Two people have died and “incalculable damage” was caused by Idalia as it hit Florida before moving on to Georgia and the Carolinas as a tropical storm. The storm reached Category 4 status with winds up to 131 mph before hitting as a Category 3 hurricane.
Some 1.6 million people in the US State of Florida were to evacuate their homes in the coming hours as Hurricane Idalia has been forecast to make landfall on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the northwest of the state with Category 3 winds (111 mph or 178 kph) Wednesday.
Puerto Rico has been left without electricity as Hurricane Fiona made landfall with winds of up to 160.9 kilometers per hour, amid residents fearing an encore of the devastation left by Hurricane Maria in 2017. US President Joseph Biden declared a state of emergency on the island.
British overseas territories hit by natural disasters could get access to foreign aid under plans agreed by the richest nations, according to a report from the BBC. Some Caribbean islands damaged last year by hurricanes did not get official development assistance because their national incomes were too high.
Hurricane Florence, one of the strongest storms to threaten the East Coast of the United States in decades, continued to swirl in the Atlantic on Wednesday night on a path that is taking it dangerously closer to the Carolinas. Meanwhile, another storm system in the Atlantic gained strength on Wednesday and was named subtropical Storm Joyce.
The program was formed to meet the needs of member states that have been recently impacted by powerful natural disasters such as hurricanes, tropical storms and earthquakes .Speaking at a special meeting of the newly convened recovery program, Secretary General of the UNWTO, Taleb Rifai said, “We cannot just stand still – it is not right.
Floods in Australia have dragged business conditions particularly in Queensland to depths not seen since the global financial crisis, according to a local analysis that offered a more pessimistic view than the government’s assessments.