A period of heavy rainfall in France has caused rivers to rise and prompted authorities to issue flood warnings for 18 departments in the north and south west of the country.

More than half a month's worth of rain fell in parts of France in 24 hours from 31 January to 01 February, according to Meteo France. River levels are high and as of 02 February, 18 departments were under Orange level (3 of 4) warnings for flooding, including 3 departments in the north and 15 in the south west.

On 01 February a Red level warning was issued for the Maronne river in Argentat, Corrèze department. On 02 February the Maronne river at Basteyroux, Argentat-sur-Dordogne, reached 3.31 metres. Around 150 people were evacuated. The warning has since been downgraded.

Torrential rains caused flash floods Tuesday morning in Izmir, blocking main arteries in the downtown area and surrounding districts of Aliağa, Foça and Dikili. Calling the situation a disaster, the municipality urged residents not to leave their homes unless necessary. Media outlets, quoting the governor's office, said one person was killed in the floods in the province's Menderes district. Teams with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality are working around the clock to drain excess water.

Some streams in the Balçova district overflowed, and many residences and businesses in Karabağlar and Bayraklı were especially hit hard by the floods. Vehicles got stuck in the muddy waters, causing traffic jams in the early morning rush hours. The Turkish State Meteorological Service (TSMS) had previously warned of heavy rainfall for the province, which had started during the night and gradually increased its effectiveness. More severe rainfall was predicted for Tuesday, both for Izmir and nearby Aydın province.

"I have been living here for 30 years and have never seen such a disaster," Mehmet Akyol, a resident of Çetin Emeç neighborhood in Balçova district where a stream was clogged with debris and cars drifted by floodwaters piled up on each other, told Anadolu Agency (AA). Indeed, authorities announced that the rainfall, equivalent to what is normally seen over the entire month of February, battered the province in just eight hours. Municipality crews struggled to drain waters while Mayor Tunç Soyer called on motorists not to hit the roads for a while amid the flood danger. Soyer tweeted that streams overflowing their banks due to the rainfall caused disruptions to tram and bus services in some parts of the province. IZBAN, the province's main commuter rail system, temporarily suspended its service on one line. Soyer said extraordinary rainfall almost evolved into a disaster. Though floods are common during heavy rainfall in the province, it was unusual this time. Mayor Soyer later said in a written statement that the province had "18% of rainfall normally seen throughout the entire year." "126 kilograms of rainfall hit per square meter. This is a serious figure," he said. It was almost equal to the amount of rainfall that caused another flood disaster in the province in November 1995 when 61 people were killed. Izmir was also hit by floods in December though their density was lower.

Two unidentified men aged 22 and 21 died in Glendale, Mashonaland Central province after they encroached the edges of the flooded Mazowe River while taking pictures from their mobile phones before both slipped and drowned.

Mazowe assistant district development coordinator Willard Masimba confirmed the incident and urged people no to go to close to flooded rivers.

The incident happened a few hours after Bindura District development coordinator Richard Chipfuwa had issued a flood warning to communities in the Bindura, Mazowe area after two dams, Candy and Iron Duke, burst their walls resulting in the flooding of Mazowe River.

A Glendale resident Brian Jonga said Candy and Iron Duke dams burst their walls at around 7 am Sunday morning.

A firefighter was killed on Monday in the region of Evros in northeastern Greece during an operation to rescue dozens of children that were trapped in a school flooded by torrential rains.

The incident occurred as the fire service was called to a kindergarten and a primary school in the small town of ​​Apalos, near Alexandroupolis.

The fire engine was swept away by the rushing waters and overturned. A 46-year-old firefighter lost his life n the accident.

Severe weather including strong winds, hail and record rainfall affected parts of southern-central Chile from 29 January, in particular areas of Santiago Metropolitan, O'Higgins, Valparaíso, Maule, Araucanía and Bío Bío Regions.

Rainfall has triggered flooding and landslides in several areas. The capital Santiago saw as much rain in 24 hours as it would normally see on average during the 6 month period November to April. According to Chile's meteorological office, Dirección Meteorológica de Chile, as much as 31.4mm of rain fell in 24 hours on 29 January in Quinta Normal, Santiago, beating the previous daily record total of 22.4mm set in 1933. T

Elsewhere in the country, Requinoa (O'Higgins Region) recorded 70.3mm of rain, Pirque (Santiago Metropolitan Region) 49.3mm and Longavi (Maule Region) 47mm during the same period.

At least 1 person has died, 5 are missing and over 7,000 are displaced after Tropical Cyclone Ana made landfall early on 31 January, 2021.

Tropical Cyclone Ana struck as many parts of the country are still recovering after Tropical Cyclone Yasa made landfall as a category 5 system on 17 December.

According to Fiji's National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), 7,612 people had evacuated their homes and were staying in 204 evacuation centres in the Northern, Eastern, Central and Western Divisions.

Power and water outages were affecting parts of the country. One person died by drowning, while 4 fishermen were reported missing at sea. Fiji Police said they are searching for a young child who was reported missing in Lautoka.

Status yellow snow and ice warning issued as motorists warned of road conditions

Snow has been forecast for the northern half of the country on Sunday as a new Met Éireann weather warning comes into effect.

A status yellow warning for snow and ice is in place for Connacht and counties Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Longford, Louth, Wicklow, Offaly, Westmeath and Meath. The alert is valid until 6pm on Sunday.

Conditions are breezy and cold on Sunday morning, with widespread rain, sleet and snow. Possible accumulations of snow are predicted in the northern half of the country.

As the red, blood-like waters which submerged the town of Deben in the Northern Cape began subsiding, one resident has found in it a message from the universe.

"Some say it's good for us, that this blood-like water is the cleansing we needed," said restaurant owner Rachel Jacobs.

"We are going through a lot. We are fighting Covid-19, load-shedding and even recession," she said.

The stream of red water she referred to was caused by the remnants of the iron-ore dust left behind after blasting at the nearby mining facilities.

Parts of Victoria have recorded a month's worth of rain in less than 12 hours while New South Wales has been warned to batten down the hatches as strong winds and thunderstorms are forecast to continue following record downfalls in some regions.

Dean Narramore, a senior forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology, said on Friday evening that parts of Victoria "copped a drenching" in the past 24 hours, with heavy rain across large swathes of the state. Almost 70mm fell in some parts.

Melbourne and central and western Victoria saw a deluge on Friday. "Melbourne metro itself has seen 40mm in four hours and the month's average for January is 47mm," Narramore said.

In the 24 hours to 9am on Friday, widespread rainfall totals of 20-40mm were recorded across western Victoria, with the bureau recording higher totals of 60-70mm in the upper Avoca and Wimmera catchments.

"Many locations, not only in Melbourne but right across western and central Victoria, have had a month's worth of rain in less than six to 12 hours. That rain is continuing to move towards the east with falls continuing in the 20-40mm range," Narramore said.

A Tropical Cyclone Warning remains in force for Fiji and the immediate concern is widespread flooding.

A flash flood warning remains in force for all low lying areas and small streams near major rivers in Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

If you are living in a flood prone area, please move to high ground and don't leave things to the last minute.

National Disaster Management Office Director, Vasiti Soko says people should move to their nearest evacuation centre now.

19 centres are open in the North and 1 centre is open in the west.