At least 17 people still missing after heavy rains washed mud and cold lava down the slopes of Mount Marapi.
At least 41 people have now been confirmed dead after hours of torrential rain triggered flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in western Indonesia over the weekend.
A local disaster official told the AFP news agency that 17 other people remained missing after the downpour on Saturday night swept ash and large rocks down Mount Marapi, the most active volcano on Sumatra island.
Three people are missing in the Agam district and 14 in Tanah Datar, both the worst-hit areas of the flood and home to hundreds of thousands of people, Ilham Wahab, an official with the West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency, told AFP.
About 400 people, including police, soldiers and local rescue squads, have been deployed to search for the missing, using at least eight excavators and drones.
Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano’s slopes by rain.
The rain turned roads into muddy rivers, swept vehicles away and damaged homes and other buildings.
Damage to the roads has hampered rescue efforts.
Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season.
In 2022, about 24,000 people were evacuated and two children were killed in floods on Sumatra island, with environmental campaigners blaming deforestation caused by logging for worsening the disaster.
Residents clamber over debris after Saturday night’s flash floods [Iggo El Fitra/Antara Foto via Reuters]
Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan – As we make our way towards Pakistan’s first organic village, an intense one-hour trek along the rugged, steep and unfenced mountainside pathway from Mindoq-Khar, near Kharpocho Fort, my legs are shaking with a mix of fear and strain.
The sharp mountain edges stick out threateningly, and I am reminded of the soulful lyrics of Ali Zafar’s Paharon Ki Qasam (Oaths of the Mountains), a tribute to the late Pakistani climbing hero, Muhammad Ali Sadpara from Skardu, who tragically lost his life in February 2021 while climbing the notorious Bottleneck gully which is just 300 metres (984 feet) below the summit of K2.
Above us, the sky is a brilliant shade of blue, adding to the surreal beauty of the landscape. As we gain a wider view of the Indus River Valley below us, our 44-year-old guide, Abbas Jaan, stops and draws our attention to the colour of the water.
“You can see the water turning a murky grey, carrying with it the particles from the retreating glaciers,” he says, his eyes scanning the slow-flowing waves of this vital drinking water supply. “And even though it’s grey,” he adds, “the glacial water is mineral-rich and incredibly pure.”
“But, year by year, these glaciers are melting fast. They are decreasing,” he says, pointing towards the thousands of smaller glacier peaks that surround us in the far distance; some mountains are snow-covered while others are dry and brown.
The city of Skardu, from where we have departed, sits some 2,228 metres (7,310 feet) above sea level. It is the gateway to the Karakoram mountain range and some of the world’s highest peaks such as K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum, making it a popular destination for trekkers and mountaineers who come to marvel at the breathtaking scenery.
Following the rugged, fenceless path to the organic village, Khari Nangsoq [Anam Hussain/Al Jazeera]
With a population of more than 200,000, the city boasts a rich cultural blend influenced by Tibetan, Balti and other Central Asian traditions, where diverse Islamic sects, including Noor Bakshi, Sunni and Shia, coexist.
But this region of Pakistan is also home to more than 7,000 glaciers – the largest number outside the earth’s polar regions.
These icy giants are far more than just a breathtaking natural spectacle; they are vital to the local ecosystem.
They serve as a crucial source of freshwater, sustaining agriculture and powering electricity generation through the meltwater that feeds into rivers.
Now, however, their existence is under threat.
A 2019 study (PDF) published in the Pakistan Geographical Review by Lahore College for Women University, highlights the increasingly unusual behaviour of glaciers in the Karakoram range, compared with glaciers in other parts of the world.
The Baltoro Glacier is a particular example. Spanning some 63km (39 miles) in length, the Baltoro is one of the longest glaciers in the world outside the polar regions. Its width varies, but generally ranges from two to three kilometres. The meltwater from the Baltoro Glaciers feeds the Shigar River, which is the main right-bank tributary of the Indus River Valley in the Skardu Valley.
It is an essential source of freshwater for this region and beyond, but the study showed that the glacier has been decreasing in size by 0.9 percent each year between 2003 and 2017.
The immediate effect of the shrinking glacier is a rise in water levels and even dangerous flooding in the Shigar River.
The position of the Baltoro and Sachien glaciers in Pakistan (AJ Labs)
Locally, roads have been known to have become completely submerged when water levels rise too high, says Chris Lininger, founder and director of US-based travel company Epic Expeditions, who has been travelling across Pakistan’s intricate terrains, including the Baltoro Glacier, since 2018.
“I actually had a problem coming out of a trip when the floods happened in 2022 because the road was just gone,” he says over a Zoom call. “Many [locals] are already in a low socioeconomic state, and when this happens, it’s catastrophic for them.”
But the extreme long-term effect will be even more deadly – the water will eventually dry up when the glacier is gone.
Thousands of houses have been destroyed or damaged in the worst-hit northern province of Baghlan.
At least 153 people have been killed in flash floods in northern Afghanistan triggered by torrential rains, the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior Affairs has said.
On Saturday, ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani put the number of injured at 138 people in three provinces, the Reuters news agency reported.
Heavy rains on Friday led to flooding in several areas of the country, with fears of the death toll rising.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, said in a social media post on Saturday that “hundreds … have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries”.
Apart from Baghlan in the north, the provinces of Badakhshan in the northeast, central Ghor and western Herat were also heavily affected, he wrote on X, adding that “the extensive devastation” had resulted in “significant financial losses”.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the AFP news agency on Saturday that more than 200 people were killed and thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged in the worst-hit province of Baghlan alone.
The air force had started evacuating people and moved more than 100 injured people to military hospitals, the Taliban Ministry of Defense said on Saturday, without mentioning from which provinces.
“By announcing the state of emergency in [affected] areas, the Ministry of National Defense has started distributing food, medicine and first aid to the impacted people,” it said in a statement.
Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of Baghlan’s natural disaster management department, earlier told AFP that the toll “will probably increase”, adding that light rain had continued into the night in multiple districts of the province.
Residents were unprepared for the sudden rush of water set off by the heavy downpour in recent days, he added.
Emergency personnel were “searching for any possible victims under the mud and rubble, with the help of security forces from the national army and police”, Hamdard said.
Since mid-April, floods have killed about 100 people in 10 of Afghanistan’s provinces, with no region entirely spared, according to the authorities.
Farmlands have been submerged in a country where 80 percent of the more than 40 million people depend on agriculture to survive.
Mohammad Akram Akbari, the provincial director of natural disaster management in Badakhshan, said the mountainous province had seen “heavy financial losses in several areas … due to floods”.
He said casualties were feared in Tishkan district, where floodwaters had blocked a road and cut off access to an area where about 20,000 people lived.
Children survey their damaged homes after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan [Mehrab Ibrahimi/AP]
Officials say residents were unprepared for the heavy flash floods, adding that the death toll could rise.
At least 50 people have died in Afghanistan in flooding following heavy rain in the northern province of Baghlan, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said, adding that the death toll may rise.
Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee told the Reuters news agency that there had been flooding in more than five districts in Baghlan after heavy rains, and that some families were stuck and in need of urgent help.
He added that two heavy storms had been predicted for Friday night.
“The Ministry of Interior has sent teams and helicopters to the area, but due to a shortage of night vision lights in helicopters, the operation may not be successful,” he said.
The toll was confirmed by local official Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of the provincial natural disaster management department, who also told AFP that the death toll could rise.
Hamdard explained that heavy seasonal rains caused the flooding, and residents were unprepared for the sudden rush of water.
Emergency personnel were “searching for any possible victims under the mud and rubble, with the help of security forces from the national army and police,” he said.
Since mid-April, flash flooding and other floods have left about 100 people dead in 10 of Afghanistan’s provinces, with no region entirely spared, according to authorities.
Farmland has been swamped in a country where 80 percent of the more than 40 million people depend on agriculture to survive.
Afghanistan – which had a relatively dry winter, making it more difficult for the soil to absorb rainfall – is particularly vulnerable to climate change.
The nation, ravaged by four decades of war, is one of the poorest in the world and, according to scientists, one of the worst prepared to face the consequences of global warming.
Afghanistan, which is responsible for only 0.06 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, ranks sixth on the list of countries most at risk from climate change, experts have said.
Crews race to rescue survivors as floodwaters displace 160,000 people across southern state of Rio Grade do Sul.
The death toll from tremendous flooding in southern Brazil has reached 100, the local civil defence agency said, as emergency crews continued to search for dozens of missing people.
Nearly 400 municipalities have been affected after days of heavy rains swamped the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The floodwaters injured hundreds of people and forced 160,000 others from their homes as of Wednesday, while the state civil defence authority said 128 people were still missing.
Brazil’s national centre for natural disasters said the southern part of the state was under “high risk” of more floods throughout the day.
It said rainfall was expected to restart, and although it was not expected to be significant in volume terms, water levels are already high in many places and the soil is saturated.
Many residents have no access to drinking water or electricity – or even the means to call for help with telephone and internet services down in many places.
State Governor Eduardo Leite warned earlier this week that the human toll was likely to rise as “the emergency is continuing to develop” in the state capital of Porto Alegre and other areas.
Only two of the six water treatment plants in Porto Alegre – home to about 1.4 million people – were functioning, the mayor’s office said on Tuesday, and hospitals and shelters were being supplied by tankers.
“We understand the difficult financial situation faced by Rio Grande do Sul,” he said at an event in Brasilia, adding he wanted to make sure the state would get “everything it is entitled to”.
“We still don’t know the exact dimension of the floods, that will only be clear to us when the water levels return to normal,” Lula said.
About 15,000 soldiers, firefighters, police and volunteers were at work across the state to rescue those trapped and transport aid.
The Brazilian navy also was expected to send its NAM Atlantico vessel – Latin America’s largest – to Rio Grande do Sul on Wednesday with two mobile water treatment stations.
In Gasometro, a part of Porto Alegre popular with tourists, the water continued to rise on Wednesday, complicating rescue efforts.
“You can only cross on foot or by boat. There is no other way,” 30-year-old Luan Pas told the AFP news agency next to a street turned into a stagnant, smelly river.
Another Porto Alegre resident, Adriana Freitas, said she had “lost everything”.
“It’s sad when we see the city, our house, in the middle of the water,” Freitas told Reuters. “It seems like it’s over, that the world has ended.”
Rescuers are rushing to evacuate people stranded by floodwaters across the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where at least 90 people have been killed and more than 130 others are missing.
The state capital of Porto Alegre has been virtually cut off by the flooding, with the airport and bus station closed and main roads blocked.
Reporting from the city on Tuesday afternoon, Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor Lucia Newman said the situation had become “very desperate” as volunteers and rescue crews try to evacuate residents.
“Everywhere you look, people have no water, no electricity. Sewage has, in this part of town which is downtown, completely come up.”
The state’s Civil Defence agency said the death toll has risen to 90 with another four deaths being investigated. Another 131 people are still unaccounted for, and 155,000 are homeless.
Heavy rains that began last week have caused rivers to flood, inundating whole towns and destroying roads and bridges.
In Porto Alegre, a city of 1.3 million residents on the Guaiba River, residents faced empty supermarket shelves and closed gas stations, with shops rationing sales of mineral water.
Five of Porto Alegre’s six water treatment facilities are not working, and Mayor Sebastiao Melo on Monday decreed that water be used exclusively for “essential consumption”.
“I am getting water trucks to football fields, and people will have to go there to get their water in bottles. I cannot get them to go home to home.”
Almost half a million people were without power in Porto Alegre and outlying towns, as electricity companies cut off supplies for security reasons in flooded neighbourhoods.
The national electrical grid operator ONS said five hydroelectric dams and transmission lines were shut down due to the heavy rains.
Al Jazeera’s Newman reported that in nearby Eldorado do Sul, a city of 50,000 residents just across the river from Porto Alegre, the streets were “completely covered” with floodwaters on Tuesday.
“It was a desolate situation and desperate for the people who are being rescued, one by one,” said Newman. She explained that large vessels can’t get into the city, which has forced rescuers to use smaller boats.
“It could take days and weeks more before everyone is safe,” she explained.
Rescue workers drive a boat in a flooded street in Porto Alegre on May 7 [Diego Vara/Reuters]
The downpour has stopped for now, but a looming cold front is expected to bring more severe rain starting on Tuesday night, mainly in the southern part of the state, according to Brazil’s National Meteorological Institute.
The rainfall could exceed 150 millimetres (nearly six inches) by early Wednesday.
Back in Porto Alegre, resident Maria Vitoria Jorge told The Associated Press that she decided to leave behind her flooded apartment building downtown.
She withdrew about 8,000 reais ($1,600) from her savings to rent an apartment for herself and her parents elsewhere in the state.
“I can’t shower at home, wash the dishes or even have drinkable water,” the 35-year-old yoga teacher told the news agency from her car as she prepared to depart her old home.
She had about four litres (one gallon) of water for the 200km (125-mile) drive to the city of Torres, which has so far been unaffected by the floods.
Another resident, Adriano Hueck, on Tuesday was attempting to retrieve medicine stocked at a friend’s warehouse, which is partially flooded.
“If we can save some of it, there’s still a chance it can be useful in hospitals,” said the 53-year-old, who then pointed towards another part of the city. “My house is somewhere there. You can’t even see its roof now.”
Floodwaters surround the historic market in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on May 7 [Diego Vara/Reuters]
The death toll has climbed to 56 in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state, with tens of thousands displaced.
Overpowering floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains are continuing to sweep southern Brazil, killing at least 56 people and forcing tens of thousands out of their homes, the government said.
As well as raising the death toll on Saturday, the country’s civil defence agency said rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were straining dams and threatening the metropolis of Porto Alegre.
Triggered by storms that began on Monday, the flooding is only expected to get worse, local authorities said, as rescuers scoured the ruins of washed-out homes, bridges, and roads for missing people.
“Forget everything you’ve seen, it’s going to be much worse in the metropolitan region,” Governor Eduardo Leite said on Friday as the state’s streets were submerged.
‘Nothing could be saved’
The flooding, Brazil’s worst in 80 years, has so far affected at least 265 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, according to the southernmost state’s civil defence department.
It has injured at least 74 people, displaced more than 24,000, and left 350,000 with some form of property damage.
“Nothing could be saved,” said Claudio Almiro, who lost his home and possessions to the flooding.
“Many people have even lost their lives. I raise my hand to heaven and thank God that I’m alive.”
A flooded house in the Sarandi neighbourhood in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, on May 3, 2024 [Anselmo Cunha/AFP]
Residents in several cities and towns have been left completely cut off from the world, with no electricity or telephone access, while others have been forced to abandon their livestock.
“You don’t know if the water will continue to rise or what will happen to the animals, they may soon drown,” said Raul Metzel, from Capela de Santana, north of the state’s capital.
Five days in, as the rainfall shows no signs of letting up, four of the state’s dams are at risk of collapsing, creating the risk of a new “emergency situation”, according to civil defence officials.
Brazil’s federal government has sent aircraft, boats and more than 600 soldiers to help clear roads, distribute food, water and mattresses, and set up shelters, while local volunteers have also helped with search efforts.
Volunteer Anilto Alvares da Silva prepares to search for residents trapped inside their houses in the Quilombo neighbourhood in Sao Sebastiao do Cai, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, on May 2, 2024 [Anselmo Cunha/AFP]
‘Disastrous cocktail’
Climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino said the devastating storms were the result of a “disastrous cocktail” of global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon.
South America’s largest country has recently experienced a string of extreme weather events, including a cyclone in September that killed at least 31 people.
Aquino said the region’s particular geography meant it was often confronted by the effects of tropical and polar air masses colliding – but these events have “intensified due to climate change”.
And when they coincide with El Nino, a periodic warming of the waters in the tropical Pacific, the atmosphere becomes more unstable, he said.
The death toll from heavy rains in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state has climbed to 29, with at least 60 people missing, according to the state’s civil defence agency.
The authorities in Rio Grande do Sul have declared a state of emergency as rescuers continue to search for dozens of people reported missing among the ruins of collapsed homes, bridges and roads.
Rescuers and soldiers have been scrambling to free families trapped in their homes, many stranded on rooftops to escape rising waters.
Storm damage has affected nearly 150 municipalities in the state, also injuring 36 people and displacing more than 10,000.
Governor Eduardo Leite said Rio Grande do Sul was dealing with “the worst disaster in [its] history”, adding that the number of dead was expected to rise.
On Thursday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised “there will be no lack of human or material resources” to “minimize the suffering this extreme event … is causing in the state”.
Federal authorities have already made available 12 aircraft, 45 vehicles and 12 boats as well as 626 soldiers to help clear roads, distribute food, water and mattresses, and set up shelters.
Forecasts warned that the state’s main Guaiba river, which has already overflowed its banks in some areas, could rise to four metres (13 feet) on Friday.
Entire communities in Rio Grande do Sul have been completely cut off as the persistent rains have destroyed bridges and blocked roads, and left towns without telephone and internet services.
The authorities have told people to avoid areas along state highways due to the risk of mudslides, and urged those who live near rivers or on hillsides to evacuate.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been left without access to drinking water, while classes have been suspended statewide.
South America’s largest country has suffered a string of recent extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely by climate change. The floods came amid a cold front battering the south and southeast, following a wave of extreme heat.
Rescuers are searching for many people missing amid devastating flooding across Kenya.
The Ministry of Interior and National Administration said on Tuesday that a search operation had been launched following the bursting of a dam in Mai Mahiu in the centre of the country the previous day. Hundreds of people are reported to have died as heavy rains have lashed East Africa in recent weeks.
At least 46 people were reported killed on Monday morning after the bursting of the dam led to mudslides and flash floods in Mai Mahiu, the ministry said in a situation report. Survivors described an onslaught of water that carried away houses, cars and railway tracks.
“When I opened the door, the water gushed in and made its way through the kitchen,” said resident Anne Gachie. “My husband managed to quickly manoeuvre and get out. My daughters, who were in the next room, were swept out of the house.”
Fifty-three people in Mai Mahiu were reported missing, the Interior Ministry said. Meanwhile, the Kenya Red Cross said its tracing desk had reports of 76 people missing.
The eastern county of Garissa, where four people were killed when their boat capsized over the weekend and 23 others were rescued from the floodwaters, has reported 16 people missing.
At least 169 people have died across Kenya as heavy rains have buffeted Eastern Africa since mid-March, causing flooding and other catastrophes.
More than 185,000 Kenyans have been forced from their homes. Hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi.
Scientists say climate change is causing more intense and frequent extreme weather events.
At least 120 people were killed in Kenya late last year in floods caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon. Those rains followed the worst drought large parts of East Africa had experienced in decades.
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