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170,000 flee homes after floods hit Japan, Fukushima nuclear plant safety at risk
170,000 flee homes after floods hit Japan, Fukushima nuclear plant safety at risk
Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to leave homes across Japan after Tropical Typhoon Etau ripped through the country. Military helicopters plucked residents from the roofs of their homes.
Lashing rain pounded the country for a second day, and the Kinugawa River has burst through a flood barrier, sending a tsunami-like wall of water into Joso, about 50 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, AP reported. A bullet train service has reportedly been partially suspended.
The torrential downpour is also threatening safety at the Fukushima nuclear plant, closed since a 2011 disaster, as it has overwhelmed drainage pumps at the site’s contaminated water treatment facility, a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said.
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Scores of cars, trucks washed away as torrential floods hit southern Spain (VIDEO)
Scores of cars, trucks washed away as torrential floods hit southern Spain (VIDEO)
Heavy torrential rains and massive flooding have turned the streets of a Spanish town into fast-flowing rivers that literary washed away cars and even large trucks, a YouTube video shows.
The small town of Adra, in the Almeria province of southern Spain, has been the worst affected by the rains. Its streets have been turned into fast-flowing currents of water that swept away cars and trucks.
A spokesman for the local council said the rain “intensified in the town at around 11:45 a.m.” on Monday, causing damage to “garages, basements, shops and homes,” the La Voz de Almería newspaper reported.
Spain’s southern coast has been battling severe flooding caused by heavy rains for several days. At least one fatality was reported, with a 61-year-old man killed when his car was washed away in the town of Polopos, in the province of Granada.
Several provinces, including Valencia, Alicante, Granada and Almeria, were issued with weather alerts by Spain’s Civil Protection Service. Almeria alone has received 56 emergency calls in recent days.
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Cities Are Finally Treating Water as a Resource, Not a Nuisance
Memorial Day barbecues and parades were thwarted this year in Houston when a massive storm dumped more than 10 inches of rain in two days, creating a Waterworld of flooded freeways, cars, houses and businesses, leaving several people dead and hundreds in need of rescue.
But it was a predictable disaster. That’s because, thanks to a pro-development bent, the magnitude of stormwater runoff has increased dramatically as Houston has sprawled across 600 or so square miles of mud plain veined with rivers, sealing under asphalt the floodplains and adjoining prairies that once absorbed seasonal torrential rains and planting development in harm’s way. Land subsidence from groundwater pumping and oil and gas development and, now, sea level rise and more frequent and severe storms are applying additional pressure from Galveston Bay, which sits just east of the city of 2.2 million.
The good news? Houston had already begun shifting gears, hoping to reduce the severity of future floods by reclaiming 183 miles of natural waterways that snake through the city and 4,000 acres of adjacent green space from industrial areas through a project known as the Bayou Greenways. The goal is to absorb rain where it falls, reducing the volume rushing into stormwater detention facilities, and to encourage biking and walking as “active transit” in the parks that make up the Bayou Greenways.
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Malawi faces ‘unprecedented’ flood disaster – Africa – Al Jazeera English
Malawi faces ‘unprecedented’ flood disaster – Africa – Al Jazeera English.
The waters may be receding and the rainfall subsiding but Malawi is only now coming to terms with the “unprecendented” floods that hit the southern half of the country last week.
At least 176 people lost their lives and another 200,000 have been displaced when heavy rains submerged homes, schools, and in places, washing away an entire village.
The Malawi Defence Force has reportedly rescued at least 4,000 people, but there are fears that many more still need help. At least 153 people are unaccounted for.
“It has shocked all of us: from government, to donors to the people,” Robert Kisyula, national director of international NGO World Vision Malawi, told Al Jazeera on Saturday. “People hung on to trees,waiting for the waters to subside, as they usualy do, but water kept on coming and they were washed away.
“These were unprecedented floods, don’t let anyone you otherwise,” he said.
Malaysia Evacuates Over 130,000 as Floods Kill at Least Five – Bloomberg
Malaysia Evacuates Over 130,000 as Floods Kill at Least Five – Bloomberg.
Malaysia evacuated more than 130,000 people as the worst floods in decades left at least five dead.
More than 330 were displaced in the southwestern state of Negeri Sembilan today, bringing to eight the number of states affected by the heavy rainfall that began 10 days ago, according to state news agency Bernama. The five dead included a toddler who was swept away by currents after falling from her mother’s arms on their way to a relief center, AP reported.
The northeastern state of Kelantan had the highest number of evacuees, with 55,960 people relocated, Bernama reported. The other states affected were Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Perak, Perlis and Kedah, it said. Two people died in the floods in Terengganu, including a woman who fell into the water during an evacuation, Bernama said.
The Southeast Asian nation is grappling with annual floods caused by monsoon weather that could disrupt output of its key exports of palm oil and rubber. Prime Minister Najib Razak returned to Malaysia today from the U.S. after being criticized for holidaying while the nation contends with the flooding.
