Severe weather

Citation

(2001), "Severe weather", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310eac.003

Severe weather

Severe weather

3 April 2001 – Bangladesh

Lightning has killed ten people and 30 fishermen are missing at sea in rainstorms that have flattened nearly 100 mud-and-thatch houses in southern Bangladesh. Since the storms hit on Sunday (1 April), lightning has killed five young men who went to their fields to bring cattle back home in the Patuakhali district, 95 miles south of Dhaka. Five more people were killed by lightning in the south-western Satkhira district. A total of 12 fishing trawlers were caught in the storms and sank in the Bay of Bengal off the Kuakata coast. Of the 40 crew on board the trawlers, ten were rescued. The others are still missing. At least 50 people were injured in northern and western Bangladesh in the storms.

10 April 2001 – Angola

A total of five people have died and 20 others are missing, following floods around the southern Angolan town of Namibe. State-run radio said two rivers had burst their banks, inundating villages and blocking the main road in the area. More than 1,500 villagers have been stranded for more than a week in the neighbouring province of Benguela.

25 April 2001 – Brazil

Flooding caused by heavy rains pounding western Brazil killed at least 13 people and left more than ten missing today, authorities said. The rains have not let up since the beginning of the week and have flooded several neighbourhoods in Cuiaba, about 700 miles north-west of Brasilia, and many residents had to be rescued by helicopter, civil defence said in a statement. The majority of the dead lived along the banks of rivers which overflowed, collapsing homes and dragging their victims downstream, the statement said. Despite the risk, thousands of people had climbed on top of their houses and were waiting for the police to rescue them (Reuters).

26 April 2001 – Torrential rain drowned at least 15 and turned 5,000 from their homes in Cuiaba, Brazil yesterday after more than a month's worth of rain fell in six hours over the city, local news reported. The Agencia Estado news service said two children were among the 15 who drowned and at least six people were still missing after waters rose well over 10ft in parts of the capital city of Mato Grosso state – about 940 miles from Sa¬o Paulo. The municipal sanitation agency said 90 percent of the city's water system would be undrinkable for two days due to contamination from flood waters.

25 April 2001 – Mozambique

A total of 71,000 hectares of crops were destroyed by floods that hit central Mozambique this year leaving about 99,500 families at risk of hunger, reports today's issue of the daily paper Noticia. Citing Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Helder Muteia, the paper says that this figure derives from the most recent assessment of the damage caused by the floods in the four provinces affected, namely Tete, Manica, Sofala and Zambezia. Muteia said that 23,200 families were affected in Tete, 28,700 in Sofala, 33,500 in Zambezia, and 14,100 in Manica. "The assessment work is still continuing in the affected areas, but we can only expect to confirm the data of the latest assessment, maybe with a slight increase. Anyhow, there are guarantees that the needs in terms of seeds and agricultural tools will be covered", said Muteia.

28 April 2001 – China

A total of 11 people have been killed in rainstorms and tornadoes in southern China's Guangdong province, state media said today. Heavy rains pummelled several cities in the province, including the capital Guangzhou, from 20-25 April, causing a mountain to collapse, killing eight people and injuring three, the Xinhua news agency said. Rainstorms also caused serious floods in the Lianjiang River Valley, affecting 30,000 people and killing two residents in a housing cave-in, Xinhua said. A woman from Gaoshan township of Lianzhou city was killed after being struck by lightning. The weather caused direct economic losses totalling yuan 200 million (about US$24 million) to the province, according to Xinhua. The water level in the Beijiang River in northern Guangdong swelled over the danger line, said Xinhua, quoting sources from the local natural disaster relief headquarters. Disaster relief personnel have been sent to the affected areas and have found temporary housing for displaced residents, Xinhua said.

2 May 2001 – A landslide destroyed a nine-storey apartment building in south-western China, killing at least 11 people, the official Xinhua News Agency said today. Only seven people out of 25 families in the building were known to have escaped the disaster yesterday evening in the city of Chongqing, Xinhua said. It said that by this morning, rescuers with special detection equipment had unearthed 11 bodies. Local officials contacted by telephone refused to provide any details. There was no immediate explanation of the cause of the landslide. But China has suffered a fatal series of building collapses and other disasters blamed on poor construction standards and lax enforcement of safety rules.

A landslide in south-western China swept away a nine-floor residential block, killing at least 21 people and injuring seven more, a local official said today. Residents scrambled to escape from the building when the landslide struck Wulong county, about 200km outside the city of Chongqing, yesterday evening, the Wulong disaster relief official said. The building was home to 25 families but it was not clear how many were inside when the landslide struck after several days of heavy rain, the official said. Hundreds of police, soldiers and fire-fighters were still digging through debris to search for those trapped inside, he added.

3 May 2001 – Rescuers have pulled 65 bodies from the ruins of a nine-floor residential block buried by a landslide in south-western China and the death toll could reach 80-90, officials in the area said today. Hundreds of police and soldiers had cleared about two-thirds of a mountain of boulders, rubble and twisted girders left by the landslide which struck Wulong county, 125 miles from the city of Chongqing, on Tuesday (1 May) evening, the officials said. The official Xinhua news agency said earlier the building was home to 95 people, of whom about 76 were inside when the landslide hit. The recently-built block was obliterated by a wave of mud and rocks when a steep hillside above it subsided after several days of heavy rain, officials said. But they insisted the building had not been built in a dangerous location. Seven more people were injured in the landslide, three of whom were still in hospital, a Wulong government official said.

4 May 2001 – Chinese rescue workers have called off the hunt for victims of a landslide after digging 74 bodies out of the ruins of a nine-storey residential block obliterated by a wave of mud and rocks, Xinhua news agency said today. Hundreds of police and soldiers had been involved in the rescue operation. A local fire official reiterated that this was a tragedy wrought by nature in an area not known to be prone to landslides. "It was a natural disaster", the fire official said. "I have never known such a large landslide in this area. There was no sign of any danger."

30 April 2001 – Bangladesh

At least 21 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a series of storms which lashed parts of Bangladesh at the weekend (28-29 April), officials said today. The tropical storms, which packed winds of up to 80kph, also damaged homes and rice paddy crops. "The deaths were caused by a ferry sinking and houses collapsing, which also left over 100 injured and many missing", an official at the Disaster Management Bureau, in Dhaka, said. He said seven people drowned when a ferry sank on Saturday night in the Meghna River estuary, upstream from the island of Hatiya in the Bay of Bengal. "Seven bodies were pulled out of the River Meghna, but some 50 passengers of the ill-fated ferry were still reported missing", said Mohammad Nur Alam, a police officer in the southern town of Lakshmipur. An official in Sirajgang, north-west of Dhaka, said 12 people were killed and about 50 injured by falling trees and collapsing bamboo-walled houses with tin roofs. In the neighbouring district of Pabna, Deputy Commissioner Syed Hasinur Rahman said that over 100 houses and many acres of standing crops had been damaged. Two people were also killed by lightning in the north-eastern town of Sylhet, and at least 50 people were injured as a storm levelled at least 100 homes and scores of trees yesterday, police said.

4 May 2001 – Thailand

A flash flood today swept away more than 800 houses in northern Thailand, killing at least 12 people and leaving 4,000 others homeless, officials said. The flood, triggered by heavy downpours over the past few days, hit three mountainside villages in Phrae Province about 450km north of Bangkok. Provincial Governor Nukoon Kanuwong said that 12 bodies have been retrieved and rescue teams are searching for 15 others who are missing. About 800 houses were damaged and 4,000 people were homeless, he said. He said a 2m-high torrent from the mountains struck the villages after midnight, washing away the houses and killing residents.

5 May 2001 – Thailand

At least 18 people were feared dead and 15 missing after a flash flood hit Wang Chin district yesterday. The flood swept through nine villages in four tambon at 03.00, taking with it 126 houses in a matter of hours and damaging 902 others, a government spokesman said. A search began after rain stopped and a dozen bodies were pulled from a sea of mud. Hundreds of cattle were found dead and fruit orchards covering 1,000 rai severely damaged. Muen Fuping, head of the tambon, put the damage at 100 million baht. Governor Nukul Khunawong said search and rescue teams were dispatched and help was on the way. Despite an apparent absence of co-ordinated rescue work, the search carried on as dusk fell. Forestry officials said rugged mountain terrain had failed to absorb a 24-hour downpour, which sent flash floods down the valley, sweeping up homes and crops. Rainfall in the district, in the 24 hours before the flood, came to more than 260mm, a weather report said. At Ban Satob of tambon Saroy, where the damage was heaviest, only wooden and concrete poles remain. The 100 houses that stood at the spot were devastated.

8 May 2001 – Iran

Two days of heavy flooding in Iran has left at least 32 people dead and 50 people injured, an official said today. Torrential rains, which began yesterday afternoon, caused the flooding in the village of Tazeh-Qalel, about 380 miles north-east of Tehran, said Mahmoud Sarnini, the deputy governor in the nearby city of Bojnurd. The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Samini as saying he expects the casualty figure to rise. He said 200 houses had been destroyed and 2,500 head of cattle lost. Rescue workers were using a helicopter to deliver 200 tents, 1,000 blankets, food and other emergency supplies, the report said.

9 May 2001 – Bangladesh

A tropical storm killed at least 20 people in Bangladesh and injured more than 250 as two days of high winds and heavy rain lashed the country, officials said today. Weather forecasters predicted further storms in the next few days and said that the heavy rains could damage rice in the fields in parts of the country, which is tipped to produce a bumper crop this year. The officials said that the storm battered nine districts on Monday and Tuesday and that the dead were killed by lightning or when their homes collapsed or were swept away. "A depression has been formed in the Bay of Bengal resulting in heavy rains and storm in the country. The phenomenon is likely to continue until 14 May", Director of Meteorological Department Anwarul Kabir said. Heavy rains on Tuesday flooded streets in Dhaka and swamped fields in most parts in Bangladesh. Five people were killed in south-western Bagerhat, four in northern Rajshahi and two each in Dhaka, central Narsingdi and Barguna and Satkhira in the south. The rest were in northern Naogaon, south-eastern Lakhxmipur and central Madaripur. The officials said the storm destroyed straw huts, uprooted trees, snapped power lines and damaged crops.

17 May 2001 – Haiti

A total of 21 people have died, 11 were injured and five are still missing after two days of torrential rains that swept away victims in rising waters and caused flimsy homes to collapse, officials said today. Since Tuesday (15 May), 42 houses were destroyed, 267 homes were damaged and 1,014 families were affected, the government's Civil Defence Agency said in a statement today. Four districts in Haiti were affected, including the populous western district that includes the capital, Port-au-Prince. Seven died in suburban Petionville on Tuesday night and before dawn Wednesday when walls collapsed or the cinderblock foundations of their one-room houses slid into nearby ravines. Others drowned on Wednesday, when streams overflowed in provincial areas, ranging from Leogane, 19 miles west of the capital, to Limbe, 75 miles north. Dozens were forced to abandon their shacks in several seaside shanty-towns, built at sea level and crossed by clogged drainage canals.

18 May 2001 – Democratic Republic of Congo

Heavy rains caused severe flooding in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, today, killing at least 30 people, some buried in 5ft of mud. Eight hours of non-stop rain yesterday brought on the flooding, inundating prosperous and poor districts alike along low-lying areas of the Congo River capital. Kinshasa acting Governor Christophe Muzungu appeared on state television today to say that 30 people had died, and many were injured. Water dragged the bodies of most victims from the once-rich district of Mbinza, three miles upstream. Red Cross workers said they expected to find more victims.

28 May 2001 – India

Thunderstorms, lightning and unusually heavy rains killed at least 21 people overnight in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, police said today. In Unnao, about 450km south-east of New Delhi, an alcohol factory warehouse collapsed during a thunderstorm, killing eight people, police said. "The accident occurred when labourers took shelter in a warehouse built in 1875 and high velocity wind resulted in (the) caving in of the entire roof and walls", Superintendent of Police Anand Swaroop said. In another part of the state, six people were killed when they were struck by lightning in Bareilly, 220km east of New Delhi. Four others were killed by lightning in the neighbouring Badaun district, the state home ministry said. The thunderstorms and torrents led to severe power outages in the state. The rains in Uttar Pradesh, located in the northern plains, are not related to the monsoon rains that arrived in southernmost India on Thursday (24 May), accompanied by thunder and lightning.