Tag Archives: Flood

100-year rains displace 200,000 in India

At least 200,000 people in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu were driven from their homes after the heaviest rainfall in more than 100 years led to major flooding, according to published reports.

It’s the latest extreme weather to hit the region, which has been hammered by heavy rainfall. The BBC reported that floods have killed at least 188 people in Tamil Nadu in the past month.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported 200,000 people have been displaced by the floods, and meteorologists expected more than 40 inches of additional rainfall in the next 48 hours.

According to Reuters, weather experts say El Nino is partly at fault for the historic rainfall and widespread flooding, as the weather pattern caused India’s monsoon season to intensify. The United Nations has warned that this year’s El Nino looks be one of the three strongest in the past 65 years and could have significant impact on the world’s economy and food supplies.

The flooding has been particularly bad in the coastal capital city of Chennai, one of India’s most populous areas and a major player in its automobile industry. The Times of India reported the city’s flooded airport will be closed through Sunday and at least a dozen trains were cancelled.

One Chennai resident told the BBC that the latest deluge began Monday and hasn’t let up, producing two to three feet of water in some parts of the city.

The BBC reported that about 60 percent of the city’s neighborhoods lacked power on Wednesday. Reuters reported a hospital was running short on fuel for its generators and oxygen for its patients.

According to The Times of India, some residents who still had electricity and Internet were using social media to invite those affected by the floods into their homes as relief efforts continued.

At least 10 dead following Winter Storm Cara, more extreme weather to come

The rain, snow and ice dumped by Winter Storm Cara caused multiple deaths throughout the country, according to media reports, and more extreme weather is forecast for the week ahead.

A USA Today report says at least six people died in ice-storm-related accidents in Oklahoma and Kansas. Flooding in North Texas claimed the lives of at least four more, according to Texas television station WFAA.

The complex and wide-reaching storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow in parts of Nevada, Oregon and California and 14 or more inches in Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado, according to The Weather Channel. An inch or more of ice accumulated on power lines in parts of Oklahoma.

USA Today reported Oklahoma’s governor, Mary Fallin, declared a statewide state of emergency and 100,000 customers did not have power Sunday afternoon. The Weather Channel reported those numbers were down to 58,000 by Monday morning, most of them near Oklahoma City.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall in Texas helped Dallas break its annual record for precipitation.

USA Today reported Dallas has already received more than 4½ feet of rain this year. The annual total was just shy of 56 inches on Sunday, smashing the 53.54-inch record established in 1991.

WFAA reported “widespread flooding in several areas” of Texas. It said there were 446 car wrecks and 38 water rescue calls between Thanksgiving morning and Sunday evening.

As that storm dissipated, another one was brewing over the Northern Plains.

The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota. Winter weather advisories were also in effect in parts of those states, plus North Dakota and Wisconsin on Monday morning.

CNN is reporting a foot of snow is expected in Minnesota, where the highest totals are forecast.

Winter Storm Cara brings more severe weather to central United States

More power outages and travel delays are being reported as Winter Storm Cara continues to pummel the central United States, and the threat of additional outages and disruption looms as the powerful storm is predicted to generate additional ice and snow throughout the weekend.

Parts of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas were under ice storm warnings from the National Weather Service on Friday. Flood warnings were in effect in portions of Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Numerous other advisories and warnings had been issued.

The Weather Channel predicts that 21 states will be subjected to snow, sleet or freezing rain by the time Cara dissipates. Cara is moving slower than usual because of a pattern in the jet stream.

The storm began dropping snow on the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday. The Weather Channel’s forecasts indicate Cara’s energy could linger over eastern states until the middle of next week, and caution that rainfall in warmer regions ahead of the snow could trigger flash flooding.

On Friday, meteorologists were concerned about an ice storm that was developing in a swath that stretched from eastern New Mexico into northern Texas, central Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri. That’s where the icy precipitation was expected to accumulate the most and last the longest, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather.com.

They warned of a half inch of ice building up on certain exposed surfaces. AccuWeather’s senior vice president of enterprise solutions, Mike Smith, told the organization’s website that the storm could also cause “significant power failures” in certain parts of Oklahoma and Texas.

The Weather Channel reported a quarter of an inch had already built up in Woodward, Oklahoma, on Friday morning, and the entire town of Rockwell City, Iowa, was without power.

The snow has also led to travel delays and accidents throughout the country.

The Minnesota State Patrol had reported 139 crashes as of 9 p.m. Wednesday night, according to WCCO in Minneapolis. At least one of those accidents was fatal and 33 of them caused injuries.

Some motorists became trapped in the snow on roads in southern California, the California Highway Patrol told the Los Angeles Times. Officials in Idaho reported cars slid off roads there.

According to The Weather Channel, the heaviest snowfall was reported in Nevada, where an estimated 25 inches fell near Deeth. More than 20 inches of snow were reported in parts of California and Oregon, and 14 inches were reported Buhl, Idaho and Sinks Canyon, Wyoming.

It wasn’t just the snow that was accumulating, as an NBC News report indicated Dallas-Fort Worth broke its all-time rainfall record with Cara’s precipitation early Friday morning. More than 53 inches of rain have fallen there since the start of the year.

Two Dead, Six Missing in Kentucky Flooding

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has declared a state of emergency after flooding that left two people dead and six people missing.

Severe storms raged through the state dumping inches of rain in just hours over parts of the state already saturated from previous storms.  The flash flooding swept through rural areas, washing away mobile homes and vehicles.

Among the missing is a man being hailed as a hero for saving his father, uncle and sister.  Scott Johnson went back after saving the first three from the flood waters to get his grandmother and a teenage nephew.  He jammed his nephew into a tree before the flood water swept him away along with his grandmother.

The grandmother’s body was found Tuesday.  Johnson is still missing.

“It just wears your legs out to walk,” said Gary McClure, the local emergency management director. “You walk from here to there in that mud and you’re ready to sit down. It just pulls you down.”

The other confirmed death was a 65-year-old man whose SUV was being swept away by flood waters and he tried to exit the vehicle to escape.

Police say that the search area for the missing stretches more than 8 miles through rugged Appalachian Mountains terrain east of Lexington.  Over 500 homes and 1,200 residents live in the area.

The National Guard has been called into the area to help with search and rescue efforts.

The forecast for the region is calling for more rain which officials say has “nowhere to go but roads, homes and yards.”