Mickeys

Tons of relief aid and a helicopter carrying rescuers have been dispatched to the region, Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Tarsis Kabwegyere said on Wednesday.

Rescuers clawed through mud in driving rain in a desperate bid to find survivors from a huge landslide feared to have killed hundreds in villages in eastern Uganda.

At least 80 bodies have already been found on the slopes of Mount Elgon and at least 300 people are missing in the villages.

More torrential rain fell as rescuers dug through the mud with spades and and tools as mechanical diggers could not get up the slopes. Army helicopters flew up medical supplies to treat the injured.

After days of heavy rain, the mudslide engulfed the villages near the Uganda-Kenya border late on Monday.

Olyamboka Sam was praying when the disaster struck.

“I was in the church when I saw the landslide coming carrying stones and trees. Everyone was running from the church,” said Sam, who was being treated for a fractured arm at a hospital in Bududa, the nearest town.

The 24-year-old man told how he saw two women, two children and a man carried away to their deaths. Other survivors said the mudslide moved so fast that victims had no chance to escape.

Teams from UN agencies were heading for the stricken villages on Mount Elgon with food and other relief items.

The Uganda Red Cross said 80 bodies had been recovered that at least 300 people were missing after the wall of mud came down the hills near Mount Elgon.

“The situation is really very terrible,” said Bududa district Vice Chairman Geofrey Natubu “People fear there are actually 300 who have died.”

“It is raining quite heavily right now, so the place is becoming impossible to reach,” he added.

Doctors and paramedics at Bududa hospital struggled to cope with the numbers of injured survivors.

Namasa Elina, 18 said she believed 11 members of her family were engulfed by the racing heaps of earth.

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Britain remains in the grip of wintry weather with travellers facing more delays, although the worst of the big freeze seems to be over for now.

Trucks are stuck along the A20 motorway to Greifswald as snowdrifts block the road, near the northern German town of Guetzkow, January 10, 2010. Snow and freezing weather swept parts of Europe on Saturday causing travel chaos for thousands and forecasters predicted no let-up in Britain's harshest cold snap in 30 years.

Many parts of the country have had snow flurries but with above-freezing temperatures in most areas the situation on the ground was set to improve.

Milder weather on Sunday and lighter than expected snowfalls increased the chances of getting transport networks back to normal and resuming full deliveries of food.

Hundreds of schools that were forced to shut last week were also reopening today ahead of a crucial exam period for many students.

Most of inland England will see maximum temperatures of around 2C today, rising to 3C or 4C in the far south west.

Scotland is due to fare a bit better, up to 3C inland and up to 6C on the far north coast.

But temperatures will remain freezing at night for the foreseeable future, with another band of snow forecast for many parts tomorrow.

Eurostar services are suffering another day of restrictions following last week’s train breakdown.

Villagers sledge down a snow covered hill in Priston on January 9 2010, near Bath, England. Britain is continuing to be gripped by the Arctic weather and forecasters are predicting more snow in the next 24hrs and that the cold spell could last for at least another week.

Several rail routes are affected, with Chiltern Trains saying London-bound trains were unable to call at Rickmansworth because of weather damage caused to the platform.

Southeastern, which serves Kent, south London and East Sussex, said some services would have fewer carriages because several trains had been damaged by the icy weather.

In the air, budget airline easyJet said it had cancelled a number of flights to and from Gatwick Airport today.

British Airways said the weather was continuing to disrupt services. It is offering passengers due to fly from Gatwick or Heathrow the chance to rebook their flights.

All the UK’s main airports were open but passengers are advised to check with their airlines before travelling.

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More than 10,000 starfish have died after being washed on to a beach along the Norfolk coast during a storm.

Starfish are abundant in the Atlantic where they feed on mussels and crustaceans

The creatures are thought to have gathered in the shallows to feed on mussels, before being swept ashore during high tide.

Nigel Croasdale, from Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary, told The Times the starfish would have only survived for a few hours without water.

“This type of thing may happen once a year, depending on the weather,” he said.

“When the tide returns, the bodies are usually washed back into the sea.”

A local resident described the scene on the beach as “a starfish graveyard”.

Starfish feed by pushing their mouths out of their stomachs and digesting other sea creatures using enzymes.

If they lose one of their five arms they have the ability to grow it back.

taken from SkyNews

At least 17 people have died after a massive winter storm buried central parts of the United States under ice and snow.

Snow storms hit US

Scores of motorists were left stranded as snow drifts as high as 15ft shut down major roads.

“This has been a really big season opening storm,” National Weather Service spokesman Pat Slattery said.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and schools closed after freezing rain that preceded the snow created hazardous conditions.

Blizzard warnings were issued across the Midwest, as the storm moved east across the country after pounding Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona.

It is expected to move across the Great Lakes into Canada, sparing much of the East Coast.

But flash flood warnings have been issued for the Mississippi and Tennessee River valleys and mid-Atlantic and south east states due to heavy rains from the southern part of the system.

Officials have told people to stay at home where possible or pack an emergency kit of blankets, food and water if they have to drive.

“It may be a while for somebody to find you, if you get hung up,” Mr Slattery warned.

The National Guard was called in to help in Iowa, where stranded motorists waited for two hours to be rescued after the state was blanketed by up to 16 inches of snow.

“We are snowed in. It’s not good,” said Courtney Green, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

“It’s bitterly, bitterly cold. It’s just been gusting all day. When you have the volume of snow and the high winds, there are just huge drifts.”

Snow plows were pulled off the roads for part of Wednesday because visibility was so poor and the conditions so extreme that they were failing to make a difference, Ms Green said.

Wisconsin declared a state of emergency, shut down government offices and also called in the National Guard after the storm dumped up to 17 inches of snow across the state.

taken from SkyNews

The Cumbrian town of Workington has been cut in two as the flood-hit county continues to struggle against treacherous bridges and dwindling supplies.

The final surviving bridge was closed after it sank around a foot and a large crack appeared in the central arch.

The closure of the Calva Bridge comes after the Northside Bridge collapsed on Friday killing PC Bill Barker and a footpath named the Navvies was also swept away.

An urgent investigation into the safety of all 1,800 bridges in Cumbria has begun.

But until replacement bridges are built or existing structures are deemed safe the north side of the town and outlying villages are cut off and face running out of basic goods.

Sky’s Mike McCarthy visited a store and petrol station and found there was no bread, milk or fuel.

“The kinds of places that are suffering now are the ones that are out of the way,” he said.

“There’s small local, communities on both sides of the bridge in Workington and as the new working weeks starts it’s these small villages and hamlets dotted about Cumbria which are really feeling the strain.”

There were fears if the Calva Bridge fell power would be lost because electricity lines run across it. But United Utilities have “re-zoned” electricity so it should not have an effect.

Other parts of Britain are being affected by the severe weather.

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Johannesburg – There is a strong possibility some areas in Johannesburg may experience floods following the rainy week, the city’s emergency services warned on Friday.

“Low-lying areas have been a challenge in the past and it is expected that they may experience flooding during this rainy weather,” Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Percy Morokane said.

Areas at risk were those around the Klipriver system in Soweto, areas between the West Rand’s river system and the northern suburbs, including Dainfern, Diepsloot, Alexandra and Woodmead.

“We are calling for people who experience problems to call 10177. They must make sure they have a proper evacuation plan should their houses be flooded.”

He appealed to parents to keep an eye on their children.

“Kids are kids, they may want to experiment with water. Last month we had incidents involving kids. Parents and guardians should regularly talk to children about water safety.

“Most importantly, people must watch or listen to weather reports for regular updates.”

taken from News24

Durban – Heavy flooding has caused several roads to close in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday, the provincial road traffic inspectorate (RTI) said.

Howick waterfall

Roads were closed due to heavy rains and flooding around the province, spokesperson Bhekisisa Ncube said.

“In Port Shepstone flooding has caused road P200 to be closed. It is reported that the bridge is flooded. Traffic is being diverted to the R620.”

At Batstones Bridge near Sugar Mill the road was closed due to traffic. Motorists were urged to use the toll road or R102.

“On N2 near KwaMakhutha, the off ramp is closed due to flooding. The N2 North bound near Mposa road was closed due to truck recovery.”

Heavy winds had caused trees to fall in Hibberdene near Braemar and on the R612 in Kenteton a clean up team was on its way.

“RTI requests motorists to reduce speed, keep safe following distance, keep headlights on and to drive carefully.”

taken from News24

Cape Town – As another cold front moves towards the country, residents of the southern Cape are hoping that rain will bring relief to the area, which is suffering from the worst drought in living memory.

More than 50mm rain fell from Saturday morning to Monday morning in the southwestern part of the Western Cape, but no more than 10mm fell in the dry southern Cape.

Carlton Fillis, weather forecaster in the Cape Town weather office, said another cold front was heading for Cape Town, possibly bringing rain on Thursday and Friday, and it could move to the southern Cape on Saturday.

Dr Peter Johnston, a climatologist with the climate system analysis group at the University of Cape Town said this much rain at this time of the year was not normal, although 60mm to 70mm rain had been recorded in Cape Town in November in previous years.

He did say, however, that they had predicted a wetter summer for November, December and January.

“We usually get between 20mm and 40mm of rain in November (in Cape Town). Now we got this amount of rain in only two days.”

Despite the heavy rains, disaster management officials in Cape Town, the Overberg and on the West Coast said no serious damage was caused.

Boland residents were also spared serious damage. According to Leon Morta, the Stellenbosch fire department chief, a few houses in Kylemore outside Stellenbosch had damaged roofs and some of the houses had become wet inside. These homes were provided with plastic coverings.

Charlotte Powell, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town disaster management, said people in informal settlements such as Khayelitsha and Philippi had been affected. The Liesbeek River nearly burst its banks. (continue reading…)

At least 124 people have been killed and more than 60 declared missing in flooding and mudslides triggered by a hurricane in El Salvador, the country’s government has said.

Residents stand on a bridge which collapsed in Zacatecoluca, El Salvador

Around 7,000 people have been taken to shelters, but many towns remain cut off.

Rivers burst their banks and hillsides collapsed under relentless rains triggered by Hurricane Ida as winds of nearly 100mph tore through the country.

In a national radio broadcast, El Salvador’s president Mauricio Funes described the disaster as “a tragedy” and said the damage caused was “incalculable”.

The capital of San Salvador and central San Vicente province are the hardest-hit regions.

“We have been through disaster zones, including a fly-over of the area of Verapaz (in San Vicente),” Interior Minister Humberto Centeno said.

“It is a real tragedy there.”

The Category 2 storm is now roaring towards the Gulf of Mexico, where important oil fields are located.

The governor of Louisiana has declared a state of emergency, a precautionary move to free up state resources in the event of a disaster.

Ida swept past the Mexican resort of Cancun, but is expected to weaken gradually as it travels towards some of the central Gulf’s oil and gas facilities.

The Mexican government has issued travel warnings and 1,000 people have been evacuated from Holbox island northwest of Cancun.

Ida first became a hurricane on Thursday off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, where heavy rains forced more than 5,000 people into shelters.

story from SkyNews

Cape Town – Capetonians were taken by surprise by unusually rough winter weather at the beginning of summer, as heavy rain, flooding, and stormy sea conditions lashed parts of the Western Cape over the weekend.

Five swimmers nearly drowned.

Almost 50mm of rain fell between 08:00 on Saturday and 08:00 on Sunday in various parts of the province.

Carl Opperman, executive head of Agri Western Cape, said it didn’t usually rain this much at this time of the year. He said the rain was not necessarily a problem for farmers, but did present a risk for grain farmers.

“The rain poses a possible problem for grain farmers who started harvesting now. It will hopefully become warm quickly for the moisture to dry out.”

There was also a risk of fungus growing on vineyards and fruit trees, he said. “It is, however, still better to battle with water rather than drought.”

According to him, parts of the Karoo were still very dry and needed rain. The Southern Cape is also currently experiencing the worst drought in 100 years.

Rain was forecast on Monday for parts of the Southern Cape.

More rain was also expected in the Cape metropole, the Overberg and West Coast. Temperatures in the province were not expected to exceed 20°C.

According to Craig Lambinon, spokesperson for the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), five people almost drowned near Melkbosstrand at about 11:45 on Sunday.

“Two teenagers went swimming at Melkbosstrand’s main beach on body boards and were swept away by the stormy sea and strong currents.

“A junior life saver went after them on a body board but also ran into difficulty.

“After this, another teenager and a man in his twenties went into the sea to help the people and they were also swept away by the currents,” he said.

The NSRI’s rescue boat found two people about 900m (half a sea mile) from the beach, still on their body boards. The other people – two on body boards and one on a surfboard – were rescued a bit further on.

Charlotte Powell, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s disaster management, said flooding occurred at several shacks in Masiphumelele (Ocean View), Khayelitsha and Mandela Park (Hout Bay).

taken from News24

The gale-force southeaster that has been raging in the Western Cape since Sunday has claimed the lives of at least six people and left 100 families homeless.

The damaged home of Kayisa Maqhetsheba in which her 6-year-old daughter Anathi died when a tree which had been uprooted during a storm, flattened her bedroom.

Anathi Maqhetshabe, 6, died when a huge eucalyptus tree fell onto her home on Broadlands Stud Farm outside Somerset West at about 02:20 on Monday morning.

Farm owner Willie van der Weshuizen said Anathi was trapped under the bricks and presumably suffocated. Paramedics struggled for some time to revive her.

In Mossel Bay in the Southern Cape, four fishermen died, another is missing, and one was rescued after a fishing trawler capsized in stormy sea conditions.

According to the Mossel Bay National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), waves were 8m high and the wind speed was 57 knots (108km/h).

At Kay’s Caravan Park in the Strand, trees were knocked over at about 01:30 and by Monday afternoon, at least ten of the park’s log cabins had been damaged.

A couple of residents stood in front of the gate while police helped them to evacuate the park.

Anita Walker, the park’s deputy manager, said the 100 or so families who lived there had found accommodation in a nearby hall, with family and friends, or in tents in the neighbouring campsite.

The wind left a gaping hole in the roof of Strand Secondary’s school hall. “Gosh, really, it sounded like a bomb,” said Jan Vass, the school’s janitor who lived on the school premises.

Deputy principal, Nolan Thomas, said matrics were to start their final exams in the hall on Wednesday. There were classrooms available, however, and the exam would therefore not be disrupted.

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taken from News24

Gale-force winds have lashed Cape Town – and at least one person, a little girl, has died during overnight storms.

The five-year-old, who lived on a farm near Somerset West, was killed when a tree fell onto the building in which she was sleeping.

The child’s death came as a hurricane lashed the Cape Peninsula in the early hours of this morning.

The south-easterly gale reached 79 knots of Cape Point at 2am ? almost 120km/h, according to a weather information website.

According to international weather measuring protocol, this classified the storm as a force 12 wind, officially named a hurricane.

story from CapeTimes

A look at other earthquakes that have triggered tsunamis in previous years:

• September 2007: A 7.8-magnitude earthquake rattles Sumatra island, triggering regional tsunami alerts and damaging scores of buildings.
  
• September 2007: An earthquake measured at a magnitude of 8.4 near Sumatra triggers a wave in the coastal city of Padang. The tremor kills at least 25 people and injures around 50.
  
• April 2007: At least 28 people in the Solomon Islands die in a tsunami and earthquake measured at a magnitude of 8.1.
  
• July 2006: A magnitude-6.1 earthquake triggers a tsunami off Java island’s southern coast, killing at least 600 people.
  
• December 2004: An Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, kills 230 000 in a dozen countries.
  
• August 1976: A magnitude-8.0 earthquake hits near the islands of Mindanao and Sulu in the Philippines, generating a tsunami and leaving at least 5 000 dead.
  
• March 1964: An 9.2-magnitude earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, kills 131 people, including 119 from a tsunami.
  
• April 1946: An earthquake measured at a magnitude of 8.1 near Unimak Islands, Alaska, triggers a tsunami, killing 165 people, mostly in Hawaii.
  
• April 1868: A 7.9-magnitude earthquake strikes the Big Island, Hawaii, leaving 77 people dead, including 46 from a tsunami.

info from News24

Quake Sparks Tsunami Alert:

Jakarta – Indonesia’s meteorological agency says a powerful earthquake has shaken western Indonesia.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami alert for Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand.

The Indonesian agency said the tremor had a magnitude of 7.6 and it epicentre was just off the coast of Sumatra.

The US Geological Survey put the strength at 7.9.

The shaking could be felt in high buildings in the capital, Jakarta, several hundred kilometres away and in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

There were no immediate reports of high waves or injuries.

taken from News24

Witnesses have told of scenes of panic and confusion after a major earthquake hurled giant waves at the islands of Samoa, smashing buildings, throwing cars and hurling boats ashore.

Strong Quake Causes Tsunami:

Washington – A powerful 8.3 magnitude earthquake in the Pacific Ocean off American Samoa generated a tsunami, US government agencies said on Tuesday.

Sea level readings indicated a tsunami was generated in the Pacific, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, a branch of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said.

The agency earlier issued a tsunami warning for New Zealand, American Samoa and other small Pacific islands.

The epicentre of the quake was located 190km southwest of American Samoa, a remote Pacific island, said the US Geological Survey. It struck at a depth of 33km.

story from News24

Tsunami, Quake Wipe Out Villages:

Apia – At least 36 people were killed when an 8.0-magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami hit the remote Pacific islands of Samoa and American Samoa on Tuesday, wiping out tourist resorts and villages.

Buildings were toppled and thousands of people fled to higher ground after the offshore quake struck in the early morning, followed by giant waves which swept cars out to sea.

At least 22 were confirmed dead in American Samoa, while the Red Cross said another 14 were dead in Samoa and warned that the death toll was expected to rise amid unconfirmed reports of scores missing.

Eyewitnesses reported walls of water of between three and nine metres pounding the shore, wiping out villages and shattering holiday resorts.

Samoa’s deputy prime minister Misa Telefoni said a resort area popular with foreigners was “devastated” by the tsunami that followed the monster quake and that residents and holidaymakers had little time to flee.

“We’ve heard that most of the resorts are totally devastated on that side of the island. We’ve had a pretty grim picture painted of all that coast,” he said.

Two of the country’s most popular resorts, Sinalei Reef Resort and Coconuts Beach Resort, off the west coast of the main island of Upolu, had been hit hard, he told the Australian Associated Press.

There was widespread destruction in Samoa with possibly thousands of people left homeless on the island, local journalist Jona Tuiletufuga told AFP.

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