Spain is in a race against time to clear roads covered by heavy snow, and get Covid-19 vaccines and food supplies to areas affected by Storm Filomena. As much as 50cm (20 inches) of snow fell on Madrid, one of the worst hit areas, between Friday night and Saturday, at least four people died and thousands of travellers were left stranded. Forecasters have warned temperatures could plunge overnight on Sunday, turning the snow to perilous ice. The Spanish government said it had taken extra steps – including police-escorted convoys – to ensure its expected shipment of some 300,000 coronavirus vaccines … Continue reading Update on storm Filomena: Spain races to clear snow before temperatures drop

Europe saw its warmest ever year in 2020, 0.4°C warmer than the previous record in 2019, according to the EU’s climate monitoring service. The latest data released from Copernicus also showed that, worldwide, 2020 was on par with the warmest year ever recorded – 2016 – marking the end of the warmest decade on record. The agency also reported that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have continued to rise globally. In Europe, seasonal data for winter 2019/20 and autumn 2020 showed they were also the warmest ever recorded. Winter (December 2019 to February 2020) exceeded the previous warmest of 2016 … Continue reading Last year was Europe’s warmest ever, 0.4°C hotter than the previous record in 2019

A powerful snowstorm has swept through the north-eastern US, breaking records in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York and affecting 60 million people. Parts of northern New York received three feet (90cm) of snowfall, and New York City received all of last year’s snow total in just this one storm. Weather officials warned of “dangerous, if not impossible travel conditions” as they struggled to plough icy roadways, hundreds of car crashes were reported, with at least two fatalities. Warnings were in place on Thursday for 14 states, with officials begging residents not to leave home unless absolutely necessary. The city of … Continue reading Record-breaking blizzard slams East Coast of the US

Hurricane Iota is lashing the coast of Nicaragua less than two weeks after another devastating storm hit, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm’s western eye had crossed the coast on Monday evening. It had strengthened at sea to a category five storm before hitting the coast, with maximum sustained winds of up to 160mph (260km/h), as it struck Nicaragua it weakened slightly to a category four, but it remains dangerous. The NHC warned of “catastrophic winds, a life-threatening storm surge, and torrential rainfall” in it’s latest update, Iota is the strongest Atlantic hurricane of the year and only the … Continue reading Update: Category five storm ‘Iota’ hits Nicaragua

Hurricane Iota is rapidly gathering strength as it barrels towards Central America, threatening to bring “life-threatening” storm surges and “catastrophic” winds to a region still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Eta. As of 10am EST (15:00 GMT), Hurricane Iota was about 335 miles (539 km) off the Nicaraguan-Honduran coast, packing maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (145 km/h), according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC). Iota is forecast to be an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane when it approaches Central America, the NHC warned, hurricane Iota is expected to make landfall by late Monday. The system … Continue reading Hurricane Iota strengthens as it heads towards Central America

Police in the Philippines said the death toll from Typhoon Vamco has risen to 26, with dozens still missing or injured after the storm deluged Manila and it’s surrounding provinces, triggering some of the capital’s worst floods in years. Fourteen people remain missing after Vamco, the 21st typhoon to hit the country this year, swept across Luzon, the Philippines’ main island, tens of thousands of homes were submerged by floods, as key highways turned into rivers, many people remained without power or water supplies on Friday morning, as the floods began to recede. In Marikina City, one of the hardest … Continue reading Update: Philippines typhoon death toll rises as clean up begins

At least 50 people have been killed by landslides in Guatemala after Storm Eta’s torrential rain and high winds battered the Central American country, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said around half the deaths were in a single town where a hillside collapse buried some 20 houses under thick mud. Eta made landfall in neighbouring Nicaragua as a hurricane on Tuesday, it was later downgraded to a tropical storm, Mr Giammattei said a month’s worth of rain had fallen in less than half a day during an impromptu press conference on Thursday. Ongoing heavy rain has left rescue workers unable to … Continue reading Storm Eta: Guatemala landslide kills at least 50

There are fears a typhoon which slammed into the Philippines may have damaged 90% of the buildings in the first town it struck, the Red Cross has said, Philippines Chairman Dick Gordon said a “visual” assessment showed that Virac, home to 70,000 people, had been badly affected by Typhoon Goni, at least 16 people were killed after Goni made landfall on Catanduanes island as a super typhoon on Sunday, it has now been downgraded to a tropical storm. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, though the storm spared the capital Manila, Virac was the first urban area on Catanduanes to … Continue reading ‘Typhoon Goni’ slams Philippines with devastating destruction

Vietnam has deployed heavy machinery and hundreds of soldiers to search for survivors buried under landslides triggered by torrential rains from Typhoon Molave, one of the strongest typhoons to hit in the region in decades, the landslides, which hit remote areas in the central province of Quang Nam a day earlier, killed 13 people, according to a government statement. Rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather at the tail end of the storm and 40 remain missing, it added. We can forecast the storm path or the amount of rain, but can’t predict when landslides happen, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh … Continue reading Typhoon Molave kills 13 people in Vietnam

Tropical Storm Sally has left more than half a million Americans without power as its torrential rains and storm surges lashed the US Gulf coast. Winds slowed after Sally made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday, but the storm continues to batter the US states of Florida and Alabama as it moves at a glacial pace over the area. Flooding has caused major damage. Pensacola, in Florida, was badly hit, with a loose barge bringing down part of the Bay Bridge. Catastrophic and life-threatening flooding continues over portions of the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama, the National Hurricane … Continue reading Half a million people left without power amid Hurricane Sally

Landslides triggered by torrential rain swept through two villages in Nepal on Sunday, killing at least 12 people, a government official said. Ten people were killed and 21 declared missing after a massive landslide swept away homes and people in Bahrabise, 100km (62 miles) east of capital Kathmandu near the border with the Tibet region of China, Nepalese government official Murari Wasti said. The village and the surrounding area were among the regions worst hit by Nepal’s devastating 2015 earthquake and reconstruction work had been continuing when the landslide struck.  The torrential rain, which caused a foothill to collapse, destroyed more than 100 … Continue reading Several dead and missing after landslides in Nepal

On Monday, one person was injured in the South Korean city of Busan on the country’s southeastern coast, when strong winds flipped a car, according to the ministry. Turbine generators in two nuclear power plants in the country’s southeastern city of Gyeongju stopped automatically on Monday. The ministry is reviewing the cause. On Sunday, Typhoon Haishen pounded the Japanese island of Kyushu, with windspeeds of nearly 195 kph (121 mph). Authorities in Kyushu’s Miyazaki prefecture said one man was rescued, but three other men and one woman remain missing. Teams are continuing to search for the four missing people, who … Continue reading Typhoon Haishen lashes Korean Peninsula after battering Japan