Flood Situation Worsens in Adamawa as 15 Bodies Wash Ashore.

The flood situation in Adamawa State worsened on Monday with the death toll in the disaster increasing as 15 bodies washed ashore the River Benue bank, in Jimeta—Yola, just as the state government commenced immediate evacuation of the communities along the bank of the River Benue across seven local government areas of the state.

Adamawa State Secretary to Government, Chief Kobis Ari Thinmnu, told journalists on Monday that the state government was having serious crisis coping with the situation, as over 45 communities have been totally submerged.

He appealed to the federal government through the National Emergency Management Agency to come to the immediate assistance of the Adamawa people, as the disaster was beyond the scope of the state government.

Thinmnu said that it was unfortunate, that Nigeria has no bilateral protocol with the republic of Cameroom on the usage of the waters of Lagdo dam, adding that, the release of water by the dam authorities, every rainy season, has always caused enormous damage to the people of the state.

He appealed to the federal government to approach the Cameroonian authorities so that modalities could be worked out, to remedy disaster situations, as the people of the state are always on the receiving end.

He stressed that over N100million worth of properties have been lost to the current disaster, adding, that at leat 60 buildings had been reported to have collapsed in one local government alone. Other properties lost to the disaster included farms and livestock.

In the meantime, the Adamawa State government, at the weekend, set-up a disaster management committee, to manage the situation as the water level continues to rise.

The principal medical officer in charge of the Yola Specialist Hospital, Dr Bala Saidu, told THISDAY, that some victims of the flood were brought to the hospital's mortuary. He said it would be difficult to give an exact number of bodies so far recovered, because it was rising as the situation worsens.

He however said as at the weekend, 15 corpses were deposited at the hospital.

Monday 27 August 2012

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/flood-situation-worsens-in-adamawa-as-15-bodies-wash-ashore-/123333/

continue reading

Hispaniola death toll from Isaac climbs to 10

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitians began to dig themselves out of the mud on Sunday, one day after Tropical Storm Isaac doused the Caribbean nation and killed eight people here and another two in neighboring Dominican Republic.

With a reported total of 10 deaths for the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the two countries, the scale of devastation was less than many people had feared.

But the capital and countryside of disaster-prone Haiti did suffer sporadic flooding, fallen poles and scores of toppled tents that housed people who lost their homes in the massive 2010 earthquake.

Joseph Edgard Celestin of Haiti's Civil Protection Office offered few details on the storm-related deaths, but said one man was swept away as he tried to cross a river in a village in the country's north.

Haiti's Civil Protection Office said in a separate report that a 51-year-old woman was killed in the southern coastal town of Marigot after a tree fell on her home. A 10-year-old girl was killed in the village of Thomazeau after a wall collapsed on her.

In neighboring Dominican Republic, police reported that two men were swept away by flooded rivers that burst their banks. One victim was identified as Pedro Peralta, a former mayor in Villa Altagracia, a town northwest of the capital of Santo Domingo. His body was recovered Sunday by rescuers on the banks of the Haina River.

Another male victim, whose identity was not disclosed, was swept away by the Yaguaza River, Dominican police said.

Across Haiti, the number of people evacuated due to flooding rose over the weekend. More than 14,000 people had left their homes and another 13,500 people were living in temporary shelters until Saturday night, the Civil Protection Office reported. Some 8,400 evacuees were in the country's western department, the most populous and where the capital of Port-au-Prince is located.

The World Food Program had distributed two days of food to 8,300 of the people who had left their houses for 18 camps.

The Haitian government reported that a dozen houses were destroyed and another 269 damaged.

Impoverished Haiti is prone to flooding and mudslides because much of the country is heavily deforested and rainwater rushes down barren mountainsides. It's not uncommon for storms to turn deadly; a storm in the Caribbean last year unleashed mudslides that killed more than 20 people in the capital.

In Fourgy, a hardscrabble neighborhood in the northern part of Port-au-Prince, residents used buckets and brooms to clean out mud from their homes and courtyards as chocolate-color flood waters from the nearby Grise River began to recede.

The water arrived early Saturday morning, rising up to the waist of an average adult, but by Sunday it had dropped to about shin high. Still, it was enough to destroy the few belongings of some people.

Rene Stevenson readily gave an inventory of possessions lost to the flood: bed, radio, TV set, plastic chairs.

"Everything's totally lost," fumed Stevenson, a 24-year-old cab driver with dried mud on his bare chest.

If mud caused anguish in Fourgy, wind was the source of despair down the street in Pwa Kongo neighborhood. Isaac blew down rows of tents and other temporary shelters people had lived since they lost their homes in the 2010 earthquake.

Displaced again, the several dozen occupants took their belongings and spent Saturday night sleeping on the wooden pews of a small church next door.

"There's a church so we're here," said Arel Homme Derastel, a 32-year-old father of three. "All's broken."

Monday 27 August 2012

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/hispaniola-death-toll-isaac-climbs-10

continue reading

Flooding Kills 10 in Northeast Nigeria

An emergency management official in northeast Nigeria says 10 people were killed in floods that swept through the region.

Adamawa state Emergency Management Agency official Shadrach Daniel Baruk said others remained trapped by the flooding Sunday.

Baruk blamed the release of water from a dam in the neighboring nation of Cameroon for the flood. He said heavy rainfall in the rural region of farms and cattle ranches also contributed to the deadly deluge. He said thousands of people had been displaced.

The flooding in Adamawa state comes as flooding recently killed at least 68 people in Plateau state in central Nigeria.

Nigeria is experiencing its annual rainy season, which sees torrential rains fall throughout the West African nation.

Monday 27 august 2012

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/flooding-kills-10-northeast-nigeria-17083592#.UDswffvcz3U

continue reading

50 Die in 3 Accidents Within 3 Days in China

A bus and a tanker collided and burst into flames, killing 36 people in China’s northwestern Shaanxi Province, on Aug. 26.

The accident occurred around 2:40 a.m. near the city of Yan’an. A double-decker sleeper bus appeared to have rear-ended a tanker carrying methanol, killing all but three of its 39 passengers.

An incident investigation group was sent to the site by the State Council, according to a report by state-run media Xinhua, indicating that central regime officials were concerned about the incident.

Another crash killed 11 of 12 passengers when a van hit a large truck on an expressway in Sichuan Province Sunday afternoon. The truck had pulled to the side of the road for repairs, local workers said, according to Xinhua.

Three more people died when a bridge collapsed on Friday, Aug. 24, in the city of Harbin in northeastern China. The Yangmingtan Bridge had been in use for less than a year and cost 1.88 billion yuan (US$294 million) to build.

Monday 27 august 2012

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/50-die-in-3-accidents-within-3-days-in-china-284277.html

continue reading