‘Every summer feels worse than the last' - trying to make a living in Karachi's punishing heat
KARACHI, Pakistan — It's just 8am, and the sun is already punishing.
Shahbaz Ali, a 32-year-old ride-hailing motorcycle driver, is drenched in sweat before his day has even begun.
Sleep deprived from regular power outages in the hot weather, he heads off into the choking traffic of Karachi, Pakistan's
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RNZ News
15-07-2025
- RNZ News
Extreme rain and flash flooding kills at least 2 people in eastern US
By Luke Snyder, Amanda Musa and Alex Stambaugh , CNN The Cross Bronx Expressway in the Bronx has all lanes closed due to flooding, leading to traffic jams on the New Jersey side of the bridge in Fort Lee. Photo: KYLE MAZZA / AFP Intense rain swamped the US East Coast on Monday, setting off dangerous flash flooding from Virginia to New York that killed at least two people and prompted dozens of rescues as water overwhelmed roads and subways. Monday (local time) saw the most flash flood warnings ever issued in a single July day, with nearly 100 issued, primarily across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Flooding was reported near Newark, New Jersey, New York City, northern Virginia and southern Maryland, according to the National Weather Service. Two people died in Plainfield, New Jersey, after a vehicle was swept away by floodwater, Union County spokesperson Kelly Martins told CNN in a statement. Authorities responded to reports of the submerged vehicle around 2:30am on Tuesday, Martins said. Union County police assisted with 19 water rescues and the county's regional communications centre received over 1200 emergency calls in just two hours during the height of the storm, she added. The area saw rainfall totals between 3 to 5 inches. More rain is expected on Tuesday across the southern Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic. Storms in the East on Tuesday will be more scattered and less intense than Monday's, but they could still bring some heavy rain wherever they bubble up - and with the ground already soaked in these areas, as little as an inch of additional rain could set off more flooding. Showers on Monday dominated the Northeast by the latter half of the day and the heaviest storms arrived by early evening, threatening rush hour commuters. New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency due to the flooding on Monday night, warning residents to "remain off the roads unless absolutely necessary". The governor on Tuesday noted some roadways remained closed as crews worked to "clear debris, make emergency road repairs, and remove abandoned cars caught in last night's flooding". New York City experienced its second wettest hour on record Monday night after a little over two inches (51mm) fell between 7pm and 8pm local time. This record is only beaten by the approximately three-and-a-half inches (89mm) of rain recorded during the remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2021 . New York City received a total of 2.64 inches (67mm) of rain, shattering its previous record for 14 July rainfall set in 1908. Videos on social media showed water gushing onto platforms in New York's subway and flowing through subway cars as passengers crouched on seats. At least one subway station was flooded by the deluge, according to a spokesperson with the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Several trains were also suspended, delayed or rerouted due to the flooding, according to MTA's website . Metro-North Railroad and New Jersey Transit said on their X accounts that they were also experiencing delays due to flooding. Several airports in the New York City area issued temporary ground stops and delays on Monday evening, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and impacts were also reported at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Boston Logan International Airport. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, cars struggled to navigate flooded streets, according to videos on social media, with multiple people needing to be assisted, according to authorities. North Plainfield, New Jersey, Mayor Lawrence La Ronde told CNN affiliate WABC emergency crews rescued people from at least 30 homes, after streets became completely flooded and were impassable. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 16 water rescues were reported in Mount Joy Township Monday afternoon, according to the Mount Joy Fire Department. "Starting around 2:00pm, intense rainfall dropped over seven inches (178mm) of rain in less than five hours, overwhelming stormwater infrastructure and inundating portions of the borough," the fire department said in a Facebook post. "The west end of town was hardest hit, with reports of over five feet of water (1.5m) in some homes." In Virginia, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency - the most severe flood warning - late Monday into early Tuesday for the cities of Petersburg and Colonial Heights, where upwards of two to three inches (76mm) of rain fell in less than two hours. One gauge near downtown Petersburg showed the Lieutenant Run Creek rose more than 10 feet (3.04m) in two hours between 10pm and midnight Monday, reaching major flood stage. Water levels have since dropped. "Many neighbourhoods are underwater," with downed trees and power lines, Petersburg Fire Rescue & Emergency Services said in a Facebook post Tuesday morning. Crews were working through the night, "pulling people from flooded cars, responding to medical emergencies, clearing downed trees, and still answering every call for help," the department said. More showers are expected to develop in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Tuesday afternoon, with a band of strong storms to stretch from northern Georgia to central Maryland. Central and eastern Virginia, western North Carolina and southern portions of Maryland and Delaware are most at risk for heavy rain, though these storms will not be as extreme as those on Monday. Storms with the heaviest rain will arrive by Tuesday evening. They will likely move slowly, and rainfall rates of more than two inches per hour could be possible. Showers will start dissipating on Tuesday night, clearing up in the region by early Wednesday. Weather will remain quiet until showers once again move through the Carolinas and Pennsylvania Wednesday afternoon. Exactly where and when these storms will develop is still uncertain, but it will not take much rain to cause sudden flooding in places where the ground is already saturated. The highest threat of flash flooding is along and east of the Blue Ridge mountains. Much of the area impacted by flooding Monday had seen up to 300 percent of their normal rainfall over the past two weeks. Record-breaking flood events have happened nearly back-to-back in recent weeks, most notably in Texas' Hill Country, where more than 130 people died after catastrophic flooding on 4 July . New Mexico, North Carolina and other East Coast states have also seen life-threatening floods and historic rainfall this month. More than 3000 flash flood warnings have been issued so far this year by National Weather Service offices around the country, with the current count higher than any previous year through 14 July since such records began in 1986. Overwhelming rainfall is becoming more prevalent in a warming world, as rising global temperatures drive weather toward extremes. Hourly rainfall rates have grown heavier in nearly 90 percent of large US cities since 1970, according to a recent study from the nonprofit research group Climate Central. Storms thrive on warm, moist air, and with the nation approaching peak summer heat, this month has seen the perfect conditions for flooding rain. -CNN
NZ Herald
14-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Spain tries old and new solutions for overbearing heat and its beaches washing away
Last week, even though temperatures broke across much of the continent, experts and officials warned that the next heatwave would come soon, endangering vulnerable locals and making tourists question what they had got themselves into. Even activists seeking to free their cities from the scourge of overtourism saw no silver lining to the brutal conditions. 'It's hell,' said Daniel Pardo Rivacoba, who lives in Barcelona, and who spoke for a group fighting overtourism — and its climate-change fuelling flights. He saw the scorching sun not as an ally to keep the tourists away, but as a common enemy that will melt them both. Last year, Pardo Rivacoba's group went viral by organising demonstrations against overtourism that including spraying tourists with water guns. This year, he said, it was so hot that 'we used the water guns on ourselves'. Across the continent, June was the cruellest month. So far. In Rome, tourists rotated around the city's sites as if spinning in an outdoor microwave. Opera singers in Verona passed out in their costumes. But Spain has become the least fun-in-the-sun destination. Temperatures in the southwestern city of El Granado reached nearly 46C, a national record for June. And there were other grim metrics. Last year, floods in Valencia killed more than 200 people; this year, experts say excess deaths, especially among the ailing and elderly, have risen sharply with the temperatures. Climate change is also transforming the Spanish landscape, including the beach in Montgat, where increasingly frequent storms have washed much of the sand away. 'Every time we come, there is less and less sand,' said Susanna Martínez, 40, who had been going to the beach in Montgat with her family for a decade. Barcelona, only a few kilometres away, has reported losing 30,000sqm of sand over the past five years. Marina d'Or, outside Valencia farther south, was envisioned by developers and families across Spain as a seaside resort, an emblem of the country's beach holidays. Now, storms have washed some of its beaches away, too. Experts have estimated the loss of hundreds of thousands of square metres of beach across the country and warned about desertification. Spain knows it has a problem. In a time of right-wing opposition to Europe's environment-protecting Green Deal regulations — 'greenlash', it has been called — the progressive Government of Spain has embraced an ecological transition. 'The main risk humankind faces today, undoubtedly, is climate change,' said Sira Rego, a minister in the Government led by Pedro Sanchez. She called responding to those changes the country's 'priority in terms of security'. The W Barcelona rises above a beach in Barcelona, Spain, on July 11. Extreme heat may not get rid of overtourism because the industry would move holidays to colder months. Photo / Finbarr O'Reilly, the New York Times The Government, proud of its well-performing economy, is working to attract hundreds of billions of euros in investments in sustainable energy to create hundreds of thousands of new green jobs. It seeks to invest in temperature prediction systems to foresee heatwaves, and to train healthcare workers who will be forced to treat more heat-related illnesses. It is trying to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At more local levels, cities including Barcelona are also trying to mitigate the damage wrought by a changing climate. Laia Bonet, the city's first deputy mayor responsible for ecology and urban planning, said that Barcelona was 'especially exposed to the effects of climate change', and that it was working to address the reality of a hotter city with higher sea levels and eroded beaches. The city's priority, she said, is protecting vulnerable residents with hundreds of climate shelters. But it is also investing €1.8 billion ($3.5b) to make buildings greener, expand green spaces, install 200 shade structures, and replace some pavements with dirt to better absorb and repurpose rainwater. The city is also using sand recovered from construction projects to help preserve its beaches, which are a beloved public space for locals to cool off, as well as a guard against storm surges, and a crucial element in the city's identity as a tourist destination. About 15% of Barcelona's economy comes from tourism. She said climate change had forced the city to think of its overtourism problem differently, to come up with measures that addressed both. 'These are progressive policies that cities can implement as an antidote,' she said. In Seville, the southern Spanish city sometimes called 'the frying pan' of Europe, nuns have long hung white drapes around their cloisters to keep the sun out. But the city has more recently started covering its narrow streets with white sheets, pulled across the rooftops like canopies. Parts of the city are using an ancient system of underground ducts to bring cooler air to the surface, while another project pumps water runoff into shaded public spaces, often cooled by mists. The city has started naming heatwaves to make them more palpable and memorable. That is important, experts say, because once the heatwaves pass, people tend to forget about them. So scientists in recent days have rushed out estimates that the heatwave may have tripled the death toll in afflicted regions across the continent. The goal, one of the scientists has said, is to focus attention on the dangers of extreme heat when people were extremely hot. Instead of changing their behaviour, many Southern Europeans suffering during the sweltering heatwaves have resorted to hatching escape plans. In Barcelona, three older Spanish women sitting in the shade across from the city's cathedral fantasised about cloudy Galicia in the north. And Romans with healthy travel budgets have started looking longingly at damp, chilly, often overlooked nations. 'It could happen that if it gets too hot people could come to Belgium,' said Ann Verdonck, 45, from near Antwerp, who was on holiday with her family in Barcelona, where she said last month's temperatures were untenable. 'And then we will have too many people.' But Pardo Rivacoba, the activist, said extreme heat would not get rid of overtourism because the tourism industry is so cynical. If the summers became too hot, he feared, the industry would work to move school holidays to months when families could travel. 'The tourism industry,' he said, is 'ready to literally burn every piece of the calendar.' Still, some locals considered the heat a reprieve from the suffocating masses of tourists. 'If it's going to be this hot, at least I'll be able to walk by the Sagrada Familia,' said Mercedes López, 67, a Barcelona native who lived by the famous, and famously swamped, landmark designed by Antoni Gaudí. But she said a decimated tourism industry would only cause economic misery. And with extreme heat, locals would try to get out, too. 'If this heat keeps coming,' she said, 'we're going to have to move to Norway or Finland.' Her friend Consol Serra, 74, did not find that a sustainable solution. 'If we're dealing with the heat now,' she said, 'it'll reach them eventually too.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Jason Horowitz Photographs by: Finbarr O'Reilly ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
NZ Herald
13-07-2025
- NZ Herald
‘Every summer feels worse than the last' - trying to make a living in Karachi's punishing heat
Shahbaz Ali, a ride-hailing motorcycle driver who earns US$8 on a good day, transports a passenger through the busy streets of Karachi, Pakistan. An unbearable summer of power outages, water shortages and heat has Karachi's residents 'enduring, not living anymore'. Photo / Asim Hafeez, the New York Times KARACHI, Pakistan — It's just 8am, and the sun is already punishing. Shahbaz Ali, a 32-year-old ride-hailing motorcycle driver, is drenched in sweat before his day has even begun. Sleep deprived from regular power outages in the hot weather, he heads off into the choking traffic of Karachi, Pakistan's
