In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
Flash floods claimed the lives of at least two people in KwaZulu-Natal and a severe hailstorm wreaked havoc in Johannesburg at the weekend. Two people drowned in flash floods when they were swept away while trying to cross the surging Mona River in Ndwedwe‚ north of Durban‚ on Saturday night. …
Midvaal – The tornado that ripped through the Vaal Marina on Monday has left more than a thousand people homeless. It swept through the Vaal Dam on Monday evening, blowing off roof tops, uprooting trees and destroying fences and walls in its wake. At least 50 people were injured and …
At least 5, 201 households have been affected by disasters in 19 districts across the country since the onset of rains in October this year (2017). Department of Disaster Management Affairs Public Relations Officer, Chipiliro Khamula said the department has since recorded three deaths from collapsing of walls and lightning. …
Over 30 people have been injured and several houses were destroyed after a tornado hit the Midvaal Marina in Gauteng on Monday evening. Mayor Bongani Baloyi said at least 300 families have reported damages to their homes, some of which had been destroyed. Around 31 people have suffered minor injuries. …
Extreme weather events such as Hurricane Harvey are increasingly being linked to climate change in scientific studies Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images Climate change is increasing the risk of extreme weather events, including droughts, flooding and heatwaves, according to a new report. Researchers from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non …
Harvey arose from a tropical wave west of West Africa on 13 August 2017 and quickly travelled westwards across the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Before entering the Caribbean Sea, Harvey was classified as a tropical storm for the first time on 17 August 2017. While crossing the Lesser Antilles and moving …
The ability of very high frequency (VHF) (∼50 MHz) windprofilers to measure backscatter, winds and turbulence in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere gives them a unique perspective not available with many other remote sounding radar techniques. This capability has been utilized to study the environment of 31 tornadoes generated …
Durban - The eThekwini executive committee approved a R30million emergency fund for the 2017/18 financial year to repair infrastructural damage caused by last month’s storm which battered the province. According to a report tabled at an exco sitting at the city hall on Tuesday, the repairs were deemed urgent, to …
A 13 year old girl, Zione Kaole has died while three others got injured after a house they were living in collapsed due to heavy storm experienced in Malemia Village in Nkhotakota. The District’s Acting Desk Officer for Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), Victor Chithabwa, confirmed the incident with …
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A tornado ripped through a densely populated area in Indonesia’s East Java province on Thursday, injuring 35 people and damaging more than 600 homes, the head of the local disaster mitigation official said. The tornado, with wind speeds of 70 km per hour (45 miles per hour), …
Mesoscale convective system (MCS)-organized convective storms with a size of ~100 km have increased in frequency and intensity in the USA over the past 35 years, causing fatalities and economic losses. However, their poor representation in traditional climate models hampers the understanding of their change in the future. Here, a …
In 2014 and 2015, post-monsoon extremely severe cyclonic storms (ESCS)—defined by the WMO as tropical storms with lifetime maximum winds greater than 46 m s−1—were first observed over the Arabian Sea (ARB), causing widespread damage. However, it is unknown to what extent this abrupt increase in post-monsoon ESCSs can be …
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Many nations have become less vulnerable to natural disasters ranging from cyclones to earthquakes because of improved preparedness, but Pacific island states remain most at risk, a study showed on Tuesday. Climate change is raising risks by increasing the numbers of severe downpours, storm surges or …
Tropical Storm Rina formed about 890 miles (1,430 km) east of Bermuda but is not expected to pose any danger to the U.S. mainland, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday. Some additional strengthening is forecast over the next day or so for Rina, which is packing maximum sustained …
The space agencies of China and France recently announced that they are joining forces to launch a brand new satellite into orbit to improve the understanding and prediction of ocean storms and cyclones. The China-France Oceanography Satellite (CFOSAT), the first satellite to have been constructed as a partnership between the …
Mangrove forests can reduce the vulnerability of adjacent coastal lands from storm surges by slowing the flow of water. Although the potential utility of mangroves in disaster risk reduction is increasingly recognized by coastal managers, efficient use of this ecosystem-based protection is often hindered by the scarcity of location-specific information …
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rainstorm across the U.S. Northeast unleashed fierce winds that downed trees, knocked out power and halted commuter trains on Monday, five years after the deadly Superstorm Sandy struck the same region. Hundreds of thousands of customers across swaths of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and other …
A rain storm in Chavuma district in Northwestern province on Saturday left a trail of destruction at some government and private properties. Among these included Kalombo secondary school which had its roof blown off from one of its classroom blocks, while the roof at Chiyeke rural health center, a male …
South Africa is recovering from the deadly storm that hit parts of Gauteng and spread to KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape killing at least nine people. The “supercell thunderstorm” started on Monday in Gauteng and wreaked more havoc in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday where two patients of a hospital died after …
In the aftermath of the storms that battered Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal‚ an expert in hydro-climatology from the University of Cape Town has predicted that climate change is likely to influence more extreme weather patterns in South Africa in the coming years. “While it is not possible to look at a …
