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Animal dubbed ‘Caramelo’ was trapped for days, balancing on two strips of slippery asbestos after flooding hit the Porto Alegre areaEmergency workers have rescued a horse that had been trapped for days on a rooftop after severe floods in southern Brazil, as the death toll from the disaster rose to 107 people.The animal, dubbed Caramelo on social media, had been balancing on two narrow...

Climate chaos is threatening food production, trade and lives, says World Meteorological OrganizationHunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown.The continent, which is trapped between the freakishly hot Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, probably suffered tens of thousands of climate-related deaths in 2023, at least $21bn...

Devastating floods in Rio Grande do Sul state have about left 90 dead with survivors seeking food and shelterBrazil flooding death toll rises to 90Heavy rains that began last week have caused rivers to flood, inundating whole towns and destroying roads and bridges across the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.The local civil defence agency said the death toll had risen to...

This part of South America is no stranger to major rainfall, but last week’s storms were particularly devastatingTorrential rainstorms in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have caused the worst flooding the country has seen in 80 years, many deaths and the displacement of thousands of families. Central parts of the state were hit the hardest after the storms began last Monday,...

Officials in Rio Grande do Sul state say more than 80,000 have been displaced by record water levelsSeventy-five people are now known to have died in the flooding in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state, while more than 100 people remain missing, local authorities said on Sunday.The state’s civil defence authority said 101 people were unaccounted for and more than 80,000 had been...

Hundreds of cities across Rio Grande do Sul hit by floods with thousands displaced and infrastructure destroyedThe death toll from rains in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul has risen to 57, local authorities said on Saturday afternoon, while dozens still have not been accounted for.The state’s civil defence authority said 67 people were still missing and more than 69,000 had been...

More than 23,000 people forced to leave homes after heavy rains in southern Rio Grande do Sul prompt record-breaking floodsHeavy rains in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 37 people, with another 74 still missing, as record-breaking floods devastated cities and forced thousands to leave their homes.It was the fourth such environmental disaster in a year, following floods in...

Worst-ever fire season in 2023 saw 15m hectare burned, eight firefighters killed and 230,000 people evacuatedCanada risks another “catastrophic” wildfire season, the federal government has warned, forecasting higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Niño weather conditions.Last year, Canada endured its worst-ever fire season, with more than 6,600 blazes burning 15m hectares (37m acres), an area roughly seven...

Xinjiang in north-west recorded minus 52.3C, while Badu in south recorded 38C – the largest temperature contrast recorded in a single countryChina’s Xinjiang region, in the far west of the country, experienced record-breaking low temperatures of -52.3C on 18 February, surpassing a 64-year-old record for the region. The figure was just shy of the lowest national temperature of -53C, which was recorded in the...