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Heavy rain caused flooding in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, swamping the tents of thousands of homeless Palestinians facing the prospect of harsh winter storms without sturdy shelter.The large majority of Gaza's 2mn people were forced from their homes during Israel's two-year ground and air war in the small, crowded enclave triggered by Hamas' October 2023 storming of Israel, with many now living in tents and other basic shelters.**media[385952]**A ceasefire has broadly held since mid-October but the war demolished much of heavily built-up Gaza, including basic infrastructure, leaving grim living conditions for most people.**media[385953]**"This suffering, this rain — and the low-pressure weather systems haven’t even started yet. It’s only the beginning of winter, and we’re already flooded and humiliated," Um Ahmed Aowdah said outside her tent as rain pelted down Tuesday. "We haven’t received new tents or tarps. Our tarp is two years old and our tent is two years old — they’re completely worn out."**media[385951]**Amjad al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, said there was an urgent need for at least 300,000 new tents to house the roughly1.5mn people still displaced from their homes.The Palestinian Civil Defence Service said thousands of tents housing displaced families had been inundated by rainwater or damaged by torrential rainstorms over the past week.**media[385954]**Some tents completely washed away as floodwaters rose 40 to 50 centimetres above ground level in some areas of the coastal enclave, while a field hospital had to suspend operations due to flooding, medics and witnesses said.The UN said on Monday that while it was working to bring winter supplies into Gaza, the number of trucks able to enter the enclave was limited by Israeli curbs on aid groups.Hamas-led Gaza authorities say Israel is not letting in as much aid as was promised under the ceasefire deal. Aid agencies say Israel is preventing many essential items from entering.

Heavy rain, severe flooding and landslides in Vietnam have killed at least 90 people in the last week, authorities said Sunday, leaving others stranded on rooftops and mountain roadways blocked. Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding, with economic losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.Whole sections of coastal Nha Trang city were inundated last week, while deadly landslides struck highland passes around the Da Lat tourist hub. In the hard-hit mountainous province of Dak Lak, 61-year-old farmer Mach Van Si said the floodwaters left him and his wife stranded on their sheet-metal rooftop for two nights."Our neighborhood was completely destroyed. Nothing was left. Everything was covered in mud," he told AFP on Sunday. By the time they climbed a ladder to their roof, Si said he was no longer scared. "I just thought we were going to die because there was no way out," he said. More than 60 deaths, of the 90 recorded since November 16, were in Dak Lak, where tens of thousands of homes were inundated, the environment ministry said in a statement.At the Tuy Hoa market in the province, the floodwaters have receded but Vo Huu Du, 40, said some of the hats, bags and shoes she sells were still soaked or lying in mud. "My goods look like one big soggy mess," she told AFP. "I don't even know where to start." She and other vendors once considered five centimetres (two inches) off the ground a safe level to raise their merchandise to avoid flood damage -- but no more."All these years, the highest water level back in 1993 only reached our ankles," said Du. "But now the water has come in over one metre (three feet) high." "All the vendors are devastated, not just me," she added. Ceramics seller Nguyen Van Thoai, 60, gestured to piles of damaged goods to be cleared from paths between vendor stalls, calling it "a real loss"."I don't even know where to put all this market stock," he said. "We might need to clean it for a month and still won't be done." More than 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of rice and other crops across Dak Lak and four other provinces were damaged in the last week, with over 3.2 million livestock or poultry killed or washed away by floodwaters.Authorities have used helicopters to airdrop aid to communities cut off by flooding and landslides, with the government deploying tens of thousands of personnel to deliver clothing, water-purification tablets, instant noodles and other supplies to affected areas, state outlet Tuoi Tre News said.Several locations on national highways remained blocked on Sunday due to flooding or landslides, according to the environment ministry, and some railway sections were still suspended. The ministry estimated economic losses of $343mn across five provinces due to the floods.Natural disasters have left 279 people dead or missing in Vietnam and caused more than $2bn in damage between January and October, according to the national statistics office. The Southeast Asian nation is prone to heavy rain between June and September, but scientists have identified a pattern of human-driven climate change making extreme weather more frequent and destructive.

Late-season flooding hits villages in Egypt's Nile DeltaEgypt blames Ethiopia's 'reckless unilateral' management of its grand damEthiopia rejects charge, says regulated water releases reduced impactIOM says about 1,200 Sudanese families displacedRising Nile waters inundated homes and fields in northern Egypt over the weekend, forcing residents to move by boat and intensifying a war of words between Cairo and Addis Ababa over whether Ethiopia's giant Nile dam has worsened seasonal floods.In the Nile Delta village of Dalhamo, in Menoufia Governorate, some 50 km northwest of Cairo, men paddled wooden boats through narrow lanes where water lapped at the walls of their homes."We lost everything," said fisherman Saied Gameel, standing knee-deep in his flooded house. "The water level is extremely high, much higher this year ... before it would rise for two days and then recede."The Nile has long been affected by seasonal flooding due to monsoon rainfall in the Ethiopian Highlands that usually peaks in July and August. But this year a late-season surge has pushed north from Ethiopia, through Sudan, and into Egypt.In Sudan, the UN migration agency said floods in Bahri, Khartoum state, displaced about 1,200 families last week and destroyed homes, compounding an 18-month war that has crippled the country's response.Egypt's Water Resources and Irrigation Ministry has accused Ethiopia of "reckless unilateral" operation of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, saying sharp, unannounced swings in water releases after the dam's September 9 inauguration helped trigger a "man-made, late flood".It said, in a statement on October 3, that discharges jumped to about 485 million cubic metres on September 10 and as high as 780 million on September 27 before easing, straining Sudan's Roseires Dam and pushing excess water through to Egypt.Ethiopia, which sees the $5 billion dam as central to its development, rejected Cairo's claims, describing Egypt's statement as "malicious and riddled with numerous baseless claims".In a statement on October 4, its Water and Energy Ministry said regulated releases from the Blue Nile project had reduced flood impacts and that without it heavy rain "would have caused historic destruction in Sudan and Egypt".Ethiopia inaugurated the dam on September 9, with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed saying it was built "to prosper, to electrify the entire region, and to change the history of black people", insisting it was "not to harm its brothers".The dam is designed to generate 5,150 megawatts of power and hold up to 74 billion cubic metres of water in its lake.Cairo bitterly opposed the dam from the start, arguing that it violated water treaties dating back to the early part of the last century and poses an existential threat.Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a press conference on October 2 that authorities had anticipated higher-than-normal flows this month and warned that low-lying tracts in Menoufia and neighbouring Beheira, long encroached by informal building and farming on the river's floodplain, were at risk.Health teams were deployed to flooded areas over the weekend.Back in Dalhamo, Gameel said residents were still waiting for help."People were warned before the water rose, but there's nowhere else for anyone," he said. "When the water rises, everyone ends up staying on top of their houses."

Chinese authorities have evacuated about 150,000 people from southern Guangdong Province as Typhoon Matmo intensifies before making landfall. China's National Meteorological Center reported that the typhoon had maximum wind speeds of 151 km per hour (94 mph) on Sunday, and that it is expected to make landfall around midday, bringing heavy rain and strong winds that could lead to local flooding and property damage. The meteorological center issued a red typhoon warning, the highest level in its system. Hainan Province, also in the storm's path, has canceled flights and suspended public transportation and businesses starting yesterday in preparation for the storm. Authorities also warned of heavy rainfall, with rainfall expected to reach between 100 and 249 mm in some areas. China experiences a number of tropical cyclones annually during the monsoon season, especially in the southern and coastal regions overlooking the South China Sea.

Flooding across northern India killed at least five people Wednesday, officials said, with more thunderstorms expected and local media reporting that 10,000 people have been evacuated from the river banks in capital Delhi.The monsoon season in India has been particularly intense this year, killing at least 130 people in August alone in north India, wiping out villages and destroying infrastructure.The latest round of flooding has hit northern Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab, where the Chenab and Tawi rivers have risen above the danger mark at several spots.The swollen rivers have triggered landslides and damaged many roads, disconnecting parts of the mountainous regions of Jammu and Himachal from the rest of India. At least five people were killed Wednesday after landslides battered Rajouri and Mandi districts in Jammu and Himachal Pradesh respectively, officials said.The India Meteorological Department warned of heavy to very heavy rain in the region with more downpours expected in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.The Central Water Commission said the swollen Yamuna had breached its danger mark on Tuesday in Delhi.Local media reported that nearly 10,000 people had been evacuated to relief camps set up by the government along the main highways as a precautionary measure for those living in low-lying areas. Residents living along the Yamuna in Delhi were evacuated in 2023 as well after floodwaters entered their homes and the river hit its highest level in 45 years.Many tourist spots in Himachal Pradesh have been hit by landslides in recent weeks, as raging rivers damaged infrastructure.Educational institutions were ordered shut, authorities said, asking people to remain indoors due to flood warnings.In neighbouring Punjab, the government said 30 people have been killed and nearly 20,000 evacuated since August 1.Water gushing through the plains in India's breadbasket Punjab state has destroyed 150,000 hectares of crops, the government said on Tuesday. Continuous rain prompted authorities to release water from dams, which has caused flooding in plains in India and Pakistan in recent days.

Pakistani authorities have evacuated more than 1mn people from homes in Punjab province this week, officials said Thursday, as the worst flooding there in four decades caused havoc in hundreds of villages and submerged vital grains crops.Torrential monsoon rain and neighbouring India's release of excess water from its dams swelled three rivers that flow into the eastern province, forcing authorities to breach river banks in some places – causing flooding in more than 1,400 villages, Punjab's disaster management authority said.Residents of villages such as Qadirabad were walking through water up to their chests Thursday after the River Chenab overflowed, causing sudden flooding."We spent the whole night awake and frightened," Nadeem Iqbal, 26, a labourer, told Reuters as he waded through the water with one of his children. "Everyone was frightened. Kids cried. Women were worried. We were helpless."Officials say that flooding has been worsened in Punjab – home to half of Pakistan's people and a major producer of wheat, rice and cotton – by the release of water into the three rivers, the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab, from Indian dams that were full.India, which routinely releases water from dams when they get too full, passed on three flood warnings to its arch rival Pakistan this week, calling them a humanitarian measure.Both countries are battling a heavy monsoon season that has unleashed flash floods.At least 60 people have died this month in hard-hit Indian Kashmir, while Pakistan's death toll since late June stands at 819.At least 12 people have died this week in Punjab province, said Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in the provincial government.The waters of the Chenab threatened early Thursday to burst through a 3,300’ (1,000m) concrete barrage at Qadirabad that regulates flows, siphoning some of the water into a canal irrigation network.A collapse of the barrage would have inundated two nearby towns.To avert the danger, authorities deliberately blew up part of the riverbank at two places to release water onto nearby land before it reached the barrage, the provincial disaster management authority said.By afternoon, the level was down to 754,966 cusec, having reached nearly 1mn cusec overnight – well over its capacity of 800,000 cusec.A cusec is a flow of volume equivalent to one cubic foot, or 28 cubic litres, every second."We have evaded the threat," a spokesperson for the authority said.Officials said shifting weather patterns were to blame for the floods in Pakistan, which has repeatedly been battered by flooding in recent years.In 2022, unprecedented flash floods caused by historic monsoon rains washed away roads, crops, infrastructure and bridges, killing at least 1,000 people.The head of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Inam Haider Malik, said that for the first time, weather systems coming from the east, south and west had converged over Pakistan this monsoon season.Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said climate change "is the new normal"."But it isn't unmanageable," he added.On the other side of the India-Pakistan border, Himalayan river levels began to recede after days of downpours and forecasters said they expected the rain to start easing.