San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Plane crash adds to woes for Turkey
A firefighting plane from Russia crashed Saturday in a mountainous area in southern Turkey, killing the eight crew members and emergency workers aboard, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
The Russian ministry said five Russian and three Turkish citizens were on the amphibious Beriev BE-200, which crashed while trying to land in Turkey’s Adana province.
Turkey has fought about 300 wildfires in the last 16 days that have killed eight other people, consumed forests and homes and sent thousands fleeing.
The crash came as Turkey is also recovering from flash flooding last week that turned streets into raging torrents near the Black Sea coast.
The death toll from the floods and mudslides climbed to at least 57, the country’s emergency and disaster agency said Saturday.
About 2,250 people were evacuated across the region amid the floods, scores of them lifted from rooftops by helicopters. Many are being temporarily housed in student dormitories.
Siberia blazes alarm Putin
President Vladimir Putin urged authorities Saturday to strengthen their efforts to fight wildfires across northeastern Siberia, calling the situation “unprecedented.”
Speaking in a video call with top officials, Putin noted that 13 forest fires in the Sakha-Yakutia region are raging within 3 miles of populated areas.
Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev said his agency has deployed 5,000 personnel to battle the wildfires.
In all, 108 active forest fires were burning across nearly 3.2 million acres in Yakutia. Authorities have expanded a state of emergency in Yakutia to help transfer in firefighting resources from other regions.
Floods follow drenching rain
Torrential rain triggered floods Saturday in wide areas of southwestern Japan, damaging homes and disrupting transportation a day after a landslide killed one person and left two others missing.
In the southern city of Kurume, rivers overflowed and residents were forced to evacuate from their homes.
Forecasters say more rain is expected in the coming days as a front is stuck above the Japanese archipelago. Local authorities have issued the highest-level disaster alert for parts of Kyushu and Hiroshima, affecting about 1.4 million people. Dozens of homes around the country have been damaged by floods and mudslides, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
Heat wave soars to record
Spain set a new provisional heat record of 116.96 degrees on Saturday as southern Europe sweltered under a relentless summer sun. Italy put 16 cities on red alert for health risks and Portugal warned 75% of its regions that they faced a “significantly increased risk” of wildfires.
Data from Spain’s State Meteorological Agency said the potential record was recorded at Montoro, Cordoba. If confirmed, it would exceed the country’s previous record of 116.42 set nearby in 2017. The high comes only days after Sicily reported a temperature of 119.84 on Wednesday, which is also awaiting verification and would be the highest ever recorded in Europe. Europe’s current heat record came in 1977 when Athens hit 118.4.
The heat wave has aggravated wildfires that have consumed forests in Italy, Greece and Turkey.
Tropical storm poses threat
Tropical Storm Grace formed in the eastern Caribbean on Saturday, generating tropical storm warnings for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other parts of the Caribbean, the National Hurricane Center said.
The center said Grace was “moving quickly” and “gaining strength.” Other islands with tropical storm warnings include the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda, the center said.
The storm was expected to move late Saturday over the Leeward Islands before getting to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Sunday. It is forecast to reach or pass near earthquake-battered Haiti on Monday.
Grace is the seventh named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
Dozens injured in bus crash
A tour bus bound for Niagara Falls ran off the New York State Thruway and rolled over in central New York, sending more than 50 people to hospitals, state police and hospital officials said.
The bus landed on its side in the grass around 12:40 p.m. along the highway’s westbound side near Weedsport, a village about 25 miles west of Syracuse.
State police said 57 people were aboard, and all were taken to hospitals for injuries ranging from minor to serious, state police said.
It’s unclear why the bus veered off the road, troopers said in a news release. Police photos showed papers and other items strewn around the white bus as it rested on the road shoulder. The bus was headed to Niagara Falls from Poughkeepsie, in the Hudson Valley. Juan Gil-Urrego told WSYRTV that his mother arranged the trip, one of many she has planned to various destinations as affordable excursions for residents.