flood

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Huge Pipe Break Traps DC-Area Drivers

Boats used for rescue as 4-foot-deep, frigid water gushes around cars in Md. suburb

(Newser) - Rescuers in helicopters scrambled to pull motorists from frigid floodwaters unleashed by a massive water pipe break this morning on a commuter road just outside Washington. TV images showed two people in a minivan climbing into a basket lowered from a helicopter overhead. Rescuers also used a boat to save...

Ike's Waves Assault Galveston
 Ike's Waves Assault Galveston 
Sep 12, 2008 9:57 AM CDT

Ike's Waves Assault Galveston

With hurricane still 200 miles off Texas coast, residents warned to leave or die

(Newser) - Hurricane Ike is still more than 200 miles from land, but its waves are already flooding Galveston Island neighborhoods, CNN reports. Residents have been warned to evacuate or face “certain death,” as waters are expected to rise up to 22 feet. A 584-foot tanker, meanwhile, lost power about...

Dad Saves Toddler Sucked Into Storm Drain

Girl was carried 230 feet through pipe into river swollen with floodwater

(Newser) - Emergency workers are praising the "incredibly quick thinking" of a British man who saved his 3-year-old daughter from drowning yesterday after she was sucked into a storm drain with her dog, the Guardian reports. Royal Air Force sergeant Mark Baxter raced to a river just in time to save...

India Struggles to Save Millions in Flood

Villagers turning desperate, living on uncooked rice and polluted water

(Newser) - Rescue helicopters are trying to save villagers in India after a dam flooded thousands of towns this month, killing 85, displacing 2 million, and wrecking a quarter-million acres of farmland, the Daily Telegraph reports. Torrential rain kept helicopters grounded for most of yesterday as one boat capsized, killing 20. “...

New Orleans Braces for Gustav With Still-Weak Shield

Governor warns evacuations could start tomorrow

(Newser) - A nervous New Orleans is bracing for Gustav, well aware that weak spots in the city's hurricane barrier could lead to catastrophic flooding if the storm strikes, reports the Times-Picayune. Some $13 billion in work remains to be done before the city can be considered relatively well-protected. Louisiana Gov. Bobby...

Border Fence Blamed for Ariz. Flooding

Critics say fence design ignores environment

(Newser) - Environmentalists say the US border-security fence is to blame for water backups in southwestern Arizona and Mexico, where steel-mesh panels meant to keep illegal immigrants out are getting clogged with flood debris, the AP reports. Critics are focusing their attacks on Homeland Defense Secretary Michael Chertoff, who waived environmental laws...

Grand Canyon Rescue Resumes
 Grand Canyon Rescue Resumes
Aug 18, 2008 2:27 PM CDT

Grand Canyon Rescue Resumes

Helicopters continue to search for stranded campers

(Newser) - Rescue operations resumed this morning in the Grand Canyon, as helicopters airlifted campers and residents stranded by severe flooding, the Arizona Republic reports. Around 400 people have been evacuated since yesterday, and rescue workers are still searching for 11 tourists who remain unaccounted for—although the local sheriff says it’...

Texans Steel for Stormy Edouard

National Guard prepares to pitch in for aftermath

(Newser) - Coastal Texas residents are preparing for Tropical Storm Edouard to make landfall in just hours as the state deploys its National Guard to help clean up and distribute food and water, the Galveston Daily News reports. The storm is expected to bring 10 inches of rain to some areas and...

US Seeks to Weaken Hurricanes
 US Seeks to Weaken Hurricanes
Aug 2, 2008 1:42 PM CDT

US Seeks to Weaken Hurricanes

Scientists propose techniques to modify the weather

(Newser) - The Department of Homeland Security is hoping that weather-altering techniques can lessen the devastation caused by hurricanes, the Daily Telegraph reports. A hurricane reduction program likely to begin in October will devote $64 million to efforts such as spreading tiny salt particles in the storms to drain them of much...

Mother Nature's Wrath Creates Prosperity

Disasters spur economic growth, but at what cost?

(Newser) - Casualties aside, natural disasters may not be so devastating after all. Catastrophes like the recent earthquake in China destroy old buildings and roads, making way for new and improved infrastructure that may not have been created otherwise and pumping cash into the economy. In the long term, updated technology and...

Floods Ruin Midwest Economy
 Floods Ruin Midwest Economy 
Jun 20, 2008 2:30 PM CDT

Floods Ruin Midwest Economy

Food prices repercussions will be felt around the state

(Newser) - The floods ravaging the Midwest are taking a catastrophic toll on the region's farmers, and consumers across the country will feel the pinch in higher food prices, MSNBC reports. Even if waters recede quickly, farmers will lose a sizable chunk of the season—they need about 120 growing days—and...

Pigs Survive Floods, Still Buy the Farm

Iowa cops shoot the porkers as they scramble on levees

(Newser) - They managed to survive torrential rains and swam mightily through rising water, but a clutch of feisty midwestern pigs couldn't dodge a sheriff's bullet. At least a dozen porkers were shot dead this week as they scrambled on Iowa levees. "My gosh, it happens every day," snapped a...

Bush to Visit Flood-Battered Midwest

Political pressure mounts for major flood relief

(Newser) - President Bush will visit flood-hit Iowa today to inspect the damage and consult with officials, Reuters reports. The state, along with much of the Midwest, has suffered the worst flooding in at least 15 years. Millions of acres of farmland have been flooded. Pressure on politicians to provide relief is...

19 Levees Now Breached
 19 Levees Now Breached 
UPDATED
Jun 18, 2008 1:20 PM CDT

19 Levees Now Breached

More failures in Ill., Mo., swamp farmland

(Newser) - More levee breaks in Missouri and Illinois today put at 19 the number that have failed along the cresting Mississippi, Reuters reports, further swamping farmland. "They were lower level agricultural levees," said an Army Corps of Engineers spokesman. "We're also watching another seven levees that may overtop...

Flood Recedes, But Only 1 Well Remains

Cedar Rapids restricts water use for next few days

(Newser) - Floodwaters receded today after 24,000 people fled Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but only one well is uncontaminated to service the city, CNN reports. Officials say it will run down if people take showers and flush toilets over the next 3 or 4 days. "Water is still our primary concern,...

Grain Prices Surge With Midwest Floods

Water inundating heartland expected to drive food, oil prices still higher

(Newser) - The floods inundating the Midwest are pushing grain prices to new highs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Corn prices jumped 10% to a record high last week as farmland flooded. The domino effects will hit the ethanol industry, hog farmers, and even owners of catfish ponds who rely on corn...

Floodwaters Engulf Iowa's 'Flood-Proof' City

'500-year flood' swamps Cedar Rapids' defenses

(Newser) - The Cedar River has burst its banks and deluged Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports. About 9,000 people have been evacuated—including more than 170 from a hospital—and most of the city's downtown is under water. The river is still rising and is expected to crest...

Levees Crumbling, Midwest Struggles to Stem Tide

Aging infrastructure is barely coping with severe weather

(Newser) - The worst flooding in 15 years has exposed some serious vulnerabilities in the Midwest's aging infrastructure, the Chicago Tribune reports. Levees, bridges, and dams, some a century old, are barely coping with severe storms—while some are collapsing completely. Dikes and levees broke in several states last week after torrential...

Draining Quake Lake Floods China Town

Soldiers blast holes in dam; 'Now we can never go back,' says survivor

(Newser) - A town devastated by the Sichuan earthquake was flooded today as soldiers worked to drain a dangerous quake lake, reports Reuters. Water whooshed into Beichuan after explosives and missiles were used to blast holes in the dam created by the earthquake. Some 250,000 people downstream had already been evacuated.

China Evacuates 80,000 on Flood Fears

Dam caused by quake-formed landslide threatens to burst

(Newser) - Chinese officials hurried to evacuate 80,000 people today near quake-hit Beichuan as waters rose in a dammed river, the AP reports. Soldiers are working to blast and dig a channel to drain some of the 34 billion gallons of water now held by the fragile dam, created by a...

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