ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — A tropical cyclone that swept across Madagascar has killed 18 people and left four missing after making landfall on the north of the Indian Ocean island nation earlier this week, authorities said on Friday.
The storm has also caused severe flooding that partly submerged entire villages, displaced or affected some 47,000 people and set off landslides that injured three people, the National Office for Disaster Management said.
Cyclone Gamane hit northern Madagascar on Wednesday and has now weakened considerably, leaving a trail of destruction behind it.
In the Diana and Sava regions in the north, bridges and roads were washed away and houses and rice fields were submerged. Residents paddled around their villages in canoes looking to help others trapped in their homes as the water level nearly reached the roofs of some buildings.
The cyclone red alert was lifted on Thursday morning after the worst part of the storm brought wind gusts of over 210 kilometers per hour (130 miles per hour).
Madagascar has been hit by at least 10 strong tropical cyclones since the start of 2022 and is facing a hunger crisis in parts of the island, due to the damaging impact of extreme weather, according to the World Food Program.
The United Nations said the number of cyclones in the past two years is unprecedented for Madagascar, which has also suffered from its worst drought in 40 years in the south. It is one of the countries most at risk to climate change and one with the highest rates of poverty, according to the World Bank.
No aid deliveries are getting through to the northern Gaza Strip, despite urgent warnings of famine, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, reported on Monday.
This follows the head of UNRWA’s comments on Sunday saying Israeli authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any UNRWA food convoys into northern Gaza, where Philippe Lazzarini said people are on the verge of famine.
UNRWA said that an average of 157 trucks carrying aid had entered the zone this month up to and including Saturday. It confirmed that Israel has since rejected urgent UNRWA food convoys to enter northern Gaza.
“This remains well below the operational capacity of both border crossings and the target of 500 per day, with challenges at both Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and Rafah,” UNRWA said, in reference to crossings in the south of the Gaza Strip into Israel and Egypt respectively.
The agency had submitted requests for aid approval since Thursday, but all of them were denied with no reason given.
It added that managing the crossings had been severely impacted by the killing of several Palestinian policemen in Israeli airstrikes near the crossings in early February.
Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA officials of involvement in the October 7 attacks and halted cooperation with the agency. UNRWA subsequently fired several employees.
Lazzarini said blocking UNRWA aid to the north is “outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine.”
Israel has rejected accusations it is hindering aid deliveries into Gaza, instead accusing aid organizations of not distributing them properly, while the groups say they are lacking proper protection.
Humanitarian aid packages land by the help of parachutes after dropping from a plane as Israeli attacks continue in Gaza City. Ali Hamad/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Israel is no longer allowing UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, to send aid convoys into northern Gaza where civilians are said to be on the verge of famine, according to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
“UNRWA, the main lifeline for Palestine refugees, is denied from providing lifesaving assistance to northern Gaza,” Lazzarini wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any UNRWA food convoys to the north,” he continued.
“This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine.”
More than five months into the war between Israel and Palestinian extremist organization Hamas, the humanitarian situation in sealed-off Gaza has reached catastrophic levels, according to aid organizations. People in northern Gaza are on the brink of famine, the UN has said.
Most people from northern Gaza have fled to other parts of the coastal area amid Israeli bombardment, but some 300,000 are believed to remain, with only little aid reaching them infrequently.
Israel has rejected accusations it is hindering aid deliveries into Gaza, instead accusing aid organizations of not distributing them properly, while the groups say they are lacking proper protection.
Most recently, Israeli allegations that individual employees of the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) could have been involved in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 led to the withdrawal of international aid funds.
Meanwhile on the ground, the Israeli military said that it had launched a new military operation in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said troops had surrounded two hospitals amid heavy shelling.
The assault was proceeded by Israeli airstrikes on approximately 40 sites, which the Israeli military said included “military compounds, underground tunnels and additional terror infrastructure.”
In the al-Amal hospital, a paramedic had been fatally wounded by gunfire and another had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Red Crescent.
Dpa is unable to independently confirm the Israeli military’s statements or the reports from the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The Gaza Health Ministry says 32,226 Palestinians have now been killed and more than 74,500 others injured by Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war on October 7, when Hamas fighters and other militants killed some 1,200 people.
The figures from the ministry, controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, could not be independently verified. However, the UN says that the authority’s figures have proved to be generally credible in the past.
The Israeli military separately said that one of its soldiers was killed during an operation at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the largest medical facility in the Palestinian territory, where renewed Israeli military operations have been ongoing for the past week.
The military says 252 of its soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip at the end of October.
Israeli commanders claim that dozens of Palestinian militants have been killed in the hospital area since the operation began a week ago. Dpa is unable to independently verify those statements.
Israeli troops previously entered the al-Shifa hospital in mid-November. The military said that troops discovered a tunnel complex used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and said that militants returned to the hospital after Israeli troops withdrew.
Israel accuses Hamas of systematically misusing medical facilities for military purposes, an allegation that Hamas has denied.
Man killed, brother injured after mountain lion attack in Sierra foothills
Man killed, brother injured after mountain lion attack in Sierra foothills
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GEORGETOWN – A 21-year-old man was killed and his brother was injured in a mountain lion attack in a remote area of Northern California’s El Dorado County Saturday, authorities said.
El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a report of a mountain lion attack in a remote area near Georgetown at around 1:15 p.m. local time. They said it was in the area of Darling Ridge Road and Skid Road.
The report came from an 18-year-old man who said a mountain lion attacked him and his 21-year-old brother while they were antler shed hunting. The teen said he had injuries to his face and was separated from his brother during the attack.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the 18-year-old was contacted while deputies searched for his brother. About 15 minutes later, deputies found a crouched mountain lion next to the victim on the ground.
Deputies fired their guns to scare the mountain lion off but once the mountain lion ran off, the 21-year-old was pronounced dead. He has not been identified.
The teen was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife responded to the area and located the mountain lion. It was euthanized near the scene and the body was collected for further examination.
If you encounter a mountain lion, officials said to give them an escape route, don’t run and stay calm, make loud noises and try to look bigger, put small children on your shoulders, and never crouch down.
The last known deadly mountain lion attack in El Dorado County was in 1994.
Georgetown is located about 50 miles northeast of Sacramento.
A mountain lion attack left one person dead and another injured in a remote area of Northern California on Saturday, officials said.
The 18-year-old and 21-year-old brothers were antler shed hunting in Georgetown, California, when the mountain lion attacked the pair, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.
The younger brother called 911 at 1:13 pm to report being separated from his older brother during the attack, officials said.
Deputies began searching the area, and at around 1:46 pm., they found the mountain lion crouched next to the older brother. Shots were fired to scare off the animal.
The 21-year-old was dead by the time deputies reached him. The 18-year-old suffered “traumatic injuries” to his face and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities have not released the names of the victims.
Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are working to locate the mountain lion.
Georgetown is about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento.
Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife have reported 13 attacks in the state since 2004, with only one being fatal.
A powerful weather system is battering the tri-state area with heavy rain and strong winds Saturday as a fast-moving storm blankets northern New England with snow.
A flood watch went into effect Saturday morning for the New York City metro area through central and southern New Jersey. The storm could dump up to 4 inches of rain on parts of the region.
The heaviest rainfall is expected in the afternoon and early evening, and minor flooding in low-lying areas such as roads and yards is possible.
Isolated flooding late Saturday and into Sunday is also expected.
The New York City area is also under a wind advisory, with winds up to 25 mph expected throughout the day, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather agency cautioned that winds of that speed could cause flying debris, power outages and could send unsecured objects flying into the air.
Even stronger wind gusts of 45-50 mph are expected.
Weather conditions are causing major delays across New York City airports. Arrivals at John F. Kennedy International Airport are delayed an average of three hours as of 5 p.m. EDT, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. La Guardia Airport is also experiencing delays in arrival and departure flights.
Philadelphia already surpassed a daily rainfall record and is experiencing its wettest day in March since 1872, with 3.06 inches of rain, according to National Weather Service.
Elsewhere, a fast-moving storm is dumping snow across parts of northern New England. More than 30 million people from the northern Rockies and Upper Midwest through the central Great Lakes into New England are under winter alerts.
Light to moderate snow is expected for the Upper Midwest to the Great Lakes, where 2 to 7 inches will fall. In the northern New England area, snow as high as 12 to 18 inches is expected.
The Maine Emergency Management Agency said the storm could bring the largest snowfall of the season and urged motorists to use caution.
“Mixed precipitation in some areas will make for especially hazardous travel conditions,” the agency said in a post on X. “Check your local forecast for conditions.”
In the Twin Cities area, the storm could bring more than 12 inches. Combined with a 2.9-inch accumulation from a “teaser” snowstorm Thursday night and Friday morning, snow totals could exceed the 14.3 inches that had fallen in the previous season.
While the weather begins to let up in New York, more than 80,000 power outages have been reported statewide, with the majority concentrated near Albany, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Saturday evening.
“State emergency response officials are in constant contact with impacted counties and utility companies, especially National Grid, which has informed us that most outages will be restored later tonight,” Hochul said.
She urged New Yorkers to “stay off the roads, don’t crowd the plow and avoid downed power lines.”
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian authorities warned Tuesday to prepare for “extremely heavy rainfall” after Storm Hans caused two deaths, ripped off roofs and upended summertime life in northern Europe.
Strong winds continued to batter the region along with rains, causing a lengthy list of disruptions in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Ferries were canceled, flights were delays, roads and streets were flooded, trees were uprooted, people were injured by falling branches and thousands remained without electricity Tuesday.
In Oslo, officials urged people to work from home. On its website, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate warned of “extremely heavy rainfall” in the country’s south, adding “unnecessary traffic should be avoided.”
“This is a very serious situation that can lead to extensive consequences and damages. There will be extensive flooding, erosion damage and flood damages to buildings and infrastructure,” it said in English on its website.
In Finland, authorities urged people to rethink whether it “it is necessary to go out” to sea, Ville Hukka, a spokesperson for the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District was quoted by the Hufvudstadsbladet newspaper.
SMHI, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, on Tuesday issued a red warning for parts of central Sweden, signaling “very large amounts of rain causing extremely high flows in streams and ditches in several places.”
Floods and slides closed dozens of roads in southern Norway and neighboring Sweden and dozens of people have been evacuated.. There were scattered reports of helicopters being used to fly people out of affected areas.
Denmark’s Meteorological Institute, meanwhile, reported of waves of up to eight meters (26 feet) and beach houses were seen washed into the North Sea.
On Monday, a 50-year old woman was killed in Lithuania by falling trees near the Latvian border. In central Sweden, a train was partly derailed because the embankment under the rails had been washed away. Three were people were slightly injured.
Also Monday in Latvia, near the Belarus border, a second person died on Monday when a tree fell on him, Latvian television said, adding he died of his injuries. The man was not further identified.
In Estonia, nearly 10,000 people were without power Tuesday morning, according to the Baltic News Service, the region’s main news agency.
Norwegian authorities kept the extreme weather warning alert at its highest level in southern Norway due to heavy rain, mudslides and flash floods. They also sent out text messages in several foreign languages, including English, to holidaymakers warning of the foul weather.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called it “a very serious situation,” said late Monday. “We see floods and destruction. There is reason to expect that this will last another day,” he said.
In the Swedish town Are, a ski resort, roads and streets were flooded. The Susaback river that runs through Are, some 533 kilometers (331 miles) from Stockholm, went over its banks and flooded much of downtown.
Zainab Saidu is worried about what might happen to her family in Niger if there is military action
Niger’s military junta has just hours to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to power or face the possibility of military action from the regional bloc Ecowas.
Last Sunday, West African leaders gave the coup leaders a week to comply with its demands or it would “take all measures… [which] may include the use of force”.
But in Niger’s neighbour, Nigeria – where the bulk of the troops are likely to come from – voices against the involvement of the military are growing louder.
The two countries also have close ethnic and historical ties.
On Saturday, the Nigeria’s senate urged the government to look at “political and diplomatic options”.
And in the northern Nigerian city of Sokoto, bordering Niger, which is home to the army’s 8 Division, the anxiety is increasing.
It sits on a major junction on the road leading to Niger and is likely to be a mustering point for troops before any military action.
The serenity of Sokoto’s residential neighbourhoods belies the heightened tension in the city and the wider north-western state.
One aspect feeding this is that – according to locals – one in every five residents in Sokoto is from Niger or has connections with the country.
Sokoto city’s sprawling suburb of Sabon-Gari Girafshi is predominantly inhabited by people from Niger. They fear that military intervention by Ecowas could greatly affect their family members and even jeopardise their own security here in Nigeria.
Sulaiman Ibrahim has been desperately trying to reach one of his wives who is living in Niger
Fifty-one-year-old jewellery maker Sulaiman Ibrahim lives in one of the fenced and gated compounds.
One of his wives and some of his children are in Niger’s capital, Niamey, trapped there because of last month’s coup.
“Now I want to call my wife Fatima to hear from her, because since the day of that coup, I have not heard from her,” he tells the BBC, gripping his phone in his left hand.
He scrolls through his contacts and dials the wife’s number again.
Each call returns with the same message: “The number you are calling is not available at this time.”
“Every time I called, this is what they’re telling me, either no service or whatever, I don’t know,” he says in anguish, unable to hide his concern.
“If military action is going to be taken on Niger, this will bring more anxiety. I’m in terrible situation because my family is not with me and I don’t have any information about them.”
He opens the photo app on his phone to show his 18-year-old son and one of his siblings.
“Here is my son Mustapha, he’s currently in Niger. This is his younger brother, he’s six years old, they’re with their mother.”
Sulaiman is not alone.
Daily he meets with other neighbours from Niger to check if anyone has got news from home.
Mohamdu Ousman 43, echoed the sentiments of many here that the use of force to restore the ousted president in Niamey could be catastrophic.
“For Ecowas to go to Niger with the intention to take back power from the military to civilians, we don’t wish for that, God forbid. It’s like erasing our history,” he told the BBC.
Sabon-Gari Girafshi is home to a large number of people who are either Nigerien or have connections to the country
Zainab Saidu, 59, hails from the Nigerien city of Dosso, but has lived most of her life in Sokoto after getting married to a Nigerian man. Her youngest son is currently in Niger and she fears for his safety.
“I’m disturbed, I swear we’re in fear all of us, everyone who is from Niger. Everybody is terrified most especially when we heard that Nigeria [might] go to Niger for a war purpose,” she says.
On Friday, West African military chiefs said they had agreed a plan for possible military intervention, but Ecowas continues to push for a diplomatic solution.
In an effort to apply other pressure, the regional bloc has also imposed sanctions on the coup leaders and closed the borders into Niger. In addition, Nigeria has cut electricity supplies to its northern neighbour.
But this has meant that those on the Nigerian side of the border are also affected.
Lorries have been stuck at the Nigeria-Niger border
One border town that is feeling the impact is Illela, about 135km (85 miles) from Sokoto city.
It’s a commercial hub, but is currently wearing the look of a community under economic stress.
At its entrance, there are long lines of stranded vehicles, mainly large lorries with their loads covered with tarpaulin to shelter them from the rain and the sun.
Gathered in the shade of the lorries are drivers either sleeping or sitting with their phones or radios, waiting for news of the latest developments about the border.
Driver Abdullahi is running out of money
One of the drivers, Abdullahi, dressed in a T-shirt and faded blue jeans, is holding a sachet of water.
“I have been stranded here for the past three days,” he says.
“I have exhausted myself financially. Now I don’t have any money. A friend bought food for me this morning. That’s why you see me holding the water. I have been calling my boss to explain my plight and to let me know that the border closure has affected me, but he’s not responding to my calls.”
His colleagues also look tired and resigned.
They could face a long wait and the goods that they are carrying could perish, costing the business owners huge sums of money.
Others whose businesses have been seriously hit include Ado Garba Dankwaseri.
Ado Garba Dankwaseri is now not able to supply others in the town with ice after the border closed
The 42-year-old often travels into Niger to buy ice blocks to supply to traders in Illela selling water and soft drinks who need to keep things cool.
But Ado Garba’s business has been hit hard and he is unable to make the trips to Niger for his supplies.
“I make 100,000 naira ($130; £100) a day with my supplies. But right now, I cannot cross the border. There are soldiers, police and custom and immigration officers stationed everywhere. You cross the border at your own peril,” the ice trader says.
Customs officials met some of the business people in Illela on Friday to try to address their concerns and talk about why the closure was necessary.
“There’s no sacrifice too big as long as they are able to achieve peace and democracy within the sub-region. The community understands the reason behind the border closure,” says Bashir Adewale Adeniyi from the customs service.
But the patience of people in Illela and elsewhere in Sokoto is being tested – and so far, there has been little obvious sign that Niger’s coup leaders are willing to back down.
Torrential rains triggered a landslide at a base camp of a revered Hindu temple in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing three people, officials said Saturday.
At least 17 others were reported missing in the village of Gaurikund in Uttarakhand state, said Nandan Singh Rajwar, a top official of the region’s Disaster Management unit. The missing included members of two families and a few pilgrims, he said.
The landslides were reported on Thursday night when a portion of a hill caved in because of torrential rain. Giant boulders fell on roadside shops and eateries that got swept away in the fast-flowing Mandakini River.
Rajwar said rescue teams resumed their search on Saturday but efforts were hampered by heavy rains in the area.
“The (rescue) teams could only recover three bodies until Friday evening,” Rajwar said, as rescue operations were suspended due to the onslaught of rain and limited visibility.
Gaurikund, nestled in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, has long been a starting point for thousands of devout pilgrims embarking on the spiritual journey to the revered Kedarnath temple, one of the holiest sites for Hindus. The picturesque region attracts both tourists and religious devotees from all over the world.
The area has been grappling with heavy downpours since Wednesday, but pilgrims have still continued their spiritual journey. The temple has so far attracted over 1 million visitors this year and the pilgrimage is scheduled to continue until mid-November.
Over 6,000 people were killed or went missing in a devastating flash flood in 2013 in the same area that washed away the temple town of Kedarnath and some residential buildings built near the pilgrimage route.
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BEIJING (Reuters) – Record-breaking rainfall with an unusually long duration triggered by the arrival of Typhoon Doksuri in late July has battered northern China for a week, causing massive flooding and disrupting the lives of millions.
After pelting the Chinese capital Beijing in the worst storms in 140 years and lashing nearby cities in a region the size of Britain, the rain finally shifted to China’s northeast near its border with Russia and North Korea where their power, though weakened, remained potent.
HOW SEVERE WAS THE RAINFALL?
The amount of rainfall since Saturday broke many local records in Beijing and northern China, with the vast Haihe river basin experiencing the worst flooding caused by storms since 1963.
A reservoir in Beijing’s Changping district logged 744.8mm (29.3 inches) of precipitation between Saturday and Wednesday, the most in the city in over 140 years.
In the populous province of Hebei, one weather station recorded 1,003mm of rain from Saturday to Monday, an amount normally seen over a year and a half.
WHAT CAUSED THE EXTREME AND PROLONGED RAINFALL?
As Doksuri’s rain clouds headed north, a subtropical and continental high pressure system in the atmosphere blocked their passage, leading to the continuing convergence of water vapour that acted like a dam storing the water, the meteorologists say.
As large amounts of vapour gathered in northern China, it was then lifted up by a low-altitude wind, shifting precipitation east of the Taihang mountain range, where the worst-hit areas – including Beijing’s Fangshan and Mentougou districts – are located.
Meanwhile, Typhoon Khanun was gathering strength in the Western Pacific and as it approached China’s coast, a large amount of moisture was fed into Doksuri’s weakened circulation.
The interaction of the two typhoons sustained the circulation while increasing the amount of precipitation, leading to an extended and intensified impact from the storms, Chinese meteorologists told media.
HOW DAMAGING WAS THE RAIN?
In urban parts of Beijing, hundreds of roads were flooded. Hundreds of flights were either delayed or cancelled.
The impact was more pronounced in the city’s western suburbs. In Mentougou and Fangshan districts, raging water coursed down roads, sweeping away cars. Villages in mountainous areas were cut off, prompting authorities to deploy helicopters to drop off food, water and emergency supplies.
Hebei’s Zhuozhou, a city with more than 600,000 people to the southwest of Beijing, was half-submerged, with about 134,000 residents affected and one-sixth of the city’s population evacuated.
HAVE SIMILAR WEATHER EVENTS HAPPENED IN THE PAST?
Rain with such intensity and duration following typhoons is unusual in northern and northeastern China. The Chinese capital has observed just 12 incidences of significant rain brought by typhoons since authorities started keeping records, according to state media.
In 2017 and 2018, Typhoon Haitang and Ampil both dumped over 100mm of rain on Beijing. Typhoon Wanda in 1956 unleashed more than 400mm of precipitation on the densely populated city.
For China’s northeast, the impact of typhoons is also rare. Most typhoons would move way west or northwest after making landfall in China, experts say.
(Reporting by Ethan Wang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Kim Coghill)
