Floods
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Cloud Precipitation

Flood death toll rises to 176 in Bihar, India - cloudburst warnings for next few days

Bihar flood
© Unknown
It's bad news for millions of flood-affected people in Bihar. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of heavy rains and near cloud burst-like situation in the next few days that may create more devastation.

Nearly six million people have been affected by floods in 20 districts of the state. At least 176 people have died in the floods so far and thousands have been left homeless.

Cloud Precipitation

Death toll rises to 34 in Mali floods, homes swept away

Mali flood
© ReutersFloods often lead to massive displacements and deaths in West Africa's June to October rainy season
Officials say more than 30 people have died in floods that has left a trail of destruction behind.

The death toll in floods which left thousands homeless in the Malian capital, Bamako, has risen to 34, officials said.

More than 100 homes, mostly poorly constructed mud-brick buildings on drainage sites, were swept away as the river Niger burst its banks in torrential rain on Wednesday, bringing down bridges and submerging entire streets.

Cloud Precipitation

Floods, landslides kill 8 in northern Vietnam

Ha Giang flooding Vietnam
© XinhuaFile photo taken on July 10, 2013 shows a flooded area in north Vietnamese province Ha Giang.
Floods and landslides in the past two days have killed at least eight people in northern Vietnam, according to the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control of Vietnam on Thursday.

Of the death toll, one person was in Ha Giang province, three in Lai Chau and four others in Lao Cai. In addition, some 14 people were injured and 10 others still missing, said the committee.

Heavy rains in the region also caused severe damage to houses and crops, of which nearly 120 hectares of crops and aquacultures were affected.

The committee warned that heavy rains may continue over the next few days in northern Vietnam and instructed relevant agencies to immediately handle the consequences to help local people stabilizing their life.

Cloud Precipitation

China floods affect more than 5 million in border province

Heilong River flooding
© (Xinhua/Ma Ling)The Heilong River has swelled since mid-August, with some sections of its middle and lower reaches seeing their worst floods in history.
Floods and heavy rain have affected more than 5.2 million people in the Sino-Russian bordering province of Heilongjiang, local authorities said on Wednesday.

As of Monday, residents from 904 towns and townships have been affected by the floods, and among them, 331,000 people have been relocated, said the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The floods have also caused 18,300 houses to collapse and roads to be temporarily cut off on 1,315 occasions, according to the headquarters, adding that total economic losses for the province are estimated at 19.1 billion yuan (3.12 billion U.S. dollars).

More than 8,000 relief workers are still battling the floods.

The Heilongjiang River has swelled since mid-August, with some sections of its middle and lower reaches seeing their worst floods in history. The water levels of Nenjiang River and Songhua River have also exceeded their warning level for weeks.

The provincial water resource department estimates the water levels of mainstream Songhua River and Heilongjiang River to recede and return to normal after Sept. 20 and 30 respectively.

Cloud Precipitation

India: Over five million people hit by Bihar floods, say officials

Bihar floods
© UnknownOver five million people hit by Bihar floods, say officials
There was no let up in the fury of floods in over a dozen Bihar districts on Sunday with major swollen rivers, including the Ganga, affecting more than five million people, officials said.

According to the state government, the toll in floods this year has gone up to 132.

"Major rivers, including the Ganga, Sone, Budhi Gandak, Kosi and Gandak, are not showing receding trend so far, a bad news for hundreds of thousands of people affected by floods," said an official of the central water commission.

Question

Strange foam gurgling out of storm drain grows about 40 feet wide


Las Vegas -- The flooding in the northwest valley isn't just causing washed out roads; it's also causing some other problems. One neighborhood is reporting a strange foam actually "gurgling foam" from storm drains.

The foam is near Ackerman and El Capitan. Residents say they noticed this foam around 7:30 Monday morning and it won't stop growing. The foam has reached a size of 40 feet wide and 4 feet high.

Residents say the Las Vegas Water District has looked at the foam, but has not released any details about its cause beyond saying it is due to flood water near a storm drain.

Las Vegas Public Works has been contacted, and they are trying to determine what is causing the foam to increase in size.

Umbrella

Climate change: Marseille faces major flood risk

 Ville de Marseille
© n/a Ville de Marseille
Climate change and rising sea levels could mean the world's leading coastal cities - with Marseille being the financial and business centre most at risk in France - facing increased flooding with costs running into the billions to provide basic protection.

A study for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that the 136 leading coastal cities could face losses of a trillion dollars a year - €750billion a year - as they had been designed to cope with past sea levels.

They were built to cope with expected 100-year storm surges but were not built to face the expected 0.4metre rise caused by climate change over the next 40 years and the more devastating floods that will be produced.

World Bank economist Stephane Hallegatte led the study, called "Future Flood Losses in Major Coastal Cities" and published in Nature Climate Change, and said: "Inaction is not an option. Coastal cities will have to improve their flood management, including better defences, at a cost estimated around €37.5 billion per year for the 136 cities."

Bizarro Earth

600,000 still homeless after Philippine floods

Flood_1
© France24A girl babysits her brother inside a temporary shelter at a basketball gym in Calumpit, north of Manila, on August 22, 2013. An estimated 600,000 people remain in shelters or are living with relatives after days of heavy rain.
An estimated 600,000 people in the Philippines remained at temporary shelters or with relatives on Friday after days of heavy rain that killed 20, officials said.

A day after floods ebbed in the capital Manila, stagnant pools of water and high tides in coastal areas prolonged the misery in the central Luzon plains to the north, civil defence official Josefina Timoteo told AFP.

"These are mainly farmers and fisher folk who still cannot return to their homes or resume work. We are still supplying their needs," said Timoteo, the civil defence chief for the region.

"These are low-lying regions and this happens every year. It is a way of life for many of them and the local governments are well-organised to provide relief."

Seasonal monsoons dumped more than a month's rain in Manila and surrounding provinces between Sunday and Wednesday, the state weather service said, submerging about half the capital in floodwaters.

Cloud Precipitation

Floods cover 60 percent of Metro Manila, Philippines

Image
© AP/Aaron FavilaFilipinos cross chest-deep floods at the financial district of Makati, south of Manila, Philippines on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013. Flooding caused by some of the Philippines' heaviest rains on record submerged more than half the capital Tuesday, turning roads into rivers and trapping tens of thousands of people in homes and shelters. The government suspended all work except rescues and disaster response for a second day.
Flooding caused by some of the Philippines' heaviest rains on record submerged more than half the capital Tuesday, turning roads into rivers and trapping tens of thousands of people in homes and shelters. The government suspended all work except rescues and disaster response for a second day.

Officials reported at least seven people dead, 11 injured and four missing. The dead included a 5-year-old boy whose house was hit by a concrete wall that collapsed. His two adult relatives also were injured.

Throughout the sprawling, low-lying capital region of 12 million people, floodwaters made most of the roads impassable and reached waist- or neck-deep along rivers and creeks. Authorities opened more than 200 evacuation centers in Manila and surrounding provinces filled with tens of thousands of people, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said. Overall, more than 600,000 people have been affected by the floods.

Cloud Lightning

2013 is a record low year for U.S. tornadoes

While many climate alarmists still try to tell us that global warming will increase tornadoes, we are in the middle of a tornado drought, and well below normal. Normally we'd see 1221 tornadoes in the USA, so far for 2013, only 716 have been reported.

US tornadoes 2013
© NOAA