Latest news with #landslide
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Landslide mapping to be included on Auckland LIM reports from October
A landslide in West Auckland's Karekare during 2023's Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: RNZ / Leonard Powell The first detailed mapping in almost three decades of Auckland areas prone to landslides will go on LIM reports later this year, Auckland Council says. The council has done a study of the entire region, giving new information and putting an end to anecdotal information having to be used. "So we've mapped the entire Auckland region all the way across the whole region, all the way from upper Warkworth all the way down to the bottom of Franklin. "And so we've covered everywhere. If you live in Auckland, these maps apply to you," Auckland Council chief engineer Ross Roberts told Nine to Noon. The mapping will be used by the likes of planners, developers, engineers and homeowners. Roberts said it will also play a key part in the council stopping developments in areas susceptible to landslides. He noted the information shows where there is a potential for a problem, rather than a definite problem. "These give an indication of where people might want to investigate further, they are not saying that there is going to be a landslide here. "We're not in a position yet with the science available to be able to forecast landslides. So it's giving people an indication. So they might want to dig further. They might need to get more information," Roberts said. The biggest problem areas were not surprising, Roberts said and they were in areas with big hills. "So you're looking at areas of the Hunua Ranges and you get up into parts of Rodney sort of north of Ōrewa, you see some of the bigger land sites. Auckland's Hunua Ranges. (File photo) Photo: RNZ/ Olivia Allison "Especially in some of the geology that's more vulnerable," Roberts told Nine to Noon. He said the northern half of Auckland was "particularly vulnerable" to ongoing slow movements that could pose challenges. The mapping also meant there was now consistency with information from across the Auckland region, he said. "We're not just relying on the anecdotal evidence looking at this and saying this looks like a problem area. "Now we've got a map that say, OK, now we could compare one place to another and say 'actually, we know that this is a higher susceptibility, we can start to do something about it'." Roberts said including the new mapping on LIM reports was "the right thing to do". "It's really important that people buying homes understand whether they should be looking harder to understand the problem. "But also we have a legal obligation to, if we have any information about a hazard, we're legally advised to put that on them. "They can look at it and say 'OK, there's a potential problem here, I'll get specialist advice, I'll get an expert to come and give me some information to make sure that in future my house is going to be safe'." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NHK
3 days ago
- Climate
- NHK
Chinese media report 30 dead due to heavy rain in Beijing
Chinese media report that at least 30 people have died in the mountainous districts of Beijing due to the effects of ongoing heavy rain. Xinhua and other news outlets say rainstorms have intermittently been hitting the Miyun district since Wednesday and more than 80 millimeters of rainfall were recorded in an hour. The reports say that as of the end of Monday, 30 people had died in Miyun and a nearby district. Footage on state-run media showed flooded rivers, landslides, toppled electricity poles and mountainous towns inundated over wide areas. Rescue workers could be seen helping residents out of buildings. Local officials warn that rivers could swell even more and have called on residents downstream, near Beijing's urban areas, to take precautions. Media reports say roads have been damaged in more than 30 locations in the hardest-hit areas and that more than 130 villages are without electricity. Over 80,000 people are said to have been relocated. As rain continued on Tuesday, authorities released more water from a dam in Miyun and warned people near a river that flows in urban communities downstream to ensure their safety. Heavy rain has been continuing in China's northern and northeastern areas. President Xi Jinping said on Monday that there have been casualties in many areas. He instructed search-and-rescue operations to be conducted to minimize casualties.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
At least 30 killed and several missing as heavy rains and floods lash northern China
At least 30 people have been killed and several others are missing after heavy rain and flooding in northern China, officials said on Monday. Thousands of people were evacuated as the region, including the capital Beijing, braced for more rainfall overnight. The victims were caught in a landslide in a rural part of Luanping county in Hebei province, which borders the capital, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Eight people are missing. A resident told the state-backed Beijing News that communications were down and he couldn't reach his relatives. Beijing authorities said they would launch a top-level emergency response at 8 pm on Monday, ordering people to stay inside, closing schools, suspending construction work and stopping outdoor tourism and other activities until the response is lifted. The heaviest rain in Beijing was expected after midnight, with rainfall of up to 30 centimetres forecast for some areas. In the district of Miyun, an outlying part of Beijing, floodwaters could be seen sweeping away parked cars at an apartment complex in footage shown by the state broadcaster. Authorities were discharging water from the Miyun reservoir, a main source of water for the city, and warning people to stay away from rivers downstream as their levels rose. Officials told the Beijing Daily they had evacuated 4,015 people to avoid the floods as the reservoir recorded its highest level since record-keeping began in 1951. In the nearby city of Tianjin, some 5,600 people were relocated for fear of flooding, CCTV reported. The central government said in a statement it had sent 50 million yuan (€6 million) to Hebei and dispatched a high-level team of emergency responders to help the affected cities, which include Chengde, Baoding and Zhangjiakou. Beijing and Hebei suffered severe flooding in 2023, which left at least 81 people dead and 34 missing.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
China floods: more than 30 killed in Beijing and tens of thousands evacuated
More than 30 people have been killed by heavy rain and flooding in Beijing and a neighbouring region, state media have reported, as tens of thousands more were evacuated from China's capital. State broadcaster CCTV said that as of midnight on Monday, 28 people had died in Beijing's hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown. On Monday a landslide in neighbouring Hebei province killed four people, with eight other still missing. Heavy rain started over the weekend and intensified around Beijing and surrounding provinces on Monday, with the capital getting rainfall of up to 543.4mm in its northern districts, Xinhua said. Beijing relocated 80,322 residents as the rain hit, Xinhua reported. Roads and communication infrastructure were damaged, and 136 villages were left without power as of midnight Monday. Late on Monday, Chinese president Xi Jinping ordered 'all-out' search and rescue efforts to minimise casualties. Beijing issued its highest-level rain and flood alerts on Monday, advising residents to not leave their homes. Authorities released water from a reservoir in Miyun district that was at its highest level since it was built in 1959. Authorities warned people to stay away from rivers downstream as their levels rose and as more heavy rain was forecast. Heavy flooding washed away cars and downed power poles in Miyun, which borders Hebei's Luanping county. Uprooted trees lay in piles with their bare roots exposed in the town of Taishitun, about 100km northeast of central Beijing. Streets were covered with water, with mud left higher up on the wall. 'The flood came rushing in, just like that, so fast and suddenly. In no time at all, the place was filling up,' said Zhuang Zhelin, who was clearing mud with his family from their building materials shop. Beijing authorities launched a top-level emergency response on Monday evening, ordering people to stay inside, closing schools, suspending construction work and stopping outdoor tourism and other activities until the response is lifted. The heaviest rain in Beijing was expected early Tuesday, with rainfall of up to 30cm forecast for some areas. The central government said in a statement it had sent 50m yuan (about $7m) to Hebei and dispatched a high-level team of emergency responders to help the affected areas. Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather across the world, driving more frequent and more deadly disasters from heatwaves to floods to wildfires. At least a dozen of the most serious events of the last decade would have been all but impossible without human-caused global heating. With Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
CTV News
3 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Heavy rains and flooding kill at least 34 people in and near Beijing
A man looking at a damaged road littered with broken tree branches after a heavy rains in Taishitun Town, Miyun district on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.) BEIJING — Heavy rains and flooding killed 30 people in Beijing, China's capital, the country's state media reported on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from the storms in the region to at least 34. State broadcaster CCTV said that 28 people had died in Beijing's hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown. More heavy rain fell overnight in the area. Reports on Monday said a landslide in neighboring Hebei province had killed four people, with eight other still missing. More than 80,000 people have been relocated in Beijing, including about 17,000 in Miyun, a CCTV online report said. The four victims in Hebei were caught in a landslide in a rural part of Luanping county. A resident told the state-backed Beijing News that communications were down and he couldn't reach his relatives. Authorities released water from a reservoir in Miyun district that was at its highest level since it was built in 1959. Authorities warned people to stay away from rivers downstream as their levels rose and as more heavy rain was forecast. Heavy flooding washed away cars and downed power poles in Miyun, which borders Hebei's Luanping county. China's Premier Li Qiang said Monday that the heavy rain and flooding in Miyun caused 'serious casualties,' and called for rescue efforts, according to China's Xinhua News Agency. Uprooted trees lay in piles with their bare roots exposed in the town of Taishitun, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of central Beijing. Streets were covered with water, with mud left higher up on the wall. 'The flood came rushing in, just like that, so fast and suddenly. In no time at all, the place was filling up,' said Zhuang Zhelin, who was clearing mud with his family from their building materials shop. Next door, Zhuang's neighbor Wei Zhengming, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, was shoveling mud in his clinic; his feet in slippers were covered in mud. 'It was all water, front and back. I didn't want to do anything. I just ran upstairs and waited for rescue. I remember thinking, if no one came to get us, we'd be in real trouble,' said Wei. Beijing authorities launched a top-level emergency response at 8 p.m. Monday, ordering people to stay inside, closing schools, suspending construction work and stopping outdoor tourism and other activities until the response is lifted. The heaviest rain in Beijing was expected early Tuesday, with rainfall of up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) forecast for some areas. Another 10,000 people were evacuated from the nearby Jizhou district under the city of Tianjin, Xinhua reported. The central government said in a statement it had sent 50 million yuan (about US$7 million) to Hebei and dispatched a high-level team of emergency responders to help the affected cities, which include Chengde, Baoding and Zhangjiakou. Beijing and Hebei suffered severe flooding in 2023. By Ken Moritsugu And Mahesh Kumar Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang in Taishitun, China, writer Huizhong Wu in Bangkok and Fu Ting in Washington contributed.
