Flash floods have swept through Nepal’s central Gorkha district after a pre-dawn landslide on ۱۱ October blocked the Budhi Gandaki River, triggering severe downstream flooding. At least five people have died, and almost ۱۰۰ have been rescued. Two villages in the worst-affected Chumanubri rural municipality were reportedly destroyed, with homes, roads and bridges washed away. Part of a hydropower station was also damaged.
After river levels surged from ۲ metres to nearly ۸.۵ metres within hours, the national disaster risk reduction and management authority reported that ۲۰۴ homes were damaged, and more than ۶۵۰ people had been affected. More than ۱۰۰ foreign trekkers were stranded in the popular hiking region. The floods come just two months after catastrophic flooding and landslides devastated parts of the country on the border with Tibet, leaving thousands dead or missing.
An exceptionally deep area of low-pressure barrelled towards Iceland this week. The overall central pressure was measured at ۹۳۱mb on ۱۴ October. In the process of reaching such depths, it plummeted ۴۹mb in ۲۴ hours, meeting thresholds for explosive cyclogenesis, or a weather bomb. The system brought sustained wind speeds of ۵۵mph–۶۰mph to the southern shores of the island before moving on a north-easterly track through the North Atlantic towards Norway.
However, Iceland was spared the strongest winds as the track of the low pressure meant these were out at sea. The system also affected areas beyond Iceland: a ۱۰۸mph wind gust was recorded at Bealach Na Bà, in the Scottish Highlands, in association with a trailing ۱,۰۰۰-mile cold front that stretched from Norway to the mid-Atlantic.
Summer-like conditions have extended even further into meteorological autumn in Portugal. After temperatures of ۴۰C at the end of September, on ۱۴ October in the southern town of Mora a maximum of ۳۵.۶C was recorded, representing a climatological anomaly of more than ۱۰C.
The heat was not localised, with numerous stations recording temperatures well into the mid-thirties Celsius. The latest forecasts show the high pressure and unseasonably warm upper air temperatures will remain in place for the next few days. Looking further ahead, however, temperatures are expected to slowly return towards the average around the middle of next week.
