Heavy rains in southern regions left one dead and resulted in the flooding of farms, roads and houses and damage to cultural heritages, disaster authorities said on Sunday.
An 89-year-old man was found dead in a reservoir in Jangheung, South Jeolla Province, after falling into a drainage ditch near his home on Saturday, according to disaster safety officials as reported by Yonhap news agency.
The southwestern region was hit with torrential downpours, with Yeosu receiving up to 400 mm and Jangheung, Gangjin and Suncheon experiencing more than 300 mm of rainfall since Thursday.
More than 1,030 hectares of farmland in South Jeolla Province were damaged, while 300 tons of grain stored in Jangheung were flooded.
Severe flooding in Chad since July has claimed 503 lives and affected around 1.7 million since July, the United Nations said Saturday in its latest assessment of the disaster.
The floods have also destroyed 212,111 houses, flooded 357,832 hectares (885,000 acres) of fields and drowned 69,659 heads of cattle, said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Chad.
All of the country's provinces had been hit, Chad's water and energy minister Marcelin Kanabe Passale told journalists Saturday morning, warning of more trouble to come.
"The waters of the Logone and Chari rivers have reached a critical height likely to cause obvious serious flooding in the coming days," Passale said.
Thunderstorms have been ongoing in the region for days now.
After an unusual influx of heavy rain and thunderstorms in recent days, parts of the Sahara are changing colour and turning green.
Satellite imagery below displays vegetation blooming, with its southern extent creeping further northward into the arid desert, particularly when observing the change between September 2023 and September 2024.
Since mid-July, the ITCZ has shifted further north, more so than usual, pushing thunderstorms into the southern Sahara, as noticeable on the WeatherRadar above.
This shift in the ITCZ may also impact the rest of the Atlantic hurricane season, with a northward shift in the ITCZ thunderstorms also displacing the usual location of atmospheric waves that travel westwards from Africa into the Atlantic, a key ingredient for the birth of tropical systems.
An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck the San Luis region in western Argentina.
Reuters quoted European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) as saying that the earthquake struck at a depth of 129 kilometers below the surface of the earth, with no initial reports of damage or casualties as a result of the earthquake.
Last August, a 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck Jujuy Province in northwestern Argentina.
In another heart wrenching case of canine terror, a four-year-old boy was mauled to death by stray dogs in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district on Thursday.
The incident unfolded in Rampur Maniharan police station area, where a pack of ferocious dogs attacked the boy while he was playing. It is learnt that the boy identified as Vishant, son of Vinay, a resident of village Mazra Qazipura of Rampur Maniharan police station area, was playing in the field on Thursday when a pack of dogs attacked Vishant.
Hearing the boy's screams, his father Vinay and mother Sapna, who were working in the field, ran towards the spot. But, before they could reach the spot, the pack of dogs dragged the child and entered the field leaving him writhing in pain due to grievous injuries in his belly.
The driver of the truck escaped by jumping out of the window.
A massive sinkhole appeared on a road in the Samadhan Chowk area of Pune, swallowing a truck and two two-wheelers on Friday (September 20, 2024), a Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Fire officer said.
"The incident occurred around 4 P.M. on the premises of the City Post building when the truck came for the cleaning of drainage line in the area," said Fire Officer Subhash Jadhav to The Hindu. The fire brigade rushed to the spot immediately and tried to retrieve the truck using JCB.
The officer also stated that no one was hurt in the incident. The driver also escaped by jumping out of the window. At least 500 sq. feet of the area around the place of the incident have been barricaded. The depth of the crater is 25 feet.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is in Pune, attending the programme organised to mark veteran journalist Nanasaheb Parulekar's birth anniversary. During the event, he remarked that the "transport sector of India is going to change". The development of infrastructure will increase employment opportunities, trade, and business.
James Cummings Times of Malta Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:04 UTC
Waterspouts spotted as heavy rain intensifies across the island
Waterspouts were spotted around the country on Friday amid scattered showers and heavy downpours in some localities.
Video footage sent to Times of Malta shows at least four waterspouts of different sizes across Marsascala and off the coasts of Mellieħa and Sliema.
The videos shows columns of rotating wind similar in appearance to the dense, dark storm clouds above stretching down from the sky.
In Mellieħa and Sliema, the waterspouts can be faintly seen throwing up water into the air as they intersect the surface of the sea below while in the footage shot in Marsascala, only the top of a waterspout is visible above the skyline.
A 65-year-old cattle herder was mauled to death by a tiger in Mul (buffer) range of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) on Thursday evening. This is the 20th human kill in predator attacks in Chandrapur district this year.
The victim, identified as Devaji Raut of Chicholi village, was accompanied by fellow herders, when he ventured into compartment number 756 of the Katwan reserve forest with his cattle.
At around 5pm, a tiger attacked Raut and killed him on the spot. His companions narrowly escaped and alerted the villagers and foresters.
Forest department officials removed the body after inquest formality. Officials also extended immediate financial assistance of Rs20,000 to Raut's family. Officials claimed that an alert has been issued in the surrounding areas, and locals have been advised to remain cautious.
The rainfall, which continues intermittently throughout the province, has turned into a downpour, especially in the Arsin, Araklı and Sürmene districts. As a result of this heavy rainfall, the flow of streams increased and some rivers overflowed.
Roads were flooded due to the floods, and houses and workplaces on the ground floors of buildings were flooded. Landslides that occurred here and there caused some roads in these three districts to collapse.
Teams from relevant institutions such as the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ), Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) and municipalities continue their work with construction equipment in the problematic areas.
Comment: Related to the flooding in the region: Thunderstorms are bringing unprecedented greening to the southern Sahara desert