A Lincolnshire oak tree which survived a wartime bomb and one of the UK’s most famous elms are in the running to be crowned Tree of the Year 2023.

Conservation charity the Woodland Trust has selected 12 trees across the UK using a team of experts and the public.

The Grantham Oak and Sheffield’s Chelsea Road Elm are two of the dozen candidates selected from parks, town centres and residential streets.

Naomi Tilley from the Trust said the shortlisted trees were “remarkable”.

Ms Tilley, lead campaigner at the Woodland Trust, said ancient trees in towns and cities were “vital for the health of nature, people and planet.

“But most ancient trees aren’t protected by law, and those in urban areas are particularly vulnerable, like one of this year’s nominees – which narrowly escaped being cut down by Sheffield City Council in 2017.”

The Woodland Trust said Sheffield’s Chelsea Road Elm was home to the white-letter hairstreak butterfly, a species that has declined 93% since the 1970s

A spokesperson for the Trust said The Grantham Oak was more than 500 years old with a girth of 23ft (7.02m).

They said the tree which “towered” above a quiet residential street, predated the surrounding houses by several centuries.

Meanwhile, they said the Chelsea Road Elm, in Sheffield, was one of the UK’s most famous elms with fewer than 1,000 of the species still standing after Dutch elm disease wiped out over 60 million of them.

The spokesperson said the Sheffield tree was “fortunately resistant” to the disease and was also home to the white-letter hairstreak butterfly, which had saved it from the chop during Sheffield City Council’s felling programme.

The winning tree is set to represent the UK in the European Tree of the Year competition and would be announced on 19 October, the Woodland Trust said.

Other Trees On The Shortlist

• Greenwich Park sweet chestnut, London
• Holm oak blitz tree, Exeter, Devon
• Cathedral foxglove tree, Lichfield, Staffordshire
• Lakeside holm oak, Leamington Spa
• Crouch oak, Addlestone, Surrey
• Gorton Park poplar, Manchester
• Plymouth pear, Plymouth, Devon
• Sweet chestnut, Wrexham
• Highland Gateway walnut, Perth
• Belvoir oak, Belfast

The northern Canadian city of Yellowknife has declared a state of local emergency to brace for potential risks from nearby wildfires, underscoring the unparalleled damage done by blazes so far this year.

The declaration, which gives authorities additional powers to respond to an emergency, was made as a precaution late on Monday and residents have not been put on an evacuation notice, city officials said in a statement.

“Residents should remain calm and ensure they are prepared in the event that the situation changes,” said Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty.

Yellowknife is the capital of the Northwest Territories, and with about 20,000 residents, it is one of the largest settlements in the sparsely populated north.

Wildfires have engulfed parts of nearly all 13 Canadian provinces and territories this year, forcing home evacuations, disrupting energy production, and drawing in federal as well as international firefighting resources.

More than 130,000 square kilometers (5,000 sq miles) of land have been scorched, the most on record for this stage in the season, and nearly 168,000 people have been forced to evacuate at some point this season.

Northwest Territories has so far had 265 wildfires this year, much higher than its 10-year annual average of 185, and several communities have been evacuated due to risks from blazes. Yellowknife is 450 km (280 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.

Nearly 900 flights in Japan were cancelled and 240,000 people were ordered to move to safety as a slow-moving typhoon crossed Japan’s main island of Honshu not far from the ancient capital of Kyoto, cutting off power to tens of thousands of homes.

Typhoon Lan, approaching from the Pacific Ocean, made landfall early on Tuesday at the southern tip of Wakayama prefecture, some 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Tokyo, bringing heavy rain and powerful winds across a wide swathe of central and western Japan as it moved north.

Authorities issued flood and landslide warnings as rivers rose to the top of their banks, with parts of some bridges washed away. Tornadoes formed in several areas but did not cause major damage.

By evening, the centre of the storm – which had weakened to tropical storm strength – was nearing the Sea of Japan, though forecasters warned concentrated rains were still possible across a wide area.

It continued to move slowly, at around 15 kilometers an hour (9.3 mph), raising the potential for flooding as rain pelted the same areas for a long time. Parts of central Japan recorded 585 mm (23 inches) of rain in the 24 hours to 7:00 p.m. (1000 GMT).

Some two dozen people were injured, with one in serious condition, NHK public television said.

Authorities said they had set up evacuation centres in safe buildings and high ground for residents across 11 prefectures whom the Fire and Disaster Management Agency told to seek shelter.

As well as the disruption to flights, the dangerous rain and wind forced the closure of some roads and the suspension of dozens of train services, although by evening on Tuesday, some roads were reopening.

The storm comes days after Typhoon Khanun hit Japan during its peak Obon holiday season, when many factories close and city-dwellers return to their home towns and villages.

Power outages hit almost 90,000 households in central and western areas, utilities said. Seven & i (3382.T) said some 210 7-Eleven convenience store outlets were shut for safety reasons.

A week after a ferocious wildfire ravaged the Maui resort town of Lahaina, search teams with cadaver dogs have combed through just a quarter of the disaster zone, as anxious people await news of hundreds of loved ones still believed to be missing.

Local, state and federal rescue workers were proceeding as fast as possible, Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier said, but there was a “reverence” that encumbered the task of finding more of the dead, which already number at least 99 people.

“It’s not just ash on your clothing when you take it off. It’s our loved ones,” Pelletier said, relating the instructions that a director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave rescue workers in a briefing.

“Patience, prayers, perseverance: That’s what we need,” he said at a Monday briefing, holding out hope that teams would get through 85% to 90% of the disaster zone by this weekend.

The deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years destroyed or damaged more than 2,200 buildings, 86% of them residential, causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damage, authorities said.

Even as Hawaii officials promised more help for the displaced, some Lahaina residents were taking matters into their own hands. Kanamu Balinbin, a local football coach, set up a relief camp where people who lost their homes and belongings can find water and food.

“I was devastated. I consider myself a strong leader, but it broke me,” Balindin said about his emotions after witnessing the destruction. “This is what keeps me going, helping people. A lot of us are at that stage.”

Maui County briefly relaxed rules allowing Lahaina residents back to their homes but suspended the visits on Monday after curiosity seekers clogged streets being used by rescue workers, officials said. They also feared human remains may be trampled on. One person was arrested for trespassing, Pelletier said.

Fueled by winds gusting up to 80 miles (128 km) per hour), the inferno was burning at temperatures that reached 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 degrees Celsius) last Tuesday when it raced from the dry grasslands outside town into Lahaina, turning block after block into ash.

Norsk Hydro’s (NHY.OL) renewable energy unit Hydro Rein and the state-owned Norwegian Church Endowment (OVF) fund are partnering to establish a new solar power company, Geisli Energi, Hydro Rein said on Tuesday.

Hydro Rein and landowner OVF aim to develop seven solar projects with a total capacity of 655 megawatts (MW) at selected properties in Norway. Hydro Rein will be responsible for project development and construction.

Annual production at the plants, which will vary in size from 20 MW to 100 MW, is estimated to be 330 GWh, with a potential for an additional 400 GWh per year.

The new company, in which Hydro Rein will hold 49.9% and OVF 50.1%, will place the plants adjacent to suitable industrial sites, primarily in southern Norway, Tor-Ove Horstad, head of Hydro Rein in the country said.

“These will be solar parks, and they will be ground-mounted,” Horstad said.

Hydro Rein’s renewable energy portfolio consists of 26 projects under development in the Nordics and Brazil. It aims to have 3 GW in construction or operation by 2026.

“We are already building solar (plants) in Brazil and have taken stakes in solar projects in Denmark and Sweden, and we now see it’s possible to do this at a certain scale in Norway,” Horstad added.

The company said last month it had decided to abandon a consortium with Equinor (EQNR.OL) and RWE (RWEG.DE) that aims to develop an offshore windfarm in the Soerlige Nordsjoe II area in the North Sea, citing a need to prioritise other projects.

“This was a project-specific decision, and does not mean that we will not invest in offshore wind development, in Norway or other places,” he said.

Norway aims to reach 8 terawatt hours (TWh) of annual solar power production in 2030, equivalent to some 5% of the country’s average annual output of around 155 TWh.