Vermont.experiences worst flooding in a century

A policeman looks at a collapsed bridge on Route 9 in Woodford, Vermont on Sunday. The remnants of Irene dumped torrential rains on Vermont on Sunday, flooding rivers and closing roads from Massachusetts to the Canadian border.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont awoke Monday to the aftermath of the storm that was Hurricane Irene with some communities cut off, almost 50,000 customers without power, thousands more without full phone service, hundreds of roads closed and the loss of at least three historic covered bridges.
Gov. Peter Shumlin called it the worst flooding in the state in a century.
A body was recovered overnight from the Deerfield River. It is believed to be that of a woman who fell in while watching flooding in Wilmington, a Shumlin spokeswoman.
"We prepared for the worst and we got the worst in central and southern Vermont," Shumlin said Monday. "We have extraordinary infrastructure damage."

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Australia: Queensland Residents On Edge As Floodwaters Rise

A car is engulfed by floodwaters in Toowoomba

Sodden Queensland continues to battle its week-long flood crisis, with one town facing its second inundation since Christmas, residents forced to evacuate in several areas and waters receding ever so slowly in other drenched cities.

Toowoomba in the state's south-east is currently in shock after a raging torrent of water swept through the city this afternoon, claiming the lives of at least two people and leaving enormous damage across the city.

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Flooding Chaos in North-East Australia

Flood waters cover the land near Warwick, Queensland on December 28 as entire towns were inundated by the worst deluges in decades. More Images

At least 1,000 people have been evacuated in Queensland, including the entire population of one town, as north-eastern Australia experiences its worst flooding in decades.
Two Blackhawk helicopters helped to relocate all 300 people living in the town of Theodore, and with the river of the same name still in flood, only police and essential services personnel remained in the town, according to the Queensland government.
Authorities have declared half of Queensland a disaster zone, and the state capital, Brisbane, has recorded its wettest December in more than 150 years. Cyclone Tasha, which hit the area on Saturday, brought further torrential rain.

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Deadly Floods Hit Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH: The death toll from Wednesday’s flash floods here has climbed to 106, Civil Defense officials said on Saturday. More bodies are expected to be recovered as cleanup efforts continue with rescue and recovery teams assisted by helicopters. 
Image: A man walks through a flooded street on November 25 after a storm produced heavy rain in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Caren Firouz/REUTERS

Civil Defense personnel also began distributing relief supplies to displaced residents in Abruq Al-Regama district, which was struck by the floods. The aid is being distributed through several support centers. More than 1,200 families have been provided temporary housing.
Spokesman for Civil Defense Capt. Abdullah Al-Amri said 56 bodies were handed over, after identification, to their families and relatives for burial.
An operation center has been set up at the headquarters of Civil Defense in Jeddah, which includes officials from the Border Guard, the Jeddah Municipality and the Health Affairs Department.
Col. Ali ibn Zarban Al-Zahrani, director of public affairs of Border Guard in Makkah province, said his agency has dispatched 65 divers in dinghies to help rescue stranded families and recover bodies. Amateur divers have also joined the recovery efforts.
The Ministry of Transportation announced that Harmain Road would reopen on Sunday. Minister of Transport Jabara Al-Seraisry said all concerned government departments and a number of private companies were working day and night to make the road ready for passengers and pilgrims.
During a walk through of the hardest-hit areas, Arab News noticed growing anger among citizens against civic services. Many citizens said they would file complaints against these departments, accusing them of failure before, during and after the flooding. There are some reports of looting vacant, flooded homes.

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Record Floods Deluge Istanbul

ISTANBUL — Flash floods killed at least 31 people in and around Istanbul on Wednesday, the government said, as the area continued to struggle with its heaviest rainfall in 80 years.

The floodwaters rose quickly. After just a few hours of heavy rain, water had covered many of the city’s low-lying areas as well as one of the primary highways connecting the city center and the main airport. Drivers who were caught by the heavy rains told the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency that the fast-rising waters were strong enough to push heavy trucks off the road. News stations showed video of people running and climbing on top of vehicles to escape the rising waters.

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Living 'like fish' in Senegal's flooded capital

DJEDDAH-THIAROYE KAW, Senegal — Every year, in the rainy season, the floors of Omar Barro's house in the suburbs of Senegal's capital Dakar are submerged, like others all around. "We are like fish," he says.
The flooding, which on Thursday led the government to enact an emergency plan, forces this 17-year-old tailor's assistant and thousands like him to "eat, pray and do everything in the water."
Sandbags mark out the pathways through Djeddah-Thiaroye Kaw, a teeming suburb which has turned into a marshland whose inhabitants roll up their trousers and robes to get around.
The flooding is so frequent that fresh-water plants and green algae soon put in their annual appearance, but the extent of the damage this year is such that the Dakar suburbs have made front-page news in the local papers.
"For about eight years, this water has been stagnating here, forcing many families to leave. About 40 more left for a neighbouring area after the last rains," said Momar Diaw, the head of the Medina 5 district, standing in swampland.

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Rare condition caused flood

They knew it was going to rain, but National Weather Service meteorologists say they couldn't have predicted the EXTREMELY RARE circumstances that stalled a massive storm front over Louisville Tuesday, flooding the area with RECORD RAINFALL.

A run-of-the-mill thunderstorm created a mini-cold front that collided with clashing wind streams from the northwest and south, trapping the storm over downtown Louisville. “No one expected the thunderstorm to set up the way it did." Trapped storms usually dump their water and weaken after about 30 minutes. But on Tuesday, warm, damp air from the south flowed above the cold front to feed the storm for hours. “It just kept rebuilding itself right on top of Louisville."

Known as an outflow boundary or downburst, the phenomenon generates cool air that drops from the cloud at high speed, then spreads along the ground. That cool air, combined with colliding wind streams, clogged weather patterns to stop the storm over Louisville. By the time the storm passed, more than 6 inches of rain had dropped in some areas - creating THE WETTEST AUGUST DAY ON RECORD. The storm nearly doubled the average August rainfall of 3.4 inches.

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Ten dead in Czech floods, central Europe on alert

NOVY JICIN, Czech Republic (Reuters) - At least 10 people died in flooding in the eastern Czech Republic, and rising river levels prompted flood warnings across central Europe following heavy rains this week.

Officials said at least six people were drowned late on Wednesday and four more died when medical teams were unable to reach them.

Rescuers evacuated hundreds of people from wrecked houses and buildings threatened by high water, and the government moved to deploy up to 1,000 soldiers to help.

The flooding is the central European country's worst natural disaster since heavy floods in 2002, when 17 people died and water ravaged the historic center of Prague, costing the state around $3 billion in repair costs.

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City in Brazil's Amazon faces worst floods in 56 years

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Manaus, a city deep in Brazil's Amazon jungle, is suffering the worst flooding it has seen in 56 years, civil defense officials said Monday.
Torrential rain in Brazil's north has swollen the Amazon river and its tributaries, including the Negro river on which Manaus sits, they said.
Over the weekend, the Negro river rose to 29.62 meters (88.32 feet) -- just a centimeter off the level it reached in 1953, when it hit 29.63 meters.
At least 18,000 people have been affected by the deluge, which has swamped part of Manaus and washed sewage and trash into houses.
Around 60 people died in April and May when torrential rains lashed the normally dry north and northeast of Brazil.

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Brazil flooding death toll rises

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -The death toll from historic floods in southern Brazil continued to creep upward Monday, with 112 reported dead, the state news agency said. Image: People make their way through floodwaters in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina last week.

Officials say 19 people remain missing and nearly 79,000 residents have been left homeless, according to the state-run Agencia Brasil. Many of the deaths have been caused by mudslides.

I've never seen anything like this," President Lula said Thursday.

The disaster also is having an economic effect, with bridges, roads, houses and buildings destroyed. The federation of industries said the closed port in Itajai is costing $33 million a day.

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Highest tide in 20 years floods historic Venice

VENICE, Italy – Venice could use a bailout. The city built on water has too much of it. Image: AP – People wade through high water by Venice's Rialto Bridge, northern Italy, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008.....Slideshow: Venice suffers severe flooding

Residents and tourists waded through knee-deep water Monday as they navigated the city's narrow streets and alleys, and its historic St. Mark's Square was inundated. Boxes of tourist merchandise floated inside the flooded shops around the square and even the city's famed pigeons sought refuge on rooftops and windowsills.

One of the highest tides in its history brought Venice to a virtual halt, rekindling a debate over a plan to build moveable flood barriers in an effort to save the lagoon city from high tides.

City officials said the tide peaked at 61 inches (156 centimeters), well past the 40-inch (110-centimeter) flood mark, as strong winds pushed the sea into the city.

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Brazil floods kill at least 33, uproot thousands

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - At least 33 people have been killed in floods in southern Brazil after days of torrential rain that set off mudslides and forced 20,000 from their homes, emergency workers said on Monday. Teams have been working around the clock using helicopters and motorboats to rescue those left stranded by the floods in southern Catarina state, which caused mudslides that engulfed several homes and isolated four municipalities. Image: Men paddle a boat on a flooded street in Blumenau city, in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina November 23, 2008.

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Floods swamp Washington state

Washington State, USA
Image: Residents react as they view floodwaters Wednesday in Gold Bar, Wash. Heavy rains caused the nearby Skyomish River to flood, forcing residents from their homes. By Ted S. Warren, AP

A small dam failed and caused minor flooding in Cosmopolis as heavy rain resulted in flood warnings Wednesday along rivers across western Washington. The dam at Mill Creek Park in the town about 40 miles west of Olympia collapsed after it was weakened by a falling tree. Some streets and nearby houses were flooded with several inches of water. Elsewhere in the state, about 200 residents were encouraged to evacuate from areas along the Carbon River near Orting, southeast of Tacoma. About 5 to 7 inches of rain had fallen in the 24 hours ending at 11 a.m. Wednesday, and another four to six hours of moderate to heavy rain appeared likely. Previous rains this month saturated the soil in most areas west of the Cascade Range, raising the risk of rock and mud slides.

Image: Youngster rides a bike through floodwaters of the Snoqualmie River covering a nearby road Wednesday, in Snoqualmie, Wash. Flood warnings have been posted across western Washington due to heavy rains.

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Honduran floods: The disaster no one is reporting

Honduras, C.A.
Image: A landslide on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa
REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

Landslides and flooding in Honduras have affected an estimated 320,000 people, wiped out almost half the crops and prompted the government to declare a state of emergency. Aid workers say it's the worst disaster since Hurricane Mitch, which killed more than 5,000 people when it slammed into the Central American county in 1998.

Yet scan the newspapers or internet and you'll be hard pressed to find any reports. Admittedly, the world media has been focussed on the American elections and global credit crunch, but this isn't the only reason behind the silence.

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Recent Flooding Problems in Mexico

Mexico
Image:Residents use a boat to move through a flooded street in Minatitlan, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008. Mexican officials have evacuated 7,500 people and are keeping oil wells shut in Veracruz state due to severe flooding from heavy rains along Mexico's Gulf coast. (AP Photo/Barbara Dector)

Mexico has been going through some major flooding problems recently which haven't been highlighted by the media (or AccuWeather.com, as far as I can see). The first event was around the same time when Hurricane Ike hit the U.S., but was unrelated. Heavy rains caused the Rio Grande river to break a levee, flooding border facilities in Presidio, Texas. Here's an Associated Press photo; you can read more in this ABC News article.

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Endless Misery in Flood Ravaged Orissa

Orissa, India
Image: An aerial view of the flood-hit Manikpur village in Boudh district of Orissa on Friday.
Photograph: PTI Photo

Despite falling water levels in Orissa rivers including the virulent Mahanadi, relief operations in flood ravaged areas were hit on Monday due to the shortage of manpower and boats, worsening the plight of over six lakh marooned people. Miseries of the flood-hit were compounded by intermittent rains triggered by low pressure at several coastal areas while deluge due to 61 breaches in Mahanadi delta region continued.

More on Bihar's Misery posted at Skywatch-Media News

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Bihar floods: 47 die; thousands marooned

This is not normal annual flooding, but a catastrophe: Chief Minister
Image: Commuters make their way through waterlogged roads in Patna. (TOI Photo) More Photos

PATNA: Thousands of people were marooned in Bihar after the Kosi river breached its banks upstream in Nepal, flooding villages and towns in many areas across the state. The floods have claimed 47 lives so far. ( Watch )

Floodwaters entered new areas on Tuesday and have affected two million people so far in Supaul, Araria and Madhepura districts.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that a breach in the Kosi embankment near Kusaha in Nepal had forced the river to change its course, for the first time since the 1950s.

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Flooding Chaos in Scotland

Scotland
Roads, businesses and shops in Dundee ground to a halt last night as what one senior firefighter described as THE WORST FLOODING HE HAD EVER SEEN hit the city. And rail services between the city and Aberdeen were suspended, causing chaos for commuters. Heavy rain led firstly to a landslip near Stonehaven but, as the successful operation to clear that was being completed, a stretch of track between Arbroath and Montrose was hit by flooding, leading to the closure of the line. A combination of torrential rain and a high tide caused drains in Dundee city centre to overflow.

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Punjab flood situation grim

India
Image:UNDERWATER WORLD: The Sutlej waters breached the embankments of the river by 150 feet.

Story: Thousands of acres of fertile land with sown paddy crop has been inundated by flood waters. Livestock was also washed away. This is the worst flooding in Punjab, which contributes over 50 per cent of the foodgrain to the national pool, since 1988. Hundreds of villagers were still waiting for help while being perched on rooftops of submerged houses and on train tracks.
VIDEO

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Sudan floods displace more than 40,000

Sudan, Africa
Image: Sudanese people carry their shoes and sandals as they struggle through the flood waters east of the capital Kartoum, in 2007. The United Nations is scrambling emergency aid to more than 40,000 people displaced by floods in southern Sudan, a top regional official said on Thursday. (AFP/File/Isam al-Haj)

JUBA, Sudan (AFP) - The United Nations is scrambling emergency aid to more than 40,000 people displaced by floods in southern Sudan, a top regional official said on Thursday.

Seasonal heavy rains in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state caused the Kuom river to overflow in the town of Aweil, making 39,000 people homeless in the region, officials said.

"This is an area of concern for us and we are looking to getting people on the ground quickly," UN regional coordinator for southern Sudan, David Gressly, told journalists.

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