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Rain in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi has damaged farmland and infrastructureEastern Africa has experienced heavy rain in recent weeks, with Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi experiencing flooding. About 100,000 people have been displaced or otherwise affected in each country, with reported deaths reaching 32 in Kenya and 58 in Tanzania, alongside damage to farmland and infrastructure.There are also fears that large areas of standing water...

World Weather Attribution group says intensified El Niño effects caused torrential rain, but rules out cloud seeding as causeFossil fuels and concrete combined to worsen the “death trap” conditions during recent record flooding in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, a study has found.Scientists from the World Weather Attribution team said downpours in El Niño years such as this one had become 10-40% heavier...

Officials urge municipalities to begin emergency planning after major rivers and reservoirs threaten to overflowMajor rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people.Calling the situation “grim”, local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are...

Passengers report being stranded in the desert city as the international hub struggles in the wake of unusually heavy rainDon’t blame cloud seeding for the Dubai floodsDubai is wrestling with the aftermath of extraordinary torrential rains that flooded the desert city, with residents describing harrowing stories of spending the night in their cars, and air passengers enduring chaotic scenes at airports.Up to 259.5mm (10.2in)...

Federal emergency declared in Orenburg region and at least 6,000 homes inundated after Ural River overflowsFlood waters were rising in two cities in Russia’s Ural mountains on Sunday after Europe’s third-longest river burst through a dam, flooding at least 6,000 homes and forcing thousands of people to flee.The Ural River, which rises in the Ural Mountains and flows into the Caspian Sea, swelled several...

Heavy rainfall brings landslides to country’s south-east. Elsewhere, a wild temperature fluctuation in IberiaBrazil was hit by devastating floods over the weekend that have so far claimed 20 lives in the resultant landslides and mudslides. There was heavy rainfall in parts of the south-east, including Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis and the larger Espírito Santo region, with hourly rainfall totals of about 20mm recorded in...

People in affected areas say they are still waiting for government help after more than 300 deaths and widespread devastationTens of thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are living in temporary accommodation and waiting for government help after the country experienced its worst flooding in six decades.More than 300 people have died and 280,000 households in more than half the...

Tens of millions have been spent on human-made defences over the years, but the impact of the climate crisis means flooding is inevitableWhen Jo Bloom saw the monitoring station on the River Severn above Shrewsbury register water levels of 6.5 metres as Storm Henk struck in early January, she began preparing for the worst. Bloom, who runs the Bewdley Flood Group, a local initiative...

Increased flooding blamed on years of government delays over ‘sponge cities’ rulesIncreased sewage pollution, urban flooding and water supply interruptions are the result of a decade of failures by the Conservative ministers, according to water experts who are demanding an independent inquiry into water be set up by the next government.The repeated failure of the Tories to implement rules to create “sponge cities” has...

Man jumped into rushing flood waters and tied 74-year-old woman to a tree after she was swept 100 metres downstreamGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA man jumped into rushing flood waters to save a woman swept away into Bendigo Creek, risking his own life to secure her with ratchet straps to a tree, as Victorian towns braced...

Environment agency says ‘significant surface water and river flooding impacts are possible’ on FridayIn Gloucestershire, police warned of road closures due to rising water levels around Tewkesbury.An evacuation centre was set up in the nearby village Walton Cardiff while people living on Alney Island, between two branches of the River Severn, in nearby Gloucester were urged to leave their homes overnight for a nearby...