Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms

Tropical storm Cosme was located about 335 mi (535 km) SW of Manzanillo, Mexico. Cosme is expected to become a hurricane on Tuesday. Heading away from land, swells generated by Cosme are affecting portions of the Pacific coast of Mexico from near Manzanillo through Cabo Corrientes. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Tropical Storm Bebinca made landfall in the coastal regions in south China, bringing heavy rainfall that will likely last through Tuesday, forecasters said. Tropical storm Bebinca will continue to bring gales and downpours and was the first tropical storm to make landfall in China this year. Bebinca made landfall in the city of Qionghai in South China's Hainan province. Bebinca disrupted 147 flights and left more than 8,000 passengers stranded in the airport.

Central African Republic Gold Mine Collapse

Heavy rainfall triggered Central African Republic gold mine collapse. The disaster area is located in Ndassima, about 440km east of Bangui.

Three days of national mourning have been declared after 37 people died in the gold mine collapse. 10 miners have been rescued and a still unknown number of bodies remain trapped.

Severe Storms in Minnesota, USA

A series of destructive storms have lashed Minnesota leaving homeowners and businesses powerless as the outage extended into a third day of candlelight and dripping freezers on Sunday.

Streets blocked by downed trees were so common in some Minneapolis neighborhoods that emergency vehicles and buses were forced to hunt for routes through the wreckage left by the storms that began Friday morning and continued through the weekend.

Damage was widespread with more than 505,000 homes without power in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud and across the state. By Saturday evening, over 112,000 were still without power as storm clouds continued to brew across the state. It may be Wednesday before all customers have power again.

Canadian Floods - Update

The massive floods that devastated Calgary, Canada late last week have raced downstream, and are now bringing the highest flood waters ever recorded to Medicine Hat, Alberta's 5th largest city (population 67,000.) The flood peaked early Monday morning in Medicine Hat, which had evacuated 10,000 residents in anticipation of the flood. The homes of nearly all of the residents evacuated have received flood damage.

The meteorological set-up for the flood began when the jet stream got "blocked" into a high-amplitude pattern that brought record heat to Alaska, but forced heavy rainfall to fall across the Bow River Basin on Wednesday night, with up to 190 mm (7.51”) falling in some areas over just a 24-hour period. Widespread heavy rains of 50.8 mm (2”) blanketed the entire river basin, sending the Bow River to near-record flood levels. At the peak of the flooding, the Bow and Elbow rivers were flowing through Calgary at three times their peak levels from the 2005 flood.

Calgary, Canada's 5th largest city (population 1.2 million), was forced to evacuate 100,000 people, and the downtown area was submerged by the flood waters. Three people died. Over the weekend, 65,000 people were allowed to return to their homes, but the city remains under a state of emergency.

Other News:

Heavy rainfall has caused flash flooding in Odisha's Kalahandi district, India, affecting nearly 15,000 people.

Heavy flooding has been reported in the Pilbara region, Australia.

The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia is warning of extreme weather, dangerous surf conditions and a king tide is expected for the New South Wales coast. Winds of up to 100 km/h and heavy rain is expected to hit Sydney, as well as the mid-north coast, Hunter region, central tablelands, southern tablelands and Snowy Mountains.