Tag: rain

Japan PM to meet stranded evacuees in flood disaster zone; death toll rises to 179

by Hiroshi Hiyama Agence France-Presse KURASHIKI, Japan (AFP) – Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe headed Wednesday to one of the areas worst-hit by record rains as the death toll rose to 179 and thousands of evacuees remained stranded in shelters. Abe, who cancelled a four-stop foreign trip planned for this week as the disaster worsened, was due to visit the flood-ravaged Okayama area to see the scale of the damage first-hand. With dozens reportedly still […]

UPDATED: Japan rescuers go house to house as flood toll hits 156

by Hiroshi Hiyama  Agence France-Presse KURASHIKI, Japan (AFP) — Rescue workers carried out house-to-house searches Tuesday in the increasingly unlikely hope of finding survivors after days of deadly floods and landslides that have claimed 156 lives in Japan’s worst weather-related disaster for decades. The record downpours that began last week have stopped and receding flood waters have laid bare the destruction that has cut a swathe through the west of the country. In the city […]

Paris commuter train overturns, 7 slightly injured: minister

PARIS, France (AFP) — A landslip caused by heavy rains Tuesday led three carriages of a Paris suburban RER train to overturn, slightly injuring seven people, France’s transport minister said. “There has been… a landslip on the RER B” between the southern suburbs of St-Remy-les-Chevreuse and Orsay, the minister, Elisabeth Borne, told Franceinfo radio. It caused “three carriages to overturn. Fortunately, there are only seven slightly injured.” © Agence France-Presse

LPA turns into tropical depression “Ramil;” Metro Manila, Bicol, Calabarzon, Mimaropa under signal # 1

  (Eagle News) – The low pressure area southwest of Masbate City has developed into a tropical depression and was named “Ramil,” prompting the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Services Administration to place Metro Manila, Bicol, CALABARZON and MIMAROPA under signal number 1. The country’s weather bureau forecast the estimated amount of rainfall from “moderate to occasionally heavy rains within the 200 kilometer diameter of the tropical depression.” It has maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers […]

Japan floods death toll rises to 25

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The death toll from torrential rains and flooding that swept through Japan’s south has reached 25, the government said Tuesday, as rescue teams battled through thick mud to rescue more than 100 still stranded. Further downpours were predicted to pound Kyushu after swathes of the southwestern island were devastated last week by overflowing rivers — sweeping away roads, houses and schools and forcing thousands of people into makeshift shelters. But many […]

16 dead, 10 missing after flood hits Guangxi

GUANGXI ZHUANG, China (CCTV) — Rain-triggered floods have killed 16 people and left 10 missing in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Monday. Heavy rain started to pound parts of Guangxi on Saturday, forcing the relocation of 91,600 residents as of 14:30 Monday, according to the regional civil affairs department. The disaster wreaked havoc on the lives of 1.05 million people, inflicting direct economic losses worth nearly 2.9 billion yuan (428 million […]

Crowds gather on the National Mall for Trump’s inauguration

WASHINGTON, United States (Reuters) — Under a gentle rain, crowds began to gather on Friday (January 20) at the U.S. Capital and the National Mall for the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Trump takes power over a divided country after a savage campaign and setting the country on a new, uncertain path at home and abroad. In a ceremony likely to draw 900,000 people, including protesters, Trump and his […]

California singing in the rain

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — A series of storms that have rolled across California in the past week dumping heavy rain and snow could herald the end of a punishing historic drought, officials said Thursday. “Bye bye Drought. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” tweeted the National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada, which monitors parts of northern California, the area hardest hit by the storms. According to the US Drought […]

El Niño-strengthened storm brings rain, floods to California

An El Niño-strengthened storm brought widespread rain to drought-stricken California on Tuesday (January 05), triggering flooding that clogged roadways, and authorities warned residents about possible mud slides. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued flash flood watches for much of the coast from San Diego to San Francisco and said storms would linger through Friday (January 08). The service forecast widespread rain and mountain snow. The weather service warned of flooding on urban roads, as […]