'Race against time' in Japan floods, 50 feared dead

YATSUSHIRO, Japan - Emergency services in western Japan were "racing against time" on Tuesday to rescue people stranded by devastating floods and landslides, with at least 50 feared dead and more torrential rain forecast.

Japan's Meteorological Agency issued its highest emergency warning level for heavy rain and landslides over vast swathes of the southwestern Kyushu island, with downpours expected until Thursday.

The death toll from the heavy rains that started in the early hours of Saturday is expected to climb. An official in the hardest-hit region of Kumamoto told AFP that 49 were now confirmed dead with one other feared dead.

"We are racing against time," Yutaro Hamasaki, a Kumamoto official, told AFP early Tuesday morning.

"We have not set any deadline or time to end the operation, but we really need to speed up our search as time is running out. We won't give up to the end," Hamasaki vowed.

More than 40,000 personnel, including police and firefighters as well as coast guards and troops, were deployed to rescue people, with around a dozen still unaccounted for.

Rivers overflowing their banks have swept away bridges and turned roads into lakes, making rescue access possible only by raft or helicopter.

Nobuko Murakami, a 78-year-old woman whose house was destroyed by landslides, told local media: "I couldn't sleep as the sound of the rain was deafening. I have lived here for more than 50 years, but I have never seen such heavy rain. I wonder when I can get back home."

Kentaro Oishi, who owns a rafting business in the hot springs resort of Hitoyoshi City, told AFP that the emergency services called him for help and he had swapped tourists for stranded locals.

"I have 20 years of rafting experience, but I never dreamed" of rowing the boat through the city, the veteran paddler told AFP.

"To tell you the truth, I was so scared at first when I saw the water levels rising so rapidly in the river," he said.

'FILLED WITH WATER'

Fourteen of the dead were wheelchair-bound residents of a nursing home unable to escape to higher ground as the waters rose.

A rescue worker who searched the facility told NHK: "The ground floor was filled with water and we couldn't get into it. Some people managed to evacuate to the first floor. I've never experienced anything like this in my life."

Further complicating the evacuation efforts was the fear of spreading the coronavirus.

Compared to many other nations, Japan has been relatively lightly affected by the pandemic, with just under 20,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths.

But the need to maintain social distancing has reduced capacity at evacuation shelters with hundreds of thousands of people under non-compulsory orders to take refuge.

In Yatsushiro city, authorities converted the local sports gymnasium into a shelter, with families separated off by cardboard walls to prevent the spread of the virus.

According to local media, some people were preferring to sleep in their cars rather than risk possible infection at a shelter.

For some local business owners already battered by the coronavirus crisis, the natural disaster has compounded their problems.

Yuji Hashimoto, who runs a tourism bureau in the hot-spring resort in Yatsushiro, one of the flood-hit cities in Kumamoto, told AFP that the "beautiful tourism spot dramatically changed overnight".

"The damage was beyond our imagination. It's literally a bolt from the blue... The disaster is a double-whammy as our hot spring resort was struggling to weather the impact of coronavirus. We don't know what will happen to us next," he said.

Japan is in the middle of its annual rainy season, which frequently unleashes deadly floods and landslides.

Climate change is also playing a role because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, increasing the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.

In 2018, more than 200 people died in devastating floods in the same region of Japan.

Agence France-Presse

At least 265 dead in floods, landslides as rains batter East Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya - Two months of relentless rains have submerged villages and farms and sent rivers of mud crashing into houses across East Africa, with at least 265 killed, according to an AFP tally, as meteorologists warn of more to come.

The extreme downpours have affected close to two million people and washed away tens of thousands of livestock in Kenya, Somalia, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Djibouti and Ethiopia.

With a tropical storm headed for Somalia and more rain forecast across the region in the coming weeks, fears are rising over waterborne diseases and the prospect of hunger as crops are destroyed.

In Burundi, 38 people died on Wednesday night after heavy rains triggered landslides that swept through hillside communities in the northwest of the country, according to a provisional police toll on Thursday.

"It happened in the night, when everyone was at home, and landslides hit three very steep hills and buried everything in their path," a witness told AFP.

"Whole families were buried alive in their homes or in the fields. It was terrifying."

Kenya has been hard hit with 132 killed and 17,000 displaced, schools, roads, and health centers flooded, and water systems clogged across the country, government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said in a statement on Tuesday.

The "weather forecast has indicated that the current rains are not expected to cease until the end of December 2019," the statement said. 

In South Sudan, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said nearly a million people have been affected by floodwaters which submerged whole towns, compounding an already dire humanitarian situation after six years of war. 

Flooding has also affected 570,000 people in Somalia, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The European humanitarian agency ECHO meanwhile warned of a tropical storm due to hit northeastern Somalia on Friday, bringing the threat of more flash floods.

'Multiple landslides'

In Tanzania, 55 people have died, according to an AFP tally of police figures, including 30 in flash floods in the northeast in October, 15 whose car was swept away by floodwaters in the town of Tanga, and 10 who drowned last month in northern Mwanza.

In Uganda, eight people have died and over 80,000 have been displaced by flooding and mudslides this week, Disaster Preparedness Minister Musa Ecweru said in a statement.

Days of heavy rainfall on Mount Elgon on Tuesday caused "multiple landslides in... Bududa district killing four people, injuring five and displacing over 6,000 people".

In Sironko district, also on Mount Elgon, "two adults and two children were killed" and over 4,000 people affected.

"The risk of more flooding and landslides is real," the minister warned.

Ethiopia has also been affected, with 22 people dying in a landslide in the south of the country in October.

Djibouti has also experienced unusually heavy rains, with a joint government and United Nations press statement reporting that some areas received "the equivalent of 2 years of rainfall occurred in one day" in heavy downpours two weeks ago.

"Some 10 people (7 children) have reportedly been killed," said the statement, adding that 250,000 were affected countrywide.

Warm Indian Ocean waters to blame

The extreme weather is blamed on the Indian Ocean Dipole -- a climate system defined by the difference in sea surface temperature between the western and eastern areas of the ocean.

At the moment, the ocean around East Africa is far warmer than usual, resulting in higher evaporation and moist air flowing inwards over the continent as rain: the hallmarks of a "positive" dipole.

Scientists say the strength of this dipole is of a magnitude not seen in years, perhaps even decades.

These waters around East Africa have been about two degrees warmer than those of the eastern Indian Ocean near Australia -- an imbalance well beyond the norm. 

The heavy rains have also wrought destruction in central Africa, with scores killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including 41 in the capital Kinshasa last week.

In the Central African Republic, OCHA says around 100,000 people have been displaced.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

World condoles with Philippines after Ompong devastation

MANILA -  The international community and global organizations have sent their sympathies to the Philippines following the devastation of Typhoon Ompong (international name: Mangkhut) over the weekend.

Ompong, the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, left at least 74 people dead and dozens other trapped after a landslide buried an emergency shelter in Itogon, Benguet.

AUSTRALIA

Australia said it was giving A$800,000 (P31 million) in humanitarian assistance for victims of Ompong. 

The aid will be distributed through the Philippine Red Cross and includes sleeping mats, blankets, and hygiene and shelter kits for up to 25,000 people in typhoon-ravaged areas.

CANADA

Canada on Tuesday extended its condolences to the Philippines, saying it is "ready to assist as appropriate to help areas affected."

“Our thoughts are with the many people affected by super typhoon Mangkhut (local name Ompong), which is causing significant devastation in the Philippines and is now hitting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland southern China," Global Affairs Canada said.

"Canada offers its sincerest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives, and we hope for a swift recovery for those injured," it added.

CHINA

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday told President Rodrigo Duterte that Beijing was mourning the fatalities due to Ompong's devastation.

In his message to the Philippine leader released by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, Xi said China shared the sadness of the Philippine people over their sufferings and is willing to help as much as possible.

Xi also expressed sympathy for those injured, bereaved families and residents in affected areas.

Ompong also ripped through southern China after roaring through northern Luzon. 

JAPAN

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a message of condolences to Duterte following Ompong's onslaught, Japan's foreign ministry said.

"On behalf of the Japanese government and people, I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families, and express my sympathy to those who were affected," Abe told Duterte in a message last Saturday, Sept. 15. 

The Japanese leader added that Tokyo was ready to provide the "maximum possible assistance including provision of emergency relief goods to the Philippines."

"Like the Philippines, we fully understand the hardship caused by severe damages of typhoons. Japan always stands with the Philippines in overcoming this time of difficulties," Abe said.

Japan was devastated earlier this month by the strongest typhoon to hit the mainland in a quarter century. 

 EUROPEAN UNION


The European Commission is sending an emergency aid package
worth €2 million (P125.06 million).

“Our contribution will help provide crucial support to those most in need and help them face the challenges during this time of need," said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides in a statement.

The EU said the aid will be used for shelter, emergency relief items distribution, water and sanitation, food security and humanitarian protection for victims of the typhoon.

UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom said it was coordinating with the Philippine government in assessing the damage left by Ompong and offered its assistance.

"We offer our assistance to the Philippine Government in response to Typhoon Ompong, and are actively assessing needs in cooperation with DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and OCD (Office of Civil Defense), and international partners," its embassy in Manila said in a tweet.

UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt added that London was "ready to support the Philippines in its relief effort."

 UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations World Food Program said Sunday it would transport 20,000 bags of rice to be distributed as rations to victims of the typhoon.

"The rice is transported from the National Food Authority in Valenzuela to the DSWD National Resource Operations Center," it said in a statement.

The agency added that it would also help in assessing the food security situation in areas badly-hit by the typhoon, namely the Cagayan Valley and Cordillera Administrative Region.

UNITED STATES

US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said Washington was in close contact with Manila and remains ready to assist victims of the deadly typhoon.

"My thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones in the flooding and landslides from Ompong. We are in close contact with the Government of the Philippines, and remain ready to assist," Kim said in a tweet Sunday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

At least 64 killed in Japan after 'unprecedented' rain, dozens missing

TOKYO -- The death toll from unprecedented rains in Japan rose to at least 64 on Sunday after rivers burst their banks and forced several million people from their homes, media reports said, with more rain set to hit some areas for at least another day.

Torrential rains pounded some parts of western Japan with three times the usual precipitation for a normal July and set off landslides and sent rivers surging over their banks, trapping many people in their houses or on rooftops.

"We've never experienced this kind of rain before," an official at the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) told a news conference. "This is a situation of extreme danger."

At least 64 people were killed and 44 missing, national broadcaster NHK said after the death toll had been put at 49 overnight. Among the missing was a 9-year-old boy believed trapped in his house by a landslide that killed at least three others, one of them a man in his 80s.

"All I have is what I'm wearing," a rescued woman clutching a toy poodle told NHK television.

"We had fled to the second floor but then the water rose more, so we went up to the third floor," she said.

Japan's government set up an emergency management centre at the prime minister's office and some 54,000 rescuers from the military, police and fire departments were dispatched across a wide swath of southwestern and western Japan.

"There are still many people missing and others in need of help, we are working against time," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

Emergency warnings for severe rain remained in effect for three prefectures, with 11 inches predicted to fall by Monday morning in parts of the smallest main island of Shikoku.

Evacuation orders remained in place for some 2 million people and another 2.3 million were advised to evacuate, although rain had stopped and floodwaters receded in some areas. Landslide warnings were issued in more than a quarter of the nation's prefectures.

'POURING DOWN'

"My husband couldn't make it home from work since the road was flooded, and since it was pouring down rain I didn't have enough courage to walk to an evacuation center with two infants after dark," one woman wrote on Twitter, without giving further details.

The rain began late last week as the remnants of a typhoon fed into a seasonal rainy front, with humid, warm air pouring in from the Pacific making it still more active - a pattern similar to one that set off flooding in southwestern Japan exactly a year ago that killed dozens. The front then remained in one place for an unusually long time, the JMA said.

Roads were closed and train services suspended in parts of western Japan. Shinkansen bullet train services, resumed on a limited schedule after they were suspended on Friday.

Automakers including Mazda Motor Corp. and Daihatsu Diesel Manufacturing Co. suspended operations at several plants on Saturday due to a shortage of parts or dangerous conditions. They were set to decide later on Sunday on plans for the coming week.

Electronics maker Panasonic Corp. said one plant in Okayama, western Japan, could not be reached due to road closures, although it had been closed for the weekend anyway. A decision about next week would be made on Monday.

While the Japanese government monitors weather conditions closely and issues warnings from an early stage, the fact that much of the country outside major cities is mountainous and building takes place on virtually every bit of usable land leaves it vulnerable to disasters.

Reforestation policies after World War II that saw many mountains logged and replanted with trees whose roots are less able to retain water have also contributed to the danger. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Indonesia hit by severe flooding Beawiharta, Reuters

A man carries his belonging as he wades through floodwaters in Jatinegara district, Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday. Indonesia was hit by severe flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains, killing 13 people.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

26 dead, 19 missing in Indonesian landslides, floods: official

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The death toll from devastating floods and landslides in Indonesia has risen to 26, an official said Thursday, with hopes fading for 19 others still missing.

Aid has begun pouring into Garut in the west of Indonesia's main island of Java, where 23 people died and 18 remain missing after torrential rain and fast-rising floods swept through the region, the national disaster agency said.

Receding flood waters revealed scenes of destruction, with houses reduced to rubble and upturned cars and debris strewn throughout muddy streets.

Among the dead or missing are more than a dozen children under 12 years of age, though several have yet to be formally identified, the agency said.

Relief teams and army personnel have moved into Garut to search for those still missing, while drones are assessing the scale of destruction from the air, disaster agency head Willem Rampangilei said in a statement.

"There is plenty of food and clean water available. The community is also helping out," Rampangilei said, adding that a disaster report had been sent to President Joko Widodo.

Temporary shelters and makeshift kitchens have been established to assist the estimated 430 people left homeless, with blankets and clothing being trucked in by emergency crews.

Elsewhere in West Java, emergency crews were still searching for one person missing in the wake of a massive landslide in Sumedang district that killed three others, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.

An avalanche of mud, rock and water tore through a village in Sumedang late Tuesday without warning, flattening homes and a mosque and burying people beneath rubble.

Landslides and flooding are common in Indonesia, a vast tropical archipelago prone to natural disasters and torrential downpours.

The country's disaster agency has warned people to be alert for disasters this wet season as a La Nina weather phenomenon threatens unseasonably heavy rain.

In June nearly 50 people died when heavy downpours sent torrents of water, mud and rock surging into villages in Central Java, another densely-populated province on Indonesia's main island.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

At least 350 dead as landslide hits Afghan villages

MAZAR-I-SHARIF - A landslide in northern Afghanistan killed at least 350 people on Friday, officials said, with hundreds also feared missing as a major rescue operation was launched to find survivors in villages buried under mud.

The first emergency teams on the scene in Badakhshan province started digging through rocks and dirt as local authorities, the United Nations and the NATO-led military force raced to assess the damage and provide help.

"The number of deceased has increased to 350," the UN mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.

"A response is being mobilised for those who survived but were displaced, with some partners already on the ground.

"(NATO's) Regional Command in the north in contact with the Afghan National Army in regards to search and rescue efforts."

Badakhshan is a remote province in northeast Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan, China and Pakistan.

"It is a disaster. The landslide has affected around 1,000 families," Sayed Abdullah Homayun Dehqan, provincial director of the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority, told AFP.

"Around 300 families are missing, that could involve around 2,000 people. The people are working to remove the rocks, so far three bodies have been recovered.

"Around 700 families were rescued, we have sent in some basic assistance such as tents and blankets."

US President Barack Obama expressed his condolences over the disaster, saying "our thoughts are with the people of Afghanistan who have experienced an awful tragedy."

"We stand ready to help our Afghan partners as they respond to this disaster," Obama said at a joint press conference in Washington with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The UN said that it was helping to coordinate local authorities to rescue those still trapped, but that road access to the area could not take heavy machinery.

"About 350 to 400 houses were destroyed in Argo district as a result of heavy rains that triggered landslides," Badakhshan province deputy governor Gul Mohammad Baidaar told AFP.

Severe flooding

The disaster follows recent severe flooding in other parts of northern Afghanistan, with 150 people dead and 67,000 people affected by floods in Jowzjan, Faryab and Sar-e-Pul provinces.

"With nearly 3,500 houses reported damaged and destroyed the caseload in need of shelter continues to grow," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday.

It said clean water, medical supplies, food and shelter were needed immediately as relief efforts were stepped up after days of torrential rain.

The floodwaters swept through villages, engulfing thousands of homes and leaving many people seeking safety on the roofs of their mud-brick houses.

The floods destroyed farmland and also killed livestock across the remote region.

Flooding often occurs during the spring rainy season in northern Afghanistan, with flimsy mud houses offering little protection against rising water levels.

Two weeks ago, a landslide triggered by heavy rains and a small earthquake swept through two villages in the northern province of Takhar, killing four people and destroying around 100 houses.

In the last major flooding in Afghanistan, 40 people died in August in flash floods in eastern and southeastern provinces and some districts of the capital Kabul.

Neighbouring Pakistan suffered the worst floods in its history in 2010 when almost 1,800 people died and 21 million people were affected.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

5,000 cut off in landslide as Japan faces more floods

Troops Sunday airlifted supplies to thousands of people cut off by landslides and torrential downpours that have killed at least 24 in southwest Japan as meteorologists warned of further heavy rain.

Television footage showed soldiers loading food, water and medical supplies onto military helicopters to send them to mountainous areas in Yame, Fukuoka prefecture on Kyushu island.

Local authorities were separately dispatching rescue helicopters to take patients and elderly villagers to hospital from the isolated area, where at least one person was killed, officials said.

More than 5,440 people have been cut off since late Saturday as landslides and fallen trees have blocked roads and water supplies in the region which has been hit by unprecedented rainfall since Wednesday.

"We will continue sending emergency rations to people there as it is still unknown when we can secure access to the area," said Kayo Shinohara, a spokeswoman for Yame City government.

"We are trying to do our best to remove rubble as soon as possible," the spokeswoman told AFP by phone.

Rescue operations resumed early Sunday in other affected areas of Kyushu, where at least eight people were still missing after a total of 24 people were confirmed dead in landslides or floods, officials said.

Public broadcaster NHK showed rescuers using heavy machinery to remove uprooted trees, boulders and debris, while residents scooped mud out of their houses with shovels.

Some 3,600 people remained ordered or advised to leave their homes as at least 2,800 houses were flooded, NHK said, after local authorities lifted similar advice to some 400,000 others by Sunday morning.

The weather eased somewhat Sunday bringing temporary relief, but the Japan Meteorological Agency warned of more heavy rain, landslides and floods on the main southern island of Kyushu.

"A peak of heavy rain in northern Kyushu has passed, but there is fear that driving rain with thunder may hit northern Kyushu as warm and humid air is flowing to the rain front," the agency said.

"Please be vigilant of damage from landslides and floods as part of the ground has already softened and water is still overflowing from rivers because of record rainfalls," it said.

Rainfall of up to 81.7 centimetres (32.2 inches) has been recorded in hardest-hit Aso, situated at the foot of a volcano, where at least 18 people were killed and four others were still missing.

Television footage showed torrents of muddy, debris-strewn water and flooded houses following what officials described as "unprecedented" downpours from a seasonal rain front.

Heavy rainfall was also monitored in Kyoto, some 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of the affected areas in Kyushu, on Sunday, flooding more than 20 houses, news reports said.

About 20 people were temporarily trapped in the city as stream broke a river bank following rainfall of nine centimetres per hour, but they were later rescued safely, the reports added.

source: interaksyon.com

Over 100 killed in worst Russian floods, landslides in 70 years

MOSCOW - Floods and landslides killed at least 103 people in southern Russia after two months' average rainfall fell in a few hours, forcing some to climb on to roofs and into trees to save themselves, police said on Saturday.

Many victims were elderly people who were asleep in the town of Krymsk when the storm broke in the agricultural region of Krasnodar overnight.

They drowned as the torrential rain turned hilly streets into driving torrents and water rose above head-height in what one official called the worst flooding for 70 years.

Five people were electrocuted when an electric transformer fell into the water in the coastal resort of Gelendzhik and some victims were swept out to sea.

The flooding damaged thousands of homes, blocked railways and roads, and halted oil and grain shipments from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.

"There are lots of overturned cars, even huge trucks. Brick walls have been washed away," said Vladimir Anosov, a resident of the village of Novoukrainsky near Krymsk, a town surrounded by mountains about 300 km (190 miles) northwest of Sochi where Russia will host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

"People are on the street, they are at a loss what to do. Helicopters are flying overhead, they are evacuating people from the flooded areas. The floods are really, really huge," he said by telephone.

Russian news agencies said President Vladimir Putin was expected to visit the region to inspect the damage and meet residents, some of whom criticized the rescue operations.

It was not immediately clear what the impact might be on the grain harvest, an important part of the regional and national economy.

"We found several streets with corpses covered in canvas. People there are in shock. They keep on mumbling that they had not been warned ... There are lots of Emergencies Ministry staff, but they are struggling to cope with the disaster," a reporter on Krasnodar's 9 TV channel said.

Novorossiisk, Russia's largest Black Sea port, halted crude oil shipments, a spokesman for oil pipeline operator Transneft said. The port also suspended grain exports.

Police put the death toll in the Krymsk area alone at 92 and said two had been killed in Novorossiisk and nine in Gelendzhik.

HOLIDAY DESTINATION

"Police are beefing up their presence to prevent mass looting," police spokesman Igor Zhelyabin said.

"The floods hit at night when people were asleep. You can't do anything about that. Many people in Gelendzhik were hit by electric shocks and some of them were washed away into the sea."

The Krasnodar region, with its coastline and high, wooded mountains, is a popular holiday destination for Russians, particularly Gelendzhik. The holiday season has just began, but it was not clear whether any tourists had been killed.

The State Hydrometeorology Agency said more rain was possible on Saturday and Sunday and Alexander Tkachov, the governor of the Krasnodar region, urged people not to panic.

"No one can remember such floods in our history. There was nothing of the kind for the last 70 years. More than 5,000 households were hit," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

Transneft spokesman Igor Dyomin said regional transport was in a state of collapse, and all trains heading to and from Novorossiisk were suspended.

"The water has risen half a meter above the rails," Russian Railways said on its website.

The Novorossiisk port, which handles grains and metals as well as crude oil, said the outlet had cut shipping volumes.

"We are not loading grain due to the rainy weather," port spokesman Mikhail Sidorov said.

"Of course, we have limited shipments. The port is located in the lower part of town, the whole landslide has moved towards it. As we speak, the rain has started again."

Last month Transneft forecast crude exports from Novorossiisk would fall to 3.38 million metric tonnes (3.72 million tons) in July from 3.61 million metric tonnes in June.

source: interaksyon.com