Wildfires continue to rage across parts of Western Canada, with evacuation orders issued for many communities, and telephone and internet services in parts of the territories and northern B.C. being disrupted.
Other parts of the world, too, suffered extreme weather events this month, such as heavy rains and storms bringing floods and landslides.
India
A large billboard that collapsed amid raging thunderstorms in Mumbai killed at least 14 people and injured 75 others, reports said on Tuesday.
“Medical treatment is currently being provided to 44 injured individuals, with 31 already discharged after receiving treatment. Unfortunately, 14 people succumbed to death in this mishap,” the city’s municipal corporation said in a statement on social media.
The rains, accompanied by high winds, caused the 30-meter-tall (100-foot-tall) billboard to fall onto a gas station in the suburb of Ghatkopar. Videos on social media and television showed the billboard shaking amid heavy winds before giving way.
It collapsed onto several cars parked in the gas station, flattening and crushing them to the ground.
On Monday night, rescuers were rummaging through the wreckage to look for victims as they used heavy equipment to cut through the metal girders attached to the billboard.
Rescue workers continued to clear the area on Tuesday, which still had mangled cars and debris.
Indonesia
Rescuers on Tuesday searched in rivers and the rubble of devastated villages after flash floods hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island over the weekend.
Monsoon rains and a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi caused rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight Saturday.
The floods swept away people and 79 homes and submerged hundreds of houses and buildings, forcing more than 3,300 residents to flee to temporary government shelters, National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.
The National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement that 52 bodies had been pulled from mud and rivers by Tuesday, mostly in the worst-hit Agam and Tanah Datar districts, while rescuers are searching for 20 people who are reportedly missing.
Afghanistan
Survivors of the devastating floods that struck northern Afghanistan last week are still searching for their missing loved ones and burying their dead. Farmer Abdul Ghani recounted on Monday how he had rushed home from neighboring Kunduz province where he was visiting relatives when he heard about the floods.
When he got home, he found out that his wife and three of his children had perished in the deluge. Two sons survived and another son is still missing.
The UN food agency estimates that the unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan left more than 300 people dead and thousands of houses destroyed, most of them in northern Baghlan, which bore the brunt of floodings on Friday.
Brazil
The death toll from floods in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul rose to 147, local authorities said on Monday, while 127 people are still missing.
Heavy rains have caused several rivers and lakes in the region to hit their highest levels ever, while floods blocked streets and disrupted logistics, triggering a shortage of essential goods in certain areas.
–with files from Associated Press and Reuters