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In Rio Grande do Sul - an area larger than the UK - is currently affected by unprecedented floods. The flying river has acted like a firehose, fuelling five months of rainfall in just two weeks.

Wildfires in western and central Canada spread rapidly this week, forcing thousands of people to evacuate, with smoke sweeping into the Midwest and triggering air quality alerts in several states, a reminder of last year’s smoky conditions.

To investigate trends in fire weather, a key factor of wildfire risk, Climate Central analyzed data from 476 weather stations to assess trends in 245 climate divisions spanning the 48 contiguous U.S. states during the last 51 years (1973-2023).

In Canada land subsidence, a natural sinking process intensified by human activities like groundwater extraction and wetland destruction, is playing a critical role in the extent to which communities experience impacts from rising seas.

This brief displays the May 2024 updates for the Early Warnings 4 All initiative.

Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) recently reunited with disaster management experts in Barbados following a March 2024 engagement in Bridgetown in which PDC presented the results of the National Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment.

In a recent study, a team led by scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California was able to detect signs of flash droughts up to three months before onset. In the future, such advance notice could aid mitigation efforts.

Dozens of wildfires are burning across Canada in May 2024 and sending unhealthy smoke blowing into the northern U.S. again. At the same time, the southeastern U.S. is getting smoke from Mexico, where drought conditions have been fueling fires.