressed anger at what they see as the US-backed government’s inadequate response to the 24 June disaster before international teams arrived.

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Four people have died from flash floods in Kentucky, governor says

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Floods caused by thunderstorms that have dumped inches of rain on Kentucky and Indiana, with more possible

Andy Beshear, the Kentucky governor, says four people have died as a result of flash floods from thunderstorms that have brought as much as 7in (18cm) of rain to the state.

Beshear confirmed the four deaths in a social media post, noting three people were from Madison county and one was from Jackson county. “Please join Britainy and me as we pray for their families during this difficult time,” Beshear said.

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Venezuela earthquakes: death toll rises again to more than 1,400

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Search for survivors continues with nearly 70,000 people reported unaccounted for by their family members

The ⁠death toll ⁠in ⁠the twin ​earthquakes that struck ⁠Venezuela earlier ⁠this ​week ‌has ‌risen to ‌1,430, according to one of the country’s top politicians, Jorge Rodríguez.

Another 3,200 ​people were injured ⁠and 3,100 ​left homeless ​by the ​disaster, ​the National Assembly president added, speaking ​on ​state television.

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Florida shaken by 6.1-magnitude earthquake off coast of Cuba

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Earthquake was region’s strongest tremor in nearly 150 years and was also felt in parts of Mexico including Cancún

An earthquake on Monday off the coast of Cuba, which was that region’s strongest tremor in nearly 150 years, could be felt in Florida and parts of Mexico.

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake, which struck in the afternoon, occurred approximately 65 miles (105km) north-west of Mantua, Cuba, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS added that the earthquake had a depth of 16 miles.

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Trial begins for man accused of sparking LA’s deadly Palisades fire

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Jonathan Rinderknecht is accused of starting the blaze that became Los Angeles’s deadliest and destructive wildfire

The trial of a 29-year-old charged with sparking a wildfire that went on to become the deadly Palisades inferno, the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history, is set to begin on Monday in a case that has gripped the city as Angelenos seek answers more than a year after the deadly fire.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, an occasional Uber driver, is accused of starting a small blaze on New Year’s Day 2025, later dubbed the Lachman fire. Although the Los Angeles fire department extinguished the fire on 2 January, it reignited five days later due to high winds and tinderbox conditions after burning undetected deep in the dry hillsides.

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Worried Britons ‘prepping’ for major disruption with stash of tins and cash, survey shows

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Fears over a natural disaster or cyber attack are pushing households into contingency planning, Link survey shows

Millions of Britons are “prepping” for a potential “major disruptive event” by keeping a stash of cash at home, stockpiling tinned goods or ensuring they have a battery-powered torch close to hand, new data suggests.

With war raging in the Middle East and Ukraine, extreme weather becoming more frequent, and warnings that the UK’s critical infrastructure is at risk from cyber-attacks and power outages, many people feel the world has become a more dangerous and chaotic place.

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Three hikers dead after Indonesia’s Mount Dukono volcano erupts

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Two Singaporeans and a local person were in no-go zone when they were killed, say officials

Three hikers – two Singaporeans and an Indonesian – have died in an eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Dukono volcano, where they found themselves in a no-go zone, officials said.

The eruption, on Halmahera island, sent an ash cloud about 6 miles (10km) into the air, with no towns or villages near enough to face any immediate threat.

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Child among seven dead after atmospheric river storm drenches California

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Lingering thunderstorms pose risk of mudslides in areas around Los Angeles recently ravaged by wildfires

A powerful atmospheric river weather system has mostly moved through California but not before causing at least seven deaths and dousing much of the state.

Among the dead was a seven-year-old girl who was swept into the ocean by waves estimated up to 20ft at a state beach on Friday. The girl’s father, 39-year-old Yuji Hu, of Calgary, Alberta, was killed while trying to save his daughter.

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