Large parts of Asia were hit by devastating flooding and landslides last week, leading to multiple deaths, as torrential rain battered Vietnam, southern China and South Korea.
According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological forecasting in Vietnam, the Phuc Than weather station recorded 206mm of rain in 24 hours, from last Thursday into Friday, which caused homes to be swept away, power cuts and destroyed 238 hectares (588 acres) of farmland. Flash flooding swept through the village of Muong Than in southern Vietnam early on Friday morning, causing the deaths of at least four people and leaving four others missing. South Korea also had rainfall totals reaching almost 200mm with a station in Paju, just to the north of Seoul, recording 192.5mm, causing homes and roads to become flooded.
Meanwhile, many countries in Europe continue to suffer under a prolonged heatwave as a southerly flow brings hot air from Africa. A red weather warning was issued for southern Italy on Saturday, which remains in place. Temperatures are expected to exceed 40C in Palermo, a city in Sicily, on Monday and Tuesday, which is more than 10C above the average. This plume of heat is then expected to migrate westwards through this week into Spain, causing temperatures to soar above 40C across large parts of Spain, potentially even exceeding 45C.
Over in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Tropical Storm Elida developed last week, with peak recorded wind speeds of 70mph, just short of the 74mph required to reach a category 1 hurricane. Storm Elida will move northwards through this week and weaken without passing over any land. Another tropical storm developed in the eastern Pacific on Sunday and was named Fausto; it’s expected to move westwards and develop into a category 2 hurricane later this week.
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Meanwhile, the western Atlantic has had a quiet tropical hurricane season with no hurricanes and only one tropical storm named Storm Arthur. However, at the time of writing, there is a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico which is expected to develop into a tropical storm and move along the south coast of Louisiana and Texas. Once this system develops into a tropical storm, it should be named Bertha. It is not expected to develop strong enough winds to develop into a hurricane, but it still poses a flooding risk to the south-east of the US.
