floods – Infinite Unknown

Germany: Melting Snow Floods Rivers

January 10, 2011 by Infinite

See also:

– Water Levels Stabilize along Rhine, Mosel Rivers (Spiegel Online)

– German cities flooded after thaw (BBC News)

– Winter thaw swells German rivers after weekend deaths (Deutsche Welle)

The area around the statue of German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm is flooded where the rivers Rhine and Mosel meet at the “Deutsche Eck” in Koblenz, Germany, Monday, Jan.10,2010. Melting snow and rain cause floodings along various rivers all over Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (Michael Probst – AP)

BERLIN — Mild temperatures melted record December snowfalls across Germany, causing rivers from the Rhine in the west to the Oder in the east to burst their banks, flooding fields and towns, turning streets into waterways, and leaving one person feared dead.

Officials were watching flood levels on the Rhine river in the city of Koblenz on Monday that were expected to peak at 25 feet, 4 inches (7 meters, 70 centimeters), and some low-lying parts of the city were under water.

200,000 Australians Affected By Floods Covering Larger Area Than France And Germany

January 1, 2011 by Infinite

See also:

– Australian floods send coal prices soaring (Telegraph)

– Australian floodwaters rise as bushfire threat looms (The Guardian)

Some 200,000 Australians have been affected by flood waters covering an area larger than France and Germany combined.

An aerial image showing properties hit by floodwaters in Emerald, Queensland Photo: EPA

Military aircraft dropped supplies to towns cut off by floods as rising rivers inundated or isolated 22 towns in the state of Queensland.

Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister, visited flooded Bundaberg, and flew over Emerald, as she promised that families whose homes were damaged would be eligible for disaster relief payments. On Thursday, she pledged about £650,000 in federal aid to match a relief fund already set up by the state government.

The Queen meanwhile extended her “sincere sympathies” to those hit by the floods.

Officials say half of Queensland’s 715,305 square miles is affected, after being hit by as much as 24 inches of rain this month, causing swollen rivers to overflow.

Pakistan: Floods threaten third-largest dam

August 4, 2010August 4, 2010 by Infinite

Update:

– Mass evacuations as flood threatens to destroy dam (Independent):

Rising water levels were last night threatening one of Pakistan’s largest dams, forcing the authorities to evacuate more people even as raging floods surged south into the country’s heartland, destroying communities and ruining livelihoods. Officials in the country’s north-west said unprecedented flooding had caused the water level at Warsak Dam near Peshawar to soar, already prompting the voluntary evacuation of some of the city’s residents and forcing the authorities to draw up plans to move those who sought to stay. “If needed, forced evacuation will be started,” said Adnan Khan of the Disaster Management Authority of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Even while waters recede in some parts of the north-west, it is far from clear that the country’s misery is over. Aid agencies estimate more than 3.2m people have now been affected by the nation’s most severe floods in recent history and the water that has caused such chaos is now reportedly moving south, sweeping into Punjab province.

Residents evacuated from outskirts of Peshawar as aid agencies warn disease could become biggest killer in floods

Floods in Pakistan destroyed houses in a village near Charsadda. (AFP/Getty Images)

Further rainfall and rising water levels threatened Pakistan’s third-largest dam as relief officials warned that disease could become the biggest killer in the country’s most destructive floods in more than 30 years.

Officials asked residents in the northern outskirts of Peshawar, in north-west Pakistan, to leave their homes as water levels rose at the Warsak dam. “If needed, forced evacuation will be started,” said Adnan Khan, a spokesman for the disaster management authority of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province.

River gorges flowing from the north-west began to flood villages in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province and home to many of its biggest farms. About 3,000 people were marooned in the Kot Addu area of southern Punjab after the water breached a flood bank, forcing the army to evacuate people using boats and helicopters.

The sudden surge surprised Fateh Mohammad and his family. “We just ran away with our children, leaving behind everything. All our possessions are drowned in the water. We have nothing,” he told Reuters.

Abdul Sami Malik, of Unicef, said: “What we have heard from Punjab is that 50,000 people have already been displaced and 200,000 people are being evacuated from Sindh.”