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Egypt notified that Ethiopia has resumed filling of giant dam

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Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo

CAIRO, July 5 (Reuters) – Egypt’s irrigation minister said on Monday he had received official notice from Ethiopia that it had begun filling the reservoir behind its giant hydropower dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), for a second year.

Egypt has informed Ethiopia of its categorical rejection of the measure, which it regards as a threat to regional stability, Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty said in a statement.

Ethiopia says the dam on its Blue Nile is crucial to its economic development and providing power to its population.

Egypt views the dam as a grave threat to its Nile water supplies, on which it is almost entirely dependent. Sudan, another downstream country, has expressed concern about the safety of the dam and the impact on its own dams and water stations.

The volume of the accumulating water would depend on the amount of seasonal rain that fell in Ethiopia, Egyptian Irrigation Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ghanim told a local TV channel.

“We won’t see any effect now on the Nile. We have a month or a month and a half ahead of us,” he said.

Egypt and Sudan have waged a diplomatic campaign for a legally binding deal over the dam’s operation, but talks have repeatedly stalled.

The diplomatic push intensified ahead of the first filling of the dam with last summer, and again in recent weeks.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to discuss the issue on Thursday, and Abdel Aty had written to the council to inform it of the latest developments, the statement said.

Ethiopia says it is finally exercising its rights over Nile waters long controlled by its downstream neighbours.

Its ambassador to Khartoum said on Sunday that Egypt and Sudan already knew the details of the first three years of the dam’s filling, and that the issue should not be brought before the Security Council as it was not a matter of peace and security.

Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah, Omar Fahmy and Nafisa Eltahir, Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by Diane Craft and Sonya Hepinstall

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Rescuers fight time, weather in Japan landslide; some 80 missing

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Members of Japanese Self-Defence Forces conduct rescue and search operartion at a mudslide site caused by heavy rain at Izusan district in Atami, west of Tokyo, Japan July 5, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Kyodo/via REUTERS

TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) – More than a thousand Japanese rescuers combed through crumbled houses and buried roads on Monday two days after landslides tore through a seaside city, fighting time and poor weather to search for some 80 people believed missing.

At least three people have been killed in Atami after torrential rain at the weekend – more than a usual July’s worth in 24 hours some areas – touched off a succession of landslides, sending torrents of mud and rock ripping through streets.

The landslides are a reminder of the natural disasters – including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunami – that haunt Japan, where the capital Tokyo is to host the summer Olympics beginning this month.

“My mother is still missing,” one man told NHK public television. “I never imagined something like this could happen here.”

One 75-year-old evacuee said the house across from his had been swept away and the couple that lived there was unaccounted for.

“This is hell,” he said.

By Monday, the number of rescuers at the site had risen to 1,500, officials said, and could increase.

“We want to rescue as many victims … buried in the rubble as soon as possible,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters, adding that police, firefighters and members of the military were doing all they could to aid the search.

There are 113 people believed missing in Atami, a city of almost 36,000 people situated 90 km (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo, spokesperson Hiroki Onuma told Reuters, confirming the third death. That fatality was a woman, Japanese media said

By noon, though, that number of missing had dropped to around 80, Kyodo said.

“We’re in touch with various groups and pushing forward with the searches,” Onuma said.

Over the weekend some 20 people were said to be unaccounted for, but the number rose sharply on Monday as officials began working from residential registers rather than phone calls from people unable to reach family and friends, he said.

Around 130 buildings were affected on Saturday morning when landslides ripped through Atami, a hot springs resort set on a steep slope that leads down to a bay.

The water, mud and debris are thought to have flowed along a river for about 2 km (1.2 miles) to the sea, local media said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato called on residents to remain vigilant, noting that the saturated earth has been weakened and even light rain could prove dangerous.

Though Onuma said rain had stopped in Atami for now, more is forecast, raising the possibility of further landslides.

“The situation is unpredictable,” he said.

Stocks in some engineering firms rose on Monday.

Raito Kogyo Co Ltd (1926.T), an expert in slope and foundation improvement, rose 1.5%, while CE Management Integrated Laboratory Co Ltd (6171.T), which offers geological survey and disaster prevention systems, gained 3.7%.

Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Elaine Lies; Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christopher Cushing

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Hurricane Elsa cuts power, batters homes in Barbados

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CHRIST CHURCH, Barbados, July 2 (Reuters) – Hurricane Elsa blew roofs off homes, toppled trees and sparked flooding in the island nation of Barbados then pounded St. Vincent with heavy rain and winds on Friday, as the storm was tracking towards Haiti.

Minister of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs Wilfred A. Abrahams urged Barbadians to shelter in place and only leave their homes if the structures were damaged.

Elsa strengthened into a hurricane earlier in the day and was about 95 miles (153 km) west-northwest of St. Vincent, blowing maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (140 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

“The island definitely cannot handle any sort of damages at this point because we still haven’t recovered from the volcanic eruption yet,” said 20-year-old student Queriise Thomas in the community of Choppins in southern St. Vincent.

Earlier this year, heavy rains slammed St. Vincent with major flooding and landslides after a series of volcanic eruptions blanketed large swathes of the island in a thick layer of ash. read more

Thomas said intermittent heavy rain caused flooding and parts of the island lost electricity. St. Vincent’s water and sewage authority cut water supply to all residents as a precaution due to potential mudflows.

The NHC forecast 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) of rain with a maximum of 15 inches (38 cm) across the Windward and southern Leeward Islands including Barbados, which could lead to isolated flash flooding and mudslides.

A man views damage to a home after strong winds of Hurricane Elsa passed St. Michael, Barbados July 2, 2021. REUTERS/Nigel Browne

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Hurricane conditions were expected in Haiti and possible in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica by late Saturday, the agency said.

The Barbados minister said damage was reported in the south of the island including power outages, fallen trees, flash flooding and damaged roofs.

Emergency services were unable to reach people, but there were no reports of injuries or deaths.

A resident in south Barbados, 43-year-old structural engineer Greg Parris, whose home lost power around 7 a.m., said: “It was scary. Most of us, we haven’t experienced anything like this for a while.”

Elsa’s progress should be monitored by the Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Cayman Islands, the Miami-based NHC said.

Little change in Elsa’s strength was forecast over the next 48 hours and some decrease in winds is possible on Monday, the hurricane center said.

Elsa’s storm surge was expected to raise water levels by as much as 1 to 4 feet above normal tide levels in some areas. Puerto Rico could receive up to 5 inches of rain, the NHC.

Reporting by Robert Edison Sandiford in Christ Church, Barbados and Kate Chappell in Kingston, Jamaica; Additional reporting by Anthony Esposito in Mexico City and Nakul Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Cynthia Osterman

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‘Eye of fire’ in Mexican waters snuffed out, says national oil company

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MEXICO CITY, July 2 (Reuters) – A fire on the ocean surface west of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula early on Friday has been extinguished, state oil company Pemex said, blaming a gas leak from an underwater pipeline for sparking the blaze captured in videos that went viral.

Bright orange flames jumping out of water resembling molten lava was dubbed an “eye of fire” on social media due to the blaze’s circular shape, as it raged a short distance from a Pemex oil platform.

The fire took more than five hours to fully put out, according to Pemex.

The fire began in an underwater pipeline that connects to a platform at Pemex’s flagship Ku Maloob Zaap oil development, the company’s most important, four sources told Reuters earlier.

Ku Maloob Zaap is located just up from the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

Pemex said no injuries were reported, and production from the project was not affected after the gas leak ignited around 5:15 a.m. local time. It was completely extinguished by 10:30 a.m.

The company added it would investigate the cause of the fire.

Pemex, which has a long record of major industrial accidents at its facilities, added it also shut the valves of the 12-inch-diameter pipeline.

Angel Carrizales, head of Mexico’s oil safety regulator ASEA, wrote on Twitter that the incident “did not generate any spill.” He did not explain what was burning on the water’s surface.

Ku Maloob Zaap is Pemex’s biggest crude oil producer, accounting for more than 40% of its nearly 1.7 million barrels of daily output.

“The turbomachinery of Ku Maloob Zaap’s active production facilities were affected by an electrical storm and heavy rains,” according to a Pemex incident report shared by one of Reuters’ sources.

Company workers used nitrogen to control the fire, the report added.

Details from the incident report were not mentioned in Pemex’s brief press statement and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Marianna Parraga; Additional reporting by David Alire Garcia; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon, Philippa Fletcher and David Gregorio

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