
Boats bring Philippine flood victims to safety as death toll rises

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RTHK
6 hours ago
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Greece gets EU help to battle disastrous wildfires
Greece gets EU help to battle disastrous wildfires Firefighters try to extinguish flames from a house as a wildfire burns in the village of Kryoneri, near Athens, Greece. Photo: Reuters Greece battled wildfires that have ravaged homes and sparked evacuations for a second day on Sunday, with the help of Czech firefighters and Italian aircraft expected to arrive later. Five fires were still raging in the Peloponnese area west of the capital, as well as on the islands of Evia, Kythera and Crete, with aircraft and helicopters resuming their work in several parts of the country at dawn. "Today is expected to be a difficult day with a very high risk of fire, almost throughout the territory," fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said on Sunday, though he added that the situation was improving. Forecasters predicted the strong winds that have fanned the flames would die down on Sunday in most areas but warned that Kythera, an popular tourist island with 3,600 inhabitants, continued to face "worrying" windy conditions. Evacuation messages were sent to people on the island, which lies off the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese, early on Sunday as the fire raged unabated. "Houses, beehives, olive trees have been burnt," Giorgos Komninos, deputy mayor of Kythera, told state-run ERT News channel. "A monastery is in direct danger right now," he said, adding that half of the island had been burnt. Dozens of firefighters supported by three helicopters and two aircraft were battling the Kythera blaze, which erupted Saturday morning and forced the evacuation of a popular tourist beach. Greece had earlier requested help from EU allies and two Italian aircraft were expected Sunday, according to the fire brigade, with units from the Czech Republic already at work. Eleven regions of Greece still face a very high fire risk, according to officials. Firefighters are working in several areas of the Peloponnese and there were numerous flare-ups overnight on the island of Evia, near Athens, where the flames have laid waste to swathes of forest and killed thousands of farm animals. (AFP)


The Standard
2 days ago
- The Standard
Boats bring Philippine flood victims to safety as death toll rises
Men wade through a flooded road following heavy rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi, in Manila, Philippines, July 24. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David


RTHK
3 days ago
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Philippines shuts schools and axes flights amid storms
Philippines shuts schools and axes flights amid storms Residents queue for relief at a school-turned-evacuation center in Quezon City. Photo: Reuters The Philippines shut down schools and cancelled flights on Thursday as torrential rains driven by a typhoon and a separate tropical storm pounded the country's northern island of Luzon. Typhoon Co-May, upgraded from a tropical storm overnight, follows days of monsoon rains that have killed at least 12 people and left another eight missing across the archipelago since July 18, according to the national disaster agency. With maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres per hour, the typhoon was expected to make landfall on the west coast in either La Union or Ilocos Sur province by Friday morning, the country's weather service said. Around 70 domestic and international flights have been cancelled due to the storms, the civil aviation authority said. The government has announced the suspension of classes across Luzon for Thursday. Tens of thousands were evacuated across Manila this week by floodwaters that swamped some neighbourhoods in waist-deep water and left residents of nearby provinces stranded and in need of rescue by boat. As of Thursday, at least several thousand people in Manila remained unable to return to their homes. "We cannot send them home yet because it is still raining and some typhoons are still expected to affect the country," Ria Mei Pangilinan, a rescue coordinator in the capital. "There might be more [evacuees] if the rain does not stop." Typhoon Co-May was about 210 kilometres off the country's west coast as of 11am. Tropical Storm Francisco, meanwhile, was situated about 735 kilometres from the country's east coast and on a trajectory towards northern Taiwan. The two storms are not believed to be on a collision path. (AFP)