Approximately 23 million people were under flood watches across parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Friday morning, as extreme rainfall shut off subway lines and flooded streets.
A state of emergency has been declared in New York City and two other surrounding areas after “extreme rainfall” caused widespread flooding in the northeast region.
Up to 13cm (five inches) of rain fell in some areas overnight, and as much as 18cm (seven inches) more was expected throughout the day, New York governor, Kathy Hochul, said.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday morning, she declared a state of emergency in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, due to the weather.
Earlier on Friday, Ms Hochul said: “This is a dangerous, life-threatening storm. Count on this for the next 20 hours.”
She said her message to New Yorkers is that the “water is deadly”.
Pic: AP
Approximately 23 million people were under flood watches across parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut on Friday morning, with flash flood warnings in effect for parts of Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and New Jersey, according to NBC.
Footage posted on social media showed water pouring into underground stations and streets that had been turned into small lakes.
Pic: AP
Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, warned people against attempting to travel in the conditions until it clears.
Chaos during rush hour saw some drivers abandon their cars as traffic came to a standstill on a stretch of FDR Drive – a major road along the east side of Manhattan.
Forest fires in Canada’s western province of British Columbia intensified on Saturday, with the number of people under evacuation orders doubling from a day earlier, as authorities warned of difficult days ahead.
The province declared a state of emergency on Friday to access temporary authoritative powers to tackle fire-related risks, as out-of-control fires ripped through interior British Columbia, partially shutting some sections of a key highway between the Pacific coast and the rest of western Canada, and destroying many properties.
“The current situation is grim,” Premier Daniel Eby told reporters on Saturday, saying some 35,000 people were under an evacuation order, and a further 30,000 were under an evacuation alert.
Eby said the province is in dire need of shelter for evacuees and firefighters and ordered a ban on non-essential travel to make more temporary accommodation available. Officials also urged residents to avoid operating drones in the fire zone, saying it could impede firefighting efforts.
The fire is centered around Kelowna, a city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) east of Vancouver, with a population of about 150,000.
Forest fires are not uncommon in Canada, but the spread of blazes and disruption underscore the severity of its worst wildfire season yet.
About 140,000 square km (54,054 square miles) of land, roughly the size of New York state, have already burned, and government officials project the fire season could stretch into autumn due to widespread drought-like conditions in Canada.
B.C. had experienced strong winds and dry lightning in the past few days due to a cold mass of air interacting with hot air built-up in the sultry summer. That intensified existing forest fires and ignited new ones.
“We are still in some critically dry conditions, and are still expecting difficult days ahead,” said Jerrad Schroeder, deputy fire centre manager at the Kamloops Fire Centre.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened a meeting of key ministers and senior officials on Saturday to discuss wildfires. The Incident Response Group, which met for the second time this week, agreed to make “additional resources available” to both British Columbia and the Northwest Territories (NWT).
MAIN EAST-WEST ROAD UNDER THREAT
The McDougall Creek wildfire burns next to houses in the Okanagan community of West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
A wildfire burning out of control in Yellowknife, the capital city of NWT, had triggered evacuations of almost all of its 20,000 residents this week. One patient died when he was being transferred out of Yellowknife, an NWT minister said on Saturday.
Currently, the fire is not expected to reach city limits by the end of the weekend, officials said, with some rain and cooler temperatures helping to slow its progress.
The TransCanada highway was closed near Chase, around 400 km northeast of Vancouver, and between Hope, 150 km east of Vancouver, and the village of Lytton.
The highway is the main east-west artery used by thousands of motorists and truckers heading to Vancouver, the country’s busiest port.
Kip Lumquist, who works at a gift shop in Craigellachie, British Columbia, a tourist spot on the highway, said she saw a lot of devastation over the past week.
“It was crazy, we couldn’t see the hills, the mountains, the trees, anything, probably (for) two and a half days,” said Lumquist. “I drive a white vehicle, and when I walked out to get in my car… it’s just black… It’s devastating to the community.”
The fires are currently in the mountainous area surrounding the volcano Mount Teide.
Firefighters are continuing to battle raging wildfires in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands and a major tourist destination.
Fires started on Wednesday in a craggy and mountainous area in the north-east of the island. 1,000s of residents have been evacuated or told to stay indoors.
The terrain is making it difficult to contain the fires which authorities say are still ‘out of control’ and continuining to spread.
The blazes currently have a perimeter of 41km and 7,600 people have so far been evacuated or told to stay indoors.
Residents of the town of Aguamansa carry bottles, as wildfires rage out of control on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 17 August, 2023.Reuters/Borja Suarez
‘The most complex fire in the last 40 years’
“This is the most complex fire we’ve had in the Canary Islands in the last 40 years,” the region’s leader, Fernando Clavijo, said yesterday.
Pedro Martinez, head of emergency services in Tenerife, said the fire has spread to the north and towards a valley where several campsites are located.
About 250 firefighters backed by 17 planes and helicopters, including three sent from mainland Spain, are trying to contain the fire. But efforts are being hampered as the fire is in a mountainous national park.
A government-issued map shows the active fires in Tenerife, 17 August 2023.Gobierno de Canarias
Tenerife: Where are the wildfires?
The fires currently have a perimeter of 41 km.
The fires started in the mountainous area of Arafo and Candelaria. This is in the centre of the island and it surrounds the famous volcano Teide, Spain’s highest peak and popular tourist attraction.
7,600 people have so far been evacuated or told to stay indoors.
The areas that have so far been evacuated:
Candelaria
El Rosario (1,294 residents evacuated from their homes)
La Victoria
Santa Úrsula
La Orotava (1,525 residents evacuated from their homes)
Las Rosas
La Resbala
Camino de la Granja
Los Eres
Lomo Juan Lian
Vera del Barranco
El Pinalete
Galván, Las Vigas y lo de Los Ramos
Pino Alto
Baboseras Altas
Camino el Pozo
Lomo la Piedra
La Vica
El Pirul
Residents in La Esperanza have been told to stay inside to protect themselves from the risks of smoke inhalation.
All roads leading into the evacuated areas and the roads leading to Mount Teide are currently shut to the public.
¡Buenos días, aviadores! 👋🏻
Lucha sin tregua contra el fuego 🔥
5 aviones del #43Grupo trabajaron ayer en #IFArafoCandelaria (Tenerife), #IFArbo (Pontevedra) e #IFRubiá (Orense), con un total de 32:20 horas de vuelo ✈️ y 88 descargas 💦
— Ejército del Aire y del Espacio (@EjercitoAire) August 18, 2023
Tenerife: Are the wildfires likely to spread to tourist areas?
Highly flammable pine trees in the area could cause the fires to escalate towards tourist hotspots on the Canary Island, including Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Puerto de la Cruz, authorities said.
“The fire is powerful and is in a complicated area,” Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo told a news conference in Tenerife.
“Efforts are focused on preventing the fire from spreading and affecting mainly residential areas close to the coast.”
At the moment, the fires are 19 km away from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife’s main town.
Alberta has declared a state of emergency after wildfires spread across the western Canadian province, driving nearly 25,000 people from their homes.
Faced with more than 100 wildfires, Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith called the situation “unprecedented”.
Residents of Edson, a town of more than 8,000, were told to leave immediately.
Ms Smith said a hot, dry spring had created “so much kindling” and some 122,000 hectares (301,000 acres) had burned so far.
Many of the fires are burning out of control, fanned by strong winds.
The worst-hit areas include Drayton Valley, about 140km (87 miles) west of the provincial capital Edmonton, and Fox Lake, some 550km north of the city, where 20 homes were consumed by fire.
More than 400 people have died since the violence which has left foreign governments scrambling to get their citizens out erupted. Food and fuel are increasing in price with electricity and internet cut off in much of the country.
Evacuees from Sudan sit inside a military plane after arriving in Nairobi, Kenya
A 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan’s two warring factions is underway as the UK government faces pressure to “not miss the window” of opportunity for evacuations and delivering urgent aid.
The US-Saudi mediated truce between the Sudanese military and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group began on Monday night and followed two days of intense negotiations.
The two sides have not abided by several previous temporary truce deals – but both confirmed on Monday that they had agreed to the ceasefire.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington urged both sides to “fully uphold” the ceasefire.
At least 427 people have died since the fighting erupted over a power struggle between the rival factions in the capital Khartoum 10 days ago and has trapped millions of Sudanese citizens.
Food and fuel have soared in price, electricity and internet are cut off in much of the country and the clashes have left foreign governments scrambling to get their citizens and diplomats out.
Mr Blinken said the US would coordinate with regional, international and Sudanese civilian interests to create a committee that would oversee work on a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian arrangements.
However, the UK has been warned that it must act quickly to “not miss this window of opportunity” during the ceasefire to get aid into the country and carry out evacuations.
The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns tweeted: “This is a significant opportunity to get urgent humanitarian aid, especially water, into Sudan and to get our people evacuated, prioritising families and children.
“Every hour counts. We must act quickly and not miss this window of opportunity, as it is quite likely the ceasefire will not hold.”
There are understood to be around 4,000 British passport holders in Sudan.
On Monday, Africa minister Andrew Mitchell appealed to all of them to register their details with the Foreign Office and said their “safety and security remains the upmost priority” for the government.
While the government has advised those on the ground to “stay indoors where possible” and wait to hear an update on how they can leave the country, some British nationals have said they felt “abandoned” after diplomats were rescued in a night-time mission, and were organising their own routes out of the country.
