Record rains bring Mumbai to a standstill, in photos
MUMBAI, India (AP) — The monsoon season has brought parts of Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, to a halt. The disruption has hit local trains, a lifeline of the city's transport system. Many areas are inundated with knee-deep water, forcing people to wade through the floods. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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39 minutes ago
Hurricane Erin stirs up strong winds, floods part of main highway as it creeps along the East Coast
RODANTHE, N.C. -- RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Erin battered North Carolina's Outer Banks with strong winds and waves that flooded part of the main highway and surged under beachfront homes as the monster storm inched closer to the mid-Atlantic coast. Forecasters predicted the storm would peak Thursday and said it could regain strength and once again become a major hurricane, or Category 3 or greater, but it was not forecast to make landfall along the East Coast before turning farther out to sea. Tropical storm conditions were anticipated over parts of the Outer Banks and the coast of Virginia, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. In Bermuda, residents and tourists were told to stay out of the water with rough seas expected through Friday. As Erin's outer bands brushed the Outer Banks, water poured onto the main route connecting the barrier islands and a handful of stilted homes precariously perched above the beach. By Wednesday evening officials had closed Highway 12 on Hatteras Island as the surge increased and waves grew higher. Ocracoke Island's connection to its ferry terminal was cut off. Authorities predicted that the largest swells during high tide would cut off villages and homes on the Outer Banks and whip up life-threatening rip currents from Florida to New England. Authorities closed beaches to swimming Wednesday and Thursday in New York City, and some others in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware were temporarily off-limits. Widespread, moderate coastal flooding was forecast for low-lying areas of Long Island and parts of New York City. Off Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet (3 meters) later this week. But the biggest threat remained along the Outer Banks where longtime residents didn't seem too concerned. 'I remember taking canoes out of my front yard to get to school, so I don't think it's gonna be that bad,' said Jacob Throne, who lives on Hatteras Island and works for surf shops. Despite beach closures elsewhere, some swimmers continued to ignore the warnings. Rescuers saved more than a dozen people caught in rip currents Tuesday at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina, a day after more than 80 people were rescued. Bob Oravec, a National Weather Service forecaster, said that even if someone thinks they know how to handle a rip current, it's not safe. 'You can be aware all you want,' he said. 'It can still be dangerous.' A combination of fierce winds and huge waves estimated at about 20 feet (6.1 meters) could cause coastal flooding in many beachfront communities, North Carolina officials warned. 'Dangerous conditions can be felt far from the eye, especially with a system as large as Erin,' said Will Ray, the state's emergency management director. Dozens of beach homes already worn down from chronic erosion and protective dunes could be at risk, said David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Most residents decided to stay despite evacuations ordered on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. 'We probably wouldn't stay if it was coming directly at us,' said Rob Temple, who operates sailboat cruises on Ocracoke. His biggest concern was whether the main route would wash out and if tourists and delivery trucks may be cut off from the thin stretch of low-lying islands, which are increasingly vulnerable to storm surges. Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome system, with tropical storm-force winds spreading across 500 miles (800 kilometers) — roughly the distances from New York City to Pittsburgh. It remained a Category 2 hurricane early Thursday with maximum sustained winds around 105 mph (165 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Erin was about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Cape Hatteras and moving north-northeast at 17 mph (28 kph). The National Hurricane Center was also watching two tropical disturbances far out in the Atlantic that could develop into named storms in the coming days. With thousands of miles of warm ocean water, hurricanes known as Cape Verde storms are some of the most dangerous that threaten North America.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Is historically arid Beijing ready for a wetter future?
Is historically arid Beijing ready for a wetter future? By Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) -During last month's deadly floods in Beijing, rural hotel owner Cui Jian and his guests spent the night stranded on a rooftop in torrential rain before rescuers battled through metre-high mud and silt to get to them the next day. Beijing's mountainous northern Huairou district and neighbouring Miyun district received a year's worth of rain in a single week, triggering flash floods that devastated entire villages and killed 44 people in the deadliest flood since 2012. The authorities' most serious weather warning came too late for most villagers in Huairou, who were already asleep by the time it was issued. "In the past, they closed scenic areas and campsites, evacuated tourists and relocated villagers. If you warn people in time, good, but if not, it's a natural disaster," said Cui, whose 10 properties in the same Huairou district village, which he had spent 35 million yuan ($4.87 million) renovating, were submerged. The floods exposed weaknesses in the rural emergency response infrastructure for Beijing, whose urban core is surrounded by several rural districts. But they also revealed how historically-dry Beijing, home to 22 million people, remains insufficiently prepared for what experts say will be an increasingly wet future. The Chinese capital has experienced three deluges since 2012 that forecasters said could only happen once every 100 years, and climate experts warn there is a growing risk of disasters on a previously unthinkable scale. Chinese experts are increasingly calling for city planners to prioritise "ecological resilience" given the disastrous effects of climate change. "The current understanding of the climate crisis and its future challenges is insufficient, which naturally leads to insufficient deployment and planning," said Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation. China's ministries of housing and environment, and the Beijing city government, did not respond to faxed requests for comment. While two Beijing districts devastated by floods in 2023 have issued long-term reconstruction plans prioritising "climate-adaptive city construction" and proposing measures to improve rural flood control systems and upgrade infrastructure, the vast majority of recently-commissioned infrastructure projects in the capital do not prioritise climate adaptation in their plans. A Chinese government database showed only three Beijing infrastructure projects in the past five years whose procurement tenders mentioned "ecological resilience", while several hundred tenders mentioning "climate change" were mostly related to research projects at state scientific institutes in Beijing. Ecological resilience refers to measures such as restoring natural river embankments, reducing the use of concrete and other hard materials and excessive artificial landscaping, as well as increasing biodiversity, according to Zhou. In a shift away from decades of breakneck urbanisation that propelled China's economic growth, a top-level urban planning meeting in July emphasised building "liveable, sustainable and resilient" cities. Mid-July is typically when northern China's rainy season starts, but this year it had its earliest start since records began in 1961, while several Beijing rivers experienced their largest-ever recorded floods. Citywide rainfall in June and July surged 75% from a year earlier, official data showed. This is due to the "significant northward expansion of China's rain belt since 2011" linked to climate change, the director of China's National Climate Center told state-owned China Newsweek, marking a shift towards "multiple, long-term, sustained cycles of rainfall" in the traditionally arid north. 'SPONGE CITIES' China's policymakers have taken some steps to combat urban flooding. "Sponge city" projects have been underway across the country since 2015, transforming concrete-laden megacities with hidden drainage infrastructure such as permeable asphalt pavements, sunken rain gardens and modernised sewage systems. The concept, originating in China, refers to mimicking a sponge's ability to absorb and release rainwater. In Beijing, recently-built projects include flood control pumping stations, riverside parks and manmade lakes. China spent more than 2.9 trillion yuan ($403.78 billion) on more than 60,000 "sponge city" infrastructure projects in 2024, according to official data. Authorities aim to have covered 80% of urban areas in all cities by 2030, although many provinces and major cities are behind schedule. In Beijing, new "sponge city" projects worth at least 155 million yuan have begun this year, according to a Chinese procurement tender database. Currently, 38% of Beijing's urban areas meet "sponge city" standards, media reports say. But experts say such initiatives cannot help in Beijing's rural fringes because the mountainous landscape makes villages, usually built at the foot of steep hillsides and lacking emergency response infrastructure, more vulnerable to secondary disasters such as landslides. Current "sponge city" standards are also based on historical precipitation data and are poorly-equipped to deal with extreme rainfall, said Yuan Yuan, Greenpeace East Asia's climate and energy campaigner. Future contingency plans must also consider ensuring pre-emptive evacuation of residents and improving early warning systems, in particular identifying vulnerable populations with limited mobility, she added. In the recent Beijing floods, 31 elderly residents of a nursing home in Miyun were among the dead. They had not been included in evacuation plans and were trapped in the rising waters. "It's necessary to rationally plan the infrastructure needed by local communities and ... coordinate risk response plans and countermeasures, to create an integrated system to minimise future losses," Yuan said. ($1 = 7.1813 Chinese yuan renminbi) Solve the daily Crossword
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Hurricane Erin stirs up strong winds, floods part of main highway as it creeps along the East Coast
RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Erin battered North Carolina's Outer Banks with strong winds and waves that flooded part of the main highway and surged under beachfront homes as the monster storm inched closer to the mid-Atlantic coast. Forecasters predicted the storm would peak Thursday and said it could regain strength and once again become a major hurricane, or Category 3 or greater, but it was not forecast to make landfall along the East Coast before turning farther out to sea. Tropical storm conditions were anticipated over parts of the Outer Banks and the coast of Virginia, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. In Bermuda, residents and tourists were told to stay out of the water with rough seas expected through Friday. As Erin's outer bands brushed the Outer Banks, water poured onto the main route connecting the barrier islands and a handful of stilted homes precariously perched above the beach. By Wednesday evening officials had closed Highway 12 on Hatteras Island as the surge increased and waves grew higher. Ocracoke Island's connection to its ferry terminal was cut off. Authorities predicted that the largest swells during high tide would cut off villages and homes on the Outer Banks and whip up life-threatening rip currents from Florida to New England. Authorities closed beaches to swimming Wednesday and Thursday in New York City, and some others in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware were temporarily off-limits. Widespread, moderate coastal flooding was forecast for low-lying areas of Long Island and parts of New York City. Off Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet (3 meters) later this week. But the biggest threat remained along the Outer Banks where longtime residents didn't seem too concerned. 'I remember taking canoes out of my front yard to get to school, so I don't think it's gonna be that bad,' said Jacob Throne, who lives on Hatteras Island and works for surf shops. Despite beach closures elsewhere, some swimmers continued to ignore the warnings. Rescuers saved more than a dozen people caught in rip currents Tuesday at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina, a day after more than 80 people were rescued. Bob Oravec, a National Weather Service forecaster, said that even if someone thinks they know how to handle a rip current, it's not safe. 'You can be aware all you want,' he said. 'It can still be dangerous.' A combination of fierce winds and huge waves estimated at about 20 feet (6.1 meters) could cause coastal flooding in many beachfront communities, North Carolina officials warned. 'Dangerous conditions can be felt far from the eye, especially with a system as large as Erin,' said Will Ray, the state's emergency management director. Dozens of beach homes already worn down from chronic erosion and protective dunes could be at risk, said David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Most residents decided to stay despite evacuations ordered on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. 'We probably wouldn't stay if it was coming directly at us,' said Rob Temple, who operates sailboat cruises on Ocracoke. His biggest concern was whether the main route would wash out and if tourists and delivery trucks may be cut off from the thin stretch of low-lying islands, which are increasingly vulnerable to storm surges. Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome system, with tropical storm-force winds spreading across 500 miles (800 kilometers) — roughly the distances from New York City to Pittsburgh. It remained a Category 2 hurricane late Wednesday with maximum sustained winds around 110 mph (180 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Erin was about 215 miles (350 kilometers) southeast of Cape Hatteras. The National Hurricane Center was also watching two tropical disturbances far out in the Atlantic that could develop into named storms in the coming days. With thousands of miles of warm ocean water, hurricanes known as Cape Verde storms are some of the most dangerous that threaten North America. Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Julie Walker in New York contributed.
