Heavy rains in southern Japan cause flooding and mudslides, leaving several people missing
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News24
an hour ago
- News24
Greece fights massive wildfire crisis as heatwave devastates southern Europe
Greece struggled to control over 20 wildfires, including one near its third-largest city, Patras, fueled by a severe heatwave affecting southern Europe. Fires led to widespread evacuations, hospitalisations for respiratory problems and burns, and damage to tourist locations. The heatwave affecting Greece, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and other nations has been linked to climate change. Greece on Wednesday battled to contain more than 20 wildfires including one menacing its third-largest city Patras as a heatwave stoked blazes and forced the evacuation of thousands in southern Europe. Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the Balkans and Britain have this week wilted in high temperatures that fuel wildfires and which scientists say human-induced climate change is intensifying. Since dawn on Wednesday, 4 850 firefighters and 33 planes were mobilised across Greece on what promised to be 'a very difficult day', fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said. A fire near the ancient Mycenaean archaeological site of Voudeni, just 7km from Patras, threatened forested zones and homes, and the area was covered by a thick cloud of smoke, an AFP journalist reported. Fierce wind 'is hampering the task of water bombers, and is making collecting water at sea more difficult', the president of the firefighter officers' union, Kostas Tsigkas, told public broadcaster ERT. READ | 3 dead, thousands evacuate as huge wildfires, heatwave hit Europe In the western Achaia region in the Peloponnese, to which the coastal city of Patras belongs, around 20 villages were evacuated on Tuesday. Other fronts were burning on the popular tourist island of Zante and the Aegean island of Chios, scarred by a huge wildfire in June that ravaged more than 4 000 hectares. The Greek coastguard said it had helped evacuate nearly 80 people from Chios and near Patras. The national ambulance service reported 52 hospitalisations from Achaia, Chios and the western town of Preveza, including 'a small number of firefighters', mostly for respiratory problems and minor burns. Temperatures are due to come close to 40°C in parts of western Greece on Wednesday, including the northwest Peloponnese, national weather service EMY forecast. After Greece requested four water bombers from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to bolster its resources, leftist opposition party Syriza criticised the conservative government's preparation for the fires that hit every year. Greece needed 'a bold redistribution of resources in favour of civil protection', an 'emphasis on prevention', better coordination and new technologies in its civil protection system, Syriza said. 'Worst breeding ground' At the other end of the Mediterranean, wildfires continued to dominate the news in Spain, where cooler temperatures and greater humidity were expected to help control blazes in which two people have died. Authorities in the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, where flames have threatened a world heritage Roman mining site, said almost 6 000 people from 26 localities had been evacuated from their homes. Bushy undergrowth and searing temperatures that have baked Spain for almost two weeks had created 'the worst possible breeding ground for this situation', Castile and Leon's civil protection head Irene Cortes said. Costas Baltas/Anadolu via Getty Images A total of 199 wildfires have scorched nearly 98 784 hectares across Spain this year, more than double the area burned during the same period in 2024. Neighbouring Portugal deployed more than 1 800 firefighters and around 20 aircraft against five major blazes, with efforts focused on a blaze in the central municipality of Trancoso that has raged since Saturday. Strong gusts of wind had rekindled flames overnight and threatened nearby villages, where television images showed locals volunteering to help the firefighters under a thick cloud of smoke. 'It's scary... but we are always ready to help each other,' a mask-wearing farmer told Sic Noticias television, holding a spade in his hand. Italian firefighters had extinguished a blaze that burned for five days on the famed Mount Vesuvius and spewed plumes of smoke over the Naples area. In Britain, temperatures were expected to peak at 34°C in the country's fourth heatwave of the summer. The UK Health Security Agency warned of 'significant impacts' on health and social care services for the parts of central and southeastern England where the harshest heat was forecast.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Some Juneau Residents Evacuate as Melting Glacier Threatens to Flood Town
Residents of Juneau, Alaska, have been urged to evacuate after an overflowing glacial lake sent water surging down the Mendenhall River. Forecasters said river levels could break a record between 8 a.m. and noon local time on Wednesday, threatening homes and roads in parts of the state capital, which has a population of more than 30,000. Such floods have been a recurring problem in Juneau since 2011, but recent years have seen record-setting surges as rising temperatures cause glaciers in the area to melt more rapidly. Alaska has warmed faster than the global average, and the fastest of any state, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Flooding from the glacial lake in Juneau last August inundated several hundred homes with four to six feet of water, although no deaths or injuries were reported. The city put up a temporary levee along the river in response. Here's what to know about these floods. What's a glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF? As glaciers melt, they tend to retreat uphill, leaving an empty bowl at the bottom of the valley where the ice once sat. Meltwater from the glacier starts pooling in this bowl, and over time a lake forms. But the sides of the lake are fragile. They might be formed of loose dirt and rock or ice. If one day an avalanche or a landslide occurs, or a piece of a nearby cliff plunges into the water, the disturbance can cause the sides of the lake to collapse. In a flash, most of the lake's water might cascade down the valley, threatening towns and cities below. Glacial lake outburst floods can be catastrophic because, by the time the water reaches downstream settlements, it has picked up huge amounts of sediment and boulders along the way, turning it into a thick slurry that can knock down buildings. In 2023, a GLOF in northern India killed at least 55 people and destroyed a hydropower dam. All in all, 15 million people around the world live within 50 kilometers, or 31 miles, of a glacial lake and less than a kilometer from the potential path of a GLOF, scientists estimated in a 2023 study. How common are they in Alaska? The glacial lake that is overflowing this week in Alaska sits at the foot of the Suicide Glacier, an ice mass north of Juneau. Decades ago, the Suicide Glacier flowed into a much larger river of ice, the Mendenhall Glacier. But as the Suicide melts and shrinks, a steep gap has opened up between it and the Mendenhall. This gap is now called Suicide Basin. (Experts have proposed renaming Suicide Basin to Kʼóox Ḵaadí Basin, which in the Tlingit language translates to 'Marten's Slide Basin.' A marten is a lithe, weasel-like animal found in the area.) Snowmelt and rain accumulate in the basin, and when the water is high enough, it starts draining through cracks in the Mendenhall Glacier before flooding the Mendenhall River. The first time this happened was in July 2011, and it took downstream communities by surprise. The basin has since filled and drained at least 39 times, according to the National Weather Service. Early Wednesday, as the basin drained once more, the Mendenhall River crossed into major flood stage, the National Weather Service said, indicating water levels of above 14 feet. The river was expected to crest at 16.75 feet on Wednesday. The glaciers in this region are part of the Juneau Ice Field, a sprawling area of interconnected ice that is melting twice as quickly as it did before 2010, scientists reported last year. More of the area's glaciers are detaching from one another, the researchers also found, which can lead to the formation of lakes like Suicide Basin. Accelerated melting is producing more water to fill these lakes and hence more water that eventually floods neighborhoods downstream, said Bob McNabb, a glaciologist at Ulster University who has studied the Juneau Ice Field. 'As you get more and more melting coming down, that will fill up the basin a bit more each time,' Dr. McNabb said. How is climate change affecting GLOFs? The world's high mountains are warming more quickly than Earth as a whole. That is causing thousands of glaciers to shrink and new lakes to form beneath them. Since 1990, the number, area and volume of glacial lakes around the world have all grown by roughly 50 percent, scientists estimated in a 2020 study. But bigger lakes don't directly translate into greater GLOF hazards. Each glacial lake and valley has distinct features that influence how likely it is to burst, and what the consequences would be if it did. So predicting future flood risks is 'very complex,' Dr. McNabb said. In the Mendenhall Valley, for instance, rising temperatures are the reason the Suicide Glacier has withered away and Suicide Basin has formed. But as the planet warms further, the Mendenhall Glacier might melt by so much that the flood threat actually decreases. The reason? There would no longer be enough ice at the side of Suicide Basin to trap large amounts of meltwater. Instead, the water would just empty into the valley gradually. Scientists in Alaska have predicted that this could come to pass within the next decade or two. Until then, the people of Juneau will continue to live with the dangers from the warming landscape just a few miles to their north.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
50-acre wildfire east of Boise quickly spreads, prompting evacuation alerts
This is a breaking news story. Check back to for updates. To sign up for breaking news alerts, click here. A quickly growing wildfire prompted evacuation alerts for residents around Robie Creek, a rural community east of Boise on Idaho 21. The Boise County Sheriff's Office issued the most severe evacuation order — Level 3 'Go Now!' — around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday for residents in the Robie Creek Area, which includes Lower Robie, Flowing Springs and Burnett Lane, but dropped the order to Level 2 by 7:30 p.m. and to Level 1 by 9:15 p.m. Those in Wilderness Ranch, a subdivision north of Robie Creek, also reached Level 2, which means being ready to evacuate at any moment. All alerts were at Level 1, 'Be ready,' as of 9:40 p.m. Tuesday, the sheriff's office reported on Facebook. Residents evacuating must travel toward Clear Creek Road to leave the area, as Robie Creek Road is blocked, the sheriff's office said. The Idaho City Rodeo Ground is open for those in the area needing a place to keep their livestock. Just before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the wildfire began along Robie Creek Road at mile marker 3.5, spreading within 30 minutes and quickly triggering evacuations, according to the sheriff's office. Within 15 minutes, the evacuation order jumped to the most severe level. The Idaho Department of Lands said in a news release that the fire was estimated at 50 acres, and one structure has been impacted. Three engines from the Idaho Department of Lands, two U.S. Forest Service engines and a Forest Service crew responded to assist the Robie Creek Fire Department, the Thorn Creek Fire Department and the Wilderness Ranch Fire Department. Aerial resources are being used to attack the fire, along with water from Lucky Peak Lake. People are asked to 'keep clear of the area.' The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to the Idaho Department of Lands. Updates on the evacuations will be posted on the Boise County Sheriff's Office Facebook page at: Investigative reporter Nicole Blanchard contributed.
