Global environmental disasters in June 2022

ANKARA 

In June 2022, the world witnessed a number of unexpected environmental developments and disasters, including heavy rains and floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pakistan and China, deadly landslides in Bangladesh and India, and wildfires in Afghanistan and Türkiye as well as extreme heat in the US and Spain and dust storms in Iraq.

Below is a timeline compiled by Anadolu Agency:

June 1:

- At least 11 people are believed dead and 33 missing in the southern state of Oaxaca after Hurricane Agatha slams into Mexico.

- A wildfire in a forest in eastern Afghanistan continued to rage for a fourth day as officials said strong winds were hindering firefighting operations.

- At least 106 people have been killed due to landslides and floods caused by heavy rains in northeastern Brazil.

June 3:

- At least 126 people have died from landslides and floods caused by heavy rains in northeastern Brazil since May 25.

June 4:

- A massive fire rages through a high-altitude forest in northwest Pakistan, killing at least four people.

June 10:

- Spain’s first official heatwave this year is coming down hard, meteorologists warned Friday.

June 13:

- Iraq temporarily suspends flights from Baghdad airport due to a new dust storm.

- More than 120 schools in the Spanish region of Extremadura are allowing students to go home due to extremely hot temperatures.

June 14:

- Extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change erupt across the US this week, bringing excessive heat, flooding and fires to various parts of the country.

- At least 30 families in Bosnia and Herzegovina are left homeless due to flooding.

June 15:

- A total of 80 people have died and 10 have gone missing in heavy rains and landslides in Colombia since the beginning of March.

June 16:

- High temperatures and humidity kill at least 2,000 cattle in the US state of Kansas.

- Spanish firefighters are scrambling to control more than a dozen forest fires as a heatwave continues to grip most of the country.

June 17:

- Today marks day seven of Spain’s abnormally intense pre-summer heatwave, and the unrelenting heat is only getting worse in large swathes of the country, where more than 33 million people -- around 70% of the population -- have recently coped with extreme heat.

- At least five people are killed and several others wounded when a house roof collapses due to heavy rain in northeastern Pakistan.

June 18:

- At least four people are killed and several others injured in separate landslides at a hilly site in Bangladesh's southern port city of Chattigram.

June 19:

- Pre-monsoon rains kill at least seven people, flooding large parts of Pakistan, where flash floods wash away several bridges and roads and submerge farmlands.

- A wildfire in the Spanish province of Zamora chars at least 25,000 hectares (61,776 acres), making it one of the country's largest forest fires in several decades.

- Floods in Bangladesh are exacerbated by heavy rains and an onrush of water from hills upstream in India, affecting millions of people.

June 20:

- Floods and landslides in India's northeastern state of Assam kill nine more people in the last 24 hours.

June 21:

- The eighth and last body of a group of miners who were reported missing following heavy rains in April has been found, bringing to an end more than two months of searching in a zinc mine.

June 22:

- Floods that sweep across most of Bangladesh’s low-lying areas due to heavy rains kill at least 42 people and spread waterborne diseases in the affected regions, with calls mounting for food and potable water.

- Firefighters and other personnel intervene by land and air to control a wildfire that breaks out overnight in a forest in southern Türkiye.

June 23:

- Greece was hit with its first heatwave for the season this week, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the National Observatory of Athens.

- Monsoon floods and an onrush of upstream water from India have claimed at least 68 lives in Bangladesh amid a rising number of waterborne diseases along with food and potable water crises.

June 24:

- The death toll from floods in India's northeastern state of Assam rises by 10 in the last 24 hours.

June 27:

- Normal life for thousands of people in China’s 12 regions is badly affected by torrential rains in the country.

June 28:

- At least 19 people die after a residential building in India’s financial capital Mumbai collapses due to heavy rains.

June 30:

- Eight people are killed and more than 50 others missing after a massive landslide hits the northeastern Indian state of Manipur.

- Devastating monsoon floods in the northeastern Sylhet region of Bangladesh displace around 3 million people and claim the lives of 92 people, with the situation still precarious.