Spain floods: searchers scour car parks and malls amid fears death toll will rise

Day after king and PM pelted by angry residents, search focuses on areas where people could have been trappedHundreds of civil and military emergency workers are searching shopping centres, garages and underground car parks for more victims of floods in the Valencia region that have killed at least 214 people, as public anger mounts over Spanish authorities’ handling of the disaster.Yellow and amber weather warnings were in place for parts of Valencia and neighbouring Catalonia on Monday, with people in the affected areas advised to stay off the roads and keep away from the coast and rivers. Continue reading...

Decontamination of landfill waste leads to increase in toxic chemicals, says study

Exclusive: Researchers find treatment plants designed to clean up leachate liquid waste boost levels of banned PFASProcesses intended to decontaminate noxious liquid landfill waste before it enters rivers and sewers have been found to increase the levels of some of the worst toxic chemicals, a study has shown.Landfills are well known to be a main source of PFAS forever chemicals – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – but the new study shows that the treatment plants designed to clean up the liquid waste can instead boost the levels of banned PFAS such as PFOA and PFOS, in some cases by as much as 1,335%. Continue reading...