NSW floods: personal hardship grants on the way as disaster assistance expanded
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Reuters
6 hours ago
- Reuters
At least 60 dead in north China following extreme rain, authorities say
BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters) - Extreme weather killed at least 60 people in northern China over the past week, with 31 deaths in an elderly care home in Beijing's hilly Miyun district in one of the deadliest floods to have hit the Chinese capital in years. In Beijing, 44 people were killed and nine were missing as of midday Thursday, deputy mayor of Beijing, Xia Linmao, said at a press conference. Heavy rains began a week ago and peaked around Beijing and surrounding provinces on Monday, with Miyun experiencing rainfall of up to 573.5 mm (22.6 inches) - levels local media described as "extremely destructive." The average annual rainfall in Beijing is around 600 mm. In the nearby province of Hebei, 16 people died as a result of the intense rainfall, authorities said. At least eight were killed in the city of Chengde just outside Beijing, with 18 unaccounted for. The deaths occurred in villages within the Xinglong area of Chengde in Hebei province, state-run Xinhua reported late on Wednesday citing local authorities, without specifying when or how the people died. The deaths in Chengde occurred in villages which border Beijing's Miyun about 25 km (16 miles) from the Miyun reservoir, the largest in China's north. The reservoir saw record-breaking overall water levels and capacity during the rains which devastated nearby towns. At its peak on Sunday, up to 6,550 cubic metres of water - about 2.5 Olympic-sized pools' worth - flooded into the reservoir every second. In another Hebei village north of the reservoir, a landslide on Monday killed eight people, with four missing. Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, pose major challenges for Chinese policymakers, with officials partially attributing a slowdown in factory activity to such events.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Snow predicted to fall in seven Australian states and territories this week
Snow could fall this week in every Australian state and territory except the Northern Territory, according to Weatherzone. After a weekend of heavy snow in the alpine regions of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, a cold air mass has settled over Australia's south-east. On Thursday, light snow showers were occurring above 1,000 metres. Snow fell on Western Australia's 1,099-metre-tall Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Ranges – about 350km south of Perth – overnight on Sunday, Weatherzone said. The Flinders region of South Australia could be next on the snow list, Weatherzone said, predicting light snow showers on Thursday and Friday for areas above 1,100 metres. Snow showers in southern Queensland were forecast on Saturday in zones higher than 1,200 metres in the ranges near the New South Wales border. Sign up: AU Breaking News email The Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Angus Hines said cold temperatures combined with rain across the east coast had produced conditions for snow in high elevation areas in NSW. On Wednesday, the bureau's weather station at Sydney Olympic Park recorded a maximum of 12.1C – the station's lowest maximum temperature on record for July this year. Sydney's maximum temperature on Thursday had risen to between 15C and 16C, but Hines said the wind chill factor was making it feel colder. A similar weather pattern was likely to continue for NSW into the weekend, Hines said, and cold temperatures and showers were forecast across south-east Australia. Hines said more snow could fall on Thursday and Friday across the north-eastern ranges of Victoria and NSW, the Snowy Mountains, the southern and central tablelands, the Barrington Tops, the Hunter region and northern NSW. There was also a chance of snow in Queensland this weekend in the Stanthorpe area on the Granite Belt, near the NSW border, Weatherzone said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Parts of NSW, particularly the mid north coast and Hunter regions, were also braced for heavy rain over the next 24 hours. A severe weather warning, including for floods, could be issued between Sydney and Port Macquarie, Hines said. On Thursday, Hines said up to 61mm of rain had fallen on Sydney, the Illawarra and Hunter coasts in the past 24 hours. 'It's not enough to get us worried about major flooding, but certainly enough to drench everything, get those puddles going, make it pretty difficult to get washing out on the line and probably slow down traffic,' he said.
Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
French Pacific Marquesas islands warned of imminent 4-metre tsunami waves
PARIS, July 30 (Reuters) - Authorities in French Polynesia warned the population of several of the Marquesas Islands to expect tsunami waves up to 4 metres high in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a huge quake off Russia's Far east. They said the waves would reach the islands of Ua Huka, Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa at 00:57 a.m. local time (1027 GMT). Other islands in the Marquesas are expected to experience wave heights between 0.60 m and 0.90 m, the local government said.
