Earth Changes
In the Central Highland province of Daklak, four people were killed on Sunday and 14 others are still missing, including a family of five whose house was washed away by flash floods, said provincial disasters official Phan Thi Thu Hien.
The mayor of the medieval port city said emergency services were ready to evacuate residents from the hillside districts above the city centre.
Colorado State University Professor William Gray is still predicting an above-average hurricane season but he expects only four storms to be classified as major or intense, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.
His latest prediction of major or intense storms is one less than Gray and his team forecast in late May.
At that time, Gray predicted a 2007 hurricane season with 17 named storms and nine hurricanes, five of which would be intense, Category 3 or above.
Women and children were seen screaming for help from treetops yesterday as monsoon floods struck three countries in south Asia, leaving at least 280 people dead and 20 million washed out of their homes.
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©Ranjeet Kumar |
SWAMPED: An aerial view of a part of Darbhanga district in North Bihar on Saturday. |
The State Government on Saturday owned the blame for the police firing on flood victims in which one person was killed and three others were injured in Madhubani on Friday.
A two-member administrative team, comprising Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah and Additional Director General CID Yashwant Malhotra, held the police firing "unwarranted" and placed Havildar Aditya Narain Singh, who opened fire, under suspension.
The quake, which measured 4 on the Richter scale, roused people from their beds at 5 a.m. It was followed half-an-hour later by a less powerful aftershock.
Hundreds of anxious residents telephoned the emergency services asking for advice, a police spokesman said.