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Alarm Clock

Laos: PanAust Says Contract Worker Swept Away in Phu Kham Landslide

Perth− Gold miner PanAust said on Tuesday a contract worker in Laos was likely killed after heavy rain swept through its Phu Kham operations.

The excavator operator was working on an off-site road clearance when his excavator was swept away in a landslide, the company said.

The Phu Kham gold operations and the surrounding area received significant rainfall from tropical storm Haima between June 24 and June 26, which caused widespread flooding and infrastructure damage across the region, and resulted in the loss of two days of concentrate production.

Further heavy rains also occurred on July 2 and 3, which caused concentrate production to be suspended yet again, and caused further damage to road infrastructure in the region.

Concentrate production resumed on July 4.

Bizarro Earth

Philippines: 6 Dead, 4 Injured in Northern Mindanao Landslide, Flashfloods

Cayagan De Oro City, Misamis Oriental - At least six persons were killed due to flashfloods and landslides that occurred in separate areas in Northern Mindanao caused by the continuous heavy rains, last weekend.

Reports reaching the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) said two children were buried alive while playing in the vicinity of Purok 11, Barangay Tongantongan, Valencia City, at about 8:00 a.m. of July 4.

Their parents who were in the city some 20 km. from their homes only knew about their plight when they came home in the afternoon. Immediately, the bodies of the victims: Joy Culamar, 7 yrs. Old, female and Roque Santillan, 6 yr. old, male, were retrieved by their respective families and relatives.

At about 8:45a.m., the same day, another landslide occurred in Sitio Hangaron, Lumbayao, also of Valencia City, more than 20 km. from Tongantongan, Director Carmelito A. Lupo of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and Chairperson of the RDRRMC-10, said.

Alarm Clock

India: Gangortri-Rishikesh highway closed due to landslide

Dehradun - Many people were stranded at Gangortri-Rishikesh highway as landslides triggered by heavy rain blocked vehicular traffic at Narendranagar in Tehri district of Uttarakhand. The workers were pressed to clear the landslides at Narendranagar where hundreds of vehicles were waiting for the clearance of the road, an official of disaster management department said.

Cloud Lightning

US: Heavy rains wash out roads in western Nebraska, officials say it could take a week to repair

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© Unknown
Scottsbluff, Nebraska - It may take up to a week to repair some roads in western Nebraska that were damaged by torrential rain and large hail.

Officials say the area of western Nebraska was hit by severe weather Saturday, with hail nearly 2-inches in diameter damaging vehicles and siding on homes and other buildings.

Scotts Bluff County Director of Public Works Bob Bennett tells KNEB in Scottsbluff it will take a week to get some roads in his county back in shape. Some roads in the western part of the county remained closed Tuesday.

Lyman city officials say high winds knocked down some trees and basements were flooded by the heavy rain. Several roads in Banner County also were flooded and a number of roads were washed out near Torrington in Goshen County.

Cloud Lightning

Rain-Triggered Landslide Leaves 18 Dead, 4 Injured in China

Xi'an - Eighteen people were confirmed dead and four others injured in a rain-triggered landslide that lashed Lueyang County in northwestern Shaanxi Province Tuesday, local authorities said Wednesday.

Torrential rain hit Lueyang County from 3 a.m. to midday Tuesday, triggering a 5,000-cubic-meter landslide that engulfed a two-story building in the county seat at 11:15 a.m., the government of Hanzhong city said in a statement.

The local government sent more than 400 people to the site for rescue operations.

Rescuers reached 22 people, but 17 were already dead, and one died after treatment failed. Four others were injured and are hospitalized.

Also in Lueyang, an 80-year-old villager, Sun Guiying, remain missing after she was swept away while crossing a torrential river Tuesday.

As of midnight Wednesday, the downpours that have also wreaked havoc in 10 other counties of Hanzhong City have affected 102,300 people and forced evacuation of nearly 5,000.

Bizarro Earth

South Dakota, US: Rampaging Missouri River Defies Its Master

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© Rich Sugg
Yankton - Gary Schaeffer's grandkids ran to an overlook of Gavins Point Dam.

"Ooh, man. Ooh." Schaeffer followed and looked down in disbelief. A riot of water roiled where he'd spent a lifetime of lazy fishing.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said. "Nothing even close."

Eight years out of 10, the 14 flood gates, 40 feet wide, spill not so much as a bucket of the brown water into the Missouri River.

Now enough is barreling out of Lewis & Clark Lake to cover a football field 3½ feet deep every second. Water will race through the dam at that record rate, ultimately swamping farms and towns for hundreds of miles downstream, through August.

"When your bathtub is full, you just can't put any more water in it," said Dave Becker, the operations manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Gavins Point. "Water is going to spill over."

But how did the bathtub get so full? Why did the six huge Missouri River reservoirs - Gavins Point is the farthest downstream - fill to the brim and force the months-long release of floodwater?

The short answer: The corps could have prevented or drastically held down flooding by opening flood gates sooner. The reasons it didn't - reasons putting government water managers on the spot this summer - rest in a tangle of history, physics, meteorology and politics.


Cloud Lightning

US: Massive Haboob Moves Across Parts of Phoenix Valley

A massive haboob moved through the Valley Tuesday night, reducing visibility and kicking up dangerous high winds.
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According to ABC15 meteorologist Rich Dahlquist, the wall of dust boasted sustained winds of around 60 miles per hour, close to hurricane force winds.

The powerful gusts knocked down power poles in parts of the East Valley, including Mesa, and led to outages affecting thousands of customers.

The thick dust reduced visibility in parts of the Valley to zero even before the sun set.

Phoenix Fire Department spokesman Scott Walker said they received 720 emergency phone calls between 5 and 7 p.m. and the storm kept crews busy across the city well into the night.

Communities across the Valley remain under a severe thunderstorm watch until 11 p.m.

Phoenix

US: Dust Storm Warning across Phoenix, Arizona

The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a Local dust Storm Warning for northwestern Pinal County in south central Arizona eastern Maricopa County in south central Arizona.

There is a 'Ground Stop' in effect, which means all flights coming in our going out of Sky Harbor Airport have been halted.

Video | News | Weather | Sports

Tue Jul 05 19:38:24 PDT 2011

Historic dust storm moves across Phoenix metro

The National Weather Service in Phoenix issued a local dust storm warning for northwestern Pinal County in south central Arizona eastern Maricopa County in south central Arizona. view full article


Bizarro Earth

Mexican civil protection authorities confirm 11 dead from Tropical Storm Arlene and aftermath

Mexico City - Mexican authorities have confirmed 11 deaths from Tropical Storm Arlene and the aftermath of floods, mudslides and overflowing rivers in central Mexico and Gulf Coast states.

State civil protection officials say five people in Hidalgo, two young children in Mexico state and a rescue worker and woman in Veracruz were killed. Most died after being buried alive in their homes by mudslides or drowning in heavy currents while trying to cross swollen streams.

Bizarro Earth

Weather: Floods, landslides threaten Visayas, Mindanao, PAGASA says

Flash floods and landslides caused by rains from two low-pressure areas threaten parts of the Visayas and Mindanao, state weather forecasters said Sunday afternoon.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the first LPA was estimated at 315 km west of Calapan, Mindoro Oriental as of 2 p.m.

On the other hand, the second LPA was estimated at 850 km east of Surigao City.

Both LPAs are embedded along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, PAGASA said.

"Visayas and Mindanao will experience cloudy skies with scattered to widespread rains and thunderstorms which may trigger flashfloods and landslides," PAGASA said.

While PAGASA did not say if the LPAs would intensify into a cyclone, Philippine weather site Typhoon2000 indicated a tropical cyclone is possible between July 4 and 9 (Monday and Saturday).