Tropical Storm Conson rolled westward across the Philippines on Wednesday morning, stranding more than 1,300 people across the archipelago and forcing the Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Council to issue warnings about flash floods, landslides and big waves. Conson made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 69 mph on the northern Philippine island of Luzon, about 41 miles east of the capital, Manila, on Tuesday evening. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday (10 a.m. ET), sustained winds were down to about 59 mph in the center, with gusts up to 74 mph, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

At least 17 people have been killed and dozens more are missing after a series of landslides in south-west China, state media says. The landslides, which were triggered by days of heavy rain, struck three rural communities in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Four people were killed and 42 others were missing after one landslide in Xiaohe in Yunnan’s Zhaotong city. In Sichuan, two separate landslides left 13 people dead and two missing. Meanwhile further to the west in Qinghai province, 10,000 people have been evacuated from the area around an overflowing reservoir. Teams are trying to dig a channel to drain the reservoir, which has been filled far beyond capacity by recent heavy rain. It is the latest in a spate of weather-related incidents to hit China. Although seasonal, the rains are particularly heavy this year and disruption is severe. At least 43 people had died and 18 were missing after heavy rains along the Yangtze River in central and eastern China since 8 July, state media said. In Xiaohe in Yunnan, an official said that the side of a mountain crashed down on houses.

“The township is located in a river valley surrounded by mountains, people were buried in their homes,” the government official, who asked not to be named, told AFP news agency.

The other two landslides struck Yandai village in Garze and Sima village in Luzhou city. Search teams were working at all three sites, Xinhua news agency said, and relief supplies had been sent to Xiaohe. In Qinghai, soldiers were using bulldozers to cut a channel to drain water from the Wenquan reservoir, Xinhua reported. If it bursts, the reservoir could damage the nearby Qinghai-Tibet railway, along with the city of Golmud’s power and water plants, the agency said. Some parts of the city are reportedly already under 2m of water. Xinhua said the soldiers hoped to start draining the reservoir within the day.

Europe is continuing to swelter under a heatwave which has sent temperatures soaring. The punishing heat with temperatures as high as 40C (104F) has sparked a series of health warnings across the Northern region.

In Germany dozens of passengers on three trains had to be removed and some hospitalised after temperatures reached 50C (122F) after the air conditioning broke down during the weekend.  Cooler air pushing in from the Atlantic and Biscay has brought about a breakdown of the heat across Western Europe during Monday.  Violent thunderstorms have been triggered over France, Germany and the Low Countries with large hail, squally winds and risk of flash flooding in places. In Switzerland, recent heavy storms created by the sweltering heat have caused flash flooding and mudslides. Meanwhile, temperatures across south-eastern England, Western Europe and Scandinavia have now eased back to near normal. However, temperatures further south and east remain high with the chance of severe thunderstorms breaking out during this week.

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of “flowing water”, the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries.

While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding.

At least eight people have been injured after a tornado struck a German island in the North Sea. The tornado hit a campsite with about 100 people on the island of Duene, off the coast of the larger island Heligoland, at 1315 GMT.

Storms have also hit other parts of the country amid a heatwave in Germany, with temperatures reaching 40C. Two people were seriously injured, and at least six people were less badly hurt, reports say. The tornado destroyed the campsite and knocked over light aircraft at a nearby airfield, according to the DPA news agency. Eyewitnesses described a “black wall” that formed and then dissipated, the news agency said. Several people were injured by flying deckchairs, the ZDF television network reported.  Heligoland itself was undamaged by the storm. Tornadoes form after periods of extremely hot weather, when cooler air moves in. The end of the hot weather has caused disruption elsewhere in Germany.  In the northern town of Nordhorn, a woman was killed by a falling tree. Several train lines were also affected, including the services from Cologne to Dusseldorf and Aachen.

BP to begin tests to close valves on new containment cap in Gulf of Mexico and hopes to temporarily stop oil gushing from wellhead BP has fitted a larger, tighter-fitting containment cap on the ruptured Gulf of Mexico wellhead that has been gushing with oil since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on 20 April. Crude oil continues to spill into the sea, but the company wants to begin testing the new cap’s internal pressure this morning by closing its valves and hopes to be able to stop the flow until more permanent measures can be taken.

BP warned that success was not certain: “It is expected, although cannot be assured, that no oil will be released to the ocean for the duration of the test. This will not, however, be an indication that flow from the wellbore has been permanently stopped.” BP said it does not expect to plug the undersea geyser for good before mid-August, after intercepting the rupture point with one of two relief wells now being drilled. Former US coastguard Admiral Thad Allen, who is overseeing the US government’s spill response operation, said that if the cap works it will be used to resume the siphoning of oil to ships on the surface until the ruptured well can be permanently plugged. The cap-and-seal stack, which is larger than the one removed on Friday and bolted over the top of the wellhead rather than clamped loosely over it, is designed to capture three times more leaking oil, or virtually the entire flow.

An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor, temblor  or seismic activity) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s  crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are measured with a seismometer; a device which also records is known as a seismograph. The moment magnitude (or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude) of an earthquake is conventionally reported, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas.

Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale. At the Earth’s surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacing the ground. When a large earthquake epicenter  is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity.

In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event — whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans — that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments. An earthquake’s point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The term epicenter refers to the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.

What will you do with your pets when you decide to evacuate from Hurricane Earl? Will you take them to a shelter or take them with you? Know the answer beforehand. Make sure your family and friends know where you are evacuating to and what routes you plan to take to get there. Make sure that the people that care about you have a non-cell phone (landline) phone number to contact you after reaching your destination. Make a goodies bag and/or ice chest with food and drinks for your trip so you don’t have to routinely stop during your evacuation. No matter whether you are steadfast on evacuating or “riding it out” make sure to keep your vehicles full of gas in the days leading up to landfall. A mandatory evacuation may be ordered a day or so before Hurricane Earl hits and you will have no choice but to evacuate. If you stay in your home or a shelter through the storm, often times, gas is difficult to transport into the area after a hurricane has done its damage.

Be Prepared for Hurricane Earl

The most important action you can take before Hurricane Earl arrives is take the time to be prepared and cover all your bases. Don’t assume that Hurricane Earl will make landfall elsewhere. What can you do in advance? You can create a plan with your family and have decisions made before this hurricane becomes a problem. You can create your own “Hurricane Earl Survival Kit” (especially if you are “riding it out”)

Before Hurricane Earl Strikes, Have a Plan

Before Hurricane Earl ever actually forms, you should discuss particulars with your family, loved ones and friends. You should know what size hurricane would cause you to evacuate (you should always evacuate when ordered to do so by your city officials). If Hurricane Earl becomes a category 3 size storm, would you leave 2 days before or 6 hours? Know the answer beforehand. If Hurricane Earl becomes a large enough storm for you to evacuate, you should expect delays and know multiple evacuation routes if possible. You should have a good understanding of the best evacuation routes, normally provided by disaster agencies and your city government and always take a map with you. If you are evacuating in multiple vehicles, make sure to discuss places to meet along your route if you are separated.