Weather

Citation

(2003), "Weather", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 12 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2003.07312eac.001

Weather

Weather

28 August 2002 – Afghanistan

At least nine people have died and 26 are missing after heavy rains in south-eastern Afghanistan triggered a mudslide. Mohammed Khan Gurbaz, a spokesman for governor of the town of Khost, said agricultural land was damaged in the area, but gave no other details. Later, Governor Gul Haider said all of the victims were from the town, which had also been badly damaged. The weather was also hindering US military operations in the area, he said. Heavy rains have fallen for the past two days in eastern Afghanistan, a region that had been suffering from drought. The rains have flooded normally dry creek beds and sent rivers over their banks in some flat areas, witnesses said.

27 August 2002 – Algeria

Ten children were killed and six were reported missing after a storm in eastern Algeria caused flash floods in the Mila region, the government-run newspaper An-Nasr reported today. The children, who were collecting berries, had sought refuge from the sudden, violent storm under a bridge that crosses a dry riverbed when a flash flood swept them away, the paper reported. Two children were rescued by local residents, and the civil protection agency was continuing to search for others who were carried off by the floodwaters, the paper said. According to a toll compiled from press reports, at least 30 people have died and nine are reported missing since severe storms began to lash Algeria on 18 August, causing many rivers and streams to burst their banks and provoking flash floods.

25 August 2002 – Cambodia

Flood in the Mekong river has caused at least eight people to be missing, forced around 10,000 others to evacuate, damaged tens of thousands of hectares of rice fields and subsidiary food crops, and inundated thousands of houses in Cambodian provinces lying along the river. In Kompong Cham province, at least six people were missing when their boat capsized during the flood, which forced 3,000 families to evacuate to high ground. The water level in the province was recorded as high as 15.83 metres on 23 August. Meanwhile, floods killed two children and badly affected 17,000 families in Kratie province where the water level measured 22.48 metres on 23 August. In Stung Treng province, 137,000 hectares of rice fields and subsidiary food crops and 819 houses were submerged and provincial roads were damaged. Cambodia’s Natural Calamity Control Committee warned that the water level in the Mekong river was rising fast. Prime Minister Hun Sen on 23 August ordered the authorities at all levels and relevant agencies to jointly fight the flood and concurrently heal up consequences of drought. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Natural Calamity Control Committee, drought left heavy consequences on 700,000 families at 551 communes in 55 districts throughout the country. It ruined 200,000ha of the 800,000ha of subsidiary food crops, leaving an economic damage of US$38 million, the worst since 1944.

26 August 2002 – About 20,000 people have been evacuated from rapidly rising flood waters in what Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has declared a “disaster situation”. Cambodian Red Cross official Antony Spalton said today 3,000 families were evacuated from their homes in the eastern province of Kampong Chhang, and another 1,000 families from Kratie in the north-east. “The scope of the damage resulting from the severe drought and flood are increasingly intensifying, causing deep concern”, Hun Sen said in a statement yesterday. Less than half of this year’s rice crop has been planted and authorities fear floods could destroy what is left of the annual harvest. The Red Cross has launched an appeal for help at a local level while Hun Sen has called for aid from international donors.

23 August 2002 – Europe

Fire-fighters fished tree trunks and other debris out of the Elbe today, as Hamburg braced for floodwaters that caused catastrophic damage further upriver. Meanwhile, the USA donated $50,000 to help finance the restoration of Dresden’s baroque Zwinger palace museum as the eastern city cleans up from disastrous flooding. As Dresden and the surrounding state of Saxony picked up the pieces, emergency workers and volunteers farther down the Elbe River in north-western Germany appeared to be winning their battle to protect already sodden dikes against the flood wave. Still, authorities in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ordered new evacuations as the swell headed for the river’s mouth near Hamburg. In Hamburg itself, authorities said the flood waters were expected to stay some 10 feet below the top of the dikes. However, the fire service put eight boats to work salvaging debris that could otherwise damage small vessels in the harbour. Officers hauled about 20 tree trunks out of the fast-flowing waters overnight, and were preparing to load barges with everything from household junk to dead animals for disposal. The death toll from the floods that have raged across central and eastern Europe rose to at least 114, after a 35-year-old driver near the east German town of Riesa died when his vehicle overturned on a flooded road. The floods severely damaged scores of roads, rail lines, bridges, stores and private homes in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, leaving a massive clean-up and rebuilding task estimated to cost about $19.4 billion. The Austrian Institute of Economic Research today estimated the country’s flood damage at $7.3 billion. Experts estimate the repair bill for damage to museum cellars and infrastructure in Dresden at $59 million. In Saxony-Anhalt, the next state downstream, where the flood hit earlier this week, the state government said that half of the 60,000 people forced from their homes have now been allowed back. A total of 44 Russian experts with special equipment for drying flooded buildings went to work in the town of Burg, east of the state capital of Magdeburg, where Soviet troops were stationed during the Cold War. In the Czech capital, Prague, clean-up crews carted away debris, but authorities warned it may take months before life gets back to normal in some neighbourhoods in the city, where the subway remained partly submerged.

26 August 2002 – Although the river level is falling every day in Prague, the true toll of the worst flooding in more than 100 years is only becoming more grim. A total of 16 people were killed, and 30,000 have been left homeless. According to preliminary estimates, the total damage could climb as high as 90 billion Czech crowns ($2.83 billion). As volunteers and inhabitants of the affected areas try to dry out and scrape off the silt and debris, the flood damage is becoming more visible. The government’s Central Bohemian Crises Headquarters set the first, direct cost of the rescue work and emergency measures at 77.9 million Czech crowns. The Czech Association of Insurance Agencies (CAP) has so far registered approximately 130,000 claims. They estimate the total cost for those claims will be 19 billion crowns. The Prague subway system has three lines with 51 stops. Of the stations, 17 were flooded. The system is not expected to operate fully before Christmas, and preliminary repair estimates start at 2 billion Czech crowns. A more accurate figure will be known only after all the water is pumped out of the subways at the end of August.

26 August 2002 – Rescue workers converged on the area near a chemical plant today, bracing for the worst-case scenario as the facility prepared to remove chlorine gas from a tank submerged by recent flooding, officials said. Police, fire-fighters and other personnel travelled to the town of Neratovice, some 15 miles north of Prague and nearby villages where the Spolana plant is situated. Authorities also dispatched buses there should residents need to be evacuated. The precautions came only days after up to 1,100 pounds of chlorine were released from a damaged pipeline when employees attempted to pump the gas from the flooded tank. A separate leak occurred on 15 August when the site was submerged by the country’s worst flooding in 175 years. Tomas Zikmund, spokesman for Spolana’s owner, Unipetrol, said the tank still contained 12 tons of chlorine gas, which workers would pump out later today or tomorrow. Meanwhile, Unipetrol fired Spolana’s general director, Radomir Vek, for his handling of the recent crisis. The government launched an investigation into Spolana’s handling of the leaks on Saturday (24 August). The plant, located less than 100 yards from the River Elbe, estimated that it suffered more than $32 million in damage due to the floods. Meanwhile, authorities found two more victims of the floods that hit the Czech Republic earlier this month, raising the death toll from the disaster to 16, the CTK news agency reported today.

29 August 2002 – Germany’s biggest insurance companies said losses associated with the flooding in Germany and central Europe could total about euros 1 billion ($990 million). Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer, said today its net losses would total euros 550 million ($540.3 million), while the world’s biggest re-insurer Munich Re expects losses “not exceeding” euros 500 million. Unseasonal flooding brought chaos to Germany, Austria, Russia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia and claimed the lives of up to 100 people. Historic European cities such as Prague, Hamburg and Dresden are still counting the huge cost. The clean-up and rebuilding operations are expected to cost about euros 20 billion ($20 billion) across Europe. Analysts have estimated the total economic losses, which includes loss of tourism and closure of businesses, could be as much as euros 15 billion, 15-20 per cent of which could be insured. “Due to our very strong market position in eastern Germany, Allianz bears the bulk of the insured losses in the regions affected”, Allianz said in a statement today. Allianz said its gross losses in Germany amounted to euros 580 million, euros 120 million in Austria and about euros 115 million in the Czech Republic. The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has already allocated euros 516 million in advance aid for German farmers and more than euros 55 million for the Czech Republic. The Czech Association of Insurance Agencies has so far registered approximately 130,000 claims. They estimate the total cost for those claims will be crowns 19 billion (approximately $600 million).

30 August 2002 – The German government today started releasing billions of dollars pledged to restore eastern regions ravaged by floods that swept across central Europe this month. The first instalment of $980 million was transferred to the affected states, the Interior Ministry said today. A program to help flooded small businesses also began. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder moved swiftly to line up nearly $9.8 billion in aid to help in Germany’s biggest rebuilding task since the Second World War. Rain-swollen rivers raged through Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia this month, causing an estimated $14.8 billion in damage in Germany alone. Much of the devastation hit formerly communist eastern Germany, an area rebuilt with lavish subsidies in the 12 years since German reunification. The floods ruined tens of thousands of homes and businesses, destroyed rail lines and roads and wiped out crops, mainly along the River Elbe’s path from Dresden north to the North Sea.

2 September 2002 – Parts of Germany hit hard by last month’s Europe-wide flooding were back under water after torrential rainstorms deluged the east of the country as well as parts of Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland. An overnight downpour flooded houses and highways in Dresden, Chemnitz and other parts of the east German state of Saxony, where thousands of people were still cleaning up after the overflowing River Elbe and its tributaries caused billions of euros in damage. Traffic jams built up in the Saxon town of Floeha after authorities warned that the rain could send a flood wave through the town, police said. The danger did not materialise, but several roads in Saxony and Baden-Wuerttemberg states were blocked by landslides. Heavy rain also caused flooding in parts of Poland and Switzerland, where three people died in a house buried by a landslide. Leaders are focused on how to repair damage estimated at over euros 20 billion ($35.7 billion), with most of the burden falling on Germany. Germany and Austria have said they will delay planned tax cuts to fund relief for the victims, and European Union foreign ministers meeting in Denmark have approved the establishment of a European disaster fund. EU applicants Czech Republic and Slovakia, which were affected by the flooding, will also be able to draw on the fund, which is to have an initial kitty of euros 500 million ($894 million). Meanwhile, the German government has begun releasing funds from a hastily assembled package worth about euros 10 billion ($17.9 billion) funded by a one-year rise in corporation tax. The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce has estimated that 2,500 businesses were completely destroyed and as many as 18,000 more were damaged by the floodwaters. The finance ministry denied reports that the cost of the flooding and Germany’s lame economy will see the government overstep borrowing limits designed to guard against inflation and protect the value of the euro.

4 September 2002 – The Czech government will consider increasing taxes to pay for the damage caused by the worst flooding to hit the country in nearly two centuries, an official said today. Political leaders in the ruling coalition parties drafted a proposal that will increase income taxes on the wealthiest Czechs by 3 per cent as well as placing higher tariffs on cigarettes and alcohol, Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told Czech radio. The Cabinet will take up the plan on Sunday (2 September) and will send it to Parliament for approval. The floods caused at least 90 billion koruna (US$2.94 billion) in damage, and left thousands of Czechs homeless. Authorities estimate that at least 5,000 new apartments will be needed to accommodate those who have lost homes nationwide.

9 September 2002 – Violent rainstorms sweeping across southern France have killed two people and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes, authorities said. Heavy wind and rain battered the southern Gard region, including the town of Fons-outre-Gardon, where two people apparently drowned. Authorities gave no more details of their deaths. Flooding forced 700 residents of Fons-outre-Gardon, north-west of the city of Nimes, and about ten other towns to leave their homes. The Red Cross and local mayors’ officers co-ordinated emergency housing for people forced out of their homes, authorities in Nimes said. Police and fire-fighters rescued a number of motorists stuck in their vehicles by rising floodwaters, and highways in the region were shut down.

9 September 2002 – Violent storms and flash floods killed four people, shut down rail and road transport and drove more than 1,000 people from their homes around the southern French city of Nimes, officials said today. Low-lying parts of towns along the Gardon, a tributary of the Rhone River, were waist-high in water and many cars were overturned as the floods rushed through the area overnight. It was not clear how the four people died. A senior citizens’ home in Orange, northeast of Nimes, had to be evacuated as the waters rose. The state weather service Meteo France warned the storms could continue, during the day, along a stretch of the Camargue nature reserve along the Mediterranean west of Marseille to the foothills of the Alps to the east. “Lots of streams have gone way over their banks and the rain isn’t due to stop before mid-afternoon”, a spokesman for the prefecture in the Gard district said. Five TGV high-speed trains were blocked in Valence because a tree fell on the rails. Delays in other rail traffic stretched to up to five hours, the state railway SNCF said. Flooding at two locations near Orange shut down a highway there. French television said the military had deployed amphibious armoured cars in the rescue efforts.

10 September 2002 – At least 16 people have been killed in floods which have swept through parts of southern France, police say. Another 18 are missing. The floods were triggered by torrential rain which swept across the Gard, Herault and Vaucluse departments. A dam burst in the village of Aramont near Nimes. As the flood waters rose, power supplies were cut to tens of thousands of homes. At least 1,000 people were evacuated, and several bridges were swept away. Most of the dead came from the areas around Avignon, Nimes and Uzes. The town of Orange was badly flooded. French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, went to the area to see the devastation, and promised an initial emergency aid package of euros 10 million ($6.2m). Forecasters said the worst of the rain had passed, and the waters were expected to recede during today. Local authorities declared a state of alert yesterday as the flood waters rose. Two motorways, the A9 and A7, had to be closed yesterday, leaving drivers with no other routes to and from the Mediterranean. Officials appealed to motorists to stay at home. Rail travel was also severely disrupted. The high-speed TGV service was suspended when a tree fell onto the line. Rail travellers to south-eastern France were urged to postpone their journeys. Emergency services faced high-risk situations as they tried to deal with the cascading waters. Some rescue vehicles were themselves swept away, and a fire-fighter was killed after rescuing a couple trapped in their car in the village of Galargues in Herault. Vineyards producing Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine were also deluged.

10 September 2002 – Flooding and heavy rain in south-eastern France have claimed the lives of 26 people, authorities said today. Rescuers were searching for dozens of others reported missing. In the village of Aramont, swamped by floodwaters after a dam gave way, rescuers said 30 people were unaccounted for. Another 12 people were also reported missing. Train services were being re-established among major points like Nimes, Montpellier and Avignon, the state-run railroad authority said. However, hundreds of thousands of people struggled without electricity or telephone services. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy surveyed the storm-battered area by helicopter and visited flood victims at shelters and in streets. “We’re here to show national solidarity”, Raffarin said in Villevielle, near the medieval town of Sommieres. He said the government would release an initial $9.8 million for the region. Many rivers in the Gard, Vaucluse and Herault regions overflowed their banks and dikes burst as torrential rains began pounding the area on Sunday (8 September). Waves of water flushed the streets of villages, leaving them submerged. As the rain eased today, the clean-up began. Electricity was slowly being restored, but tens of thousands of homes were still without power. Some 150,000 telephone lines had been cut, according to LCI television. Most of the dead were from the Gard region, where the tourist town of Nimes is located, some 35 miles north-east of Montpellier. Lightning killed a man in the neighbouring Vaucluse region to the east, officials there said. To the south-west, in the Herault region, a fire-fighter died from injuries. Rescue workers in Aramont, near Nimes, said they were searching for about 30 people still unaccounted for. The village was submerged by torrents of water unleashed when a dam broke at 01.00 on Monday. No one had seen the missing people since the dam gave way, said officials at the rescue command post in Aramont. Authorities said that Nimes’ Roman ruins remained intact, including the Roman arena, still used for concerts and bullfights, and the Maison Carree, a Roman temple. It was not immediately clear to what extent, if any, ancient ruins elsewhere in the region were damaged. The European Union’s head office in Brussels said flood victims in France could be eligible to benefit from a proposed $492 million EU disaster fund. EU governments have yet to approve the fund, which was set up after this summer’s devastating floods in central Europe. Foreign ministers from EU governments were expected to give their consent to setting up the fund at a meeting on 30 September.

11 September 2002 – The official death toll from flash flooding in south-eastern France has been revised down from 26 to 21. As the waters began to retreat from disaster-hit villages today, police were able to correct earlier estimates. Police in Aramont, near Avignon, said seven of the 11 people they had reported dead had been found alive. Two confirmed deaths in other areas brought the toll to 21, officials said. There are still 12 people missing in Gard, the area worst hit by the floods. Train services remain suspended across parts of southern France and many roads are still closed. About 500 rescue workers have been joined by 300 soldiers after authorities declared a state of alert. Amphibious armoured cars were used to try to gain access to roads cut off by fast-flowing, waist-high water. About 250 people were evacuated from their homes by helicopter while a further 900 were forced to flee to temporary shelters set up by the Red Cross and local authorities.

12 September 2002 – Severe flooding in south-eastern France has devastated crops in up to 40 per cent of vineyards in the Gard region, one of the country’s biggest wine-producing areas, officials said today. With this year’s grape harvest having only just begun, the production of millions of litres of wine stands to be lost because of the floods, which followed violent storms on Sunday and have claimed 21 lives. Gard, the department around the southern city of Nimes and a major producer of mass-market red wines, was hardest hit. “Gard is the epicentre of the damage, with four-fifths of the damage”, Jean-Luc Dairien, director of the Onivins office of wine professionals, told Reuters. Gard ranks as the sixth-biggest wine producer of France’s 41 wine-producing departments, making the cheap “vin de table” wines which the French often choose to accompany everyday meals. Last month, the Agriculture Ministry forecast Gard would produce 4.3 million hectolitres of wine this year, with national production forecast at 57 million hectolitres. But with only 15 per cent of the department’s crop harvested before the floods, this year’s wine production looked set to come in well below the previously forecast levels. “Considerable damage has been done”, said Michel Guerber, who is responsible for wine production at the Gard Chamber of Commerce. He also estimated up to 40 per cent of the department’s vineyards had been hit by the floods. Next year’s wine production could also be hit, Guerber said, as vineyards struggle to recover from the devastating floods. As flooding receded yesterday, Farm Minister Herve Gaymard travelled to Gard and the neighbouring departments of Herault and Vaucluse to inspect the damage and meet wine producers, who are claiming compensation. Patrick Dhuisme, head of the Confederation of French Cooperative Wine-producers (CCVF), said on Tuesday (10 September) the flooding would cost the industry millions of euros.

6 November 2002 – Floods that swept through parts of Germany in August caused damage estimated at about euros 9.2 billion, well below the level originally feared, the government said today. Immediately after the floods caused devastation in the eastern city of Dresden and elsewhere along the River Elbe, in addition to some areas along the Danube in southern Germany, insurers put the bill at up to euros 15 billion. Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said the latest estimate was based on information from the eight of Germany’s 16 states that were affected by the flooding, and stressed that it “is not yet a conclusive figure”. Schroeder swiftly lined up a package totalling euros 9.8 billion to finance the huge recovery effort, delaying by a year an income tax cut that was planned for 2003 and raising the corporate tax rate for one year. Hardest hit by the August flooding was the eastern state of Saxony, which includes Dresden and suffered damage totalling euros 6 billion, according to the new government figures. Neighbouring Saxony-Anhalt was next with 900 million euros of damage, followed by Bavaria with 200 million euros.

3 September 2002 – Brazil

A total of 221 Brazilian municipalities in five states have declared a state of emergency because of a prolonged drought, authorities said yesterday. The cities lie in the state of Minas Gerais in the south-eastern region and in the north-eastern states of Paraiba, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and Piaui.

3 September 2002 – Ethiopia

Ethiopia has issued an urgent appeal for food aid, saying the impact of a drought has spread across nearly the entire country. Almost six million people are now in need of relief assistance, Ethiopian relief officials said, revising upwards earlier estimates. They have also asked for medical and veterinary help. The National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) warned of “problems of considerable magnitude” in almost all regions, especially in parts of the Ogaden and Oromia districts in the east, the northern Tigray region and parts of the south. Poor rains last year, the failure of rains earlier this year, and the late start of rains expected in June are being blamed for the crisis. DPPC official Simon Mechale complained that world attention was being focused on the food crisis in southern Africa, while Ethiopia was being ignored. “High levels of moderate and severe acute malnutrition are now being reported”, according to a DPPC survey released today.

5 September 2002 – India

Heavy rains in the western Indian state of Gujarat caused flooding that has killed at least 16 people, officials said today. Hundreds of people have died this year in eastern and north-eastern India, but it is the first serious monsoon flooding in the west. Four family members were crushed under a wall that collapsed last night in the city of Bharuch, 100 miles south of Ahmadabad, Gujarat’s commercial capital. Five women died in a nearby village after a small truck overturned on a road that was submerged by floodwaters. Near Bharuch, two people were swept away when they fell into the rain-swollen Narmada River. At least five other people drowned or died when trees and walls collapsed in three other villages, said Anju Sharma, the district’s top government official. Authorities have evacuated more than 2,000 people living in the low-lying areas of Bharuch following flash floods.

1 November 2002 – At least 20 people have been killed and many more injured in flooding triggered by heavy rains in Tamil Nadu, police said today. The week-long downpour has caused extensive damage to property in many parts of Tamil Nadu, including the capital Chennai, where roads have been flooded and low-lying areas inundated. Hundreds of displaced persons from slums have been forced to take shelter in school buildings and have been supplied with food packets. A record 5.5 inches of rain fell in just 24 hours yesterday. There has been a slight let-up since this morning but the Meteorological Centre in Chennai said “moderate to heavy rains” would continue across the state tomorrow. Four people were killed in Coimbatore district while another three died in Cuddalore district, a police spokesman said. Many schools declared a holiday while many offices workers stayed at home. Suburban train services were halted in the morning as the rails were under 18 inches of water.

16 November 2002 – Bangladeshi and Indian rescuers say they have found the bodies of six more victims of a cyclone that lashed their coasts earlier this week, bringing the death toll to 17. Hundreds are believed to be missing after the storm that hit on Tuesday (12 November) and which has claimed 14 lives so far in Bangladesh and three in India’s east. Bangladesh authorities say five more bodies were fished out of the Bay of Bengal and 50 fishermen rescued from choppy seas, but many more were still missing and the country’s navy would conduct searches for at least two more days. A navy vessel had found 30 of the fishermen alive and adrift on Thursday, indicating hundreds more may still be unaccounted for. Indian Coast Guard aircraft scanned the sea off the coast of eastern Orissa state after fishermen found a trawler capsized 35 kilometres from the coast yesterday morning. “We have ships in the area but neither our Dornier aircraft nor ships have found bodies or survivors in the search area around the boat”, Coast Guard commandant R.K. Wadhwa said. “We estimate it had a crew of ten and we presume they are dead.” Indian relief officials in Calcutta say they were searching for 122 fishermen reported missing since the storm hit. Fishing community leaders in Bangladesh say they believed most of the missing Bangladeshis would return alive.

31 August 2002 – South Korea

Typhoon “Rusa” caused floods and landslides across South Korea on today, killing at least three people after whipping up waves that swept away two US Marines in Japan. Five others were missing in southern South Korea after being carried away by floodwaters, while rescuers in the east were trying to reach people trapped inside ten cars buried in a mudslide. The two Marines were pulled under by waves yesterday night after they went out to watch the stormy surf on the Japanese island of Okinawa, said Japanese Coast Guard official Yasuhiro Arasaki. The typhoon only brushed Japan, but still brought strong winds and sheets of rain. In South Korea, two people were killed in the south coast town of Keochang when strong winds sent a heavy sign post crashing down on their car, the National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasure Headquarters said. In Korea’s east coast city of Gangreung, about 150 miles east of Seoul, torrential rains hampered the rescue efforts of police trying to reach people who were trapped in at least ten cars buried in a landslide on a highway. “Rusa” dumped about 16 inches of rain in Gangreung today. Some 3,000 villagers in the region were evacuated to schools after three reservoirs upstream swelled with rain water. Hundreds of homes were submerged. Roads and a rail line were buried by landslides. The typhoon was moving through South Korea with sustained winds of 84 miles per hour, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. Up to 26 inches of rain has poured down on parts of Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju since yesterday. Moored ships were overturned by high waves. Winds broke windows, ripped up trees and lamp posts, and knocked out electricity to 60,000 homes on the island. Authorities closed all primary and middle schools there. Flights and ferries were cancelled, stranding 5,000 tourists on the island. Authorities also closed airports in most southern cities.

1 September 2002 – South Korea has started mopping up after a powerful typhoon killed at least 15 people as it dumped record rainfall on parts of the peninsula. Rescue workers were searching for some 40 people still missing after typhoon “Rusa” triggered landslides that washed away roads, houses and vehicles, the National Disaster Prevention Headquarters said in a statement. YTN television said authorities feared as many as 80 people could be dead or missing. Seoul lifted most typhoon alerts today, although the Korea Meteorological Administration kept some in place for the islands off South Korea’s east coast. There was moderate rain in the country’s eastern provinces and more was expected for the next 24 hours. As “Rusa” battered the peninsula, residents had to evacuate more than 5,000 homes and left 668,000 houses without electricity in the south. Air, land and sea transport were severely disrupted. All domestic flights and some regional services were cancelled yesterday but most had resumed by this evening. Trains and express buses started operating as smaller landslides that had covered railroads and highways were cleared. Flood-damaged roads remained impassable in the hard-hit eastern part of the country where all shipping was confined to port. Worst hit by the typhoon was the town of Kangnung, 160km east of Seoul, where the typhoon dumped a record 871mm of rain yesterday. Households there and in Cheju, a resort island off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, suffered blackouts and residents were evacuated as reservoirs swamped rice fields and lands. Winds hit 127mph on Cheju where more than 8,000 houses were flooded, disaster prevention officials said. North Korea appeared to escape the typhoon’s path as it skirted eastward.

2 September 2002 – Typhoon “Rusa” hit South Korea at the weekend leaving more than 100 people dead or missing, a disaster official said today, as rescuers waded through mudslides and swollen rivers looking for survivors. It was the worst typhoon to hit South Korea in more than 40 years. More than 100 people have been killed or have gone missing, but it is thought the number will increase as searches for the missing or buried people goes on, said Kim Jin-young, a director at the National Disaster Prevention Headquarters. “The number of dead and missing are on the rise. So far 46 are reported dead and 80 are missing”, he said. “The damage to property is expected to be the largest in history”. Soldiers and police have been deployed to assist in a massive clean-up centred on the east coast which Typhoon “Rusa” lashed with gusts of up to 200km/h on 31 August and dropped a record 871mm of rain on the city of Kangnung. As it swept inland, it triggered landslides that washed away roads, houses and vehicles, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes and leaving 668,000 houses without electricity. Damage assessments had risen to 255 billion won ($214 million) by early today, as reports of destruction came in from across the country, the disaster headquarters said. Damage included homes, business, roads and farms growing fruit and vegetables. Air, land and sea transport were largely back to normal, after all domestic flights and some regional services were cancelled on 31 August. Asiana Airlines said the typhoon had cost it 2.5 billion won in lost revenue. “Rusa” started to weaken around 1500 hours, yesterday. It has passed through and left the peninsula heading east, an official at the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.

3 September 2002 – The death toll from South Korea’s worst typhoon in 40 years rose to 113 today as soldiers led a desperate search for 71 people still missing after the weekend devastation. Authorities said it would take a month to clean up after Typhoon “Rusa” unleashed gusts of up to 127mph across South Korea’s east and south coasts, leaving a swathe of devastation before turning back to sea on Sunday (1 September). Rescue workers in the eastern resort city of Kangnung, which bore the brunt of “Rusa”, toiled to reach cars buried under a landslide as hopes of finding survivors faded. North Korea, where rainfall in some mountainous areas exceeded 27.5 inches, also reported scores of dead and many missing. Heavy showers and thunderstorms were forecast for the peninsula tomorrow as another storm, Typhoon “Sinlaku”, moved toward Okinawa and Taiwan. In the south, at least 16,000 people in remote villages had been cut off by landslides that buried and buckled roads, the National Disaster Prevention Headquarters said. Hampered by thick fog, troops joined a frantic search for survivors after landslides and floods in coastal areas buried vehicles and destroyed 1,300 homes and other buildings. Workers used electronic sensors to search for survivors in the deep mud. The government said yesterday that the typhoon had affected 287,877 acres of farmland out of a total 4.67 million acres, flooding rice paddies and battering fruit and vegetable fields. Fallen fruit and vegetables were ruined, but flooded rice fields were being drained quickly and the harvest would not necessarily be affected, Agriculture Ministry officials said. Officials have voiced fears of a spike in inflation due to crop damage. Damage estimates are expected to top $1 billion. President Kim Dae-jung was planning to ask parliament to designate special disaster zones to speed aid work, the presidential Blue House said in a statement. Urgently needed repairs include mending severed roads and railways and ruptured water mains that have left 400,000 people without water, the disaster headquarters said. In North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency reported thousands of houses, public buildings and irrigation and telephone networks submerged or destroyed. Railways, roads and bridges had been completely destroyed in hundreds of places, the Korean Central News Agency said. A large area of farmland had been flooded or washed away, making any meaningful harvest unlikely.

3 September 2002 – South Korea’s government said today that nearly 200 people were killed or missing in a powerful typhoon that pounded the nation over the weekend (31 August-1 September), and the death toll was expected to rise. After battering the Korean peninsula, the storm moved north, bringing torrential rain to Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East, where it destroyed houses, washed away roads and cut power supplies for hours, authorities said today. No injuries were reported. South Korea’s anti-disaster centre said 113 people were confirmed killed and 71 others missing after typhoon “Rusa” swept through eastern and southern parts of South Korea. Up to 14 others were feared missing in floods and landslides. Park Chung-ho, an official with the disaster centre, said the death toll could rise as communications with remote, isolated areas were restored. He said many of the missing were feared dead. North Korea also reported heavy human losses and property damage. Its official media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said “scores” of people were killed and large tracts of farmland were destroyed. The storm destroyed sections of railways and roads, wiped out bridges, knocked out electricity and submerged thousands of homes. Property damage in South Korea was tentatively put at $750 million. One of the hardest hit areas was the east coast province of Gangwon, where 128 people were killed or missing. The province seat of Gangneung, a city of 220,000, was swamped by waist-high floods after 36 inches of rain fell in less than two days. Helicopters were used to drop relief goods in isolated villages in the country’s southern areas. It was unclear how much the latest flood would affect the chronic food shortages in North Korea. A South Korean cruise tour of a scenic mountain resort on North Korea’s east coast was temporarily suspended because of damages caused by the typhoon, said tour operator Hyundai Asan Co. Several sections of road leading to the resort were washed away and some lodging facilities were destroyed, the company said. Repair work was expected to take more than two weeks.

4 September 2002 – The death toll from South Korea’s worst storm in 40 years neared 150 today as the grim search for bodies wore on and Seoul pondered extra spending for the $1.7 billion in damages wrought by Typhoon “Rusa”. As helicopters carried instant noodles and drinking water to isolated mountain villages in hardest-hit Kangwon province, officials in Seoul said the government was considering drafting an extra budget to cope with the weekend storm. President Kim Dae-jung toured Kangnung yesterday, declaring the eastern coastal city of 230,000 people and three other areas special disaster zones and pledged $125 million in emergency funding, his office said. But with the National Disaster Prevention Headquarters putting damage estimates at 2.13 trillion won – twice the funds left in state coffers for disaster relief – a government official said Seoul was considering a supplementary budget. “The size will be determined sometime this week after a full assessment of losses from the typhoon,” an official at the Ministry of Planning and Budget said. The official death toll published by National Disaster Prevention Headquarters rose slightly overnight to 115, with 69 missing. But local media cited provisional estimates of 138 dead and 77 people unaccounted for. Kangwon, a mountainous province of fruit orchards and tourist resorts in the north-eastern corner of South Korea, had the most casualties. Residents in Kangnung and other cities in Rusa’s path continued to face drinking water shortages and the fetid smell of sewage, death and mildew. At the peak, 70,000 people had to be evacuated from homes across eastern and south-eastern South Korea. North Korea also reported scores of dead and many missing. The North’s official news agency KCNA said thousands of houses, public buildings and irrigation, transport and telephone networks had been submerged or destroyed. KCNA said a large area of farmland had been flooded or washed away, making any meaningful harvest there unlikely. The country, wracked by widespread famine, was already projected to face a grain shortfall of 1.47 million tons this year. Amid the gloom, South Korea breathed a slight sigh of relief as weather officials said another powerful storm, Typhoon “Sinlaku”, was likely to stay well south of the peninsula near Taiwan. The island off China’s south-east coast issued a shipping warning early today.

8 September 2002 – Property damage caused by Typhoon “Rusa”, which battered Korea last weekend, was estimated at 4.3 trillion won ($3.4 billion) as of yesterday, with more expected to come. The number of casualties is expected to exceed 200, as hopes are fading for over 70 people still missing, in addition to 130 others who are confirmed dead. The deadliest storm in four decades left some 2 trillion won of damage in Kangwon province alone, the hardest-hit area, followed by North Kyongsang province. Disaster officials said the scale of the damage would escalate after they get full access to areas such as Tonghae, Sokcho and Samchok and Kimchon. In Kangwon province alone, roughly 12,000 flood victims have been isolated for nearly a week. Electricity and telephone service has been cut off, while water and food are in short supply. More than 22,800 houses were either destroyed or inundated, leaving 76,200 homeless. In total, 83 have been confirmed dead in the province while 43 others are listed as missing. Residents are expressing anger over the lack of prompt financial support from the government, which is conducting on-the-spot inspections to designate disaster zones. Entry to many main roads is still forbidden since scores of sections remain damaged from the storm.

7 September 2002 – Thailand

Interior ministry officials in Thailand now say at least 39 people have been killed and more than half a million affected by the flooding in north-eastern regions. They say more than 5,000 people have been evacuated and nearly 3,000 homes damaged by the floods, caused by rivers and lakes swollen with monsoon rain bursting their banks. According to the Interior Ministry more than 150,000 homes have been damaged right across the country in the last month. In the worst incident since the flooding began, 16 refugees were killed on Monday (2 September) when flash floods swept through the Ban Sala camp on the Thai-Burmese border. A total of 12 people remain unaccounted for and the camp still remains under a metre of water. In the north-east the flooding is the worst seen in decades and the rains are showing no signs of abating, officials said. In some towns and villages the water is as high as three metres above the street level. Thousands have been trapped inside their homes and power and fresh water supplies have been cut. The refugees killed were from the Karen ethnic minority living in a camp in northern Mae Hong Son near the Burmese border. The camp, home to about 14,000 people, was situated in a steep valley. It was hit by a flash flood which swept away many of the makeshift buildings, leaving about 1,000 homeless.

16 September 2002 – Floods caused by heavy rains have killed at least 46 people in Thailand, the Interior Ministry said. The death toll was expected to rise because several people reported missing had not been found. Flooding has hit 52 of the country’s 76 provinces -- mostly in the north and north-east -- and affected 1.9 million people, while causing baht 564 million ($27.8 million) worth of damage to roads, bridges, buildings and farmland. The Meteorological Department said heavy rain was expected for at least another week.

18 September 2002 – Thailand’s Cabinet has approved baht 300 million to help farmers affected by flooding, which claimed another life yesterday. While floods have started receding in some parts of the country, other areas continue to be hard-hit, including Ayutthaya where a woman drowned. Floodwaters were about one metre high, especially in Tha Rua and Tha Luang municipalities and seven other districts where 1,116 houses, 27 temples, 13 schools, a police station, nine government offices and 726 rai of farmland were inundated. In Bang Pahan district, the Lop Buri river flooded and closed two schools. District chief Thanakhom Jongjira found that 498 families in five districts were affected and four houses destroyed. In Maha Rat district, sandbags were packed along the Lop Buri river and all floodgates were closed to prevent water from flooding rice fields. Ayutthaya governor Thirawat Kullavanich said floods hit 16 tambons and 370 rai of farmland in Bang Ban district, and 4,371 families, seven tambons and 70 rai of farmland in Sena district. In Chiang Mai, a flash flood hit Mae Chaem district early yesterday, damaging property and land, and killing hundreds of animals. Early warning systems were credited for the fact that no lives were lost. Mae Chaem district chief Surachai Jongrak said a forest run-off abruptly hit the district at about 0100 yesterday, sweeping away many houses and forcing villagers to flee. The hardest-hit areas included Yang Luang village where seven houses were destroyed and 67 damaged. The flood also damaged 63 cars, motorcycles and tractors, 80 rai of agricultural land, roads and bridges, and 320 pigs and chickens drowned. Residents were evacuated to a temporary shelter at Wat Yang Luang. Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun will today call a meeting of governors from all provinces below Chao Phraya dam ranging from Chai Nat to Samut Prakan to prepare for the construction of anti-flood dykes. Deputy Agriculture Minister Praphat Panyachartrak said the baht 300 million approved by cabinet was for the purchase and distribution of seed and rice for affected farmers. The money might compensate farmers for half the damage caused to three million rai of farmland, he said.

3 October 2002 – Millions of sandbags are being packed around Bangkok to try to stem the damage caused by severe flooding. More than 100 people have died as flood waters rise in crisis-hit provinces throughout Thailand. Authorities are using 2.3 million sandbags to erect barriers in Bangkok’s suburbs in a bid to protect inner business districts. Flood water from northern Thailand has reached the outskirts of Bangkok and threatens to overflow hastily erected sandbag walls and inundate inner areas of the capital. Sacrificed The Chao Phraya river, which runs through the capital, is steadily rising. Thousands of suburban residential houses near the banks of the Chao Phraya were under one to two feet of water. People living outside the walls have complained that the city has sacrificed their welfare in favour of those in the town’s business districts. Rising flood waters have forced people in most central Thai provinces to travel by boat, turning high-streets into floating markets.

8 September 2002 – China

Fierce wind and heavy rain killed 11 people, toppled homes and uprooted trees in southeast China but typhoon “Sinlaku” was weakening as it churned inland today, officials and state media said. By midday today, the storm, which at its peak brought winds of 130ft per second, was weakening as it hit mountainous Jiangxi province, 185 miles north of Hong Kong, and was unlikely to cause more damage, state television reported. An official at a disaster relief centre in the hard-hit town of Cangnan, just south of Wenzhou, said 11 people had been killed and two were missing there. Xinhua reported three people missing on the coast. The storm battered Cangnan from yesterday afternoon until just before midnight. In Cangnan, relief workers were restoring power and helping people forced from their homes, the disaster official said. The Shanghai Morning Post said today “Sinlaku”’s strongest winds only affected an area within a 220 mile radius of the eye of the storm. The newspaper quoted provincial officials as saying “Sinlaku” had caused $37.5 million in property damage and had knocked down at least 1,000 homes in Wenzhou. An official with a relief centre in coastal Fujian said the wealthy province was still tallying its storm losses.

8 September 2002 – Typhoon rains and high winds tore through parts of eastern China, leaving 23 people dead, five missing and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands. Worst hit was Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, near where Typhoon “Sinlaku” made landfall at around 18.30, 7 September. A total of 16 people were reported dead and one missing. About 350,000 Zhejiang residents have been evacuated. About 420,000 acres of farmland have been affected, the official Xinhua News Agency said, and 7,900 houses have collapsed. The China Meteorological Administration has said Sinlaku packed sustained winds of 81mph. Up to 3.5in of rain inundated Zhejiang. Reservoirs and drainage systems were being monitored, according to Xinhua. Yesterday, about 48,000 people working on fish and shellfish farms outside Wenzhou were moved to safety inside the city’s seawall. The typhoon has since moved south to the coastal Fujian province and inland to Jiangxi province, officials said today, but gave no details of injuries or damage.

9 September 2002 – Typhoon “Sinlaku” has faded away after killing 26 people, destroying thousands of homes and causing more than one billion yuan (US$120 million) in damage in south-eastern China, state media and officials said today. The 16th typhoon to hit China this year struckZhejiang and Fujian provinces on Saturday(7 September), but weakened as it moved inland yesterday and was not expected to cause further damage, state media said. Worst hit was the coastal city of Wenzhou where 16 people were killed and 3,800 houses damaged, the China Daily said. Local officials said most of the deaths were caused by collapsing homes. Another person was missing and economic losses in the city were estimated at 1.2 billion yuan (US$144 million), they said. More than seven million people and 170,000 hectares of farmland had been affected, and 7,900 houses destroyed by the storm, the official Xinhua news agency said.

16 September 2002 – One fisherman was killed and 23 were missing as the slowly weakening tropical storm “Hagupit” churned the waters off China’s southern coast, officials said yesterday. Rescuers on board ships and navy helicopters were helping nearly 200 stranded seamen return safely to shore, they said. “There are 23 still missing, we are still searching for them,” an official at the search and rescue centre of Guangdong province which borders Hong Kong, said. “Up until now we only found one body, we’ve found the other boats – they are all out of danger,” the official said. Guangdong-based Yangcheng Evening News reported one vessel was confirmed sunk and one other boat was missing. Officials said earlier they were searching for two other missing seamen after a small oil tanker ran aground and exploded. “Hagupit”’s heavy rain and gale-force winds thrashed Hong Kong and parts of Guangdong on Wednesday and Thursday before the storm began to weaken.

17 September 2002 – At least 25 people have died from flooding and landslides caused by tropical storm “Hagupit” in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi. China’s Xinhua news agency says an estimated 180,000 people have been affected by the disaster, after the storm inundated 160 villages.

20 September 2002 – A rain-soaked hillside collapsed in southern China near Hong Kong, burying a dozen homes and killing as many as eight people, state media and a local official said. More than 30 people were buried in the landslide shortly after noon yesterday in Shenzhen, on the Hong Kong border, said a spokesman for the city government. The official Xinhua news agency said two people were killed. A regional newspaper, the Zhusanjiao News, put the death toll at eight. The landslide buried a dozen homes illegally built on the hillside, Xinhua said. It said the hillside was weakened by days of continuous rain. Hundreds of soldiers dug through the rubble for survivors, the Zhusanjiao News said.

7 October 2002 – A total of 15 people have died after a landslide roared through their mountain village in south-western China’s Yunnan province. The landslide completely buried 14 homes in the village of Yichikou, cutting off road and telephone links, a local official said. Tents, blankets, food and other emergency supplies have been sent to the village while rescuers continue to dig through the rubble. The landslide followed heavy rain in the area, about 1,400 miles south-west of Beijing.

1 November 2002 – Flooding has forced the evacuation of more than 50,000 people in the southern Chinese city of Lechang, in Guangdong province, as torrential rain continues in the region. The autumn rains follow devastating flooding and landslides across many parts of China during the summer months, which killed up to 1,500 people. Reports say that in one part of Lechang, more than 300 houses were flooded, with some 7,000 acres of farmland submerged, and nearly 60,000 tons of crops destroyed. The city of Shaoguan was also hit by four days of heavy rain, and some 400 houses collapsed in the city area. Transport, electricity and telecommunications have also been badly hit.

7 September 2002 – Vietnam

A total of 11 people, including ten children, have been killed in floods in the Mekong Delta, according to initial reports by the Central Flood and Storm Steering Committee. Floods killed six people in Dong Thap province, four others in An Giang province, and one in Long An province. More than 19,000 houses in the region were submerged including 9,000 in An Giang province. Around 2,500 households in Dong Thap province have been evacuated to residential clusters on higher ground. The whole region organised 236 centres to take care of 4,600 children. More than 41,000 school students in the region could not start their new school year because 199 schools with 295 classrooms were still under water.

11 September 2002 – Floods in southern Vietnam have killed 30 people, mostly children, and water levels in the Mekong Delta were expected to keep rising, the government said today. The floods have already submerged 43,000 homes in the three most severely affected southern provinces, and nearly 11,000 families have been evacuated, the Central Floods and Storm Control Department said. Another 6,100 families still need to be moved to higher ground, it said. Among the dead, 25 were children. The high waters, which arrived in late June, have flooded 273 miles of roads in the three provinces and have prevented 108,000 children from starting the new school year, the government said.

17 September 2002 – Floods claimed nine lives on 14 September in the Mekong River upper reach provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap and Long An. The recent deaths brought the total number to 48, including 45 children, in Mekong Delta provinces during this year’s flood season. Floods also submerged 54,000 houses and 700km of roads and damaged 44 bridges. At present, the water levels at the lower reach of the Mekong River, the Dong Thap Muoi (Plain of Reeds) and the Long Xuyen quadrangle stand above the highest warning level and will continue to rise slowly. Flood control operations are being carried out in flood-hit localities.

27 September 2002 – The death toll from floods in Vietnam has risen to 158 since July, after flash floods in the central region and continuing high water levels in the south, officials and news reports said today. Disaster officials said flash floods triggered by heavy rains last week in central Vietnam have killed 76 people in Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces since last Thursday (19 September) and caused an estimated $58 million in damages. In the southern Mekong Delta, the death toll from seasonal floods that began in late July has risen to 82, including 76 children, as water levels remain high, the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper said.

2 October 2002 – The Vietnam government has decided to provide 55 billion VND ($2,292,699) to 16 provinces and cities that were hit by drought and floods. The money will be taken from the 2002 central contingency account. Beneficiaries will be the northern provinces of Lai Chau, Lao Cai; the central provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and the central highlands provinces of Gia Lai, Dac Lac and Lam Dong. The government will also provide 4,000 tonnes of rice from the national reserve to help people in the provinces of Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dac Lac, and Lam Dong. The Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee on 30 September launched a campaign to support victims in the hardest-hit provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An. The campaign calls on every public employee to donate salaries of two working days at least to help people in the two provinces. Earlier, the VFFC’s standing committee mobilised 60 million VND (£2,500) and 40 million VND (£1,667) to help flood victims in Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces, respectively. The Committee has received 50 million VND from the Ministry of Finance for Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. Severe floods that hit Ha Tinh and Nghe An last week killed 76 people, injured 116 others, and caused losses worth more than 1,170 billion VND (US$78 million). More than 63,200 houses in these two provinces were submerged and nearly 7,400 other houses were swept away or unroofed. Flood-stricken provinces in the Mekong Delta have received a total of 760 million VND (US$50,660) in donations so far this year. Nearly 3,300 needy households in the region have been supplied with food and other essential necessities and 17,568 children have been cared for at 835 day-care centres. Floods in the Mekong Delta had by 29 September claimed the lives of 87 people, including 81 children. Rising flood waters submerged more than 65,290 houses. The southern region’s Hydro-Meteorology Bureau said the water level would not fall below the highest warning level until 3 November at the earliest.

9 October 2002 – Floods have killed 116 people, including 104 children, in the Mekong Delta provinces. Floods also caused damages estimated to be worth more than 115.4 billion VND, excluding those in Dong Thap and Tien Giang provinces. Consequently, nearly 193,000 households are in need of relief aid. According to the southern Meteorology and Hydrology Station, the water level on the Mekong River’s upper reaches is to slowly go down in the coming days, alleviating the foods in the Plain of Reeds (Dong Thap Muoi) and the Long Xuyen Quadrangle. The water level at the Mekong Delta’s lower basin will reach the flooding peak in the next few days and will go down later. By 6 October, the water level on the Tien River was measured at 4.68m at Tan Chau, and that on the Hau river at 4.37m at Chau Doc. The water levels on the Hau river at Can Tho and My Thuan were standing at the highest level over the past years, being measured at 1.82m and will continue rising one or two days later. In addition to rising flood, heavy rain in the recent days has submerged a number of main roads in Can Tho city. For the Mekong Delta, the Government has approved a budget of 3,200 billion VND for the construction of 1,000 residential quarters in higher ground during the 2001-2005 period. A fund of 500 billion VND was allocated for the construction of 164 such residential areas for 30,000 families in 2002.

15 October 2002 – As many as 162,178,211 students in the flood-affected areas in Mekong Delta provinces had missed school by 13 October because 1,406 schools were inundated by flood waters. Flood waters rose in Tien Giang province over the past three days and the flood level was between 6cm and 23cm higher than the peak of the two previous years. It has also threatened the neighbouring province of Vinh Long. The flooding had claimed the lives of 132 people, including 119 children by 11 October, according to a report from the Mekong Delta’s Steering Board for Storm and Flood Control. About 300,000 households in the region still remain in flooded areas, while 60,359 others are in need of relief. Total losses are estimated at more than 266 billion (17.7 million US$). An Giang has been worst hit by the flood, which killed 51 people, including 47 children. The flood has submerged more than 21,000 houses. A total of 31,431 households in the province are in need of relief. Losses caused by the flood in An Giang were initially put at 27.78 billion VND.

13 September 2002 – Guatemala

Heavy rains loosened a mountainside in western Guatemala, burying about 30 homes and killing at least 17 people. Officials said today that nearly two dozen others were missing. Wading through mud today, residents clawed at tangles of sticks, earth and rock in desperate efforts to find survivors. Emergency officials were sending tractors and other heavy machinery to the site, but residents were losing hope that anyone would be found alive. Although rains stopped before dawn today, cloudy skies threatened to dump more water on the area, complicating rescue efforts. The avalanche of water and mud buried the poor, coffee-farming community late yesterday, sending panicked residents fleeing for higher ground and burying those who could not outrun the torrent. Guatemala’s disaster prevention office said deforestation and erosion contributed to the disaster, making it easier for the swollen river to loosen earth, rocks and trees.

14 September 2002 – The death toll from a mud slide in a community near Lake Atitlan, some 95 miles west of Guatemala City, on Thursday night (12 September) rose to 28 today after one of the 14 injured died. Searchers who had been hindered earlier by heavy rains renewed the hunt for 11 people still missing. Heavy rains pounding a deforested mountainside caused a torrent of mud, rocks and tree trunks that buried 15 tin and plywood shacks and badly damaged about 45 others in the coffee-growing settlement of El Porvenir.

16 September 2002 – The death toll from a mudslide in central Guatemala rose to 31 after officials reported finding another body today. Two more people were still missing. The mudslide, caused by heavy rains, buried 15 tin and plywood shacks and badly damaged about 45 others on Thursday (12 September) in the coffee-growing settlement of El Porvenir, about 95 miles west of Guatemala City. Workers in the largely Maya Indian community cleared mud with bulldozers, shovels and picks in a search for bodies. Local Judge Janet Gramajo said she had confirmed 31 deaths. She said 14 of the dead were children. Four of the bodies were unidentified. Any new bodies found will be reburied quickly, without traditional funeral rites, to avoid outbreaks of diseases, Gramajo said.

18 September 2002 – Mexico

At least 12 people have died in torrential rains in north-east Mexico, including two children buried in a landslide at an abandoned stone quarry, according to authorities. “There was a landslide in an inactive stone quarry on a hill in Monterrey, burying two minors,” a report from the Civil Protection agency said yesterday. Five other people drowned in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, when their car was swept off a road and into a raging stream. Rain has lashed north-eastern Mexico for three days, and five people drowned in Nuevo Leon state – of which Monterrey is the capital – in separate incidents, according to local Civil Protection spokesmen.

17 November 2002 – Australia

The damage caused by a record drought now ravaging most of Australia is likely to get worse, and the relief bill may exceed the 200 million Australian dollars (US$112 million) budgeted by the government, a Cabinet minister warned today. “There is potential for the numbers to even get worse,” Agriculture Minister Warren Truss told Network 10 television, pointing to anecdotal evidence suggesting that this year’s wheat crop will be “small” and that animal husbandry industries were suffering. Some agricultural areas of Australia have been gripped by drought for almost 18 months, with some regions hit by the driest conditions in more than a century. In recent weeks, authorities have declared 70 per cent of the country to be affected. Australia’s central bank warned two weeks ago that the drought could cut economic growth by up to 1 percentage point. A pre-drought forecast had projected economic growth of 3.75 per cent for the year to June 2003. The warning came after the government’s agricultural forecast bureau estimated that the dry conditions would slash production of winter grain crops such as wheat and barley by 57 per cent. Truss warned today that that the bill for drought assistance might exceed A$200 million (US$112 million) earmarked by the government, squeezing the nation’s finances at a time that tax revenues from stricken farmers are expected to decline. “There will be very limited capacity for us to take any kinds of new initiatives because these are national priorities that must be met now”, he said.

25 November 2002 – Indonesia

At least eight people are dead and three others missing in serious floods and landslides that hit Indonesia’s restive province of Aceh following heavy downpours, a local government official said yesterday. Regent Teuku Zulkarnain of the province’s Nagan Raya Regency said by telephone that the floods have also forced 16,000 people to flee their homes and take refuge in higher areas since Tuesday (19 November).

26 November 2002 – At least 140 people have been reported missing after huge floods inundated at least six sub-districts on Nias island, North Sumatra province, last week, an official said today. “So far, the fate of the missing people has yet to be determined, while the floods caused the district to suffer material losses amounting to about Rp 15.3 billion”, Susilo of the North Sumatra coordinating office for refugees told Antara. Rescuers evacuated 279 people from flooded the district’s capital, Gunung Sitoli, 565 people from Ilir hamlet and 1,060 people from Mudik village. About 2,000 families who took refuge shortly after their villages were inundated by floods have returned home. They immediately took up the job of repairing their damaged houses, local officials said.

27 November 2002 – A total of 11 people were killed and three others are missing after massive floods swept through south-western Aceh in the worst natural disaster to hit the province in 30 years, Antara reported today. The floods, caused by three days of heavy rains last week, also damaged dozens of houses and thousands of hectares of rice fields. “It is estimated that this disaster has caused the Southwest Aceh district to suffer losses of Rp 105.7 billion”, Darwis, a worker at the district’s flood monitoring agency, said.

11 December 2002 – A mud slide triggered by heavy rains hit a hot springs resort at a village in Indonesia’s East Java today, killing 22 people and leaving up to 30 more trapped in debris and feared dead, police said. Latest official rescue team figures today revised the death toll downward from an earlier estimate of 30. Five people were injured, two seriously, police said. The official Antara news agency said many of the victims were children aged four to ten. Scores of people were bathing in the springs at the Padusan Air Panas resort when the mudslide hit, and some were unable to escape because there was only one exit gate, police said. Zainal Rio, police chief from the village of Pacet where the mudslide hit at around 15.30 (08.30, UTC), said the chance of finding any survivors was slim. “Until now, the rescue team, helped by members of the public, are still searching and evacuating”, Rio said, adding that rescue efforts would continue through the night as there was sufficient lighting at the site. But when asked the likelihood of finding people alive, he said: “The possibility is small. We estimate there are about 20 to 30 more bodies to be found.” That estimate was based on witness accounts that around 50 people were bathing in the affected area when the mudslide, triggered by heavy rains, descended, Rio said. Dr Krisnawan, speaking from a hospital in Mojokerto, near Surabaya, said earlier the hospital had so far received two dead and three injured but added there were several small clinics in the area where victims could also be taken.

12 December 2002 – Rescue teams combed through swollen rivers today looking for survivors from a landslide that hit an Indonesia hot spring resort, killing at least 29 people. Around 30 people were still unaccounted for and hopes were fading they would be found alive, Muhammad Hernanto, the head of the search and rescue operation, said. A massive wave of mud, water and rocks triggered by days of heavy rain swept through the packed bathing area near the village of Facet, 390 miles east of Jakarta, yesterday. Rescuers, joined by more than 100 local villagers, searched rivers and streams below the resort, Hernanto said. Corpses have been found up to seven miles from the site of the accident. Hernanto said huge boulders, broken tree trucks and thick mud were hampering rescue efforts. He said 29 bodies had been recovered and that the death toll was likely to rise. The resort was packed with vacationers when the accident occurred, and many of the victims were women and children. Seasonal rains have battered large parts of Java in recent weeks.

25 November 2002 – Morocco

Flash floods have claimed at least 25 lives in Morocco after a stream in the centre-west of the North African country overflowed, and a house near Fez collapsed. The Moroccan press agency, MAP, reports 31 people were swept away by the flooded Bengueribi, near Settat. Rescue workers have pulled 20 bodies from the stream. Another 11 people remain missing. In Moulay Yacoub, near Fez, a man and four of his five children were crushed overnight when their house collapsed.

25 November 2002 – More than 35 people died and several others were missing in flash floods which swept a rich farming area in western Morocco, and areas near the eastern city of Fez, the official MAP news agency said. Heavy rains in the Gharb area of western Morocco caused the usually dry Oued Bengueribi river to burst its banks and flooded villages near the towns of Berrechid, 130km south-west of Rabat, and Settat, some 30km further south. MAP, quoting rescue services, said that 30 people died in the floods in this area and that eight others were missing. In Settat, lecture theatres and archives were seriously damaged when parts of a university campus came under floodwater. Areas around the city of Fez in eastern Morocco, and a shanty-town near Kenitra, north of Rabat, were also badly affected by flooding. In the Fez area, four children and their father died when their traditional mud-built house collapsed. Interior Minister Al Mustapha Sahel led a ministerial delegation to Settat to assess the damage. He said food, tents and blankets would be sent to the worst-hit areas. Sahel was accompanied on his fact-finding visit by the Minister for Land Management, Water and the Environment, Mohamed El Yazghi and Equipment and Transport Minister, Karim Ghellab. The floods interrupted the rail link between the business capital Casablanca and the southern city of Marrakesh, as well as road traffic between Settat and Berrechid, a crucial axis which links Casablanca with the southern part of the country.

10 December 2002 – Brazil

Mudslides, triggered by torrential rains, engulfed Angra dos Reis early on Monday(9 December), burying houses and leaving at least 39 people dead. The mudslides and flooding forced some 1,800 people from their homes and left the city streets strewn with tree trunks and branches torn from the surrounding hillsides. Civil defence officials called it the worst disaster to hit Angra dos Reis, a city of about 60,000. In 24 hours, the city got more than 13cm of rain, the National Weather Institute in Rio de Janeiro said. In the poor district of Areal, the Japuida River breached its banks and caused a hillside to slip away before dawn on Monday, in a mudslide that covered at least ten houses. Most of the houses were little more than shacks built on hillsides. The slide of red mud ripped up trees and buried entire families, residents said. The roar was heard at about 02.00 hours. Dozens of fire-fighters waded through thigh-high mud near the site. Fire-fighters from neighbouring cities joined the search for victims and tried to persuade hundreds of families in high-risk areas to leave their homes and go to improvised shelters in public schools. The city’s mayor, Fernando Jordao, declared a state of public calamity as the rain continued to fall late on Monday. He also asked the government energy authorities to shut down the city’s two nuclear plants, Angra 1 and Angra 2, on grounds that exit roads were closed and the area could not be evacuated in an emergency. Eletronuclear, which run the two plants, said they were operating normally and not affected by the rain.

23 December 2002 – Mudslides triggered by heavy rain in a mountain town near Rio de Janeiro have killed 13 people and more might be missing, the town’s Civil Defence Department said. “They’ve recovered four more bodies this afternoon,” a spokesman for the town’s Civil Defence said yesterday. He said the total of dead had reached 13 and rescuers were still digging in case more bodies were buried under the mud. Teresopolis, a popular weekend getaway spot in the hills about 60 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, was hit with torrential rains late on Saturday (21 December).

22 December 2002 – Middle East

In the Middle East, severe storms have killed at least 27 people. Snow and heavy rain have forced the closure of several highways. Parts of the Middle East have been hit by strong winds and near freezing temperatures. Fourteen people were killed and more than 70 injured in Egypt in road accidents during the storms. Five people also died in Jordan, when thick fog cut visibility north of the capital, Amman. In the south of the country, 25 people, including several foreign tourists, were rescued during sandstorms at the historic site of Petra. In Israel, light snow and rain fell overnight in Jerusalem, and blizzards swept through the Golan Heights and Galilee. Meteorologists predict the conditions will ease in the next 24 hours.