Weather

Disaster Prevention and Management

ISSN: 0965-3562

Article publication date: 1 April 2005

173

Citation

(2005), "Weather", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 14 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2005.07314bac.003

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Weather

25 June 2004China

Twenty-seven people were confirmed dead and another 27 were missing after huge rainstorms lashed central China’s Hunan province, forcing the evacuation of 168,000 people, an official said today. The rainstorms engulfed 30 counties over six days, disaster relief official Fang Zhiyong told AFP. A total of 168,000 people had to be relocated as their homes were threatened by the downpour and accompanying floods and landslides, the Beijing-based official said. The storms also caused thousands of houses to collapse, with material losses estimated at three billion yuan ($516.5 million), the state Xinhua news agency said.

30 June 2004. At least 15 people were killed and seven missing after four days of rain in south-western China’s Sichuan province caused flooding and landslides, state media reported today. In Yibin City, where the most serious landslide occurred, six people were killed and seven went missing, Xinhua news agency cited the provincial disaster relief centre as saying. Seven counties and cities had recorded over 100 millimetres of rainfall and 21 had recorded over 50 millimetres by late today, the Sichuan provincial meteorological observatory said. Rescue work was under way and relevant authorities were on high alert.

6 July 2004. At least 11 people were killed and 34 are missing after a huge mudslide caused by floods in south-west China’s Yunnan province, state media said today. Six people were seriously injured by the flow of mud and rock, which also left 360 people stranded and washed away 2,100 houses, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the provincial civil affairs department. One thousand cattle were also killed by the accident, caused when Yingjiang and Longchuan counties received 221mm of rainfall in 14 hours yesterday. Aid is being sent to the two counties and 3,900 people have been evacuated from the “disaster-hit” area. Economic losses caused were estimated at 280 million yuan (US$33.7 million), the report said.

7 July 2004. Three people were killed and 143 injured, six of them seriously, when a violent hurricane hit eastern China’s Anhui province, uprooting half a million trees, state media reported. The wind was measured at force 12 (hurricane), when the gale hit Xiao county early yesterday with a strength unprecedented in the county’s recorded history, the Xinhua news agency said. In an area heavily reliant on agriculture, the hurricane had a devastating effect, injuring more than 30,000 domestic animals and destroying the harvest on 170,000 hectares of land. A total of 18,000 houses collapsed and power was down for an eight-hour period, according to the agency.

12 July 2004. A severe rainstorm left houses collapsed and flights cancelled in Beijing. In just a few hours late on Saturday (July 10), 73mm of rain hit the downtown area, forcing traffic to a halt and causing severe congestion in key parts of the city, Xinhua reported. By 2130 hrs, more than 200 flights scheduled to leave from Beijing International Airport had been delayed. Six houses collapsed, and two people were injured when the freak weather toppled a power pole.

13 July 2004. A thunderstorm killed at least seven people and wounded dozens of others early yesterday evening across Shanghai. The storm also damaged nearly 200 houses and caused a power blackout affecting a large area in the city’s northwest. An advertisement supervisor who was working near an exhibition platform for the Shanghai International Race Festival 2004 died after the 400-square meter platform in the city’s Pudong area collapsed during the thunderstorm. Two employees from the advertisement company and three construction workers were also injured in the accident at about 1900 last night. They were sent to the nearby Shanghai East Hospital. The supervisor was pronounced dead on arrival from suffocation, while the other five injured workers are still hospitalized but out of danger, said Liu Zhongming, director of the East Hospital. A gantry crane at a construction site on Cao’an Road was blown down by the storm, killing one and injuring two after crushing more than 50 houses. The storm also killed at least one person and injured more than a dozen others in the Xinjing area of Changning District and Huachao area of Minhang District. More than 130 houses and construction sheds in the two areas were badly damaged by the storm. Meanwhile, Qingpu and Putuo districts each reported one death due to the storm. The heavy, albeit short, thunderstorm also caused some problems for local air traffic. Take-offs and landings were suspended for 15 minutes at the city’s south-western Hongqiao Airport when the heavy rain poured down. The showers didn’t affect flights at Pudong International Airport. The city has been suffering from a scorching hot weather that has left Shanghai feeling like a giant steam bath since last Saturday. The hot weather will stick around until at least Friday (July 16), local meteorologists forecast yesterday. The ongoing heat wave has pushed demand for power to the highest level in the city history as residents crank up their air conditioners in an effort to cool down. Demand topped 14.28 million kilowatts during the busiest hours yesterday, 670,000kw more than the biggest demand last year when power shortages caused blackouts and forced many companies to reschedule production away from peak hours, according to Shanghai Electric Power Co. So far there have been no major problems reported with the city’s power grid and no rationing of power use has been enforced. But power authorities are concerned that a prolonged heat wave could create big problems. Local power plants were running at peak capacity yesterday and additional power was bought from other provinces. The hot weather prompted another 3,000 enterprises to give their employees extra holidays, about a week in general, starting this week to reduce the demand for power. About 1,200 enterprises have already shifted production to night hours to avoid peak load times during the day. Another 300 enterprises could be forced to stop production if the power grid is overloaded. Some construction sites for projects considered non-essential have been ordered to shut down as of yesterday.

14 July 2004. Seven people died and more than 25 were injured in Shanghai in a storm on Monday (July 12) night. Premier Wen Jiabao called the city’s Party Secretary Chen Liangyu yesterday, sending his condolence and asking the city to do its best to minimize the consequences of the weather. Technicians worked across the city yesterday to restore power to about 60 places blacked out by the storm. All supplies were restored by 1400 hrs. On the Huangpu River near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, divers laid cables across a cargo ship that sank after a collision in the storm. Salvage work is expected to last another two to three days, but predicted bad weather for the following days may hold up the process, the local Maritime Safety Administration said. Another storm hit parts of the city last night, but no injuries were reported. A yellow storm alert issued at 1800 hrs was lifted two hours later. Suburban areas including Qingpu and Minhang districts, as well as Chongming County were affected by the storm for about 20 minutes from about 1600 hrs. The ship that sank in the Huangpu was loaded with sand when it was caught in the storm on Monday night. Winds reached 88 kilometers an hour. The ship had struggled to evade a 3,000-ton empty ship that ran transversely toward it in the heavy rain from the upper reach. After the collision, the ship sank in minutes. All six crew members managed to jump overboard and were rescued. Maritime Safety Administration spokesman Zhou Zhengbao said shipping in the river had been considerably affected because the waterway where the ship went down is rather narrow. “We have sent two patrol ships and have two hired salvage boats at the scene,” he said. “They are directing traffic on the site while making preparation for the lift-up of the sunken ship.” Two large warships from Jiangnan Shipyard Co. Ltd successfully passed the area, escorted by a maritime cruise ship yesterday, officials said. The river 1,000 meters upstream and downstream from the accident site is restricted to one-way traffic to provide space for the salvage work. The plan is for workers to remove silt and sand from the sunken vessel to reduce its weight before towing it to an anchorage ground near Lujiazui, officials said.

19 July 2004. Five people were killed and 11 missing in floods yesterday following more than two weeks of continuous rain in south-west China’s Yunnan province, state media said. The floods destroyed 129 houses in Pianma town in remote Nujiang prefecture, 390 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital Kunming, the Xinhua news agency said late yesterday. The area, along the Nujiang, or Salween river, bordering north-east Myanmar, has been hit by continuous rain since July 1, it said, with a local reservoir filled to 1.77 metres above the warning line. Rainstorms will continue in the area over the next three days, Xinhua said, citing the local meteorological station. Massive rainfall is threatening large parts of China from Tibet in the southwest to Beijing at the other end of the country, with thousands already evacuated because of floods, the news agency said.

19 July 2004. The flood season has swept across China leaving at least 13 people dead and causing widespread destruction, with more than a million people affected in one province alone, state media has said. Southern Guangxi province was hit by unusually heavy rainfall, directly resulting in eight deaths as people were engulfed in mountain torrents or crushed under collapsing houses, the China News Service said. This followed reports from Yunnan province, near the border with Myanmar, that five people had died and 11 were missing in rain-induced floods and mudslides. Several days of massive rainfall in the central province of Hunan caused severe flooding along major rivers, affecting more than 1.3 million people, the Xinhua news agency reported. The number of people who were injured or had fallen ill as a direct result of the floods had reached 1,043 throughout the province as of late today, according to the agency. A total of 52,000 required emergency evacuation in the most critically affected areas. In neighbouring Hubei province, the city of Qianjiang saw precipitation of 300 mm over the weekend, the heaviest on record for 24 years. In eastern Shandong province, five people were injured and one remained in critical condition after a tornado and accompanying rainstorm struck, which caused more than 1,200 houses to collapse, Xinhua reported. In Guizhou province, part of China’s south-west, continuous rainstorms wreaked havoc in 17 counties, with more than 215,000 people threatened by mountain torrents and landslides. The Chinese government said last week that 555 people have lost their lives so far this year in natural calamities, including floods, landslides and mudflows.

20 July 2004. China’s president has ordered flood prevention officials to prepare for more flooding after weeks of heavy rain killed at least 296 people and affected millions, state media said. Widespread flooding has forced more than 412,000 people to flee their homes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its web site. Floods have swept across the north-western part of Hunan province since last Saturday (July 17), affecting 2.68 million people and killing two people in Huaihua, Xinhua said. President Hu Jintao urged flood prevention authorities, local governments and the armed forces to brace for more flooding, the official Xinhua news agency said. By Sunday (July 18), flooding had affected 14,000 people, destroyed over 6,000 houses and submerged almost 3,000 hectares of cropland in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, the newspaper said. In the south-western province of Yunnan and nearby Guangxi, the semi-official China News Service said flooding left at least 14 people dead. About 60,000 people had to be relocated in the central province of Henan after sections of the Lihe river overflowed, the China Daily said.

21 July 2004. Mudflows and landslides in southern China have killed at least ten people in recent days and more rain was forecast as this year’s flood-related death toll rose to nearly 400, state media said today. The semi-official China News Service said 381 people had been killed so far by flooding, 98 were missing and nearly 200,000 houses had been destroyed throughout the country. Direct economic losses have reached 14.85 billion yuan, it said. The provinces and regions of Hunan, Yunnan, Henan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Sichuan were the hardest hit, the China News Service said on its web site, www.chinanews.com.cn. In Binyang county in the southern region of Guangxi, which borders Vietnam, mudflows and landslides killed eight people and injured four on Monday (July 19), the Xinhua news agency said. At least 20 people had already died in Binyang in the past month because of heavy rains, Xinhua said. In neighbouring Hunan province, floods killed two people in the county of Huaihua in the northwest, the China Daily said. Some 102,000 people had fled their homes. The water level in some towns was up to six metres, the newspaper said. On the island province of Hainan, three women were killed yesterday when lightening struck a tree they had gathered under for shelter in a downpour, Xinhua said. In Yunnan province, just west of Guangxi, two people were killed, three injured and 53 reported missing today after a landslide and mudflow in Yingjiang county, it said. A mudflow washed away 49 people in Lushan, Zhidong and Nongpo villages yesterday, it added. The torrential rains had affected nearly 2.7 million people in north-western Hunan, state media reported earlier. Xinhua reported that due to washed out roads the majority of relief goods were as yet to reach the most affected areas, but various agencies were setting up relief stations where possible.

22 July 2004. Three typhoons are heading for China with storms that could kill still more people after 659 died this year in natural disasters such as floods, drought, wind, hail, earthquakes and mudslides. Premier Wen Jiabao urged local governments to take measures to ensure the fewest possible lives are lost. Natural disasters have killed 659 people this year and caused losses of about 39.26 billion yuan ($4.75 billion), the Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying. Floods accounted for more than half the deaths. Three typhoons are forecast to hit China next month, bringing devastating floods, the China Daily said. Floods, drought, wind, hail, earthquakes, heavy snow, freezing, landslides and mud-rock flows have damaged about 18 million hectares of crops, the ministry said. About 1.6 million hectares of arable land yielded no harvest. An estimated 388,000 houses collapsed and 2.4 million were destroyed, forcing the relocation of nearly 1.3 million people. Wen urged local governments to give top priority to ensuring the safety of victims of natural disasters, transferring them to safe places in a timely fashion and supplying food, clothing and temporary lodging, the media said. Floods have claimed 381 lives, left 98 missing and affected 45.7 million people between Jan 1 and July 20, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said. The hardest hit provinces and regions were Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing in the southwest, Hubei, Hunan and Henan in central China and Guangxi in the south. Ten bodies were found yesterday in Yingjiang county in the province of Yunnan, which was hit by landslides and mudflows, bringing the death toll to 12, Xinhua said. Forty-eight people were missing and four injured. The waters of the Yuanjiang and Zishui rivers in Hunan, both tributaries of the Yangtze, have risen past the danger mark, Xinhua said. Precipitation in central and south China has been 20 to 50 percent higher than average since June. While most of southern and central China has been plagued by floods, northern provinces are suffering chronic drought. In north-eastern Heilongjiang, riverbeds had dried up after temperatures rose as high as 34 degrees Celsius.

28 July 2004. Floods have killed 439 people and caused economic losses of 21.95 billion yuan (US$2.65 billion) across China this summer, the Civil Affairs Ministry said yesterday. More than 78 million people have been affected, 275,000 houses destroyed and over 5.16 million hectares of farmland damaged, the ministry said. Since late last month, incessant heavy rains have led to severe mountain torrents, mudflows and landslides in several regions. “The flood situation is grave, especially in Hunan, Henan, Hubei and Yunnan provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,” said Wang Zhenyao, director of the ministry’s Disaster Relief Department. He described this year’s floods as the worst in decades. Natural disasters including floods, drought, wind, hail, earthquakes, blizzards, extreme temperatures, landslides and mudflows have killed 659 people this year. The economic loss from the calamities was estimated at 39.26 billion yuan. As a result, more than 1.2 million people had been relocated, the ministry said.

28 July 2004. Floods have killed 439 people and caused economic losses of 21.95 billion yuan (US$2.65 billion) across China this summer, the Civil Affairs Ministry said yesterday. More than 78 million people have been affected, 275,000 houses destroyed and over 5.16 million hectares of farmland damaged, the ministry said. Since late last month, incessant heavy rains have led to severe mountain torrents, mudflows and landslides in several regions. “The flood situation is grave, especially in Hunan, Henan, Hubei and Yunnan provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,” said Wang Zhenyao, director of the ministry’s Disaster Relief Department. He described this year’s floods as the worst in decades. Natural disasters including floods, drought, wind, hail, earthquakes, blizzards, extreme temperatures, landslides and mudflows have killed 659 people this year. The economic loss from the calamities was estimated at 39.26 billion yuan. As a result, more than 1.2 million people had been relocated, the ministry said.

6 August 2004. Floods in China have caused direct economic losses of 26.5 billion yuan (3.2 billion dollars) and destroyed water projects worth 4.8 billion yuan so far this year, state media reported today. The losses, revealed by the general office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, were however, less than the average level of yearly flood damage of 80 billion yuan, the office’s deputy director Tian Yitang was quoted by the Xinhua news agency saying. So far, a total of 5.49 million hectares (13.56 million acres) of farmland and 71.63 million people have been affected by floods, with 340,000 houses destroyed by flood waters, Tian said. Since late June, incessant heavy rains have led to severe mountain torrents, mud-rock flows and landslides in several parts of China, with 584 people reported killed or missing, the Xinhua report said. Among these cases, two major mountain torrent disasters, mud-rock flows and landslides on July 5 and 20 claimed 16 lives and left 87 missing in the Dehong prefecture in southwest China’s Yunnan province. In mid-July, southwest China’s Chongqing municipality reported 187 mudslides, leaving 11 people dead. During the rainy season, major Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan, have been struck by strong rainstorms, causing severe damage. Last year, floods claimed more than 1,900 lives and left millions homeless. The worst floods in recent years happened in 1998 when more than 4,000 people died. China, meanwhile, is bracing for yet another series of tropical storms and typhoons. As many as three tropical storms are currently forming in nearby waters, and “one or two” are likely to hit China within the next week, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

13 August 2004. One of the worst typhoons to hit China in several years has killed 63 people and injured more than 1,800 as it battered south-eastern Zhejiang province, officials say. Typhoon “Rananim” hit the coast late yesterday, wreaking widespread damage in the rice-growing province and knocking down more than 18,300 buildings, said an official of the provincial meteorological bureau. “There are 63 people dead and more than 1,800 injured,” the official said today. “Of them, 185 are seriously hurt.” The death toll was likely to rise as the typhoon roared inland into eastern Jiangxi province, officials said. They said most of the casualties occurred when homes collapsed. Officials had evacuated 400,000 people from coastal areas of Zhejiang province to escape the typhoon. “This is the strongest typhoon since 1997,” said an official of the provincial civil affairs bureau. “Lots of trees and electricity pylons were toppled.” The Zhejiang government had requested aid from the central government to deal with the disaster, one local official said. The storm brought torrential rains and gale-force winds, with wind speeds exceeding 160 kph and made landfall at about 2000 (1200, UTC) yesterday near the town of Wenling. An estimated 63 fishing vessels with a total of more than 60 crew on board were trapped at sea, the China Daily said. Mud flows, landslides and storm tides along the coast were all dangers, Xinhua quoted Gao Shuanzhu, chief forecaster at the Central Meteorological Station, as saying. The typhoon clipped northern Taiwan yesterday, causing the island to suspend vessel refuelling and to cancel some domestic flights.

14 August 2004. The death toll from typhoon “Rananim” rose to 115, yesterday, as the coastal province of Zhejiang struggled to recover. The typhoon left a further 16 people missing and injured more than 1,800, officials and state media said. The storm toppled more than 42,000 buildings and damaged nearly 90,000 more, causing most of the casualties. The government estimated economic losses from the typhoon at about 15 billion yuan, Xinhua said. An official in Taizhou, where the typhoon made landfall on Thursday evening, put losses at more than 10 billion yuan in the city alone. Taizhou is the worst affected area in Zhejiang since the typhoon landed in the city. Most of the dead were from the city, said the deputy director of Taizhou’s public relations department. The central government had already pledged 61 million yuan in relief funds. Typhoon “Rananim” dumped up to 300mm of rain in some areas, with strong winds affecting 8.6 million people. Zhejiang officials evacuated more than 450,000 people from coastal and low-lying regions. The storm cut off major roads and shut some airports in Zhejiang, though officials said traffic had returned to normal by yesterday evening. Parts of Taizhou remained without water and power yesterday, while flooded roads trapped many in their homes, residents said. The typhoon flooded more than 270,000 hectares of farmland and killed more than 30,000 livestock. The impact on the mainland’s commercial hub of Shanghai was less than authorities had predicted. Strong winds uprooted trees, but otherwise the city sustained little damage, local television said. Although the typhoon had already weakened into a tropical storm, it still brought strong winds and heavy rain to parts of Jiangxi and Anhui provinces yesterday. Disaster officials had yet to receive reports of casualties.

16 August 2004. Villagers in eastern China have been using farm tools and their bare hands to dig for survivors from landslides triggered by last week’s typhoon, which has killed at least 115 people, and at least 22 more have died in mudslides on the outskirts of Yueqing, Zhejiang province. More than 1,800 others are reported to have been injured after Typhoon “Rananim” battered Zhejiang on Thursday (August 12). It was the worst storm to hit China for seven years. Huge boulders and flows of mud poured down the mountains outside the town of Yueqing, destroying two schools and dozens of houses. Roads and power lines were also cut. Twenty-two people are missing and nine have been injured, according to state news agency Xinhua. At least three people have also been killed by stormy seas whipped up by the typhoon. The storm destroyed more than 40,000 homes. The authorities are concerned that the recent soaring temperatures of up to 38 degrees C over the weekend could hasten the spread of dysentery and other diseases among those left homeless. “Rananim” has now been down-graded to a tropical storm. It moved west into Jiangxi province later on Friday (August 13), bringing heavy rain. China’s civil affairs ministry has estimated direct economic losses of 15.33bn yuan ($1.85bn) and that 271,00 hectares (677,500 acres) of crops were damaged.

17 August 2004. The death toll in China from typhoon “Rananim” has risen to at least 164 people and another 24 were listed as missing, Xinhua news agency said today. A spokesman with the provincial government said 109 of the victims had died when their houses collapsed. The storm battered the rice growing province with torrential rain and gale-force winds, knocked down more than 430,000 buildings and caused more than 16.4 billion yuan ($2 billion) in direct economic losses, Xinhua said. A landslide in Yueqing killed 29 people and left 18 missing and feared dead, the agency and a local official said.

28 June 2004Nicaragua

Nicaraguan officials said today that mudslides caused by heavy rain had killed at least 16 people, with 24 missing. Rescue teams were trying to reach thousands affected by the flooding in the northern Nicaraguan department of Matagalpa during the weekend (June 26-27). Villages around the Musun mountain were among the worst hit, with local residents describing hearing a huge explosion as the mudslide began. Some communities remained cut off by road and accessible only by helicopter. Officials said the death toll could still rise to nearly 50. About 1,400 people took refuge in the nearby town of Rio Blanco. However, Health Minister Jose Antonio Alvarado said casualties were comparatively light as the area is quite sparsely populated. “The landslide’s route is covered with trees that were ripped from the root and some homes are seen in pieces,” he said.

29 June 2004Philippines

Five people are reported dead and another ten are missing after flash floods hit two towns in the southern Philippine province of North Cotabato. Reports say that 300 families have lost their homes in the floods, which followed several days of heavy rain. The governor of North Cotabato, Emmanual Piniol, blamed illegal loggers for the disaster. Governor Piniol said continuous illegal logging operations in his jurisdiction have denuded forests which would have served as a barrier to the strong water currents. Mr Piniol threatened to file a civil suit against the businessmen behind the illegal logging activity. Heavy rains since last week caused a big lake to overflow into nearby towns. Houses and farm animals were reportedly swept away by the floods. Authorities have launched massive evacuation and rescue operations in the affected areas.

30 June 2004. Flash floods triggered by non-stop heavy rains killed nine persons while 15 others were missing in the remote towns of Alamada and Libungan in Cotabato province, reports from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council said. Reported dead from the disaster were Marco Maco, Juan Astrolog, Boymar Flores, Lito Montoya, Noli Navarro, Rolando Barrientos, Edgar Barrientos, Salvacion Manlunas and Bernoy Manlunas. Twenty-eight houses were damaged by torrential rains and around 300 others were partially damaged. Around 100 individuals were also reported trapped on the roofs of houses, which were submerged in floodwaters. Disaster officials have also recorded 300 families who were evacuated to nearby schools and churches. Strong currents also forced a bridge to collapse in Almada, the report said. Floodwater started rushing in around 0630 Monday (June 28) after a weekend of heavy rains. Residents blame the rampant illegal logging activity in the area for the disaster. Rescue and evacuation operations are continuing since Tuesday afternoon. Two Huey helicopters from the Philippine Air Force and soldiers from the 40th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army have also been dispatched to provide assistance to the affected families.

1 July 2004. Rescuers have recovered the bodies of five more drowning victims in the Philippines, raising the death toll from typhoon “Mindulle” to 12 with 13 others still missing and feared dead, civil defence officials said today. A man and a woman drowned in the northern province of Cagayan while two 12-year-old girls died in the north while crossing a swollen creek in Pangasinan province, the civil defence office said in a report. Rescue workers recovered the body of another flash flood victim who had earlier been reported as missing on the southern island of Mindanao. Seven others were previously confirmed dead. Thirteen others were missing and feared drowned. The civil defence office said others were injured in landslides, when roofing was ripped from buildings and branches sheared off trees. The typhoon has displaced nearly 180,000 people from 48 towns and three cities, destroyed or damaged nearly 400 houses, and caused damage to crops and infrastructure. Parts of the northern section of the main island of Luzon were still without electricity and some major roads were cut off by landslides, overflowing rivers or floods, or toppled trees and power pylons. The army has been mobilised to rescue families marooned by floods in the north, the report added. A cargo vessel ran aground on Tuesday (June 29) and later sank off Masinloc town, northwest of Manila. Eighteen crew members and four passengers were rescued.

1 July 2004. The death toll from Typhoon “Mindulle’s” rampage through the Philippines rose to 16 with 17 other people still missing and feared dead, civil defence officials said today. Most of the dead and missing were washed away by flash floods in the northern Philippines while 16 more were injured by landslides, hit by roofing ripped from buildings and branches sheared off trees, the civil defence office added. The typhoon has displaced nearly 180,000 people from 48 towns and three cities and destroyed or damaged more than 6000 houses. More than 4000 people are still sheltered in evacuation centres, the office said. Initial estimates of damage to crops and infrastructure rose to at least 353.9 million pesos (A$9 million) with more reports of damage coming in. Parts of the northern section of the main island of Luzon were still without electricity and some major arteries were cut off by landslides, overflowing rivers or floods, or toppled trees and power pylons. The army has been mobilised to rescue families marooned by floods in the north, the civil defence office added. The storm also disrupted rail traffic and domestic flights on Taiwan’s east coast today. “Mindulle’s” winds had weakened to 108km/h from 145km/h yesterday as it moved north-west from the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and Philippines, the Central Weather Bureau said. Forecasters, however, warned of possible flash floods and landslides as “Mindulle” was set to hit Taiwan’s south-eastern coast tonight. “Mindulle” was expected to make its way north to the capital, Taipei, tomorrow, the weather bureau said.

2 July 2004. Typhoon “Mindulle” weakened on its way out to Taiwan yesterday, but disaster officials said it left the death toll swelling to at least 19 in northern Luzon. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the release of more funds to provinces that suffered the brunt of the typhoon. Total relief assistance, mostly coming from private donations, has so far reached 1.3 million pesos, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The National Disaster Coordinating Council placed agricultural and infrastructure losses at 353 million pesos. Cagayanos expressed grief over the death of nine people from flash floods in five towns and the destruction of more than 232 million pesos’ worth of palay and corn in Cagayan.

2 July 2004. The death toll from typhoon “Mindulle” in the Philippines rose to 24 today while 19 other people were still missing and feared dead, rescuers said today. Nineteen of the dead drowned or were involved in accidents following widespread flooding in Luzon, while four others drowned in flooding on Mindanao island. The body of another victim, a harbour pilot who fell into the water while helping a vessel seek shelter at Manila pier, was recovered in Manila Bay today, the Coast Guard said. Nineteen other people remained missing three days after the typhoon struck, and are presumed to have died, the civil defence office said. Twenty-two people were injured as the weather destroyed or damaged nearly 10,000 houses and displaced some 385,000 people. Parts of northern Luzon were still without electricity and some major arteries were cut off by landslides, overflowing rivers or floods, or toppled trees and power pylons. The army has been mobilised to rescue families marooned by floods in the north, the civil defence office added.

3 July 2004Taiwan

A typhoon lashed heavy rain over Taiwan, triggering widespread flooding and killing at least 14 people before weakening and heading toward southeast China, officials said today. A land warning for Taiwan was lifted as typhoon “Mindulle” weakened into a tropical storm but persistent rain caused landslides and mudslides in the mountainous regions in the centre and south of the island, officials said. The Central Weather Bureau warned of more torrential rain in the next few days. Falling rocks hit a truck on a mountain road in the southern county of Chiayi, killing two passengers and injuring the driver, the disaster response centre said. Others drowned, including a woman and her grandchild trapped in their flooded home in eastern Taiwan. Eight people were missing – most of them swept away by swollen rivers. Crop damage was estimated at T$532 million (US$15.8 million), the Council of Agriculture said. Heavy downpours flooded streets in many parts of the island, submerging cars and forcing hundreds to evacuate their homes. Power was cut to more than 80,000 households. The government has mobilised 77,000 soldiers to join the rescue and help mop up in worst-hit areas.

3 July 2004. Tropical storm “Mindulle” pushed toward South Korea today after killing at least 37 people in the Philippines and Taiwan, officials said. Thirteen others were missing and feared dead. In Taiwan, the death toll rose to six, as flooding continued to disrupt traffic four days after “Mindulle” first struck the island. Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture estimated damage to crops and infrastructure at $15.65 million, much of it from devastation of fruit farms. The storm also killed 23,000 poultry. In the Philippines, “Mindulle” killed at least 31 people, while 11 others were missing and feared dead, officials said today. Rescue teams in central Taiwan’s mountains were clearing rubble from landslides, and bridges were closed because of flood damage.

4 July 2004. Mudslides buried houses and rescuers battled floodwaters to evacuate trapped villagers today as tropical storm “Mindulle” swept over Taiwan and battered the Chinese coast. At least 53 people have been killed in the storm. The storm pushed on towards South Korea but torrential rains at its fringes continued today in many of Taiwan’s mountainous areas and doused parts of south-eastern China. In Taiwan, where a total 19 people have been killed in the past few days and nine others were missing, mudslides covered about 30 houses on a hill in central Nantou County. Five bodies were recovered from the rubble, the National Disaster Relief Centre said. Another mudslide in nearby Taichung County killed three people and a woman and her grandson drowned in their flooded home there, police said. Before hitting Taiwan and China, “Mindulle” killed at least 32 people in the Philippines and left 11 others missing, its National Disaster Co-ordination Centre said today. The military dispatched about 1,000 soldiers to rescue hundreds of villagers and tourists trapped in mountainous regions of Taiwan, officials said. Television news showed rescuers struggling with their overturned raft in a raging river in central Taichung County before reaching a family of seven trapped in their hillside house. In Nantou’s Jenai village, where a wooden bridge was washed away by floodwaters, soldiers used ropes to pull residents from a cliff and across a creek. At a nearby resort destroyed by rock slides, about 150 tourists were placed in a temporary shelter as roads were washed away and they were unable to vacate the area, officials said.

3 July 2004Nicaragua

Recently floods and mudslides have claimed 25 lives in Nicaragua, authorities said today as a new tropical depression approached the Caribbean coast. Civil Defence Chief Mario Perez Cassar said nine people remain missing more than a week after heavy rains triggered scores of mudslides at Cerro Musun, a hill about 95 miles north-east of the capital. The rains also provoked deadly flooding at Cruz de Rio Grande, 210 miles northeast of Managua. Thousands of homes were damaged, and Perez Cassar said rains destroyed 4,840 acres of rice, corn, bananas and other crops 124 miles north-east of Managua, along the Rio Prinzapolka.

4 July 2004Korea

At least two people were killed and several hundreds of houses and buildings in the country were inundated from heavy rainfall in the aftermath of typhoon “Mindulle”, which was downgraded to a tropical depression at seas, some 200 kilometres off Cheju Island. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the typhoon weakened to a tropical storm at 0900 hrs with a maximum speed of 17 metres per second, easing fears about severe casualties and property damages. The KMA lifted typhoon warnings issued across the country. The KMA said additional rain of 80-150mm will fall nationwide until this afternoon. Southern regions of the Korean peninsula reported 80-149mm of rain accompanied by strong winds during the weekend.. More than ten were killed or injured in traffic accidents partly due to heavy precipitation. The weather agency said that although the typhoon was downgraded into a tropical depression, rains continue to fall, calling for continued caution and appropriate preparation.

5 July 2004. Typhoon “Mindulle” caused damage that could exceed NT$10 billion ($296 million), the China Times reported, without saying where it obtained the information. The death toll from the typhoon rose to 21, the United Daily News reported, citing Minister of Economic Affairs, Ho Mei-yueh. Torrential rains, forecast to continue until tomorrow, triggered landslides and floods that swept away cars, homes and bridges in central and southern Taiwan, according to the island’s weather bureau.

6 July 2004. Rescuers in Taiwan flew in food and drinking water to tens of thousands of people in mountain villages today cut off by days of catastrophic floods and landslides. At least 22 people have died in Taiwan from downpours triggered by typhoon “Mindulle” and 14 were still missing, officials said, after some areas in central and southern Taiwan received a year’s worth of rain in five days. Rescuers were using helicopters to ferry supplies and pick up the injured in mountainous areas, after floods and landslides swept away roads and bridges and destroyed farmland. Lin Chung-chi, fire chief in the mountainous Nantou County in central Taiwan, estimated between 10,000 and 20,000 people were trapped in two nearby villages without power, food or potable water. The floods have receded and the remnants of “Mindulle” have moved north toward Japan, but weather officials said a heavy rain warning remained in force. A spokesman for the Central Weather Bureau said accumulated rainfall over the past few days in some areas had nearly reached the annual average precipitation figure of 98 inches. The government estimated the cost of agricultural damage at T$4 billion ($118 million) and allocated T$11.27 billion in aid to help victims and rebuild devastated areas. Many of those missing or killed in the latest disaster were buried by mudslides or swept away by swollen rivers. Rescuers said there was little hope of finding any of the missing. A reservoir supplying Taichung county was damaged by rubbish carried by floodwaters, affecting around 550,000 households, said Chen Shen-shien, director general of the Water Resources Bureau. Water supply would be restored to most households by tomorrow, although repair crews were as yet unable to reach 20,000 homes in remote areas. More than 9,300 households were still without power after flooding knocked out electricity to as many as 213,000 homes over the weekend. Taiwan Power Co. has estimated damage to its equipment and lost revenue at around T$10 billion ($297 million). “Mindulle” has killed at least 45 people, including 23 in the Philippines.

6 July 2004India

At least 20 labourers engaged in construction work were feared dead when the trucks in which they were travelling were washed away in flood waters in Arunachal Pradesh yesterday.

9 July 2004Nepal

A press report, dated today, states: Incessant rains in the past few days have claimed at least seven lives and disrupted normal life in parts of eastern and southern Nepal, government officials and media said today. Four people were killed yesterday after a boat capsized in the Rapti river in Dang district in western Nepal, while two others died in floods in Rautahat in the south. On Wednesday (July 7), floods killed a 48-year-old man in Udaypur district after he was swept away by the swollen Tawa River in Udayapur district, southeast of the capital, police said. Flooding after three days of heavy rains had inundated at least 45 villages, including the Rautahat district headquarters of Gaur, news reports said. Media reports today said normal life in most parts of south-eastern Nepal was disrupted as flooding was reported across thousands of hectares of agricultural land in several districts. According to media and government reports, transportation came to a halt in many areas and the electricity supply in some areas was cut off as power poles were swept away in the floods. In the south-eastern district of Janakpur, hundreds of houses were underwater and transportation services, including the country’s only rail service, were suspended because of incessant rains. Officials said the rains also triggered landslides along the country’s main road linking the Kathmandu Valley with southern Nepal. The flow of traffic on the road has been slow and painstaking. Full details of the devastation were still not available and authorities feared the death toll and loss of property could be much higher than presently estimated.

12 July 2004. Flooding caused by a week of monsoon rains have left 46 dead, forced tens of thousands of villagers from their homes and damaged crops across Nepal, relief officials have said. The rains also triggered landslides that caused deaths and damaged many roads in the mountain kingdom. Floodwaters swept away 11 people in the Makawanpur district, about 60 kilometres south of Kathmandu, while the Sarlahi district, further to the south, reported ten deaths from landslides. Two main roads linking the capital with cities in the south and west of the country were washed away and officials said it will be a few days before repairs can be completed. Weather grounded most domestic flights across Nepal yesterday, but in Kathmandu officials expressed hope the situation would improve in two days. While the rest of the country is wet and inundated, the Doti district in far western Nepal is facing a severe drought that has driven local farmers to temples to pray for rain, reports from the region said.

12 July 2004. At least six persons died in floods and landslides in Ramechhap, Siraha and Khotang districts of Nepal yesterday. According to local media reports, in Ramechhap two persons lost their lives Saturday (July 10) night when a landslide swept away their home in Salle village. Similarly, two deaths were reported in the Bhuji area of the same district. Electricity supply in Manthali, the district headquarters, remains disrupted for the last three days due to heavy rainfall causing damages to transformers, the reports further said. In Siraha’s Bishnupurkatti, one villager was found dead on the banks of Dungdunge Khola Sunday. The area is severely affected by floods. Likewise, reports from Khotang said a 12-year-old child was killed by a landslide in Hatosima village. Meanwhile, the Banepa-Bardibas highway remains blocked due to landslides in over 22 different places.

11 July 2004South Asia

Incessant rain swelled flood waters that have covered large areas of Bangladesh, hampering efforts today to rescue three million people marooned by rising waters and raising the death toll to 13. Two children died after they were bitten by snakes floating in the roiling waters in northern Kurigram area, officials said. The north-eastern town of Sylhet at the centre of the worst-hit district lay under 60cm of water and neighbouring Sunamganj district was inundated by the Surma and Kushiara rivers, local officials said.Road links between Sylhet and Sunamganj were severed and the railway between Sylhet and Akhaura was threatened by the floods. More rain was forecast in the next few days and could flood areas around the capital, Dhaka, weather officials said. Floods now covered nearly 20 of the 64 administrative districts of Bangladesh, leaving up to three million people marooned, disaster management officials said. Thousands of families had sought refuge on roads and embankments as well as in schools, government buildings and boats after the floods forced them to abandon homes. Relief and rescue operations have yet to start in many areas. Most rivers including the Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Meghna and Padma were above danger levels. Officials said some had burst their banks while others were poised to do so. Chittagong port authorities yesterday asked ships not to enter a flooded channel in the Bay of Bengal. Ships could be in danger because of turbulence in the Karnaphuli river channel.

11 July 2004. The Brahmaputra river, swollen by rain and a Himalayan burst dam, has flooded huge swathes of north India and Bangladesh, killing dozens and forcing millions to seek refuge on higher ground. In tea and oil-rich Assam, at least 40 villagers packed into a wooden boat, including many women and children, drowned late yesterday. There were no survivors, a police official said. That brought the death toll from the annual monsoon floods to more than 70 in India and neighbouring Nepal. In neighbouring Bangladesh, officials said 13 people had died and an estimated three million people were marooned – cut off in their flooded homes and on patches of high ground. In the eastern Indian states of Assam and Bihar, military helicopters and soldiers in motor boats tried to rescue thousands of stranded people and dropped cooked food. All rivers in Assam, including the main Brahmaputra, were overflowing after a week of incessant rains. “More than two million people have become homeless because of floods,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said. In the impoverished state of Bihar, at least 14 people were drowned in two separate incidents yesterday when their boats capsized in the swollen Bagmati river. More than 600,000 people had been affected in Bihar, said state Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Ram Vichar Rai. A dam at Tsatitsu lake in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan had burst, spilling water into tributaries of the Brahmaputra and swelling the floods in Assam, a flood control official said. Floods and landslides have left thousands stranded on high ground in the neighbouring mountainous kingdom of Nepal, killing at least 12 people, an official said. “People are sitting on roof tops or have climbed trees as flood waters have entered their homes in the southern plains,” an Interior Ministry official said. “We are sending rafts and helicopters to rescue the marooned.” While Assam and Bihar were battling floods, the north-western and central regions of India have had less rain than normal so far in the June-September monsoon, raising doubts about the fate of major crops such as rice and oilseed. The north-eastern Bangladesh town of Sylhet, at the centre of the worst-hit district, lay under 60 cm of water, and road and rail links were cut or threatened by the rising water. More rain was forecast in the next few days and could flood areas around the capital, Dhaka, officials said. The floods now covered nearly 20 of 64 administrative districts. Thousands of families had sought refuge on roads and embankments as well as in schools, government buildings and boats after the floods forced them to abandon homes. Relief and rescue operations were yet to start in many areas. “We have enough relief goods but it is difficult to reach people in remote villages due to bad weather and a shortage of boats,” said relief official, M. Mostafa Kamal.

12 July 2004. Overflowing rivers, snakebites and landslides have killed dozens of people in South Asia and forced millions from their homes in the worst monsoon flooding in years, officials said today. Over five million people were marooned or left homeless in low-lying parts of eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal as river waters flooded huge swathes of land. Thousands were stuck on rooftops, waiting for military helicopters to rescue them or provide food. The chief minister of India’s north-eastern Assam state, where two million have been made homeless, appealed for international aid today, saying the state was battling the worst floods in recent years. “The floods have damaged the state’s infrastructure. The damage has been estimated at rupees 10 billion,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said. “We need help from the Red Cross to provide relief to the flood-hit people.” The state needed blankets, medicines, baby food and tarpaulin sheets, he said. Floodwaters have swept away power lines, embankments, railway tracks, swamped highways and destroyed dozens of small dams in oil-and-tea-rich Assam. More than 150 people have died in the region since the start of the month as heavy rains triggered flooding. Most of the latest deaths came from mountainous Nepal where landslides and swollen rivers have killed at least 24 people since yesterday. “Many people have fled after floodwaters entered their homes. They have sheltered in school buildings or other safe places,” an official at Nepal’s interior ministry said. Many people died of snakebite as the floods drove snakes into homes. The floods, which have affected one-third of Nepal’s area, have hit the impoverished nation’s main rice crop. Two people died in neighbouring Bangladesh today, including a child killed when a house collapsed as fast-moving river waters swept through it. In low-lying Bangladesh, thousands of people have fled to government shelters as overflowing river waters reached waist height in many villages and towns. In several flood-hit towns, the supply of drinking water, electricity and gas was cut off. “There is no water to drink, no electricity and no gas to cook,” said Shamsuddin Ahmed Khan, a doctor in Sylhet town, some 300km north-east of Dhaka. Rail links between Dhaka and several north-western districts were severed with tracks submerged in many places. Local weather officials in India’s Assam have forecast more rains over the next 24 hours and said all the main rivers in the state were in danger of overflowing, including the Brahmaputra. Schools and colleges have been shut across Assam, and train services disrupted because of the flooding. In Bihar, India’s poorest state in the east, helicopters dropped food to thousands marooned by floods. More than 40 people have died in the state since monsoon flooding started in early July.

12 July 2004. Ninety-nine people have now died in India’s monsoon-linked floods, with up to three million people displaced, a government official said. Three people drowned in the north-eastern state of Assam yesterday, taking the death toll in the region from the floods that began mid-June to 64, the official said. The other deaths have been reported from the eastern provinces of Bihar and West Bengal. The floods have so far displaced close to three million people in the north-east, the official said. “Some 400,000 houses were damaged in floods in 18 of the state’s 24 districts … with the overall situation deteriorating very fast,” said Assam’s chief minister Tarun Gogoi. “The approximate loss caused by the floods is estimated at about 10 billion rupees,” he added. Road links between the north-east and the rest of India remained severed for the second day today, while the railways rescheduled or changed routes of trains as water in several areas submerged tracks. Indian soldiers using boats and helicopters have rescued thousands of marooned people across Assam.

13 July 2004. An overflowing river swamped dozens of villages in Bangladesh, killing 18 people and leaving 6,000 homeless, while a family drowned in India as monsoon rains swept across South Asia, officials and news reports said today. Since the seasonal flooding began in June, at least 270 people have died in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan from waterborne diseases, electrocution, collapsed buildings and drowning. The worst affected have been people living in mud houses. Monsoon rains have engulfed 25 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts since late last month, stranding more than three million people in their flooded homes. The floods have killed 44 people in the delta nation. Today, at least ten people, including a mother and her young son, died in the hard-hit northern districts of Sylhet, Sunamganj and Sirajganj, United News of Bangladesh reported. In the same northern region, eight people, mostly children, drowned yesterday, said Dhaka’s Sangbad newspaper. In India’s eastern Bihar state, residents on opposite banks of the Burhi Gandak River in East Champaran District exchanged gunshots to prevent one another from slicing off chunks of the embankment, which could divert water to the opposite village, Vinai Kumar, the local administrator said. Two more flood-related deaths were reported from Bihar today, raising the state’s flood death toll to 60. In north-eastern Assam state, a family of four drowned after their boat capsized in flood waters yesterday while moving to higher ground. That put the state’s flood toll at 39 since June. Authorities in Assam have asked the Red Cross for food, clothes, tents, drinking water and mosquito nets to help more than 2 million victims in 18 of the state’s 24 districts. They have also requested doctors, nurses, and medicine. The floods in India have killed a total of 164 people, 39 in Assam, 60 in Bihar, 45 in Kerala, 17 in Uttar Pradesh and three in Tripura. In Pakistan, five people were killed by collapsing homes or roofs in Mardan District in the country’s north-west, said Shams-ul Haq, a local government official. About 50 others were injured late Sunday (July 11) in several villages in Mardan, near Islamabad. Bangladesh’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said the flooding there was likely to worsen in the next few days as heavy rains continue and flood waters from neighbouring India reach Bangladesh.

13 July 2004. Landslides triggered by heavy rains have buried at least 12 people in their homes while 19 people drowned in surging river waters as floods ravaged low-lying parts of South Asia. More than seven million people have been marooned or left homeless in villages and towns across eastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh after annual monsoon floods swamped large areas. “There is knee-deep water on the roads and flood water has entered my house. My family and I are forced to live on the roof,” said Chandrakant Jha of Darbhanga, 180km north of Patna, the capital of India’s eastern state of Bihar. Authorities said today they were bracing for more flooding as dozens of rivers threatened to burst their banks. Government helicopters dropped packages of food and relief material such as tarpaulin sheets to thousands of villagers in Nepal and India, where thousands were stranded on rooftops. More than 180 people have died in densely-populated South Asia since the beginning of July as heavy monsoon rains caused dozens of rivers to overflow their embankments and set off landslides. Officials in India’s tea-rich north-eastern state of Assam, where around two million people have lost their homes because of flooding in the past week, said they found it hard to cope with the sheer scale of floods. “The state is not adequately equipped to handle the rescue and relief operations,” Tarun Gogoi, chief minister of Assam, who appealed for international assistance yesterday, said. In Bihar, where dozens have died in flooding over the past week and more than a million people have been left homeless, many areas had no electricity and soldiers in boats rescued stranded people. In some areas of flood-hit Bangladesh, floods submerged crops and cut rail and road links, pushing up food prices and forcing thousands of people to cram into government flood shelters. Twenty-five of the low-lying country’s 64 districts have been hit by flooding and millions marooned. Officials fear outbreaks of water-borne diseases as thousands of drinking wells have been submerged. Authorities in Bangladesh said the flood situation was grim and could get worse as major rivers like the Padma and Jamuna were rising. However, most of the latest deaths were in Nepal, where 12 people were killed in landslides in the east, pushing to 48 the impoverished nation’s death toll from landslides, drowning and snake bites this season. Flood waters have washed away bridges and felled electrical lines in some areas. In other areas of the Himalayan kingdom, waters were receding.

14 July 2004. Landslides in mountainous Nepal killed 11 people, and eight were reported dead when their vessel capsized in India, bringing the death toll across South Asia from monsoon flooding to more than 300. Torrential rains that began in mid-June have caused landslides, building collapses, drowning, electrocution and waterborne diseases across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Even as large areas of South Asia remained under water, officials in India worried that too much rain in the country’s east could mean a weak monsoon – perhaps a drought – for the northern and western region, where farmers are still waiting for the rains to sow crops. The Indian Cabinet met yesterday and asked the Agriculture Ministry to collect reports on crop prospects. Still, the flooding in India’s east was likely to worsen with more rain forecast over the next few days, relief officials said. At least 179 people have been killed in India, which has suffered the largest number of deaths. Eight people were reported dead today when a vessel ferrying them to safety across the Burhi Gandak River capsized, said Upendra Sharma, a relief official. Six more deaths were reported elsewhere in India’s eastern Bihar state. In neighbouring Assam state, water from the Brahmaputra River cut through its banks and poured into the capital, Gauhati. Four people were killed yesterday when a banana tree raft taking them to higher ground capsized, police said. At least five million people have been displaced or marooned in their homes in Assam, and Indian air force helicopters dropped supplies to some, the government said. In Nepal, landslides swept through five villages late yesterday, killing 11 people, said Durgaraj Sharma, a disaster management official in the capital, Kathmandu. The government flew rescuers on helicopters to distribute food, cooking utensils and plastic sheets to build temporary shelters. In Bangladesh, the rains have stranded more than three million people in their flooded homes and killed 55 others, most of them children who drowned. In Pakistan, five people have been killed by collapsing homes or roofs, officials said.

15 July 2004. Fifty people are feared dead after a river burst its banks in Bangladesh and 30 people may have drowned after a crowded boat capsized in a river in eastern India as South Asia reeled under monsoon flooding. Surging river waters have covered wide swathes of land following torrential rains in eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal, leaving more than eight million people marooned or homeless since the start of the month. More than two dozen prisoners swam to freedom from an inundated prison in eastern India because of the flooding that has left a trail of destruction in the region. Officials said 30 people, including six women, were feared drowned when a boat packed with villagers fleeing the floods for dry land capsized in a swollen river in the flood-ravaged eastern state of Bihar. “The boat was carrying around 50 people but 20 managed to swim to safety,” government official A.L. Meena said today. In flood-prone Bangladesh, 50 people were feared drowned after the Jamuna River burst its banks and swept through a village near Bogra town, 250km north-west of Dhaka, witnesses and police said today. “At least 50 people were missing after a village with 250 homes was completely washed away,” Moinul Hasan, a village head, said. More than 260 people in South Asia have drowned or been killed by landslides or snakebites as monsoon rains have lashed the largely low-lying region since early July. In impoverished Bihar, where huge tracts of land are under water, 34 jail inmates in the town of Darbhanga escaped by swimming out while prisoners were being evacuated from the flooded prison. In several areas, people complained of shortages of food and medicine as overflowing rivers swamped roads and rail tracks. Helicopters dropped food and medicines to hundreds of flooded villages, triggering a scramble to grab the aid and authorities reported stray cases of looting of food. “There is a complete breakdown of law and order in Darbhanga. Thousands are marooned and food items and medicines are scarce,” said Binay Kumar Jha, a college teacher. In Bangladesh, flooding hit crops – including mainstay rice paddies – submerging one million acres.

20 July 2004. Bangladesh state-owned airlines Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Biman) and others cancelled seven local and international flights, as floodwaters swamped more than 4,000 feet of the MAG Osmani International Airport runway in Sylhet of Bangladesh yesterday. The runway on the outskirts of the north-eastern city went up to 10 inches under water that damaged about 150 feet of the compound wall on the northern edge of the tarmac on Sunday night (July 18). Four flights to Sylhet of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, both local and international, and three of GMG Airlines were cancelled yesterday, officials said. About 90 percent of Sylhet city and its adjacent areas went three-to-four feet under water. Commercial hubs and markets in the city were flooded, costing businesspeople million of dollars in lost property. Rail and road links between the north-east and Dhaka were in on-and-off operation: Sunamganj-Sylhet Road went five feet under water and the rail service remained snapped for five hours as trees blocked the railroads between substations.

20 July 2004. Flash floods caused by torrential rains in northern Vietnam killed one woman, injured seven people and left 20 missing, a local official said today. The drowned woman was a teacher and other victims were of the Tay ethnic minority group in impoverished Ha Giang province’s Yen Minh district, 420km north-west of Hanoi, said the official from the provincial disaster management unit. ‘’The rains were heavy, sweeping away people early yesterday,’’ she said, adding that rescuers were looking for the missing in the mountainous district bordering China since the rains had stopped.

24 July 2004. The death toll in India from widespread floods has risen in 293, after another 16 people died in eastern Bihar state. Officials have warned the situation is deteriorating across the east and north-east. The worsening floods have already displaced about 11.5 million people in the states of Bihar and Assam since the annual monsoon rains began mid-June. India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, is scheduled to tour parts of Bihar next week to survey relief efforts. Mr Singhe earlier this week took an aerial tour of flooded areas in north-eastern Assam state. The Assam government has described the floods as the worst in 25 years and has demanded $US479 million in federal aid. The floods have wreaked havoc in the state, washing away 8,500 villages. The death toll from flooding in Bangladesh has risen to 185, as floodwater spread to parts of the capital, Dhaka. Officials say more than 19 million people have been affected by the floods. The death toll was earlier put at 57, but the official BSS news agency says officials have confirmed 185 deaths. The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) has warned the situation in Bangladesh could become critical if heavy rains continue. It is planning to launch an international appeal Monday to raise $US3.2 million for victims of the flooding.

24 July 2004. A crowded boat ferrying flood refugees to safety in central Bangladesh capsized, drowning seven people as the death toll from this year’s monsoon flooding in South Asia reached 705, officials and news reports said today. The floods have killed 396 in India, 202 in Bangladesh, 102 in Nepal and five in Pakistan. Most of the deaths occurred from drowning, building collapses, electrocution from downed power lines, waterborne diseases or landslides.

25 July 2004. Two thirds of Bangladesh has been flooded by the worst monsoon rains in 15 years. Officials say the water and sewerage systems in the capital, Dhaka, have broken down completely. The severe flooding across Bangladesh and parts of India and Nepal has killed almost 570 people in the past month. Millions of people have been forced from their homes and there have been outbreaks of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases.

26 July 2004. Authorities recovered more than 100 decomposed bodies as overflowing rivers receded in eastern India. Floodwaters, disease and snakebites killed 58 more people in Bangladesh, officials said today, as the death toll from monsoon flooding across South Asia rose above 1,000 victims. The decomposed bodies started surfacing in India’s eastern Bihar state, said Upendra Sharma, a deputy secretary in the state’s relief and rehabilitation department. Meanwhile, one civilian was killed as an Indian air force helicopter dropping food and evacuating people crashed in Begusarai district, 30 miles south of Patna, the state capital, said Gautam Goswami, a relief officer. Two other civilians on board received minor injures in the accident. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. In India’s north-eastern Assam state, rescuers today recovered seven more bodies after a boat capsized in floodwaters, police said. Ten bodies were pulled from the site yesterday. The boat, ferrying flood victims to safety, was crammed with passengers when it overturned. The new deaths in Bangladesh came as rivers around the capital, Dhaka, burst their banks, leaving 40 percent of the city under water. Government relief workers and volunteers are distributing food, medicines and clothes to people stranded in their homes or sheltering on mud embankments, raised highways, school buildings or mosques. But many complained that not enough relief was getting through. The 58 new deaths occurred due to diarrhoea, drowning and snakebites, the government said without providing further details. About 75,000 people have been stricken with diarrhoea since the start of the floods in June, it said. The new deaths brought to nearly 300 the number killed in Bangladesh. In Nepal, more than 100 have died. In Pakistan, there have been five monsoon deaths, while in India the death toll has reached some 700 victims. Across all of South Asia, the toll is 1,078.

27 July 2004. Thousands of people in Dhaka have taken boats to go to work after floods inundated large parts of the city, forcing up to 100,000 people to cram into shelters. More than two-thirds of the entire country was under water, officials said. Many streets in the city were waist-deep in water as the country’s most severe floods in 15 years worsened. About one-third of Dhaka was under water and boats replaced rickshaws as primary transport as sewage added to problems. Workers and volunteers struggled to plug small breaches on a giant dyke, called the DND embankment, and piled sandbags to block floodwater threatening to overflow it. Civil aviation officials said the city’s international airport was safe, but authorities were constantly watching water levels in nearby rivers and canals. Elsewhere in the country thousands of villages were flooded and 35 more people were reported killed since Sunday (July 25). At least 285 people have been killed in Bangladesh by drowning, snakebites, boating accidents and house collapses since the floods began three weeks ago. Foreign aid has begun to flow in. The current floods have killed more than 700 people across South Asia, including almost 400 in India’s Bihar state. In Bangladesh, the floods have rendered more 10 million people homeless, officials said. In many remote areas, authorities and aid agencies were finding it too difficult to reach relief materials. The Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh, an umbrella body of non-government organisations, asked the government, yesterday, to provide helicopters to airdrop relief goods to flooded areas. The government said the request would be considered. At least 50 flood victims died of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases in the last one week, health officials said. At least 100,000 more were suffering with the shortage of clean water and the breakdown of the sewage system. This year’s flooding could prove more catastrophic as crops, including paddy, on hundreds of square kilometres were swamped. Roads, train lines and embankments were washed away in 43 of the country’s 64 administrative districts. In Narayanganj district, near Dhaka, thousands came to work at garment factories, wading through chest-high water. Industry officials said they could not shut the factories as they needed to keep shipment schedule.

28 July 2004. Assam’s Numaligarh Refinery is expected to resume operations in the first week of August, a company official said today. The refinery’s operations were temporarily stopped a week ago as floods submerged railway tracks used to transport refined products from the unit. “The tracks should be repaired by August 2 unless the flood situation deteriorates. The unit can resume operation after that,” the official said. The refinery has a capacity to process 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

28 July 2004. Deaths from monsoon rains across South Asia reached 1,238 today as Bangladesh remained awash in the worst floods in six years, and waterborne diseases began taking their toll. Diarrhoea caused by drinking dirty water has killed 46 people and afflicted about 80,000 this month, according to the government’s Health Directorate. Relief workers warned that the situation could worsen as rivers around Bangladesh’s inundated capital, Dhaka, continued to swell. The annual monsoon flooding, fed by melting snow and torrential rains, has left millions across South Asia marooned or homeless. At least 731 people have died in India, 102 in Nepal and five in Pakistan, according to reports from officials. The Bangladesh government said today that 400 people had died since June in the worst floods since 1998. They have engulfed two-thirds of the country, affecting more than 25 million people. Up to 1.3 million displaced people huddled in about 4,000 flood shelters. Villagers have pitched tents on highways or mud embankments with their families and cattle. “The situation in Dhaka and central Bangladesh will not improve until next week,” the Flood Forecast and Warning Centre said today. Deaths are caused by drowning, landslides, house collapses, lightning, diseases and poisonous snakes that slither through the water and bite people wading through the water to reach higher ground. In India’s north-eastern state of Assam, almost entirely covered by water, the government asked the Red Cross and other relief groups to provide anti-venom for snakebite victims as well as re-hydration salts for diarrhoea sufferers. “Along with disease and its prevention, we are battling snakebites,” said Bumidhar Barman, the health minister of Assam, where another 45 deaths were reported today. “Snakes, swept by the flood waters from rivers and marches, seem to be lurking around in large numbers, keeping the marooned people on tenterhooks.” Some 12 million people are affected in Assam, where floods have caused $1.08 billion in damage, said the state’s Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. In Dhaka, a city of 10 million people, shanty towns in low-lying areas, residential neighbourhoods and parts of the central business district have been inundated.

28 July 2004. Deaths from monsoon rains across South Asia reached 1,238 today as Bangladesh remained awash in the worst floods in six years, and waterborne diseases began taking their toll. Diarrhoea caused by drinking dirty water has killed 46 people and afflicted about 80,000 this month, according to the government’s Health Directorate. Relief workers warned that the situation could worsen as rivers around Bangladesh’s inundated capital, Dhaka, continued to swell. The annual monsoon flooding, fed by melting snow and torrential rains, has left millions across South Asia marooned or homeless. At least 731 people have died in India, 102 in Nepal and five in Pakistan, according to reports from officials. The Bangladesh government said today that 400 people had died since June in the worst floods since 1998. They have engulfed two-thirds of the country, affecting more than 25 million people. Up to 1.3 million displaced people huddled in about 4,000 flood shelters. Villagers have pitched tents on highways or mud embankments with their families and cattle. “The situation in Dhaka and central Bangladesh will not improve until next week,” the Flood Forecast and Warning Centre said today. Deaths are caused by drowning, landslides, house collapses, lightning, diseases and poisonous snakes that slither through the water and bite people wading through the water to reach higher ground. In India’s north-eastern state of Assam, almost entirely covered by water, the government asked the Red Cross and other relief groups to provide anti-venom for snakebite victims as well as re-hydration salts for diarrhoea sufferers. “Along with disease and its prevention, we are battling snakebites,” said Bumidhar Barman, the health minister of Assam, where another 45 deaths were reported today. “Snakes, swept by the flood waters from rivers and marches, seem to be lurking around in large numbers, keeping the marooned people on tenterhooks.” Some 12 million people are affected in Assam, where floods have caused $1.08 billion in damage, said the state’s Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. In Dhaka, a city of 10 million people, shanty towns in low-lying areas, residential neighbourhoods and parts of the central business district have been inundated.

29 July 2004. Bangladesh’s government says the nation’s devastating floods have caused nearly $7bn worth of damage. The number of dead is now around 500 and there are fears that unusually high tides over the coming days will stop the rivers receding. The flood water rose again in parts of the capital, Dhaka, today as heavy rain fell on the city. Across the country, millions remain homeless or stranded, camping out on tiny islands formed by raised roads. The water is getting dirtier in Dhaka and an estimated 500,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage is escaping into the water every day. That is then being mixed with industrial waste from factories that is normally carried away by the rivers. Doctors are now warning of an epidemic of diarrhoea. At a city hospital today, patients were being treated in extra temporary wards set up in sheds. The disaster management minister, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, has said the country has enough food and medical supplies for now but will need international help to rebuild roads, bridges and schools. Flood forecasters are warning that the rivers may not recede for the next few days. The full moon will cause unusually high tides in the Bay of Bengal, stopping the flow of water to the sea.

2 August 2004. Emergency medical teams in India and Bangladesh are battling to contain the spread of disease, as South Asia’s worst floods in 15 years recede. Nearly 5,000 medical teams have fanned out across Bangladesh in a bid to save thousands of people taken ill after drinking polluted water. Doctors at Dhaka’s International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research say they have treated more than 7,000 people for dehydration, vomiting and malnutrition since the flooding began in early July. The floods have killed more than 1,350 people across South Asia, about 660 of them in Bangladesh and the rest in the neighbouring Indian states of Assam and Bihar.

3 August 2004. At least 21 people have been killed in torrential rains which destroyed mud homes and washed away 50,000 hectares of farmland in the western Indian state of Gujarat, police said today. “It has been raining for four days and this has created havoc in southern Gujarat. We have reports of 21 deaths in the last 24 hours,” said a police spokesman in Gujarat’s commercial capital Ahmedabad. The bodies of two adults and three children were found after a mud house caved in Monday in Halasa village in the state’s Anand district, he added. “Another woman died Tuesday when a mud wall collapsed on her in Gujarat’s Bharuch district,” said the police spokesman. The driving rain also caused road accidents. In one incident, a van carrying four people was swept away by the rain-fed Karjan river in Bharuch district. “Eleven people died in rainfall-related disasters since the beginning of the downpour Saturday in Gujarat’s Surat, Narmada and Valsad districts,” said the spokesman. The local meteorological department has forecast more monsoon rain for the region overnight today and tomorrow. According to state administrative officials, at least 50,000 hectares of paddy and non-paddy fields have been submerged or washed away in the torrential rains. “Farmers will face a problem as they cannot expect any harvest from the fields washed away and silted,” added the official. London.

4 August 2004. The death toll from monsoon rains in India has climbed to nearly 850 as flooding that has caused devastation across wide swathes of South Asia wreaked havoc in western parts of the country, officials said. Soldiers using boats and helicopters plucked some 50,000 people to safety after waters up to three metres deep submerged roads and flooded dwellings in southern Gujarat state, worst hit by the rains. At least 1,600 people have died in India, Bangladesh and Nepal in flooding that has submerged parts of the region since July 10. Weather forecasters said more heavy precipitation was on its way in the region which had been facing drought, threatening economic growth in the agriculture-dependent country of more than 1 billion. The western state of Gujarat has been hard hit. “The death toll for this monsoon season which began around two weeks ago has hit 151 in Gujarat,” said an official of the state flood control room. In India, the death toll now totals at least 849 while the figure rose to 628 in Bangladesh, although the country’s official BSS news agency said unconfirmed reports put the toll at 800. Nepal has said at least 123 people have died in floods and landslides across the country. The army and air force were called into airlift people in low-lying areas in at least three villages of southern Gujarat. “The army and the air force have rescued 50,000 people over the last 48 hours” in the city of Surat and other parts of southern Gujarat the state relief commissioner said. Rains caused transport chaos in Gujarat and in neighbouring Maharashtra state, home to India’s financial hub, Bombay, forcing cancellation of trains and flights and inundating streets. Traffic halted on the New Delhi to Bombay highway which travels through Gujarat as landslides blocked the route. Rains also created havoc in the northern state of Punjab, flooding roads and houses. A flood alert was sounded in parts of adjacent Haryana state and troops were dispatched to help in flood-hit areas. In neighbouring Bangladesh, relief workers from the World Health Organisation and other bodies forecast a “severe” health situation, “likely to claim the lives of thousands unless urgent precautions were taken,” the official news agency BSS said.

5 August 2004. Heavy rain inundated villages in western India, collapsing houses, washing away telephone lines and killing at least 24 people just a week after farmers prayed for rain to end a prolonged dry spell. Rescue workers also found 10 more bodies as floodwaters receded in eastern Bihar state, relief officer Upendra Sharma said today. In Bangladesh, a farmer, his wife and daughter drowned when a small boat sank in a flooded lake in north-eastern Habigunj district, police said. The new deaths raised the toll from six weeks of monsoon floods in South Asia to 1,861, according to official figures. More than 1,000 of those deaths occurred in India, mostly from drowning, mudslides and waterborne diseases. The death toll could rise as reports arrive from remote areas of western Indian states cut off by the flash floods, officials said. The rains have blocked rail and road traffic in several parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra states. At least 15 trains connecting Mumbai and other western cities with northern states were cancelled today, Western Railway spokesman S. Bhagwat said. Hundreds of passengers remained stranded at the Mumbai Central railway station, he said. Rescue workers cleared boulders and debris from two national highways passing through Mimbai that were blocked after three days of heavy downpours. In northern Punjab state, soldiers were posted along the banks of the overflowing Ghaggar River to help rescue people fleeing the floods. The state reported its first deaths, a woman and two children, yesterday. Most of the devastation from the latest phase of flooding has been in Gujarat, a heavily industrialised state, where at least 181 people have died recently. Heavy rains and thunderstorms severed power lines to water pumps used by farmers. In Bangladesh and eastern India, where floods were receding after monsoon rains moved west, officials discussed how to care for hundreds of thousands of homeless villagers while battling waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid. Nearly two-thirds of Bangladesh was submerged by the worst flooding in six years, and 641 people have died. The government estimated $7 billion in damage to agriculture, industry, housing and infrastructure. The government said 20 million people – or one-seventh of the population – would need food aid over the next five months. “Tens of millions of Bangladeshis now face grave food insecurity, waterborne disease, a badly mangled infrastructure and extremely poor prospects for the next rice crop,” said Douglas Casson Coutts, the UN resident co-ordinator in Dhaka. The United Nations will launch an appeal for international aid next week, he said.

6 August 2004. At least six Indian children drowned when a tractor carrying them home from school in heavy rain slid into a reservoir, and a mudslide smothered 11 sleeping workers as the death toll from the monsoon season across South Asia rose to at least 1,931, officials said today. The 11 workers were buried in mud as they slept in a tin shed by the Vaishno Devi shrine in Dhaba Moth, in Jammu-Kashmir state. Three co-workers were pulled alive from the debris, police Superintendent M.L. Mehra said. In the western state of Gujarat, six children were confirmed drowned and two others were missing after the tractor pulling them on a trailer skidded and plunged into a reservoir in Junagarh, police said. The driver swam to safety. Five days of heavy downpour have inundated villages and killed dozens in India’s north and west, where farmers had been praying for rain only a week earlier amid a prolonged dry spell. Monsoon rains have drenched India’s remote north-east and the eastern state of Bihar since June. At least 1,119 people have died in India, 683 in Bangladesh, 124 in Nepal and five in Pakistan from the monsoon since June, mostly from drowning, mudslides and waterborne diseases. Floods continued to recede in much of Bangladesh today, after a high point that saw nearly two-thirds of the country under water. However, a high tide in the Bay of Bengal swamped dozens of low-lying villages in the southern coastal district of Bhola, marooning at least 15,000 people, officials said. The Bangladeshi government’s health directorate reported more than 9,000 people ill with waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, pneumonia and respiratory problems. Such illnesses have caused more than 60 deaths since June, it said. The flooding in Bangladesh has left some 20 million people in need of food for the next five months, the government has said. It estimates $7 billion in damages to agriculture, industry, housing and infrastructure. In the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, Red Cross officials said they were appealing for $2.17 million in emergency aid from international donors to help some 127,000 families affected by monsoon rains.

8 August 2004. A flood-swollen river was overflowing a major Indian dam, threatening villages as 41 more deaths were reported across South Asia, taking the death toll to 1,972 in a season of rain destruction. Twenty-nine people died during the past 24 hours in the badly affected Bharuch district in India’s western Gujarat state, officials at the local police control room said. The Narmada River dam, one of the largest such projects in India, was overflowing by more than 13 feet, said S.K. Mahapatra, the dam’s administrator. He said the amount of water flowing was more than 25 times the levels of a week ago at the 360-foot high dam. “Because of continuing rain in the last 72 hours, it has started overflowing dangerously. We are monitoring the situation with the help of satellite images,” Mahapatra said. Thirty villages have been put on alert for emergency evacuation, he said. The flooding in Gujarat has affected some 300,000 farmers and their crops of groundnut, cotton and sunflower, said Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the state’s top elected official. In Bangladesh, the official flood death toll stood at 691 in Bangladesh after eight more deaths were reported yesterday, the Disaster Management Ministry said. The floodwaters have receded from most parts, said officials at the government’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre. Four people were electrocuted in the village of Arada, in India’s eastern coastal state of Orissa, in heavy rains, said police official R. Parida. Utility wires fell on the men when they were inspecting their crops in the area, about 310 miles west of Bhubaneswar, the state capital. Indian officials also said that a lake formed by landslides in China’s Tibet region is threatening to burst its banks and inundate hundreds of villages in Indian territory. The lake, rising by the hour, is 3.5 miles long and nearly a mile wide, said L.R. Jhamtha, a government official in India’s Himachal Pradesh state bordering China. Jhamtha said villagers in Himachal Pradesh were being evacuated. At least 1,152 people have died in India, 691 in Bangladesh, 124 in Nepal and five in Pakistan from the monsoon since June, mostly from drowning, mudslides and waterborne diseases.

9 August 2004. The death toll from this season’s monsoon rains across South Asia passed 2,000, as authorities in India reported today that 39 bodies were found floating in receding flood waters and four children were killed when a house collapsed. At least 1,195 people have died in India, 694 in Bangladesh, 124 in Nepal and five in Pakistan, bringing the overall figure to 2,018, according to figures supplied by authorities in each country. Victims have mostly died from drowning, mudslides and waterborne diseases. In northern India’s Himachal Pradesh state, 20 workers were rescued today after being trapped for a day in a tunnel being built as part of a power project, said engineer Nirmal Prasad. Mudslides had blocked the tunnel’s entrance. The state’s authorities said they evacuated nearly 1,000 people from 15 villages that are likely to be submerged if a seasonal lake in Tibet bursts its banks. Although rains in the mountainous region stopped today, “the threat persists,” Manish Garg, deputy commissioner of the Kinnaur district, said. The lake, formed by landslides, is 1.2 miles long and about 3,000 feet wide, Garg said, citing the latest update from the Indian government, which has been relying on Chinese authorities for information. The Indian government had earlier reported the lake was much bigger. The Indian foreign ministry said it has been receiving “useful information” from the Chinese government and was awaiting permission for an Indian team of hydrologists to visit the site. Meanwhile, 39 bodies were recovered from floodwaters across eastern Bihar state, said government official Upendra Sharma. In western India’s Gujarat state, a flood-swollen river continued to feed into an overflowing dam and 30 villages downstream were put on alert for possible evacuation, said S.K. Mahapatra, the dam’s administrator. Four siblings, aged six to 10, were killed when an outer wall of their house collapsed yesterday because of heavy rains in Bhavnagar, a town 85 miles east of Ahmadabad, Gujarat’s main city, police said. The flooding in Gujarat has devastated the groundnut, cotton and sunflower crops of some 300,000 farmers, said state Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In Bangladesh, the Food and Disaster Management Ministry reported today that three more people had died from waterborne disease as floodwaters receded from two-thirds of the country.

15 July 2004Japan

Hundreds of residents were sifting through the wreckage of their mud and debris-filled homes today, after torrential rains in northern Japan killed 11 people. Further storms were predicted for tomorrow. Unprecedented downpours on Tuesday (July 13) caused swollen rivers to burst their banks, touched off landslides in Niigata prefecture, forced thousands to evacuate and left thousands more trapped in their homes awaiting rescue. People from more than 13,000 households were evacuated in Niigata, waiting tensely in public halls and schools for the waters to recede. An elderly man and woman who had been missing were found dead in their homes in Nakanoshima, bringing the death toll to 11, a Niigata prefecture official said. More than 430mm of rain had fallen in some parts of the region since Monday night. While rain had largely stopped by this evening, a Meteorological Agency official said rainfall of up to 25mm an hour might hit parts of Niigata tomorrow. Residents in Nakanoshima, where torrents of water rushed through parts of the town on Tuesday after a river burst its banks, began the laborious process of clearing wreckage from choked streets and shovelling oily-smelling mud from their homes. More than 10 helicopters were sent by the military and local governments to help rescue efforts, and rescuers – including members of the Japanese military laboured through the night to remove people from their homes. By this morning, all those left stranded in their houses had been rescued, NHK television said.

16 August 2004. The death toll from flooding and landslides caused by torrential rain in northern Japan reached 12, with three people missing, as a major rescue operation continued, officials said. As the rain continued to fall yesterday, police were searching for three missing people, two men in Niigata and a man in Fukushima prefecture, east of Niigata, police spokesmen said. Roughly 400 mm of rain has fallen since Monday (July 12) in Niigata, a record for the region, the Defence Agency said. About 136,100 households were ordered or advised to evacuate their homes, 22,900 houses experienced flood damage and at least 39 landslides were reported, officials said.

19 August 2004. The death toll from flooding that has swept through northern Japan since last week rose to 18 today, as four bodies were found and more rainstorms added to the chaos. Two elderly Japanese were missing. Since last Monday (July 12), more than 49 centimetres of rain has fallen in Niigata prefecture – nearly one-fifth the annual average. A 42-year-old woman, who had been missing since Tuesday, was found drowned in a ditch, an official with the state police said today. Local authorities maintained an evacuation order for more than 12,000 households in the prefecture as more rain was forecast to fall. A separate storm to the south, meanwhile, caused floods that killed two men in their 60s and unleashed a landslide that killed a third, in his 70s, a Fukui prefectural police spokesman said. Two others were reported missing in the area, where rainfall was heavy. Authorities advised about 40,000 households along the Asuwa River to seek refuge in shelters. Train services were halted, and bridges spanning the river were washed away. The Self-Defence Forces dispatched troops to help with the rescue and clean-up and to offer water services. The Meteorological Agency warned of further flooding, landslides and overflowing rivers. Rainfall in Fukui for a 24 hour period could total 35 centimetres, the agency said. It was accompanied by lightening and gusts of wind.

21 July 2004Vietnam

Rescuers in Vietnam have retrieved 18 bodies and widened their search for 16 people still missing after flash floods struck northern Vietnam, state-run television said today. Vietnam Television said the latest flood damage report from Ha Giang province reported 13 bodies had been recovered on Wednesday morning. Another five had been found yesterday. The television bulletin said ten people were injured. Television footage roads washed away and officials handing out money to anguished villagers in the mist-shrouded town bordering China. The rains that struck the mountainous district early on Monday (July 19) had stopped but mudslides and bad roads have slowed the rescue mission, an official said.

23 July 2004. Soldiers found bodies of 29 people missing in Vietnam’s flood-hit north, state media said today, but hopes were fast fading of finding the 16 still missing in the impoverished mountainous provinces of Ha Giang and Cao Bang on the border with China, it said. Tuan Xuan Hien, an official in Ha Giang province, said 28 bodies were found in Yen Minh, 420km north-west of Hanoi. The body of a teenage girl, swept away in floods in the neighbouring Cao Bang province on Tuesday (July 20, was also found, according to the defence ministry-run Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) daily. Communication with the flood-hit areas has not been restored as mudslides and heavy rains have washed away roads.

24 August 2004. The death toll from nearly a week of torrential rain in Vietnam’s mountainous north has risen to 31, but another 22 people are missing feared dead. Police and soldiers are continuing the search for the missing and the government has also rushed emergency aid, including tents, boats and life jackets to the worst affected regions. Most of the dead and missing from the heavy rains that began a week ago, triggering flash floods and landslides, were from two villages in Yen Minh district, home to the Hmong and Tay ethnic minorities. An estimated 147,600 hectares of rice fields were flooded across the north of the country. Local authorities have ordered sluice gates opened and pumping stations to operate on full capacity to drain the water.

10 August 2004North Korea

Nearly 40,000 North Korean families are homeless after torrential rain last month, South Korea has said, confirming a recent Red Cross report of extensive damage that is also hindering aid work. Rainfall exceeded the average for the normal rainy season on the Korean peninsula by more than one-third and it was concentrated late in the month, a South Korean official said today. “Our assessment is that the rain exceeded the average of normal years and damage is extensive,” the official said. Much of the secretive communist North was affected by the heavy downpour that fell over two days in late July, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said recently in a report. Many parts of the country affected were inaccessible for rescue and aid because the deluge destroyed roads and bridges into the areas, the report said. Impoverished North Korea relies heavily on outside aid to help feed its people. In two counties alone relatively close to the capital Pyongyang, 24 people had been killed in flooding, the Red Cross report said. Destruction of property was particularly high in the northern province of Ryanggang where nearly 20,000 families were believed to be homeless, the report said. North Korea’s official KCNA news agency had put an estimate of the damage on August 2 at more than 1,000 homes destroyed, with extensive damage to crops and railway lines.

13 August 2004Nigeria

Flash floods have submerged houses and farms in north-eastern Nigeria, drowning at least 23 people as they slept and forcing more than 1,000 to flee their villages, government officials said today. Eight hours of torrential rains hit the villages of Loko, Dumne and Dikwa in Nigeria’s Adamawa state starting Sunday (August 8) night, said Willie Zalwalie, a spokesman for the state’s governor. “Most of the houses were submerged, so all the farmers there have been evacuated to primary schools’’ in the nearby town of Song, he said. The 23 people drowned. Nigerian Red Cross president Emmanuel Ijewere said the agency plans to send food aid and medical supplies to the victims. The state official said a government medical team has been sent to Song and some emergency food supplies have already been provided.

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