Heat storm bakes Europe, floods drown parts of US, India, South Korea

By India Today Environment Desk: Climate change, as predicted, has made extreme weather events much more common, intense, and frequent across the world.

While India is suffering from flash floods due to incessant rains, Europe is facing a record-shattering heat storm, and a similar situation is peaking in the western United States.

We track the extreme weather development happening globally.

FLOODS RAVAGE SOUTH KOREA

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday blamed authorities' failure to follow disaster response rules as the death toll from days of torrential rain rose to 40, including a dozen people found dead in a submerged underpass.

Reuters reported that twelve deaths occurred in a tunnel in Cheongju, 110km south of Seoul, where 16 vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood on Saturday after a river levee collapsed. Floods have claimed dozens of lives during recent rainy seasons as weather patterns have become more extreme.

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FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE LA PALMA WILDFIRE

The situation is completely different on the Spanish island of La Palma, where firefighters were trying to contain a wildfire that burned out of control and forced the evacuation of at least 4,000 people.

Ten aerial units and 300 firefighters on the ground sought to bring the wildfire under control on the island, which forms part of the Canaries archipelago off the coast of western Africa and which has suffered extreme temperatures similar to those seen in a heatwave afflicting southern Europe.

FLASH FLOODS HIT US NORTHEAST

Downpours and flash flooding over the weekend killed at least five people in Philadelphia, which received nearly 7 inches of rain in just 45 minutes late Saturday. New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Sunday urged residents in her state to avoid travel until the rain passes, saying that "your car can go from a place of safety to a place of death" if swept up in a flash flood.

The rains were expected to ease on Monday but nonetheless created havoc throughout much of the Northeast in recent days, with Vermont, in particular, reporting catastrophic flooding in its capital Montpelier.

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HEAT STORM BAKES SOUTHERN EUROPE

Italy issued hot weather red alerts for 16 cities on Sunday, with meteorologists warning that temperatures will hit record highs across southern Europe in the coming days. Spain, Italy, and Greece have been experiencing scorching temperatures for several days already, damaging agriculture and leaving tourists scurrying for shade. But a new anticyclone dubbed Charon, who in Greek mythology was the ferryman of the dead, pushed into the region from North Africa on Sunday and could lift temperatures above 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in parts of Italy early this week.

ASSAM SUBMERGED IN DEADLY FLOODS

The flood situation in Assam remained grim as around 1 lakh people were affected by the deluge in 10 districts. Over 98,800 people were affected due to the floods in Sonitpur, Chirang, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Sivasagar, and Udalguri districts. Golaghat was the worst hit with nearly 29,000 people affected.

The Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger mark in Dhubri, Tezpur, and Neamatighat, while its tributary Dikhou was in spate in Sivasagar.

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