Heavy rains hit Manila, killing at least 9

MANILA, Philippines – Relentless rains submerged half of the sprawling Philippine capital, triggered a landslide that killed nine people and sent emergency crews scrambling Tuesday to rescue tens of thousands of residents who called media outlets pleading for help.

By Aaron Favila, AP

A man carries a girl on his shoulders as they cross a flooded area in Quezon City, north of Manila.

By Aaron Favila, AP

A man carries a girl on his shoulders as they cross a flooded area in Quezon City, north of Manila.

The deluge, the worst since 2009 when hundreds died in rampaging flash floods, was set off by the seasonal monsoon that overflowed major dams and rivers in Manila and surrounding provinces.

The capital and other parts of the country already were saturated from last week's Typhoon Saola, which battered Manila and the north for several days before blowing away Friday. That storm was responsible for at least 53 deaths.

"It's like a water world," said Benito Ramos, head of the government's disaster response agency. He said the rains flooded 50 percent of metropolitan Manila on Monday evening, and about 30 percent remained under waist- or neck-deep waters Tuesday.

He urged residents in areas prone to landslides and floods to stay in evacuation centers. Because the soil is saturated, even a little rain could be dangerous, he added.

"Now that it's getting dark, I would like to repeat, if the rains are heavy you should be at the evacuation centers," he said, warning that rescue operations are more difficult at night and could put responders at risk.

Manila's weather bureau said a tropical storm off eastern China had intensified monsoon rains in the Philippines, which were forecast to last until Thursday.

In Manila's suburban Quezon City, a landslide hit a row of shanties perched below a hill, burying nine people, according to Ramos.

Army troops and police dug frantically to save those buried, including four children, as surviving relatives and neighbors wept. All the victims were recovered, some whose bodies were found near an entombed shanty's door as they apparently tried to flee.

"My wife, children and grandchild are down there," a drenched Jessie Bailon told The Associated Press while watching rescuers dig into a muddy mound where his shanty once stood.

National police chief Nicanor Bartolome went to the scene and ordered all other slum dwellers to be evacuated from the still-soggy area.

TV footage showed rescuers dangling on ropes to bring children and other residents to safety from flooded houses across the city. Many residents trapped in their homes called radio and TV stations desperately asking for help.

"We need to be rescued," Josephine Cruz told DZMM radio as water rose around her house in Quezon City, saying she was trapped in her two-story house with 11 other people, including her 83-year-old mother. "We can't get out because the floodwaters are now higher than people."

ABC-CBN TV network reported receiving frantic calls from people whose relatives were trapped in the deluge, many without food since Tuesday morning. They included a pregnant woman with a baby who wanted to be rescued from a roof and about 55 people who scrambled to the third floor of a Quezon city house as water rose below them.

Vehicles and even heavy trucks struggled to navigate water-clogged roads, where hundreds of thousands of commuters were stranded. Many cars were stuck in the muddy waters.

The government suspended work and classes Tuesday and Wednesday. Some shopping malls opened with limited grocery supplies that were quickly picked up by shoppers waiting in long lines.

The La Mesa dam, which supplies water to the capital of 12 million people, spilled excess water early Tuesday into the rivers flowing into Quezon City, as well as the neighborhoods of Malabon, Valenzuela and Caloocan, where several villages were submerged.

Along the swollen Marikina River, nearly 20,000 residents have been moved away from the riverbanks but many others asked to be rescued. Mayor Del de Guzman pleaded for patience and said overwhelmed rescue teams would try to reach everyone.

President Benigno Aquino III called an emergency meeting of Cabinet officials and disaster-response agencies. He ordered officials to make sure all residents were accounted for in flooded villages and discussed how flooded hospitals could be helped in case they were hit by power outages.

The Philippine Stock Exchange in the flooded financial district of Makati was closed. Also closed was the U.S. Embassy along Manila Bay in the historic old city, which was flooded last week when a storm surge pushed the water over the seawall.

In 2009, massive flooding spawned by a typhoon devastated Manila and surrounding areas, killing hundreds. The state weather bureau said that the current flooding was not as severe and that the weather may start to improve later this week.

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Naples braces for flooding after heavy rains (AP)

ROME – The mayor of Naples ordered a much-awaited soccer match scrapped Sunday for fear tens of thousands of fans could be trapped by flooding, while in northern Italy authorities closely monitored the rain-swollen Po river.

Luigi De Magistris said he ordered the Serie A match between Napoli and Juventus postponed to some later date, partly because the field was already soggy, but mainly because of concern some 65,000 fans could be trapped in flooding or cause traffic problems as they drove to or from the stadium.

The sprawling outdoor ruins of ancient Pompeii on the outskirts of Naples were temporarily closed for fear of flooding, but later were reopened to tourists, authorities said.

The area has been pounded by torrential rain that has already claimed one life. Near the Naples suburb of Pozzuoli, a tree fell on a car, killing the driver, local fire chief Giovanni Fricano told Sky TG24.

Much of Italy, especially the northwest, has been pummeled by heavy rains and flooding over the last two weeks. The latest worry in the north concerned the Po river, the waters of which swelled from two rain fed-tributaries, the head of Italy's Civil Protection agency, Franco Gabrielli said. He told reporters that Sunday evening could be a crucial time for the Po's level, if the rain becomes heavier.

A bridge across a Po tributary, the Pellice stream, in the countryside outside Turin, collapsed Sunday as waters rushed through, the Italian news agency ANSA said. No injuries were reported.

Flash flooding in the center of Genoa, on the Liguria sea, killed six people Friday, including several people who took shelter in a doorway along a major street when flood waters came barreling down on them.

Elsewhere in northwestern Italy, hillside towns in the Cinque Terre tourist area were still shoveling out from tons of mud from earlier flooding that claimed nine lives in Liguria and Tuscany.

Much of largely mountainous Italy is geologically fragile, as people build homes on the slopes of hillsides, leaving them vulnerable for mudslides.

In neighboring France, 11 regions were on alert Sunday after heavy rains in the touristic Var and Alpes-Maritime regions swelled rivers and left some towns under water, forcing hundreds to evacuate.

According to the Var prefecture, at least 750 people were evacuated from flooded areas in the coastal towns of Frejus, Roquebrune and in Tourves, inland north of Toulon.

The heavy rain was marching westward toward the Atlantic, putting the Pyrenees region on alert.

At least one flood-related death has been reported in France. The body of a man was found Saturday morning on a riverbank in Lezignan-la-Cebe in the Herault region. Officials there said the victim was likely a homeless German who lived in a van and was reported missing Friday.

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Heavy rains kill at least 66 in Central America (AP)

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Central American authorities said on Sunday that at least 66 people had died in six days of heavy rains that caused landslides, floods and bridge failures throughout the region. Officials ordered evacuations as the rain was expected to continue.

El Salvador's director of civil protection, Jorge Melendez, said in a news conference that at least 24 people had died in the country, most of them buried in their houses by landslides.

The country is in a state of alert and preparing for "major disasters," Melendez said.

Authorities were evacuating people from the area around a volcano near the capital of San Salvador, where hundreds died in landslides in 1982.

Melendez said flooding had closed a major highway in the country's west and destroyed a bridge. In the eastern state of San Miguel, water overflowed from the Rio Grande river and had inundated large expanses of farmlands.

He said Sunday morning that the rain was expected to remain heavy for 24 hours and possibly continue until Wednesday. He said El Salvador had seen 7.9 inches (200 millimeters) of rain in the previous 12 hours.

Guatemalan officials confirmed 28 deaths in their country, adding that two more people were missing and that rain was expected for two more days. Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared a state of emergency that would be sent for approval to the congress Monday.

In Honduras, officials tallied at least nine deaths and the damaging of 2,500 homes, eight bridges and 29 roads.

"The worst is yet to come," said Rodolfo Funez, deputy director of the country's emergency commission.

Officials in Nicaragua said five people had died there with the rain abating somewhat.

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Associated Press writers Sonia Perez in Guatemala, Freddy Cuevas in Honduras and Filadelfo Aleman in Nicaragua contributed to this story.

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Central America death toll at 45 from heavy rains (Reuters)

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Torrential rain in Central America this week that forced thousands to abandon their homes and trapped many more has killed at least 45 people, with Guatemala the worst hit, authorities said on Saturday.

A tropical depression hit the region early on Wednesday, causing flooding, mudslides and lightning strikes in the chain of countries between Mexico and South America. Many areas were cut off as the rain inundated villages and clogged roads.

The destructive weather system that bore down from the Pacific killed 22 in Guatemala, and nine in Honduras, two of whom were struck by lightning, emergency services said.

Hundreds were stranded on the roofs of their homes in Honduras, especially in the southern regions of Choluteca and Valle, local emergency officials said.

In El Salvador, where seven people were killed, President Mauricio Funes declared a state of emergency. At least seven others died and thousands more were evacuated in Nicaragua.

No deaths were reported in Costa Rica, although dozens of families were evacuated from communities on the Pacific coast and the capital, San Jose.

Strong rain continued to fall in parts of Honduras and Guatemala on Saturday, while precipitation was easing in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

At least four people also died in Mexico earlier in the week when Category 2 Hurricane Jova struck from the Pacific, forcing the country's busiest port to close. The main cargo port of Manzanillo later reopened.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegicugalpa, Nelson Renteria in San Salvador, Mike McDonald in Guatemala City, Ivan Castro in Managua and Alex Leff in San Jose; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Heavy rains hammer Central America; 36 dead (AP)

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Heavy rains generated by a low-pressure system hammered Central America for a third day Friday, putting officials on alert in countries where mudslides and swollen rivers have already killed 36 people.

At least 21 people have been killed in Guatemala and thousands of others were evacuated or saw their homes destroyed by the incessant downpours.

In El Salvador, rivers have overflowed their banks, destroying villages and prompting an evacuation of about 4,000 people from their homes, the country's disaster management office said in a statement Friday.

In Honduras, six people have been killed in floods and the roads connecting the nation to Guatemala have been destroyed. Other communities have been left isolated by the floods. In Nicaragua, four people have died this week.

The system is expected to hover over the region for the next couple of days, generating more rainfall, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Irwin was weakening and drifting away from Mexico in the Pacific, three days after Hurricane Jova slammed into the same coast, killing six people.

Irwin's maximum sustained winds as of Friday afternoon were near 45 mph (75 kph), and the storm could begin weakening on Saturday, the hurricane center said.

Irwin was centered about 165 miles (265 kilometers) west of Manzanillo, Mexico, and moving south-southeast at about 2 mph (4 kph).

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Rains, flooding kill dozens, maroon many in India (AP)

By BISWAJEET BANERJEE, Associated Press Biswajeet Banerjee, Associated Press – Mon Sep 26, 11:15 am ET

LUCKNOW, India – Monsoon rains destroyed mud huts and flooded wide swaths of northern and eastern India, killing at least 48 people in recent days and leaving hundreds of thousands marooned by raging waters, officials said Monday.

Those stranded took shelter atop trees, hills and rooftops in the eastern states of Orissa and Bihar and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Rescue helicopters dropped food in hard-to-reach areas, while hundreds of boats ferried the stranded to safety.

But the rains, expected to continue for two more days, were holding up rescue efforts, officials said.

All 31 people killed over the weekend in Uttar Pradesh state died when the roofs of their mud houses collapsed, Relief Commissioner K.K. Sinha said. The state offered compensation of about $2,200 to victims' families.

"Many of them died in their sleep," said P.K. Upadhaya, a district magistrate in Jaunpur, where 18 of the deaths occurred. "Heavy rainfall hampered the rescue operation."

Another 17 people were swept away over the weekend by floodwaters in Orissa state, where more than 130,000 have been evacuated from low-lying areas near rivers that burst their banks, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister S.N. Patra said. Since the monsoons began in August more than 70 people have died in Orissa.

The state's chief minister widened the evacuation area this week, while the air force was ordered to send more aircraft to help.

Hundreds of thousands of people scrambled into trees or on top of buildings to escape the rising waters.

In Bihar state, soldiers rescued more than 200 people who were stranded when flood waters from the Sone River entered their village. At least 500,000 people have been affected by floods as torrential rains and overflowing rivers inundated central and southern Bihar, said Vyas Ji, a top official.

At least 12 districts in Bihar were flooded after authorities in neighboring Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states released water from overflowing dams. Bihar's government has ordered engineers to cancel holidays and guard the embankments from further erosion, said Water Resources Minister Vijendra Choudhary.

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Associated Press writer Indrajit Singh in Patna contributed to this report.

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Monsoon rains test cash-strapped Pakistan after 200 die (Reuters)

TANDO MUHAMMAD KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan's cash-strapped government, struggling to help victims of last year's devastating floods, faces another major test as monsoon rains, which have already killed about 200 people in recent weeks, sweep across the south.

Flood waters across Sindh province have also destroyed or damaged nearly one million houses and flooded 4.2 million acres since late August, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Prospects for further flooding would put Pakistan's unpopular government, already battling Taliban militants, allegations of widespread corruption and public anger over power cuts and poverty, under immense pressure.

"The situation in Sindh is already serious and there will be more flooding and more problems because of these rains," said meteorology department official Arif Mehmood.

Neighboring India has also been hit by floods, which have killed more than 300 people and affected close to nine million since monsoon rains started in June, said the Indian Red Cross.

"As the rain already started a few months ago, in some places, the water has receded... There is fear in some of the states regarding outbreaks of diseases like diarrhea arising from poor hygiene and sanitation," said John Roche, country representative for the International Federation of Red Cross.

Zafar Qadir, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, said Pakistan faced a crisis "of great magnitude."

In the town of Tando Muhammad Khan, residents who watched water rise to about eight feet and rush through homes and shops feel helpless. Water has been stagnant for a week in some areas.

Some, like 15-year-old student Sonam, were so shaken they concluded conditions were worse than last year's floods. "The entire blame goes on the government," she said.

Pakistan's military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its history, took charge of rescue and relief operations during last year's floods, while the government was seen as slow and ineffective.

Still, more than a year later, over 800,000 families remain without permanent shelter, according to aid group Oxfam, and more than a million people need food assistance.

Pakistan's High Commissioner in London, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, told Reuters international support was needed.

"The unprecedented torrential rains followed by flooding were the last thing one would have expected to hit the country already head-deep involved in war against terrorism besides already facing enormous problems including an acute energy crisis and a challenging law and order situation," he said. Pakistan may also have lost up to two million cotton bales, or about 13 percent of its estimated crop, due to heavy monsoon rains during harvesting in Sindh, government and industry officials said.

"The water flow to the sea is very slow. The drainage system has choked...the agriculture system could not stand the water pressure. So the devastation became immense," said Qadir.

WEAK ECONOMY

Monsoon rains sweep the subcontinent from June to September and are crucial for agriculture.

Pakistan, which relies heavily on foreign aid and an IMF emergency loan package, cannot afford heavy losses in the agriculture sector, a pillar of the economy.

The 2010 floods killed about 2,000 people and made 11 million homeless in one of Pakistan's worst natural disasters.

One-fifth of Pakistan was then submerged in water -- an area the size of Italy -- and the government faced a $10 billion bill to repair damage to homes, bridges, roads and other infrastructure.

Aid workers expressed fears over possible outbreaks of diseases linked to the new floods, especially among children.

"The biggest issue is that they will drink water from anywhere, so water-borne diseases are a threat, especially diarrhea and cholera," Sami Malik, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund, told Reuters.

(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider and Qasim Nauman in Islamabad; Sahar Ahmed in Karachi, and Reporting by Arup Roychoudhury, Nita Bhalla and Mayank Bhardwaj in New Delhi, Jatindra Dash in Bhubneshwar and Myra MacDonald in London.; Writing by Michael Georgy)

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Tropical Storms, Heavy Rains Avoiding United States (ContributorNetwork)

Tropical storms and hurricanes in 2011 will be harbingers of good and bad things when and if they make landfall in the United States. There are severe droughts throughout the southern portion of the contiguous 48 states. Yet none of the named storms has made a dent in rainfall totals as of Sunday.

The National Hurricane Center predicted warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the Atlantic will have a higher-than-normal total of named storms and big hurricanes. Tropical Storm Don made landfall along the Texas-Mexico border but only brought an inch of rain or less to the area. The next system, Tropical Storm Emily, doused the Haiti and the Dominican Republic but then steered eastward of Florida and headed back out to sea.

By now, at least one hurricane usually forms by this time of year. Instead we've gotten just five tropical storms. The next two weeks will let forecasters know if their predictions will be true. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in late August. Another monster storm, Hurricane Hugo , came ashore in mid-September of 1989.

Experts predicted at least three major hurricanes, up to 18 named storms and as many as seven to 10 hurricanes. The Los Angeles Times reports the initial prediction of six to 10 hurricanes was recently raised by one. Apparently the weather pattern is ripe for storm formation, but the strong ridge of high pressure over the central United States may help spin hurricanes away from land.

Upper level air is the key to steering massive storms. They can help keep storms together or make them fall apart. If there is a huge dome of high and dry air dominating the atmosphere, a smaller low pressure system from the tropics may not be able to penetrate the large mass of air.

It's like a golf ball trying to move a bowling ball. It's not going to happen until the current system of heat moves away from the central United States in order to let moisture inland. The key to the shift will be the jet stream. Finally, some cooler air from Canada will make its way south by Aug. 10. The Weather Channel states the dome of hot air will retreat back to the southwest temporarily due to the shift and possibly bring some rain to parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

Unfortunately, Texas and Oklahoma will continue to bake. Tropical systems will be spun away from where moisture is needed most. Nothing will happen until the hot pattern completely dissipates, which may not occur until September. After that, get ready for some nasty hurricanes that might invade the southern United States.

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New Mexico rains douse flames but fuel flood fears (Reuters)

By Dennis J. Carroll Dennis J. Carroll – Mon Jul 11, 6:59 pm ET

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) – The monsoons arrived on schedule in northern New Mexico on Monday, bringing with them the promise of containing a monster wildfire that has broken records in the state.

But they also brought potential peril from flash floods, wind bursts and lightning, with possible flooding made worse by the ground-clearing fires.

"It's such a Catch-22 with the rains," said Arlene Perea, a fire information officer. "The rains are welcome, but we know there are some problems with it."

The National Weather Service on Monday put out a flash-flood watch for the fire area through at least Wednesday. Forecasters said showers and thunderstorms were expected, with hail, lightning and winds up to 45 miles per hour.

Last week, Governor Susana Martinez issued an emergency declaration to free up about $700,000 in state funds for flood mitigation efforts across the state.

The Las Conchas blaze, New Mexico's largest wildfire ever, has burned 147,642 acres since June 26 when winds knocked an aspen tree against power lines, igniting the fire in the Jemez Mountains about 12 miles southwest of the city of Los Alamos. As of mid-afternoon Monday, it was 50 percent contained.

At one point, the flames had forced the evacuation of the town of about 12,000 and lapped at the borders of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the linchpin of American's nuclear weapons industry.

The lab was shuttered for about a week amid concerns about the possible release of radioactive and other hazardous materials. Lab officials later insisted no such releases occurred.

On Monday, forestry officials seemed as hopeful as they have been since the fire began.

"We got a big rain on the fire this morning, and things are really looking good, especially on the north end," Perea said.

That area includes the Santa Clara Indian reservation where firefighters have been battling to save sacred and cultural Pueblo sites, including Chicoma Mountain, regarded as "the center of all" by many tribes.

Containment lines were said to be holding on the three sides of the mountain that were burning.

Perea said firefighters had not been plagued by lightning strikes or high winds, and were being kept out of canyons where rainwaters could flow dangerously unimpeded over scorched earth stripped of ground-hugging vegetation.

On the southern end of the blaze, where little rain had fallen as of Monday afternoon, firefighters also were protecting other Pueblo holy sites and ancestral ruins from both fire and possible flooding, said David Schmitt, a fire information officer.

"They are trying to keep the fire intensity low so it doesn't take out the canopy, which will act as a buffer when the rains do come," Schmitt said.

He said there were several flare-ups Monday and over the weekend, but all were well within the fire's containment lines.

Fire lines also were holding north of Los Alamos and the nearby Pajarito Mountain ski resort.

(Editing by Karen Brooks and Greg McCune)

(This story corrects the spelling of the mountain in last paragraph)

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Floods, lightning kill 8 as heavy rains hit China (AP)

BEIJING – Floods and lightning killed at least eight people as heavy rains pounded southern China, destroying homes and blocking roads, official media said Saturday.

Flooding from this month's seasonal rains has already forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and left more than 170 dead or missing.

Two people died in the southern province of Guizhou after being struck by lightning, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Two others died after being washed away by floods Friday evening. Xinhua said four other people died but did not provide details.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said Friday that flooding and rains have killed 25 people, left 25 missing and forced about 671,200 from their homes since Monday.

Xinhua did not say whether the most recent fatalities were included in the 25.

The torrential rains are forecast to continue through the weekend.

Landslides crushed parts of a railway line in southwestern China on Thursday evening, stranding 5,000 passengers on four trains, railway officials said.

About 1,200 workers are continuing to clear tracks and make repairs along the Chengdu-Kunming railway line, which links the capitals of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, Xinhua said.

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Floods cut phones in eastern Mont.; rains continue (AP)

BILLINGS, Mont. – Flooding is disrupting emergency phone service across a broad swath of eastern Montana as some areas remain inundated with several feet of water.

Heavy rains again pounded parts of the state on Memorial Day.

Flooding near Hardin on Sunday brought down 911 and long-distance calls for Glendive, Miles City, Sidney, Fairview, Colstrip, Forsyth, Wibaux and Terry.

Qwest spokeswoman Michelle Jackson says all emergency calls are being rerouted and full service is expected to be restored Monday.

In Roundup, some houses and businesses remain under several feet of water from the Musselshell River. It's expected to crest Saturday.

Authorities warn the record-breaking floods could extend into northwestern Montana in coming days. Warmer weather in the forecast could trigger the sudden melt of record winter snows.

In South Dakota, another 200 National Guard soldiers were being called Monday to help battle flooding along the Missouri River, bringing the total to more than 600.

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