Scores dead in Pakistan and Ivory Coast floods; As Dutch storm costs soar

Scores dead in Pakistan and Ivory Coast floods; As Dutch storm costs soar
by AFP Staff Writers
Lahore, Pakistan (AFP) July 7, 2023

At least 50 people, including eight children, have been killed by floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains that have lashed Pakistan since last month, officials said Friday.

The summer monsoon brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall between June and September every year.

It is vital for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and food security in a region of around two billion people -- but it also brings landslides and floods.

"Fifty deaths have been reported in different rain-related incidents all over Pakistan since the start of the monsoon on June 25," a national disaster management official told AFP, adding that 87 people were injured during this period.

The majority of the deaths were in eastern Punjab province, and were mainly due to electrocution and building collapses, official data showed.

In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the bodies of eight children were recovered from a landslide in the Shangla district on Thursday, according to the emergency service Rescue 1122's spokesman Bilal Ahmed Faizi.

He said rescuers were still searching for other children trapped in the debris.

Officials in Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city, said it had received record-breaking rainfall on Wednesday, turning roads into rivers and leaving almost 35 percent without electricity and water this week.

The Meteorological Department has predicted more heavy rainfall nationwide in the days ahead and warned of potential flooding in the catchment areas of Punjab's major rivers.

The province's disaster management authority said Friday it is working to relocate people living along the waterways.

Scientists have said climate change is making seasonal rains heavier and more unpredictable.

Last summer, unprecedented monsoon rains put a third of Pakistan under water, damaging two million homes and killing more than 1,700 people.

Storms killed at least 27 people, including eight children, in the country's northwest early last month.

Pakistan, which has the world's fifth largest population, is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to officials.

However, it is one of the most vulnerable nations to the extreme weather caused by global warming.

At least 10 people killed in heavy rains in Ivory Coast
Abidjan (AFP) July 8, 2023 - At least 10 people have died in the heavy rains and landslides pummeling Abidjan, Ivory Coast officials told AFP.

The count was a provisional toll as of Friday, according to the military's firefighting brigade GSPM.

"We recorded 10 deaths, nine in Yopougon and one in Cocody-Angre," two districts of Abidjan, the country's largest city and economic hub, Anicet Bah, GSPM captain and deputy head of operations, told AFP.

In the industrial zone Yopougon, the first landslide struck around 3:00 am on Thursday, causing four deaths and one injury, he added.

In the same area, a second landslide left seven people injured and another four dead, including a child, he said.

Not far from there, in Attecoube-Mossikro, another body was pulled from the landslide at dawn.

Closer to the city centre, in Cocody, "one person was swept away by the waters" and the body was later found by residents.

The firefighters were told another three victims had been washed away, but Bah said the operation to find them had been called off after a search that was "in vain".

June and July bring heavy rain to Ivory Coast every year, but precarious construction has led to more flood-prone areas, particularly in poorer neighbourhoods of the swelling West African metropolis, which is home to an estimated 5.6 million people.

In mid-June, a family of five -- a couple and their three children -- died in a landslide in Yopougon.

The populous district was hit by tragedy during last year's rainy season as well, when six people were buried in a landslide after a night of heavy rain.

Last month, the government reported that 15 children have died in weather-related incidents since the beginning of the year.

Record storm cost up to 100 mn euros in damage: Dutch insurers
The Hague (AFP) July 6, 2023 - A record-breaking summer storm that pummelled the Netherlands and Germany, leaving two people dead, has caused as much as 100 million euros ($109 million) in damage, Dutch insures said on Thursday.

Storm Poly packed howling winds of up to 146 kilometres per hour (90 miles per hour), toppling trees and forcing the cancellation of 400 flights from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs.

The Dutch Association of Insurers said that, according to initial estimates, "damage to homes, cars and commercial buildings due to storm Poly amounts to 50 to 100 million euros."

"Poly has wreaked havoc and the impact is major," association director Richard Weurding added in a statement.

He stressed the figure was an initial assessment based on historical data, adding "it can still increase."

Meteorologists said the storm was the strongest on record to hit the Netherlands in the summer months and issued a rare "code red" warning for millions of people in the low-lying nation to stay indoors.

A 51-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her car in the Dutch city of Haarlem, authorities said.

A 64-year-old woman died after being struck by a falling tree in the German town of Rhede near the Dutch border.

Two men were seriously injured in Amsterdam, one when a tree fell on his car, while a second was believed to have been hit by falling power lines, local media said.

A tree also fell on a houseboat in one of Amsterdam's historic canals, while another toppled onto a tram in The Hague, though no one was hurt.

Flights resumed at Schiphol on Thursday, but the airport warned of busier than usual wait times at check-in or for security checks.