Children electrocuted as Mexico storm kills four
by AFP Staff Writers
Mexico City (AFP) June 20, 2024

Four people died, including two children who were electrocuted while riding their bikes, as a tropical storm made landfall in Mexico, authorities said Thursday.

Tropical storm Alberto, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was downgraded to a tropical depression shortly after hitting eastern Mexico.

However torrential rains, lightning and hail remained a threat, according to a statement from Conagua, the national water agency.

Four people were killed in various incidents in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon, according to civil protection services and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador told journalists two children out riding their bicycles had been electrocuted on Wednesday in the town of Allende, while a teenager was swept away by a river in the state capital Monterrey.

A statement from civil protection services also attributed the death of an adult from electrocution, who was doing repairs at home, to the effects of the storm.

Another nine people were rescued from their homes in the town of Santa Catarina after a dam overflowed, said the statement.

Death toll from south China rains rises to 9
Beijing (AFP) June 20, 2024 - Heavy rains in southern China have killed nine people and left six missing, state media reported Thursday.

Downpours in Guangdong province this week sparked floods and landslides, with the spate of extreme weather impacting nationwide.

In Jiaoling county near the city of Meizhou, five people died and two were missing following floods, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In a separate district of Meizhou, four more were killed and four others were unaccounted for, CCTV said.

It added that some areas have endured "once-a-century flooding... (or) the biggest since historical records began".

CCTV said on Tuesday that five people had died in landslides in Meizhou.

The torrential rains in the south have come as much of northern China has baked under soaring temperatures well above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Scientists say climate change makes extreme weather like heavy rains and heat waves more frequent and intense.

Greenhouse gases are a major cause of climate change, and China is the world's biggest emitter.

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