Floods
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Bizarro Earth

Tidal Waves Hit Fiji's Coral Coast

Elenoa Osborne
Fiji Broadcasting Corporation
Fri, 20 May 2011 00:38 UTC
Tidal Waves
© Google
Huge tidal waves hit Sigatoka and the Coral Coast areas of Fiji this morning strewing debris and fish along the Queen's Highway and sweeping belongings out to sea.

Fiji Under 20 rugby coach Inoke Male told FBC News - the team was training when the tidal waves struck.

The team lost belongings such as shoes, towels and clothes.

Anwa Khan from Sydney who was driving from Nadi to Suva called FBC News from Sigatoka to say waves have reached the highway which is now strewn with debris.

"The water was just coming right on-top of the road so we stopped the car and actually the water spray went right over the car and threw all the rubbish onto the road and went back. There were some fishes on the roads. The villagers have started coming to the road and started picking things. Patches on the roads you can see all the woods, coconuts, logs and coral. All the villages along the coast have water in their backyard."

There has been no confirmation as yet of major damages or injuries but details are still coming in.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Denver rain to continue till weekend


Denver Post
Thu, 19 May 2011 01:00 UTC
As a strong Pacific storm moved across the state Wednesday, the metro area received heavy rain, hail and its first tornado warning of the year when at least three funnel clouds were spotted in Adams County.

There were no official reports of tornado touchdowns, but the National Weather Service said the hail was 2 to 3 inches deep on the ground in Thornton on Wednesday afternoon. It was no bigger than three-quarters of an inch in diameter, but it was so widespread that plows were used to clear the roads in the north suburbs.

As the rain continued into the evening, street flooding was reported in Thornton and some routes were temporarily closed.

Rain showers will linger over the Front Range foothills until the weekend and could create flash floods, especially in areas raked clean by destructive wildfires.

Denver already has received almost a half inch more rain than it normally receives in May, with the potential for another inch of rain by the weekend - and another Pacific storm teed up for Colorado next week.

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Cloud Lightning

Venezuela Extends Emergency Efforts As Heavy Rains Return

Ezequiel Minaya
The Wall Street Journal
Wed, 18 May 2011 17:14 UTC
Barlovento, Miranda State, Venezuela flooding
Flooded areas in Barlovento, Miranda State, Venezuela, Dec 2010
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has extended for 90 days in seven states and parts of Caracas a state of emergency called in response to violent rainfalls in late 2010 that may return this year.

The states included in the decree are Vargas, Miranda, Zulia, Falcon, Merida, Trujillo and Nueva Esparta, state media reported late Tuesday. Officials last ordered the state of emergency to be prolonged in February, according to the release.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Walls at Vicksburg Strain as Mississippi River Tops Record

Jacob Batte
Reuters
Sun, 15 May 2011 22:39 UTC
Miss. flooding
© n/a
Vicksburg, Mississippi - The temporary walls erected at Vicksburg to hold back floodwaters were under fresh strain on Sunday as Mississippi River water levels set new records.

One day after officials opened a floodway downriver to speed the flow through the lower Mississippi Valley and spare two of Louisiana's largest cities, the water at Vicksburg hit 56.48 feet on Sunday, more than an inch above the record 56.2 feet set in 1927, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Experts say the river will rise another foot still in Vicksburg before May 19, when it is expected to crest at 57.5 feet -- 14.5 feet above flood level.

The atmosphere in Vicksburg on Sunday remained remarkably calm with the police station closed, although the 911 emergency dispatch line remained open.

The Mississippi, swollen by a rainy spring and melt from an especially snowy winter, continues to rise as it moves south.
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Cloud Lightning

Manitoba Floods Farms to Avoid "Catastrophic" Breach

Rod Nickel
Reuters
Sat, 14 May 2011 16:36 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Fred GreensladeMembers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) work at shoring up a dike along the Assiniboine River near Poplar Point, Manitoba, May 13, 2011.
Manitoba opened its dike on the swollen Assiniboine River on Saturday, starting a slow creep of water across rich farmland to avert a potentially catastrophic, unplanned breach in the Canadian province.

Opening the dike will, over days, flood at least 225 square kilometres (55,600 acres) of land that includes 150 homes while taking the pressure off strained dikes.

After the deliberate dike breach, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said the gradual, controlled flood was going well and that he knew of no homes in its path that had been damaged.

Water was spreading rapidly across fields, however, swamping land when farmers are usually planting crops of wheat, canola and vegetables.

"This was a necessity because a catastrophic overflow would have taken all the people in this area, and around it they would have had up to five times more damage if the river opened up," Selinger told reporters near the breach site. "...The dikes are very stressed with the amount of water going through, which is why we had to do this opening here."

The controlled flood looked to continue for as long as a week with flows speeding up because the river was still rising, Selinger said.
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Attention

US: Floods Hit Bridgeport Ohio

Jamie Ward
WOWK 13
Fri, 13 May 2011 10:36 UTC
Pounding rains shut down roads in Bridgeport on Friday.

Heavy rains pounded the Ohio Valley Friday. Water rushed down through the streets of Bridgeport, tearing up roads, crippling cars, and creeping into the basements of the people who live there.

Crews were called in around 4 p.m. Friday. Bridgeport Mayor, John Callarik, says that the heavy rain was just too much for the sewers to handle

"What happened up above, is our main sewer line is all clogged up and it came over the top", he says. Authorities say all that water than came rushing into town, closed a number of roads in the Kerwood section for about four hours and backed up traffic during rush hour. The Bridgeport Fire Department says that aside from flooding, the biggest issue was making sure people were able to get around..
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Cloud Lightning

US: Flash flooding; State of Emergency in Wellsville

Eileen Buckley
WBFO
Sat, 14 May 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Yahoo! 2010 Data NavteQ2009
Buffalo, New York - A flash flood watch is posted for Southern Erie, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Wyoming Counties from Noon Saturday through the evening.

Heavy rains caused flash flooding for portions of the Southern Tier Friday.

A state of emergency is in effect in the Village of Wellsville in Allegany County. Roads were damaged and flooded in Wellsville, Belmont and Scio.

Emergency crews evacuated some of the residents.

Wellsville Police say dozens of streets and roadways are impassable and are closed. Some of the roads could be closed for the next several days.

Officials are asking residents to avoid any unnecessary travel in areas affected by the flash floods.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Louisiana Spillway to Open, Flooding Cajun Country

Mary Foster and Holbrook Mohr
Associated Press
Fri, 13 May 2011 23:58 UTC
Robert Jones /rising flood waters
© AP Photo/Rogelio V. SolisIn a May 12, 2011 photo, Robert Jones, 53, is afraid the rising flood waters behind his house will flood him out by the weekend in Yazoo City, Miss.
Lake Providence, Louisiana - In an agonizing trade-off, Army engineers said they will open a key spillway along the bulging Mississippi River as early as Saturday and inundate thousands of homes and farms in parts of Louisiana's Cajun country to avert a potentially bigger disaster in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

About 25,000 people and 11,000 structures could be in harm's way when the gates on the Morganza spillway are unlocked for the first time in 38 years.

"Protecting lives is the No. 1 priority," Army Corps of Engineers Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh said aboard a boat from the river at Vicksburg, Miss., hours before the decision was made to open the spillway.

The opening will release a torrent that could submerge about 3,000 square miles under as much as 25 feet of water in some areas but take the pressure off the downstream levees protecting New Orleans, Baton Rouge and the numerous oil refineries and chemical plants along the lower reaches of the Mississippi.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Town that faces being wiped off map: Flood waters engulf every home in Mississippi community


DailyMail.Co.Uk
Fri, 13 May 2011 05:56 UTC
It's a terrible waiting game for around 350 people evacuated from the camps at Tunica Cutoff.

With the Mississippi River 10ft out of its banks and heading towards a crest (peak) of 48ft on the Memphis gauge, county planners and emergency management officials fear that flood waters will enter nearly all the now-abandoned homes on the unprotected side of the levee.

On the bloated Mississippi River, the town of Tunica Cutoff, sits an hour's drive south of Memphis - recent flood waters have done significant damage to the town's housing and has left residents wondering if they'll have a community to return to when the water recedes.

CBS News reports that there are about 300 homes in the small town, and they have all been flooded.
Image
© EPAHigh waters: Residents in Tunica Cutoff are worried it may never be rebuilt owing to the cost of building the town again from scratch
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People

US: Slow migration unfolds in flood's path


Associated Press
Fri, 13 May 2011 09:00 UTC
Yazoo City - A slow migration is unfolding here as people and wild animals - hogs, deer and snakes among them - seek higher ground from the floodwaters rising inexorably along the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
Image
© AP/Robert RayFloodwaters invade downtown Vicksburg on Wednesday. Historic Vicksburg, the site of a pivotal Civil War battle, has been one of the hardest hit cities. All along the river's path, residents are worried about the flood's impact on homes and farmland.
Brett Robinson drove slowly down River Road near his Yazoo City farm on Thursday, gazing out over corn fields now beginning to look more like lakes. He stopped his truck, pulled out a rifle and shot dead a wild hog swimming through his corn. He'll lose the crop anyway, but that hog could be a nuisance long after the water recedes.

"We lose a lot of crops to them," he said of wild pigs. "We can lose 40 acres in a night. They can give birth three times a year and have 15 in a litter."

Wild pigs multiply faster than farmers can deal with them. Yet the rising flood is driving them into the open, giving farmers an opportunity to kill them as wild animals seek higher ground.

Not far away, a raccoon clung atop a power pole, perched above several feet of water. Nearby, a snake swam through the inundated corn. Ants are seemingly everywhere and fish sought to swim against the current as water washed over a road.
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