flooding

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Philippine Toll at 140, Gov't Tarred for Aid Delay

Death toll and 140 and counting

(Newser) - Anger is mounting in the Philippines over what is widely seen as a slow and inadequate relief effort from the government. The death toll from the flash floods has jumped to 140, and is expected to continue rising as people look for missing relatives. At least 450,000 have been...

Eight Dead in Southeast Floods
 Eight Dead in Southeast Floods 

Eight Dead in Southeast Floods

(Newser) - Washed-out roads and flooded interstate highways around Atlanta added to the misery today after days of torrential rain in the Southeast that claimed at least eight lives, including a 15-year-old boy whose body was found in the Chattooga River. Authorities urged people who don't need to drive to stay home,...

Venice Struggles to Stay Afloat
 Venice Struggles to Stay Afloat 

Venice Struggles to Stay Afloat

Billion-dollar floodgates may fail to stave off rising tides

(Newser) - Not only is Venice sinking, but the $6-billion floodgates designed to protect it may not do the job, NPR reports. Critics say that the 78 half-built mobile gates, designed to block off seawater when it rises, may fail to fend off sea levels heightened by climate change. And even if...

20 Killed in Turkish Floods
 20 Killed in Turkish Floods 

20 Killed in Turkish Floods

Downpour leaves 20 injured, more stranded

(Newser) - Flash floods gushed across a major highway and a commercial district in Istanbul today, killing at least 20 people and stranding dozens in cars or on rooftops, AP reports. Eight people are missing. Fueled by the worst rain in decades, waters rose more than 3 feet high in the city's...

Sinkhole Eats LA Fire Truck
 Sinkhole Eats LA Fire Truck 

Sinkhole Eats LA Fire Truck

42,000-pound vehicle was responding to early-morning broken pipe

(Newser) - A broken water pipe in a Los Angeles neighborhood today created a sinkhole that swallowed one of the city’s fire trucks, KTLA-TV reports. The crew, responding to the break just after 5am, felt the street buckle beneath the 42,000-pound truck; it gave way before they could back out....

Broken Pipe Floods Major LA Street

Flooding carries away cars, damages homes and businesses

(Newser) - More than 125 firefighters rushed to a major Los Angeles boulevard deluged by a broken water main in the wee hours, the LA Times and AP report. A 64-inch pipe, part of the city's original 94-year-old water system, erupted this morning, sweeping cars down streets and damaging businesses and homes....

1M Flee as Typhoon Hits China
 1M Flee as Typhoon Hits China 

1M Flee as Typhoon Hits China

(Newser) - Some one million people on China's southeast coast have fled ahead of a massive typhoon spawning 30-foot waves and packing 74 mph winds, reports the BBC. Typhoon Morakot made landfall early today in Fujan Province after authorities sent more than 8 million text messages warning residents to evacuate. Morakot dumped...

Threat of Rising Sea Hasn't Sunk in for Florida Keys

(Newser) - The Florida Keys are in serious danger from rising ocean levels—and woefully unprepared to deal with the challenge, the Miami Herald reports. “South Florida is on the front line against sea-level rise in the United States, and the Florida Keys are ground zero,” a scientist said. In...

Climate Change 'Affects 300M': Think Tank

(Newser) - Global warming is affecting 300 million people and taking 300,000 lives per year, according to the first wide-ranging research on the impact of climate change. Released by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's think tank, the study says floods, fires, storms, and heatwaves are costing the world more than...

Deadly Floods Drive 400K Brazilians From Home

(Newser) - Widespread flooding in northern Brazil has killed at least 49 people and forced nearly 408,000 from their homes, reports the BBC. More rain is expected in the area for another two weeks. The government has spent $435 million to help flood victims, but food supplies continue to dwindle. Flooding...

911 Tape Captures Last Pleas of Drowning Woman

Tries to direct rescuers to her car in 10-minute call

(Newser) - A 911 tape released yesterday reveals the last moments of a woman desperately trying to direct rescuers to her car as it submerged in floodwaters, the AP reports. The 49-year-old Oklahoma woman told operators she had her nose against the car’s roof. “Please hurry, because I'm running out...

186K Homeless in Deadly Brazil Floods

(Newser) - At least 19 people have been killed and close to 200,000 driven from their homes by floods and massive mudslides in northern Brazil, reports CNN. Over 1000 tons of emergency food are being delivered in six northern states as residents negotiate streets with boats amid roofs jutting from rivers...

It's Official: New Orleans Will Never Be the Same

(Newser) - Even if the government somehow managed to re-create pre-Katrina New Orleans, it couldn't guarantee the safety of the city and its residents, according to a new report. The Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding levees in anticipation of a “100-year storm,” but for a city of New Orleans’...

Katrina Negligence Case Against Feds Goes to Court

(Newser) - Hurricane Katrina victims get their day in court beginning today, as a federal judge hears a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers. Tens of thousands of New Orleans residents could win damages, in what lawyers are calling “the last case standing” against the government. “This is sort...

Flooding Threatens Another ND Town

(Newser) - Earthmoving equipment and National Guard helicopters hauled sand today to reinforce leaky dikes that prompted evacuations in Valley City, a town threatened by the Sheyenne River, the latest North Dakota stream to rise above its banks. The Sheyenne was headed for a crest at around 22 feet in the next...

Battered Australia a Preview of Climate Devastation

Country grapples with drought, wildfires, and heat

(Newser) - Pummeled by drought, wildfires, and heat, Australia may be offering the world a preview of what’s to come as the planet warms, experts say. “Australia is the harbinger of change,” says a paleontologist. Many say climate change has already taken a human toll in the 173 killed...

Blizzard Pounds Fargo, but Dikes Hold

(Newser) - Strengthening wind blew heavy, wet snow around Fargo today, adding to the strain on residents' spirits and on the patchwork system of sandbag levees protecting them from the bloated Red River. But there were no reports of problems from leaks or from wind-driven waves battering the dikes. “They say...

Fargo Braces for Snow as Floods Ease

Winter weather could cause waves to batter sandbag levees

(Newser) - Just as the Red River began retreating from Fargo's hastily fortified levees, the city's tired residents stared down a winter storm today that's expected to bring up to 14 inches of snow and wind-whipped waves that could worsen the flooding, the AP reports. Engineers aren't worried about the snowfall, but...

Fargo River May Have Already Peaked
 Fargo River May 
 Have Already Peaked 
UPDATEd

Fargo River May Have Already Peaked

(Newser) - The bloated Red River might already have crested lower than initially feared, forecasters said today, welcome news for weary residents and others who had spent days piling sandbags onto dikes against an expected record flood. Despite the downward revision in the forecast, however, North Dakota officials still intensified their efforts...

Thousands Flee Fargo Flooding
 Thousands Flee Fargo Flooding 

Thousands Flee Fargo Flooding

(Newser) - Thousands of shivering, tired Fargo residents got out while they could today, and others prayed that miles of sandbagged levees would hold as the surging Red River threatened to unleash the biggest flood North Dakota's largest city has ever seen. The crest is expected tomorrow evening, when the ice-laden river...

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