Recent Natural Disasters | Calamities | Hazards

Hailstorm damaged hundreds of homes in Hluti and Lavumisa areas of Swaziland on Saturday. Hailstorm also damaged roofs at Ngozi Primary School.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated as Typhoon Melor (known locally as Nona) made landfall around 11 a.m. over Batag, Northern Samar.  According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Typhoon Melor is expected to cause flooding, landslides and storm surges of up to four metres.

Magnitude 4.1 light aftershock rattled Dhading at 08:45 a.m. Sunday morning, Nepal Seismological Center confirmed. The epicenter was located near Kingtang. Weak tremor of MMI III was felt in surrounding Bungtang, Kintang, Marpak, Salme and Kaule.

Torrential rains and flooding have claimed lives of atleast 31 people and left 20,000 families homeless in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most of the deaths occurred along the banks of the giant Congo river, Kinshasa's Interior Minister Emmanuel Akweti told AFP .

A fallen tree splits a house in Southeast Portland (Portland Fire & Rescue/USA Today). Governor Jay Inslee has declared weather emergency in Washington after heavy rain  triggered flooding and landslides across the western part of the state.  Flood waters have closed several sections of Oregon highways in Clatsop, Tillamook, Marion, Yamhill and Lincoln counties.

The traffic in smog in Shijingshan District of Beijing, captial of China (Xinhua/Li Xin) Beijing's city government issued its first red alert for smog on Tuesday warning severe air pollution would affect the Chinese capital for several days. According to Xinhua News Agency , Beijing upgraded its alert for air pollution from orange to red, which will last from 7:00 a.m. Tuesday to 12:00 p.m. Thursday. According to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the air quality index stood at 250 Tuesday morning, classed as "very unhealthy" and 10 times higher than the World Health Organization's recommended levels, CNN reported. According to the city's emergency management headquarters, during a red alert, kindergartens, primary and high schools are advised to suspend classes, outdoor operations of construction sites are banned and some industrial plants are required to limit or stop production. According to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center