Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical cyclone 11p (Winston), located approximately 302 nm south-southeast of Suva, Fiji, is tracking northeastward at 13 knots.

Tropical cyclone 13s (Uriah), located approximately 1090 nm east-southeast of Diego Garcia, is tracking west-southwestward at 08 knots.

NewsBytes:

Portugal - Flooding in northern Portugal has claimed life of a cyclist after being swept away by a river. River Vouga swept away the man whose body was recovered by firefighters from the northern town of Albergaria-a-Velha.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Arizona, USA

A raging fire broke out on Saturday in a wildlife refuge in northwestern Arizona near the California border, forcing the evacuation of about 150 homes.

Authorities ordered the mandatory evacuations from homes in the rural area after the wildfire sparked on Saturday afternoon grew to 2,000 acres in the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. As of late Saturday, an undermined number of structures had been burned.

Wildfires - Portugal

Nearly 1,000 firefighters as well as six helicopters and three planes were deployed in Portugal Sunday to battle forest fires raging in the north and centre of the country, authorities said.

The worst fire scorched Vila Nova de Cerveira in the northern Minho region and was continuing to spread due to "difficult to access terrain, wind, high temperatures and the ongoing drought," a fire service spokesman said, with 250 men battling the blaze.

Another major fire was raging at Miranda do Corvo, not far from the central city of Coimbra, with homes there also threatened.

Around 100 kilometres (62 miles) to the east at Covilha, two firemen were injured tackling another blaze which forced authorities to evacuate a camp site and a hostel before it was brought under control.

Nearly 80 percent of the country's territory is considered to be in a severe drought, a situation that is likely to get worse in August, according to the Portuguese meteorological agency IPMA.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Spain and Portugal

More than 1,350 residents were evacuated in Spain's northeastern region of Aragon as a wildfire spread through a pine forest amid a lingering heat wave, a local official said Sunday.

Five villages were evacuated as flames devoured hills that are 375 kilometers (230 miles) northeast of Madrid, said Javier Lamban, the president of Aragon. The evacuees, who included residents of a retirement home, were transferred to nearby towns.

About 500 firefighters and almost 100 pieces of equipment, including aircraft, were fighting the flames Sunday, which were being fanned by windy conditions and were creating a large plume of smoke.

The fire, which broke out Saturday afternoon, has already burned close to 8,000 hectares (19,770 acres) of forest in a remote area, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Environment spokesman Modesto Lobon.

Also, the fire department in the northeastern region of Catalonia said it was combating a wildfire that had broken out in Cardedeu, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Barcelona, and had destroyed two houses and several cars, although no one was injured.

Storms and Floods

Tornado hits Portugal's Algarve causing chaos, 8 injured. Firefighters said most of those injured had to be pulled out of overturned vehicles.

Wildfires

Wildfires fuelled by high temperatures rage in Portugal. Authorities have called for aid from European neighbours.