Tropical Storm

While many were sleeping, the water was rising unknowing to them. The area had been hit hard by Tropical Storm Washi. The storm dropped over the usual month of rain in only a 12 hour period on Mindanao. The trail the storm traveled is a rarely traveled one. A storm only travels that direction about once every 12 years.

As the water flowed down the mountains Friday night, many people awoke to water in their homes. They quickly grabbed up children trying to get to the roof of their homes or to neighboring homes to avoid the rising water. Many are missing. Whole villages were washed away. Victims have been left unclaimed possibly meaning that the whole family was swept away.

 

Victim of the storm

Children of families that survived are still looking for Christmas to happen. Parents are wondering how but plan on still doing their best to provide them with a Christmas celebration.

Most that died were in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. Many bodies have been found floating on the shorelines on the north western coast line of Mindanao Island. They are thought to have been sleeping when the waters hit and drowned.

Tropical Storm Washi has left behind flooded streets full of debris, people in many areas have no electric or fresh water. Many people are now living in shelters where there is not enough room. There are approximately 100,000 people who have had to go to shelters, not able to return to their homes.

Washi has moved on, but other storms are lurking and may be bringing in even more rain to the already saturated area.

 

Indonesia Boat Heading For Australia Full of Migrants Sinks

It is possible that there were close to 400 people on board the boat bound for Australia’s Christmas Island. It is where many go go seek asylum.

The boat, made out of fiberglass, broke apart is the rough waves approximately 55 miles outside of Java. There were more than 250 people and possibly as many as 400 on board. They are thought to be from Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran. At this time only 33 had been rescued according to reports. Fishermen found them hanging onto parts of the boat. Two children were found. Their ages are 8 and 10 years old. People rescued reported they had been in the water for over 5 hours.

Rescue operations are continuing for possible survivors, but the weather has made it hard to see if there are any out there still.

It is possible that only 20 or 30 people were able to get lifejackets on once the boat was known to be going down. The boat only had 25 lifejackets on board and it was reported that 9 of the jackets were given to crew members.

At this time, the number who have perished in the accident is unknown.

 

 

168 People Die from Drinking Toxic Moonshine in Eastern India

The people possibly responsible for the deaths of 168 people in West Bengal which is located in the eastern part of India, have been arrested. There are 10 people being held for selling the moonshine, which was illegally produced and was also toxic.

Many more people got very sick from drinking the moonshine which was sold for about 10 cents a pouch. A pouch contains  200 milliliter or less than 7 ounces. When the liquor is made in a legal way, the least it sells for is close to 70 cents for a 600 milliliter container.

More than 100 people had to be admitted into the hospital after drinking the moonshine. They found methanol in the bodies of the people who died after drinking it. The drink was appealing to the poor people of the area and they are the main ones who drank it.

 

 

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In the Philippines, just as many were starting pull their lives back together from Typhoon Nesat, a typhoon that had taken the lives of 52 people on Tuesday, Typhoon Nalgae moved in on Saturday morning.

 

 

The initial damage started in Dinapigue. Nalgae dropped 0.6- to 1 inches of rainfall per hour as it traveled through the Philippines area. The two typhoons together have changed the lives of for nearly 3 million Filipinos. Landslides, flooding, closure of roads and bridges are also hampering getting people out or relief in. Many of the ports had to be closed temporarily but were to be reopened on Sunday.

 

 

People were being evacuated from Santa Barbara, Calasiao, and Dagupan which is located on Luzon island. On Sunday flood gates had to be opened to release pressure of water being they had reached their top levels. While there were people receiving help with recovery from Nesat, the first typhoon, it had to be stalled while the second typhoon made it’s way across the area. Many people are unable to cook food or have fresh water to drink. There is a great need for ready to eat food and drinking water. There are no supplies in the area for survivors to purchase, even though they have the funds needed.

 

 

 

As the Philippines are cleaning up from the typhoons, in Thailand, four long months of ravaging floods have taken the lives of 237 people. They are gearing up for the typhoon Nalgae which has lost some of it’s power after hitting the Philippines and is now a tropical depression. The country is already water soaked and more rainfall will only result in more flooding. The flooding has been felt in 28 different provinces and over 2 million people have affected by it.

 

 

Many of Thailand’s  historic buildings and tourist sites have been affected by the flood waters.

 

 

 

Typhoon Nesat in China affected over 2 million people. Of this number, 132,2000 people had to be evacuated out of Nanning which is the capital of the area. Nesat hit China on Friday following it’s ravaging of the Philippines. Flooding of the Qinjiang River, which is amongst 5 rivers that have surged to dangerous levels, has overflowed it’s banks. Flood waters have entered Qinzhou causing roads to close due to being under water. There have been thousands of homes destroyed along with thousands of acres of farmland. As Nalgae entered China last Tuesday, it was now a tropical storm and not nearly as devastating as it had been in the Philippines.

 

 

China is still in the stages of cleaning up from Nesat, but will now be faced with days of rainfall from Nalgae.

 

 

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U.S. Flooding continues, last 2 months rains makes Missouri breach. Mud watter was send into Winfield(800 people town). Emergency worker at Winfield says morale still high, despite breach.
Flooding is threatening to damage crops 16.200 hectares of land. More than 38 000 people had to leave they homes. In Iowa 83 of 99 counties declare disaster areas. “They really are involved in a race against that water,” Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt said. “It’s really just a reminder of how powerful a force the Mississippi River is.” River next levee is at St. Louis, river will have high crest there at Sunday evening.

Source: Washington Post
Source: Reuters
Source: Bloomberg

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