Homes destroyed as twin cyclones slam into northern Australia

SYDNEY - A powerful cyclone slammed into northeast Australia on Friday, destroying homes, upending trees, cutting power lines and causing flash floods, while a second storm severed communications to a northern island where heavy damage was expected.

Tens of thousands took what shelter they could as Cyclone Marcia caught Queensland state almost unawares, gathering strength in just a few hours before making landfall midmorning as a category 5 system - the highest rating.

Emergency services scrambled to evacuate thousands of homes in the direct path of Marcia before pulling out and warning anyone who had not left to barricade themselves inside to avoid wind gusts peaking at 285 kph (177 mph).

Rail lines to coastal ports, an essential part of Queensland's A$280 billion ($218 billion) commodities export-driven economy, were brought to a standstill.

"Stay indoors, take the safest room in the home and let the storm pass," Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Assistant Commissioner John Watson told media after the storm passed over the coastal city of Rockhampton, home to 75,000 people, and headed south towards Australia's third-largest city, Brisbane.

There were no reports of deaths or injuries and meteorologists said the worst of the winds had eased by evening and downgraded the cyclone to a category 2. But authorities warned heavy rains and flooding were likely to continue for several days and extend inland.

Some 48,000 homes were left without power, Watson added, broken power lines and flooding leaving some areas too dangerous for energy companies to begin repairs.

SUGAR, COAL AT RISK

More than 10 percent of Australia's sugar crop was at risk from Marcia, an industry body warned. The world's No. 3 exporter of raw sugar is set to produce 4.6 million tons of the commodity in 2015.

BHP Billiton suspended rail lines hauling coal from its inland collieries to the massive Hay Point shipping terminal until further notice.

Marcia's forecast trajectory indicated the impact on coal mining was expected to be less severe than in 2011, when Queensland missed its annual coal export target by 40 million tons after storms dumped unprecedented amounts of rain into pits.

The latest data supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology showed Marcia moving inland rather than directly impacting the Gladstone industrial hub, where Rio Tinto operates Australia's largest aluminum smelter.

Emergency service officials in the neighboring Northern Territory were beginning to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Lam that made landfall in the remote region east of Darwin.

The category 4 storm hit near the settlement of Ramingining, where residents were beginning to emerge to inspect the damage. Communications had been cut with tiny Elcho Island, which was believed to have experienced widespread damage, Northern Territory police said.

By evening, Lam had been downgraded to a tropical low but continued to dump heavy rain across the north as it moved southwest.

It was also looming as a gloomy weekend for sports fans, with torrential rains from Marcia likely to force a halt to Australia's second World Cup cricket match against Bangladesh scheduled to be played in Brisbane on Saturday.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

At least 99 killed in southern Russia floods disaster

MOSCOW -- Severe flash floods in Russia's southern Krasnodar region have killed at least 99 people and affected nearly 13,000 in the area's worst natural disaster in decades, officials said Saturday.

Residents were caught completely by surprise by the force of the waters, which ripped up paving and traffic lights and flooded the ground floors of houses within minutes, witnesses and officials said.

One woman reportedly had to spend a night up a tree before being rescued from the floods caused by exceptionally heavy rainstorms.

In the district of Krymsk, the area worst hit by the disaster, officials had already discovered 88 bodies including that of a 10-year-old child, regional police spokesman Igor Zhelyabin told AFP.

Officials have not been able to explain the large number of deaths, except by saying that the disaster struck while residents were asleep.

"Everything happened at night and very quickly," the regional administration said in a statement.

Zhelyabin declined to speculate on the reasons behind the massive toll, saying Moscow-based investigators were conducting a probe.

The Russian Internet was abuzz with speculation that people died in a man-made catastrophe resulting from an open sluice gate at a water reservoir.

Authorities denied the reports.

"Unfortunately, the rumour mills works much faster than the official information," a spokeswoman for the regional governor, Anna Minkova, said on popular Echo of Moscow radio.

"No water reservoir, no gate has been opened," she said, adding that the district did not have a reservoir that might have caused the flooding.

Nine people were reported killed in the Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik and another two in the port of Novorossiisk over the past two days, Zhelyabin said.

The victims included two woman and three men electrocuted in Gelendzhik on Friday. The authorities said they had to switch off power in the worst-affected areas to avoid more deaths.

Tatyana, a resident of Krymsk whose house, perched on a hill, was not affected by the floods, said the disaster struck unexpectedly.

"The water rose very quickly," she told AFP by phone, declining to give her last name.

"It flooded people's ground floors in five to 10 minutes, ripped out pavement kerbs and even pieces of asphalt," she said.

Local people had received no warning from the emergency services, she added.

"Many elderly people must have been asleep and probably died," she said.

"In the morning, there were boats on the neighbouring street. A woman spent the night in a tree and then was rescued."

The resort town of Gelendzhik received five months' worth of rain in 24 hours, the regional administration said.

Novorossiisk, Russia's largest port on the Black Sea, received two month's worth of rain in 24 hours.

A team had worked through the night to bring the situation under control in the port, port spokesman Mikhail Sidorov said.

"In some places the water level reached 1.5 metres (five feet)," he told AFP.

The floods and a landslide had affected the port's operations and pipeline operator Transneft had informed management that it would halt shipments of crude oil, he added.

"Vladimir Putin is regularly receiving information about the state of affairs in Kuban from the health, emergencies situations and regional development," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Krasnodar governor Alexander Tkachev said he had spoken by phone to both President Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and pledged everything would be done to help those affected by the floods.

"Of course, it came as a shock to us," he said. "We've never had this before."

In remarks broadcast on television, he expressed the hope that residents would not resort to looting.

"You can see from the air that the water in Gelendzhik has nearly died down but something unimaginable is happening in Krymsk," Tkachev said on Twitter as he toured the flood-hit areas.

"A rescue operation is ongoing. More bodies are being discovered," Zhelyabin said, adding he feared the death toll could still rise.

Earlier, the Krasnodar regional authorities said this was the worst flooding to hit the region in a decade.

"Non-stop rain has turned several districts of the region into an emergency zone," they said in a statement, with the floods affecting the homes of nearly 13,000 people.

source: interaksyon.com

Rains, floods leave 10 dead, 43 more missing

MANILA, Philippines -- Even before Storm "Butchoy" entered the Philippine area of responsibility, rains triggered by it already left at least 10 people dead and 43 more missing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported.

The NDRRMC said two more bodies were retrieved from the ill-fated MV Josielle 2 that sank off El Nido, Palawan Tuesday night, bringing the death toll to seven.

One of the fatalities was identified as Juanito Tito. Fatalities were also reported in Sarangani and Davao City due to flashfloods and landslides.

In Sarangani, the number of missing went down to 37 from yesterday's 58. Many of the reported missing have been rescued in the towns of Glan and Maasim, their names not yet immediately available.

The total number of missing from the rains are 43, including three more missing from the sunken vessel and three others missing in Bgy. Buenavista, Surigao City from a capsized boat.

Rains have affected 4,200 families or over 20,000 persons from six provinces in Luzon and Mindanao.

Of these numbers, 266 families are housed in evacuation centers.

The Office of Civil Defense in Bicol and Caraga are already placed on heightened or blue alert due to the approaching storm.

The NDRRMC reported that the Kalinga-Abra Road, particularly the Talalang Section has been closed to traffic due to a landslide. Clearing operations are ongoing at this time.

The NDRRMC again reiterated its warning to fishermen against going out to sea due to huge waves.

State weather bureau PAGASA said the seaboards of Luzon and the western seaboard of Visayas will have moderate to rough seas and warned against small fishing boats and other small seacrafts against going out to sea.

source: interaksyon.com

As residents slept, flash floods entered homes, killing 180 in Mindanao

A storm slashing through the southern Philippines has triggered flash floods and landslides that have killed nearly 180 people and forced about 100,000 from their homes, government and army officials say.

"Most were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes," Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said. "This is the worst flooding our city has experienced in years."

Tropical Storm Sendong, with winds gusting up to 90km/h, hit Mindanao late on Friday and swept across the island, bringing heavy rain that also grounded domestic flights and left wide areas without power.

In Iligan City, which is usually spared the disastrous consequences of passing storms, residents were apparently caught by surprise despite warnings of the approaching storm. Officials said Saturday morning that they couldn't recall the last time such a powerful flood smashed into their city.

Photos sent in by YouScoopers showed cars piled on top of each other, scenes that recalled the epic Typhoon Ondoy in Manila in 2009.



Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said emergency workers had recovered 97 bodies, most of them children, who drowned in floods in Cagayan de Oro City. Seventy-five people drowned in Iligan City. The national disaster agency said five miners were also buried in a landslide.

"I can't explain how these things happened, entire villages were swept to the sea by flash floods," Galon told Reuters, saying the death toll could rise as hundreds of people were unaccounted for.

"I have not seen anything like this before. This could be worse than Ondoy," he said.

Television images showed bodies covered in mud, piles of cars and wrecked bridges and homes. Helicopters and boats searched the sea for survivors and victims.

Rescue boats pulled at least 15 people from the sea, another army spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, told reporters.

Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise when water rose one meter high in less than an hour, forcing people onto roofs.

"Most of them were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes," he said. "This is the worst flooding our city has experienced in years.

The national disaster agency said it could not estimate crop and property damage because emergency workers, including soldiers and police officers, were evacuating families and recovering casualties.

The social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to more than a dozen shelters in the two cities.

Six domestic flights of Cebu Pacific were cancelled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people. — Reuters, HS, GMA News

source:gmanetwork.com