A slow-moving storm brought extremely heavy rains to parts of France on Thursday, October 17, 2024, with the Ardèche Cévennes region experiencing rainfall totals as high as 700 mm (27.6 inches). This led to widespread flooding and approximately 350 rescue operations. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition, said the region is facing a situation that is unprecedented in its scale.
Florida saw a record-breaking 15 tornadoes on October 9, 2024, as Hurricane “Milton” swept through — the most ever recorded in the region in a single day. Among the 15 two were rated EF-3, causing significant damage across Palm Beach Gardens and Lakeport communities.
Floods triggered by heavy rainfall and thunderstorms between October 12 and 14, 2024, claimed two lives in the city of Marrakech, Morocco.
New activity/unrest was reported for 3 volcanoes from October 9 – 15, 2024. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 17 volcanoes.
A gradual increase in volcanic unrest was observed at Spurr volcano in Alaska over the past couple of months, prompting the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) to increase the Volcano Alert Level to Advisory and the Aviation Color Code to Yellow on October 16, 2024. Spurr is located about 120 km (75 miles) west of Anchorage.
Nearly three weeks after Hurricane “Helene” made landfall, North Carolina is still searching for 81 missing people amid mounting fatalities, with over 131 deaths reported in the state as of October 16. With a total of 261 fatalities, Helene is now the third deadliest mainland U.S. landfalling hurricane since 1950.
The Al-Sayyal tropical depression dropped 215 mm (8.46 inches) of rain in the state of Sur in Oman during 24 hours between October 15 and 16, 2024; equivalent to what Jeddah receives in 5 years. Several regions were flooded on due to the continuous downpour since Monday, October 14.
A deep earthquake registered by the USGS as M5.9 hit the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan at 18:56 UTC (23:26 LT) on October 16, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 203 km (126 miles).
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning across parts of central and northeastern Nevada, effective from 11:00 LT to 20:00 LT on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, warning of dangerous fire weather due to strong winds and low humidity.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a red flag warning for the Bay Area due to fire weather from 11 pm (6 am UTC) Thursday, October 17, 2024 to 5 pm (12 am UTC) Saturday, October 19, 2024.
