Tag Archives: Flooding

Macedonia declares emergency after 21 die in flash floods

A wrecked car is seen after heavy floods in Cento

By Kole Casule

SKOPJE (Reuters) – Macedonia declared a state of emergency in its capital Skopje and neighboring districts on Sunday, a day after at least 21 people were killed in flash floods caused by a storm.

Torrential rains flooded homes, swept away a section of the ring road around Skopje and wrecked cars late on Saturday evening. Northern suburbs of the capital were particularly hard hit, though the city center also suffered flash floods.

Children were among those killed, a police spokesman said, adding that searches were continuing for six people who have been reported missing.

Macedonia, a small former Yugoslav republic of about two million people, has declared Monday a day of national mourning.

“This is a catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude,” Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Todorov told reporters.

Special police forces and trucks loaded with drinking water were sent to the worst affected areas, where there also have been some electricity outages and where scattered debris of furniture swept away from houses could be seen on the streets, a Reuters reporter said.

The rain had stopped by Sunday morning and water levels were receding, though there was some more rain on Sunday evening in Skopje. There were no reports of further flash flooding.

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Twitter that the EU stood ready to help Macedonia, which is a candidate to join the bloc.

Further north in the Balkans, in Croatia, heavy winds caused disruptions on some roads, including the closure of the highway linking the capital Zagreb to southern coast for lorries and buses, local media said.

(Additional reporting by Igor Ilic in Zagreb; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Natural disasters in China kill more than 800 since June

Flooding in China one of the many natural disasters

BEIJING (Reuters) – More than 800 people have died and about 200 are missing in a series of natural disasters that have struck China since June, the worst casualty figures since a similar period in 2011, state media said on Tuesday.

Large parts of central, eastern and northern China have been hit by flooding this summer, while a typhoon left a wave of destruction this month and a freak tornado killed at least 98 in the eastern province of Jiangsu in June.

Since the year began, 1,074 people have died in natural disasters, 833 of them since June, with 270 missing, Xinhua news agency cited the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying.

Direct economic losses have reached 298 billion yuan ($44.63 billion) this year, with about 400,000 houses destroyed and 6.24 million residents relocated, the ministry added.

Separately, the government on the southern island province of Hainan issued a typhoon warning for a tropical storm that is expected to hit in the early hours of Wednesday.

($1=6.6769 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Heavy rain disrupts trains, flights in Chinese capital

Heavy rainfall in China

BEIJING (Reuters) – Persistent heavy rain on Wednesday caused widespread disruption in the Chinese capital, Beijing, forcing the delay and cancellation of hundreds of flights and the closure of some subway stations.

Beijing’s steamy summer months are often marked by dramatic rainstorms, one of which in 2012 killed 37 people.

At a meeting of the top government body, the Politburo standing committee, President Xi Jinping urged officials to be prepared for rescue work and flood control efforts as China is in its flood season, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The Beijing city government issued an orange alert, the second highest in China’s four-tier warning system, over the rain, and warned it could continue overnight, with a total of 100 mm (3.9 inches) of rain expected in some areas.

More than 200 flights were canceled at Beijing’s main international airport, and a handful of subway stations shut, the government said.

Pictures on social media showed cars making their way slowly through flooded streets in parts of the city.

Some high speed rail services were also delayed, the rail authority said.

There were no reports of any casualties.

Large parts of central and eastern China have been inundated with rain this summer, killing more than 200 people.

Since Monday, 13 people have been killed and 62 have gone missing amid rains in north and northwest China, Xinhua said.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Additional reporting by Jake Spring; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Taiwan, China batten down hatches as super typhoon approaches

Typhoon Nepartak

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Taiwan and China began battening down the hatches on Thursday ahead of the arrival of super Typhoon Nepartak, the first of the year, with fears in China that storm could worsen already severe flooding in the east of the country.

The typhoon is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s mountainous but sparsely populated east coast in the early hours of Friday, where it will loose much of its strength, before crossing over the Taiwan Strait and hitting China on Saturday.

The typhoon has been labeled a category 5 storm on a scale of 1 to 5 by Tropical Storm Risk making it a super typhoon but it should weaken to a topical storm by the time it reaches China.

In Taiwan, authorities announced financial markets would be shut on Friday as cities across the island, including Taipei, announced work and school closures. Airlines began cancelling flights and the bullet train service was suspended.

The island’s weather authorities estimated wind speeds near Nepartak’s center were at least 200 kph (124 mph).

Widespread flooding across central and southern China over the past week has killed about 130 people, damaged more than 1.9 million hectares of crops and led to direct economic losses of more than 38 billion yuan ($5.70 billion).

The city of Wuhan on the Yangtze River, home to 10 million people, has been particularly badly affected, with flooded subway lines and power cuts.

The typhoon is expected to push more rain into already flooded areas in and around Wuhan, the Xinhua news agency said.

Wuhan is a hub for the auto industry, though automakers including Honda <7267.T>, Nissan <7201.T> and state-owned Dongfeng <0489.HK> reported no disruptions.

Peugeot’s <PEUP.PA> venture there said it launched emergency contingency plans, including deploying a sewage pump truck, but factory operations were uninterrupted and its vehicle warehouse unaffected.

Fujian province, opposite Taiwan, has canceled all ferries to Taiwan and Taiwan-controlled islands, and suspended some trains, while Guangdong province has told fishing boats to return to port, the central government said on its website.

Typhoons are common at this time of year in the South China Sea, picking up strength over warm waters and dissipating over land.

Typhoons used to kill many people in China but the government now enforces evacuations and makes preparations well in advance meaning death tolls in recent years have been much lower.

In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a wide path of destruction over southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing $3 billion worth of damage.

(Reporting by Taipei newsroom, Ben Blanchard and Jake Spring; Editing by Robert Birsel)

China floods kill 128 , 1.3 million evacuated, 40,000 buildings collapse

An aerial view shows that houses are flooded in villages in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, July 4, 2016.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Severe flooding across central and southern China over the past week has killed almost 130 people, damaged more than 1.9 million hectares of crops and led to direct economic losses of more than 38 billion yuan ($5.70 billion), state media said on Tuesday.

Premier Li Keqiang traveled on Tuesday to Anhui, one of the hardest-hit provinces, where he met residents and encouraged officials to do everything they could to protect lives and livelihoods. Li was also to visit Hunan province.

Heavy rainfall had killed 128 people across 11 provinces and regions and 42 people are missing, state news agency Xinhua reported.

More than 1.3 million people have been forced out of their homes, it said.

Weather forecasts predicted more downpours during what is traditionally China’s flood season.

Xinhua said more than 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) of cropland had been damaged and another 295,000 hectares had been destroyed, resulting in direct economic losses of 38.2 billion yuan.

More than 40,000 buildings have also collapsed, it added.

It was not clear how that would affect the summer grain harvest, which was expected to reach 140 million tonnes this year.

The stormy weather also took a toll on farm animals.

In Anhui, the flooding killed some 7,100 hogs, 215 bulls and 5.14 million fowl, the China News Service reported.

In the southern province of Hunan, torrential rain and flooding had forced more than 100 trains to stop or take detours since midnight on Sunday, Xinhua reported.

In one city, about 3 tonnes of gasoline and diesel leaked from a petrol station on Monday, contaminating floodwater that flowed into a river, it said.

Water in 43 rivers in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River had exceeded warning levels and patrols were monitoring dykes, Xinhua quoted Chen Guiya, an official with the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission, as saying.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch; Addititional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)

At least six dead as rains batter quake-hit southwestern Japan

Search and rescue operations in Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) – At least six people died and a university student was missing on Wednesday as record-breaking rains battered parts of southwestern Japan still reeling from earthquakes two months ago, setting off flooding and landslides.

Hundreds of thousands people were advised to evacuate a wide swathe of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, where 49 people died in earthquakes in April that weakened the ground and left it prone to landslides, NHK national news channel reported.

“I was in such a hurry to leave I don’t have anything more than what I’m wearing,” one elderly woman told NHK at an evacuation center.

Among those killed were a couple in their 80s whose house in Kumamoto was engulfed by mud after some places were hit by more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain in an hour.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Kumamoto on Wednesday to kick off campaigning for an election next month for parliament’s upper house.

Authorities warned of further landslides in areas where the ground was weakened by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in April and several thousand people are still living in evacuation centers.

The area has been shaken by a steady series of aftershocks, including one on Wednesday morning.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Colin brings strong Wind, heavy rain, flooding to southeast U.S.

Tropical Storm Colin is seen over the Gulf of Mexico

(Reuters) – Strong winds and heavy rainfall were expected across the southeastern United States on Tuesday even as the center of Tropical Storm Colin was moving into the Atlantic Ocean.

The storm was 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, at 4 a.m. eastern time (0800 GMT) and moving at 31 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from the Altamaha Sound Georgia to Oregon Inlet in North Carolina on Tuesday morning. On its forecast path, Colin was to barrel along the coast of the southeastern United States before moving out to sea during the day.

As 50 mph winds were expected in the region, a tornado was reported in Lee County Florida, the National Weather Service said. The storm was forecast dump as much as 1 to 3 inches more of rain as flash flood warnings and watches were in effect across the region, the hurricane center said.

Florida Governor Rick Scott, who had declared a state of emergency on Monday in 34 of the state’s 67 counties, said more than 6,000 Florida National Guard members were activated and ready for deployment.

Flooding and property damage resulting from the fierce winds remained threats into the day, and far beyond the storm’s immediate path, forecasters warned.

A statement from Scott’s office warned residents to be wary of rip currents and the possibility of 10 foot (3 m) waves along the Gulf Coast.

“It is critical that all Floridians use caution and remain alert,” he said in the statement.

In the St. Petersburg beach town of Gulfport and in Charleston, South Carolina, roads were flooded, local authorities said on social media.

About 10,000 customers were without power in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, utilities reported.

The storm also threatened crops in Florida, the country’s biggest citrus producer, which sent U.S. orange juice futures on Monday to their highest in more than two years.

Colin is part of a brisk start to the Atlantic hurricane season that runs through Nov. 30. Over the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Carolinas were lashed by heavy rain and winds from Tropical Storm Bonnie.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Alison Williams)

Texas floodwaters claim five soldiers’ lives at Fort Hood

Emergency crews patrol Fort Bend County after heavy rainfall caused the Brazos River to surge to its highest level causing flooding outside Housto

By Jon Herskovitz and Jim Forsyth

AUSTIN, Texas/SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – A U.S. Army truck overturned in a swollen Fort Hood creek on Thursday, killing five soldiers and leaving four missing as storms dumped more rain on flood-hit parts of Texas.

The rising floodwaters in Texas scrambled transportation, further swelled rivers already over their banks and sent more people to evacuation shelters.

The U.S. Army said the truck overturned at Fort Hood’s Owl Creek low-water crossing during a training exercise. Three bodies were recovered downstream, the Army said. It is unclear where the bodies of the additional two soldiers were found.

A search was being conducted for four soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division, it said in a statement.

Three soldiers were rescued from the water and were in stable condition at a hospital, the statement said. Fort Hood, about 70 miles (110 km) north of Austin, is the biggest active-duty armor post in the United States.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of east Texas and Louisiana. It placed most of Texas on a flash flood watch because of a slow-moving storm system expected to linger through the weekend.

About 200 flights were canceled in Houston and Dallas as of Thursday evening because of heavy rains, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. Major highways have seen delays caused by accidents linked to the storms, transport officials said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in 31 counties on Wednesday, mobilizing state resources to help cope with the disaster.

Six people were killed in the past week in Texas due to severe weather.

Thousands of people have evacuated their homes in low-lying areas, rivers have swelled to levels not seen in more than 100 years, and emergency workers have completed hundreds of high-water rescues.

Evacuations were ordered for parts of two towns in Fort Bend County, about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Houston, where the Brazos River has risen to levels not seen for more than a century.

The pounding rains led to some dramatic rescues, including one in San Antonio of a man described as a Polish immigrant with limited knowledge of English who found himself and his car washed away by a wall of water.

Crews putting up flood barricades heard the man scream and a helicopter was sent to look for him, said James Keith, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department.

“We were able to locate this man standing on the top of a submerged car holding on to a tree,” he said.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, and Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; Editing by Peter Cooney and Leslie Adler)

New Storms threaten already flooded areas in Texas

A house is flooded by water from the rain-swollen Brazos River in Richmond, Texas

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A new round of storms dumped more rain on flood-hit parts of Texas on Thursday, threatening to aggravate already swollen rivers, deluge homes and force more evacuations.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood warning for parts of central Texas on Thursday morning and placed most of the state on a flash flood watch due to a slow-moving storm system expected to linger through the weekend.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to tour flood-hit areas on Thursday. He declared a state of disaster in 31 Texas counties on Wednesday, mobilizing state resources to help manage the disaster.

“The state of Texas stands ready to assist all counties affected by severe weather and has dedicated the resources necessary to ensure the safety of those at risk,” Abbott said.

Six people were killed in the past week in Texas due to severe weather.

Thousands of people have evacuated their homes in low-lying areas, rivers have swelled to levels not seen in more than 100 years and emergency workers have completed hundreds of high-water rescues.

Evacuations were ordered for parts of two towns in Fort Bend County, about 30 miles (50 kms) southwest of Houston, where the Brazos River has risen to levels not seen for more than a century.

“It hasn’t been this high since 1913,” said Major Chad Norvell with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. “Nobody really had an idea of what it would do. It is filling areas where we didn’t expect, and some that we did.”

As much as 10 inches (25 cm) of rain could fall in the Houston area in the coming days, the NWS said, just weeks after eight people were killed in floods that hit the metro area.

This could touch off another round of flooding in the fourth most populous U.S. city, it added.

(Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Hopes fade for over 130 feared buried in Sri Lanka landslides

A trishaw is seen stuck in the mud at Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka, Sri Lanka May 19, 2016.

By Ranga Sirilal

ARANAYAKA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Hopes faded on Thursday for the survival of about 130 people trapped under the mud and rubble of two landslides in Sri Lanka, as heavy rain hampered rescue operations and the death toll from the disaster rose to 58.

Days of torrential rains have forced around 300,000 people from their homes across the island nation, official data showed. Thirty bodies have been retrieved at the landslide sites.

That figure is likely to rise sharply as authorities battling muddy conditions begin to give up hope of reaching 132 people believed to be trapped beneath the landslides.

“I don’t think there will be any survivors,” Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, the officer in charge of the rescue operation, told Reuters.

“There are places where the mud level is up to 30 feet. We will keep going until we can recover the maximum.”

Rescue efforts have focused on the town of Aranayaka, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, where three villages with at least 66 houses were buried late on Tuesday in the central district of Kegalle.

Military officials used hoes and shovels to shift mud as they scrambled to find survivors amid heavy rain that made walking in the hilly terrain difficult.

Material from destroyed homes littered the area, including mud-swathed dog cages and water tanks, while a three-wheeler was seen partially buried.

The military pulled three bodies and parts of another two from rubble at the site of the second landslide that buried 16 people, Ranasinghe said.

H.P. Kamalawathi, 41, said she is still looking for her mother and two elder sisters, who were buried on Tuesday.

“We may get only the dead bodies,” the mother of two said as tears rolled down her cheeks. She and her family had sought safety in a nearly Buddhist temple.

“We can’t take any chance. We will dig and see,” Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told reporters in Colombo after briefing diplomats and international bodies. Sri Lanka is seeking assistance to deal with the worst landslides in its history.

Health officials said they are monitoring for water-borne disease outbreaks while Yapa said the government has sought foreign aid in the form of motors, boats and purifying tablets.

Aid agencies in Colombo canvassed for boats to rescue hundreds of people trapped by rising river waters. Disaster management authorities said around 300,000 people displaced across the country by the disaster had been sent to 610 safe locations.

Troops also used boats and helicopters in rescue operations. The torrential rains since Sunday have caused floods and landslides in nineteen of the country’s 25 districts.

Flooding and drought are cyclical in Sri Lanka, which is battered by a southern monsoon between May and September, while a northeastern monsoon runs from December to February.

(Additional reporting and writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Catherine Evans)