Latest news with #flood
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Aerial footage shows the aftermath of the Blatten glacier collapse in Switzerland
Aerial footage showed flooded homes and debris scattered around a Swiss village after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a mountainside in the southern Lötschental valley. The landslide on Wednesday sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
India: Landslides kill 5 in Assam amid monsoon rain
At least five people were killed in India's northeastern state of Assam as torrential monsoon rains triggered landslides and floods, disaster management officials said on Saturday. A red alert warning has been issued for 12 districts across the state with incessant rains over the last few days leading to urban flooding. The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) released a report saying that urban flooding in three districts has affected a total of 10,150 people. The five deaths occured in a landslide in the Kamrup Metro district, which was caused by the monsoon rain. 🚨 Flood & Urban Flood informed. Stay safe. Follow official updates.#ASDMA #StaySafeAssam — Assam State Disaster Management Authority (@sdma_assam) May 31, 2025 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the media on Friday that the situation in the state is not good. He said that rescue teams have been deployed. "We have been reviewing the impending situation for the last three days," Sarma said in a statement, adding that supplies of rice had been dispatched as food aid. Schools and colleges in some of the affected areas have been shut. The ASDMA has also issued advisories asking residents to remain indoors. The annual monsoon season in India begins in June and lasts till September. It offers respite from scorching summers, however, it also causes damage to life and property. Scores of deaths have been reported in the past during the rainy season, across the world's most populous country. Edited by: Wesley Dockery
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Insurance expert says understanding coverage is key for hurricane preparedness
The beginning of the next hurricane season is days away, and understanding your insurance coverage is a major part of being prepared. A man who's been in the insurance business for 43 years explains why. Tom Cotton is the third-generation owner of Hugh Cotton Insurance, and knows now is the time for clients to prepare for hurricane season. 'Make an appointment and sit down with your insurance agent to review your coverages, your deductibles, your values and your exclusions,' he said. Cotton says this is the time to know exactly what your policy does and does not cover. You also need to make sure you have enough coverage. This is especially true if you home value has increased substantially over the last several years. 'The areas where we frequently find challenges are the value they have on replacement costs on their policy has not kept pace with the actual reconstruction costs of their home,' Cotton said. 'Agents don't put values on houses. They have to tell us what they believe it is.' He also stressed the importance of flood insurance, which is a separate insurance policy that covers flooding inside homes and businesses, saying, 'If you do not have a flood insurance policy, you do not have coverage for flood.' in addition to an insurance checkup, Cotton said homeowners can prepare their homes today for a storm in the future. This includes doing preventive maintenance, trimming trees and considering what service providers to use right after a storm. 'If there's a tree on your house, trying to find the tree contractor a day after a hurricane, you're late. you need to already know who you're going to call,' he said. If you suffer damage at your residence or business, take precautions while waiting on repair work. 'You need to do whatever you need to do to mitigate the damages. but save the receipts. The insurance company will reimburse you for those costs,' said Cotton. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Arab News
a day ago
- Climate
- Arab News
Central Nigeria flooding kill more than 115
MOKWA, Nigeria: Flash floods that ripped through parts of central Nigeria have killed at least 115 people and injured dozens of others, emergency services officials said on Friday, with the toll expected to rise further. Teams of rescuers continued to search for missing residents after torrential rains late on Wednesday through early Thursday washed away and submerged dozens of homes in and around the town of Mokwa, located on the banks of Niger River, in Niger state. 'We have so far recovered 115 bodies and more are expected to be recovered because the flood came from far distance and washed people into the River Niger,' Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, told AFP. 'Downstream, bodies are still being recovered. So, the toll keeps rising,' he added. He said many were still missing, citing a family of 12 where only four members have been accounted for. 'Some bodies were recovered from the debris of collapsed homes,' he said, adding that his teams would need excavators to retrieve corpses from under the rubble. At least 78 people have been hospitalized with injuries, the Red Cross chief for the state, Gideon Adamu, told AFP. According to the Daily Trust newspaper, thousands of people have been displaced and more than 50 children in an Islamic school were reported missing. The National Emergency Management Agency described it as an 'unprecedented flood.' The police and military have been roped in to help with the disaster response. An AFP journalist in Mokwa, more than 300 kilometers east of the capital Abuja, saw emergency services conducting search and rescue operations with residents going through the rubble of flattened buildings as flood waters flowed alongside. Local media reported that more than 5,000 people have been left homeless, while the Red Cross said two major bridges in the town were torn apart. Displaced children played in the flood waters, heightening the possibility of exposure to water-borne diseases as at least two bodies lay covered in banana leaves and printed ankara cloth. An emotional woman in a maroon headscarf sat with tears dripping down her face. Mohammed Tanko, 29, a civil servant, pointed to a house he grew up in, telling reporters: 'We lost at least 15 from this house. The property gone. We lost everything.' Fisherman Danjuma Shaba, 35, said he slept rough in a car park. 'I don't have a house to sleep in. My house has already collapsed,' he said. Describing how she escaped the raging waters, Sabuwar Bala, 50, a yam vendor, said: 'I was only wearing my underwear, someone loaned me all I'm wearing now. I couldn't even save my flip-flops.' 'I can't locate where my home stood because of the destruction,' she said. Nigeria's rainy season, which usually lasts six months, is just getting started for the year. Flooding, usually caused by heavy rains and poor infrastructure, wreaks havoc every year, killing hundreds of people across the west African country. Scientists have also warned that climate change is already fueling more extreme weather patterns. In Nigeria, the floods are exacerbated by inadequate drainage, the construction of homes on waterways and the dumping of waste in drains and water channels. 'This tragic incident serves as a timely reminder of the dangers associated with building on waterways and the critical importance of keeping drainage channels and river paths clear,' said NEMA in a statement. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency had warned of possible flash floods in 15 of Nigeria's 36 states, including Niger state, between Wednesday and Friday. In 2024, more than 1,200 people were killed and 1.2 million displaced in at least 31 out of Nigeria's 36 states, making it one of the country's worst flood seasons in decades, according to NEMA.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
At least 115 die in Nigeria floods as rescue efforts continue
More than 100 people have died and several others remain missing after a torrential downpour in the central Nigerian state of Niger, local authorities said on Friday. Floods submerged the town of Mokwa after the rains began on Wednesday night and continued till Thursday morning. Ibrahim Audu Hussein, spokesperson for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said rescue efforts were still under way on Friday. 'We have so far recovered 115 bodies and more are expected to be recovered because the flood came from far distance and washed people into the River Niger. Downstream, bodies are still being recovered,' Husseini told the AFP news agency. 'So, the toll keeps rising'. More than 3,000 houses have also been submerged, he added. Mokwa, a commercial town 376 kilometres (233 miles) west of Nigeria's capital Abuja, is a known commercial hub in the state with many traders and heavy duty vehicles often carrying goods to other regions in the country. In Nigeria, the rainy season usually runs from April to October. In a forecast issued on Wednesday by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, heavy storms were predicted for Abuja and 14 of the country's 36 states including Niger. Niger, Nigeria's largest state by landmass, is home to three of the country's major dams – Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro – which contribute significantly to the country's electricity grid. A fourth dam is under construction. The state has been prone to flooding in recent times; in April, water released from one of the dams destroyed more than 5,000 farms in 30 communities including in Mokwa. Local news reports suggested that it was the sixth time a flood had happened in the state this year. In 2022, Nigeria experienced floods which killed more than 600 people, displaced about 1.4 million and destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland. Experts have warned of more extreme climate weather patterns due to continued global heating. Last year, the collapse of a dam 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside the north-eastern town of Maiduguri killed at least 30 people, displaced thousands of people and led to crocodiles and snakes being washed away from the city zoo into its environs. Nigerian authorities said it was part of the country's worst flooding in decades, as 1200 people in all died across 21 states.
