March 31, 2015 - EARTH - The following list constitutes the latest reports of high tides, heavy rainfall, flash floods, widespread flooding, sea level rise and catastrophic storms.
Mexico Floods – At least 7 Dead in Veracruz
Torrential rains and floods have left at least seven dead and one young girl missing, authorities said Friday.
Rain and hail the size of baseballs have fallen since Thursday afternoon, inundating hundreds of houses in the central highlands of Veracruz, a state on the Atlantic coast of Mexico.
According to the state’s civil protection ministry, three women and three man have died, mostly in vehicles carried by raging waters. One victim has not yet been formally identified.
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| Hail and floods Ixtaczoquitlan, Veracruz, Mexico. Photo: Government of Veracruz |
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| Hailstorm, Veracruz, Mexico. Photo: Government of Veracruz |
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| Distributing suppies to those affected by floods and hail in Veracruz, Mexico. Photo: Government of Veracruz |
Enrique Alarcon Bonilla, the deputy mayor of Atzalan, was rescued after water carried the cab car he was driving. His wife and daughter who were also in the car, were not saved, he said.
The rivers in eight municipalities in the state continue to breach their banks. The most affected municipalities are Ixtacozquitlan, Huatusco, Orizaba, Córdoba, Omealca, Yanga and Cuitlahuac.
The civil protection ministry also said downed trees caused electricity outages Friday.
Three temporary shelters have been opened and have so far received 80 victims whose homes were flooded or damage by hailstones.
Chile Floods – Death Toll Rises as Thousands Remain in Shelters
Heavy rainfall on 24 and 25 March 2015 left the normally dry regions of Antofagasta, Atacama and Coquimbo in
Chile suffering some of the worst floods in their history.
Initial
assessments reported that 2 people had died and around 24 were missing.
Since then the death toll has increased to 17 people. According to the
latest government report, a further 20 are still missing. The flooding
has forced 10,966 people from their homes. Currently as many as 4,562
people are staying in temporary shelters set up by local authorities.
Affected Areas
The
government has declared a state of catastrophe for the Atacama Region
as a whole and also town of Taltal in the Antofagasta Region.
The
worst affected areas are Chañaral, Salado and Diego de Almagro, Alto del
Carmen and Tierra Amarilla, according to ONEMI, the Chilean civil
protection agency.
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| Floods in Chile, March 2015. Photo: Bomberos Chile |
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| Floods in Chile, March 2015. Photo: Bomberos Chile |
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| Floods in Chile, March 2015. Photo: Bomberos Chile |
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| Flood damage, possibly in TalTal, Antofagasta Region. Photo: Bomberos de Chile |
Over 10,000 remain without electricity in
Atacama region. A total of 7,500 people remain without drinking water in
the towns of Tierra Amarilla and Chañaral.
The Ministry of Health
issued health warnings in the communes of Copiapó, Tierra Amarilla,
Diego de Almagro and Alto del Carmen in the Atacama Region.
Classes
and education remains suspended in Antofagasta and Atacama and also
parts of Coquimbo, although there is a possibility classes may resume in
some areas from Monday 30 March 2015.
Alerts
Red
alerts still remain in place across the region of Atacama, and also the
communes of Antofagasta, Tocopilla and Taltal in Antofagasta. However,
no further rain has been forecast.
An earthquake was recorded in
Antofagasta Region on 28 March 2015. According to the Chile’s National
Seismological Centre, the earthquake magnitude was 5.8 Richter and was
located 39 km northeast of Calama.
Saudi Arabia Floods – 11 Killed, 3 Missing
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| Floods in Al Bahah, Saudi Arabia March 2015 – Photo: Ministry of Interior |
Flash floods in several parts of
Saudi Arabia
over the last 4 days have killed at least 11 people. According to
Saudi’s Civil Defence General Directorate figures quoted in local media,
four people have died in Makkah (Mecca) region, three in Asir region,
three in Najran region and one in Riyadh region since heavy rainfall
triggered flash floods on 23 March 2015.
Civil Defence figures
also note that over 400 vehicles have been trapped in flood water, and
around 300 people had to be rescued from the floods.
Flood Warnings
Riyadh
Heavy
rain was continuing to fall yesterday, 26 March 2015, including in
Riyadh city. The Civil Defence General Directorate in Riyadh region has
called on everyone to take caution and follow safety guidelines.
Spokesman
for Civil Defense in Riyadh, Major Mohammed Al Hammadi, reiterated the
need that everyone should take caution and follow safety guidelines to
avoid risks that might occur as a result of such weather fluctuations.
He
called on all people to follow the media to get information on weather
fluctuations, and report emergencies to the civil defence.
Al Bahah
Earlier, Bahah civil defence had alerted people to stay away from valleys in advance of potential flash floods on 23 March 2015.
According
to media spokesman of the directorate of civil defence in the region,
Col. Jama’an Al-Ghamdi, the directorate had moved the safety patrols and
stationed them at the entrances of the valleys, to alert citizens and
residents of the danger of crossing or sitting near the dangerous sites.
Floods in a Desert Climate – Algeria, Chile, Saudi Arabia
After
Tamanrasset in Algeria and Atacama in
Chile and
Peru, Saudi Arabia is the third desert climate area to see heavy rainfall and floods in the space of the last few days.
Previous Floods in Saudi Arabia
Some areas of Saudi Arabia are regularly threatened by seasonal flash floods, despite low amounts of annual precipitation.
Three people died in
floods in Hail (Ha’yel) Province in north west Saudi Arabia in March 2014.
At least 4 people died in
floods in Riyadh during November 2013, after which the city announced a
series of flood mitigation measures.
The city of
Jeddah in Mekkah province suffered major flooding in November 2009, which left 122 people dead.
Wettest March in 100 years in North and Central India, weather dept says
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| Kashmir flood: Heavy rains have resulted in damage to at least 44 structures, including 18 houses, due to landslides in Chrar-e-Sharief area of valley. © PTI |
This month has been the
"wettest" March in northern and central parts of the country in the past 100 years, the Indian meteorological department (IMD) on Sunday said and predicted more rains in the coming two weeks.
IMD DG L S Rathore said due to the rains, there has been extensive
damage to field and horticulture crops as well as vegetables in various
parts of the country.
"The ordeal is not yet over. Though March
as we all know was very wet, it was to the extent that after 1915, this
was the wettest March particularly in north India right up to central
India," he said.
"But in the next two weeks also there seems to be a possibility or higher possibility of wetness," he said.
Rains on Sunday lashed many parts of north India, including Kashmir
Valley where several houses were damaged and Srinagar-Jammu national
highway shut due to landslides.
In the national capital,
overcast conditions prevailed throughout the day while some parts of the
city recorded light rainfall which. The Met department predicted
rainfall for Monday here.
Meanwhile, finance minister Arun
Jaitley said the Centre will work with state governments to raise the
compensation limit for farmers affected by
unseasonal rains and hailstorms.
Unseasonal rains and hailstorms during this month have damaged Rabi
(winter-sown) crops in 106.73 lakh hectares of area across 14 states as
against the earlier estimates of 181 lakh hectares.
Support for Flood Victims in Jendouba, Tunisia
Islamic Relief has been supporting victims of floods in
Tunisia, supplying food, water, hygiene kits, and blankets to 160 families.
Heavy rainfall on 27 and 28 February 2015 caused the Oued Medjerda river and its tributaries to overflow.
The
city of Jendouba, in north-west Tunisia, and surrounding areas were
badly affected. Local observers reported flood water up to 2 metres in
some areas.
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JENDOUBA, TUNISIA – FEBRUARY 28: A bus is seen in the flood water caused
by heavy rainfall in the Bu Salim district of
Jendouba City of Tunisia
on February 28, 2015. Photo: AA |
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JENDOUBA, TUNISIA – FEBRUARY 28: Search and Rescue team members try to
pull a bus in the flood water caused by
heavy rainfall in the Bu Salim
district of Jendouba City of Tunisia on February 28, 2015. Photo: AA |
Schools were closed and families across the city had
to climb on to the roofs of their homes for safety as the water level
rose. The Tunisian government evacuated families as more homes are
expected to flood, and some 160 families sought refuge in a local
school.
The Tunisian government provided blankets and food to the
displaced families. Islamic Relief has also responded with the provision
of food, water, hygiene kits, and blankets to 160 families.
2012 Floods
The
city has experienced severe flooding before. In February 2012, streets
flooded, farms were destroyed and roads were blocked. According to
Islamic Relief, many people are still in debt after borrowing money to
rebuild and refurnish their homes.
There was also extensive
flooding in 1990, when more than 50 people died, and in 1969, when more
than 500 people lost their lives.
Islamic Relief has been working in Tunisia since 2012, and continues to monitor the situation closely.
For more information on the work of Islamic Relief, see
their website here.
3 Killed in Central Vietnam Floods
Floods in 3 provinces of central
Vietnam have left 3 people dead.
Two
victims died in floods in Quang Ngai and one in neighbouring Quang Nam
province. Thua Thien-Hue province has also been affected, although no
deaths have been reported. Damage to crops, in particular rice, has been
reported in all three provinces.
The floods were caused by heavy
rainfall. March is considered part of the dry season for the region,
when droughts are more common than floods, which usually occur during
the rainy season from July to December.
Quoted in Thanh Nien news,
Hoang Duc Cuong, director of the Central Meteorological Forecast Center
described the heavy rain as “unusual”.
Thanh Nien say that
between 24 to 28 March 2015, some areas received more than 500 mm of
rainfall, the highest in March since 1965.
Floods in Macedonia after 3 Rivers Overflow
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STIP, MACEDONIA – FEBRUARY 02: Flooded area is seen following heavy
rains in Stip, Macedonia on February 02, 2015.
Due to flooding, eastern
Macedonia declared as a state of emergency. Photo: AA |
News agency MINA are reporting that at least 3 rivers overflowed in
Macedonia
after heavy rainfall over the last few days, causing flooding in the
municipalities of Kavadarci, Prilep and Kumanovo. So far the floods have
been minor, and have only affected farm land.
According to MINA, the Luda Mara river overflowed in the Glisic area, flooding parts of the nearby village of Marena.
In
Prilep, Crna river, which was responsible for much of the earlier
flooding, overflowed near the villages of Trojkrsti, Lozani and
Topolcani.
In Kumanovo, the Slupcanka river has overflowed near the villages of Opae, Orizari and Lipkovo.
The country was badly hit by flooding during
February 2015 where over 100,000 people were affected.
The worst affected areas were the southern, southeastern, southwestern,
and central parts of the country. Agricultural land, electrical
infrastructure, roads, and a large number of homes were severely
affected.
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Floodlist |
Times of India.
