Floods
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Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rain brings floods and road chaos to southern England

Haroon Siddique
Guardian
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:26 UTC
Heavy rainfall England
© Lewis Whyld/PAHeavy rainfall has brought flooding and transport problems to parts of southern England.
Up to 4cm of rain falls in just a few hours overnight - more than half the normal monthly total - as gale force winds also strike

Heavy rain has brought localised flooding and transport disruption to southern England, with forecasters warning of further heavy rainfall to come.

Up to 4cm (1.5in) of rain - more than half the normal monthly total - fell on parts of the south in just a few hours overnight, and there were also gale force winds in places.
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Bizarro Earth

Severe Weather Warning Issued for Southern England


The Guardian
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 09:02 UTC
Image
© Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesA severe weather warning has been issued for southern England.
The Met Office says heavy rain is forecast tonight from Land's End to the Wash raising fears of flash floods

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for parts of southern England, with up to 8cm (3in) of rain expected to fall and fears of flash flooding.

The swath of the country running diagonally from Land's End to the Wash, in East Anglia, will also get battered by strong winds, causing widespread travel disruption and affecting thousands of people holidaying in south coast resorts.

"Heavy rainfall overnight may give 20-30mm of rain quite widely and 50-80mm locally," a spokesperson for the Met Office said. "This rain will be accompanied by strong, possibly gale force winds.

"The heavy rain could lead to flooding in some areas and cause disruption to outdoor events and transport networks."
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Cloud Precipitation

Floods Cut Off North Korean City

Peter Foster
The Telegraph
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:45 UTC
Image
© ReutersA helicopter flies over flooded houses in the North Korean city of Sinuiju
North Korea has been forced to deploy military units to rescue 5,000 people who were left stranded by a fresh wave of flooding along the impoverished state's border with China.

Pyongyang's official news agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had dispatched the units to the city of Sinuiju, which had been inundated after the Yalu river overflowed.

The floods, caused by 11.8 inches of rain falling in nine hours on Saturday, have also forced the evacuation of 127,000 people on the Chinese side of the border in the port city of Dandong, the main gateway for North Korea's limited trade with the world.

Chinese weather forecasters were warning of a further 10 inches of rain to fall by this morning. On Sunday it was confirmed that four people had died in the flooding in China.

Pictures from the country showed people being airlifted by helicopter from the rooftops of damaged buildings as water swirled around them.
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Ambulance

More than 120,000 people evacuated in flood-hit China


Press TV
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:23 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Fresh floods in China's northeastern Liaoning province have forced more than 120,000 people to evacuate their homes and thousands to relocate in North Korea.

China's Civil Affairs Ministry said late Saturday that 127,000 people had been evacuated in Liaoning province in just three days due to the rains, AFP said.

Heavy summer downpours have dangerously swollen the Yalu River, which forms the boundary between China and neighboring North Korea. Chinese forecasters have warned of more heavy rains in parts of Liaoning.

In Dandong city alone, which borders North Korea, more than 94,000 residents were evacuated and some power and transport links were cut off, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
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Bizarro Earth

Over 50,000 Evacuated in China Flooding


RIA Novosti
Sat, 21 Aug 2010 05:39 UTC
Image
© Agence France-PresseOver 50,000 evacuated in China flooding
More than 50,000 people have been evacuated after a swollen river flooded a city in northeastern China on Saturday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier reports said 10,000 people had been evacuated.

Torrential rains caused flooding along the Yalu River that marks the border between China and North Korea.

Floodwaters cut off transport and communication links in Dandong City, destroyed over 200 houses and left at least three people missing, local officials said.
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Bizarro Earth

Thousands Flee As Fresh Floods Hit Pakistan

Alison Chung
Sky News
Sat, 21 Aug 2010 09:34 UTC
Image
© NASAThis NASA image shows the severity of flooding in Sukkur city in Sindh province
Thousands more people in Pakistan have been forced to flee their homes as fresh flooding has submerged dozens more towns and villages in the south.

Around 150,000 Pakistanis in Sindh province have been evacuated to higher ground because of the swollen Indus River, a government spokesman said.

Officials expect the floodwaters to recede nationwide in the next few days as the last river torrents empty into the Arabian Sea.

But survivors may find little left when they return home - the waters have washed away houses, roads, bridges and crops, and leaving millions homeless and penniless.

In Sindh, there are already 600,000 people in relief camps set up during the flooding.
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Cloud Lightning

China Train Falls into River as Floods Hit Bridge


The Guardian
Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:52 UTC
At least two carriages of a passenger train fell into a river Thursday after floods knocked out a bridge in southwestern China, but there were no fatalities, state media reported.

The accident happened in Guanghan, a city about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, when floods loosened piers on the Shitingjiang bridge, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The website of the provincial propaganda department said no fatalities were reported by railway officials.

The train was traveling from Xi'an in northwestern Shaanxi province to Kunming in southwestern Yunnan province.
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Cloud Lightning

Tennessee rain washes away home, derails train

Kristin M. Hall
Associated Press
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:00 UTC
flood bridge out in TN
© AP Photo/Erik SchelzigWorkers remove debris from a bridge washed out by flooding in the Double Springs community outside Cookeville, Tenn., on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010
Drenching rains swept away a home, trapped drivers in their vehicles and derailed a train in Tennessee, and forecasters expected more heavy showers to fall Thursday over the Southeast.

The downpours Wednesday hit some of the same parts of Middle Tennessee that were inundated with severe flooding in May, but forecasters don't foresee it wreaking the same kind of havoc. Portions of Middle and East Tennessee as well as areas of southern Kentucky and western North Carolina and Virginia have been under flash flood warnings or watches.

Much of the damage in Tennessee was in Putnam County, where a home floated off its foundation and a train carrying sand derailed when the tracks were washed away. Roads were washed out and some minor bridges were affected, but no injuries or deaths were reported, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeremy Heidt said.
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Bizarro Earth

Scientists: Rare Double Quake Caused Deadly Samoa Tsunami


Agence France-Presse
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:56 UTC
Tonga Quake
© AFPStunned survivors search for bodies amongst the debris left by the tsanami on Lalomanu Beach in September 2009.
Wellington - The devastating tsunami which killed nearly 200 people in Samoa and Tonga last September was the result of a rare double earthquake and not one as previously believed, scientists said Wednesday.

Simultaneous earthquakes, with one hiding the other, are unusual "and almost certainly increased the size of the tsunami and its destructiveness on some Tongan islands," New Zealand's GNS Science said in a statement.

Global earthquake readings initially indicated a single large "normal faulting" quake of magnitude 8.0 had occurred, producing an extensional motion while the tsunami waves indicated a "thrust" event with compressional movement.

The scientists said they were unable to reconcile the conflicting data until six weeks after the event when measurements from a small Tongan island showed there must have been two large earthquakes.

Their findings appear this week as the cover story in the prestigious science publication Nature.

"This is a rare phenomenon," lead author John Beavan, a geophysicist at GNS Science, said Wednesday.
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Cloud Lightning

Severe hurricane hits Russia after deadly heatwave hell


Russia Today
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:38 UTC
Strong winds and heavy rains are taking the place of the record heat which has been baking Central Russia since the middle of June. On Sunday, a hurricane hit north-western regions of the country, up-rooting trees and causing streets to flood. The storm swept through residential areas over-turning cars, damaging railways and electricity wires. Forecasters say the hurricane level winds will hit Moscow within the next few days. There's little respite from the extreme weather which has already endangered lives in Russia this year. Ambulance crews have been in a tough battle to get to people with the number of emergency calls at record levels.

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