A quick look at extreme weather events around the world

Extreme weather events, including heat waves, wildfires, flooding and tornadoes, continue to wreak havoc across the world. Here is a quick look at some major events. 

Southern Germany flooding

A firefighter died over the weekend while trying to rescue trapped residents and several thousand people were forced to leave their homes as heavy rain caused flooding in southern Germany.

States of emergency have been declared in several districts in two states: Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg and the German Weather Service (DWD) issued severe weather warnings in more than 10 districts, with forecasts for more heavy rain on Sunday and Monday.

The German rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, said on Sunday that the rail link between Stuttgart and Augsburg was closed due to the severe weather.

Media reports show two carriages of a high-speed train traveling on the line derailed after a landslide on Saturday.

Sri Lanka monsoon storms

Flash floods, mudslides and falling trees have killed at least 14 people in Sri Lanka as the island nation is battered by monsoon storms, the country's disaster management center said Sunday.

Some people drowned, including three members of the same family, near the capital Colombo on Sunday.

Others were buried alive in mudslides, including an 11-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.

Nine other people were crushed and killed when trees fell on them in seven districts since the monsoon intensified on May 21, the DMC said.

While Sri Lanka depends on the seasonal monsoon rain for irrigation as well as hydroelectricity, experts have warned that floods are expected to hit the country more frequently in the future as the world heats up.

The DMC said 20 out of the country's 25 districts were affected by heavy rain and issued warnings to people living on the banks of main rivers to move to higher ground.

Last week, wildlife authorities found seven carcasses of young elephants who drowned in the biggest single loss of animals in five years.

India heat wave

The Hindustan Times reported on Friday that the sweltering heat in northern India led to the deaths of at least 85 people, including election officials in the states of Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Authorities on June 1 scaled back its tally of the record temperature registered in the week starting May 26 for the capital New Delhi by three degrees Celsius from the original 52.9 degrees Celsius, blaming a weather sensor error.

Despite the revision, the city's record for heat still appears to have been broken.

Two weather stations in the capital reported temperatures of 49 and 49.1 degrees Celsius, respectively, for May 29. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said these two stations had been checked and it did not report any sensor errors.

The highest temperature previously recorded in New Delhi was 48.4 degrees Celsius in May 1998, the IMD said.

The heat has also triggered a water crisis in the Indian capital, with residents waiting in long queues to collect water from water tankers.

California wildfire

California firefighters made significant progress Sunday to tame a wind-driven wildfire that scorched thousands of acres close to 100 kilometers east of San Francisco, burned down a home and forced residents to flee the area near the central California city of Tracy.

The fire erupted June 1 afternoon in the grassy hills managed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the country's key centers for nuclear weapons science and technology. The cause of fire is under investigation.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the research center was not under immediate threat from the blaze, dubbed the Corral Fire, which had devoured over 50 square kilometers by Sunday afternoon. The fire had been contained by 50 percent as of Sunday evening.

Thousands of people in the area, including parts of Tracy with a population of 100,000, were ordered to leave for evacuation centers on May 31. The evacuation order was lifted to allow residents to return home starting Sunday evening. 

(Cover: A flooded house, Reichertshofen, Bavaria, June 2, 2024. /AP)

(With input from agencies)