'Catastrophe' as downpours hit Chile; Floods, landslides in India's northeast kill 6

'Catastrophe' as downpours hit Chile; Floods, landslides in India's northeast kill 6
by AFP Staff Writers
Santiago (AFP) June 14, 2024

Heavy rains battered south and central Chile on Thursday, killing one person and causing damage to hundreds of homes as authorities declared a state of catastrophe in five regions of the South American country.

A person died in the southern city of Linares when a street lamp post fell after hours-long downpours and strong winds, the Senapred disaster response service said.

In the latest official report, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said "the worst of this frontal system is behind us, but we cannot let our guard down."

Earlier in the day, Chile's weather service issued the highest level of alarm, covering around 14 million of the 20 million people living in six of the country's 16 regions, but this was later lifted as authorities said 80 percent of the storm had passed, and was headed for neighboring Argentina.

Prior to the arrival of the flood waters, Chile's central region had battled severe drought for 15 years.

"We need boats to get people out," a resident in one of the affected towns, Curanilahue, told national television.

Curanilahue, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) south of the capital Santiago, has been hard hit as the Curanilahue and Las Ranas rivers overflowed after the area received 350 millimeters (13.7 inches) of rain in just hours -- more than in 2023 as a whole.

Around 2,000 houses in the area were damaged.

President Gabriel Boric, in a message from Sweden where he was on an official visit, warned that the rains "will continue very strongly," as he announced the first death.

Earlier Thursday, before boarding a plane to visit the affected areas, Toha said a state of "catastrophe" had been declared in five regions to expedite the deployment of resources.

Senapred said the downpours have affected about 3,300 people, down from an initial estimate of 4,300.

In Santiago, which also saw heavy rains, schools were closed for the day and authorities urged people to limit their movements.

In the city of Vina del Mar, experts worked to save a 12-story apartment building at risk of collapse after the rains caused a massive sinkhole underneath it.

The weather service said a cold front over the country was accompanied by an "atmospheric river" -- a strip of air carrying huge amounts of moisture.

Six dead after floods, landslides in India's northeast
Kolkata (AFP) June 14, 2024 - Six people were killed after heavy rain triggered flash floods and landslides in a remote corner of India's northeast, officials told AFP Friday.

Another five people were missing around the affected area in Sikkim, a state in the Himalayan foothills bordering China and popular with Indian tourists.

Senior state government official Gopinath Raha said flood waters from the Teesta river had also washed away roads and bridges, temporarily stranding more than 1,500 people.

"The water level of the Teesta river surged past the danger mark on Thursday morning, causing severe damage on the roads and disrupting traffic," he told AFP.

"More than 100 vehicles are struck at various points in the northern part of Sikkim."

Mangan district police superintendent Sonam Dichu told AFP that parts of the state's north had been "cut off from the rest of the country".

"Many houses have been washed away," he added.

Sikkim's state disaster agency said rescue operations were underway but damage to the local mobile phone network was hampering relief efforts.

Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang said his government was working "to provide every possible support to the victims and affected families".

Flash floods along the river last year, triggered by a glacial lake bursting its banks, dealt extensive damage to roads and bridges across the state.

Much of India's north has been in the grips of repeated heatwave conditions since late April, with hot weather forecast to continue for several more days in the capital New Delhi and other major urban centres.

Prayagraj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh registered maximum temperature of 47.1 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit), India's weather department said Wednesday.

The department warned Wednesday of the "high likelihood" of heat stroke and other hot weather-related afflictions in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

"Extreme care needed for vulnerable people," it said in a statement.

Ivory Coast floods kill five
Abidjan (AFP) June 14, 2024 - Flooding and landslips have killed five people in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's biggest city, after heavy downpours, the fire service said on Friday.

Roads were cut off as the rains fell on Thursday afternoon in most areas of the city with a population of six million.

"The toll this morning... is five dead and 17" injured and in hospital, the service said in a statement.

About a quarter of the precipitation expected over the May-June-July rainy season -- or 214 millimetres (8.4 inches) -- fell in 24 hours, the national meteorological service, Sodexam, said.

The floods were receding with light rain forecast for Friday.

Last year, at least 30 people died in flooding and other incidents linked to heavy rains in the West African nation.

Austria landslide kills one child, injures another
Vienna (AFP) June 13, 2024 - A landslide after heavy rains in Austria has killed a five-year-old boy, police said, as the environment minister warned Thursday that climate change was hitting the mountainous country "harder and harder".

In recent weeks, heavy rains have led to widespread flooding and hundreds of landslides across Austria.

The area close to the border with Slovenia and Hungary in the southern provinces of Styria and Burgenland has been especially hit hard.

East of the Styrian city of Graz, a landslide occurred late on Wednesday as a woman was walking with her two sons and two other boys along a road next to a wooded area, police said in a statement.

The landslide caused "around one hundred cubic metres of soil to slide", burying two of the four boys, and killing one of them, police added.

One injured boy was taken to hospital by helicopter.

The four boys are between five and nine years old, Austrian press agency APA reported.

"The climate crisis is here, we are feeling it and we are being hit harder and harder by the effects of the climate crisis," Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler told reporters on Thursday, according to APA.

While several geological factors play a significant role when it comes to landslides, heavy rainfall such as the recent ones in Styria "is the most important direct cause for them," said geologist Michael Lotter of Austria's federal Institute for Geology, Geophysics, Meteorology and Climatology.

As a result of heavy rainfall -- which saturated the slopes with water -- hundreds of landslides occurred in Styria province alone in recent weeks, Lotter told AFP.

Experts say climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activities is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as torrential rains and floods.