Why living downstream from a glacier has become a deadly liability

 

A mud-covered street in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 26, 2026. A massive flood and landslide disaster on the Nepal-Tibet border has killed hundreds of people. Prakash Methema/AFP/Getty Images

by  By Laura Paddison

 

Living in the shadow of the world’s spectacular, ice-capped mountains has always carried dangers, but the devastating flood wave that carved a path of destruction on the Nepal-China border this week shows how life for the millions worldwide who live downstream of these peaks is becoming more unpredictable and more deadly.

It’s too soon to know what role climate change may have played in the catastrophic flooding, but what is clear is that mountains are changing fast as temperatures rise, melting glaciers and destabilizing slopes leading to complex, cascading disasters.

Nepal is a country of jagged, towering peaks with sheer slopes sweeping down to narrow valleys, cut through by powerful rivers. Its stunning landscape attracts hordes of tourists; it’s also treacherous.

Nestled in the rapidly warming Himalayas, the country has long been a hotspot for flooding and landslides. But what happened on Wednesday “was of significantly larger scale than what we have seen in the recent past,” said Prashant Baral, a cryosphere analyst at ICIMOD, a Nepali climate organization.

An enormous chunk of glacier around 2,000 feet wide sheared off Langtang Lirung mountain in northern Nepal, accompanied by landslide, according to satellite analysis. It sent a deadly mix of ice, water, rock, sediment and boulders the size of cars crashing 7,000 feet downward, causing such a powerful tremor, it was initially mistaken for an earthquake. 

 This torrent — described by some as “liquid concrete” — surged through narrow gorges, wiping out homes, buildings, power plants, bridges and roads. Hundreds have died; many hundreds more are missing. 

 

This event was remarkable in its ferocity, and it will take time to unravel the exact causes, but this kind of deadly flooding is precisely what scientists have warned would happen more frequently as humans heat the planet by burning fossil fuels.

“Whether this particular event can be tied to climate change or not, this is what we expect,” said Dan Shugar, a geologist at the University of Calgary in Canada. “This is what climate change looks like.”

The impacts will be felt well beyond Nepal.

High in the mountains, ice is king, but it’s disappearing fast. Up to half of the more than 200,000 mountain glaciers — vast, slow-moving rivers of ice that creep across the world’s peaks — are expected to disappear by the end of this century, even if ambitious climate goals are met. 

 

The rate of ice loss from glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, which includes Nepal, have doubled since 2000, according to recent ICIMOD research.

As glaciers shrink, they can become more unstable and “sudden failures can occur,” said Ella Gilbert, a climate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey. 

Water forms under Nepal's Khumbu glacier as the ice melts. Glaciers in Hindu Kush Himalaya rare melting at increasingly rapid rates as the world warms. Alex Treadway/ICIMOD/Reuters

 

Ice also holds mountains together, in the form of permafrost, a mix of soil, rock, sediment and ice. “Think of the high mountains like this as shattered bedrock glued together by ice-filled joints,” said Richard Waller, a physical geographer at Keele University in England.

As temperatures rise, ice melts, permafrost thaws and the landscape shifts. Vast chunks of mountainside can destabilize and give way.

Glacial lakes, which form as glaciers melt, pose another hazard. They can become so full, they burst their banks, sending water and debris cascading down steep mountainsides. A glacial lake outburst was responsible for flooding in a similar area of Nepal in July last year, killing at least 11 people. 

 Then there’s rain, which is becoming more intense as the planet warms. Extreme precipitation is increasingly falling on mountains as rain not snow, increasing the risks of landslides and soil erosion. 

People walk on a suspension bridge to cross the flooded Trishuli River in Bhaise, Nuwakot, Nepal, on July 08, 2025. Ambir Tolang/NurPhoto/Getty Images

 

There are many glaciers “hanging above our heads, and anytime they can burst,” said Bishal Upreti, a geologist and president of the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management. When they do, it’s like a “tsunami from the sky,” he said.

Nepal may be particularly at risk, but this is a global problem. Any high mountain areas with glaciers and permafrost are at risk, from the European Alps to the Andes, Waller said.

In the US, the Medenhall Glacier perched above Alaska’s capital Juneau drains into the Suicide Basin lake which frequently bursts its banks, sending floodwater sweeping downstream toward the city, washing away homes.

Last year, the Swiss village of Blatten was completely buried after a glacier collapsed, sending millions of tons of ice and rock down mountainside. Scientists believe it may have been linked to thawing permafrost, causing rocks to tumble onto the glacier, destabilizing it. 

Houses submerged in water arriving on August 24, 2025 at Blatten, Switzerland. On May 28, millions of cubic meters of rock tumbled down from Kleiner Nesthorn mountain onto the Birch Glacier, sending rock, ice and mud crashing into the valley. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

 

Early warning is increasingly critical. Nepal’s warning systems likely saved many lives downstream, said Hannah Cloke, a professor of meteorology and climate change at the University of Reading in the UK. But high in the mountains “there is often very little time between the triggering event and the impact, making warnings exceptionally difficult,” she said.

One scientist estimated the Nepal-China flood wave roared down the first nearly 14 miles at a speed of 120 mph

 

It’s fiendishly difficult to know further in advance which of the country’s glaciers may be on course to collapse. Monitoring each of Nepal’s 3,000 glaciers closely would be “extremely challenging,” said ICIMOD’s Baral.

There is hope, however, in new satellite systems which could be a “game changer” for Nepal and other countries, Shugar said.

This could be a vital step as the planet’s majestic, icy mountains continue to draw people to them, putting them directly in the path of the increasingly deadly and unpredictable hazards they are likely to unleash as the world warms.

Climate crisis "could" be destabilising mountain areas like Nepal, experts warn

 

Nuwakot in Nepal. The UN’s scientific advisory body warned in 2023 that ice-bound landmasses would become more unstable. Photograph: Sanjit Pariyar/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

by  Jonathan Watts

 Unusual heat this year may have melted ice and thawed bonds that hold glaciers in place – leading to catastrophe

 

The devastating flash flood that has ripped through the border communities of Nepal and Tibet has heightened fears that the climate crisis is destabilising the geology of mountain and polar regions, threatening millions of people.

Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause of the deadly torrent of mud, water and ice that tore along the Bhotekoshi River on Wednesday. It swept away buildings and roads and left at least 360 dead and 1,400 missing.

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake was initially blamed for the collapse. However, it is now thought to have been caused by the huge wall of ice that crashed down on to the north slope of Langtang Lirung, a 7,000-metre (23,000ft) mountain, the impact of which registered a magnitude of 5.2.

“Additional analysis of long-period seismic waves indicates that the seismic energy was instead generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow,” the US Geological Survey said.

The ice-rock avalanche pushed boulders and other debris into the Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River. Water levels in rivers downstream rose by between 7 and 9 metres within 30 minutes, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, an intergovernmental scientific institution.

Scientists are still examining the precise mechanics of the Himalayan disaster, but many observe that glaciers and permafrost around the world are being weakened by global heating, caused by the burning of gas, oil and coal.

Flooding in the Bhotekoshi River has affected low-lying areas along the riverbanks and nearby homes in Nuwakot, Nepal. Photograph: Ap Tolang/Nexpher/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

The detachment of a chunk of the glacier wall came amid unusual heat that was likely to have melted the ice that bound the splintered bedrock together.

Two days before the collapse, the ground temperature hit its highest point in the last two years, according to Dr Hamish Pritchard, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, whose team had sensors 6 miles (10km) away from the site.

“These high temperatures would have weakened the snowpack, filled crevasses with water and thawed the bonds between ice and rock that hold these glaciers in place,” he told the Science Media Centre.

 

A series of intense heatwaves has hit the region since early this year and affected countries around the world. Another factor here was the monsoon season, which saturated the soil and swelled rivers.

Disasters like this were foretold. In 2023 the UN’s top scientific advisory body warned that previously ice-bound landmasses – from permafrost tundra to mountain glaciers – would become increasingly unstable as temperatures rose.

 

“Every increment of warming will multiply and intensify future hazards from cryosphere regions,” observed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its sixth synthesis report. “Floods, landslides and freshwater shortages from glacier retreat and snow loss pose a serious threat to mountain regions across the world.”

Average global temperatures are nudging closer to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. Even faster warming is occurring in alpine and polar regions because the loss of snow and ice is removing the thermal insulation of the land.

 

Dr Richard Waller, a senior lecturer in physical geography at Keele University, said: “The progressive loss of snow and glacier ice results in the surface being less reflective, so it absorbs more solar energy and heats up. In combination with atmospheric warming, this is leading to the melting of mountain permafrost.

“Think of the high mountains like this as shattered bedrock glued together by ice-filled joints. As the permafrost and the ice-filled joints melt, then there’s the potential for these types of catastrophic failure.”

The thaw is altering the shape, colour and solidity of the landscape, creating or expanding glacial meltwater lakes and, in the long term, threatening the origin of many rivers and the drinking supplies of populations downstream. In many parts of Asia, hundreds of millions of people depend on the rivers such as the Ganges and the Brahmaputra that descend from the glaciers.

Scientists have high confidence that glacier retreat is caused by human-driven global heating. This has caused glacier collapses from the Alps to the Andes. In the Langtang catchment area in Nepal, glacier loss rates have increased more than fourfold since 1964, a study has shown.

This has contributed to a loss of life on multiple occasions. A smaller flood hit the Bhotekoshi River in July 2025 and in 2015, the Langtang Lirung mountain was hit by an earthquake-induced avalanche that destroyed Langtang village.

As emergency services look for bodies and humanitarian relief groups mobilise for survivors, others are asking where next. Waller said any high mountain areas with glaciers and permafrost could be vulnerable, including the European Alps, Caucasus, Himalayas, Andes and beyond.

As glacier weakening accelerates, Pritchard called for greater disaster preparedness. “More avalanches and more floods are inevitable, particularly as lakes grow in front of the retreating glaciers,” he said. “Early warning systems are urgently needed to protect the people living in these valleys.”

Climate crisis could be destabilising mountain areas like Nepal, experts warn. Unusual heat "this year" may have melted ice and thawed bonds that hold glaciers in place – leading to catastrophe

 

Nuwakot in Nepal. The UN’s scientific advisory body warned in 2023 that ice-bound landmasses would become more unstable. Photograph: Sanjit Pariyar/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

by  Jonathan Watts

 

The devastating flash flood that has ripped through the border communities of Nepal and Tibet has heightened fears that the climate crisis is destabilising the geology of mountain and polar regions, threatening millions of people.

Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause of the deadly torrent of mud, water and ice that tore along the Bhotekoshi River on Wednesday. It swept away buildings and roads and left at least 360 dead and 1,400 missing.

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake was initially blamed for the collapse. However, it is now thought to have been caused by the huge wall of ice that crashed down on to the north slope of Langtang Lirung, a 7,000-metre (23,000ft) mountain, the impact of which registered a magnitude of 5.2.

“Additional analysis of long-period seismic waves indicates that the seismic energy was instead generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow,” the US Geological Survey said.

The ice-rock avalanche pushed boulders and other debris into the Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River. Water levels in rivers downstream rose by between 7 and 9 metres within 30 minutes, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, an intergovernmental scientific institution.

Scientists are still examining the precise mechanics of the Himalayan disaster, but many observe that glaciers and permafrost around the world are being weakened by global heating, caused by the burning of gas, oil and coal.

Flooding in the Bhotekoshi River has affected low-lying areas along the riverbanks and nearby homes in Nuwakot, Nepal. Photograph: Ap Tolang/Nexpher/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

The detachment of a chunk of the glacier wall came amid unusual heat that was likely to have melted the ice that bound the splintered bedrock together.

Two days before the collapse, the ground temperature hit its highest point in the last two years, according to Dr Hamish Pritchard, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, whose team had sensors 6 miles (10km) away from the site.

“These high temperatures would have weakened the snowpack, filled crevasses with water and thawed the bonds between ice and rock that hold these glaciers in place,” he told the Science Media Centre.

A series of intense heatwaves has hit the region since early this year and affected countries around the world. Another factor here was the monsoon season, which saturated the soil and swelled rivers.

Disasters like this were foretold. In 2023 the UN’s top scientific advisory body warned that previously ice-bound landmasses – from permafrost tundra to mountain glaciers – would become increasingly unstable as temperatures rose.

“Every increment of warming will multiply and intensify future hazards from cryosphere regions,” observed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its sixth synthesis report. “Floods, landslides and freshwater shortages from glacier retreat and snow loss pose a serious threat to mountain regions across the world.”

Average global temperatures are nudging closer to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. Even faster warming is occurring in alpine and polar regions because the loss of snow and ice is removing the thermal insulation of the land.

Dr Richard Waller, a senior lecturer in physical geography at Keele University, said: “The progressive loss of snow and glacier ice results in the surface being less reflective, so it absorbs more solar energy and heats up. In combination with atmospheric warming, this is leading to the melting of mountain permafrost.

“Think of the high mountains like this as shattered bedrock glued together by ice-filled joints. As the permafrost and the ice-filled joints melt, then there’s the potential for these types of catastrophic failure.”

A destroyed building in Devighat, Nuwakot. Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

The thaw is altering the shape, colour and solidity of the landscape, creating or expanding glacial meltwater lakes and, in the long term, threatening the origin of many rivers and the drinking supplies of populations downstream. In many parts of Asia, hundreds of millions of people depend on the rivers such as the Ganges and the Brahmaputra that descend from the glaciers.

Scientists have high confidence that glacier retreat is caused by human-driven global heating. This has caused glacier collapses from the Alps to the Andes. In the Langtang catchment area in Nepal, glacier loss rates have increased more than fourfold since 1964, a study has shown.

TImeline of how deadly Nepal and Tibet flash flood unfolded – explainer

 

This has contributed to a loss of life on multiple occasions. A smaller flood hit the Bhotekoshi River in July 2025 and in 2015, the Langtang Lirung mountain was hit by an earthquake-induced avalanche that destroyed Langtang village.

As emergency services look for bodies and humanitarian relief groups mobilise for survivors, others are asking where next. Waller said any high mountain areas with glaciers and permafrost could be vulnerable, including the European Alps, Caucasus, Himalayas, Andes and beyond.

As glacier weakening accelerates, Pritchard called for greater disaster preparedness. “More avalanches and more floods are inevitable, particularly as lakes grow in front of the retreating glaciers,” he said. “Early warning systems are urgently needed to protect the people living in these valleys.”

"Climate Change" - Nearly 1,400 missing, mostly tourists, after Nepal-Tibet flash flood kills at least 270

 

A drone view shows mud covering properties after the flash flood in Trishuli, Nepal. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

 Nepal’s disaster authority said satellite data indicated a “snow-rock landslide” on the Nepal-China border may have caused the flood. Scientists say climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the region.

For a prediction, read this 2016 article: 

 Entire villages swept away after glacial collapse triggers flood in mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims

by  Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi, Sam Jones, Kate Lamb and agencies

Rescuers are searching for nearly 1,400 people, most of them tourists, who are missing after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and Tibet, thundering down valleys, obliterating entire villages and killing at least 270 people.

Efforts to locate those missing – including hundreds of people from India, the US, UK, Australia and Canada – have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and almost 25 miles (40km) of roads in the mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims.

Videos from Wednesday’s disaster showed a massive wall of water crashing down on the border as people tried to flee. Trucks were upended and houses, roads ⁠and power projects swept away in Nepal, while ​officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” after a mudslide hit a border crossing.

Deadly flash flood hit Nepal and China - cinemagraph

 

Rescue teams have found bodies hundreds of miles downstream from the disaster zone in the Chitwan district of Nepal, near the Tibetan border. Dozens of injured people have been transported to Kathmandu for advanced medical care. By Thursday morning, the Nepali army had rescued more than 100 people from flood-affected areas by helicopter.

David Fisher, the head of the Nepal delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross, said entire villages and market areas had been wiped out.

In the affected areas, houses, trees and vehicles were submerged or buried in mudslides. Helicopters hovered overhead all day, helping to rescue survivors.

The power, volume and speed of the surging waters gave little time for anyone to flee.

People from the hard-hit areas of Nuwakot and Dhading were seen gathering outside a Nepali army training centre – the base for helicopter rescue operations – seeking information about missing family members.

Police were recording the names of the missing just outside the barracks gate. Mobile phone torches were their only source of light as the area remained without electricity due to damaged hydroelectric infrastructure.

The village of Soley, in Nuwakot, which had about 25 homes, was virtually wiped out, according to Nirajan Paudyal, a Kathmandu-based journalist whose parents and other relatives live there. Desperate for information, he travelled to the area on Thursday for news of his family.

 

“There is no update till now,” he said. “I fear there won’t be any update.”

Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism ⁠officials said. Among those unaccounted were 177 from India, 63 from the US, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

Chinese state media said at least 558 were missing on the Tibet side of the border, of whom at least 260 were foreign nationals.

Police in Nepal said 270 ⁠bodies had been recovered by Thursday afternoon local time, while Chinese state media reported three dead on the Tibet side of the border.

Many of the victims were on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in ‌Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists among others.

Early reports from Nepali ​officials suggested an earthquake could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger ‌the floods. But the US Geological Survey later said what was initially reported ‌as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake was a seismic shock generated by glacial rock and ice collapsing and the flow of debris. “No earthquake had occurred,” it said.

amaged section of highway in Nepal after the flash flood. Photograph: Subaas Shrestha/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
 

An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated a landslide of ice and rock triggered the debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, about 12 miles (20km) north-east of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal’s national disaster authority said. Experts say the risk of such events is compounded by the extreme topography of the Himalayas.

People shared harrowing stories of how they managed to survive. “I started running. Then a wall of water came thundering down as if it was an earthquake,” said Bibek Kumal, a labourer who was working downstream from the worst-hit Rasuwa district, near Nepal’s Himalayan border with China’s Tibet.

From his hospital bed, Kumal said the torrent swept him downstream amid mud and debris but he survived by clinging to a mango tree. “Had there been no mango tree, I would ‌have been washed away to death,” he said.

Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor who was being treated at a small hospital, said: “It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us. As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher.

“I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take ⁠her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud. Four or five hours later, a helicopter came to rescue me. My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud. She’s gone.”

 

Nepali soldiers carrying a survivor of the flash flood. Photograph: Nepal Army/EPA

 

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, said UN teams and partners were mobilising supplies and personnel to support communities affected by the disaster. The US government said it would provide $500,000 in emergency assistance.

Tibet government officials deployed nearly 800 emergency workers and 150 vehicles as well as sniffer dogs and speed boats to help the rescue efforts, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.

The Chinese premier, Li Qiang, travelled to the affected area on the China-Nepal border on Thursday to oversee search efforts there.

 

The tour company Himalayan Glacier said 47 people, including two children, were missing from one of its groups in Nepal. Among them were 15 Australians, 10 Canadians, nine Nepalis, eight Americans, two Britons, two Singaporeans and one Russian-American dual citizen, its managing director, Sanket Pandey, said.

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said his thoughts were with those concerned about their loved ones, and that getting information about the status of missing people remained difficult.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

Europe is the world’s fastest warming continent. What is to blame?

Firefighters battle a wildfire in the Casaboli Forest near Palermo in Italy in July 2026. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

 

The whole world is getting hotter as carbon pollution from fossil fuel burning traps ever more heat, but Europe is heating up twice as fast as other continents. The consequences are increasingly deadly, with tens of thousands of heatwave deaths so far this summer.

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Why is Europe most affected by global heating?

Land requires less heat than the vast and deep oceans to warm up, so all continents are warming more quickly than the seas. But Europe is particularly vulnerable for four reasons: changed weather patterns, its closeness to the Arctic, less snow and less air pollution.

As a result, Europe is now 2.5C hotter than before the mass burning of fossil fuels, almost double the global average 1.4C rise. Temperatures in Europe have risen by 0.56C a decade since the mid-1990s, compared with 0.42C in North America, 0.36C in Africa and 0.27C in South America.

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How have Europe’s weather patterns changed?

Shifts in how the atmosphere circulates over Europe have led to more frequent and more intense summer heatwaves. This includes the worst ever heatwave, in June 2026, in which a vast area of hot air was trapped under a stationary “heat dome”.

Scientists are still investigating the role of global heating in causing changes in atmospheric circulation, but a link seems increasingly likely.

 

Dr Samantha Burgess, from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, said: “We see statistically significant changes in surface pressure patterns and other measures of circulation when we look at trends over the last 40 or more years, and on this timescale they are more likely associated with climate change than natural variability.”

The association may be the result of a changing jet stream, a fast high-level wind that has a powerful influence on Europe’s weather and is itself affected by rising temperatures.

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Why is the Arctic important?

The Arctic is the fastest warming region on the planet, despite having no land. This is because the white polar ice cap, which normally reflects the vast majority of sunlight back into space, is melting away fast. As a result, the darker ocean exposed by the melting absorbs much more heat, which then melts more ice, forming a vicious circle. With a significant proportion of Europe relatively close to the Arctic, temperatures are therefore rising faster.

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What about snow cover?

Most of Europe had snowfall in winter in the past. Like the Arctic sea ice, this snow reflected sunlight and kept the continent cooler. But the climate crisis is shrinking snow-covered areas.

In March 2025, Europe’s blanket of snow was about 1.3m square km below the 1991-2020 average, a 31% drop. That lost area is roughly the area of France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria combined. It was the third lowest snow cover since records began in 1983.

 

Why does reduced air pollution affect temperatures?

Air pollution kills millions of people globally every year and so Europe’s record of cutting toxic air levels in recent decades is unequivocally a good thing. However, cleaner air is also unmasking the impact of the rise in carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere.

Air pollution particles can reflect the sun’s rays, directly or by seeding the formation of clouds, meaning the heat does not reach the ground. Fewer particles means less reflection and more heat that is trapped by greenhouse gases. Lower pollution might even be connected to the increase in blocking weather patterns.

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How important is each of the four factors above?

The short answer is that scientists don’t yet know, but they aim to have an estimate next year.

Burgess said: “What we can say is that the importance of each factor must vary with season, with proximity to the Arctic important in autumn and winter, and circulation changes since the late 1970s of greater statistical significance in summer.”

The drop in air pollution is most marked in winter because of declining coal heating in homes, and snow cover is a winter issue. Winter warming in Europe in recent decades has been strongest in the north, while summer warming has been strongest in the south-east.

 

What are the consequences?

The rapid heating is leading to ever more deaths and more intense wildfires and droughts. Storms, intense rainfall and floods are also being supercharged by the extra heat in the climate system. All deeply affect lives and livelihoods across the continent and will continue to worsen until emissions reach net zero. Rapid cuts in CO₂ pollution and the rollout of measures to protect citizens are urgently needed.

The UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, said in late July: “The awful costs of this climate crisis – both human and economic – are now reaching national emergency levels. What needs to be done is clear: leave coal, oil and gas behind faster, scale up renewables, and protect people.”

UK to warn citizens to stock up on food amid threat from climate crisis and hostile states

 

The fire-gutted remains of homes on Quarry Park Road on 17 August in Stourbridge, England after a wildfire that broke out across the West Midlands. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty

 

by Jessica Elgot and Kiran Stacey

 Government resilience campaign aims to ensure people can cope in a national disaster, in order to free resources for most vulnerable

 

UK citizens will be told to stock up on tinned food and take steps to ensure they are prepared for national emergencies as part of a new government campaign to improve the nation’s resilience.

The new campaign from the Cabinet Office will set out ways people can prepare for extreme weather events and potential attacks from hostile states, including stocking up on bottled water, sources told the Guardian.

The aim will be to ensure most households have basic supplies and knowledge about how to cope in a crisis, in order to free up immediate government resources for the most vulnerable.

 

Planning for a number of disasters, from cyber-attacks to extreme heat and flooding, has increased over the past few months after a number of incidents both in the UK and across the world. The plans, first reported by the FT, also include an internal reassessment of government preparations for a military attack by a hostile state affecting Britain.

The Cabinet Office minister Louise Haigh, who is Andy Burnham’s de-facto deputy, is also understood to be coordinating crisis planning across departments in Whitehall to allow swifter assistance to affected communities.

Drought is predicted to cause food shortages. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock

During his campaign to become Makerfield MP, Burnham spoke repeatedly about the threat of flooding to communities and the inadequacy of government planning and response.

Burnham convened a Cobra meeting earlier this month to coordinate the government’s response to the heatwave, amid a threat of spreading wildfires and drought warnings.

The government was criticised, however, for its decision to send an emergency phone alert warning of wildfires last week, which charities and domestic abuse survivors said risked the safety of people who might be hiding secret phones.

Haigh’s predecessor, Darren Jones, had said that work was under way on the so-called “war book” on how international conflict might affect the UK.

The Cabinet Office said: “Safeguarding national security is the first priority of any government.

“We’re committed to raising awareness of simple steps households can take to make themselves more resilient, as well as driving forward the home defence programme to build our country’s preparedness for various threats.”

England’s ancient oak trees dying in extreme hot and dry weather. Woodland Trust says trees struggling in drought stress, with older ‘survivors’ disproportionately affected

The Major oak with supporting poles in Sherwood Forest: ‘One of the main reasons that tree died is because of these extreme weather conditions.’ Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

by  Pippa Neill and Safeerah Ahmed

 

England’s ancient oak trees are dying in the summer’s extreme heat and dry weather, according to the Woodland Trust, with trees and ecosystems unable to adapt fast enough to the changing climate.

The heatwaves across much of Europe this summer have had a notable impact on crop growth and plant health. To cope with the extreme conditions, many trees are undergoing “early autumn”, wilting and losing their leaves early.

John Parker, the chief executive of the Arboricultural Association, said: “The signs of heat stress and dry weather is visible.”

Ed Pyne, a senior conservation adviser at the Woodland Trust, said it was helpful to think of trees like a large pipe constantly transporting water, minerals and nutrients from the soil, through its roots, up its trunk and out to its branches and leaves.

“When the trees are losing too much water, it stops this process and that’s when we start seeing the leaves wilting and dying, which can give rise to this early autumn phenomenon where the trees are losing their leaves early,” he said.

Fallen leaves on a pavement in London in July. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press/Shutterstock

While the impact of the extreme weather is widespread across different species, Pyne said England’s ancient and veteran trees were being disproportionately affected. “These really old trees, they’re survivors, but, like us, when they get old they get a bit less resilient.”

This was made particularly visible by the death in June of the Major oak, one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees. “One of the main reasons that tree died is because of these extreme weather conditions,” Pyne said.

Oak trees are classed as chronologically ancient from 400 years old onwards, although many will have ancient characteristics from around 300 years. There are about 3,300 oak trees greater than 6 metres in circumference in England, and about 114 over 9 metres. The rest of Europe combined, including Scotland and Wales, has about 98 recorded oaks over 9 metres.

Sherwood Forest lost eight ancient oak trees in 2024 and 2025, and Pyne has identified seven in England and Wales that are now in a critical condition:

• Crow Leasow oak, Shropshire.

• Tea Party oak, Suffolk.

• King John oak, Devon.

• Enmore oak, Somerset.

• Lydham Manor oak, Shropshire.

• Old Knobbley, Essex.

• Pwllpriddog oak, Carmarthenshire.

  
  The Tea Party oak is thought to be in critical condition. Photograph: Jim Woolf/Woodland Trust

  He said: “When you get these incessant droughts year after year, it’s a cumulative effect which compounds across time and gets worse. Almost all of our ancient trees are struggling under these conditions. They’re dying of this drought stress.”

  Pyne’s analysis of mortality rates of ancient oaks found that half could be lost over the next 60 years. This analysis did not consider the changing climate, so Pyne believes the figure is likely to be a significant underestimate.

  It is not just oak trees that are affected. Parker said beech trees in particular were also struggling with the heat. “They are possibly going into decline and may die, which would be disastrous for us,” he said.

  Alexander Held, a senior expert at the European Forest Institute, said in Europe even drought-tolerant trees such as pine trees were dying. “Our trees can’t cope,” he said. The impact is varied, with some trees affected by the heat and others sunburnt from the sunlight.

  
  An oak tree in a parched park in Bexley, south-east London, last week. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

  Angelo Morgan, a director of urban tree management at the company Trees UK of Bromley, said historically their busy period had been the winter, when high winds and rain could cause a whole root system to come up. But now they were receiving an increasing number of calls to deal with “limb failure” in periods of hot and dry weather.

  “The tree’s vascular system isn’t taking up as much moisture as it would normally do and so a lot of the limbs become very brittle and a lot of larger limbs are failing,” he said.

  While forests are in a state of permanent adaptation, Held said the problem was the speed of change. “Our trees and ecosystems aren’t fast enough to cope with the speed of change. These changes will likely be a big disruption to our ecosystems,” he said.