Trees knocked down, roads flooded 2nd time in a week
Heavy rains caused power outages, flooding and damage across the Charleston area for the second time in one week on Friday.
Kimberly Earl and her husband, Cody, were in their home on Bakers Fork Road with two of their four kids when a massive tree uprooted on the hill across from their house, slamming onto their roof.
"Every time it rains," she said, "a little more of that hillside washes away."
Floods
The death toll reached 59 Saturday from floods and mudslides in southern Thailand over two weeks that caused damage estimated at more than 300 million dollars, officials said.
The Interior Ministry's disaster prevention and mitigation department said 26 people had died in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, 610 kilometres south of Bangkok.
Twelve deaths were confirmed in neighbouring Surat Thani province, with additional casualties in Krabi, Phatthalung, Chumphon, Trang and Phangnga provinces throughout the southern region.
Large areas of Nakhon Si Thammarat were reported still underwater on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry's disaster prevention and mitigation department said 26 people had died in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, 610 kilometres south of Bangkok.
Twelve deaths were confirmed in neighbouring Surat Thani province, with additional casualties in Krabi, Phatthalung, Chumphon, Trang and Phangnga provinces throughout the southern region.
Large areas of Nakhon Si Thammarat were reported still underwater on Saturday.
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Major floods are expected by this weekend at Prescott in far western Wisconsin. The river is already a foot-and-a-half above its flood stage at nearby Hastings Minnesota.
The National Weather Service says the Mississippi's second crest will be higher than the first one. It's the result of melting snow, plus more precipitation expected on Thursday and into the weekend.
The Mississippi is not expected to fall at Hastings until early next week. But folks down the river in La Crosse and Prairie du Chien probably won't see a major impact. Only minor flooding is forecast in both those places. The Mississippi River is about three-inches below its flood stage today in La Crosse. It's expected to rise Thursday, and then drop below its banks next Monday.
The United Nations says 62 people have been killed and thousands forced from their homes since the start of the year by flooding in northern Namibia.
In a statement Wednesday, the U.N. children's fund says the numbers could "dramatically increase" soon.
U.N. officials in Namibia say a new wave of water is expected from Angola, and the forecast is for more rains in northern Namibia in the coming days.
UNICEF says northern Namibia is already vulnerable. It is among the most densely populated and poorest parts of the country, with a high number of people carrying the AIDS virus. UNICEF says one in every fifteen children dies before reaching the age of five in the region.
In a statement Wednesday, the U.N. children's fund says the numbers could "dramatically increase" soon.
U.N. officials in Namibia say a new wave of water is expected from Angola, and the forecast is for more rains in northern Namibia in the coming days.
UNICEF says northern Namibia is already vulnerable. It is among the most densely populated and poorest parts of the country, with a high number of people carrying the AIDS virus. UNICEF says one in every fifteen children dies before reaching the age of five in the region.
The death toll from heavy flooding in southern Thailand has risen to 40, the government said Sunday, with thousands of people forced to live in temporary shelters.
More than a week of heavy rain -- in what is usually one of the hottest months -- has caused floods in 10 of Thailand's 77 provinces, submerging homes, triggering landslides and washing away roads and bridges.
As of Sunday, the death toll stood at 17 in hard-hit Nakhon Si Thammarat province, 10 in Surat Thani, seven in Krabi, and two in each of Phatthalung, Chumphon and Trang, the department of disaster prevention and mitigation said.
A mudslide swamped at least one whole village in Khao Phanom district, Krabi province.
More than a week of heavy rain -- in what is usually one of the hottest months -- has caused floods in 10 of Thailand's 77 provinces, submerging homes, triggering landslides and washing away roads and bridges.
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A mudslide swamped at least one whole village in Khao Phanom district, Krabi province.
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A Buddhist monk paddles through a flooded temple
A Buddhist monk paddles through a flooded temple
Flood relief center official Vittayen Muttamara warned Friday that residents in hillside areas must remain alert, because the flood runoff from the mountains could still inundate villages.
The government disaster agency says nearly 1 million people in eight southern provinces have been affected by the floods.
Vittayen said access to some villages by land was still difficult because of damage to roads and bridges, but rescue workers were able to reach them by helicopter. The state news agency TNA quoted Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat saying more than 1,246 schools suffered damage.
The number of flood victims in Terengganu rose to 1,013 people as of 8pm Tuesday night as the floods in several districts worsened.
They are currently housed in 14 evacuation centres, a spokesperson of the Terengganu National Security Council said.
The floods also forced the closure of over 23 schools, of which 12 were in Setiu involving 1,500 students, nine in Hulu Terengganu with 1,400 students and two in Besut with with 700 students.
They are currently housed in 14 evacuation centres, a spokesperson of the Terengganu National Security Council said.
The floods also forced the closure of over 23 schools, of which 12 were in Setiu involving 1,500 students, nine in Hulu Terengganu with 1,400 students and two in Besut with with 700 students.
© KGO-TV San Francisco
The Bay Area is beginning to clean up from Thursday's storm as residents brace for more problems.
The Bay Area is beginning to clean up from Thursday's storm as residents brace for more problems.
Residents in the 45-unit Pacific Cove Mobile Home Park in Santa Cruz County were ordered to evacuate on Thursday when a failed drainage pipe tore a roughly 15-by-100 foot hole in the ground near homes and sent a 3-foot surge of water into Capitola Village, authorities said.
"The water was moving really rapidly and carrying debris, garbage cans, kids' toys, chairs," Pamela Bone, 52, a resident of the mobile home park said. "My neighbor and I were looking across from each other at the river running between us."
Bone said the area around her home was left caked in mud but the home itself had remained dry.
"I think we're the lucky ones," she said.
Four of the homes have been red-tagged, said Derek Johnson, a city spokesman, and crews were trying to restore electricity and other utilities to the area. The gas was not expected to be back on for at least another week.
Capitola is just south of Santa Cruz, where this month's tsunami caused millions of dollars of damage to the harbor.
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This frame grab provided by WLBT-TV during a news television station helicopter flight over the Mississippi River bridge at Interstate-20 in Vicksburg, Miss., shows one of the runaway barges that hit the bridge Wednesday afternoon, March 23, 2011. The bridge was shut down for several hours Wednesday after an estimated 8 loaded barges broke loose from a southbound tow on the flood-swollen Mississippi River. Some of the barges are believed to have hit the old Interstate-20 bridge pillars but none sank officials reported. The barges are expected to be secured by early evening.
This frame grab provided by WLBT-TV during a news television station helicopter flight over the Mississippi River bridge at Interstate-20 in Vicksburg, Miss., shows one of the runaway barges that hit the bridge Wednesday afternoon, March 23, 2011. The bridge was shut down for several hours Wednesday after an estimated 8 loaded barges broke loose from a southbound tow on the flood-swollen Mississippi River. Some of the barges are believed to have hit the old Interstate-20 bridge pillars but none sank officials reported. The barges are expected to be secured by early evening.
Officials in Davenport, an eastern Iowa city of 100,000 residents that hugs the Mississippi River, say the water level in coming days and weeks could surpass the 22.63-foot record crest in 1993, which closed downtown businesses and streets for weeks and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents. Davenport is the largest metropolitan area along the upper Mississippi without a flood wall, partly because officials and residents concerned about the cost and protecting their connection to the river have rejected the idea of building one.
The city's flood-fighting strategy plans for a maximum crest of 24 feet. But a National Weather Service forecast that indicates a 50% chance of a record flood has left city officials scrambling to prepare for waters of up to 26 feet.
© Associated Press / National Park Service
In this March 15, 2011 photo provided by the National Park Service, the carcass of a musk ox is shown frozen in ice at Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Alaska. The frozen musk oxen were found on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, during a routine flight to track at least four musk oxen that had been fitted with collars to conduct research.
In this March 15, 2011 photo provided by the National Park Service, the carcass of a musk ox is shown frozen in ice at Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Alaska. The frozen musk oxen were found on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, during a routine flight to track at least four musk oxen that had been fitted with collars to conduct research.
Researchers found the frozen animals March 15 while flying over the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve to track at least four of the animals, which had been outfitted with radio collars.
"Basically, the radio collars led us to the dead animals," National Park Service spokesman John Quinley said.
Officials planned to fly over the area again Tuesday to determine the fate of another 23 animals in the herd. It wasn't immediately clear if any of those were fitted with collars.
"We didn't see any carcasses, but we didn't see them walking around," he said.
The remainder of the herd could be buried deeper in the snow. If so, the bodies wouldn't be visible until spring.
