#madagascar-flooding

#madagascar-flooding

As the rust expands, it weakens the rock and helps break it apart. It's a very red part of the country, it's got that rusty hue, so you get that color getting whipped up with the strong winds.

Flash flooding has been a major problem in recent days in places such as Maui, Molokai and the Big Island, where rain had been falling between 1 and 2in (2.5 and 5cm) an hour overnight, according to the Hawaii emergency management agency.

In Grazalema, Spain's wettest town, a year's-worth of rain fell in a fortnight and overloaded the karst aquifer beneath it. Water rushed into homes through floors, walls and even electricity sockets. Authorities ordered everyone to evacuate. I felt a lot of fear, said Sanchez Barea, a guesthouse owner whose home is one of hundreds still in an exclusion zone.

Flash flooding is a real risk and can occur quickly, without much warning. We urge people to steer clear of floodwaters and never drive through a flooded road regardless of how safe you think it may be.

A lack of insurance coverage in Southeast Asia threatens an increasingly important hub for supply chains, as the region is battered by tropical storms, major flooding, and other natural disasters. Total losses from natural disasters across Asia-Pacific last year totaled $73 billion, yet just $9 billion was insured, according to Germany reinsurance company Munich Re. That makes Asia one of the world's least insured regions against natural disasters.

A deep area of low pressure to the south-east of New Zealand's North Island swept into the region on Sunday, bringing heavy rain, gale-force winds and dangerous coastal swells that lashed exposed shorelines. The storm triggered power outages, forced evacuations and damaged infrastructure, with further impacts likely on Monday as the system lingers for a time, before tracking southwards later.

Flooding across southern Africa has severed critical transport routes, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and left governments and aid agencies struggling to respond. Southern Mozambique has suffered the heaviest toll so far. Authorities say more than 645,000 people have been affected nationwide, with at least 112 deaths recorded so far. Over 91,000 people are sheltering in 68 temporary accommodation centers, while 99 others have been injured. Thousands of homes, classrooms and health facilities have been damaged or destroyed,

When Emilia Machel, 30, and her three children rushed to the Chiaquelane site for displaced people on the afternoon of January 17, much of her hometown of Chokwe in Mozambique's Gaza Province was already flooded. The Limpopo River, which begins in neighbouring South Africa and flows into Mozambique, had reached dangerously high levels after heavy rain fell on the Southern Africa region from late December to mid-January.

In Emilio Pena Delgado's home, several photos hang on the wall. One shows him standing in front of a statue with his wife and oldest son in the centre of San Jose and smiling. In another, his two sons sit in front of caricatures from the film Cars. For him, the photos capture moments of joy that feel distant when he returns home to La Carpio, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Costa Rica's capital.

During the deployment, the teams rescued more than 80 people from floodwaters and damaged structures. London Fire Brigade's UK ISAR coordinator, Ian Simpson, said an elderly blind woman and a small child were among the people they saved, which "brought home how important our work out there was". LFB He added: "I could not be prouder of the team's dedication, resilience, and professionalism, which directly contributed to saving lives and supporting the wider humanitarian response."