HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Heavy monsoon rains and floods have killed at least 33 people in southern India and five children in Pakistan over the past two days, authorities said Tuesday.
In India's Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states, houses collapsed and were swept away by torrential downpours while floods disrupted road and rail traffic, officials said. The weather service issued a red alert for 11 districts, predicting more rains in the region, Telangana’s top bureaucrat, Shanta Kumari, said.
More than 4,000 people have been moved to 110 government-run relief camps in Telangana since Monday, according to the state's top elected official, A. Revanth Reddy.
Overflowing lakes, tanks and streams have cut off some villages in Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts.
Vijayawada, the commercial capital of Andhra Pradesh, is experiencing the worst flooding in two decades with the Budameru River flooding 40% of the city and stranding nearly 275,000 people in more than a dozen residential area.
Disaster relief teams are struggling to transport stranded families to safter areas, said Andhra Pradesh's top elected official, N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Since June, at least 170 people have died across India's six northeastern states due to floods and mudslides brought on by the rains, according to official figures.
In neighboring Pakistan, flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed five children on Monday in southwestern Balochistan province, bringing the country's overall death toll from rain-related incidents to at least 300 since July 1.
The five deaths were reported in the Zhob and Khuzdar districts, according to a statement by the disaster management authority. In Balochistan alone, floods have killed 32 people, including 18 children and 12 women over the past two months.
The deluges have also inundated dozens of villages and blocked highways in parts of Balochistan, and damaged nearly 20,000 homes across the country, mostly in Balochistan.
Disasters caused by landslides and floods are common in both India and Pakistan during the June-September monsoon season. Scientists and weather forecasters have blamed climate change for heavier rains in recent years.
In 2022, climate-induced downpours inundated one-third of Pakistan, killing 1,739 people and causing $30 billion in damage.
Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
People, many carrying their belongings, wade through a flooded road after heavy rains in Vijayawada, India, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo)
People wade through a flooded road after heavy rains in Vijayawada, India, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo)
DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Florian Wirtz is only 21 and he's already one of the most experienced players in a new-look Germany team.
As Germany switches focus to the 2026 World Cup, injuries, retirements and a short-term focus on Euro 2024 have left it with a Nations League squad that lacks international experience but isn't especially young either.
Wirtz, the star attacking midfielder from Bayer Leverkusen, is the second youngest player in the squad but also the fifth most experienced player on 25 caps, as Germany prepares to play Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday and the Netherlands on Monday.
None of the three goalkeepers in the squad — Oliver Baumann, Alexander Nübel and Oliver Blaswich — have ever played for Germany. With Barcelona's Marc-André ter Stegen injured for months to come, one of them will have to step up.
Six of coach Julian Nagelsmann’s preferred players were unavailable with injuries as of Tuesday; Leipzig left back David Raum the latest to drop out. New faces such as Jamie Leweling, Jonny Burkardt and Tim Kleindienst are Bundesliga regulars but untested at international level.
“Though it's a shame that this time we have to do without some injured regulars who contributed through the home Euros in the summer, we're very much looking forward to seeing our new players in the team environment and in training,” coach Julian Nagelsmann said on Monday in remarks reported by dpa.
Even before Bayern's Jamal Musiala, Arsenal's Kai Havertz and West Ham's Niclas Füllkrug all dropped out injured, Germany's squad was looking threadbare after a spate of high-profile retirements following the run to the quarterfinals at Euro 2024.
Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer, Ilkay Gündogan and Thomas Müller called time on Germany after Euro 2024, taking a combined 451 caps' worth of experience with them.
There's a wider effect, too, from the pressure Germany felt to succeed when it hosted Euro 2024.
Short-term thinking was Germany's official policy when Nagelsmann was appointed last year on a contract that ran only through to Euro 2024, and he focused on getting a misfiring group of experienced players to gel again. Nagelsmann later extended his stay through to the 2026 World Cup.
Germany can usually count on Musiala and Wirtz, two of the brightest young talents in world soccer, but other young players once hyped as Germany's future have yet to break through.
Borussia Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi has lacked consistency and had injury problems. Striker Youssoufa Moukoko and defender Armel Bella-Kotchap were Adeyemi's teammates at the 2022 World Cup but haven't been selected since. Progress seems to have stalled for 21-year-old forward Maximilian Beier since he joined Dortmund this season, too.
One player who'll be expected to perform against Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Netherlands is Bayern forward Serge Gnabry, back in the team after 11 months away.
In a sign of how much things have changed, Gnabry's 22 international goals mean he's scored more for Germany than everyone else in the squad put together.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz watches during a training session ahead of the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan in Leverkusen, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
