Storms and Floods

Tropical Cyclone Haruna

TC Haruna has now killed 10 people in Madagascar.

The cyclone destroyed around 70 percent of the southwestern city of Morombe.

This tropical disturbance is forecast to bring more rain in southern Madagascar in the coming two days.

Unusual Landslide in Spain

Heavy rains in recent weeks have caused a major landslide in Subiza, Spain that has devastated rural roads, farms and caused serious damage to two electrical towers that are at serious risk of falling.

The landslide is located on the southeast slope of Mount of Forgiveness, towards Bells, and therefore did not affect any house in the small town of Basin, of about 190 inhabitants. The dimensions of the land mass, which dragged stones and vegetation as a result of heavy rainfall, are calculated at 800 meters long and 700 wide.

Winter Storm hits Europe

Central Europe has been swept by a powerful cyclone.

Snow caused chaos on roads in Austria, with the situation particularly grave in the east. Heavy trucks cannot cope with the icy slopes; traffic jams stretch for many kilometers. Every hour new accidents are recorded at police stations. Local officials urge drivers to put chains on the wheels.

Cold weather and snow have also descended upon Croatia: frosts have hit resorts on the Adriatic coast, the seafronts and yachts are covered with snow and ice. Local services are toiling around the clock clearing streets. According to weather forecasts, the cyclone has no intention of letting up on the Balkans.

EF-1 tornado with estimated winds of 104 mph tore a damage path 4.5 miles long across parts of Sabine County, Texas, USA just after 1 p.m Friday.

Storms and Floods

Typhoon Bopha weakens to tropical storm and brings heavy downpours to the northern Philippines, but there were no reports of floods. In the south, the death toll has risen above 600 with more than 800 still missing. The UN is to make an international appeal for aid for the more the 5 million flood victims.

Heavy Snowfall in Europe

-Heavy Snowfall in South-Eastern and Central Europe has killed nine people. Four people are reported to be killed in Serbia, three in Czech Republic and two in Croatia.

-Snow has been falling for more than 30 hours in most parts of Serbia. Worst situation is in Vojvodina and there is more than 20 centimeters of snow in Belgrade.

-Bulgaria's National Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology has announced code orange for parts of the country.

-All Bulgaria-Serbia crossing points for freight vehicles are closed due to bad weather conditions.

-Snowstorms have also caused travel chaos across the Balkans.

-Blizzards and cold wave hit Slovenia and Bosnia.

Floods that hit North Barito district in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia since Dec 3 have inundated 8,872 homes in between two and four metres of water.

Storms and Floods

Thousands of people have been evacuated in the Philippines ahead of the powerful typhoon Bopha expected to hit the island nation on 4 December.

A powerful cyclone caused disruption in air traffic between Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East and the rest of the country. The air traffic was expected to be interrupted until Monday. This is the seventh cyclone that hit the peninsula in the last four weeks. Heavy snowfall also caused disruption in road traffic and short-time breaks in electricity supply. The risk of avalanches in mountainous regions has been raised also.

Cyclone from the Balkans moves to Ukraine, weather to worsen.

Disease

At least five people in the Balkans have died from West Nile virus and several dozen others have been taken to hospital in the past four weeks, according to health authorities in Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Croatia.

Wildfires

Firefighters rushed to protect more than 600 at-risk homes Thursday as a pair of massive wildfires threatened to merge southwest of Wenatchee., Washington, USA. The Table Mountain Complex and Wenatchee Complex fires have burned across some 70,000 acres.

Several relatively small wildfires continue to cause problems in the Dakotas, USA.

While a number of wildfires have been mostly contained by teams of firefighters, the military and volunteers, fires continue to blaze across Serbia and the Western Balkans, in what has been an exceptionally dry year punctuated by extreme heat waves.

Bushfires have destroyed 33 500 hectares of Namibia's vegetation countrywide, since the start of the southern winter.

Drought

Crops wilt and die in a harsh drought in the Balkans.

Drought cuts the Russian grain crop forecasts after bad harvests from eastern regions.