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BreakingNews.ie
19 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Pakistan defends flood response after more than 270 people killed
Rescuers recovered dozens more bodies from the rubble of collapsed homes in a north-western district of Pakistan, bringing the death toll to at least 274, as authorities defended their response to the flooding. Heavy rains and flooding also killed dozens of people in neighbouring Kashmir. Advertisement Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for Pakistan's emergency service, said 54 bodies were found in Buner, a mountainous area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where torrential rains and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday. Villagers collect items from the rubble of their partially damaged home in Pir Baba, an area of Buner district, in the north-west of Pakistan (Muhammad Sajjad/AP) Mr Suhail said villagers remained missing, and search efforts were focused on areas where homes were flattened by torrents of water that swept down from the mountains, carrying boulders that smashed into houses like explosions. Authorities have warned of more deluges and possible landslides between now and Tuesday, urging local administrations to remain on alert. Higher-than-normal monsoon rains have lashed the country since June 26 and killed more than 600. In India-administered Kashmir, located across Pakistan's north-eastern border, rains triggered more flash floods in two villages in the Kathua district, killing seven people, officials said on Sunday. Advertisement Rescuers in Chositi village are still looking for dozens of missing people after the area was hit by flash floods last week during an annual Hindu pilgrimage. At least 60 people were killed, and some 150 injured. More than 300 others were rescued. Authorities have warned of more deluges and possible landslides (Muhammad Sajjad/AP) Residents in Buner have accused officials of failing to warn them to evacuate after torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered deadly flooding and landslides. There was no warning broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a traditional method in remote areas. The government said that while an early warning system was in place, the sudden downpour in Buner was so intense that the deluge struck before residents could be alerted. Lieutenant General Inam Haider, chairman of the national disaster management authority, told a hastily convened news conference in Islamabad that Pakistan was experiencing shifting weather patterns because of climate change. Advertisement Since the monsoon season began in June, Pakistan has already received 50% more rainfall than in the same period last year, he said. He warned that more intense weather could follow, with heavy rains forecast to continue this month. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters (Muhammad Sajjad/AP) Some countries have reached out to Islamabad offering help, but Lt Gen Haider said Pakistan had sufficient resources and did not require foreign assistance at this time. Asfandyar Khan Khattak, director-general of the provincial disaster management authority, said there was 'no forecasting system anywhere in the world' that could predict the exact time and location of a cloudburst, a sudden and intense downpour. Advertisement Idrees Mahsud, a disaster management official, said Pakistan's early warning system used satellite imagery and meteorological data to send alerts to local authorities. These were shared through the media and community leaders. An emergency services spokesman in Buner, Mohammad Sohail, said more than half the damaged roads in the district had reopened by Sunday, allowing vehicles and heavy machinery to reach cut-off villages. Crews were clearing piles of rocks and mud dumped by the floods. They were still using heavy machinery to remove the rubble of collapsed homes after families reported that some of their relatives were missing. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters. Advertisement Pakistan suffers regular flash floods and landslides during the monsoon season (Muhammad Sajjad/AP) In 2022, a record-breaking monsoon killed nearly 1,700 people and destroyed millions of homes. The country also suffers regular flash floods and landslides during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September, particularly in the rugged north-west of the country, where villages are often perched on steep slopes and riverbanks. Experts say climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of such extreme weather events in South Asia. Khalid Khan, a weather expert, said Pakistan produced less than 1% of planet-warming emissions but faced heat waves, heavy rains, glacial outburst floods and now cloudbursts, underscoring how climate change was devastating communities within hours.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Long traffic delays on M5 northbound due to Avonmouth Bridge fault
Drivers leaving the South West have been caught in more than three hours of queues caused by emergency repairs to a bridge. Three lanes of the M5 northbound are closed after a faulty bridge join was discovered on the Avonmouth Bridge, near junction 18, at about 07:00 BST. Queues are currently stretching 14 miles (22km) back to junction 21 for Weston-super-Mare.A National Highways spokesperson has said the lanes are expected to remain closed for several hours. A temporary fix was initially carried out but it soon became clear a permanent solution was "quickly needed", the spokesperson explained the warm weather is affecting the speed at which the repairs can be carried out, with materials used to fix the issue taking longer to cure.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Spain deploys 500 more troops to battle wildfires during extended heatwave
Spain is deploying a further 500 soldiers to battle wildfires that have torn through parched woodland during a prolonged spell of scorching weather, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday. The decision to add to the more than 1,400 troops already on wildfire duty came as authorities struggled to contain forest blazes, especially in the northwestern Galicia region, and awaited the arrival of promised aircraft reinforcements from other European countries. Firefighters are tackling 12 major wildfires in Galicia, all of them near the city of Ourense, the head of the Galician regional government Alfonso Rueda told a press conference with Sánchez. ' Homes are still under threat so we have lockdowns in place and are carrying out evacuations,' Rueda said. Galicia has been battling the spreading flames for more than a week. Temperatures in Spain could reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas on Sunday, the Spanish national weather agency AEMET said. On Saturday, the maximum temperature was 44.7 degrees Celsius (112.46 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southern city of Cordoba, it said. 'This Sunday, when extraordinarily high temperatures are expected, the danger of wildfires is extreme in most of the country,' AEMET said on the social platform X. The fires in Spain this year have burned 158,000 hectares (390,000 acres), according to the European Union's European Forest Fire Information System. That is an area roughly as big as metropolitan London. Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Scientists say that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness in parts of Europe, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Spain was expecting the arrival of two Dutch water-dumping planes that were to join aircraft from France and Italy already helping Spanish authorities under a European cooperation agreement. Firefighters from other countries are also expected to arrive in the region in coming days, Spain's Civil Protection Agency chief Virginia Barcones told public broadcaster RTVE. National rail operator Renfe said it suspended Madrid-Galicia high-speed train services scheduled for Sunday due to the fires. Galician authorities advised people to wear face masks and limit their time spent outdoors to avoid inhaling smoke and ash. Portugal is set for cooler weather in coming days after a spate of severe woodland fires. A national state of alert due to wildfires was enacted Aug. 2 and was due to end Sunday, a day before two Swedish firefighting planes were to arrive. As in Spain, Portugal's resources have been stretched. On Sunday, more than 4,000 firefighters and more than 1,300 vehicles were deployed, as well as 17 aircraft, the country's Civil Protection Agency said. The scorched area of forest in Portugal so far this year is 17 times higher than in 2024, at around 139,000 hectares, according to preliminary calculations by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, a government body. Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Albania have also requested help from the EU's firefighting force in recent days to deal with forest fires. The force has already been activated as many times this year as in all of last year's summer fire season.
