Flood-hit Colorado awaits more rain; 172 people remain unaccounted for

As furious waters flow through flood-devastated northern Colorado, fears and tales of devastation grow.

At least four people have been killed and 172 are unaccounted for, officials say.

The nightmare is far from over as the state awaits more rainfall Saturday, threatening to send swollen rivers gushing through streets choked with debris. The rain is expected to come down heavy Sunday.

It will not be as much as the 15 inches dumped in some spots this week, but it could cause more flooding in areas where water has already receded, forecasters warned.

Residents got some relief Friday when rains subsided, giving a clear view of towns turned into abrupt lakes, homes and businesses inundated with muddy water and bridges devoured by raging creeks. Homes dangled off cliffs.

Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of the four who died in the waters. Many more people are cut off by devastated roadways, and authorities don't know how long it will take to reach them.

Gov. John Hickenlooper warned an extensive recovery is ahead for the affected area from the state's center into the northeast.

"This is not going to get fixed in a week," he said. "We have lost a great deal of infrastructure."

Human toll

Currents swept away a woman who got out of her car Thursday in Boulder County. A man jumped out of the car to save her. Both drowned.

Authorities have recovered both bodies, said Sheriff Joe Pelle. An additional body turned up in the same county. Rescuers recovered yet another in El Paso County.

In Denver, rushing waters swept a man into a drainage pipe with his dog. Both were saved after traveling two blocks in the water, police said.

All the people unaccounted for were in Boulder County alone.

"These are people whose family or friends haven't been able to reach or account for them, not necessarily in harm or dire need," said county spokeswoman Gabrielle Boerkircher.

President Barack Obama declared an emergency for Boulder, Larimer and El Paso counties, FEMA announced Friday. The declaration allowed FEMA to bring in four rescue teams, the largest ever deployment in Colorado, officials said.

The clear skies allowed for an uptick in evacuations.

National Guard troops using "high-profile" trucks to wade through water evacuated 550 people from the Boulder County town of Lyons, CNN affiliate KUSA reported.

It had been cut off since the flooding began Wednesday night -- without water or sewer service, in many cases without electricity.

Saturday 14 September 2013

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/14/us/flooding-colorado/

After disasters, DNA science is helpful, but often too pricey

Human DNA is the ultimate fingerprint. A single hair can contain enough information to determine someone's identity — a feature that's been invaluable for identifying the unnamed casualties of natural disasters and war. But forensic scientists who use DNA say the technology isn't always available where it's most needed, like in poor countries, or in war zones like Syria.

The technology is often too expensive or too complicated, and where there are large numbers of unknown dead, you need far more than just DNA profiling equipment. You also need sophisticated computer programs to organize and match DNA samples from numerous family members, as well as experts to read the samples properly.

, a medical ethicist at Carnegie Mellon University, says that while there are numerous groups that do DNA identification worldwide, and the process is often ad hoc and erratic.

It was largely the Indian Ocean tsunami that got forensic experts thinking. There were tens of thousands of unidentified bodies, and DNA experts flocked to Thailand to set up labs. Tom Parsons, a DNA expert with the , says Thailand got the attention because western tourists died there. Their governments sent teams to find their bodies, but it didn't go well.

"All of the world's first-rate forensic teams took off to Thailand, where white people were killed," Parsons says, "with no centralized plan, pushing and pulling." Governments funded the effort because they wanted their citizens' remains back. But it was "really a mess," says Parsons. Different groups wouldn't share their technology, and even disagreed on how to do the DNA analysis. There was little coordination.

Eventually Interpol, the international police organization, intervened. The commission ended up identifying some 900 people, mostly Thais who might not have been identified otherwise.

Parsons says in the end the DNA work in Thailand was a success, but it revealed to forensic experts that there might be a better way to do this — that in fact a permanent organization with DNA "chops," money and an international mandate to respond to disasters might work better.

"Our concern was that there should be a mechanism in place that would allow access to DNA identification beyond just ability to pay," London says. "Too often if there isn't a funder out there, then people who are missing relatives won't get access to the technology."

So forensic scientists are calling for the creation of a DNA identification organization — one that functions much in the same way the International Atomic Energy Agency does, which sends inspectors to nuclear facilities.

But in an article in the journal Science that a global DNA identification organization would face political obstacles, especially from governments at war with their own citizens.

Saturday 14 September 2013

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/09/13/221865970/dna-science-helpful-but-too-pricey-for-many-countries

Rescue teams finish work at hospital fire site in Novgorod region

Rescue teams have finished their work at the site of a deadly fire at a nursing home for the mentally ill in the Novgorod region, which, as was reported earlier, claimed 37 lives, Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Oleg Voronov told journalists on Saturday.

"The emergency and restoration work and the clearance of the rubble have been completed," Voronov said.

Rescuers have retrieved 35 bodies and also body parts from the rubble of the nursing home destroyed by the fire, and the remains will be subjected to forensic medical tests, he said.

Day of mourning will be declared in Novgorod region

The administration of the Novgorod region will make a decision on declaring a day of mourning for those killed in the region's psychiatric hospital fire by Friday evening, the Novgorod region's Governor Sergei Mitin, who is now at the accident site, said.

"I think a day of morning will be declared. We will make a definitive decision by Friday evening," he said.

Saturday 14 September 2013

http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_09_14/Rescue-teams-finish-work-at-fire-site-in-Novgorod-region-1221/