Rescuers pull drivers from submerged cars in southern China floods
:: Dongguan, China
:: Rescuers help people to escape flooded cars in southern China
Rescue crews raced on Wednesday (August 6) to clear debris and flooded roads as southern China braced for more extreme rainfall and spreading infection after some of the worst downpours this century, as East Asian monsoon rains peak.
Rescue crews in Guangdong scrambled to open drains and pump water away from urban areas, state media said, as the intense rain set off mudslides and felled trees on highways, tearing away road surfaces to expose cabling and other infrastructure.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Homes were inundated and buildings were swept away in the Indian Himalayan village of Dharali on Tuesday, when a flash flood and landslide roared down a mountain slope.
It was a shocking scene captured on video: a torrent of water, mud and rock slamming into the Himalayan village of Dharali with such a force that it knocked buildings from their foundations and buried homes up to their rooftops in an instant. In a video that circulated on social media and that CBC News has verified, you can see residents in the northeastern Indian state of Uttarakhand attempting to flee as the torrent came crashing down from the mountains on Tuesday. An estimated 360 million cubic metres of debris barrelled into the village in a matter of seconds. By the end of the week, dozens of people were still missing, while officials confirmed at least six deaths. It's monsoon season in India, but experts are investigating whether a phenomenon known as a cloudburst — a sudden and intense rainfall in a small location — caused the disaster or if it was brought on by a glacial lake breach. While officials in India face backlash over development regulations that might have made the situation worse, scientists say human-caused climate change exacerbates the potential for further catastrophic events like this. It was "shocking and gut wrenching" to see what happened in Dharali, climate scientist Raghu Murtugudde told CBC News in an interview from Mumbai. He says India has some of the highest mountains in the world, but the communities that have been "living there peacefully" for decades are now more vulnerable to disasters because of climate change. Here's what we know about what happened in Dharali and the factors that might have led to the catastrophe. Where is Dharali? Dharali is located more than 350 kilometres northeast of India's capital New Delhi. It's situated 2,600 metres above sea level, along the Bhagirathi River, on the Himalayan mountain slopes of northeastern Uttarakhand state. It was home to fewer than 1,000 people before the disaster. It is a domestic tourist spot and pit-stop for Hindu pilgrims climbing to the temple town of Gangotri and, according to Indian Express, Dharali and other nearby communities were holding a religious festival this week. Many homes, hotels and other buildings were constructed on either side of another river that flows seven kilometres down from the end of a glacier, at an elevation of 6,700 metres, to empty into the Bhagirathi. In recent years, other places in Uttarakhand have experienced similar — but even deadlier — disasters. As many as 6,000 people died in June 2013 when extreme rainfall caused floods, landslides and a glacial lake breach near the mountain town of Kedarnath. Then in February 2021, almost 200 people died in a nearby district when part of a glacier broke off, causing an avalanche of ice, rock and water that triggered floods along the river valleys below. Was it a cloudburst — and what exactly is that? Early reports on the disaster suggested a cloudburst may have occurred in the area. That's when warm, moist air from a lower elevation is forced up the mountain slopes where it mixes with cooler air and creates a huge storm cloud. Moisture droplets in the cloud expand, and new droplets form as strong upward air currents prevent the droplets from falling. When the cloud can no longer contain the water, it bursts, rapidly releasing a massive amount of rain — at least 100 millimetres per hour over a 20 to 30 square kilometre area below — often causing flash floods and landslides. Some meteorologists say the amount of rain that fell in Dharali and elsewhere in Uttarakhand that day was not nearly enough to suggest a cloudburst. But there weren't cloudburst monitors in that area and the rainfall might have been greater at higher elevations, said Murtugudde, who is a visiting faculty member at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and professor emeritus at the University of Maryland. "So, we don't have the data as of yet and we may not have it anytime soon," he said. Cloudburst or not, Murtugudde says, the weather pattern that brought heavy rain to the region could have been a factor in the Dharali disaster. He says the Indian subcontinent's monsoon season is fuelled by warm air from the Arabian sea. But climate change has contributed to rising temperatures in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region that are "pulling" hotter air further north and "pumping" more moisture into the Himalayan foothills. Not only does this bring more rainfall, he says, it also contributes to glaciers melting and the further creation of glacial lakes. WATCH | Parents of 6 missing children describe devastating news of disaster hitting Dharali: Did a glacial lake collapse? Another potential cause of the flash flood and landslide in Dharali what's known as a glacial lake outburst flood. "Huge glacial lake outburst floods that are a combination of ice, sediment, rocks that can have quite disastrous impacts not only on infrastructure but loss of life," said Rodrigo Narro Pérez, an assistant professor at McMaster University's School of Earth, Environment and Society. Glacial lakes, he explains, are held by natural dams, known as moraines, that can be comprised of ice as well as loose sediment and rocks. He says there can be different factors that cause that natural dam to fail and unleash all of the meltwater. In some cases pressure from rainfall breaks the moraine, or the force of a large mass, like an avalanche or landslide, could shatter the damn. In Dharali, he says, it may have even been a combination of both. Narro Pérez says the Himalayas are at increased risk of this happening. There are 7,500 glacial lakes in the Indian Himalayas, and the overall volume of them has been increasing — 50 per cent in 30 years, according to a 2020 study. But he says there are only monitoring systems for 190 that are considered high risk, leaving little possibility for early warning and the potential to save lives. He points to another disaster in Switzerland, in May, where a rock slide from a glacier buried 90 per cent of the village of Blatten. The difference, he says, is that there was an early warning system in place and officials had evacuated the village days earlier. Only one life was lost. "But it is a numbers game," he said. "In the last couple of years, we're seeing the number of glacier lakes exponentially increase — not only in terms of the number, but also in the volume." WATCH | Chunk of Swiss Alps glacier breaks off, sends surge of ice, mud crashing down: How much of a factor is climate change? There are many variables that led to what happened in Dharali, says Prasoon Singh, a fellow at the The Energy Resources Institute's Earth Science and Climate Change Division based in New Delhi. He told Reuters that human-caused impacts, such as deforestation and land management, may have also been a factor in this disaster. Others have criticized the local government for lax construction regulations and allowing development along the river bed. But regardless, Singh says, such disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity, and "that can be attributed directly to changing climatic conditions." And even if there had been effective warning systems and measures in place, the "risk is never zero" and it's only getting worse with climate change, says Murtugudde. Adaptation may be a local concern, he says, but mitigating global warming requires international cooperation. "Rich and poor doesn't matter anymore ... global warming is not creating any winners," he said. WATCH | Homes washed away, dozens missing after torrent sweeps over Indian village:
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Death toll from northwest China floods rises to 13
The death toll from flash floods and mudslides in northwest China has risen to 13, state media said on Saturday, after the bodies of three people were found. Torrents of mud and water began hitting mountainous areas of Gansu province on Thursday, with the death toll listed as 10 on Friday as rescuers searched for at least 33 missing people. Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer, when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the "utmost effort" in rescuing missing people, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday. The death toll stood at 13, with the number of missing now listed as 30, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. Hundreds of people had been rescued and thousands more evacuated, Xinhua added. It quoted a rescue official describing the situation as "complex" due to the mud and rough roads, with telephone lines and electricity also cut. State media on Friday put the number of people trapped in the mountainous Xinglong area at 4,000, with heavy rain pushing garbage into roads. Beijing's top economic planner has allocated 100 million yuan ($14 million) towards disaster relief in Gansu. Authorities also announced a yellow alert on Saturday for torrential rains and activated a flood response plan in the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei and Chongqing, CCTV said. China's south has also experienced torrential downpours this week, with tens of thousands of people evacuated across Guangdong. Heavy rain in Beijing in the north also killed 44 people last month, with the capital's rural suburbs hardest hit and another eight people killed in a landslide in nearby Hebei province. Scientists warn the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions. China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases but is also a global renewable energy powerhouse. aas/pbt/lb
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
At least 10 die in northwestern China after flash floods
At least 10 people have died and 33 remain missing after flash foods in Yuzhong County in China's north central Gansu province, Chinese state media reported on Friday. "From August 7, continuous heavy rain... has triggered flash floods. As of 3:30 p.m. (0730 GMT) on August 8, 10 people have died and 33 are missing," state broadcaster CCTV reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded the "utmost effort" in rescuing the missing people, CCTV reported him as saying. Owing to the "frequent occurrence of extreme weather," Xi ordered all regions to "resolutely overcome complacency" while increasing efforts to identify risks. Heavy rains since Thursday have caused flash floods and at least one landslide in Guangdong province, according to CCTV. The floods meant no power and telecommunications services in the Xinglong mountain area, leaving more than 4,000 people across four villages stranded. Are natural disasters a common occurrence in China? Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some areas experience heavy rains while others suffer from soaring temperatures. Last month, heavy rains in northern Beijing killed 44 people, with the capital's rural suburbs hit particularly hard. China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change and contribute to making extreme weather more common. The country is also a renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its economy carbon-neutral by 2060. Edited by: Rana Taha
