Wildfires rage in Spain and California as monsoon floods kill 17 in Pakistan

Madrid, September 13 (RHC)-- Authorities in southern Spain have evacuated 2,000 people from their homes in six Andalusian villages as a massive wildfire fanned by strong winds grew to some 15,000 acres.  The fire is so large it spawned its own weather systems, with thick smoke creating pyrocumulus clouds that threatened to spark new fires with dry lightning strikes. 

Some evacuees had no time to gather up belongings as they fled.  Adriana Iacob told reporters: “This is inhuman.  Nothing like this has ever been seen.  The flames of the fire as they ran through the mountains, it was spectacular.”

Last month, the Andalusia region recorded Spain’s all-time high temperature record of 117 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the U.S. state of California, thousands of firefighters are battling at least a dozen large fires, whipped up by high winds and fueled by bone-dry vegetation.  Much of California remains under a heat advisory through the end of the week. Fire officials say this year’s season is on pace to equal — or top — 2020’s record fire season.

In the Pacific, Super Typhoon Chanthu struck the northern Philippines on Saturday, before grazing Taiwan and bringing strong winds and heavy rain to eastern China.  At its peak, the storm was the equivalent of an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane, with sustained winds of 160 miles per hour.

Parts of the Texas coast are under a hurricane watch as Tropical Storm Nicholas is forecast to gain in intensity ahead of its landfall late today.

Meanwhile, torrential monsoon rains in northern Pakistan triggered landslides and destroyed homes Sunday, leaving at least 17 people dead.