Weather

Citation

(2002), "Weather", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 11 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2002.07311cac.003

Weather

Weather

4 August 2001 – India

State authorities in Bihar, eastern India, have called on the Indian army to help in flood rescue and relief efforts. The Chief Minister, Rabri nevi, said after surveying the flooded areas that requests had been made for helicopters and motorboats to deliver food, drinking water and medicines, and to rescue people who are marooned. Officials estimated that about 400,000 people had been affected by the floods. The situation worsened when three major rivers burst their banks on Thursday night (2 August). The floods were set off by heavy rains in neighbouring Nepal over the past four days, and the release of water into the Gandak river by the Nepalese authorities.

16 August 2001 – There have been 16 people killed in landslides and floods triggered by incessant rain in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh since Tuesday(14 August) evening, official reports said here. The killed included two labourers working on the Chamera hydro-electric project on river Ravi, the reports said.

Landslides were also reported from many parts of the state, causing traffic blockades. P.K. Dhumal told reporters the latest casualties had taken the death toll in the state to at least 35 since the monsoon season began in June. Property worth about 300 million rupees, $6.38 million, had been damaged over the same period. Road links had been cut and rail services disrupted at several places while air services had been cancelled because of bad weather in the Himalayan region, officials said. They said a key highway in the state's Kinnaur district had been closed after two bridges were washed away. "The union (federal) government has been apprised of the damage and it has promised to send a high level team to assess the damage", Dhumal said. He said the districts of Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur had suffered extensive damage and efforts were under way to repair damaged roads and restore communications. Earlier this week, ten people were killed and 36 injured by lightning in central India, while monsoon storms caused chaos in the capital New Delhi.

25 August 2001 – Nearly three million people have been displaced by the second wave of flooding this month in Bihar, authorities said today. The floods were triggered by three days of non-stop torrential rain in neighbouring Nepal, which caused a rise in the water levels of the Gandak and Bagmati rivers that flow into Bihar from the Himalayan country, they said. Bihar's Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner, Girish Shankar, said that 2.8 million people had been displaced across the state and district authorities had deployed boats to rescue marooned people and provide them with emergency aid. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Bihar earlier this month as floodwaters submerged more than 300 villages and destroyed 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres) of crops. Some half a million people had also been displaced by those floods, and crops worth an estimated Rs 100 million ($2.12 million) were destroyed. Relief Commissioner Shankar said Gopalganj, East Champaran, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali and Saran districts through which the Gandak river flows, were the worst hit. He said the state had sought a Central grant of Rs7.35 billion to make up for the losses caused by the floods.

26 August 2001 – Flood waters that displaced nearly three million people in Bihar last week have begun to recede following a let-up in rains, officials said today. Some 2.8 million people had been hit by a second wave of flooding this month after three days of torrential rain in neighbouring Nepal caused the Gandak and Bagmati rivers, which flow into Bihar, to rise. "The water level in the Gandak river has fallen by 45 centimetres. It is now flowing 91 centimetres above the danger mark", state Water Resources Commissioner Radha Singh said. Girish Shankar, Bihar's Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner, said displaced people had started returning to their homes as flood waters receded. Shankar said no deaths had been reported in the latest flooding, but 30 people had died in floods in the state so far in 2001. "Agricultural crops worth about Rs1.24 billion ($26 million) have been completely destroyed", Shankar added. Officials in the worst-affected Gopalganj district said the flooding remained severe and flood waters had entered residential neighbourhoods of Gopalganj town. "We have deployed over 200 boats to help in the ongoing relief and rescue work", said S.M. Raju, Gopalganj's district administrator.

4 September 2001 – Eleven people were killed when houses collapsed from continuous heavy rainfall in the northern state of Ut tar Pradesh. The Press Trust of India reports the downpours have brought major disruption to several eastern districts of the state. Floods are also threatening residents of another district where the Rapti River is flowingabove the danger mark. The news agencysays several hundred villagers have fled to higher ground.

7 September 2001 – Rising flood waters have killed at least 39 people and isolated large parts of the northern Indian state of Ut tar Pradesh, authorities said today. Transport and communications have been severely disrupted and schools and universities shut in the five eastern districts of the state affected by floods in the last ten days. "Swirling waters of the Rapti and Ghagra rivers have inundated highways and even railway tracks and all communication with Gorakhpur (district) has been completely snapped", a government spokesman told Reuters. The Rapti river was flowing at the same level as rail bridges at some places and posed a danger to trains, a senior official at the North-Eastern Railway headquarters in Gorakhpur said. "A number of trains have been diverted to other routes", he said. Last month over a dozen districts in adjoining areas of Bihar state were flooded after torrential rain in Nepal caused the Gandak and Bagmati rivers, which flow into Bihar, to rise. Some 2.8 million people were displaced in those floods and agricultural crops worth 1.24 billion rupees ($26 million) damaged.

10 September 2001 – Torrential rains triggered severe flooding in eastern India and washed out thousands of villages near India's eastern border with Nepal, officials said today. At least 48 people have been killed. The surging Burhi Gandak and Gandak rivers broke through rows of sandbag embankments early today, inundating about 50 villages, Water Resources secretary Radha Singh said. At least two people died after being swept away by the surging waters, Singh said. Forty-five others were killed in weekend floods, mostly in Gopalganj, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur, officials said. Army troops patrolling in boats helped rescue thousands of marooned villagers today while workers distributed medicine, candles and matches to several hundred people left stranded by the floods. The worst-hit areas were the eastern districts of Saran, Gopalganj, East Champaran and Madhubani, where most villagers have been forced to evacuate their homes, relief workers said. Some sought shelter under bulldozers and trucks abandoned on nearby highways as rain drenched the region for a fourth day. Forecasters predicted the rains would continue for the next few days. Heavy downpours in Nepal also were feeding the swollen rivers. It is the second time in less than a month this eastern Indian region has been hit by flooding. At least a half-a-million people were affected by heavy flooding in August that destroyed $2 million in crops.

4 August 2001 – Indonesia

The death toll from flooding and landslides on Indonesia's remote Nias island has risen to 55, officials said today. The search continued for 106 people reported missing. Rescue worker Yasaoaro Negara said the floods, which struck the island on Tuesday (31 July), destroyed more than 300 houses. Villagers found five corpses yesterday, and the search for victims is continuing, Negara said. Rescue attempts on the island, about 800 miles north-west of Jakarta, have been hampered by blocked roads, poor communication and disorganisation.

15 September 2001 – With major rivers in spate, the flood situation in Bihar remained grim as the death toll in the current spell of floods rose to 88 today. State relief and rehabilitation department sources said two more deaths were reported from flood-hit Gopalganj, Saran, West Champaran and Madhubani districts during the past 48 hours, taking the toll to 88 so far, with nearly five million people continuing to reel under the impact of floods in 16 districts. The sources said that Army continued to assist local authorities in relief and rescue operations in the worst hit Gopalganj, Saran and West Champaran districts. Central water commission sources said Burhi Gandak was flowing 69, 104, 282, 306 and 19cm above the danger mark at Lalbagiya Ghat, Sikanderpur, Samastipur, Rosera and Khagaria, while the Bagmati crossed the danger point by 73 and 126cm at Benibad and Hayaghat. Adhwara group of rivers also flowed 39 and 90cm above danger level at Kamtaul and Ekmighat, while the Kosi crossed the danger mark by 169 and 103cm at Baltara and Kursela. The flood situation is likely to further aggravate in Gopalganj, Saran, West Champaran and Siwan with possibility of heavy rains in the catchment areas of the Burhi Ganak during the next 24 hours, the sources said. The government has set up 282 relief centres, 207 health centres and 138 veterinary centres, which were functioning round-the-clock.

25 September 2001 – Even as the overall flood situation eased in Bihar, the death toll in the current spell of floods in the state rose to 158 with reports of 12 more deaths. State Relief and Rehabilitation Department sources said 12 more deaths from drowning were reported from flood-hit Gopalganj and Samastipur districts, taking the toll in the flood fully to 158 so far. Sources said all major rivers including Burhi Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati and Adhwara group of rivers were receding day-by-day, easing the situation in 21 flood-hit districts. Floods had so far destroyed standing crops in 3.98 lakh hectare, the value of which was estimated to be Rs209.34 crore. Over 1.50 lakh houses worth over Rs159.17 crore had been damaged due to floods. According to a preliminary estimate other public property worth around Rs167 crore had also been destroyed so far, sources added. Nearly seven million people were affected by floods in 4,388 villages spread over 1,358 panchayats in 21 districts. Sources said relief and rescue measures were carried out on a war- footing with help of 547 relief centres, 336 health centres and 219 veterinary centres and 4,000 boats.

4 August 2001 – North Korea

Torrential rains killed or injured scores of people and caused tens of billions of dollars in damages in North Korea, according to official media reports today. Damage estimates could increase as North Korean authorities tried to rebuild roads and communications lines in remote areas, said North Korea's official news agency, KCNA. The news agency said that North Korea's southern farm belts, in Hwanghae and Kangwon provinces, saw up to 26.4ins of rain during a five-day period last week, 50-70 percent of their average annual rainfall. The downpour caused landslides that destroyed many homes, and floods that submerged entire towns. More than 59,280 acres of arable land, thousands of apartments and hundreds of public buildings were submerged or destroyed, the news agency said. More than 10,000 people lost their homes. "Scores of casualties were also reported. Damage caused by the natural disaster is so far estimated to be tens of billions of dollars", the agency said.

15 August 2001 – Torrential rains inearly August killed more than ten peopleand destroyed crops, roads and communication lines across large swathes of coastal North Korea, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said. An overnight KCNA report from the famine-stricken communist country said many people were missing and the government was struggling to repair houses and communications hit by the floods. "Thousands of hectares of cultivated land, hundreds of dwelling houses and public buildings went under water or buried under silt", KCNA said in a report on the eastern coastal provinces of Kangwon and North Hamgyong. "No harvest is expected from many fields. Railways and roads were destroyed to paralyse transport and communications," it said. The district of Hyesan was hit by 12.6ins of rain in the first several days of August. Kangwon Province was hit with 18.5ins of rain in three days beginning late on 31 July, it said. A KCNA report on 4 August said total damage from the rains and drought was estimated at tens of billions of dollars.

11 August 2001 – Iran

Flash floods have killed at least 14 people in north-eastern Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported today. The floods, triggered by heavy rains yesterday, have inundated villages in Golestan Province, said Abolqasem Safavi, the head of the provincial office for natural disasters. "Fifteen thousand hectares (37,000 acres) of farmland are totally under water", Safavi said. He said the floods have disrupted water, electricity and gas services in the town of Kalaleh, 250 miles north-east of Tehran. The heavy rains were expected to continue today and tomorrow, and the governor's office warned of further flooding.

12 August 2001 – Army helicopters are continuing to search north-eastern Iran for missing people after at least 100 were confirmed dead in flash floods. President Mohammad Khatami has urged officials to do what they can to alleviate the effects of what he described as a huge disaster.It is feared the number of dead will rise.The deputy governor of the province of Golestan said about 1,500 homes had been destroyed in the worst flooding the region has known for 200 years. Gas pipe lines, electricity and phone lines have been cut and over 80km of road have been destroyed, as well as thousands of hectares of farmland.

13 August 2001 – Devastating storms in north-east Iran may have killed nearly 300 people following what is thought to be the region's worst flooding in 200 years, officials said today. They said at least 131 people had died in the floods and hopes were fading for another 160 still missing. Army and Red Crescent helicopters scoured swathes of flooded farmland today looking for survivors. Rescue teams have so far picked up some 7,500 villagers, but some 800 others are still stranded in the worst affected areas in Golestan and Khorasan provinces, state radio said. Some 15,000 hectares of farmland is now under water and about 1,500 houses have been destroyed. Bridges and roads were swept away in muddy torrents as rivers burst their banks. Gas supplies, drinking water and roads, including the main link to neighbouring Turkmenistan have been cut off. Damage is estimated to run into tens of millions of dollars. Local officials have called for volunteers to help Red Crescent aid workers search for the missing. A bank account had been opened for donations to help the flood victims.

14 August 2001 – Mozambique

Some 200,000 Mozambican villagers face starvation after crippling floods in two successive years that damaged dikes and left some fields still under water, the agriculture minister said on Tuesday. Crops in Manhica district, about 150km north of the capital Maputo, were washed away in floods that swept through southern Mozambique in the first quarter of 2000 and battered the impoverished east African country's economy. Early this year the southern provinces were again hit by floods as major rivers flowing to the Indian Ocean from neighbouring Zambia and Zimbabwe burst their banks. "The area is vulnerable to floods and no one can plant anything there. This is hindering farming efforts because some of the cultivated areas are still under water", Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Helder Muteia said. The government was talking to international aid agencies about getting food supplies to the villagers, he said. Protective dikes were washed away in the 2000 floods and the damage caused to fields was exacerbated by fresh flooding in 2001, he said. "These people will starve if precautionary measures are not taken. We need to build protective dikes to stop water from flowing into the remaining farmlands and washing away crops." Muteia said his ministry would embark on a dike-building programme with local communities before the summer rainy season began towards the end of the year. The government wanted the community to become involved so that the state would not have to bear a heavy financial burden. He gave no details of costs. Mozambique's economy grew by only 2.1 percent last year, well below the government's forecast of 6-8 percent because of the floods that wrecked infrastructure and agriculture.

13 August 2001 – Philippines

At least 12 people were killed and over 30,000 fled to emergency shelters as floods triggered by torrential rains submerged dozens of villages in the southern Philippines, state radio said today. Thirteen people were missing, while dozens of houses were inundated by surging waters, it said, quoting relief officials. The extent of damage to agricultural crops was not immediately known but state radio said damage to rice farms in some of the affected areas appeared to be heavy. The floods, up to 1.8m deep at places, were caused by four days of heavy rains which lashed four provinces on the southern Mindanao island and Negros Occidental province in the central Philippines. Ten people died in the Mindanao area while two drowned in Negros Occidental, the radio said. More than 6,000 families, consisting of some 32,000 people, abandoned their homes at the height of the floods, the civil defence office said. The floods affected four towns and 78 villages. "The level of flood waters in these areas has not yet receded as heavy downpour continues", the civil defence department said in a statement. The heavy rains also toppled electric posts, knocking out power in three towns in Zamboanga del Sur province.

16 August 2001 – Torrential rains caused flooding in eight central and southern Philippine provinces early this week, killing at least 27 people and leaving ten others missing, officials said today. Thousands of people have fled their homes. The weeklong downpour abated Monday (13 August), allowing rescuers to deliver food and medicine and inspect areas affected by the flooding. The National Disaster Coordinating Council said the floods caused $8.4 million in damage to crops and property. The rains set off landslides and caused rivers to overflow, damaging bridges and roads. More than 79,000 people were affected, officials said.

23 August 2001 – Heavy rain flooded parts of the Manilal today, causing several injuries, triggering a landslide and swamping a number of major roads. Four people, including a four- year old girl, were injured in suburban Quezon City when six shanties in a slum area collapsed in the landslide, an official of the Office of Civil Defence said. A local television station said five were injured. Disaster officials said they had no immediate reports of flooding in the provinces. The rains began yesterday night and the Philippine weather bureau said the downpour would continue into tomorrow. By noon, the government called off classes in all levels and suspended work at government offices. The torrential rain did not affect air and sea travel to and from Manila, officials said. Disaster officials said some parts of the city remained under knee-deep water by early evening. They also said more than 300 people living in low-lying areas in the city were evacuated to higher ground. Government agencies performing vital functions would retain a skeleton staff to ensure provision of some services, executive secretary Alberto Romulo said in a memorandum from the presidential palace. Normal services would resume tomorrow, he said. Flooding occurs regularly in the Philippine capital during the May to September rainy season. Officials have partly blamed the problem on poor drainage because canals are clogged with rubbish.

12 August 2001 – Thailand

At least 43 people were killed in Phetchabun province early yesterday, when flash floods and mudslides hit four tambons in Lom Sak district. More than 70 people were still missing as relief workers and soldiers continued to scour the area, plagued by continuous rain for two days. Most of the victims lived at the foot of the Phetchabun mountain range. Their houses were destroyed as heavy rains caused flash floods, mudslides and falling trees. Hardest hit were tambons Nam Kor, Nam Choon and Fai Na Saeng. Most casualties were residents of Ban Nam Kor, tambon Nam Kor, who were probably asleep when the tragedy occurred about 0300, 11 August. The water rose very quickly to five metres and flushed everything down the hill in seconds. In tambon Nam Kor alone, as many as 100 houses in three villages were swept away. Timber and uprooted trees were swept down the mountain slopes by the floods. The debris shattered Bang Bon bridge on Highway No. 2 and disrupted traffic between Phitsanulok and Lorn Sak. Relief personnel and soldiers had to travel in four-wheel drive vehicles to have any hope of reaching the affected tambons. Heavy traffic was also reported on the highway leading to the scene after curious neighbours tried to enter the area. Bodies were moved to Wat Santiwiharn, tambon Nam Kor, and to Lorn Sak district hospital for identification. Military trucks were used to take villagers out of the flood-hit areas. Phetchabun governor Nikom Buranapansri said relief and rescue operations were in full swing and the search for missing villagers would continue around the clock. Over 700 villagers spent the night in nearby schools as their homes were destroyed in the floods. Villagers in Muang Phetchabun, Nong Phai and Wichian Buri districts were told to brace for more floods. The weather department predicted more rain for the northern and northeastern regions as tropical storm "Usagi" hit Vietnam yesterday and weakened into a depression. The storm, which would reach Nong Khai this morning, was expected to cause widespread rain in the Northeast and affect the North later. Bangkok and central provinces can also expect more rain, the office said.

12 August 2001 – Emergency workers in northern Thailand have been clearing away debris in the search for victims of yesterday's devastating floods, which are so far known to have claimed almost 70 lives. Dozens of people are still listed as missing, after flash floods and landslides swept away a number of villages in the province of Phetchabun, 300km (186 miles) north of the capital, Bangkok, before dawn as inhabitants slept. Local authorities said that though water levels had now receded relief work was being hampered by debris which had swept down mountainsides. In recent days there has been widespread flooding across Thailand's north and east, forcing the closure of schools and the evacuation of several villages. Flash floods are common during the rainy season from June to October, but correspondents say the situation has been made worse by the effects of massive deforestation. The authorities in Phetchabun's Lorn Sak district said flood waters and mud slides from the Khor mountain hit seven villages situated in the valley below at about 0400, local time. Some 50 houses in the seven villages are thought to have been destroyed. According to a statement from the Interior Ministry's civil defence department the villages had been submerged under two metres of water.

13 August 2001 – Flash floods that swept through three remote Thai villages killing dozens of people on Saturday (11 August) have caused 39 million baht ($869,000) in damage, government officials said. The official death toll from the floods in Petchabun province was 74. There were 97 people still listed as missing. Officials said 160 houses were destroyed and 194 damaged. But rescue teams were hopeful of finding more survivors, they said.

14 August 2001 – The confirmed death toll in the Phetchabun flood disaster rose to 87 yesterday, another 35 people missing were presumed dead, bringing the toll from Saturday's flash flood to 122, officials said. Heavy rain continued in northern areas of the country as flood relief operations continued around the clock in Phetchabun, Chiang Mai and Phrae in the north, and Udon Thani in the north-east. A state of emergency was declared yesterday in Phrae, where contingency plans were being implemented to cope with city-wide power blackouts. The level in the Yom river had risen to almost 11m, close to the all-time high in 1990. Municipal schools announced a ten-day shutdown. Flat-bottomed boats were being used to move residents out of flooded areas. Some areas were reported to be short of food. Sukhothai and provinces down the Yom river were advised to brace for the run-off from Phrae. In Chiang Mai, flash floods killed one person. The Ping river overflowed its banks, flooding local communities. Heavy damage was reported to places producing handicrafts for export, including silk, carvings, silverware and paper umbrellas in San Kamphaeng district. More than 20,000 rai of farmland has been flooded. A total of 145 villagers in 16 districts were suffering flooding to various degrees. Udon Thani township was almost completely under water. Officials said it was the worst flood in 70 years. Damage at submerged Nong Harn hospital topped 20 million baht. Medical supplies and sophisticated equipment, including X-ray machines, could not be moved out in time. Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the army would be given a wider role in flood prevention and relief. Heavy rain is expected to continue to lash the western and eastern regions of the country, particularly Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Kanchanaburi, Trat, Chanthaburi and Ranong, a result of the depression "Usagi" and the south-westerly monsoon dominating the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, the Meteorological Department said. Rain was expected to moderate in the north-east and the east. Flood warnings are being given to people in low-lying areas and those living on the river banks in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Tak, Sukhothai, Nan, Phrae, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Phetchabun, Nong Khai, Nakhon Phanom and Mukdahan.

15 August 2001 – Six people have died in the floods lashing Chiang Mai's 14 districts and two sub-districts. At least 248 villages have been inundated in this northern province, affecting 4,800 families or 15,557 villagers. Of the six dead, four were residents of San Kamphaeng district and one each from San Sai and Doi Saket districts. The floods have damaged 1,767 houses, 29,283 rai of farmland, 180 fish ponds and 18 public facilities. Ravaged areas include San Sai, Doi Saket, San Kamphaeng, Mae Chaem, Phrao, Saraphi, Mae Wang, Hang Dong, Chai Prakan, San Pa Tong, Mae Rim, Mae Taeng, Hot and Muang districts, and Mae On and Doi Lor sub-districts. Chiang Mai Governor Kosin Ketthong said the situation in Muang district and Nakhon Chiang Mai municipality remained serious as the water level in the Ping river was still high. A number of rescue teams with flat-bottomed boats have been deployed by the public and private sectors to help evacuate victims to safe places. Many backhoes, crane-lifting trucks, vehicles and water pumps as well as more than 100,000 sandbags were sent to the affected areas for the construction of anti-flood dykes. Yesterday morning, the water level in the Ping river was at 4.04m, compared with the highest-ever level of 4.28m on Monday night (13 August). In Muang district, the Ping River swept across more than ten roads in Nakhon Chiang Mai municipality and areas around several famous schools like Regina Cherie primary school. Many tambons in San Kamphaeng district were inundated due to spills from the Mae On and Mae Kuang streams. In Saraphi district, 1,000 houses and 4,500 rai of farmland were damaged. Floodwater levels were between 20-50cm there. In Mae Hong Son, governor Poj Uthana said 25,000 rai of farmland and many houses in 18 tambons in Khun Yuam, Mae Sariang, Sop Moei and Mae La Noi districts have been affected. Each district has been ordered to set aside 500,000 baht as emergency funds to assist victims. It was reported a forest run-off killed a Karen refugee and destroyed 83 huts at Ban Mae Surin refugee shelter in Khun Yuam district yesterday. Also, 400 sacks of rice donated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were damaged. Floodwaters in Muang district had receded. The Yom river continued to overflow its banks in many areas of Den Chai, Long and Wang Chin districts of Phrae province. It was estimated more than 20,000 rai of farmland in Phrae has been damaged. Tuang Chanfai, 62, from tambon Ban Thin, Muang district, was found dead on Monday, after he was swept away by forest runoff on Saturday (11 August).

16 August 2001 – In Chiang Mai city, many streets in the municipal area were reported to be dry again, while the Ping river has dropped to its normal level at 3.15m. However, fruit orchards and homes along its banks remained under water yesterday. Flooded government offices and schools on Chang Khlan and Charoen Prathet roads are likely to reopen today. The province said 48,729 people in 17,005 families were affected by the 11-14 August flooding, which caused damage to 1,767 homes and 277 public facilities in 17 districts. The floods claimed seven lives, five in San Kamphaeng district and one each in San Sai and Soi Saket districts. Three people and 6,000 animals were reported missing. Chiang Mai's total damage was estimated at 22.2 million baht. In Lamphun, Muang, Ban Thi, Mae Tha and Pa Sang districts were hit by the floods, which killed two people and affected 14,500 others. A total of 4,835 homes in the four districts and several factories in the province's industrial estate were inundated. In Mae Hong Son, governor Poj Uthana said the floods affected 10,957 people in Muang, Khun Yuam, Mae La Noi, Mae Sariang and Sop Moei districts, and caused 16.8 million baht in damage to 33 houses, 164 public facilities and 4,064 rai of farmland. The province was preparing to evacuate 650 people from flood-prone areas in Mae Sariang in anticipation of water runoffs from the forest. In Phrae, the water receded in the town municipality and all other flood-hit areas except Wang Chin district. A road leading to Si Satchanalai district, Sukhothai, remained heavily flooded yesterday. In Lampang, a temporary flood relief centre was set up to co-ordinate help for flood victims, and to deal with anticipated flooding of areas in Muang district and along the banks of the Wang river as water continued to be released from Kiew Lom dam. On Sunday (12 August), many villages located in valleys, especially Ban Sop Fa in Chae Hom district with more than 400 homes, were flooded after heavy downpours. In Phitsanulok, more than 1,000 homes and a road in Wat Bot district were heavily flooded.

17 August 2001 – The death toll from flooding nationwide has reached 147, with 113 confirmed in Petchabun, while the damage has topped 580 million baht, the Local Administration Department said yesterday. Nationwide, ten people were still unaccounted for, nine of them in Phetchabun, director-general Apai Chanthanachulaka said. The inundation has affected 531,614 people living in more than 3,000 damaged houses, 457,485 rai of farmland and many schools, temples, bridges and other facilities, he said. Of the damaged houses, about 600 were completely destroyed. He said the search for the missing people would continue until all bodies were accounted for. The bereaved families would get compensation of 15,000 baht for the death of each family leader and 12,000 baht each for other dead members. Of the 76 provinces, 52 had yet to submit lists of flood-prone areas so the LAD could use the information to plan preventive measures and warning systems.

18 August 2001 – With the death toll from flooding last week climbing to 150, many provincial authorities planned to evacuate thousands of people if the water level continues to rise, a state-run news agency reported today. The Meteorology Department forecast heavy rain in most parts of the country over the weekend and warned provinces on the eastern coast and along the Mekong River to prepare for flash floods, the Thai News Agency reported. The National Relief Centre said the death toll has climbed since last Saturday (11 August), when heavy rains triggered floods and mudslides. The worst area hit was Nam Khor village in Phetchabun province, where 117 people were killed in a mudslide. The area is about 185 miles north of Bangkok. Provincial authorities in the northeastern province of Yasothon, 280 miles northeast of Bangkok, said they planned to evacuate thousands of villagers along the Chee River, which burst its bank after heavy rain Thursday (16 August). Yasothon city was deluged with 20ins of water, a provincial official said.

21 August 2001 – Widespread monsoon floods in north and northeast Thailand in the past 11 days killed 159 people, displaced 6,661 villagers, and devastated thousands of houses and roads, the Interior Ministry said today. The ministry statement said flooding brought by tropical storm "Usagi" had wreaked havoc in 33 Thai provinces since 10 August. It said the hardest-hit area was in the north-central province of Phetchabun where 121 people drowned or were swept away by mud slides. The authorities estimate the flooding caused economic damage of 1.1 billion baht ($24.5 million), and affected about 200,000 hectares (494,200 acres) of farmland in the two regions. The ministry said other badly hit provinces were north-east Udon Thani and northern Chiang Mai where 13 and eight people were killed respectively.

22 August 2001 – Sudan

Floods in northern Sudan have displaced tens of thousands of people, destroyed crops and aggravated an already precarious food supply, the UN world food body said today. "The humanitarian situation in the affected areas is reported to be critical and there is an urgent need for international assistance to rescue stranded people and provide them with food, drinking water, medicines and other assistance", the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. "As several areas are inaccessible, airlift operations are needed to reach the isolated population", the Rome-based FAO said in a statement. The Nile's floodwaters are still at critical levels in Khartoum and are continuing to displace hundreds of people, Khartoum papers said today. The independent al-Sharia al-Siyassi reported that 17 villages had been submerged in Nile River state north of Khartoum and 1,650 families displaced. Interior Minister Abdel-Rahim Mohammed Hussein appeared on state television yesterday to appeal to people living close to the Nile to evacuate their homes, saying the coming period was still critical. Three people were reported to have drowned last week in Omdurman, next to Khartoum, while trying to cross swollen tributaries of the Nile. The FAO said a full assessment of the damage was not yet available, but early signs pointed to significant crop and livestock losses. "Overall prospects for the 2001 main-season cereal crop, normally harvested from October, were already poor before the damage caused by floods," it said. A late start to the rainy season and population displacement due to an escalation of an 18-year-old civil war in southern Sudan had cut plantings and potential yields. "The losses and yield reductions caused by the floods are likely to worsen the already unfavourable harvest outlook," the FAO said. The rains followed two consecutive years of serious drought. Heavy rains in the Blue Nile catchment areas of the Ethiopian highlands had left many villages and settlements submerged. The FAO said water levels were reportedly higher than in 1988, when dozens of people were killed and around two million left homeless after the Nile burst its banks. The FAO said large numbers of inhabited islands on the Nile had been evacuated but several villages and towns remained isolated. Access to the affected population was difficult due to damage to roads and bridges, it said.

29 August 2001 – Sudan's worst floods in years have displaced 7,000 families and destroyed schools, mosques and even entire villages, the government-owned Al-Anbaa newspaper reported yesterday. The Ministry of Irrigation said the level of the Nile river had now stabilised across Sudan but that the damage was severe. In the first detailed damage assessment, the governor of Nile River state, Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, said this year's floods had been the worst in many years and had destroyed about 70,000 feddans – roughly equal to acres – of land. People in the affected areas were in critical need of drinking water, the paper quoted him as saying.

20 August 2001 – Nepal

At least ten people were buried aliveunder a landslide triggered by incessant rains over the weekend (18-19 August) in western Nepal, state-run radio said. "A massive landslide triggered by incessant rains at Painya Pata village in Gulmi district (in Nepal's west) buried ten people aliveon Saturday (18 August) night, killingthem instantly", the radio said, quoting a police report. "The landslide buried two houses along with ten people sleeping inside." Rescuers and relief materials had been sent to the affected area, the radio report said.

28 August 2001 – Vietnam

Floods in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and Central Highlands coffee belt have killed at least 16 people in the past week, 13 of them children, and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands, officials said yesterday. But the impact on the country's key rice and coffee crops has so far been minimal, traders and officials said. Eight people, six of them children, drowned in Ea Sup district in the Central Highlands province of Daklak while seven children and an adult drowned in the Mekong Delta provinces of Dong Thap and An Giang, disaster management officials said. "Water levels are still rising and we are looking into moving people out of danger areas", Do Vu Hung, head of the anti-flood committee in An Giang, told Reuters. "The flood danger is difficult to forecast and the situation in getting complicated." Authorities in the Delta have already evacuated more than 6,700 families – or more than 33,500 people – from flooded areas. Some 4,000 families have been evacuated in Dong Thap province. Officials said two Mekong River branches, the Tien and Hau, were 1.2- 2.1ft above the dangerous alarm level three and several main roads had been flooded. Alarm level three is defined as a very dangerous flood condition in which low-lying areas are submerged, river dykes in jeopardy and infrastructure damaged. Early today, water was measured at 15ft at Tan Chau on the Tien river and 13.6ft on the Hau river in An Giang province, a meteorologist said.

29 August 2001 – Soldiers, militiamen and youth volunteers helped move thousands more people from flood stricken parts of southern Vietnam today after dangerously high waters killed at least 20 people over the past week. Disaster management officials said the homes of more than 80,000 people had been inundated in several provinces of the Mekong Delta rice bowl and the coffee-growing Central Highlands. As of today, seven people had died in the Delta province of Dong Thap bordering Cambodia, three in neighbouring An Giang and eight in the coffee growing province of Daklak. Two more died in Lam Dong, a highland province bordering Daklak. Most of those killed have been children. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and officials said soldiers and youth volunteers were helping to move thousands more from stricken areas and to reinforce flood defences. Today's Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) newspaper said 1,500 militia and youth volunteers were involved. Crop damage has been very limited, given that the summer-autumn rice crop was virtually complete when the floods hit earlier this month. Damage to coffee plantations has also been slight. A disaster relief official in An Giang province said water levels at the key Tan Chau and Chau Doc gauging stations on the Mekong River were dangerous. At Tan Chau they were at 4.59m. This is 0.39m higher than alarm level three, described as a very dangerous flood condition in which low-lying areas are submerged, river dykes in jeopardy and infrastructure damaged. The official said the levels were expected to peak at 4.66m at Tan Chau on Saturday (1 September).

30 August 2001 – Twelve people have been killed as flood waters hit the Plain of Reeds (Dong Thap Muoi) and Long Xuyen quadrangle in the Mekong delta. According to initial statistics, more than 1,920 of 5,565 households in Dong Thap have been evacuated to higher ground as waters rose. In Long An province, floodwaters submerged 3,000 houses and 23km of inter-communal roads, destroyed six clinics, swept away three bridges, and damaged thousands of hectares of summer-autumn rice. The water levels in the Tien and Hau rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong river, have already reached the level recorded in 1978. On 28 August, they were measured at 4.59m at Tan Chau and 4.2m at Chau Doc, or between 0.39 and 0.70m above the third warning level. The waters are rising at a rate of 15-40cm a day in the provinces of Dong Thap, Long An, An Giang and Kien Giang. Heavy and prolonged rains, beginning on 16 August, have so far claimed the lives of eight people and submerged thousands of houses and around 10,000ha of rice, vegetables and subsidiary crops in Dac Lac central highlands province.

3 September 2001 – Ten children were dead as floods submerged a vast region in southern An Giang province over the weekend, a preliminary report said, adding that 206ha of rice and subsidiary food crops in the province were totally destroyed. About 800 houses were pulled down and 22,500 others deeply submerged, and 265km of roads were also inundated by the floods. Rescue operations are being conducted by local people and armymen, who moved more than 1,540 households to safe places. Currently, they are continuing to help 930 others. Relief has been given to flood victims, of them, 432 families have already received rice, foodstuff and other essentials worth VND 36 million. In all, more than 35,000 households and 700 classrooms in the Mekong Delta were submerged by the current floods, which also destroyed about 20km of national highways and 320km of trans-district roads.

3 September 2001 – The authorities in Vietnam say at least 25 people, many of them children, have been killed by seasonal flooding in the southern Mekong Delta. Officials say a total of 80,000 homes are now under water and 33,000 households require urgent evacuation.

5 September 2001 – The death toll from floods in southern Vietnam in the past two weeks climbed to at least 49 today, as officials expressed hope that dangerously high water levels might soon start receding. Disaster management officials said 39 people have died in the Mekong Delta and ten people died in flash floods in Daklak and Lam Dong. The majority of deaths have been children, including 14 out of the 15 in the Delta. An official in An Giang said water levels at the Delta gauging station at Tan Chau rose to 4.73m (15ft 6in) yesterday, well above alarm level three, which is described as a very dangerous flood condition in which low-lying areas are submerged, river dykes in jeopardy and infrastructure damaged. However, the official of the An Giang anti-flood committee said water levels had started to go down on the Mekong River in neighbouring Laos. The water in upstream Mekong River in Pakse is going down slowly, he said. If the weather does not worsen, the floods will go down in the next few days. In Vietnam, officials said nearly 85,000 houses had been inundated and more than 10,000 families, or some 50,000 people, have had to move to higher ground. They have said another 27,000 families, about 135,000 people, were in need of evacuation. Thousands of local militia soldiers and youth volunteers have taken part in the evacuation work in the Delta. The Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan (People) said more than 90,000 school children would not be able to start the new school year in the Delta today, because of the floods. Crop damage has been negligible, as the summer-autumn crop was almost complete when the floods hit. Damage to coffee plantations has also been minimal. Today's weather reports said a tropical low pressure system had emerged in the South China Sea some 200km (124 miles) off the coast of Vietnam's far northeast and was heading west. The region is some 2,000km (1,250 miles) north of the Mekong Delta. The system was travelling at about 10km (six miles) per hour and was forecast to bring torrential rains to the coastal province of Quang Ninh and the port of Haiphong today.

6 September 2001 – Rescuers in Vietnam have recovered the bodies of seven people, five of them children, pushing the death toll in floods in the south of the country since late last month to 56, officials said today. Most of the deaths have been in five flood-hit provinces in the low-lying Mekong Delta rice-growing region, where 44 people have drowned, nearly all children. Ten people died last month in the coffee growing provinces of Daklak and Lam Dong. Disaster management officials said 55,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit homes and 138,000 still needed to be moved. They said about 215,000 people were in need of food aid. Crop damage has been negligible, given that the summer-autumn rice crop was almost complete when the floods hit. Damage to coffee plantations has also been minimal.

13 September 2001 – The floods death toll in the Mekong Delta had risen to 65 by 11 September. The flooding water submerged nearly 140,000 houses, pulled down 248 and damaged more than 3,600 others in 28 districts in Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang, Kien Giang, Can Tho and Tien Giang provinces. More than 177,000 pupils could not go to school as 1,700 classrooms were flooded. About 27 medical stations and 57 offices were inundated. The floods also heavily affected agricultural production, completely destroying more than 1,000ha of crops, damaging more than 4,300ha of summer rice, 325ha of aquaculture area and nearly 5,000 fish ponds. Besides, 117km of highway, nearly 1,400km of district and communal road, 371 bridges and 100km of dyke were damaged. Nearly 16,000 out of 30,000 households which need to be evacuated from flooded area have moved to safe places. Border guard units have taken part in rescue activities in flood-hit localities.

18 September 2001 – Flood waters in Vietnam's Mekong Delta are rising again, as the death toll from several weeks of heavy rains passes 100. The waters rose an average of 5-8cm a day over the past few days, causing two flood peaks in the Delta for the first time since 1978. An official of the Central Department for Floods and Storms Control, says more than 124,000 houses and over 2.000 schools are inundated, preventing local children from starting the new academic year. He says the death toll in the six affected Mekong Delta provinces has hit 101, including 90 children and more than 88,000 families are in need of assistance. Teams of local militiamen and volunteers have moved over 17,000 to higher ground but an equal number are still waiting to be evacuated.

18 September 2001 – Floods in Vietnam's Mekong Delta have killed at least 108 people in the past month, including 95 children, and inundated the homes of more than 600,000 people, officials said today. Disaster management officials said water was still rising in the worst-hit provinces of An Giang and Dong Thap, bordering Cambodia, and were expected to peak at nearly a metre above danger levels at the weekend. An official in Dong Thap said 47,900 families, or nearly 240,000 people, were facing food shortages, many after evacuation from flood-stricken areas. Disaster officials say many of the child victims have come from families of poor itinerant workers and had drowned after being left alone while their parents looked for work or food. The official in Dong Thap said some children had been killed in traffic accidents on congested dykes, where their families had been evacuated. The national anti-flood committee said nearly 124,000 homes of some 620,000 people in six rice-growing Mekong Delta provinces had been inundated. It said authorities had evacuated 17,412 families, or at least 87,000 people, and needed to move another 17,584 households. The anti- flood committee said a total 88,760 families, or some 443,800 people, were in need of aid of some kind. The low-lying delta of the Mekong river is hit by floods of varying severity every year. A disaster management official in An Giang said the flood peaks this year were not expected to be as high as they were in 2000, when the worst floods in 40 years killed more than 480 people. Last week, the chairman of the Vietnam Red Cross, Nguyen Trong Nhan, said his organisation was seeking about $1 million in flood relief funds to buy food, canvas, fishing nets and rescue equipment such as motorised boats. Some international aid organisations have questioned Vietnam's call for funds to buy rice for flood victims, given that the country is the world's number two exporter of the staple and has big stocks in government warehouses in the Delta. Eo Eackstrom, head of delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said last week it had no plan to launch an international appeal for Vietnam's flood victims but was ready to do so if the situation worsened. Officials say the Delta is better prepared this year after a crash programme of dyke building and irrigation. Crop damage has been negligible, given that the summer-autumn rice crop was almost complete when the floods hit. However, officials said farmers in many flood-hit areas would not grow a smaller third rice crop, which is used mainly for domestic consumption.

18 September 2001 – Floods had submerged 36 districts and towns in nine Mekong delta provinces by 16 September, killing 99 persons. Total initial loss in the flooded localities, excluding Dong Thap province, was estimated at VND108.8 billion (about USD7.3 million). Dong Thap had 47 deaths while An Giang, 33; Can Tho, eight; Long An, five; Kien Giang, three; and Tien Giang, three. The floods devastated 2,500ha of rice, inundated 547ha of subsidiary food crops, 2,400ha of fruit trees and forestry plants, and damaged nearly 580ha of aquaculture and 5,000 fish ponds. In addition, 144km of highway, 1,500km of rural roads and nearly 500 bridges remain submerged. Floods inundated 124,000 houses and damaged 5,000 others in Dong Thap province and the Long Xuyen quadrangle,. About 189,000 school children had to stay at home because 2,100 classrooms were under flood water. Dong Thap province had moved almost 10,000 households from flooded areas to safe places by 16 September and will evacuate 3,000 more households as flood water is on the rise. The number of needy households in Dong Thap province had risen to 55,000. Among them, 2,200 households had received food supply worth of VND225 million, 20 tonnes of rice and 100 boats. According to the National Hydro-meteorology Forecast Centre, water in the lower basin of the Mekong River is on the rise with water levels being likely to peak at 4.9m at Tan Chau and 4.6m at Chau Doc on 22-25 September.

20 September 2001 – The flood death toll in the Mekong Delta as of 19 September reached 122, including 109 children, and floodwaters continue rising, reported the Mekong Delta Flood and Storm Control Board, Hanoi, 25 September. The death toll from floods in Vietnam's Mekong Delta rose to 159 by today and water levels in some areas were expected to rise in coming days. Disaster management officials said 137 of those killed in the past month had been children. Nearly 184,000 houses – home to more than 900,000 people – have been inundated in 40 districts and towns in six rice-growing provinces, an official of the Southern Region Anti-Flood Committee in Ho Chi Minh City said. She said about 21,000 families, or nearly 105,000 people, had been evacuated from danger areas and large numbers still needed to be moved, but many were reluctant to leave their homes. The official said water levels in rice fields downstream were expected to rise slowly in coming days in Dong Thap and An Giang, the worst-affected provinces bordering Cambodia. In a statement on Tuesday, the US embassy said it had authorised $25,000 in disaster relief to be provided through two US non-governmental organisations working in Dong Thap and An Giang. It said the aid would support temporary shelters set up to care for children.

25 September 2001 – Authorities in Vietnam are setting up daycare centres in hopes of preventing more deaths from floods that have killed 161 people, including 139 children, relief officials said today. More than 183,000 homes have been flooded in the six affected provinces, causing damage estimated at $32.7 million, said an official of the Central Flood and Storms Control Bureau. Last year's floods caused $280 million in damage. Floodwaters have destroyed 1,695 houses and damaged another 8,200, the official said. More than 1,000 schools in the area have cancelled classes for some 244,000 children, she said. Relief officials said 142,300 families are in need of assistance, but so far, food has been distributed to only one sixth of that, about 23,000 families.

4 September 2001 - Cambodia

Last year, Cambodia was hit by its worst flood in 40 years, this year the water levels are even higher. Although the Mekong River's levels are now subsiding around the capital, more than 700,000 are left homeless in its wake, their livelihoods destroyed. Relief and rescue workers are struggling to get aid to the newly homeless. As thousands languish under a watery deluge, the Red Cross is distributing food aid to thousands in the northwest of the country who are victim to the other extreme – drought. As rice crops fail from either too little or too much water the authorities are warning of serious shortfalls in food. With 11 of Cambodia's 24 provinces affected by flooding, and another 12 affected by drought, the rice harvest is expected to be down as much as 60 percent. Last year, Cambodia's worst ever flood killed 347 and caused damage of more than $100 million to property, crops and infrastructure. Flood damage this year is estimated at around $20 million, say officials, yet the full toll of this month's extreme weather is yet known.