Flash floods kill 3 tourists and leave 15 missing in northern Pakistan
Pakistani rescue officials say the above-normal monsoon rains since June 26 have killed at least 225 people and injured more than 500 across the country. Experts say climate change is driving an increase in extreme weather events in the region.
A cloudburst caused floods and landslides on Monday, stranding more than 200 local tourists after a key highway near the northern Chilas district was blocked, said Faizullah Faraq, a government spokesperson in the Gilgit-Baltistan region. Army helicopters were used in the evacuation, which included women and children, he said.
Several vehicles had been buried under the rubble of landslides and rescuers are using heavy machinery to find the missing tourists and residents, Faraq said. Three bodies have been recovered.
The National Disaster Management Authority issued an updated flood days before, warning against travel to northern areas due to potential landslides and blocked roads.
Earlier this month, authorities warned they cannot rule out a repeat of extreme weather like the 2022 floods that submerged a third of the country and killed 1,737 people.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
To host UN climate talks, Brazil chose one of its poorer cities. That's no accident
When world leaders, diplomats, business leaders, scientists and activists go to Brazil in November for the United Nations' annual climate negotiations, poverty, deforestation and much of the world's troubles will be right in their faces — by design. In past conference cities — including resort areas and playgrounds for the rich such as Bali, Cancun, Paris, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dubai — host nations show off both their amenities and what their communities have done about climate change. But this fall's conference is in a high-poverty city on the edge of the Amazon to demonstrate what needs to be done, said the diplomat who will run the mega-negotiations in Belem known as COP30, or Conference of Parties. What better way to tackle a problem than facing it head on, however uncomfortable, COP30 President-designate André Corrêa do Lago, a veteran Brazilian diplomat, said in an interview with The Associated Press at United Nations headquarters. "We cannot hide the fact that we are in the world with lots of inequalities and where sustainability and fighting climate change is something that has to get closer to people,' do Lago said. That's what Brazilian President President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has in mind, he said. 'When people will go to Belem, you are going to see a developing country and city with considerable infrastructure issues still with, in relative terms, a high percentage of poverty and President Lula thinks it's very important that we talk about climate thinking of all the forests, thinking of poverty and thinking of progress,' do Lago said. 'He wants everybody to see a city that can improve thanks to the results of these debates.' The rich and powerful — as well as poorer nations, activists and media — are already feeling a bit of that discomfort even before getting to Belem. Even with two years of notice, Brazil is way behind in having enough hotel rooms and other accommodations for a global conference that has had 90,000 attendees. The official United Nations COP30 website says Brazil would have an official booking portal by the end of April. But specific plans weren't announced till last week when Brazil said it arranged for two cruise ships with 6,000 beds to help with lodging, saying the country is ensuring 'accommodation for all countries' and starting a system where 98 poorer nations have the option to reserve first. Skyrocketing lodging costs are a problem, do Lago conceded. Some places have been charging $15,000 a night for one person and activists and others have talked of cutting back. But he said prices 'are already going down,' even as local media report otherwise. Do Lago said it will be a local holiday so residents can rent out their homes, adding "a significant supply of apartments.' Big year for climate negotiations This is a significant year for climate negotiations. The 2015 Paris climate agreement required countries to come up with their own plans to reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas and then to update those plans every five years. This year nearly every nation — the United States, the No. 2 carbon dioxide emitter and historically biggest polluter, withdrew from the accord earlier this year — has to submit their first plan update. Most of those updates are already late, but the United Nations wants countries to complete them by September when world leaders gather in New York. That would give the United Nations time to calculate how much they would curb future climate change if implemented — before the COP six weeks later. UN Secretary-General Antonio-Guterres, in an interview with AP, reiterated what officials want in those plans: that they cover each nation's entire economy, that they include all greenhouse gases and that they are in line with efforts to limit long-term human-caused warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. That target is the Paris agreement goal. And it's tough since the world is only a couple of tenths of a degree away and last year even temporarily shot past the 1.5 degree mark. Do Lago said he expects the countries' plans will fall short of keeping warming below the 1.5 degree mark, so tackling that gap will be a crucial element of negotiations. Some big things aren't on agenda, like $1.3 trillion for poorer nations Some of the negotiations' most important work won't be on the formal agenda, including these plans, do Lago said. Another is a road map to provide $1.3 trillion in financial help to poorer nations in dealing with climate change. And finally, he said, Brazil 'wants very much to talk about nature, about forests.' The nearby Amazon has been an important part of Earth's natural system to suck large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but deforestation is a major threat to that. At times, parts of the Amazon have gone from reducing carbon dioxide in the air to increasing it, a 2021 study found. On Wednesday, the United Nation's top court ruled that a clean and healthy environment is a basic human right, a decision that may bolster efforts to come up with stronger action at the November climate conference, some activists said. 'Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system ... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,' court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing. Do Lago said the challenge for countries is to think of these emission-reduction plans not as a sacrifice but as a moment to change and grow. 'One of the objectives of this COP is that we hope we will be remembered as a COP of solutions, a COP in which people realized that this agenda is creating more opportunities and challenges,' do Lago said. ___ 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
BBC News
10 hours ago
- BBC News
Bradford-on-Avon 'not being abandoned' after £11m scheme u-turn
The Environment Agency says it is not abandoning town hit by heavy flooding after scrapping a proposed £11m defence in Wiltshire, was badly flooded in January 2024 before being devastated by Storm Bert in agency said a permanent £11m flood scheme for the town is now "unviable", adding it is committed to "community resilience and better flood warning".Ian Withers, the Environment Agency's area director for Wessex, said: "It would be irresponsible to spend that kind of money that wouldn't necessarily protect the town from the sort of flooding we've seen in the last two years." The River Avon has burst in banks in Bradford-on-Avon on numerous occasions in recent years, flooding nearby roads and Withers added the threat of a flood is "tripled" there because:It has a "huge catchment which drains through the town","Huge volume of water which goes underground, that floods properties from the grounds upwards",And town is in a "steep-sided bowl".The agency said it has ruled out the planned permanent flood scheme, which involved low walls and pumping stations, as prospective costs have more than doubled since it was proposed in 2017. Mr Withers said the "impact of climate change" has also caused the agency to re-think its plans."Originally the plan was valid for the sort of weather we were having associated with the climate, before we started seeing the impact of climate change."Now we know the river can run through that town at the volume, speed and height that it does – we've seen it every winter for the last two of three years – the game's changed. We need to modernise our thinking and put in place a better system."He added: "We're absolutely not abandoning the town or walking away." On Monday hundreds of people attended a special event held to provide information on how to protect homes and businesses from flooding in event was organised by the Environment Agency, Wiltshire Council and Wessex Water.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Father Christmas' official Lapland home suffers unseasonal heatwave with 31C temperatures and wildfire fears
Father Christmas ' official home village in Lapland has suffered a record-breaking heatwave, as fears mount that wildfires will ravage the area with increasing frequency. The Arctic city of Rovaniemi in northern Finland, Lapland's capital and home to Santa Claus, has been melting amid unprecedented heat in the region. Lapland, which is 500km above the Arctic Circle, has seen temperatures soar to 31C, more than 10C above the seasonal average. The level of consistent heat has never been experienced in the region before and reindeer have even been forced to flee into roads and villages to escape mosquitos. A heatwave in Finland is defined as at least three days in a row where the temperature exceeds 25C. Friday was the 14th consecutive day that temperatures climbed past 30C in the country - the first time since record began in 1961, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said. Ylitornio and Sodankylä recorded the highest temperatures of 31.7C in Lapland earlier this week, while wildfires have ripped through the wilderness north of Rovaniemi. Lapland is a sparsely populated region and fires can burn for long periods before help arrives. But emergency services responded to dozens of incidents this week, including smoke sightings, building fires, and wildfires. Some schools and nurseries have seen outdoor activities cancelled and health officials have told people to stay hydrated in Rovaniemi. The excessively hot weather has sparked added concern about climate change in the Arctic. The polar region is heating up five times quicker than the global average, the UNs intergovernmental panel on climate change said. 'Due to climate change, these sorts of heatwaves in Lapland are expected to become longer and more intensive over this century, Ville Siiskonen, of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told The Telegraph. Finland is not alone in feeling the heat as scorching temperatures continue to boil Europe, with two people dying in Cyprus as wildfires raged through the country. The Acropolis in Athens was also closed as temperatures soared past 40C. Meanwhile, England and Spain recorded their hottest ever June's last month. The Met Office said June's mean temperature of 16.9C was a record,while Spain's average of 23.6C 'pulverised records', the national weather service Aemet said.
