Nocere – Earth Disasters

In Sri Lanka, flooding waters have taken the live 13 people, washed away homes or destroyed them, wounded 44 people and has left the area devastated.

Landslides and major flooding has been brought on by the massive amounts of rain that has been falling across the area.

There have been 351 relief camps set up for the people who have no where to go. Over 127,500 people that are without places to return to. Over 863,000 others have had their lives afflicted by the flooding.

The areas that have had the worst of the flooding are the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Ampara. Many of the people had to be airlifted out of their homes or places they were holding up by helicopters. There are airplanes bringing in dry rations to the area.

Schools in the North Central, Central and Eastern Provinces have all been closed by the government.

The Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena has requested Sri Lankans to help out those in need by sending blankets, food and any clothing they can spare. The victims of the floods have very much need of these items.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Rain had been falling on the southern parts of California for close to a week. Yet another major storm hit on Wednesday.

The already saturated land gave way to mud slides, cars being washed away in the flooded streets.

Right before night time, many people who live in the Highland area which is 65 miles on the east side of Los Angeles, were advised to leave their homes for their own safety.

There were about 200 homes in the area that where people were advised to leave.

3 feet of mud covered 40 homes that had been left earlier by their occupants. Two creeks near them over flowed their banks and washed mud into the houses.

Mud pushed cars, sometimes picked them up leaving the front ends in the ground, sometimes cars were buried.

South of Los Angeles there were some areas that had rivers washing through them. A tony beach town had it’s beach washed away by the rivers.

Many homes were subjected to mud and 2 people died in car accidents that were caused by the storm.

Many people had to be rescued from their homes as they saw the water rising and didn’t have time to get out.

There were some residents that leaped out windows when mud slides hit around 3am in Laguana Canyon.

Many were screaming for help.

Popularity: 5% [?]

It is Sunday. A day many families get together for lunch. It is feared that there could have been 15 to 20 people in each of the 10 homes that are now buried under the mud.

Some people are trying to dig people out with only their hands. Trying desperately to find missing friends and family.

They are using dogs to sniff out where someone could be buried under the mud. As this time one person who died has been pulled out while 7 have come out alive.

The landslide is caused by the heavy rainfall the region has been receiving. 176 people have died as a result of the rain and thousands have been forced out of their homes.

The landslide occurred in the Medellin. A city in Columbia. It hit the La Gabriela area of Bello. That is on the north side of Medellin.

At this time it is thought that there could possibly be 200 people missing and maybe buried beneath the tons of debris.

Popularity: 3% [?]

May through November in Mexico, Central America and the northern area of South America is known for being the rainy time of year. Excessive amounts of rain pelts these areas and most often result in flooding that takes lives and destroys dwellings.

In Venezuela, a state of emergency has been called for in 4 of the states. This includes the capital of Venezuela, Caracas.

Thousands of residents have been forced from their houses by the rising waters. There have been about 5,600 people left without homes to return to.

At this time there are at least 20 people who are known to have perished as a result of the overflowing waters.

Landslides have taken houses down off  hills where they were situated on steep inclines.

There are thousands of people taking up shelter in quick set up locations. Some of these  locations are school houses, colleges and military barracks.

The President, Hugo Chavez did offer to allow people to take refuge in the palace. It isn’t known if anyone took him up on his offer or not.

The rain isn’t over yet. It is predicted that it there will be quite a few more days of torrential rain pouring down upon the country.

The areas hit the hardest are, Falcon, Miranda and Vargas along with Caracas.

Many flights have been interrupted and landslides have closed roads.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Earlier in Barbados, while still only a tropical storm, Tomas tore up homes and knocked down electrical lines. In Barbados there were reports of wind gust of 63 mph.

Tomas hit the shores of St Lucia and St Vincent with heavy rainfall and high wind gusts on Sunday as a category 1 hurricane. Wind gust of up to 69 mph were reported on St Lucia.

On the island of St Lucia, the number dead from the hurricane has risen to 14 with 21 people still missing. The death toll could rise and the area has been declared a disaster.

It is a slow moving hurricane dropping large amounts of rainfall as it passes through. Traveling at only 8 miles and hour over St Lucia, it released two years of yearly rainfall in only 24 hours time.

There were both roads and bridges collapsed, schools damaged and homes ruined. Some of the towns could only be reached by sea.

Tomas has moved out of St Lucia and out into the Caribbean where it is heading towards Jamaica. Tomas was loosing strength and moving at about 5 miles an hour.

Haiti is now in the path of yet another disaster as Tomas heads it’s way there. It is figured that even though Tomas weakened a little,  it will again become a stronger storm as it reaches Haiti and Jamaica later this week.

If  Tomas hits Haiti, there will pose threats of landslides, flooding plus roads and bridges could be washed away.

It is possible that Tomas will hit Haiti Friday afternoon. It is predicted to be a level 1 hurricane at that time.

Popularity: 7% [?]

It is possible that 30 people were buried in a landslide on Monday.

A great deal of the buried were riding a bus that had been stopped by a previous landslide that had covered the road.

They had exited the bus and were walking across the road when another landslide came down and buried them. They were crossing the road to get on another bus.

The landslide occurred in the Antioquia province.

Some people had taken shelter in local houses that were swept away by the second landslide. There could be many people buried under the mud and rocks.

Rescue operations had to be stopped for the night,

Heavy rains had been coming down near Giraldo which is 50 miles on the north side of the city of Medellin. The landslide was a result of the heavy rains in the area.

“It was horrible because we heard a rumbling and looked out to see people running to the houses and then they were also swallowed by the earth,” local resident Milena Ramirez.

Dogs have been brought in to help search for victims. Some have been located but are buried so deep it will possible be a few days before they can pull them out.

Popularity: 3% [?]

As people were sleeping, mudslides caused by torrential rainfall engulfed possibly 300 dwellings.

It all happened on Tuesday morning as people were still in their beds. Sometime between 3 and 4 am. A 655 foot wide section of ground let loose and covered their homes. It happened in a poor area in Southwestern Mexico.

Torrential rainfall in the Oaxaca State mountainous areas resulted in the earth burying many homes in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec. There area approximately 9000 people that live in that town.

Is is possible that between 500 to 600 people could be buried in the mud.

There are police, marines and soldiers being dispatched to the area to help with rescue operations. The area hit by the landslide is about 4 hours away from the the capital of Oaxaca.

There are rescuers being brought in by plane and a convoy of marines are on their way also.

The area is a remote region and can be difficult to reach. There are areas where the roads have been closed by smaller landslides. Help by roadways could be hours away.

Regions of Mexico have experienced the worst rainy season that has ever been recorded. It has caused many people to have to leave their homes due to flooding and landslides.

Popularity: 6% [?]

After many days of rain falling in Guatemala, a state of emergency has been called for.

There have been 18 or more people that have died. 10 of them were on a bus overcome in a mudslide.

The President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom has told how the rain has tore apart much of the recovery work from the Tropical Storm Agatha. There were 165 deaths from that storm in May.

The President asked for the congress to allow him emergency money for the reconstruction.

The rain saturated Guatemala’s mountain area loosening up the ground resulting in mudslides with no warning.

There is much devastation in Guatemala. 65 miles of an Inter-American high way is shut down. There are many other roads that have been closed

A bus was overcome by a mudslide. A family of four died as their home was buried. Then there were 4 other deaths reported.

The weather agency in Guatemala has forecasted another 48 hours of rain.

Popularity: 4% [?]