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GENERAL ENGLISH · BREAKING NEWS · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

FLOODS
AND FIRES
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1 Warm-up

Add the missing vowels to identify these natural disasters:

1. f l__ __d 2. t__r n__ d__ 3. __ __r t h q__ __k__ 4. f__r__s t f __ r __

Has your country experienced these events? Where in the world do these usually happen?

You are going to watch two news reports about recent natural disasters. Then you are going to
compare and contrast these events.

2 Disaster 1

Watch the video to understand the main idea. After you watch, work in pairs to say what the disaster
is and where it has happened. Then say what else you understood from the report.

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INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

FLOODS AND FIRES

Match these key words from the report with their meaning.

1. canals a. dishonest activities, eg stealing from public money

2. corruption b. dying in the water

3. devastating c. loud sounds which warn people of danger

4. drowning d. people who steal

5. sirens e. something like streets, but filled with water for boats to
travel on
6. offshore barriers f. something like walls or fences located in the sea to
protect the land from flooding
7. thieves g. the daily movement of the sea towards and away from
the land which is caused by the moon
8. tide h. very serious and destructive

Watch the report again and add the missing words from Exercise 2.

1 2
Streets and merged as the second highest ever recorded
swept through Venice on Tuesday. Undaunted, most tourists took to touring the city on
gangplanks but some chose to swim through Saint Mark’s Square, the city’s main Piazza.
3
As waters hit 1.87 meters high, the highest in half a century, sounded. For
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residents, the effects are : "Our masks, our plates, everything. Look at what
we’re living with here. I just want to cry."
The city’s mayor has declared a state of emergency, blaming the rising waters on climate
5
change. Meanwhile much-needed designed to prevent floods remain
unfinished. The project, started in 2003, has been dogged by delays, soaring costs and
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scandals and Venetians are demanding progress.
"It’s been 10 years but they have done nothing. It’s in total neglect, it does not work and
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they have stolen six and a half billion dollars. Our politicians are all – they
should be in jail." The damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars and there are
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concerns that this flood is the starkest warning yet that the city is .

3 Disaster 2

Watch the video to understand the main idea. After you watch, work in pairs to say what the disaster
is and where it has happened. Then say what else you understood from the report.

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INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

FLOODS AND FIRES

Match these key words from the report with their meaning.

1. alerts a. burning but you can only see smoke, not fire

2. blazing b. burning strongly

3. catastrophic c. feeling like you don’t need to do anything more

4. complacent d. fire which is burning brightly and strongly

5. evacuate e. leave your home in a hurry because of a disaster

6. flames f. to affect a larger area

7. spread g. very dangerous and destructive

8. smouldering h. warnings to people that danger is coming

Watch the report again and add the missing words from Exercise 2.

1
Australia’s fire service chiefs have described conditions as . High
temperatures, strong winds and dry conditions are making bushfires travel fast, and people
2
are being warned to prepare themselves or . "Complacency kills. We cannot
3
afford for people to be . The fact that the catastrophic rating is there ... that’s
... that’s the highest level risk available."
4
Dozens of fires are in the state of New South Wales and there are more in
Queensland to the north and in Western Australia. And many have come close to cities,
this one just 18 kilometers northwest of Sydney’s famous Harbour Bridge, but firefighters
were able to contain it.
"I got home from work and then heard sirens and came out the front and three or four fire
5
trucks on the street, as high as the trees, and everyone was running around
like mad."
Another fire took hold in Sydney’s western suburbs. These firefighters are hosing down
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the last of the trees here but authorities are saying that this is the exception
rather than the rule. In these catastrophic conditions they can’t hope to get on top of every
fire.
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Emergency have been issued, some by phone, and some people warned it
was too late to leave their homes and they were safer inside, although that doesn’t mean
it’s safe.
Many fires are out of control and with more strong winds and high temperatures forecast
8
for the end of this week they’re likely to .

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INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

FLOODS AND FIRES

4 Talking point

Work in groups to compare and contrast the two disasters in the news reports. We often use the
language in the box to introduce any ideas we are not sure about.

• how the city/countryside has been affected

• how people have been affected
• the cost of rebuilding
• the cause of the disaster
• how this type of disaster could be prevented in the future

Useful language for imagining/guessing:

• I’m not sure, but ...
• I imagine that ...
• It looks as if ... / sounds as if ...
• It could/may/might be that ...
• It seems likely that ...

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