L’ouragan Erin progresse dans les Caraïbes, menace la côte est américaine

Le puissant ouragan Erin continue lundi sa progression près des Bahamas, accompagné de rafales de vent puissantes et de pluies intenses, alors que la menace de vagues destructrices sur les côtes américaines grandit.Reclassé en catégorie 3 sur l’échelle de Saffir-Simpson qui en compte cinq, Erin évolue dans la région des Caraïbes avec des vents allant jusqu’à 205 km/h, selon le dernier bulletin du Centre américain des ouragans (NHC) à 23H00 (03H00 GMT).Erin est “inhabituellement gros”, soufflant des rafales de la puissance d’un ouragan jusqu’à près de 130 kilomètres au-delà de son oeil, et de l’ordre d’une tempête tropicale jusqu’à 370 kilomètres, d’après le NHC.De fortes averses localisées liées à son passage étaient attendues lundi dans le sud-est des Bahamas, l’archipel des Îles Turques-et-Caïques ainsi qu’en Haïti et en République dominicaine, avec un risque d’inondations.Après avoir frôlé les Bahamas, il doit opérer mardi un virage vers le nord pour ensuite passer entre la côte est des Etats-Unis et les Bermudes en milieu de semaine.Bien qu’il ne soit pas prévu qu’il touche terre, les services météorologiques ont exhorté lundi après-midi la population américaine à ne pas prendre à la légère cet ouragan.”Beaucoup d’entre vous pensent peut-être que la trajectoire d’Erin au large n’aura que peu ou pas d’impact au cours des prochains jours sur la côte est des États-Unis. Rien ne pourrait être plus faux”, a ainsi alerté Jamie Rhome, directeur adjoint du NHC, dans une vidéo diffusée sur les réseaux sociaux.Des courants dangereux ainsi que des vagues puissantes allant jusqu’à 6 mètres de hauteur sont en effet attendus, faisant courir le risque d’inondations côtières, notamment sur un chapelet d’îles bordant la Caroline du Nord. En prévision, certaines zones ont été soumises à des ordres d’évacuation.- Intensification rapide -L’ouragan Erin s’était rapproché au cours du week-end du nord des Petites Antilles et de Porto Rico, provoquant des dégâts matériels. Dans ce territoire américain dévasté en 2017 par l’ouragan Maria, des maisons et routes ont été submergées par les eaux.Les vents puissants ont également couché des arbres sur la chaussée, et 150.000 ménages avaient été privés de courant dimanche. D’autres coupures sont survenues lundi, a indiqué la compagnie d’électricité locale Luma, tout en assurant que le service avait été rétabli pour plus de 90% de ses clients.Premier ouragan de la saison en Atlantique Nord, Erin s’est très rapidement renforcé, atteignant en un peu plus de 24 heures le niveau maximal d’intensité.Soit l’une des intensifications les plus fortes et les plus rapides “jamais enregistrées”, a souligné Daniel Gilford, climatologue à Climate Central.D’après les analyses réalisées par cette organisation, Erin a traversé dans l’océan Atlantique des eaux exceptionnellement chaudes ce qui a permis une telle montée en puissance. “Nous savons que les ouragans agissent comme des moteurs thermiques qui absorbent l’énergie de la surface de l’océan et la convertissent en vents”, a rappelé M. Gilford.En réchauffant les mers, le changement climatique rend plus probable l’intensification rapide de telles tempêtes et augmente le risque de phénomènes plus puissants, selon les scientifiques.Malgré des débuts calmes, la saison des ouragans, qui s’étire de début juin à fin novembre, devrait cette année être plus intense que la normale, selon les prévisions des autorités météorologiques américaines.En 2024, la région avait été marquée par plusieurs tempêtes meurtrières, parmi lesquelles l’ouragan Hélène qui a fait plus de 200 morts dans le sud-est des Etats-Unis.

L’ouragan Erin progresse dans les Caraïbes, menace la côte est américaine

Le puissant ouragan Erin continue lundi sa progression près des Bahamas, accompagné de rafales de vent puissantes et de pluies intenses, alors que la menace de vagues destructrices sur les côtes américaines grandit.Reclassé en catégorie 3 sur l’échelle de Saffir-Simpson qui en compte cinq, Erin évolue dans la région des Caraïbes avec des vents allant jusqu’à 205 km/h, selon le dernier bulletin du Centre américain des ouragans (NHC) à 23H00 (03H00 GMT).Erin est “inhabituellement gros”, soufflant des rafales de la puissance d’un ouragan jusqu’à près de 130 kilomètres au-delà de son oeil, et de l’ordre d’une tempête tropicale jusqu’à 370 kilomètres, d’après le NHC.De fortes averses localisées liées à son passage étaient attendues lundi dans le sud-est des Bahamas, l’archipel des Îles Turques-et-Caïques ainsi qu’en Haïti et en République dominicaine, avec un risque d’inondations.Après avoir frôlé les Bahamas, il doit opérer mardi un virage vers le nord pour ensuite passer entre la côte est des Etats-Unis et les Bermudes en milieu de semaine.Bien qu’il ne soit pas prévu qu’il touche terre, les services météorologiques ont exhorté lundi après-midi la population américaine à ne pas prendre à la légère cet ouragan.”Beaucoup d’entre vous pensent peut-être que la trajectoire d’Erin au large n’aura que peu ou pas d’impact au cours des prochains jours sur la côte est des États-Unis. Rien ne pourrait être plus faux”, a ainsi alerté Jamie Rhome, directeur adjoint du NHC, dans une vidéo diffusée sur les réseaux sociaux.Des courants dangereux ainsi que des vagues puissantes allant jusqu’à 6 mètres de hauteur sont en effet attendus, faisant courir le risque d’inondations côtières, notamment sur un chapelet d’îles bordant la Caroline du Nord. En prévision, certaines zones ont été soumises à des ordres d’évacuation.- Intensification rapide -L’ouragan Erin s’était rapproché au cours du week-end du nord des Petites Antilles et de Porto Rico, provoquant des dégâts matériels. Dans ce territoire américain dévasté en 2017 par l’ouragan Maria, des maisons et routes ont été submergées par les eaux.Les vents puissants ont également couché des arbres sur la chaussée, et 150.000 ménages avaient été privés de courant dimanche. D’autres coupures sont survenues lundi, a indiqué la compagnie d’électricité locale Luma, tout en assurant que le service avait été rétabli pour plus de 90% de ses clients.Premier ouragan de la saison en Atlantique Nord, Erin s’est très rapidement renforcé, atteignant en un peu plus de 24 heures le niveau maximal d’intensité.Soit l’une des intensifications les plus fortes et les plus rapides “jamais enregistrées”, a souligné Daniel Gilford, climatologue à Climate Central.D’après les analyses réalisées par cette organisation, Erin a traversé dans l’océan Atlantique des eaux exceptionnellement chaudes ce qui a permis une telle montée en puissance. “Nous savons que les ouragans agissent comme des moteurs thermiques qui absorbent l’énergie de la surface de l’océan et la convertissent en vents”, a rappelé M. Gilford.En réchauffant les mers, le changement climatique rend plus probable l’intensification rapide de telles tempêtes et augmente le risque de phénomènes plus puissants, selon les scientifiques.Malgré des débuts calmes, la saison des ouragans, qui s’étire de début juin à fin novembre, devrait cette année être plus intense que la normale, selon les prévisions des autorités météorologiques américaines.En 2024, la région avait été marquée par plusieurs tempêtes meurtrières, parmi lesquelles l’ouragan Hélène qui a fait plus de 200 morts dans le sud-est des Etats-Unis.

UN says record 383 aid workers killed in 2024

A record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a “shameful indictment” of international apathy — and warned this year’s toll was equally disturbing.The 2024 figure was up 31 percent on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, “driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.It said state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings in 2024.The UN said most of those killed were local staff, and were either attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.Besides those killed, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained last year.”Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said UN aid chief Tom Fletcher.”Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy. “As the humanitarian community, we demand — again — that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account.”Provisional figures from the Aid Worker Security Database show that 265 aid workers have been killed this year, as of August 14.The UN reiterated that attacks on aid workers and operations violate international humanitarian law and damage the lifelines sustaining millions of people trapped in war and disaster zones.”Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end,” said Fletcher, the UN emergency relief coordinator and under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.Meanwhile the UN’s World Health Organization said it had verified more than 800 attacks on health care in 16 territories so far this year, with more than 1,110 health workers and patients killed and hundreds injured.”Each attack inflicts lasting harm, deprives entire communities of life-saving care when they need it the most, endangers health care providers, and weakens already strained health systems,” the WHO said.World Humanitarian Day marks the day in 2003 when UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other humanitarians were killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

UN says record 383 aid workers killed in 2024

A record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a “shameful indictment” of international apathy — and warned this year’s toll was equally disturbing.The 2024 figure was up 31 percent on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, “driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.It said state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings in 2024.The UN said most of those killed were local staff, and were either attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.Besides those killed, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained last year.”Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said UN aid chief Tom Fletcher.”Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy. “As the humanitarian community, we demand — again — that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account.”Provisional figures from the Aid Worker Security Database show that 265 aid workers have been killed this year, as of August 14.The UN reiterated that attacks on aid workers and operations violate international humanitarian law and damage the lifelines sustaining millions of people trapped in war and disaster zones.”Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end,” said Fletcher, the UN emergency relief coordinator and under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.Meanwhile the UN’s World Health Organization said it had verified more than 800 attacks on health care in 16 territories so far this year, with more than 1,110 health workers and patients killed and hundreds injured.”Each attack inflicts lasting harm, deprives entire communities of life-saving care when they need it the most, endangers health care providers, and weakens already strained health systems,” the WHO said.World Humanitarian Day marks the day in 2003 when UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other humanitarians were killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

UN says record 383 aid workers killed in 2024

A record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a “shameful indictment” of international apathy — and warned this year’s toll was equally disturbing.The 2024 figure was up 31 percent on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, “driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.It said state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings in 2024.The UN said most of those killed were local staff, and were either attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.Besides those killed, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained last year.”Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said UN aid chief Tom Fletcher.”Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy. “As the humanitarian community, we demand — again — that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account.”Provisional figures from the Aid Worker Security Database show that 265 aid workers have been killed this year, as of August 14.The UN reiterated that attacks on aid workers and operations violate international humanitarian law and damage the lifelines sustaining millions of people trapped in war and disaster zones.”Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end,” said Fletcher, the UN emergency relief coordinator and under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.Meanwhile the UN’s World Health Organization said it had verified more than 800 attacks on health care in 16 territories so far this year, with more than 1,110 health workers and patients killed and hundreds injured.”Each attack inflicts lasting harm, deprives entire communities of life-saving care when they need it the most, endangers health care providers, and weakens already strained health systems,” the WHO said.World Humanitarian Day marks the day in 2003 when UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other humanitarians were killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

UN says record 383 aid workers killed in 2024Tue, 19 Aug 2025 04:09:17 GMT

A record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a “shameful indictment” of international apathy — and warned this year’s toll was equally disturbing.The 2024 figure was up 31 percent on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, “driven by …

UN says record 383 aid workers killed in 2024Tue, 19 Aug 2025 04:09:17 GMT Read More »

Hurricane Erin douses Caribbean, menaces US coast

Hurricane Erin’s massive footprint battered Caribbean islands with heavy gusts and downpours Monday, as it threatened rip currents and flooding along the US East Coast later this week even without a predicted landfall.The Category 3 storm strengthened dramatically over the weekend in a historic burst of intensification scientists said was fueled by human-caused climate change. It briefly peaked as a Category 5 hurricane before weakening.In its latest advisory the US National Hurricane Center said the Atlantic season’s first hurricane was packing maximum sustained winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour while moving northwest at 8 mph. Erin is “unusually large,” with hurricane force winds extending 80 miles from the center and tropical storm winds extending 230 miles, the NHC said.The storm’s outer bands were forecast to dump rain across Cuba and the Dominican Republic through Monday as well as the Turks and Caicos and the southeast Bahamas — where a tropical storm warning is in place — into Tuesday.These regions could receive localized totals of up to four inches (10 centimeters) of rain, according to the NHC.The agency’s deputy director, Jamie Rhome, warned Americans not to assume the hurricane won’t impact them simply because its track keeps it offshore.”Nothing could be further from the truth for portions of the Mid-Atlantic, especially the Outer Banks of North Carolina,” he said. On Wednesday and Thursday, waves of up to 20 feet (six meters), coastal flooding and storm surge “could overwash dunes and flood homes, flood roads and make some communities impassable,” he said.Evacuations have been ordered for two North Carolina islands, Ocracoke and Hatteras.From Tuesday, much of the East Coast will face a high risk of life-threatening surf and rip currents, which occur when channels of water surge away from the shore. In Puerto Rico, a US territory of more than three million people, weekend flooding swamped homes and roads in the island’s east, and widespread power outages left residents in the dark, though nearly all service has since been restored.- Climate link -“Erin is one of the fastest, most intensifying storms in the modern record,” Daniel Gilford, a climate scientist at the nonprofit Climate Central, told AFP.”We see that it has intensified over these warm surface temperatures — and this makes a lot of sense, because we know that hurricanes act like heat engines taking up energy from the ocean surface, converting that energy into winds.”According to Climate Central, Erin traveled over waters whose extreme warmth was made up to 100 times more likely through climate change.The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has now entered its historical peak. Despite a relatively quiet start with just four named storms so far, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continues to forecast an “above-normal” season.A typical season produces 14 named storms, of which seven become hurricanes and three strengthen into major hurricanes. This year, tropical activity is expected to be elevated by a combination of warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean, along with an active West African monsoon, NOAA said.Scientists broadly agree that climate change is supercharging tropical cyclones: warmer oceans fuel stronger winds, a warmer atmosphere intensifies rainfall, and higher sea levels magnify storm surge.Climate change may also be making hurricanes more frequent. 

NYC Legionnaires’ disease outbreak kills 5

An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood thought to have originated in contaminated cooling towers has killed five people and put 14 in the hospital, health officials said on Monday.”The NYC Health Department is currently investigating a community cluster of Legionnaires’ disease in Central Harlem,” the New York City health department said in a statement.”As of August 18, there are 108 confirmed cases, five deaths, 14 currently hospitalized.”Legionnaires’ disease, which is not directly contagious from person to person, is caused by bacteria that can multiply in water and air conditioning systems.Spreading through contaminated droplets, the bug can cause fever and pneumonia, especially among people with weak immune systems.The disease takes its name from the first known outbreak, which occurred in 1976 at a hotel in Philadelphia where the American Legion military veterans’ association was holding a conference.More than 220 people fell ill, of whom 34 died.”The Health Department has sampled and tested water from cooling towers in the investigation zone. Any cooling towers with initial positive results for Legionella bacteria have completed the treatment required by the Health Department,” New York’s health department said in its statement. “This community outbreak is not related to a building’s hot or cold water supply.”

Asian markets cautious after Zelensky-Trump talks

Asian markets were little changed Tuesday after Wall Street treaded water and US President Donald Trump held what he called “very good” talks with Ukrainian and European leaders on ending the three-year war.Hopes for a breakthrough rose after Trump said he spoke by phone with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin — whom he met in Alaska last week — after hosting the Europeans and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.”At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” Trump said.Oil prices, which have been volatile for several days — Russia is a major crude producer — fell back after gains on Monday.Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul were down slightly, while Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore were in the green.SoftBank shares fell two percent after it said it would invest $2 billion in Intel, as the US government reportedly considers taking a 10-percent stake in the troubled US chip giant.Fresh impetus for investors could come from a speech this week by US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell at the annual retreat of global central bankers in Jackson Hole.Markets hope Powell will provide more clues about Fed plans for interest rates when it meets next month, after data last week provided a mixed picture about inflation.”Even a nod to easing (by Powell) could be enough to trigger profit-taking, and a hint of caution could set off a scramble for the exits,” Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management said.- Key figures at around 0300 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 43,652.32Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 25,195.36Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,733.74New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 44,946.12 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,157.74 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1652 from $1.1666 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3498 from $1.3503 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.78 yen from 147.89 yen  Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.33 pence from 86.40 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.5 percent at $63.12 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $66.32 per barrel