Tag: Natural disasters

Hong Kong shuts schools as it issues heavy rain warning

A view of a flooded area after heavy rain in Hong Kong, China, Sept. 8, 2023. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

Hong Kong closed schools on Thursday after authorities issued the second-highest rain signal and warned of extensive flooding, just days after the Asian financial hub was drenched by the heaviest rain since records began 140 years ago.

The city’s weather observatory issued the “red” signal before 6 a.m. local time, saying rain exceeding 50 millimetres in an hour is falling and likely to continue.

“Heavy rain will bring flash floods and flooding is occurring or expected to occur in watercourses,” it said.

Hong Kong’s stock market will remain open unless the highest “black” signal is issued.

The heavy rain comes as the city is still repairing damage caused by torrential rain linked to typhoon Haikui which passed nearby in recent days. Many areas of the mountainous city still have a high landslide risk after the unusually wet weather.

Some areas of the city such as Tsueng Kwan O and Sai Kung were still struggling with flooding from earlier in the week. A luxury house in the affluent Tai Tam area overlooking the ocean was ordered to be evacuated on Saturday due to risk of collapse.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hong-kong-shuts-schools-it-issues-heavy-rain-warning-2023-09-14/

Mysterious lights captured in sky moments before Morocco’s devastating quake

Videos circulating on social media appear to show bright flashes of light streaking across the sky prior to the seismic event, believed to be a mysterious aerial phenomenon known as “earthquake lights.”

This is an AI generated image of Earthquake Lights. (Photo: India Today/Rahul Gupta)

A devastating 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the High Atlas Mountains in Eastern Morocco last Friday, resulting in the death of at least 2,900 people and injuring approximately 5,500 others. However, an intriguing phenomenon that occurred before the quake has caught the attention of scientists and the public alike.

Videos circulating on social media appear to show bright flashes of light streaking across the sky prior to the seismic event, believed to be a mysterious aerial phenomenon known as “earthquake lights.”

The existence and cause of earthquake lights remain a subject of debate among scientists. These lights, if proven to be associated with seismic activity, could potentially aid in early detection efforts.

Historical records dating back centuries mention instances of light bursts linked to earthquakes, ranging from brief flashes to minute-long fireballs, appearing in various colors either high or low in the sky.

What are earthquake lights?
The United States Geological Survey calls earthquake lights sheet lightning, balls of light, streamers, and steady glow that are reported in connection to the earthquake. However, there is no solid proof to explain the mysterious phenomenon. Researchers have also maintained that earthquake lights appear before or during earthquakes, but rarely after.

According to USGS, geophysicists differ on the extent to which they think that individual reports of unusual lighting near the time and epicenter of an earthquake actually represent EQL: some doubt that any of the reports constitute solid evidence for EQL, whereas others think that at least some reports plausibly correspond to EQL.

This picture taken on September 12, 2023 shows a view of affected buildings in the earthquake-hit village of Sidi Hassaine in al-Haouz province in the High Atlas mountains of central Morocco. (Photo: AFP)

Can’t be predicted
Due to the unpredictability of earthquakes, it is impossible to conduct a study to document these events firsthand, leaving scientists to rely on often unreliable human memories. However, the advent of security cameras and handheld phones has led to an increase in footage supporting the occurrence of these lights.

According to a report in Business Insider, geophysicist Friedemann Freund of the SETI Institute, who reviewed 65 reports of potential “earthquake lights”, suggests that these lights could be a complex form of static electricity. He theorises that the friction created when tectonic plates rub together could generate enough current to produce an electric discharge, explaining the bright flash.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/mysterious-lights-captured-in-sky-moments-before-moroccos-devastating-quake-2435089-2023-09-13

Libya floods: Entire neighbourhoods dragged into the sea

Rescue teams in Libya are struggling to retrieve the bodies of victims that have been swept out to sea in tsunami-like flood waters.

At least 2,300 have been killed, according to the ambulance authority in Derna, the worst affected city.

Two dams and four bridges collapsed in Derna, submerging much of the city when Storm Daniel hit on Sunday.

About 10,000 people are reported missing, the Red Crescent says, and the death toll is expected to rise further.

Some aid has started to arrive, including from Egypt, but rescue efforts have been hampered by the political situation in Libya, with the country split between two rival governments.

The US, Germany, Iran, Italy, Qatar and Turkey are among the countries that have said they have sent or are ready to send aid.

Video footage recorded after dark on Sunday shows a river of floodwater churning through the city with cars bobbing helplessly in the current.

There are harrowing stories of people being swept out to sea, while others clung onto rooftops to survive.

“I was shocked by what I saw, it’s like a tsunami,” Hisham Chkiouat, from Libya’s eastern-based government, said.

He told BBC Newshour that the collapse of one of the dams to the south of Derna had dragged large parts of the city into the sea.

“A massive neighbourhood has been destroyed – there is a large number of victims, which is increasing each hour.”

Kasim Al-Qatani, an aid worker in the town of Bayda, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme it was difficult for rescuers to reach Derna as most of the main paths into the city were “out of service because of huge damage”.

An investigation has been launched into why the floods were able to cause such devastation, he said, adding that 2.5bn Libyan Dinar (£412m; $515m) would be given to help rebuild Derna and the eastern city of Benghazi.

The cities of Soussa, Al-Marj and Misrata were also affected by Sunday’s storm.

Water engineering experts told the BBC it is likely the upper dam, around 12km (eight miles) from the city, had failed first, sending its water sweeping down the river valley towards the second dam, which lies closer to Derna – where neighbourhoods were inundated.

“At first we just thought it was heavy rain but at midnight we heard a huge explosion and it was the dam bursting,” Raja Sassi, who survived along with his wife and small daughter, told Reuters news agency.

Libyan journalist Noura Eljerbi, who is based in Tunisia told the BBC she only found out that around 35 of her relatives who all lived in the same apartment block in Derna were still alive after contacting a local rescue team.

“The house has been destroyed but my family managed to get out before things got worse. They are safe now,” she said.

Mr Qatani said there was no clean drinking water in Derna, and a lack of medical supplies.

He added that the only hospital in Derna could no longer take patients because “there are more than 700 dead bodies waiting in the hospital and it’s not that big”.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66785466

At least 39 dead as cyclone hits Brazil’s southernmost state

Affected houses are seen in a flooded area after an extratropical cyclone hit southern towns, in Mucum, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, September 6, 2023. REUTERS/Diego Vara Acquire Licensing Rights

At least 39 people have died and nine remain missing after a cyclone battered Brazil’s southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, flooding homes and swelling rivers, local authorities said on Thursday.

All those not yet accounted for are from the small town of Mucum, one of the hardest hit by the floods, where 14 deaths have been reported. Nearby cities such as Roca Sales and Cruzeiro do Sul also registered multiple casualties.

Governor Eduardo Leite declared a state of public calamity and canceled statewide parades meant to celebrate Brazil’s Independence Day on Thursday.

“We’ve mobilized to rescue the victims and rebuild everything that was destroyed by the storm,” Leite wrote on social media network X.

According to the Rio Grande do Sul government, heavy rains caused by the extratropical cyclone have affected 80 cities and left more than 2,300 people homeless and over 3,900 displaced.

In addition to the 39 fatalities in Rio Grande do Sul, one person died in neighboring Santa Catarina state while driving through the city of Jupia when a tree fell on their car. Winds there exceeded 110 km per hour (68.4 miles per hour).

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will travel to India for the G20 summit later in the day, said the federal government would fully support the region and put Vice President Geraldo Alckmin “on standby” to travel there.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/least-39-dead-cyclone-hits-brazils-southernmost-state-2023-09-07/

At least 5 people killed as rainstorms, floods hit Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria

Four people killed in Turkey and Bulgaria and one killed in Greece following flash flooding, with several still missing.

A car is submerged underwater during a rainstorm on mount Pelion, near Volos, Greece, on September 5, 2023 [Thanassis Kalliaras/Eurokinissi via Reuters]
At least five people have been killed in torrential rainstorms and flooding in Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria, including two people who were washed away when floodwaters swept through a camping ground in Turkey’s northwestern province.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday that four other people were still missing after the flash flood swept over the vacation site in Kirklareli province, near the borders with Bulgaria and Greece, where some 12 holidaymakers were staying at the time.

Istanbul’s Governor Davut Gul said on social media that authorities would provide accommodation in public facilities for those affected by flooding.

Turkey’s AFAD disaster management agency predicted further rainstorms for the west and southwest of the country and warned of the dangers from flash floods, lightning strikes and high winds.

Greece
In Greece, police banned traffic in the town of Volos, the nearby mountain region of Pelion and the resort island of Skiathos as record rainfall caused at least one death, sent thigh-high floodwaters through streets and swept vehicles away.

The Greek fire service said one man was killed near Volos when a wall buckled and fell on him. Five people were reported missing, possibly swept away in the flooding.

Streams overflowed their banks and swept cars away while rockfalls blocked roads and many areas suffered electricity cuts.

Greece’s weather service said a Pelion region village received 75.4cm (nearly 30 inches) of rain late on Tuesday, by far the highest level recorded since at least 2006. It noted that the average annual rainfall in the Athens region is about 40cm (15.75 inches).

A man cleans debris and mud from the street, following a flash flood during a storm in the city of Volos, Greece, on September 5, 2023 [Anastasia Karekla/Eurokinissi via Reuters]
On Skiathos, “planes cannot approach the airport” because of the flooding, Savvas Karagiannis, a spokesman for Fraport, the German company that manages Greece’s regional airports, told the French news agency AFP on Tuesday.

“The weather conditions are extreme and there are currently many delays in airport connections”, he said.

Greece’s minister of climate crisis and civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said the heavy rain was expected to ease up after midday on Wednesday. He advised people in affected areas to stay indoors.

“This is an extreme phenomenon”, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a meeting on Tuesday with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The rain storms and flooding come on the heels of devastating wildfires that hit Greece over the past few weeks and left more than 20 people dead.

Classified by experts as a “megafire”, a huge blaze raging over the last two week in the Dadia National Park, in the northern Evros region, destroyed more than 81,000 hectares (200,155 acres) of forest.

Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said on Tuesday that two people had died and three others were missing after a storm caused floods on the country’s southern Black Sea coast.

“Those who have died are one man and one woman,” Denkov told journalists from the flood-hit coastal town of Tsarevo.

Several hundred holidaymakers vacationing along the coast have been evacuated to safer locations.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/6/at-least-5-people-killed-as-rainstorms-floods-hit-turkey-greece-bulgaria

 

More than 20 dead, hundreds displaced as cyclone slams southern Brazil

A storm has devastated the southern state of Rio Grande Sul, the latest in a string of extreme weather events.

People look for victims after a cyclone struck Bom Retiro do Sul in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on September 5 [Diego Vara/Reuters]
A cyclone has devastated southern Brazil, with flooding in several cities leaving at least 21 people dead and displacing hundreds more.

Authorities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul said on Tuesday that more bodies are being found as flood waters recede. Governor Eduardo Leite said that about 60 cities were affected by the storm.

“Since dawn, we saw that [the water] was going to flood [our house], and we were putting things on top of the table, on top of the wood stove, but it didn’t help,” Luana Da Luz, a resident of the town of Passo Fundo, told the Reuters news agency.

Estimates for the number of people forced from their homes vary. The Associated Press estimates 1,650 have been displaced, while the news agency AFP cited a higher statistic: 3,700.

In addition to the 21 lives lost in Rio Grande do Sul, one death was confirmed in the neighbouring state of Santa Catarina, according to Reuters.

Tuesday’s cyclone is the latest in a string of extreme weather events to heap misery on Brazil, underscoring the risks of storms driven to greater frequency and intensity by climate change.

In June, a cyclone in southern Brazil killed 13 people and displaced thousands from their homes. In February, landslides and flooding triggered by torrential rainfall killed at least 65 people in the state of Sao Paulo.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/5/more-than-20-dead-hundreds-displaced-as-cyclone-slams-southern-brazil

Char Dham Yatra 2023: Kedarnath receives heavy snowfall; registrations suspended till April 30

Kedarnath in Uttarakhand received heavy snowfall on April 24. Houses were seen covered in a thick layer of snow. The maximum and minimum temperatures will hover between -11.3 degrees Celsius and -3.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/char-dham-yatra-2023-kedarnath-receives-heavy-snowfall-registrations-suspended-till-april-30/videoshow/99730138.cms

French Alps avalanche: Guides among 4 killed at Armancette glacier

The aftermath of an avalanche at the Armancette glacier on Sunday

At least four people have died in an avalanche in the French Alps, the country’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, has said.

It happened at the Armancette glacier near Mont Blanc in south-eastern France around midday on Sunday local time.

The local deputy mayor has confirmed that two of the dead were mountain guides.

Several injured people have been taken to hospital, and two people are still missing.

Jean-Luc Mattel, deputy mayor of the nearby Contamines-Montjoie village, said the avalanche was caused by a slab of snow detaching from the top of the mountain.

Search and rescue dogs and mountain-rescue teams worked all day to try to reach those who were caught, who are all thought to have been backcountry skiing.

The search for two missing people is expected to resume on Monday.

Mr Mattel said the risk level on Sunday morning was “reasonable” and the guides, both of them locals, were highly experienced.

“Today, we are mourning, and there is great sadness among all of us mountaineers, friends of Les Contamines, those who died are people we knew, and all our thoughts go out to their families,” he said.

Mr Darmanin and French President Emmanuel Macron have also expressed their sympathy.

Before the incident, a nearby ski resort called Les Contamines-Montjoie posted a video on social media showing a huge wall of snow moving down from the Dômes de Miage, which the glacier is a part of.

It is not clear if the video shows the avalanche in which the people died.

One eyewitness told France Television that she was hiking just in front of the Armancette glacier when she saw the avalanche happening and took out her phone to film it.

“I had put the phone in front of me but then I was looking with my eyes more than in the lens and suddenly there was a huge, huge, huge cloud that came down to the bottom, it split into two,” she said.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65227410

The phones that detect earthquakes

Fifty years since the first mobile phone call, the technology we carry around in our pocket is helping to create the world’s biggest earthquake detection system.

On 25 October 2022, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted California’s Bay Area. Fortunately, it was more of a than a violent shake, but reports from residents across the region flooded into the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from those who had felt it. There was no damage reported, but the earthquake was significant in another way – many people in the area received alerts on their phones before the shaking started.

More crucially still, many of these phones helped detect the earthquake in the first place, too.

Google has been working with USGS and academics at a number of universities in California to develop an early warning system that alerts users a few seconds before tremors arrive. It is a brief window of warning, but a few seconds can give enough time to shelter under a table or desk. It can also be enough time to slow trains, stop planes from taking off or landing and keep cars from entering bridges or tunnels. As such, this system is likely to save lives when stronger quakes hit.

It uses data from two sources. Initially, the system relied upon a network of the 700 seismometers – devices that detect earth tremors – installed across the state by seismologists at USGS, the California Institute of Technology and University of California Berkeley and the state government. (Seismometers in two other US states – Oregon and Washington – also feed into the system, known as ShakeAlert.) But Google has also been creating what is the world’s largest earthquake detection network through phones owned by members of the public.

Most smartphones running Google’s Android operating system have on-board accelerometers – the circuitry which detects when a phone is being moved. These are most commonly used to tell the phone to re-orientate its display from portrait to landscape mode when it is tilted, for example, and also helps provide information about step-count for Google’s onboard fitness tracker.

But the sensors are surprisingly sensitive, and can also act like a mini seismometer.

Google has introduced a function that allows users to allow their phone to automatically send data to the Android Earthquake Alerts System, if their device picks up vibrations that are characteristic of the Primary (P) waves of an earthquake. By combining data from thousands or even millions of other phones, the system can work out whether an earthquake is happening and where. It can then send out alerts to phones in the area where the seismic waves are likely to hit, giving an early warning.

And because radio signals travel faster than seismic waves, the alerts can arrive before the shaking starts in areas away from the epicentre.

Marc Stogaitis, a software engineer at Android, put it like this: “We’re essentially racing the speed of light (which is roughly the speed at which signals from a phone travel) against the speed of an earthquake. And lucky for us, the speed of light is much faster!”

As most of the data is crowdsourced, the technology opens up the possibility of monitoring for earthquakes in areas where there aren’t extensive networks of expensive seismometers. It means raises the possibility of providing earthquake alerts in even remote and poorer regions of the world.

In October 2022, engineers at Google saw phones across the San Francisco Bay Area light up with earthquake detection data as the seismic waves travelled outwards from the epicentre.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230405-the-phones-that-detect-earthquakes

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