Tag: climate

Caribbean braces as Hurricane Beryl strengthens to ‘very dangerous’ storm

By Chandan KHANNA BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 30, 2024 (AFP) – Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, strengthened into a “very dangerous” Category 3 storm Sunday morning as it threatened the southeast Caribbean with potential life-threatening winds and storm surge, US forecasters said. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Beryl — currently churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 420 miles (675 kilometers) east of Barbados — “continues to quickly strengthen this Sunday […]

Hong Kong matches record for hottest summer solstice

HONG KONG (AFP) – Hong Kong matched on Friday its record for the hottest summer solstice as a subtropical ridge drove temperatures up to 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit). “The maximum temperature recorded at the observatory was 34C, the highest so far this year and equalling the record high for summer solstice set in 1980,” the city’s weather observatory said. The Chinese finance hub saw its hottest summer on record last year, with the […]

Three missing after heavy Swiss flooding

GENEVA, June 22, 2024 (AFP) – Swiss authorities in the southeastern canton of Grisons said Saturday that they were searching for three people missing after heavy flooding the previous day in the region. Police said a woman feared to have been swept away had been found alive after being caught in torrential rain and thunderstorms that caused landslides and flooding in the Mesolcina valley and forces dozens of residents to be briefly evacuated. “Intensive searches […]

Torrential rains kill 27 across Central America

SAN SALVADOR, June 21, 2024 (AFP) – Torrential rains across Central America have left at least 27 dead in landslides and flooding over the past week, mainly in El Salvador, but also in Guatemala and Honduras, officials said Friday. El Salvador’s Environment Minister Fernando Lopez said the deluge was a result of low pressure over the Pacific Ocean, with indirect influence from tropical storm Alberto which left four people dead in Mexico. “Unfortunately, the death […]

Italy swelters in first summer heatwave

ROME (AFP) – Tourists and locals sweltered under Italy’s first summer heatwave on Friday, with the installation in Rome of potted trees for shade providing little relief. Temperatures were forecast to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the country, according to the official air force weather service, while the health ministry issued red alerts for Rome and Palermo among other cities. Weather website Il Meteo blamed an African anticyclone it dubbed […]

Extreme heat is new danger stalking US-bound migrants

By Hérika MARTÍNEZ CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico (AFP) – In the Mexican desert near the US border, security forces are on alert after a man was found dead from heat stroke on the journey to what he hoped would be a better life in North America. The 45-year-old Mexican man’s body was found buried among sand and bushes under the merciless sun, a week after a woman died from dehydration in the northern state of Chihuahua, […]

Mexico on alert as heat claims 155 lives since March

MEXICO CITY, June 20, 2024 (AFP) – Mexico has registered 155 deaths associated with high temperatures since March, with 30 in the past week alone, the government said Thursday. At least 2,567 people have suffered heat-related illnesses so far this warm season, which started mid-March and will continue until the beginning of October, the health secretariat said in a weekly report. A dozen Mexican cities broke heat records in May, with an all-time high of […]

New report warns of heat danger at Paris Olympics

PARIS, June 18, 2024 (AFP) – A new report backed by climate scientists and athletes warned Tuesday about the dangers of extreme high temperatures at this year’s Paris Olympics. The “Rings of Fire” report — a collaboration between non-profit Climate Central, academics at Britain’s University of Portsmouth and 11 Olympians — said conditions in Paris could be worse than the last Games in Tokyo in 2021. It warned that “intense heat at the Paris Olympics […]

Power demand peaks in northern India heatwave

By Bhuvan BAGGA NEW DELHI, June 18, 2024 (AFP) – Searing heatwave temperatures in northern India pushed power demand to a record high, the government said Tuesday, with residents of the capital New Delhi also struggling with water shortages. Much of northern India has been gripped by a brutal month-long heatwave, with temperatures regularly soaring above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Northern India has “been experiencing high demand conditions due to a prevailing heat […]

Sinkholes threaten luxury property in Chile’s resort city

By Pedro SCHWARZE VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile, June 15, 2024 (AFP) – It was meant to be paradise on earth: a luxury apartment building standing just a few meters away from the beach with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. However, intense rains that have lashed Chile in recent days caused a giant sinkhole to open underneath this high-end property in the resort city of Vina del Mar, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents. […]

Water crisis batters war-torn Sudan as temperatures soar

PORT SUDAN, Sudan, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – War, climate change and man-made shortages have brought Sudan — a nation already facing a litany of horrors — to the shores of a water crisis. “Since the war began, two of my children have walked 14 kilometres (nine miles) every day to get water for the family,” Issa, a father of seven, told AFP from North Darfur state. In the blistering sun, as temperatures climb past […]

Early summer heatwave claims first victim in Cyprus

NICOSIA, June 14, 2024 (AFP) – A 91-year-old woman became the first death from an early heatwave gripping Cyprus as the island sweltered under record June temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) on Friday. Health officials said a woman died at Nicosia General Hospital suffering from heatstroke; another five elderly patients were being treated in hospitals with severe symptoms of heatstroke. State health organisation spokesperson Charalambos Charilaou told reporters the woman suffered a cardiac […]