severe – LSD News

Authorities prepare for possible severe weather as low-pressure area strengthens

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 20:29:04 +0000

All necessary preparations have been made to face any possible disaster situations that may arise in the future, according to the Director of the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) Pradeep Kodippili.

Meanwhile, the Department of Meteorology states that a low-pressure area currently located in the southeastern Bay of Bengal may intensify into a depression within the next 24 hours.

The department further notes that the system is expected to move westwards and approach the eastern coast of the island.

As a result, rainfall is likely to increase from Thursday (08) in the Northern, North Central, Eastern, Uva, and Central Provinces, the Department warns.

The Department of Meteorology also indicates that heavy rainfall exceeding 50 mm may occur in parts of the Uva Province and in the Batticaloa, Ampara, Polonnaruwa and Matale districts.

Additionally, strong winds of up to around 50 km/h may occur at times in the eastern slopes of the central hills, as well as in the Northern, North Central, North Western, and Eastern Provinces and in the Hambantota, Gampaha, Colombo and Monaragala districts.

Meanwhile, the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has issued red landslide warnings for several areas in the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts.

Furthermore, landslide early warnings have also been issued for the Badulla, Matale, and Monaragala districts.

132 dead and 171 missing amid severe weather in Sri Lanka

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 10:47:41 +0000

November 29, 2025 03:29 pm

According to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), a total of 132 deaths have been reported so far, while 171 individuals remain missing due to the ongoing adverse weather conditions affecting the country.

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Severe weather threatens to disrupt peak Thanksgiving travel period

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 20:39:39 +0000

Severe weather throughout the country threatens widespread disruptions during what’s expected to be a record-high Thanksgiving travel week.

At least 9 million people face the risk of severe storms Monday throughout Texas, southern Arkansas and the northern half of Louisiana. These storms could produce large hail, damaging winds and several tornadoes.

The risk of flooding affects 7 million people across central and northern Texas, as well as a small portion of Oklahoma and Arkansas, on Monday. These areas are forecast to be hit by thunderstorms, with 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour through the morning, and an additional 1 to 3 inches possible throughout the day.

“Flash flood and severe weather threats will gradually move through the Arklatex region today, reaching into the Tennessee Valley and interior Deep South/Southeast on Tuesday,” the National Weather Service said Monday morning.

A family check in for a flight ahead of the holidays at Dallas Fort Worth Airport on Friday.Tony Gutierrez / AP

A separate storm system is affecting the northern Rockies and will move across the Upper Midwest into New England through Wednesday.

This storm could bring snow to parts of Montana and the Dakotas, which face winter advisories Monday.

The storm will strengthen by Tuesday, bringing snow to Minnesota and northern Michigan. Heavy rain is also possible from the Gulf Coast up into the Northeast.

On Wednesday, snow will pass through Wisconsin and Michigan, with lake-effect snow picking up later in the day.

Snowfall totals are expected to range from 3 to 6 inches from North Dakota to northern Michigan through Wednesday, with higher amounts possible in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Conditions are expected to clear in most of the country by Thanksgiving, except for lingering lake-effect snow and gusty winds across the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest.

These two storm systems could cause flight delays and dangerous driving conditions, as 82 million Americans are projected to travel at least 50 miles from home during the Thanksgiving holiday period from Tuesday to Dec. 1, according to the AAA.

Thanksgiving travelers should be prepared with a “plan B flight” or “alternate transport options,” Katy Nastro, a travel spokesperson for Going, told NBC News.

New Immigration & Foreigners Act comes into effect in India, severe punishment for forging passport, visa

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 03:10:17 +0000

A new Act that regulates matters related to foreigners and immigration and has provisions for heavy punishment for carrying a forged passport or visa came into effect in India on Monday (01).

The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, was passed by the Indian parliament during the Budget session, and President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent on April 4, 2025.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 (13 of 2025), the central government hereby appoints the 01st day of September, 2025, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” said a notification issued by Nitesh Kumar Vyas, additional secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Advisory issued for severe lightning

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sat, 03 May 2025 15:57:41 +0000

Thundershowers accompanied by severe lightning are likely to occur at several places in for Central, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern provinces and in Hambantota and Polonnaruwa districts today (03), the Department of Meteorology warns.

Meanwhile, there may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers, it added.

Therefore, the general public has been requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by lightning activity.

The Met Department also urged the public to seek shelter—preferably indoors—and to avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations, and open water bodies during thunderstorms.

Additionally, the public is advised not to use wired telephones or electrical appliances connected to the mains during thunderstorms.

First U.S. bird flu death reported in Louisiana after severe case of H5N1

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:39:13 +0000

A Louisiana resident has died after being hospitalized with bird flu, the state’s health department announced Monday, marking the first U.S. death from the H5N1 virus.

“The patient was over the age of 65 and was reported to have underlying medical conditions,” Louisiana’s health department said in a statement, saying that health officials still judge the public health risk from the virus as low for the general public.

The patient tested positive and developed severe illness after being exposed to wild birds and a personal backyard poultry flock that was infected with the virus, according to the health department. No other people were found to have been sickened by the virus in Louisiana.

“CDC has carefully studied the available information about the person who died in Louisiana and continues to assess that the risk to the general public remains low. Most importantly, no person-to-person transmission spread has been identified,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Monday.

H5N1 has been linked to at least seven other deaths from other countries in recent years. Since 2003, the World Health Organization has counted more than 400 deaths from the virus.

One other U.S. hospital patient tested positive for the virus last year in Missouri, though officials said that the person had not been admitted because of the virus. Instead, the patient was in the hospital being treated for other preexisting medical conditions.

The Louisiana patient was sickened by the D1.1 strain of the bird flu virus, genetic sequencing by the CDC determined last month.

The patient’s virus did have some rare and potentially worrying mutations, the sequencing revealed. Those genetic changes to the virus likely arose later during the person’s infection, the CDC’s investigation concluded, and were not found in the animals that likely infected them.

“Although concerning, and a reminder that A(H5N1) viruses can develop changes during the clinical course of a human infection, these changes would be more concerning if found in animal hosts or in early stages of infection,” the CDC said.

The D1.1 strain is the same as the virus behind a severe illness of a 13-year-old girl who was hospitalized late last year in Canada.

Health authorities in the Canadian province of British Columbia said last year that they had been unable to identify the source of the infection, but did find that the virus sequence closely matched wild birds that were flying through the province in October.

This D1.1 strain of H5N1 bird flu is different from the B3.13 genotype which has been fueling this past year’s unprecedented outbreak on dairy farms across the U.S.

Including the Louisiana case, the CDC tallies 66 reported human cases in the U.S. since last year from any of the H5 strains of bird flu.

How is bird flu spread?

Most of the human cases have been in workers who got sick with the B3.13 strain after working with infected cattle. None of those human cases have been hospitalized or have died from the virus.

The CDC has said there remains “no evidence of sustained human-to-human” spread of H5N1. There are some past outbreaks overseas where the agency says “limited” H5N1 transmission is suspected to have occurred within small clusters of people.

Wild birds or poultry have now tested positive for at least one of the H5N1 strains in every state. In November, Hawaii became the 50th state to report detecting an infected bird. Hundreds of cattle herds across at least 16 states have also tested positive for H5N1.

“While the current public health risk for the general public remains low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk. The best way to protect yourself and your family from H5N1 is to avoid sources of exposure,” Louisiana’s health department said.

What are the symptoms of bird flu?

Bird flu has led to a wide variety of symptoms during recent outbreaks, including common flu symptoms like cough and vomiting. Many have also had conjunctivitis or pink eye as their only symptom, which experts suspect is from contaminated milk from cows infected by bird flu being splashed onto workers.

Most of the U.S. cases have seen their symptoms resolve a median of four days after first getting sick. The majority were also treated with the antiviral oseltamivir, also known by the brand name Tamiflu, which may have helped to speed their recovery.

The hospitalized child in Canada initially had conjunctivitis and fever before later developing cough, vomiting and diarrhea. She was later intubated after respiratory failure.

Alexander Tin

Alexander Tin is a digital reporter for CBS News based in the Washington, D.C. bureau. He covers the Biden administration’s public health agencies, including the federal response to infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19.

California declares emergency after severe U.S. case of H5N1 bird flu

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 19:20:39 +0000

California declares emergency after severe U.S. case of H5N1 bird flu – CBS News

Watch CBS News

A Louisiana patient is critically ill with severe respiratory symptoms from H5N1 bird flu, marking the 61st U.S. human case this year. California has declared a state of emergency. CBS News medical contributor Dr. Celine Gounder explains the public health risks.

Congo says mystery disease behind dozens of deaths of women and children finally identified as severe malaria

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 11:11:08 +0000

Johannesburg — For weeks it was dubbed simply “Disease X.” But the mysterious flu-like disease that has killed more than 143 people — mainly women and young children — in the Democratic Republic of Congo has finally been identified.

“The mystery has finally been solved,” Congo’s health ministry declared in a statement on Tuesday. “It’s a case of severe malaria in the form of a respiratory illness.”

The health agency said malnutrition in the hardest-hit region had weakened the local population’s immunity, leaving them more vulnerable to the disease. People who contracted the malaria infection have exhibited symptoms including headache, fever, cough and body ache.

The Congo’s health minister had told journalists the country was on “maximum alert” over the spread of the previously unidentified disease, and health officials told CBS News in early December that the remoteness of the epicenter of the outbreak and lack of a diagnosis made it difficult to launch a concerted response.

Congo’s health minister Roger Kamba attends a press conference in Kinshasa, Congo, in a Dec. 5, 2024 file photo.

Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP

At least 592 cases were reported after the alert was first raised by Congo’s health ministry on Oct. 29. The ministry said the disease had a fatality rate of 6.25%. More than half of the deaths recorded were children younger than five who were severely malnourished when they contracted the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

At a press briefing on Dec. 10, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 10 out of 12 samples from patients suffering from the mysterious disease had tested positive for malaria, but he said they were still testing at the time for other diseases.

The Congolese government had sent a rapid intervention team to the Kwango province, 435 miles southeast of capital city Kinshasa, consisting of epidemiologists and other medical experts. Their objective was to identify the disease and mount a suitable response. Government officials had earlier warned locals to avoid touching people infected with the illness or the bodies of those who had died.

Congo has suffered from many disease outbreaks in recent years, including typhoid, malaria and anemia. The country has also grappled with an mpox outbreak, with more than 47,000 suspected cases and over 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease, according to the WHO.

Anti-malaria medicine provided by the WHO was being distributed at local health centers in Congo, and WHO officials said more medical supplies were due to arrive in the country Wednesday.

It’s the rainy season in Congo, which often sees a rise in malaria cases, and will certainly complicate treating those most at risk.

Severe weather affects over 76,000 people across 11 districts

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 06:10:37 +0000

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reports that severe weather conditions, including floods, strong winds, and fallen trees, have affected 76,218 individuals from 18,795 families across 11 districts in Sri Lanka.

The Gampaha District has been the hardest hit, with 68,672 people from 16,707 families impacted.

Tragically, the disaster has claimed two lives, while two others have sustained injuries. Additionally, 223 houses have suffered partial damage, according to the DMC.

Meanwhile, the Irrigation Department noted a decrease in water levels for the Attanagalu Oya, Kelani, Gin, Nilwala, and Kalu rivers, following minimal rainfall over the past 24 hours. However, Irrigation Engineer from the Hydrology and Disaster Management Division, Mrs. Sakura Dilthara cautioned that some areas remain submerged.

“Though rainfall has subsided in many areas, the water levels in the Attanagalu Oya, Kalu, Kelani, and Gin river basins are still high. Residents, particularly in low-lying areas, should remain vigilant as the threat of flooding persists. Any future significant rainfall could quickly return these rivers to flood conditions,” she warned.

Meanwhile, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) has extended landslide warnings for 47 Divisional Secretariat divisions across nine districts. The advisory remains in effect until 4.00 p.m. today.

Authorities are urging residents in affected regions to stay alert and heed all safety precautions as weather conditions continue to pose risks.

Advisory issued for severe lightening

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 11:36:17 +0000

The Meteorology Department has issued an ‘Amber’ advisory for severe lightning for several provinces.

Thundershowers accompanied by severe lightning are likely to occur at several places in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Central, Uva, North-western and Eastern provinces and in Polonnaruwa district.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

The general public is further requested to seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees, avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms, avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms and also avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors, boats etc. and to beware of fallen trees and power lines.

For emergency assistance, the public is requested to contact local disaster management authorities.