Floods
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Half a million left homeless as devastating floods hit Bangladesh

Dayna Evans
gawker.com
Mon, 25 Aug 2014 11:15 UTC
Bangladesh flooding
© Associated Press
Flooding during Bangladesh's yearly summer monsoon season has forced 500,000 residents into homelessness and caused scores more to lose their crops. Streets throughout the northern area of the country have reportedly been swept away.

The Wall Street Journal reports that heavy rainfall in India has resulted in huge numbers of the densely-populated country's population being left without access to safe shelter.

Via the WSJ:
Experts at the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center in Dhaka said two of Bangladesh's main rivers, the Meghna and the Brahmaputra, continue to rise, leaving people in 14 of Bangladesh's 64 districts either marooned or forced to seek shelter on higher ground.

"The main rivers continue to flow above danger levels due to heavy rainfall upstream in India," said Sazzad Hossain, an engineer at the flood forecasting center. "We expect the situation to worsen in the next 72 hours."
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Mudslides, floods damage homes and highways In Washington


Weather Underground
Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
Washington mudslides
© KOMO NEWS — APThis image made from a video provided by KOMO News shows a car in north central Washington after rain created mudslides on Friday, Aug. 22, 2014.
Mudslides in north-central Washington damaged or destroyed an estimated 10 homes on Thursday evening as heavy rains hit an area recently ravaged by wildfires. Mud and rushing water combined in Okanogan County, hitting some homes hard and blocking highways.

A flash flood watch expired on Friday when no more serious rain occurred.

More than 40 people helped dig out a couple in Methow, a small community of about 250 people, according to The Seattle Times. Resident Janie Lewis told the Times that a cascade of mud and water blew open her door, knocking down her husband and depositing several feet of mud in their house. They were unhurt.

"The 'river' was running through the house," she said. "We're lucky to be alive."
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Extreme rain closes roads in Illinois and Indiana

Sean Breslin
The Weather Channel
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 13:34 UTC
Indiana flooding
Flooding on I-69 in Indiana.
A serious flooding situation is under way in the Midwest, where roads were closed overnight Thursday and some cars have been caught under feet of water. Flood warnings were issued for most of Chicago, as well as areas in eastern Illinois, northern Indiana and western Ohio on Friday morning as heavy rain caused problems across the region. In Chicago, several inches of rain fell overnight, forcing officials to close stretches of Interstate 90, according to MyFoxChicago.com. In Burbank, District 111 schools were closed Friday because of the floodwater.

"An upper-level disturbance moving along a stalled frontal boundary has brought thunderstorms with heavy rainfall to parts of Illinois and Indiana overnight and into this morning," said weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam. "There is plenty of moisture in the air and dew points are in the 70s, which has led to the intense rainfall. The risk of showers and thunderstorms continues through at least Saturday afternoon across the area."

Indiana has also experienced severe flooding from the system. A two-mile stretch of Interstate 69 in Grant County was closed due to floodwaters, and Blackford County Schools were closed for the day, according to TheIndyChannel.com.

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Flooding death toll reaches 102 in Nepal


ekantipur.com
Thu, 21 Aug 2014 14:09 UTC
Image
A total of 102 people were confirmed dead, 55 injured and 125 others unaccounted following the floods and landslides triggered by Monsoon rains in Mid-West region that took place a week ago.

Officiating Regional Adminstrator Raj Kumar Shrestha confirmed on Thursday that 102 people were found dead until today following the floods and landslides . He informed that 2,683 houses have been completely destroyed, displacing 23,753 people.

"The relief distribution has been difficult due to the geographical location and poor local mechanism," said Shrestha, "We are trying to make the relief distribution fast and systematic." Shrestha is Nepalgunj coordinator for rescue and relief management.

He further informed that at present food packages comprising rice, pulses, salt and oil are being distributed. "After proper coordination, we are trying our best to distribute the relief materials to the victims as soon as possible," said Shrestha.

Comment: The chart below clearly shows the striking increase in flood reports over the last 2 and half years -



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45 killed during August floods in Cambodia

Richard Davies
floodlist.com
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 13:58 UTC
Image
© Oliver LaumannFlooded countryside in Cambodia.
Cambodia's National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) reported yesterday that 45 people have lost their lives in floods since the Mekong river first broke its banks in early August 2014.

Talking to local media during a conference on flooding issues in the country, NCDM vice president Nhim Vanda also said that 11,500 families across 12 provinces were forced to evacuate their homes. He also said that flood waters are starting to recede. This might suggest that the remaining displaced could begin to return home.

However, there could be more heavy monsoon rain to come. Flooding has already affected parts of north and north east Thailand, with the authorities issuing flood warnings for 20 provinces there. Flooding has also struck some parts of Laos in the last few days.

Heavy rainfall in Laos and and parts of Thailand often results in increased levels of the Mekong several days later. The heavy rain that caused severe flooding in the Thai provinces of Amnat Charoen and Ubon Ratchathani raised alarms in Cambodia about the levels of the Mekong, prompting the Prime Minister to urge flood preparedness.
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Torrential rains inflict severe damages in Eastern China


Xinhua
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
East China flooding
© XinhuaRescuers deliver food to residents trapped by rain-triggered flood in Lishui City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 20, 2014.
Nearly 65,000 people in east China's Zhejiang Province have been evacuated after torrential rains caused floods in some cities, said the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters on Thursday.

Nearly half a million people in the cities of Lishui, Jinhua, Wenzhou and Shaoxing have been affected by persistent downpours since Aug. 8, with the worst-hit Lishui suffering direct economic losses of 1.058 billion yuan, it said.

Statistics from the provincial hydrological bureau showed that the province's average precipitation has reached 204 millimeters over the past fortnight, the highest since 1951 excluding the influence of typhoons.

By Thursday, 853 houses have collapsed, while 26,100 hectares of croplands have been damaged, of which 1,400 hectares of crops were totally destructed. The losses inflicted upon cash crops were estimated at 160 million yuan.
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Canada: Thunderstorm leads to major flooding in Winnipeg, Southern Manitoba

Joanna Adams
The Huffington Post Canada
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 05:51 UTC
winnipeg flood
© Twitter/SamanthaNAmaral

A severe thunderstorm left Winnipeg and other parts of southeastern Manitoba under water on Thursday evening, after an estimated 50 to 75 millimetres of rain fell on the region.

CBC News reports at least two vehicles were partly submerged due to flooding, at the popular underpass at Higgins Avenue and Main Street, in Winnipeg. According to the network, other cars and transit buses remained stuck in place nearby as the heavy rain shut down streets, overwhelmed storm sewers, and cut off power to street lights.

Soon after, residents took to Twitter to catalogue the effects of the storm.
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9 die in Panama after Chiriquí Viejo River flood

Richard Davies
floodlist.com
Thu, 21 Aug 2014 11:30 UTC
Image
The flooding of the Chiriquí Viejo in the province of Chiriquí, western Panama, on Monday 18 August has left 9 people dead and several injured, according to local media reports. Many of the victims were children.

Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil (SINAPROC) in Panama say that the flooding has destroyed 27 houses leaving 116 people homeless. The homesless are curently being housed in temporary accomodation, inclidung a local gym and hotel. Around 40 other homes have been damaged. The flooding left the village of Cerro Punta completely cut-off after bridges were damaged and roads blocked by flood and landslide debris. SINAPROC have been carrying out rescues in the area since Monday 18 August 2014.

A state of emergency was declared for the flood hit areas in order to facilitate the rapid reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.

Image
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Flooding shuts roads in central Sweden


thelocal.se
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 08:28 UTC
Image
© Anders Andersson/TT
Updated: Sections of the highway in Värmland have been closed off due to flooding, and several trains are standing still. Authorities say the situation will get worse before it gets better.

* Floods wash into third day

* Rain predicted to continue into weekend

* Emergency workers say floods at "catastrophic levels"

* Kristinehamn in Värmland flooded on Wednesday night

* Those who evacuated in Getinge may now return

Rain continued to bucket down over parts of Sweden on Wednesday night, adding the town of Kristinehamn, Värmland, to the list of towns partially under water.

"We got an alarm that a man was stuck in a car in more than metre-high water," Lars Eidwall, emergency service worker in Kristinehamn, told news agency TT. "When we arrived he had managed to climb out, but the car was filled with water."

Heavy rain during the night closed several roads in Kristinehamn, including parts of major highway E18.
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Update: Nepal, India floods leave nearly 200 dead, scores missing


Yahoo News
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 09:00 UTC
India floods
© European Pressphoto Agency A woman returned by boat after tending her livestock on Monday in the flood-affected Morigaon district of Assam state, India.

Floods and landslides in Nepal and northern India have killed nearly 200 people and scores more are missing, local authorities said Monday.

Nepal has been worst hit, with 105 people confirmed dead after torrential rain triggered landslides and flooding, devastating entire villages in what the country's prime minister termed a "national tragedy".

Another 136 people are missing, and authorities are battling to prevent an outbreak of cholera after some survivors showed symptoms of the potentially fatal disease.

Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala pledged to "expedite the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts" and expressed his sorrow over the deaths.

In neighbouring India's Uttar Pradesh state, flooding has claimed at least 48 lives and forced around 500,000 people to leave their homes, relief commissioner KS Bhadoriya told AFP.
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