Floods
S


Cloud Precipitation

Cars dragged down street after severe flash flood hits Colorado Springs; 2 inches of rain in 45 minutes

Image
Dragged downstream: The floods were so strong that they uplifted parked cars and dragged the vehicles down the street
Dramatic video shows the awe-inspiring moment four parked cars were uplifted by a raging flash flood that overtook a residential street in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Severe thunderstorms in central Colorado caused nearly two inches of rain and hail to fall in just a 45-minute time span, Monday afternoon, and the sudden influx of water caused rivers to overflow and run off course.

One of these impromptu springs popped up in a neighborhood in Colorado Springs, where residents didn't even have enough time to move their cars by the time their block was overtaken by water.

In a video shared with Fox 31 Denver, a resident tapes the scene outside their home where several cars are uplifted and dragged down the street by the strong current.

A blue car even crashes into another larger SUV, no doubt causing serious damage to both vehicles.

Similar videos were taken in nearby Manitou Springs, where the flash floods led to the emergency evacuation of the Alpine Autism Center.

Image
Chaos: Above, chaos on a street in Colorado Springs as cars are pulled downstream in a flash flood


Cloud Precipitation

Five missing after flash flood in Morocco

Image
Flash flood in Morocco
Five people have gone missing after torrential rain hit Morocco's central region of Azilal, the authorities said.

"Three women and two little girls were reported missing Monday following the floods... caused by torrential rain and storm winds," official news agency MAP quoted the authorities as saying.

The victims had been inside one of three houses swept away by a flash flood in a valley known as Wadi Alfet.

Residents and authorities are still looking for missing persons.

Flash floods are common in Morocco's valleys, and storms have hit several locations around the country in recent days, in some cases causing material damage.

The country witnessed record rain levels twice in 2014. Some areas, including southern coastal city Agadir, recorded more than a year's worth of rain in just 10 days.

The heavy downpour killed some 50 people and affected thousands of others in the regions of Agadir, Guelmin and Ouarzazate.


Source: AFP

Cloud Precipitation

Argentina's 2015-16 wheat crop threatened by flooding

Image
Floods in several of Argentina's key wheat-growing areas threaten to damage recently planted crops and could reduce the 2015-16 harvest, crop and weather experts said on Tuesday.

A series of storms, some dumping as much as 200 millimeters (four inches) of water, have lashed wheat fields in southern Santa Fe and northeast Buenos Aires provinces.

"All crops in this area are at risk due to excess moisture," said Germán Heinzenknecht, meteorologist with the Applied Climatology consultancy

"We are in a part of the year when it is not so easy to get rid of that water once it is on the ground. It is not going to evaporate quickly," Heinzenknecht added.

The government forecasts the 2015-16 wheat planting area at 11.9 million acres, but has warned that the heavy rains could yet reduce that forecast. Argentina is a major wheat exporter to neighbouring Brazil.

Cloud Precipitation

Death toll rises from floods in Buenos Aires province, Argentina

Image
A man places his dogs in the car before leaving his flooded house in Lujan, Buenos Aires province.
At least three people killed by rising waters that have forced thousands to evacuate homes

Floodwaters continued to wreak havoc in north and northwest of Buenos Aires province yesterday with at least 10,000 evacuated from their homes despite a brief break in bad weather that has caused chaos since last week and has killed at least three people.

Yesterday's respite from the heavy rainfall and high winds failed to abate the widespread flooding affecting residents in Buenos Aires and Santa Fe provinces, with more winds and rain projected for the next few days.

The highest estimates of evacuees continued to rise throughout the day, reaching 10,000 by press time, although the numbers fluctuated as the water mark for rivers increased and decreased and some residents returned home. There were reports that as many as 20,000 people had been affected by the rising waters.

The National Meteorological Service (SNM) forecast strong winds from the south-east over the River Plate and Paraná Delta that will slow the process of floodwaters receding. In addition, another five to 50 millimetres of rainfall has been predicted to fall and tomorrow on the water-logged areas of the east and south-east of Buenos Aires province.


People

Humanitarian crisis: Over 1,000 war refugees locked in stadium overnight on Greek island of Kos

Image
© Yorgos Karahalis/AP Police on Tuesday tried to disperse hundreds of migrants by spraying them with fire extinguishers during registration in the stadium.
Over a thousand refugees in Kos have been locked in a stadium, after riot police struggled to contain crowds of recent migrant arrivals who were rounded up in recent days from makeshift camps around the Greek island.

Several of the refugees, who are mostly Syrian and Afghan, fainted due to heatstroke, and one had an epileptic seizure, said the aid group MSF, which was providing medical care at the stadium. At one point the police used a sonic explosion to maintain order, and the MSF team withdrew for safety reasons.


Comment: Thanks to US and UK leading the obliteration of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, millions of desperate people are on the move. Greece can't handle the situation either because that country is also in the process of being obliterated by the empire. With Europeans already primed to hate these refugees because they're 'terrorists' and 'cockroaches', the next 'logical' solutions from European authorities involve building walls around their countries and setting up concentration camps. Onwards we go to the collapse of 'civilization'...


Cloud Precipitation

Floods destroys homes; carries away grain and livestock in Burkina Faso

Image
© Brahima Ouedraogo/IRIN Houses destroyed by flooding on the outskirts of the capital, Ouagadougou.
Nearly 20,000 people were affected last week by heavy rains and flooding in and around Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou. More than 3,700 are now homeless, their houses reduced to piles of mud and debris.

Making matters worse, more than 64 tonnes of cereal harvests and livestock were carried away by the floods, local officials say. Many parts of Ouagadougou and Bama, a commune in the west of the country, remain under water, days after the rains have slowed.

"Everyone has lost their food reserves, their farms and are now in need of assistance," said Aboubacar Mlougou, a representative of the National Council for Emergency Aid and Rehabilitation (Conasur). "Without aid, they will be forced to sell whatever items survived the floods, such as cars, ploughs and wheelbarrows, in order to survive."

Cloud Precipitation

At least five killed following torrential rains, floods and mudslides in Chile

Image
© AFP-JIJITowering waves pound the seacoast of Vina del Mar, on Saturday as a storm marked by strong winds and fierce downpours approaches from the Pacific Ocean hitting the Chilean coast.
A state of emergency has been declared by the Chilean government in the northern cities of Antofagasta and Tocopilla due to the strong winds and heavy rains.

At least five people have been killed in the torrential rains in Chile this weekend, officials said yesterday. Three people were reported killed in extreme northern Chile, which has been battered by powerful winds, torrential rains and mudslides. Two people died on Saturday in the cities of Valparaiso and Coquimbo.

Brigadier general Claudio Hernández Muñoz is in charge of coordinating the response to the storm, Interior Minister Jorge Burgos announced during a press conference at the National Emergency Management Office (Onemi) where he declared a Constitutional State of Exception — a measure that is designed to protect the stability and security of the country, or of a particular area, through the law, when exceptional situations occur.



Cloud Precipitation

One million affected by floods in Myanmar; death toll passes 100

Image
Myanmar is experiencing some of its worst flooding in decades
Close to one million people have been affected and more than 100 killed in floods in Myanmar as on Sunday (9 August), with many low-lying areas in the southwestern delta still inundated.

Two of the rivers receded a bit but could breach their banks again, reported local state-run media.

Responding to the country's appeal for aid, many nations and international organisations are rushing food and water to the region.

Most of the casualties have been reported from the Irrawaddy Delta, said Phyu Lei Lei Tun, director of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. The majority of people living here are impoverished.

The delta where many rivers meet on way to the sea has seen the floods submerge paddy fields and homes, reports AP.

Many refuse to leave their inundated homes while others used rafts to reach safety.


Cloud Precipitation

Typhoon Soudelor strikes China triggering flash floods, mudslides and power outages

typhoon soudelor
© Reuters/StringerA man watches floodwaters in a heavy rain at a town hit by Typhoon Soudelor in Ningde, Fujian province, China, August 9, 2015.
A typhoon battered China's east coast on Sunday, killing eight people and forcing authorities to cancel hundreds of flights and evacuate more than 163,000 people.

Typhoon Soudelor killed six people in Taiwan earlier on the weekend then moved across the Taiwan Strait and slammed into the mainland's Fujian province late on Saturday.

It churned towards the neighboring provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi on Sunday, the Xinhua state news agency said. The Tropical Storm Risk website downgraded Soudelor to a tropical storm as it moved inland.

Eight people were killed in Hangzhou city, CCTV state television reported, as heavy rain and wind toppled trees and triggered flash floods and mudslides.



Ambulance

At least 27 dead as flash flood derails 2 trains in India

Image
© EUROPEAN PRESS PHOTO AGENCYThe trains, travelling in opposite directions, derailed within minutes of each other near the town of Harda (above) at about 11.30pm on Tuesday. They appear to have been hit by a sudden surge of water on the swollen Machak river. Roughly 300 people were rescued after about 10 of the trains' carriages derailed.
At least 27 people were killed after two packed trains derailed while crossing a bridge hit by floods in central India overnight, the authorities said, highlighting again safety problems with the nation's crumbling railway network.

Rescuers searched in darkness for passengers feared trapped on the trains that were travelling in opposite directions when some of their carriages derailed in Madhya Pradesh state, the officials said.

The trains derailed within minutes of each other near the town of Harda at about 11.30pm on Tuesday.

"There have been 27 deaths due to the accidents," Madhya Pradesh railway police chief M. S. Gupta said yesterday. "All the coaches have been cleared and all bodies have been collected from inside," he said, adding that the death toll could still rise slightly.