Floods
S


Cloud Lightning

'Amazing' Australian Floodwaters Enter New Towns


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:03 UTC
Image
© Agence France-PresseTwo locals walk through floodwater in the suburb of New Farm in Brisbane, Australia
Surging floodwaters broke levees in disaster-hit Australia on Monday to inundate more properties in the southeast, as residents sandbagged homes against the spiralling crisis.

Swollen rivers in the southeastern state of Victoria have created a flood zone measuring an estimated 90 kilometres (56 miles) long and 40 kilometres wide, the State Emergency Service said.

"This area has seen unprecedented flooding," SES spokesman Kevin Monk told AFP. "This is just amazing."

As the floodwaters rushed towards the Murray River, evacuation alerts were issued late Sunday and early Monday for the small communities of Pental Island and Murrabit West, home to about 400 people each.

In an emergency alert the SES said that levees around Murrabit West were failing, warning that the area would be inundated in the next 12 hours.

"They are being flooded now," Monk told AFP. "It's across properties. If they haven't sandbagged them, there may be some impacts on people's housing."

The Victoria floods stem from La Nina-provoked torrential rains which hit the state mid-January and followed weeks of widespread floods to the north that killed at least 30 people and devastated mining and farming in Queensland.
Read More...
Life Preserver

New Zealand: Storm pounds North Island

Hayden Donnell
NZ Herald News
Sun, 23 Jan 2011 06:50 UTC
New Zealand flood
© Benjamin EitelbergAuckland, Kohimarama Road
Walls of sandbags are being erected as dozens of Auckland house owners prepare for a second bout of flooding in 24 hours.

The Auckland Civil Defence emergency coordination centre has been activated and controller Clive Manley says the region will continue to be affected by gales.

Residents of Herald Island are bracing for another surge of water at high tide.

About 30 Herald Island properties were evacuated and properties in Maratai, Leigh, Clevedon, Beachlands and Sandspit were flooded by intense rain which hit the city last night.

Manley says those areas are likely to be flooded again during high tide at midnight.

He has sent workers to shore up the Herald Is properties with sandbags.

"Those properties will remain evacuated overnight. People will keep away from those areas."

The weather has cut power in Remuera and in Mt Wellington, while in west Auckland, residents at Piha, Titirangi and Henderson have been without electricity.

Vector says it has been working on fixing the fault, but some areas may be without power because of damage to service lines.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Brazil: Rains Put Sao Paulo on Alert, Rio Deaths Rise to 727


The Associated Press
Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:50 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press / Felipe DanaPeople salvage items from their homes after a landslide in the Alto Floresta neighborhood of Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Wednesday Jan. 19, 2011. Mudslides have destroyed entire communities, killed at least 700 people since Jan. 11 and left nearly 14,000 homeless.
Brazilian officials have put Sao Paulo on alert as heavy rains hit the metropolis.

In Rio state, meanwhile, deaths from last week's mudslides have risen to 727.

As rain fell on Sao Paulo, water rose above car windows in some points in the South America's largest city, blocking major highways.

The mayor's office issued flood alerts for much of the city Wednesday. One woman died the day before when her house collapsed amid heavy rains.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Malaysia: Floods Force Temporary Closure Of Niah, Lambir Hills National Parks


Bernama.com
Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:48 UTC
Image
The Niah National Park and Lambir Hills National Park in the Miri division are temporarily closed to the public with immediate effect due to serious flooding, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation said in a statement Tuesday.

It said the parks were closed for safety reasons and an announcement would be made once they were ready to receive visitors.

Niah, which is about 109 km from Miri and 131 km from Bintulu, is one of Sarawak's smallest national parks but it is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world following the discovery of the oldest modern human remains in Southeast Asia.

The 6,952-hectare Lambir Hills National Park, which is only 32 km from the Miri city centre, has a complex and diverse forest eco-system, including 237 different species of birds, flying squirrels, wild pigs, gibbons, many different types of monkey, various species of deer besides insects and other invertebrates.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Brazil Landslide and Flood Toll Reaches 665

Paulo Prada and Diana Kinch
The Wall Street Journal
Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:28 UTC
Image
© AFP/Getty Images
The death toll from flooding and mudslides in southeastern Brazil climbed to at least 665 people, as public outcry turned toward authorities' ongoing struggle to reach still-isolated areas and their failure last week to have warned residents of the danger of gathering storms.

Relief workers continued to unearth victims on Monday, even as rescue crews managed to reach survivors who have been trapped by earth and floodwaters since the downpours hit the state of Rio de Janeiro almost a week ago. In addition to those killed, nearly 14,000 people have been displaced from destroyed or damaged homes. An unknown number of people remain missing.

Amid the relief and recovery efforts, Brazilians are increasingly expressing outrage at local, state, and federal officials.

In addition to criticism that authorities had turned a blind eye toward construction in areas known to be vulnerable to flooding, they are now asking why the government, despite modern weather and communications systems, were unable to alert victims of the pending danger. Southern Brazil, after all, has been subject to frequent flooding in recent years, including downpours and landslides that killed hundreds of people during last year's rainy season.
Read More...
Radar

At least 39 dead in South African floods

Jon Herskovitz and Olivia Kumwenda
Reuters
Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:26 UTC
Johannesburg - Floods have killed or left missing at least 39 people in South Africa and destroyed thousands of homes in neighboring Mozambique, officials said on Monday.

Heavy rains from late December and through most of January have led to floods in the two countries, with torrential downpours at the weekend again swelling rivers.

South Africa's Cooperative Governance Ministry estimated at least 32 have been killed while police said on Monday another seven went missing in Centurion, near Pretoria, after they were swept away by high waters.

The army has been placed on stand-by to evacuate people from areas near major dams.

"All disaster management structures in the country have been put on high alert," the cooperative governance ministry said.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Philippine Floods Toll Rises to 51; Fishermen Missing


Reuters
Sun, 16 Jan 2011 03:51 UTC
The death toll from more than two weeks of heavy rains in the central and southern Philippines has risen to 51, disaster officials said on Sunday, as authorities stepped up their search for another 16 people missing at sea.

Agriculture and infrastructure damage now exceeds 1.6 billion pesos ($36 million) after floodwaters inundated rural communities in about a third of the country's 80 provinces, said Benito Ramos, head of the government's disaster agency.

Major rice and corn production areas in the north and western parts of the country have been spared from the damaging impact of the persistent rains that began in late December.

Most of the dead either drowned or were buried by mudslides, Ramos said. Nearly 20 people are still missing.

"We're expecting the number of casualties to increase because more people have gone missing," Ramos told Reuters, appealing to fishermen in the central Bicol region to stay onshore until the weather improved.

Search planes and ships are looking for 16 fishermen whose boat capsized in rough seas off the central island of Catanduanes.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Hundreds dead in Brazil floods


Al jazeera
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00 UTC
Rescuers dig through shattered homes for survivors after floods and landslides rip through a mountainous region.

brazil floods serrana region
© EPAMany residents of the three main towns in Serrana region have been made homeless by the floods
More than 350 people have been killed after floods and landslides devastated towns and villages in a mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro.

Rescue workers were digging desperately on Thursday in an attempt to reach people buried after the equivalent of a month's rain fell on the Serrana region in less 24 hours, toppling houses and buckling roads.

"It's like an earthquake struck some areas," Jorge Mario, the mayor of Teresopolis, where at least 168 people were reported to have died, said.

"There are three or four neighbourhoods that were totally destroyed in rural areas. There are hardly any houses standing there and all the roads and bridges are destroyed."

Television images showed emergency workers going through the ruins of collapsed homes in a search for survivors, but often finding only bodies.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Fiji Islands: Flooding in Western and Eastern Division

Shalvin Deo
Figivillage.com
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:08 UTC
Image
Continuous rain has led to flooding in most parts of the Western and Eastern Division.

The heavy downpour continues in Rakiraki, Tavua, Ba, Lautoka, Korovou and Naqali.

The Department of National Roads said people are still stranded on the main highway to Rakiraki town near Vaileka as the highway is still flooded and closed to traffic.

The FSC road and crossing, the Waimari and Korotale roads are also flooded.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Indonesia: Wild Weather Destroys Homes In 2 Provinces

Eras Poke & Nurfika Osman
Jakarta Globe
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:44 UTC
Extreme weather in two provinces has damaged hundreds of houses and left scores homeless, officials said on Thursday.

On the East Nusa Tenggara island of Flores on Wednesday, high waves that reached as far as 100 meters inland swept away at least 18 houses in Sikka district's Nangahale village, said Fransiska Palan Bolen, secretary of the province's Natural Disaster Management Agency (BNPD).

No injuries were reported in the incident.

Fransiska said the affected villagers had been evacuated to emergency camps and that her office had sent personnel, supplies and food to help the victims.
Read More...