Floods
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Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Isaac batters New Orleans seven years to the day since Hurricane Katrina

Rory Carroll & Tom Dart
The Guardian
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:54 UTC
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© Mario Tama/Getty ImagesA rescue boat passes a partially submerged stop sign in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
New Orleans issues curfew as torrential rain and harsh winds remain serious threat as storm weakens with little relief in sight

Heavy rain, high winds and floodwaters swept over Louisiana and Mississippi on Wednesday, as Isaac was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm and a fortified levee system appeared to have saved New Orleans from disaster.

Rescuers picked up dozens of residents who had ignored warnings to leave low-lying areas, seven years to the day after hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

Power lines were cut and debris littered the streets, prompting authorities in New Orleans to declare a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Louisiana officials said they would intentionally breach a levee in Placquemines parish, south of New Orleans, as Isaac lumbered inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

Authorities feared many residents would need help after a night of torrential rain and harsh winds knocked out power to more than 700,000 households and businesses.

Comment: Hurricane Isaac hit New Orleans seven years to the day Hurricane Katrina levelled the city... is the Universe sending the US a message?



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Cloud Lightning

After Isaac slams tent camps, Haitians try to return to normal

Erika Angulo
NBC News
Sun, 26 Aug 2012 21:35 UTC

Haiti - Since Isaac stormed through this island country, streams of dirty water run through many of the tent camps earthquake refugees call home.

Floods represent the main threat, aid workers say. They not only destroy the fragile tents, but also bring with them a range of diseases, from stomach illnesses, to skin infections, to parasites, doctors here fear.

At the Marassa tent city in Port au Prince, residents feared what the storm would do to La Riviere Grise, or the gray river, named for its dirty color. After more than more than 24 hours of rain Saturday, La Rivere Grise became a fierce current that flooded part of the camp. Refugees who had been able to accumulate key survival belongings since the earth shook on Jan. 12, 2010 -- a tarp, a cooking pan, some clothes -- lost all again, in a few minutes.

The situation is similar in post-earthquake camps outside Port au Prince. Some tents survived the storms, others were blown away, shredded or buried under mud.
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Cloud Lightning

Floods hit Pakistan again


Pak Tribune
Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:30 UTC
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Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are facing flood threat as the Met Office has forecast heavy rains in the next two days.

There was a low-level flood in River Ravi at Baloki but the water level was gradually increasing.

According to Indus River System Authority (IRSA), in River Indus the water inflow at Tarbela was 256,000 cusecs and outflow was 140,000 cusecs, while in River Jhelum at Mangla the water inflow was 63,000 cusecs and outflow was 13,000 cusecs.

In River Chenab, the inflow was 126,800 cusecs and outflow was 91,800 cusecs at Marala. Water inflow recorded in

River Sutlej near Head Sulemanki was 16,777 cusecs and outflow remained 4,792 cusecs.

According to the Meteorological Department, the three rivers of Punjab, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum, were facing flood threat. The department also forecast that within next 48 hours scattered rain/thundershower was expected over Azad Kashmir, Hazara, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Lahore and Gujranwala divisions. The department predicted hot and humid weather elsewhere in the country.
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Cloud Lightning

Myanmar flooding forces 85,000 to flee homes


Press TV
Sun, 26 Aug 2012 03:53 UTC
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Heavy flooding has displaced at least 85,000 people in Myanmar.
The Myanmar government says at least 85,000 people have been driven from their homes by heavy flooding.

According to government relief officials, the people fled their homes on Saturday, following the worst monsoon flooding in years, which covered about 250,000 hectares of rice fields.

The Irrawaddy Delta, which was devastated in 2008 by Cyclone Nargis, was reported the worst hit area.

Cyclone Nargis killed about 130,000 people in the delta in 2008.

Heavy rains over the past few weeks have been the reason for the flooding, which initially hit the southern delta region.
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Umbrella

South Florida on alert as Tropical Storm Isaac exits Haiti, killing 3


NBC News
Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:35 UTC

At least three people died in Haiti as Tropical Storm Isaac triggered mudslides and flooding there before heading back over water and towards Cuba. Isaac should become a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday just as it nears the Florida Keys, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and then grow into an even stronger Category 2 storm.

"Hurricane conditions are expected in the hurricane warning area in southwest Florida and the Florida Keys on Sunday," the center said in a Saturday morning advisory.

The center now expects Isaac to build to a Category 2 hurricane, with winds up to 110 mph, after it enters the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

In Haiti, a woman and a child in the town of Souvenance were killed in the storm, a local official reported.

In the capital Port-au-Prince -- where some 350,000 people are still living in tents or shelters after the 2010 Haiti earthquake -- a girl, 10, was killed when a wall fell on her.
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Umbrella

New deadly flood hits Russia's south: 4 killed, over 1,500 affected


Russia Today
Wed, 22 Aug 2012 05:28 UTC
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Four people have died, three more are missing and over 1,500 have been affected by a devastating deluge that inundated the region, already severely battered by the deadly disaster in July.

­Three of the dead have already been identified, Emergency Ministry says. They are reported to have been tourists.

The overall number of those affected by the disaster currently stands between 1,500 and 1,800 people, according to different sources.

The heavy rainfalls battering the area in the last 24 hours - in some places the average monthly falls - triggered the flooding.
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Cloud Lightning

Typhoon Kai-Tak kills nine in Vietnam, 2 in China


Terra Daily
Sun, 19 Aug 2012 09:50 UTC
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At least nine people were killed, thousands of homes damaged and swathes of farmland flooded as Typhoon Kai-Tak swept across northern Vietnam, authorities said Sunday.

The storm, which made landfall late Friday, brought strong winds and heavy rains that inundated several densely populated communities including part of the capital Hanoi.

Five people were swept away by floodwaters while one woman died when a landslide buried her house while she was sleeping in Bac Giang province, according to the government's central committee on flood and storm control.

A taxi driver was killed by a toppled tree while two people were electrocuted by a falling electricity cable, it said. Nearly 12,000 houses were damaged and 23,000 hectares (56,800 acres) of cropland were flooded, according to the committee.
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Bizarro Earth

Flood-hit Road Closed after 18ft deep hole Appears in South Wales

Rachel Moses
thisissouthwales.co.uk
Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Carmarthen Journal The road between Whitland and Lampeter Velfrey which collapsed during last week’s floods
A busy road, used for diversions during accidents, could be closed for a month - after floods left a hole 18 feet deep across it.

The B4328, between Whitland and Lampeter Velfrey, is a popular lane for motorists around the area who have now been forced to find other routes.

The hole appeared last week, after torrential rain caused flooding across the area, with fire crews inundated with calls.

Councillor David Simpson, ward member for Lampeter Velfrey, said he was first told about the hole on Monday, August 6.

"The rain took away a piece of road about 40 yards across - maybe 30 - and across the width of the road.

"I think it was about 20 foot deep."
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Bizarro Earth

Flooding in central Nigeria kills at least 28 people


Terra Daily
Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:59 UTC
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© AFPMake-shift homes of cattle dealers are submerged in floods at the Kara slum on Lagos -Ibadan highway, October 23, 2011.
Flooding caused by heavy rains in central Nigeria has killed at least 28 people, with many others still missing, while also destroying homes, bridges and farmland, officials said Tuesday.

"I have counted 28 bodies and many people are still missing after the flood," said Kemi Nshe, local government chairman for the Shendam district in central Nigeria's Plateau state.

He said some 1,500 people were displaced from the rains, the worst of which occurred Sunday.

A Red Cross official in the area said relief workers were having difficulties accessing flooded areas, which he said included around five communities. He said heavy rain began Saturday night and continued into Sunday.
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Cloud Lightning

New storm threatens flood-hit Philippines


Terra Daily
Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:34 UTC
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Philippine authorities warned Monday an intensifying storm could bring more misery to the flood-battered capital and surrounding areas, where nearly half a million were in evacuation centres.

While flooding that covered 80 percent of Manila last week had largely subsided, vast areas of mainly rice-growing provinces to the north were still under water that in some places remained neck-deep.

Most of the 411,000 people crammed into gymnasiums, schools and other government evacuation centres were in the flooded farming provinces, with many others struggling by living in partly submerged homes.
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