Today in Pictures, July 16, 2025
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Straits Times
7 hours ago
- Straits Times
Texas mayor calls for flash flood warning system to lessen future fatal disasters
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: A chair stands amid the ruins of a house near the Guadalupe River, in Hunt, Texas, U.S., July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo The mayor of a Texas city at the center of flash flooding that killed over 130 people earlier this month asked state lawmakers on Thursday to help get a warning system in place within a year. Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring told a joint Senate-House committee that met in his town northwest of San Antonio that he wanted a flood warning system to be designed and installed by next summer. "We need solutions in place that protect the public and save lives," Herring said. "We will need your help to achieve this goal." The flooding was on the agenda of a special legislative session Texas Governor Greg Abbott called. The flooding sent a wall of water down the Guadalupe River in the state's Hill Country early on July 4, washing away camps of children and Fourth of July weekend goers. After an initial committee meeting on the issue last week in the state capital lawmakers traveled to the flood-hit area to hear from Herring, several other local leaders and local residents on Thursday. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha questioned whether a warning system would have done any good. "The water came too fast," Leitha told lawmakers. Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows said lawmakers would come up with "some solutions" during the special session, which lasts for 30 days, but that the effort would take time. "Our commitment is to continue beyond this session and these hearings, into the next session and the session after that," Burrows said. The high casualty toll ranked as one of the deadliest U.S. flood events in decades, raising questions about the lack of flash-flood warning sirens in hardest-hit Kerr County. Many have expressed concern about vacancies at National Weather Service offices due to staffing cuts under President Donald Trump. Several residents impacted by the flooding testified before the committee, with many saying they felt abandoned by city, county and state governments. REUTERS
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
Death toll rises in China's north following extreme rain
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Debris on the street in a neighborhood affected by the flooding in the district of Miyun, Beijing, China, on July 30. BEIJING - Extreme weather killed at least eight people in the city of Chengde just outside the Chinese capital Beijing, with 18 still unaccounted for, as heavy rainfall pounded the hilly region over the past week. The deaths occurred in villages within the Xinglong area of Chengde in Hebei province, state-run Xinhua reported late on July 30 citing local authorities, without specifying when or how the people died. Work is still underway to locate those missing, Xinhua said. Set against mountainous terrain, Chengde was known as a resort town for Qing dynasty emperors to escape Beijing's heat in the summer centuries ago. Extreme rains that began July 23 have lashed Beijing and surrounding regions, pouring a year's worth of rain in less than a week in some areas and killing at least 30 in the outskirts of the capital. Twenty eight of those deaths occurred in hilly Miyun district. The deaths in Chengde occurred in villages which border Miyun and sit about 25km away from the Miyun reservoir, the largest in China's north. The reservoir saw record-breaking inflow and outflow of water, and overall water level and capacity during this round of rainfall which devastated nearby towns. At its peak on July 27, up to 6,550 cubic metres of water - about 2.5 Olympic-sized pools - flooded into the reservoir every second, pushing its capacity to a record high of 3.63 billion cubic metres since it was built in 1960. The villages where eight have died sit on higher elevations in a valley, upstream of the Miyun reservoir. In another village to the north of the reservoir, a landslide on July 28 killed eight people while four remained missing. Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for Chinese policymakers, with officials partially attributing a slowdown in factory activities to heavy rains and flooding. REUTERS
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
Death toll rises in China's north following extreme rain, state media says
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows damaged roads and fallen trees next to the overflowing Qingshui river after heavy rainfall flooded the area, in Miyun district of Beijing, China July 29, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo BEIJING - Extreme weather killed at least eight people in the city of Chengde just outside the Chinese capital Beijing, with 18 still unaccounted for, as heavy rainfall pounded the hilly region over the past week. The deaths occurred in villages within the Xinglong area of Chengde in Hebei province, state-run Xinhua reported late on Wednesday citing local authorities, without specifying when or how the people died. Work is still underway to locate those missing, Xinhua said. Set against mountainous terrain, Chengde was known as a resort town for Qing dynasty emperors to escape Beijing's heat in the summer centuries ago. Extreme rains that began last Wednesday have lashed Beijing and surrounding regions, pouring a year's worth of rain in less than a week in some areas and killing at least 30 in the outskirts of the capital. Twenty eight of those deaths occurred in hilly Miyun district. The deaths in Chengde occurred in villages which border Miyun and sit about 25 km (16 miles) away from the Miyun reservoir, the largest in China's north. The reservoir saw record-breaking inflow and outflow of water, and overall water level and capacity during this round of rainfall which devastated nearby towns. At its peak on Sunday, up to 6,550 cubic metres of water - about 2.5 Olympic-sized pools - flooded into the reservoir every second, pushing its capacity to a record high of 3.63 billion cubic metres since it was built in 1960. The villages where eight have died sit on higher elevations in a valley, upstream of the Miyun reservoir. In another village to the north of the reservoir, a landslide on Monday killed eight people while four remained missing. Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for Chinese policymakers, with officials partially attributing a slowdown in factory activities to heavy rains and flooding. REUTERS
