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Landslides and flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 100 people in southern Bangladesh and many more are missing, the government said Wednesday. Officials said the landslides occurred mainly in remote villages with poor roads, making rescue work more difficult.
© ReutersThe rescue operation has been hampered by the heaviness of the rainfall
Three days of rain had hit the region of small hills and forests, and huge chunks of earth and mud buried flimsy huts where families were sleeping late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Many homeless people live at the foot of the hills or close to them despite warnings from authorities.
Monsoon floods are common in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 160 million people. Many of the dead were women and children, and the death toll is likely to rise as rescuers are searching for several missing people, officials said.
Volunteers using loudspeakers had warned people about the danger of landslides during the recent monsoon rains, said Jaynul Bari, a government administrator in one of the stricken areas, Cox's Bazar district. The floods inundated dozens of villages and were disrupting communications in the region.
Parts of the main interstate highway across northern Florida were closed by flooding Tuesday as Tropical Storm Debby hung stubbornly offshore over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening up to two feet of rain in places.
After raking Florida's Gulf coast with high winds and heavy rain, Debby promised to bring more of the same in the coming days as it drifted on a path forecast to take it over the state and east into the Atlantic by Friday.
The National Hurricane Center said Debby was about 85 miles west of Cedar Key, Florida, and moving eastward near 3 mph. It had maximum sustained winds near 45 mph, barely tropical-storm status.
But the wind, high surf and relentless rain have made the storm's presence felt.
After raking Florida's Gulf coast with high winds and heavy rain, Debby promised to bring more of the same in the coming days as it drifted on a path forecast to take it over the state and east into the Atlantic by Friday.
The National Hurricane Center said Debby was about 85 miles west of Cedar Key, Florida, and moving eastward near 3 mph. It had maximum sustained winds near 45 mph, barely tropical-storm status.
But the wind, high surf and relentless rain have made the storm's presence felt.
© Andy Clark, ReutersA house is surrounded by water after the Fraser River burst its banks in Chilliwack, British Columbia June 24, 2012. Authorities have issued an evacuation order for 165 homes in Fraser Valley.
Weeks of rapid snowmelt and wet weather have caused river levels to rise in the B.C. Interior, the Kootenay region and the Fraser Valley, and a weekend of heavy rain and violent thunderstorms have pushed many rivers and creeks in those areas to the brink.
Hardest hit was Sicamous, a community of about 3,100 people north of Kelowna, where about 350 people were ordered to leave their homes due to flooding along the Sicamous and Hummingbird creeks.
At least one home was swept away, and many more homes and dozens of cars were damaged after flash floods tore through Sicamous, where the local district declared a state of emergency.
"It's total devastation and disaster," said 65-year-old Judy Latosky, who saw Sicamous Creek spill its banks before fleeing her home with her twin five-year-old granddaughters.
"Parts of the bank were just falling off in chunks. We lost all of our backyard and now it's just boulders. ... I looked in this morning and the basement is half full of mud and water. It's a total loss."
More pictures
© Reuters/Andy ClarkA worker reinforces a temporary dyke set up along the waterfront of the Fraser River in Mission, British Columbia June 22, 2012. The river has been steadily rising putting many properties on flood evacuation warning.
Fred Armstrong with the District of Maple Ridge says the homes are located outside the dike system and the alerts have been issued because of high water levels in the Fraser River.
He says the alerts allow officials to provide information to residents on what they should do in the event of an actual evacuation.
However, Armstrong says the district doesn't believe the river's levels will rise high enough to force such a move.
The City of Abbotsford, located about 70 kilometres east of Vancouver, declared a state of emergency on Friday, issuing evacuation orders to 28 residents in the Glen Valley and three residents on the Matsqui Prairie.
Just one day earlier, the City of Chilliwack, located 27 kilometres east of Abbotsford, issued evacuation orders to 12 residents living in three homes when it appeared the river was about to spill over a berm at Carey Point, on the northeastern edge of the city.
© UnknownParts of mid Wales saw the worst flooding in generations earlier in June
Downpours are expected on Friday and are likely to continue into Saturday, Environment Agency Wales said.
It added that recent rainfall in the area means rivers may rise quickly and that it may lead to flood warnings.
Agency officers are checking flood defences and that rivers and streams are clear of blockages.
Devastating floods hit parts of mid and north Wales earlier this month after extreme localised flooding.
Environment Agency Wales said that the latest rain will be heaviest in mid and north Wales.
It said that a concentrated weather system of extremely heavy rainfall is currently forecast for the north west of England, not far from the Welsh border.
"Current predictions indicate that the heaviest rainfall will largely affect English counties, however, there is a risk that the weather system may move, bringing heavier rain into parts of north east Wales," the agency added.
© The Associated Press/The Duluth News-Tribune/Bob KingA car fell into a huge sinkhole in Duluth, Minn. on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.
Steady, torrential rain kept up into Wednesday morning, June 20, closing Interstate 35 and a tunnel into downtown Duluth. Police said sinkholes and washouts made travel dangerous.
Residents of the far west Duluth neighborhood of Fond du Lac, near the rising St. Louis River, were asked to leave their homes. Seventy people arrived at shelters opened by the Red Cross, officials said.
State emergency management officials set up an operations center in response to the flooding across Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties, including the Duluth area.
Gov. Mark Dayton declared a state of emergency and directed the Minnesota National Guard to help the region cope with the disaster.
Dayton planned to travel to Duluth on Thursday morning.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries, though an 8-year-old boy was swept about six blocks through a culvert near Duluth. The boy suffered scrapes and bruises but was fine, St. Louis County Undersheriff Dave Phillips said, calling it a "miracle out of this whole disaster."
Minnesota Department of Public Safety officials cited Duluth police reports that half of the Fond du Lac neighborhood was under evacuation and the town of Thomson was partially evacuated.
Minnesota, US - The damage is breathtaking. "The roads are just a disaster around here," Greg Vogt, with Expert Tire in Duluth said.
In and around Duluth, roads collapsed and sinkholes swallowed cars. On East Skyline Drive a car sits 10 feet below the surface of the road, in a massive sinkhole.
Deep water left some vehicles totaled, like a Volvo behind Expert Tire, and a Chevy Tahoe near the interstate.
"Water was all the way up to the retaining wall," Matt Kebhart said, talking about a three-foot wall in front of the interstate.
Kebhart works at an auto body shop on London Road. Behind it, a dumpster sat in a deep pool of standing water. "That dumpster, I don't even know where it came from," he said.
© The Duluth News-Tribune, Andrew KruegerA car is stranded in floodwaters rushing down a hillside in Duluth, Minn., early Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Hours of torrential rainfall have sparked major flooding across the city and along the North Shore of Lake Superior, with some homes being evacuated due to rising water.
Police officers helped track down a polar bear that got out of its enclosure overnight at the low-lying Lake Superior Zoo where several animals drowned.
Duluth Mayor Don Ness declared a state of emergency after the deluge of up to 9 inches of rain that he said caused extensive damage to the port city of about 86,000. Some neighboring communities did the same. Ness said the order would start the process to obtain federal aid, and Gov. Mark Dayton said he would travel to Duluth on Thursday to discuss how the state can help.
Duluth Mayor Don Ness says he plans to declare a state of emergency because of serious flooding in his northeastern Minnesota city.
