Floods

A spate of ‘extreme weather’ in Ibiza has left many locals and tourists experiencing heavy rainfall, flooding and strong winds – and some are now worried about their flights home

A mum who booked a trip to Ibiza is having regrets after a spate of “extreme weather” has left her worried her “flight may be delayed”. Ibiza is widely regarded as the party capital of the world, with images of vibrant clubs packed with keen revellers moving to beats spun by world famous DJs most often coming to mind when hearing its name.

But that’s not all it’s known for – its pristine, serene beaches offer a breathtaking retreat for those craving a spot of relaxation; hikers are spoiled for choice with rugged yet scenic cliffs, coastal paths, pine forests and other dramatic areas; while the UNESCO-listed walled old town of Dalt Vila is a haven for history lovers; with plenty more on offer too.

It’s no surprise then that the destination is a top choice for a wide range of holidays, with its usually hot summers and mild, gentle winters making it a decent getaway destination all year round.

This August, however, is a different story entirely. A sudden change in sea levels has led to flooding, heavy rainfall and strong winds.

There’s been reports of locals and tourists alike bolting from Platja de s’Arenal beach, which can be found in the town of Sant Antoni de Portmany, while an event planned to honour the music of a Spanish rock band was cancelled by San Antonio Town Hall “for security reasons”, after the stage was surrounded by sea water.

The flooding followed previous warnings from weather chiefs on the threat of ‘mini tsunamis’ – or rissagas, as they’re known locally – due to hit parts of the Balearic Islands at the beginning of the week.

Majorca Daily Bulletin reported: “Mallorca experienced two minor ‘rissagas’, also known as meteotsunamis, in the ports of Andratx and Soller on Monday, as the Balearic Islands remained under watch for sudden sea level changes.”

How have holidaymakers fared?

Many visitors to Ibiza have shared their experiences of the “extreme weather” online. One mum captured footage of the pool area around her hotel, with winds whipping the palm trees and the cushions strapped to the sun loungers, and shared it to TikTok.

In text written over the top of the clip, the mum penned: “Go to Ibiza in August they said!!!” while in the caption, she added: “Think our flight may be delayed!”

In the comments section, fellow TikTok users were keen to share their thoughts. One person said: “I went in August and it was so sunny and hot 33 degrees.”

Another shared: “Mate last year we were caught in the worst storm’s Ibiza’s had in decades.”

A third said: “We are doing 12 hours in Ibiza with no hotel THIS SATURDAY.”

To which, the mum replied: “Saturday will be beautiful I’m sure! Don’t worry, it’s very rarely like this!”

But someone else said: “Everyone knows around this time of year there is a chance for extreme weather.”

And another agreed: “It rains every year by this time so it’s nothing new and won’t stop anything either.”

Another Ibiza-holidaymaker shared a light-hearted clip mocking herself after sharing envious clips of her getaway before being “humbled” by the torrential downpour.

In the caption, she explained: “Yesterday: ‘Basically, I’m in Ibiza… and you’re not.’

“Today: Ibiza humbled me. We held out under that umbrella for FAR longer than was sensible before admitting defeat!”

Assam, India – Debiram Panika, a 37-year-old daily wage labourer from northeastern India’s Assam state, would speak to his wife and two daughters on video calls every day from Dimapur, a town in neighbouring Nagaland state where he worked.

But when his phone rang at about 11am on July 19, there was panic in the voice of his 30-year-old wife, Dipika.

“I could only see my wife telling me on the video call, ‘This is it for us. We are going to die,’ before the call was disconnected,” Panika recalled, speaking to Al Jazeera.

It was the last time they spoke. Moments later, rising waters from the nearby Dikhow River, which snakes past their village in Assam’s Sivasagar district, surged into their bamboo-and-mud home with a ferocious current and swept away Dipika and four-year-old daughter Radhika.

“The water came flooding like sea waves, and they were gone in a flash,” Panika said, as he stood in front of the ruined home he has since returned to.

Sivasagar is part of the eastern Assam region, also referred to as Upper Assam. Incessant rains between July 18 and July 20 submerged the region and the neighbouring Naga Hills of Nagaland.

Monsoon floods usually impact northern and western Assam, and parts of central Assam, the worst. But several Nagaland districts bordering Upper Assam received heavy rainfall on those three days, leading to dozens of landslides. This intense run-off swelled Naga Hills-origin rivers and caused devastation downstream.

The resultant floods killed more than 100 people, destroyed 2,700 villages, and displaced 700,000 people across the state. The state government says 1.2 million people were impacted in all, their lives disrupted.

Most waters have since receded, but Radhika’s body is yet to be found.

“I look for Radhika every day in the bushes, tirelessly,” Panika said, holding back his tears. “Her last words, calling me ‘Papa’, are still reverberating in my ears.”

Panika’s other daughter, Ridhika, 10, was at a relative’s place a few metres away when her mother and sister were swept away by the flood. Ridhika held onto a bamboo bush and was later rescued by locals.

‘Apocalyptic event’

Several riverine villages in Sivasagar have been wrecked by debris carried down by the waters of the Dikhow from the surrounding Naga Hills.

Tens of thousands of tree trunks lie piled up in places that used to be homes, as lush rice fields, the main source of livelihood, have been washed away.

Kukil Das, a 30-year-old Facebook vlogger in Debiram’s village of Nepali Khuti, told Al Jazeera that “the torrent of the flood was like an apocalyptic event seen in the movies.

“Trees as tall as 30 to 40 metres (100-130ft) came down from the hills, flooding the river, and wiped out everything as they crashed against our homes,” he said. “There is no home left. It was a tsunami.”

Das and his friend Shravan Prasad, from the neighbouring Bihubor village, said they saved at least 1,000 lives by using boats the two villages had at that time.

“We put together a group of friends with the seven boats and started rescuing people turn by turn for two days and nights without food and water,” Prasad said.

Das said the floods forced residents to take shelter on the roofs of concrete homes they could find, as cries for help and the sounds of the river washing away homes echoed in the neighbourhood.

Laxmi Sharma, who owned one such concrete house, said she provided shelter to at least 60 people on her terrace after the river water gushed into Nepali Khuti.

“People ran towards the roof of my building. We thought we were going to die,” Sharma, 46, told Al Jazeera. “But it is a miracle that we are still alive even though my house was barely out of water.”

Not everyone could escape the flood’s wrath, though.

In Sivasagar’s Simaluguri village, two friends – Reihana Ahmed, a Muslim, and Ratul Swarna, a Hindu, both in their 30s – were swept away in the torrent.

When Ahmed, a mother of two, was drowning as the deluge entered her village, Swarna, who did not know how to swim, jumped to save her without thinking about his life.

The two friends were later found dead in the paddy fields. “It was humanity that won in a disaster like this,” Ahmed’s husband Aminul Haque said with a sorrowful smile.

‘Human-made flood’

Besides the eroding banks of the Dikhow River in Prajabasti, another flood-affected village, 75-year-old Asor Ali sat in disbelief next to his wife, Jamila Khatun.

“Even the generations preceding me have not seen a flood like this,” he said, staring at the flowing river. “Even the 1950s earthquake that triggered the floods here did not do so much damage.”

A magnitude 8.6 earthquake hit Assam and Tibet across the border in 1950, altering the region’s riverine system. Nearly 5,000 people died. Since then, Assam has witnessed frequent floods, which intensify during the monsoons, says Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, a researcher on the basin of the Brahmaputra, the region’s major river: The Naga Hills rivers that flooded Upper Assam are its tributaries.

But residents say this year’s deadly deluge is not just a natural phenomenon.

Biren Gogoi, 43, says rampant stone and sand mining in regional rivers, coupled with aggressive deforestation and coal extraction in Nagaland’s Mon district, triggered the devastation.

Global Nature Watch, an open-source online platform that provides real-time data on deforestation across the world, showed that Nagaland lost 14 percent of its tree cover between 2002 and 2025, with Mon district bordering Assam’s Sivasagar being the most affected.

According to the latest report published in 2023 by the Forest Survey of India, Nagaland has lost about 794.88 square kilometres (306.9 square miles) of forest cover between 2013 and 2023.

Al Jazeera travelled along the Assam-Nagaland border and saw signs of deforestation on the hills and mining activities in both the states. Satellite images also confirmed rampant coal mining in Nagaland’s Mon district, and stone mining crushers on Assam’s side, especially in Bihubor, one of the epicentres of the Assam flood.

While Mon’s Deputy Commissioner Wennyei Konyak acknowledged the possibility of illegal mining in the district, he added that the land was protected under Indian laws to uphold the rights of Indigenous tribes, and therefore government interference in the area was limited.

“I would not blame mining activities for the flood. It was just the wrath of nature,” he told Al Jazeera.

But experts and political leaders in Assam say mining played a direct role in the floods.

Debabrata Saikia of the opposition Congress party, who is the legislator from Sivasagar constituency, accused Assam’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of allowing illegal excavations for stone and sand on the Dikhow riverbank, resulting in a cratered wasteland that worsened the floods.

“This unchecked plundering of riverbeds and hills under the ruling government has engineered this into a man-made disaster,” Saikia told Al Jazeera.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, rejected the allegation on August 4, blaming excessive rainfall in Nagaland for triggering the Upper Assam deluge. On August 14, Ranoj Pegu, a cabinet minister in the state’s BJP government, blamed erratic rainfall due to climate change for the deluge.

Rahman, the Brahmaputra river basin researcher, believes that while the climate crisis played a role, the flood was “purely human-made”, caused by the fracturing of the landscape.

“The unrestrained stone extraction from the Dikhow riverbed has damaged the river’s natural cushion,” Rahman said. “That means the river loses the capacity to resist high flows of torrents that break embankments and cause floods.”

An official document from 2022, seen by Al Jazeera, also highlights mining as a factor in possible large-scale floods downstream on the Assam side.

Al Jazeera reached out to senior district officials in Sivasagar as well as state government officials for their comments on allegations of unchecked coal mining but did not get any response.

Back in Prajabasti village, Ali, the septuagenarian, is mentally preparing himself for future floods.

“It will happen again, so long as there is greed for land and coal in humans,” he said. “Nature pays them back.”

Indiana’s state governor says that US government has promised assistance after a week of heavy rainfall.

Authorities in the Midwestern United States have reported at least five deaths in Indiana after the state was struck with fierce storms and flooding.

Rescue workers continue to seek out those stranded by the storms, which drenched Indiana over the past week.

Governor Mike Braun had called for a presidential emergency declaration on Friday, in order to access greater resources for the state.

On Saturday, he issued a public statement announcing that the federal government had pledged assistance.

“I spoke with President [Donald] Trump today about the severe storms and historic flooding impacting Indiana, and he informed me that he intends to approve our request for a Presidential Emergency Declaration,” Braun, a Republican, wrote in a social media post.

“I’m grateful to President Trump for his commitment to getting Hoosiers the federal assistance we need as we continue responding and recovering.”

Emergency workers have used boats to rescue people from homes inundated by rising waters.

The White River in Indianapolis, Indiana, was among the waterways that overflowed its banks over the last week, causing dangerous flooding.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said that the area is experiencing its worst flooding in more than 30 years. The National Weather Service has reported that more than 280mm (11 inches) of rain fell over two days in some areas.

Sheriff deputies in Delaware County said on Friday that they had found the body of a deceased 58-year-old woman, whom they believe died trying to drive her vehicle through floodwaters.

Authorities caution against attempting to cross flooded areas in a car, warning that vehicles can become stranded.

A four-year-old child also died after a tree fell on a home in Jennings County this week, and law enforcement found the body of a teen who was reported missing on Wednesday after jumping into a river.

“My heart is with the families and loved ones of the five Hoosiers we have lost and every family whose life has been changed by these storms,” Braun said on Saturday. “Please continue to take flooding seriously and stay away from floodwaters.”

Heavy rains have pounded New Delhi and its surrounding towns, disrupting traffic and leaving commuters stranded in low-lying areas. India’s weather office has issued a red alert for the city and its environs with the situation expected to ease by Sunday.

Thousands of people in India have been displaced since July after monsoon rains triggered severe flooding. India’s northeastern state of Assam is among the hardest hit, with at least 87 recorded deaths.

Rescuers in eastern Afghanistan are searching through mud and rubble after flash floods and a landslide tore through Nuristan province. At least 23 people have been killed and dozens are still missing as officials warn of more heavy rain and a rising death toll.

Monsoon rains devastate communities, with rescue and relief operations intensifying and the death toll rising.

At least 25 people have been killed as floods and landslides have hit across north and northeastern India, local officials reported.

Several incidents were reported over the weekend in Indian-administered Kashmir and the northeastern state of Nagaland, following days of torrential monsoon rain, officials said on Monday.

In Kashmir, rain-related incidents in the Poonch, Rajouri and Doda districts killed at least 15 people, with several others reported missing, a senior police official said. In Nagaland, multiple landslides triggered by persistent rains killed nine people.

“We have recovered four of the eight bodies, and rescue work is ongoing,” Wennyei Konyak, the magistrate of Nagaland’s Mon district, told the AFP news agency, adding that at least 15 others had been injured.

In Jammu, a flash flood in Rajouri caused extensive damage to public and private property and disrupted countless lives, according to a statement from the office of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Army personnel and state emergency responders rescued 11 people, including five children.

In the neighbouring state of Assam, one person died in flooding on Sunday, according to the state disaster management body, which said more than 57,000 people across seven districts had been affected.

India’s weather office warned of the potential for more extremely heavy rainfall in Jammu and Kashmir over the coming days, with active monsoon conditions likely to persist across the region for up to a week.

Authorities also announced the temporary suspension of the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, which drew more than 400,000 Hindus last year, and the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage in Jammu, citing the safety of devotees until routes are declared safe.

Floods and related accidents are an annual occurrence across India during the monsoon months, which follow the region’s long summers, with many parts of the country also facing severe water scarcity and drought.

Leah Norman said many of the beds would then lie empty all day with just a towel on them

A Scottish tourist has confirmed that holidaymakers sprinted to grab a sunbed after queuing for two hours at the pool gates. Leah Norman, 37, was on holiday at the Best Oasis Hotel in Salou, Spain, when she witnessed crowds of tourists flooding through the pool gates on July 4 in what she described as “Hunger Games style”.

The holidaymakers had been waiting since 8am until the doors opened at 10am. Leah, from Ayrshire, Scotland, said she spotted a “big queue” of sunbed-hoggers every morning, all desperate to secure a seat throughout her week-long stay.

She noted that beds with towels draped over them would remain unoccupied for the entire day, leaving families without any poolside shade for their young children.

Leah, from Ayrshire, Scotland, said: “Every morning there was a big queue inside hotel full of people waiting on the doors to open at pool area. The door was locked and would open at 10am.

“People would start queuing up from around 8am and when the doors opened at 10am, everyone would start running to grab sunbeds that were stacked up to place next to the pool, like the Hunger Games had just started.”

“Some families with young children were unable to get sunbeds or parasol shades for their babies as they would be taken. Some days, beds would lie empty all day with towels lying on them.”

Leah’s account echoes that of Glasgow tourist Chris, who witnessed comparable scenes in Salou back in June, filming over 40 tourists taking part in a ‘manic race’ for sunbeds after waiting an hour to secure one.

Watch tourists’ ‘manic race’ for sunbeds after hour-long queue

Having secured a spot with a towel, holidaymakers would then make their way inside for breakfast. Chris said: “It was a manic race and scramble for the sunbeds surrounding the pool at the hotel. I don’t judge but found it funny so had to film it.

“Some people just rolled out their bed, queued up, mad-dashed to secure the bed then they were seen going back to their hotel rooms or off for breakfast.

“It doesn’t leave room for those who don’t queue for an hour.”

About 130,000 people have been evacuated from the Guangxi region while thousands of rescuers have been deployed.

Flooding from Tropical Storm Maysak has killed 39 people in southern China, most of them after a dam breach inundated the city of Nanning.

Ding Wei, the city’s vice mayor, announced the toll at a news briefing on Thursday, up sharply from a previous count of six, after record rainfall breached reservoirs and sent torrents of water through towns and cities in the Guangxi region.

The dam breach in Nanning killed 26 people, Ding said.

About 130,000 people have been evacuated from the region, and drones and thousands of boats have been used in a huge relief and rescue operation to reach people trapped by the waters.

Heavy rain battered southern Guangxi for days, with cumulative rainfall of 10-40cm (4-16in) in some areas and more than 90cm (35in) in hard-hit areas, the national meteorological centre said.

More than 8,000 people and about 5,700 boats have been deployed in the rescue operation, with rescuers battling strong currents and debris to reach victims.

Ding said the floodwaters are receding, but more rain is expected in certain areas in the next two days.

Crews have been deployed to clear mud and debris and disinfect several towns in hard-hit Hengzhou city, which is east of Nanning and under its jurisdiction.

Road repairs are ongoing, and electricity has been restored to more than 60,000 homes, Ding said.

Animals escape after flooding hits zoo

At least 100 animals, including alpacas, miniature pigs and zebras, escaped Guangxi province’s Guigang Zoo after the flooding damaged their enclosures.

The zoo appealed to the public Wednesday for help in finding its escaped animals.

The missing creatures include “two North American raccoons, four porcupines and thirty peacocks”, according to a statement posted by a local district’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau.

The zoo said some of the escapees “may be frightened and potentially aggressive”.

“If you spot any of the animals, please keep a safe distance,” the statement said.

“Do not attempt to catch, approach or tease them, as this could be dangerous,” the zoo warned.

A reservoir wall broke in Nanning in China, sending out a torrent of water after rivers swelled from the passage of a typhoon. At least four people have been killed by flooding due to Typhoon Maysak, while another 62,000 have been evacuated across the southern city, officials say. The emergency flood control response has been raised to its highest level.

President Xi Jinping has called for “all-out efforts” to rescue people affected by the floods across China. Authorities have warned that torrential rains will continue in the coming days.

Heavy monsoon rains have inundated parts of Mumbai, India’s financial capital, causing widespread flooding, traffic congestion and disruption to daily life. The India Meteorological Department has forecast more heavy rainfall through the weekend.

June 27 (UPI) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared an emergency in the state on Saturday because of widespread floods that have claimed at least four lives.

The declaration came after two waves of severe storms on Friday that caused flash floods, high winds and a tornado — and ahead of another round of heavy rain expected overnight on Saturday.

Beshear started sounding the alarm ahead of a few days of heavy rain early Friday, warning residents that areas around the Ohio River were likely to flood over the weekend.

In announcing the declaration of emergency, Beshear said heavy rain was expected to continue in the state through at least 11 p.m. EDT on Saturday, with the expectation for dangerous road conditions, limited visibility and up to seven inches of rain in some areas.

Local states of emergency were also declared in five Kentucky counties — Bullitt, Madison, Meade, Mercer and Spencer — the governor’s office said.

“This is a serious flooding event, where teams have already had to conduct multiple water rescues from vehicles and homes across the commonwealth,” Beshear said in a press release.

“As more heavy rain continues through late night, we need folks to remain alert and to avoid driving,” Beshear said. “We’ve sadly already received reports of fatalities that we are working to confirm, and we need everyone to stay alert and do what’s needed to keep each other safe.”

Madison County Coroner Jimmy Cornelison confirmed that three people between the ages of 40 and 59 had died in the county in incidents linked to the storms, with one killed in a car accident and a couple that were killed in their flooded basement, NBC News reported.

Jackson County Executive Paul Hays confirmed to LEX-18 that a person there had also died, in their case because of a car accident linked to the storms.

“We had multiple rescues of people that were in cars on the roadways that had to be rescued, and we’ve had eight or nine rescues from homes that were surrounded by water and flooded,” Hays said.

Hays said the county had received about six inches of rain, as well as seen property damage and debris strewn across roads, which in some cases had displaced residents from their homes.

The National Weather Service in Kentucky forecast multiple rounds of thunderstorms and heavy rain overnight on Saturday, which are likely to result in more flash flooding, and has left a flood watch in effect for entire state until Sunday morning.

Although forecasters predicted total rainfall of about 1 to 3 inches, they said that 3 to 5 inches, or more, is possible in some areas.

The village was once a thriving community, but it was completely submerged to create a reservoir – and visitors can see its haunting memorial today and even spot the buildings if they’re lucky

Once a thriving, proud Welsh-speaking community, this cherished village was entirely abandoned and left to disappear beneath the water without a trace.

The submersion of this much-loved settlement remains a deeply painful topic for those in the surrounding area, who fought with every ounce of strength to preserve their homes. Sadly, their determined efforts proved futile, as the UK government flooded the village entirely to provide water to a considerably larger English city.

In 1965, the village of Capel Celyn, tucked away in the Tryweryn Valley in North Wales, was lost forever when it was left to sink beneath the surface of a vast reservoir. It was a deeply contentious decision, to say the least, driven by the Liverpool Corporation to provide water to Liverpool and the Wirral.

For some, it may have appeared to be little more than a straightforward infrastructure project, but for the vast majority, the implications ran far deeper. The devastation it brought to the local area and the broader Welsh community had a profound political impact, fuelling a significant surge in support for Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.

The fight for the village

It was in 1955 that the residents of Capel Celyn first discovered their homes had been earmarked for sacrifice to make way for a new reservoir, marking the start of a grueling decade-long struggle. Before long, the villagers banded together, forming what became known as the Capel Celyn Defense Committee, which debated, protested and condemned the scheme across the country and as far as Liverpool.

On several occasions, this led them to march directly to Liverpool to make their opposition unmistakably clear.

Despite their determined efforts, Liverpool councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of pressing ahead with the plans, and in 1957, a private bill backed by Liverpool City Council was brought before Parliament.

All 35 Welsh Members of Parliament who cast their votes opposed the bill, yet it was passed regardless in 1962. Three years on, the village and all its buildings, including people’s homes, were submerged beneath the water.

In total, approximately 800 acres of land were consumed by the reservoir, taking with it the school, the post office, the chapel and the cemetery.

Some 48 people lost their homes out of the 67 who had lived in the valley, with many forced to relocate to entirely unfamiliar areas and rebuild their lives from scratch.

What made this so deeply controversial was the wholesale destruction of a traditional Welsh community, as the village had stood as a living symbol of authentic Welsh culture and its endangered language.

The site today

Visitors continue to flock to the site to this day. During particularly dry periods if the water levels drop enough, you can occasionally spot some of the ruins of the houses, school and post office. One TripAdvisor reviewer described the place as “beautiful but sad”.

They wrote: “This wasn’t my first visit to this beautiful area, but after researching the flooding of the village and being Welsh, we spent more time around where the village once stood.

“There is no doubt the scenery is outstanding, but I also found it to be quite sad; people’s lives were completely upturned, and their entire village was drowned. Well worth a visit, especially if you read the history of the village.”

The reservoir offers a breathtaking backdrop, framed by the gently rolling hills of the valley, and many visitors opt to take a stroll around the area. A memorial chapel stands as a tribute to the village that once existed, offering a place for people to reflect on its history.

One visitor remarked: “Poignant and stunning. The heartbreaking history of this reservoir should never be forgotten.”

There is every chance the village could resurface this year, as it only emerges above the waterline during spells of extreme heat. The ongoing heatwave may cause water levels to drop sufficiently, much as they did in 2018.

The abandoned village was once home to 2,000 people who worked at the nearby Quarry – but in 1927, they were all relocated to a brand new village, leaving their old home to be reclaimed by nature

An entire village was created after all 2,000 of its residents were forced to up sticks and relocate. All that remains of what was once a bustling community are buildings completely reclaimed by nature, smothered in moss and vegetation.

The deserted village of Talysarn, nestled in the Nantlle Valley of Gwynedd, North Wales, is a former settlement that has been slowly swallowed up by the earth as the years have passed. It was once home to workers and industrial buildings serving the nearby Dorothea Quarry slate mine.

Throughout the 19th century, these mines provided a vital source of income for thousands of people across Wales, but as the quarries expanded, the village was forced to grow alongside them. Eventually, when 1927 arrived, the decision was taken to move thousands of residents to a brand new village built from scratch.

By the 1840s, production at Dorothea had climbed to a remarkable 5,000 tonnes annually, but output would soon soar even higher. By the 1870s, that figure had surged to more than 17,000 tonnes — well over three times what had been produced just 30 years earlier.

Despite the quarry’s seemingly promising future, it was plagued by severe flooding problems. This was tragically highlighted in 1884, when several men lost their lives after the pit was overwhelmed by water while they were working on site.

In response, the river was realigned and deepened to better manage the flow, and while this resolved the issue temporarily, it would go on to cause further problems further down the line. To combat the problem, a Cornish beam engine was constructed on the site to replace the waterwheels, and it still stands there to this day.

Indeed, this is one of the abandoned village’s most impressive sights — a towering structure with its original machinery still intact.

Another focal point of the old village is its 18th-century hall, which has remained untouched since 1946 and now stands as an ivy-covered building, heavily daubed with graffiti, its brickwork slowly crumbling away.

The abandoned village as a whole has become a hugely popular destination for avid explorers and walkers eager to unearth its secrets and snap an eerie photograph of the overgrown ruins. Today, the site sits within the UNESCO Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales and is protected as a piece of history, frozen in time.

Wild Guide Wales author Daniel Start wrote about what remains of the site, likening the ruins to a Welsh Angkor Wat. He said: “Only the baboons are missing. It’s a vast, wild site with many fascinating, overgrown ruins, including a Cornish beam engine and the overgrown remains of the chapel at Plas Talysarn.”

The quarry finally closed in 1970 and has since flooded, creating a lake reportedly exceeding 100m in depth in certain areas. This too forms part of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales World Heritage Site.

One visitor left spellbound by the village’s remnants is photographer Tony Harnett, who runs the website Gems of Snowdonia. He previously told WalesOnline: “I’d seen photos of Plas Talysarn and knew it was an interesting place, but I thought that’s all there was.

“When I went there, I did not expect to find so many other old buildings in the area. Some I just stumbled across, others I could see in the distance but didn’t have time to visit.

“I arrived late in the day, for the golden hour for photography, so I only had two hours there. But I could easily have stayed for the whole day, there’s so much to explore.”

Report highlights the growing threats posed by climate change and calls for the green transition to be accelerated.

Almost all children across the globe are exposed to at least one climate hazard and the situation is expected to worsen unless greenhouse gas emissions are urgently reduced, says a report by UNICEF.

The report, published on Tuesday, warns that climate hazards pose a threat to children on multiple fronts, with nearly half of the world’s children exposed to at least three such hazards, putting their health, education and survival at risk.

“The lives of children continue to be upended by the impact of heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, and floods,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Half of the world’s children are now living with at least three overlapping climate threats shaping their daily lives.”

The report highlights the growing threats posed by climate change and calls on governments and business leaders to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

According to UNICEF’s report, 1.8 billion children are currently at risk from drought, while 1.2 billion are exposed to extreme heat, as warmer temperatures wreak havoc on the world’s water cycle.

Countries across Western Europe experienced a record-breaking heatwave last month, reaching temperatures not typically expected until the summer.

UNICEF also says that nearly every child is exposed to air pollution, while one billion are exposed to malaria.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that global warming must be limited to 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Agreement, aiming to curb global warming to that 1.5C mark. The accord came into force in November 2016.

Since then, scientists have repeatedly warned that the target is unlikely to be met.

In January, the United States formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement for a second time, following an order by President Donald Trump.

Several communities in Cameroon’s national capital, Yaounde, have been submerged after days of torrential rain, making life difficult for residents. The Central Post Office Roundabout was particularly affected, causing traffic disruptions on Monday morning, June 8. Locals reported that this area often floods during the rainy season. 

“When the heart of the city is blocked, it goes without saying that many other parts of the city cease to function normally,” a local dweller told HumAngle. “That is exactly what has been happening in Yaounde since late last week.”

Following the downpour on Thursday, June 4, the door to the Central Post Office was inundated, completely blocking access to the facility. The flooding has also interfered with commercial activities in the area.

Eyewitnesses told HumAngle that 20th May Boulevard,  a ceremonial avenue in the heart of Yaounde, was also submerged, with vehicles stuck in floodwaters and some trapped in mud washed into the city. “Towing facilities would have to be brought in to drag some of the cars and trucks stuck in the mud,” one eyewitness revealed.

“I feel fortunate that my vehicle is still here, but I’ve hardly slept since it got stuck, for fear of theft. It’s disheartening to see this situation repeat every year while the City Council allows conditions to worsen without taking action,” another witness said.

Flooding, especially around the Central Post Office, has become an annual crisis in Yaoundé. Atangana Davis, a civil society activist, said some Chinese contractors had dug drainage facilities around the post office, promising improvements. “Yet, the floods persist, worsening each year, demonstrating the failure of the council’s supposed infrastructure upgrades,” Atangana said.

The current floods highlight the urgent need to rehabilitate the city’s sanitation infrastructure, locals said. The rainwater evacuation network is often criticised for its insufficient capacity during heavy rain, compounded by frequent debris blockages in residential gutters that impede rainwater flow.

Town planner Isidore Djeunkeu said that the causes of this ongoing issue are known to everyone, including the City Council authorities. “It begs the question: why is it so challenging to find a solution to this recurring problem?” Isidore asked.

Of the complaints made to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, 42% involved all-inclusive packages abroad

More than four million people had problems with a package holiday in the past year, a survey for Citizens Advice suggests. The survey found 76% of adults had been on a package holiday before, and 34% of them had experienced a problem. Some 8% had suffered an issue within the last 12 months specifically, equating to an estimated four million travellers, it said.

The charity said it received about 14 complaints a day about package holidays, including issues such as unexpected changes to the hotel, denied refunds, and poor customer service. Of the 3,500 package holiday complaints made to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service in the past year, 42% involved all-inclusive packages abroad.

A third of complaints (33%) related to the quality of the holiday falling short of the agreed deal, such as hotels being misdescribed, bad food or unavailable facilities. Customer service failures made up 19% of complaints, including long waits on the phone, ignored complaints and administration errors made by firms.

As a result, one in four of those who experienced an issue with a package holiday (25%) said they suffered stress, anxiety or upset, while 17% had to pay extra for daily expenses. Citizens Advice encouraged holidaymakers to check what protections were included within their booking.

One complainant, Zorana, a semi-retired NHS doctor from north-east England, reported spending £6,300 on an all-inclusive, seven-night trip to Lanzarote with her daughter through a UK holiday operator. Torrential rain on the second day resulted in “nightmare” flooding, leaving hotel guests without electricity, water, food or internet.

However the woman said she received no on-site support from their operator, causing them considerable stress. Zorana, 66, said: “We spent the morning on the beach and planned the sauna for later. But when we were eating lunch the rain started and didn’t stop.

“By the time we got to the spa, the hotel told us we couldn’t go in because it was flooded. Half an hour later the electricity had gone. Without electricity, everything stopped. There was no more internet and no more water because the pumps were not working.

“We all gathered in the hotel lobby, to hear what was going on. It was the weekend and reps from all the other travel companies were there, talking with people, reassuring them, giving them information. Some were already distributed to other places. We asked, ‘Where is our rep?’ And we were told he doesn’t work on weekends.

“We were very angry. Hotel staff told us our travel company was always a problem and never helped people. We came home after five days and I started to chase the travel company for a refund. But the customer service adviser said they can’t deal with it because compensation was offered. But their offer was not adequate.

“I mentioned the lack of support, the delay, the value of the holiday, that I had to find and pay for another hotel, and because of this it was reasonable that they should give me all my money back. I feel a victim twice over because I had the stress of our holiday being ruined, and then months of trying to get compensation.”

Citizens Advice consumer spokeswoman Jane Parsons said: “Too often, people are left stressed and disappointed when their dream holidays are spoiled because they’re not getting what they paid for. To make matters worse, they’re having to spend a lot of time and effort trying to resolve issues, sometimes with no luck.

“A record of any issues that occur and evidence should be kept – like clear details of what went wrong and when, photos and receipts. If something goes wrong with your holiday you might be able to get compensation from the company you booked with. You should tell them about any issues as soon as possible – if you don’t say anything until you get home you might get less compensation, or none at all.”

Chartered Trading Standards Institute chief executive John Herriman said: “This research highlights the real impact poor practice in the travel sector can have on consumers, specifically the problems for consumers booking holidays online, particularly through social media.

Left out of pocket

“Too many people are left out of pocket or dealing with stress when holidays don’t meet what was promised. What should be a time to relax and unwind can turn into the opposite. While it’s vital consumers understand their rights, check the protections included and keep clear records if something goes wrong, businesses must meet their legal obligations and ensure they deliver the standard of service people have paid for – and resolve issues raised quickly.

“Strong consumer protection depends on both informed consumers and responsible traders.”

Consumers are entitled to compensation for a holiday if it was lower in value than the one booked, spending extra money was required because of a problem, a large part of the booked services were not provided, something goes wrong that causes distress or disappointment or if the holiday was completely ruined.

Yonder surveyed 2,018 adults between April 17-19 about their experiences with package holidays, including problems. Respondents were asked to exclude issues outside the operator’s control, like geopolitical events or natural disasters.

Rescuers face heavy rains, equipment failures in search for two people trapped in central Laos cave by flash floods.

Heavy rains have threatened to delay the search for two people who remain missing in a flooded cave in Laos, after five others were rescued after being trapped underground for more than a week.

Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, one of the first international rescuers to arrive at the site, told The Associated Press news agency that rains on Sunday had filled the cave up to the second chamber, preventing divers from entering until pumps can lower the water level.

A drainage pump also broke, making the situation even more difficult, said fellow diver Yoshitaka Isaji of Japan.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighbouring Thailand have been working together over the past week to rescue the trapped villagers, alongside divers from countries including Finland, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, France and Australia.

Seven people entered the cave in a remote mountainous area of central Xaysomboun province last week to look for valuable minerals such as gold, before being trapped by a flash flood that blocked their way out, according to local media reports.

One other person escaped and alerted the authorities.

A Laotian rescue group said on Sunday it had received “substantial” information on the cave system from the five men who were rescued earlier this week. “The hope is that today’s mission will locate both remaining victims,” the group wrote on social media.

The rescued men were being treated at a local hospital and were doing well, Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie, who is taking part in the operation, told AP.

“We interviewed them about how the deeper part of the cave looks like. We will continue to search based on the information we have, and perhaps we will be able to get to the other two,” he said.

Rescuers said they navigated more than 200m (650 feet) into the cave and discovered five chambers in the system. The five people rescued so far were found in the fifth chamber.

Paasi, the Finnish diver, told AP that the survivors reported a narrow crack in the fifth chamber that could be a passage leading to a deeper part of the cave system.

“This was the only place that we haven’t checked in the mine, where the two lost miners could still be,” he said in a video interview.

The five men who were rescued – identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing and Laen – were first found last Wednesday.

The first man was safely extracted on Friday, guided through a narrow flooded passage by an expert diver. The remaining four left the cave on Saturday, after the water receded enough for them to walk out on their own, rescuers said.

Videos posted online on Saturday showed emotional moments as the men emerged one by one from the cave. Some collapsed on the ground at the cave’s entrance, and were hugged by a group of workers who cried with joy.

Later moments showed them lying on stretchers, wrapped in foil blankets and fitted with oxygen masks before being transported out.

Five of seven men who entered cave seeking gold are now out after being trapped for 10 days.

Rescuers have pulled four more men from a flooded cave in central Laos, bringing to five the number freed from a group of villagers who became trapped while searching for gold. Two others remain missing.

The four were brought out on Saturday, a day after the first man was rescued, ending a period of about 10 days during which the group was cut off underground.

The Thailand Rescue Diver Facebook page said that “rescue officials were able to bring out four more people trapped” at about 3:10pm (08:10 GMT).

Rescuers said the water inside the cave had finally dropped low enough for the men to walk and swim out alongside the divers who had reached them.

The operation has drawn diving teams from several countries, but the danger is far from over, with two members of the group still unaccounted for deep inside the flooded passages.

Lao and Thai rescue groups posted images of the men being carried out on stretchers, caked in mud, wearing oxygen masks and wrapped in foil blankets.

Footage shared online showed some of them collapsing as they emerged, before being embraced by rescuers.

The five had been located alive on Wednesday, huddled on a rocky ledge in a chamber about 300 metres (980 feet) from the entrance. Unable to bring them out straight away, rescuers passed in water, soft food and blankets to keep them going.

“The first one is out. Safe and sound!!!” Manat Artmongkron, a technician with a Thai rescue group, wrote on Facebook after the first evacuation on Friday.

Divers described treacherous conditions in the narrow, flooded tunnels, where visibility was almost nil. One stretch was a 25-metre passage too tight to turn around in.

The group had entered the cave around May 19 or 20, to look for gold and other minerals, according to local officials, before heavy rain triggered flash flooding that sealed off their way out.

An eighth villager who escaped in time alerted the authorities to those left behind.

Rescue teams said they were now preparing to push deeper into the cave – about 20 to 25 metres beyond where the survivors were found – to look for the two missing men, though that section remained heavily flooded.

Local officials said residents of the remote, mountainous province of Xaisomboun often forage for a living and enter such caves in search of gold, despite repeated warnings about the risks.