The northeastern United States was engulfed by snow Tuesday as a powerful winter storm battered the region, blanketing New York for the first time in two years and causing flight cancellations and school closures. Airlines cancelled more than 1,220 flights, including 43 percent of flights at New York’s domestic LaGuardia airport as well as one in five flights at the city’s main air hub JFK, according to aviation tracker Flight Aware. Schools were forced to […]
Tag: weather
Child rescued after almost 60 hours in Philippine landslide
MANILA, Feb 9, 2024 (AFP) – The rescue of a child on Friday 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 anyone alive. The girl, whose age has not been disclosed, had been among the more than 100 people missing after the rain-induced landslide hit the village, killing at least 15 people. She was found […]
Deadly California storm brings unrelenting rain, flooding
LOS ANGELES, Feb 6, 2024 (AFP) – A powerful storm lashing California on Monday has left at least three people dead and caused devastating mudslides and flooding, after dumping months’ worth of rain in a single day. More than ten inches (25 centimeters) of rain was recorded in one part of Los Angeles County in 24 hours of downpour, with no letup forecast in the coming days. Mountainsides collapsed in the tony Hollywood Hills area, […]
Chile wildfire death toll rises to 112: Interior Ministry
Santiago, Feb 5, 2024 (AFP) – The confirmed death toll from ferocious wildfires in central Chile has risen to 112, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday. Undersecretary Manuel Monsalve told a press conference that the medical examiner has received “112 people dead, 32 bodies identified,” adding that there were still “40 active fires” in the country. Responders continued to battle fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with […]
US West Coast battered as ‘Pineapple Express’ storms hits
LOS ANGELES, Feb 1, 2024 (AFP) – The US West Coast was getting drenched Thursday as the first of two powerful storms moved in, part of a “Pineapple Express” weather pattern that was washing out roads and sparking flood warnings. An atmospheric river was dumping heavy rain and snow over a wide swath of the region, ferrying tropical moisture from the ocean near Hawaii — a weather phenomenon named after the tropical fruit that grows […]
Death toll from Philippine landslides, floods rises to 14
MANILA, Feb 3, 2024 (AFP) – The death toll from landslides and floods triggered by torrential rain in the southern Philippines in the past week has risen to 14, official tallies showed Saturday. Rain has pounded parts of Mindanao, the country’s second-largest island, on and off for weeks and forced tens of thousands of people into emergency shelters. At least 10 people died in recent days in the mountainous gold mining province of Davao de […]
Cyclone hits northeast Australia leaving thousands without power
SYDNEY, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) A powerful category three cyclone crashed into northeastern Australia late on Thursday, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power. Severe Tropical Cyclone Kirrily packed winds of more than 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour as it hit Townsville, home to 180,000 people, before rapidly weakening. Emergency services said that despite high winds, the storm caused no fatalities and minimal damage. But about 64,000 homes were said to be without […]
Colombia seeks international aid to combat forest fires edging in on homes
By Alejandro Rincon BOGOTÁ, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – Colombia appealed on Thursday for international aid as it battled dozens of forest fires burning vast swathes of the country and encroaching on homes in the capital. For four consecutive days, hundreds of firefighters and volunteers have fought the inferno tearing through the forested mountains above Bogota, some armed with little more than water bottles and face masks. The fires have blanketed the capital in smoke, […]
Storm Isha batters UK cutting power and diverting flights
LONDON, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people across the UK and Ireland were without power on Monday after Storm Isha lashed the countries with strong winds and heavy rain, disrupting travel networks. Gusts of 99 miles per hour (159 kilometres per hour) were recorded in northeast England as the whole of United Kingdom was subject to weather warnings for its ninth named storm since September. Climatologists say climate change is causing […]
Fierce winter weather slams US, dozens dead
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Unrelenting storms have pummelled the United States over the past week, leading to at least 50 weather-related deaths, officials and US media reported Friday, as large swathes of the country brace for new winter wallops. Frigid temperatures, snow gales and thick ice have caused fatal accidents on treacherous roadways, snarled air travel, closed schools and cut power to thousands, with millions of Americans under fresh weather warnings. In Tennessee, 14 weather-related fatalities […]
Heavy snow, freezing rain hobble European travel
By Deborah COLE BERLIN, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – Severe winter weather in northern Europe prompted the cancellation of hundreds of flights Wednesday at Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, while heavy snow in Scandinavia shut down air travel in Oslo for several hours. A Frankfurt airport spokeswoman said 570 of 1,047 flights had been axed by late morning as Germany’s business capital prepared for dramatic weather conditions. By early afternoon, all remaining departures were temporarily struck […]
Heavy snow, freezing rain hamper German travel
BERLIN, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – Severe winter weather prompted the cancellation of hundreds of flights Wednesday at Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, as the country faced heavy snowfall and freezing rain. A Frankfurt airport spokeswoman said 570 of 1,047 flights had been axed from the schedule by late morning as Germany’s business capital prepared for dramatic weather conditions. By early afternoon, all remaining departures were struck from the schedule due to the onset of freezing […]





