Severe weather

Citation

(2006), "Severe weather", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315eac.003

Severe weather

Severe weather

27 July 2005India

At least 22 people have died and some 120 are feared trapped beneath two separate landslides in India's western state of Maharashtra following flash-floods caused by monsoon rains, police and an official said overnight. The landslides occurred in Raighad district, about 170 kilometres south of the state capital Mumbai, which was drenched with more than 1,540mm of rain in the past two days, police and weather officials said. “We confirm that there are at least 22 people dead in several mudslides caused due to the flash-floods” State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told a press conference in Mumbai. “The state has pressed emergency rescue services into operation and has taken cognisance of the damage caused” he added. Police in the state's radio control room put the number of missing feared trapped in the landslides at “more than 120”. Mumbai, meanwhile, was also waterlogged after being hit by the torrential rains. Water flooded on to railway tracks and halted all suburban train services, the lifeline of the city, railway officials said. Flights from leading air carriers to and from Mumbai were subjected to lengthy delays, airline officials said.

27 July 2005. Floods and landslides killed at least 70 people in western India today, left dozens more missing, and forced rescue teams to evacuate thousands of people stranded by rising waters in the financial capital, Bombay. The army, navy and air force were called into help as floodwaters swept the coast of Maharashtra state, with officials increasingly concerned about 150 people feared buried after a landslide in a village 150 kilometres South of Bombay. “We have not been able to reach some villages where more than several dozen people may be missing in landslides” State Relief Secretary, Krishna Vatsa, told Reuters. Vatsa said the situation in the worst-affected region South of Bombay was improving as the rains had stopped and water levels were receding. The rescuers' work was hampered because the weather had even disrupted their communications networks. In Bombay, meteorologists said heavy rains and high winds were forecast to continue for another 48 hours, after a record 94cm of rainfall in the north of the city during the previous day, the highest since 1974. Electricity and phone links were cut in Bombay, schools were shut and commuters were stranded for a second day as trains and buses were cancelled. “We have deployed the army to help people stranded and to evacuate those living in the low-lying areas” a government spokesman said. “We have already evacuated around 10,000 people”. Many office workers slept in their offices overnight or checked into hotels. Indian television reported that dozens of people were trapped overnight in a double-decker bus. Trading on Bombay's bond and currency markets was abandoned, flights in and out of the city were rerouted or cancelled and the government called a state holiday, advising people to stay home. Companies postponed board meetings and tourists to the city of 15 million people waited for news about their flights. Outside the city the armed forces helped relief officials air-drop food packets to stranded people. The chaos highlighted Bombay's desperately overloaded and inadequate infrastructure. Authorities have recently begun demolishing slums as part of a hugely ambitious $6 billion plan to turn the city into a new Shanghai.

27 July 2005. Banks and stock markets will be shut in India's commercial capital tomorrow as the city recovers from India's heaviest ever day of rain which left dozens dead. A notice sent to brokers from the Mumbai and National stock exchanges said the market would be closed tomorrow. The Reserve Bank of India also notified brokers that money markets, foreign exchange dealing and banks would be closed because of the rains, a central bank spokesman said. Mumbai is home to the country's two largest equity markets, the Mumbai and National stock exchanges, and the Reserve Bank of India. Schools in Mumbai and some neighbouring suburbs will be closed, according to a statement from the State Chief Minister's Office. At least 99 people were reported killed and more than 100 trapped as India's worst-ever recorded day of rainfall triggered landslides and building collapses in the western state of Maharashtra, the Chief Minister's Office said today.

27 July 2005. Nearly 100 people were killed as the monsoon fury in Maharashtra in the past 24 hour left a trail of death and destruction with Mumbai, the country's financial capital recording the highest rainfall in the last 100 years. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was personally supervising the rescue and relief operations in the affected regions, made an aerial survey of Santacruz and other affected areas of the city but bad weather prevented him from undertaking a survey of neighbouring Raigadh district. Estimating the damage in the state due to rains at Rs 500 crore, Deshmukh said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had talked to him and assured him of all assistance. Dr Singh would also make an aerial survey of affected areas tomorrow, he said.

29 July 2005. Floods, landslides and building collapses caused by India's heaviest-ever recorded rainfall have killed at least 786 people and brought the financial capital Mumbai to a near-standstill, police said. Weather officials predicted more heavy rain for the city of 15 million, where schools, banks and stock markets were closed and public transport barely operating.

29 July 2005. The freak monsoon floods that have crippled Bombay, India's financial capital, have killed an estimated 786 people, leaving thousands stranded and financial losses estimated at £130 million. As the rain eased slightly yesterday, the scale of the destruction became clear. In a slum suburb of Bombay 45 people were missing, presumed dead, in a landslide that submerged an entire encampment of huts. In many places – such as the village of Jui, 105 miles South of Bombay, where a landslide covered 20 houses on Monday (25 July) night -rescuers were too late. Here, 100 people are thought to have died, but without mechanical diggers to excavate the rubble the figure is only an estimate. In Saki Naka, another Bombay suburb 45 died. Lorries and private cars were commandeered to cart the bodies of the dead to a morgue as it was disclosed that city authorities had twice warned inhabitants of the dangers of living under the shadow of the unstable hill. Beyond the immediate circle of the bereaved, life slowly began to return to normal yesterday as the airport reopened and many workers, stranded in offices for two days, managed to reach home. However, electricity remained mostly cut off as a safety precaution. Offices, banks and the stock market were closed, and some particularly badly affected northern suburbs of Bombay were receiving military food aid. Thousands of cars and motorcycles remained abandoned on impassable dual carriageways. The cost of the rain – the heaviest since Indian records began in 1910, according to the Bombay Weather Bureau – was still to be counted. However, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry put the preliminary estimate for the whole Maharashtra State at 10 billion rupees (£130 million). In the United Arab Emirates, a number of airlines operating from Dubai and Sharjah to Mumbai have expressed hope that flights would resume to the Indian financial capital sometime today. Hundreds of passengers in the UAE were left stranded yesterday as most flights to Mumbai remained suspended for the third consecutive day. A part of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, the main runways of which were flooded for two days, started operations after an instrument landing system was made operational on an alternate runway earlier yesterday. Beginning with an Indian Airlines flight that took off from Mumbai at 13.20 hour, the airport was limping back to normalcy, and flights, including three carrying relief material, were able to land with the airport's limited navigational aids. Vivek Sharma, Sales Manager, Indian Airlines, said that the situation was expected to improve by 20.00 hour, yesterday, but a definite word on resuming of flights to Mumbai was still too early. He revealed that one additional Indian Airlines flight was pressed into service to Calicut yesterday evening. He asserted that so far the airline is not sure if additional flights would be required on the Mumbai route once service resumes. Air Arabia is expected to resume its service from today. The airport in Mumbai is partially operational, and it is expected to open by tomorrow. We expect to resume services with our scheduled flight tomorrow, Jyothsna Habibullah, Marketing Communications Manager, Air Arabia, said. Habibullah added that owing to the circumstances the airline has allowed passengers to cancel and rebook their tickets, irrespective of the required advance time limit. Replying to a question she said that the airline was open to the idea of adding additional flights to Mumbai, but added it would depend on passenger demand. A statement issued by Gulf Air yesterday stated that no timeline has been given as to when services can be resumed. Owing to the exceptional weather conditions impacting the Mumbai area, Gulf Air has been advised by the local Indian Civil Aviation authorities to suspend all flights from and into the airport until further notice, the statement said.

30 July 2005. An Air India plane with more than 300 passengers on board skidded off the runway at Mumbai today, an airline spokesman said, adding that all passengers were safe. Flight AI 127 from Bangalore overshot the runway at Mumbai's international airport and got stranded in soft ground, Air India spokesman Jitender Bhargava said. “All 333 passengers on board are safe. They have been taken off the aircraft” he said. The flight was en route to Chicago via Frankfurt, he said. Equipment to tow the Boeing 747-400 off the runway area had been pressed into service but “it would take some time to clear the runway” he added. Bhargava attributed the incident to the unprecedented monsoon rains that have been lashing the city and the western state of Maharashtra since the beginning of this week, claiming nearly 900 lives. Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds continued to lash the city today. The City's Weather Bureau said Mumbai received 944.2 millimeters of rainfall in a 24-hour period ending midmorning Wednesday (27 July), the most rainfall ever recorded in a single day in India. The rains brought Mumbai to a near-halt with rail, road and air traffic in disarray. Mumbai airport was closed for two days this week but flights resumed late Thursday (28 July), an airport official said.

31 July 2005. Torrential monsoon rains have returned to the city of Mumbai as it tries to recover from flooding that has left nearly 900 dead. Police urged people to stay at home and meteorologists warned the downpours would continue, hampering relief work. Much of the transport system has again ground to a halt and thousands have protested on the streets at what they say is government inaction. Rescuers elsewhere in Maharashtra state are still finding bodies in landslides. Officials say the final death toll could top 1,000. A BBC correspondent said heavy rain returned this morning and, despite warnings from the police to stay at home, panicked residents of densely populated suburbs came out on to the streets as the water levels rose. He said there was widespread anger at government inaction, particularly with animal carcasses and human bodies floating in the streets, causing fears of epidemics. Thousands of residents protested against power blackouts and the lack of drinking water. In central Mumbai, some citizens say they have been without electricity for five days. Municipal commissioner of Mumbai, John Joseph, said the administration was doing its best and all holiday had been cancelled. He admitted:

The administration is stretched ... The latest spell of rain will definitely hamper our efforts. But we hope to clear tonnes of garbage piled on the roads by the end of Sunday.

About half of those killed in Maharashtra have died in Mumbai – drowned, electrocuted or buried in landslides. Mumbai's airport, closed for two days last week, again shut for a number of hours today before some flights could resume.

1 August 2005. Torrential rain again pounded India's financial capital Bombay today after severe floods triggered by a record downpour last week killed nearly 1,000 people in and around the city. Floods closed key roads and train services were disrupted in the city, but there were no reports of new casualties or damage. Dead bodies and animal carcasses were strewn around the city due to last week's floods, raising fears of disease, and clean water was scarce in parts as burst sewage pipes polluted supplies. Financial markets and banks were open but schools were shut as police urged people to stay off the roads. Before a renewed downpour yesterday, there were angry weekend protests in the parts of the city where people have been without electricity and water since flooding started last Tuesday (26 July). Weather officials are worried the rain might spread to Gujarat state to the north, already hit by floods last month that killed more than 200 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Heavy rains and strong winds are expected in and around Bombay over the next 24 hours, weather officials said. One official said nearly 21cm of rain fell over the past 24 hours at Santa Cruz, the north Bombay suburb that recorded an unprecedented 94cm last Tuesday. “Reports of losses are still coming in. The revised sector-wide losses are projected to be 20 billion rupees ($460 million),” Maharashtra State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told the Financial Express newspaper in an interview. Officials said 924 people had died in Maharashtra, of which Bombay is the capital, due to floods. More than 400 people have died in the city due to landslides, drowning and electrocution in flooded streets.

1 August 2005. Monsoon rains lashed Mumbai again today, pushing the death toll closer to 1,000, as India's financial hub battled to recover from its worst-ever recorded deluge. The city's police chief appealed to residents to stay indoors as the Mumbai Meteorological Department forecast “heavy to very rainfall accompanied by strong gusty winds” over the next 24 hours in Maharashtra state, home to Mumbai. Rescue workers found the bodies of 24 more victims of floods and landslides, bringing the state death toll to 993 since the rains began on 25 July, police said. Some 409 of them have died in Mumbai. But Mumbai officials said the city of 15 million people was limping back to normal even though some low-lying areas remained knee-deep in water. Flights out of Mumbai airport, India's busiest, were delayed but returning to normal, airline officials said. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel urged visitors to avoid the city “unless absolutely necessary”. “There are gusty winds making landings and take-offs difficult,” a ministry spokesman added. Schools and colleges remained shut but India's leading stock market, the Mumbai stock exchange, banks and offices were open.

1 August 2005. The incessant rains in Mumbai has resulted in disruption of export-import cargo of Rs 10,000 crores in the last seven days. “About 40 per cent of the total trade comes from posts in and around Mumbai” President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations O.P. Garg, said. He said this should not be construed as loss of trade. However, there would be some loss to the exporters and importers in the form of loss of packaging, demurrhage, detention and higher shipping charges. This loss would not exceed 10 per cent of the total disrupted value of consignment, Garg said.

2 August 2005. Heavy monsoon rain in and around India's financial capital, Mumbai, is estimated to have caused damage worth 30bn rupees ($690m). Others say the cost to agriculture and industry is likely to be much higher. Indian officials say the number of people who have died could soon rise to 1,000. Rescue workers are still trying to recover bodies from flooded areas. Meteorologists are still forecasting heavy rain and strong winds in the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital. The Indian Merchants' Chamber estimates that the total damage thus far is 30 billion rupees ($690m), according to the Economic Times newspaper. The Mumbai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has given a figure of 40 billion rupees ($888m), but it says this figure only represents the tip of the iceberg. Maharashtra is one of the largest producers of sugar and oilseeds, both major cash crops, and production is expected to take a big hit, but it is also a big base for the pharmaceutical and automobile industries. With many warehouses flooded, there are fears that any more rain could lead to a shortage of drugs. The rains have also led to record-breaking insurance claims. India's four biggest private insurers – ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Iffco-Tokio General Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Tata AIG General Insurance – have received claims for damages totalling 10bn rupees. The spread of waterborne epidemics remains a major concern. Mumbai city workers sprayed insecticide to combat malaria. About 200 medical teams have left Mumbai for affected towns and villages elsewhere in the state, while 30,000 health workers have been deployed in the city.

3 August 2005. Heavy rains and floods in India's western state of Maharashtra last week have caused losses of at least rupees 150 billion rupees (£1.95 billion), the Times of India newspaper said today, quoting early government estimates. The losses in Mumbai, the state's capital, alone could be as much as Rs 100 billion, the newspaper reported. “These are preliminary estimates, they may vary after we receive actual reports from the district collectors” the paper quoted a senior revenue department official as saying. Rains and floods have let up and Mumbai airport was functioning normally today for the first time since the deluge started last Tuesday (26 July), when a record-breaking 94cm of rain pounded the city. However, low-lying parts of the city of more than 15 million people remained under water and long-distance trains on some routes were still not running. Small businesses have lost an estimated Rs 10 billion, an industry body said. Pfizer Ltd, the Indian unit of the world's largest drug maker, estimated its flood losses at Rs 1 billion. Monsoon flooding in India kills hundreds of people every year across the densely populated country, but this year's rains have been estimated to be one of the worst and most deadly on record. At least 942 people drowned, died in landslides or were electrocuted in floodwater in Maharashtra, including 429 in Mumbai. Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil said yesterday that some 100 people were missing. About 300 cases of cholera, gastroenteritis and dysentery have been reported in the state. Hundreds of medical teams have been deployed across Maharashtra to treat the injured, distribute chlorine tablets for contaminated water and cremate the dead. Patil said 1,200 buffalos and 15,000 sheep and goats died in the floods in Mumbai. Disease remains a threat as many bodies and animal carcasses have not yet been cleared. Some water supplies were contaminated by sewage and power outages have prevented pumping stations from starting in some places. Patil told parliament that half of Maharashtra's 35 districts and more than 300 villages were affected. More than 52,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, many living near dams. Heavy rains in the western state of Gujarat and the central state of Madhya Pradesh have also killed dozens of people this week. About 15,000 people living in low-lying areas in Madhya Pradesh have been moved to relief camps.

4 August 2005. Gold buying in India, the world's largest importer, has slowed down as two key trading centres in the western part of the country are still recovering from monsoon floods, traders said today. The states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, major bullion importing and trading centres, have been battered by torrential rains last week. “People have suffered huge losses because of floods” Pawan Chokshi, a leading trader said from Ahmedabad, the main city of Gujarat. “Gold will be the least important thing on their mind”. Record rainfall in Bombay set off flooding that killed nearly 1,000 people and caused damage worth billions of dollars across Maharashtra. The southern parts of neighbouring Gujarat state were battered after heavy rains caused flooding. Maharashtra is India's most industrial state and Gujarat is second on the list. Gold imports through Ahmedabad have fallen to 200kg a day from peak buying of 1,200kg, traders said. In Bombay, buying is down to 100kg from an average of 1,000kg. Gujarat accounts for one-third of India's gold imports because of lower local taxes. The country of more than 1 billion people imports nearly three quarters of 700-800 tonnes of the yellow metal it consumes every year.

25 July 2005Romania

Deadly floods in North-Eastern Romania earlier this month, which killed 24 people, caused damage worth 800 million dollars, the government said today. “In all, 3,571 houses were completely destroyed and 2,993 are on the point of collapse” Interior Minister Vasile Blaga said. “Nearly 3,000 kilometres of roads and about 100 kilometres of dykes were damaged by the worst floods for 30 years” he added. Romanian President Traian Basescu has called on the commission to provide 20 million euros for emergency reconstruction work.

1 August 2005Iran

Iran state radio reports that floods have killed 27 people in the country's north-east. It quotes a local governor as saying the people have been killed in the village of Galidagh in Golestan Province, which borders Turkmenistan on the shores of the Caspian Sea. He says rescue teams are searching for more missing people and he has appealed for aid to be sent to the region. The floods have also damaged houses and bridges and cut electricity to some 30 villages in the area.