Floods
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Bizarro Earth

'More than four million' hit by flooding in Pakistan

Waseem Sattar
The Independent
Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:59 UTC
flooding
© AP
People look for survivors in the wreckage of a bus which plunged into the flooded River Jhelum near Muzaffarabad, in Kashmi
Pakistan's worst floods in 80 years have killed at least 1,600 people and affected the lives of more than four million, the UN said yesterday.

The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said that aid from its members was reaching over 300,000 survivors, with many UK charities distributing food, water purification tablets, shelter, medicine and hygiene kits by raft, boat and donkey. Last night the actor Art Malik and the former hostage John McCarthy presented new TV and radio appeals.

Brendan Gormley, DEC's chief executive, said: "These devastating floods have left millions fighting to survive with little food, clean water or shelter. As monsoon rains continue unabated, the situation is deteriorating and the speed of our response is vital."
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Bizarro Earth

103 killed in flash floods in Indian Kashmir


Associated Press
Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:26 UTC
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The death toll in flashfloods that hit the remote mountainous region of Ladakh in Indian-held Kashmir has risen to 103. State police chief Kuldeep Khoda said Friday more than 370 others have been injured.

Police and paramilitary soldiers have pulled out hundreds of people from the mud and debris that have buried hundreds of homes but their efforts were hampered by gushing water and mud sweeping down from the steep mountainsides.

Telecommunication towers have toppled or are badly damaged while main highways connecting the popular tourist destination to the rest of Kashmir were only partially open.

This is a breaking news update. AP's earlier story is below.
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Bizarro Earth

Pakistan's flooding sweeps south


BBC News
Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:10 UTC
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Ambulance

Pakistan floods death toll rises to 1,100


UK Guardian
Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:32 UTC
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© KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex FeaturesThe death toll from the Pakistan floods is set to rise even further.
Access blocked to areas in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa as authorities try to rescue 27,000 people trapped after heavy rains

The death toll from floods in north-west Pakistan has risen to 1,100 people, an official said today.

Adnan Khan, a disaster management official, said the toll could rise further, as there were areas in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province that rescue workers had not been able to access.

Authorities are struggling to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by flooding after heavy monsoon rains. Khan said more than 20,000 people had been rescued so far.

Efforts have been aided by an easing of the rains, but as flood waters recede authorities are seeing the full scale of the disaster.

"Aerial monitoring is being conducted, and it has shown that whole villages have washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have washed away," said Latifur Rehman, a spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. "The destruction is massive and devastating."
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Bizarro Earth

More than 800 dead in Pakistani floods

Nabeel Yusuf and Riaz Khan
Associated Press
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:26 UTC
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© AP Photo/Mohammad SajjadA woman sits outside her house flooded by heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar, Pakistan on Friday, July 30, 2010. Boats and helicopters struggled to reach hundreds of thousands of villagers cut off by floods in northwest Pakistan on Friday as the government said it was the deadliest such disaster to hit the region since 1929.
Flooding in Pakistan has killed more than 800 people in a week, a government official said Saturday as rescuers struggled to reach marooned victims and some evacuees showed signs of fever, diarrhea and other waterborne diseases.

The flooding caused by record-breaking rainfalls caused massive destruction in the past week, especially in the northwest province, where officials said it was the worst deluge since 1929. The U.N. estimated Saturday that some 1 million people nationwide were affected by the disaster, though it didn't specify exactly what that meant.

The information minister for the northwest province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said reports coming in from various districts across the northwest showed that more than 800 people had died due to the flooding. Many people remain missing.

Floodwaters were receding in the northwest, officials said, but fresh rains were expected to lash other parts of the country in the coming days.
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Bizarro Earth

Floods Kill 100 People in Pakistan as Monsoon Hits

Rob Crilly and Ashfaq Yusufzai
The Telegraph
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:01 UTC
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© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesLocal residents remove wood from their collapsed huts in a flood-hit area of Nowshera
At least 100 people have been killed by rivers bursting their banks in north-west Pakistan as the country was hit by its worst floods for 80 years.

Floodwater destroyed a dam and washed away countless bridges in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, leaving an estimated 400,000 people stranded, after two days of monsoon rains.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the regional information minister, said the deluge made it difficult to reach people in need of shelter and clean drinking water.

"A rescue operation using helicopters cannot be conducted due to the bad weather, while there are only 48 rescue boats available for rescue," he said.

The province's deputy health director, Ali Khan, added that he feared there may be as many as 500 casualties. Medical workers had launched a programmed to immunise people against cholera and typhoid, he said.

Ten of the victims died when their homes collapsed in the provincial capital Peshawar.
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Bizarro Earth

More than 30,000 trapped by floods in China's northeast


Terra Daily / Agence France-Presse
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:09 UTC
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© Unknown
More than 30,000 people are thought to be trapped by floodwaters in a town in northeast China, state media said Wednesday, as torrential rain that has killed over 300 in two weeks continues.

China is struggling with its worst flooding in a decade tat has left 1,405 dead or missing since the beginning of the year and caused at least 26 billion dollars in damage, and authorities have warned of more to come.

In the central city of Wuhan, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated as authorities brace for flood crests from the Yangtze River and one of its tributaries to converge there.

More than 200 rescue workers have been sent to northeastern Jilin province's Kouqian town to reach 30,000 residents thought to be trapped after a nearby reservoir overflowed, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The local train station was also surrounded by water with over 80 people trapped inside, it said.
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Cloud Lightning

China landslide leaves 21 missing amid floods

Chi-Chi Zhang
MSNBC
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:24 UTC
china landslide
© ReutersResidents examine the site of a rain-triggered landslide in Shuanghe, China, on Tuesday.
Worst rainy season in a decade has already killed hundreds

A landslide caused by rains in southern China left 21 people missing Tuesday, adding to a growing death toll from China's worst flood season in a decade, which is expected to worsen with heavy rains forecast across the country.

Rescuers searched for 21 people missing after a landslide in Hanyuan County in China's southern province of Sichuan on Tuesday morning, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Rocks and mud buried 58 homes and about 4,000 villagers were evacuated from their homes.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Heat Wave, Storms Continue Amid Flood Cleanup

James Kelleher
Reuters
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:31 UTC
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© Jonathan Ernst/ReutersA tourist mops the sweat from his brow as he stands in the heat outside the White House in Washington, July 24, 2010.
Large parts of the United States faced another day of extreme weather on Sunday, with temperatures in the capital and on the Southeast coast forecast to be near or above 100 degrees F (38 degrees C) and more storms likely in the mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley regions.

"It's going to be another steamy day in the Southeast with thunderstorms to the north," AccuWeather said on its website.

Powerful thunderstorms will stretch from the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia region on the Atlantic Coast into Kentucky, Accuweather said.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where heavy rains shut the city's main airport on Thursday, local media reported the body of a 19-year-old man who disappeared as floodwaters peaked had been recovered from a creek.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy Wisconsin Rains Close Milwaukee Airport


The Reno Gazette-Journal
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:00 UTC
sinkhole
© Mike ThielA SUV sits in a sink hole Friday, July 23, 2010, in Milwaukee. Powerful thunderstorms caused widespread flooding in southern Wisconsin, closing down Milwaukee's airport and opening up a giant sink hole, and two people were hospitalized after being struck by lightning, authorities said.
Stranded travelers weary from an overnight stay in a Milwaukee airport were hoping to be allowed to fly out Friday after powerful overnight storms pounded southeastern Wisconsin, halting flights and causing widespread flooding.

Storm water flooded the runways at Mitchell International Airport during the Thursday night storm. Airport officials said they hoped to clear away leftover debris and reopen the runways on Friday, but further disruptions were possible because of a new round of showers and thunderstorms that was expected to pass though the region.

Brian Kulpin, a spokesman for Reno-Tahoe International Airport, said he doesn't expect that the Milwaukee closure will affect air traffic in Reno.
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