Beijing Faces More Torrential Rainfall Days After Deadly Floods
The city's meteorological service elevated its rainstorm warning signal to red at 1 p.m. local time on Monday, the highest alert in a tri-colored system, up from orange earlier in the day. Some places could get more than 200 millimeters (7.9 inches) over six hours, raising the risk of landslides, the forecaster said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
17 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Pakistan's deadly monsoon floods were worsened by global warming, study finds
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Heavy rainfall that triggered floods in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing hundreds of people, was worsened by human-caused climate change, according to a new study. The study by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming's role in extreme weather, found that rainfall from June 24 to July 23 in the South Asian nation was 10% to 15% heavier because of climate change, leading to many building collapses in urban and rural Pakistan. Pakistan's government has reported at least 300 deaths and 1,600 damaged houses due to the floods, heavy rain and other weather since June 26. Saqib Hassan, a 50-year-old businessman in northern Pakistan, said flooding on July 22 destroyed his home and 18 of his relatives' homes, along with their dairy farms. His farm animals were washed away, resulting in heavy losses — likely 100 million rupees ($360,000) — for him and his family. Last-minute announcements from a nearby mosque were the only warning they got to evacuate their homes in the small town of Sarwarabad and get to higher ground. 'We are homeless now. Our houses have been destroyed. All the government has given us is food rations worth 50,000 rupees ($177) and seven tents, where we've been living for the past two weeks,' Hassan told The Associated Press over the phone. Heavy rains cause series of disasters High temperatures and intense precipitation worsened by global warming have accelerated the pace of recent extreme weather events faster than climate experts expected, said Islamabad-based climate scientist Jakob Steiner, who was not part of the WWA study. 'In the last few weeks, we have been scrambling to look at the number of events, not just in Pakistan, but in the South Asian region that have baffled us,' he said. 'Many events we projected to happen in 2050 have happened in 2025, as temperatures this summer, yet again, have been far above the average,' said Steiner, a geoscientist with the University of Graz, Austria, who studies water resources and associated risks in mountain regions. Heavy monsoon rains have resulted in a series of disasters that have battered South Asia, especially the Himalayan mountains, which span across five countries, in the last few months. Overflowing glacial lakes resulted in flooding that washed away a key bridge connecting Nepal and China, along with several hydropower dams in July. Earlier this week, a village in northern India was hit by floods and landslides, killing at least four people and leaving hundreds missing. The authors of the WWA study, which was released early Thursday, said that the rainfall they analyzed in Pakistan shows that climate change is making floods more dangerous. Climate scientists have found that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which can make rain more intense. 'Every tenth of a degree of warming will lead to heavier monsoon rainfall, highlighting why a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is so urgent,' said Mariam Zachariah, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London and lead author of the WWA study. Extreme weather's impact on Pakistan Even though Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere, research shows that it incurs an outsized amount of damage from extreme weather. Pakistan witnessed its most devastating monsoon season in 2022, with floods that killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage. According to the United Nations, global funds set up to deal with loss and damages because of climate change or funds set up to adapt to climate change are falling well short of the amounts needed to help countries like Pakistan deal with climate impacts. The U.N. warns that its loss and damage fund only holds a fraction of what's needed to address yearly economic damage related to human-caused climate change. Similarly, U.N. reports state that developed countries such as the United States and European nations, which are responsible for the largest chunk of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere, are providing far less than what's needed in adaptation financing. These funds could help improve housing and infrastructure in areas vulnerable to flooding. The WWA report says much of Pakistan's fast-growing urban population lives in makeshift homes, often in flood-prone areas. The collapsing of homes was the leading cause of the 300 deaths cited in the report, responsible for more than half. 'Half of Pakistan's urban population lives in fragile settlements where floods collapse homes and cost lives,' said Maja Vahlberg of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, who also helped author the WWA report, in a press statement. 'Building flood-resilient houses and avoiding construction in flood zones will help reduce the impacts of heavy monsoon rain.' ___ Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India. ___ Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123 ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
News24
3 hours ago
- News24
Nigeria issues flood alert for over half of its 36 states
Nigerian weather forecasters on Wednesday warned that parts of 21 of the country's 36 states are likely to experience flooding in the coming days due to heavy rains, as Lagos officials warned residents in some areas to evacuate. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) said 'conditions are highly conducive for intense and prolonged rainfall, which, when combined with already saturated soil profiles and elevated river levels, significantly increases the risk of flooding'. The weather agency flagged several 'high risk' states, including Niger State, where floods flattened a neighbourhood and killed at least 200 in May. Although not on the warning list, more than 10 hours of heavy rainfall on Monday flooded several areas in the commercial hub Lagos of around 20 million people, where officials warned residents in 'lowland' areas to evacuate. 'Based on the predictions from NiMet, we are going to have much more rain this year than we had last year,' Tokunbo Wahab, Lagos state commissioner for the environment, told local broadcaster Channels Television. 'For those who stay in the lowland of Lagos, they may have to move to the upland pending when rain recedes,' he said, listing some popular neighbourhoods such as Lekki and Ikorodu. Heavy rains sweep Nigeria between June and November, often triggering dangerous floods, where poor infrastructure and inadequate drainage often worsen the impact across Africa's most populous country. In 2022, more than 500 people died and 1.4 million were displaced in the country's worst floods in a decade, while last year, more than 300 people were killed and over a million displaced in at least 34 out of Nigeria's 36 states.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Beijing lifts rain alert after tens of thousands evacuated
Beijing lifted a severe weather alert on Tuesday but warned residents to stay vigilant against natural disasters after authorities evacuated more than 82,000 people over fears of deadly floods in the Chinese capital. The municipal weather office imposed a red rainstorm warning -- the highest in a four-tier system -- on Monday, forecasting heavy downpours until Tuesday morning. The office lifted the alert Tuesday morning, saying in a social media statement the weather system had weakened as it drifted eastwards. But it continued to warn of isolated downpours across outlying parts of the city, adding that people "must not let up after strong rains have passed" as landslides or other disasters may follow. Authorities evacuated over 82,000 people at risk from heavy rainfall as of Monday evening, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the city's flood control headquarters. Officials warned of flooding risks in the northeastern suburb of Miyun -- the hardest hit by the recent deluge -- as well as southwestern Fangshan, western Mentougou and northern Huairou. In Mentougou, footage filmed Tuesday by the state-backed Beijing News showed several mostly elderly residents of one village resting on camp beds in a local education centre converted to house evacuees. More than 1,000 people were temporarily relocated to a military training school in Huairou, according to a social media account linked to the district government. In Miyun, where dozens died last week, most of the recent floodwater had receded on Tuesday -- leaving behind a trail of debris including tree branches and piles of bricks. AFP reporters saw dented cars, toppled tractors and household items like strollers and luggage strewn across the muddy ground. Twisted metal railings and slanted utility poles still lined the roadside as workers in neon yellow vests and wearing hard hats worked to clear the wreckage. Nearby, trees had been uprooted, lying in a river gushing with murky brown water. Workers operating excavators cleared boulders blocking a road, while across a river, several homes lay abandoned with collapsed roofs. Last week, floods in Beijing's northern suburbs killed at least 44 people and left nine missing, according to official figures. Residents of flood-hit areas told AFP journalists they had been surprised at the speed with which the rushing water had inundated homes and villages. The devastation prompted a rare admission from local officials that there had been "gaps" in disaster readiness. - Restoring order - At a meeting on Monday, the municipal government stressed the need to "restore the normal order of life and production in post-disaster areas as quickly as possible". China's public security ministry also warned people to be on guard against "rumours", including exaggerating the extent of natural disasters to create panic, state broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday. China has been lashed by heavy rains in recent weeks, with heavy flooding in the north followed by intense precipitation along the southern coast. Parts of the southern city of Hong Kong were brought to a standstill on Tuesday by flooding caused by heavy rains, after the highest-tier rainstorm warning was issued for the fourth time in eight days. Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat. China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change and contribute to making extreme weather more frequent and intense. But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060. isk-sam/oho/djw
