Thai storm kills six
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Asharq Al-Awsat
8 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Beijing Expands Storm Alert as Fatal Floods Keep City on Edge
Beijing on Monday warned residents in all city districts to brace for a new round of heavy rainfall, telling them to avoid going out, a week after catastrophic floods killed dozens in the deadliest deluge to hit the Chinese capital since 2012. Up to 200mm (7.9 inches) of rain could hit parts of Beijing over a six-hour period from midday, weather forecasters warned. The city of 22 million people receives on average 600mm of rainfall each year. The warning comes as authorities rush to reinforce ageing flood defenses, fine-tune weather forecasts and update evacuation plans amid reports of bodies being pulled from raging flood waters across the country, including at least three at a flooded wellness camp in Hebei province. At least 44 people died in Beijing after heavy rains from July 23 to 29. Most of the dead were people unexpectedly trapped by rapidly rising waters at a nursing home in Miyun district on the city's northeastern outskirts. The fatalities led authorities to admit to shortcomings in their contingency plans for extreme weather. By noon on Monday, Beijing had placed all of its 16 districts on the highest level of preparedness, in the first citywide state of readiness since July 28, shutting parts of the Great Wall and other outdoor leisure venues and halting operations of below-ground businesses. The risk of flash floods and landslides is "extremely high", authorities said. In the summer of 2012, 79 people died in Beijing in the city's deadliest flooding in living memory. Fangshan district was the worst-hit, with one resident reporting a rise in floodwaters of 1.3 meters in just 10 minutes. Beijing's topography has been described by some as a rain "trap", with its mountains to the west and north capturing moist air and amplifying any ensuing rainfall as a result. WELLNESS RETREAT As of Saturday, torrential rains that swept through "Beijing Valley", a riverside wellness retreat in the Hebei city of Chengde adjacent to Beijing, had claimed three lives, with four still missing, China's state news agency Xinhua reported. Around 40 people had gathered on July 27 for an event at the site, where organizers directed them into tents pitched on low-lying land next to a river bend, Caixin Media reported. By 2 a.m. the next morning, floodwaters had risen to knee height, forcing attendees to scramble towards the camp's only exit. The site bore similarities to Camp Mystic in Texas, where at least 28 children were swept to their deaths last month by floodwaters after the Guadalupe River burst its banks amid torrential rain. In China's southern Guangdong province over the weekend, the bodies of five people were recovered after a large-scale search operation involving more than 1,300 rescuers. The five people, who went missing on Friday night, were "swept away by water" following heavy rainfall in recent days, Xinhua reported on Sunday.
Arab News
10 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan PM reaches Gilgit to review losses as monsoon death toll surges to 300
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Pakistan's northern Gilgit city on Monday to review the flood situation in the region and damages caused during the monsoon season, his office said as the death toll from rains in the country surged to 300. Pakistani authorities last week declared 37 villages in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region 'calamity-affected' after cloud burst-induced floods disrupted life there. Ten people have lost their lives and five have been injured due to torrential monsoon rains in GB since June 26, as per the National Disaster Management Authority's (NDMA) latest situation report. GB's Diamer, Skardu, Gilgit and Ghizer were among the districts hit worst by rains and floods last week. The situation prompted authorities to launch immediate relief activities in these areas. 'Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has arrived on a one-day tour to Gilgit,' the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement. GB Chief Minister Gulbar Khan and the region's Governor Syed Mehdi Shah received Sharif upon his arrival to the city. The Pakistani prime minister is accompanied by senior ministers and officials, the PMO said. The prime minister will meet victims of the rains and floods in Gilgit and distribute relief funds during his day-long trip, his office said. It added that Sharif will chair a meeting to review the damages caused by the recent rains and meet GB's governor and chief minister. Pakistan, which ranks among the world's most climate-vulnerable nations, has witnessed increasingly erratic weather events in recent years. In May, at least 32 people were killed in severe storms, while a third of the country was submerged by devastating floods in 2022 that killed more than 1,700 people, affected over 30 million and caused an estimated $35 billion in damages. Of the 300 killed since June 26 from rain-related incidents in Pakistan, 140 are children, 103 are men while 57 are females, as per the NDMA's data. Punjab has reported the highest number of deaths, 162, followed by northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province with 70 casualties, Sindh with 28 deaths, Balochistan with 20 casualties, GB with 10, Islamabad with eight and Azad Kashmir with five deaths. The Meteorological Department has warned of more rains in the country from Monday, saying that monsoon currents penetrating the country are expected to intensify from Aug. 4. The PMD had warned that heavy rains may generate flash floods in local nullahs/streams of Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Buner, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan, Murree, Galliyat, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, northeast Punjab and Kashmir from Aug. 5-7. 'Landslides/mudslides may cause roads' closure in the vulnerable hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree, Galliyat and Kashmir during the forecast period,' the PMD's report said.
Arab News
10 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan PM to visit Gilgit today to review losses as monsoon death toll surges to 300
Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Pakistan's northern Gilgit city today, Monday, to review the flood situation in the region and damages caused during the monsoon season, his office said as the death toll from rains in the country surged to 300. Pakistani authorities last week declared 37 villages in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region 'calamity-affected' after cloud burst-induced floods disrupted life there. Ten people have lost their lives and five have been injured due to torrential monsoon rains in GB since June 26, as per the National Disaster Management Authority's (NDMA) latest situation report. GB's Diamer, Skardu, Gilgit and Ghizer were among the districts hit worst by rains and floods last week. The situation prompted authorities to launch immediate relief activities in these areas. 'Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will visit Gilgit-Baltistan to assess the flood situation and damages caused by recent rains,' the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement. 'The prime minister will meet victims of the rains and floods in Gilgit and distribute relief funds.' Sharif will chair a meeting to review damages caused by the recent rains and meet GB's governor and chief minister, the statement added. Pakistan, which ranks among the world's most climate-vulnerable nations, has witnessed increasingly erratic weather events in recent years. In May, at least 32 people were killed in severe storms, while a third of the country was submerged by devastating floods in 2022 that killed more than 1,700 people, affected over 30 million and caused an estimated $35 billion in damages. Of the 300 killed since June 26 from rain-related incidents in Pakistan, 140 are children, 103 are men while 57 are females, as per the NDMA's data. Punjab has reported the highest number of deaths, 162, followed by northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province with 70 casualties, Sindh with 28 deaths, Balochistan with 20 casualties, GB with 10, Islamabad with eight and Azad Kashmir with five deaths. The Meteorological Department has warned of more rains in the country from Monday, saying that monsoon currents penetrating the country are expected to intensify from Aug. 4. The PMD had warned that heavy rains may generate flash floods in local nullahs/streams of Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Buner, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan, Murree, Galliyat, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, northeast Punjab and Kashmir from Aug. 5-7. 'Landslides/mudslides may cause roads' closure in the vulnerable hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree, Galliyat and Kashmir during the forecast period,' the PMD's report said.
