Showing posts with label Rain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rain. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Heavy rains, flooding forcing snakes to seek higher ground in Arkansas
Heavy rains, flooding forcing snakes to seek higher ground in Arkansas- KATV
Posted: May 27, 2015 11:44 PM EDT
Updated: May 27, 2015 11:44 PM EDT
By Matt Mershon, Reporter
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) -Emergency rooms, even veterinarians' offices are reporting more and more snake bites. Recent heavy rains in Arkansas are the apparent cause of the problem. Snakes and other animals are seeking higher ground as flooding ensues.
Not only have heavy rains either flooded and washed away the natural habitats for Arkansas native snakes, making snakes seek shelter elsewhere, much of the snake's food supply is on the run as well due to the high waters.
“If the rats and mice and other small animals that they feed on have moved out, they're following that prey source,” said Neil Curry, facility director at the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center.
Curry said most of the snakes people will end up encountering are probably harmless, but both venomous and non-venomous can and will bite if provoked.
Out of 36 species of snakes in Arkansas, only six of those species are classified as venomous. The way, although not easy, to tell the difference is that non-venomous snakes tend to have more rounded features – rounded head and pupil. A venomous snake tends to have more slit-like eyes and more rigid head.
The most common venomous snake in Arkansas is the copperhead. The cottonmouth snake, commonly referred to as a water moccasin, is the only venomous water snake.
There are three rattlesnakes common to Arkansas – the Western Diamond Rattlesnake, Timber Rattlesnake and the Western Pigmy Rattlesnake. The last venomous snake is the Texas Coral Snake.
“If it's red, yellow and black, you don't want to mess with it,” commented Curry regarding the Coral snake. Two snakes native to Arkansas mimic the Coral snake, but are not actually venomous.
Keeping a well-groomed lawn and making sure brush piles are cleared away give snakes less room to hide. If cleaning up brush, be sure to do it with a rake first to potentially dislodge any unwanted creatures seeking shelter.
As warmer temperatures approach, the inclination to wear sandals, flip-flops or just be plain barefoot isn't a great idea if snakes are lurking.
“A study pair of boots can make a big difference,” said Curry.
Snake bites, regardless of being poisonous, can still hurt and be dangerous. If not treated properly, snake bites from non-venomous snakes can become infected.
“Soap and water and remain calm,” recounted Curry as two things to do post-snake bite. “We always say get your car keys, get to the doctor, have it checked out and they'll take appropriate action if it is determined that it's a venomous snake,”
Rule of thumb is if you see a snake and don't know what type of snake it is – just leave it alone. Snakes try to avoid people.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says they can identify pictures of snakes. You can upload a picture to the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center for identification directly to their Facebook page or by messaging them by clicking here.
---
P.S.
Moral of this story - ⬆
Animals know when to head for the hills...
..
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Boston’s Fourth may see ‘tropical downpours’
By Kiera Blessing and Martin Finucane | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AND GLOBE STAFF JULY 02, 2014
NOAA VIA GETTY IMAGES
Tropical Storm Arthur is threatening Fourth of July plans along the East Coast.
In a prelude to the stormy weather expected later this week, strong to severe thunderstorms began rolling across Western Massachusetts this afternoon, forecasters said.
Strong winds brought down trees and power lines and caused stream flooding in communities, such as Shelburne Falls, Greenfield, and Northfield, according to damage reports fielded by the National Weather Service.
The thunderstorms came rumbling through as all eyes have been focused on Tropical Storm Arthur, which was still swirling off Florida today, but was expected to sweep swiftly up the East Coast later in the week, potentially ruining holiday fireworks shows and backyard barbecues.
Related
Tropical storm warning in N.C.Boston to hold concert, fireworks Thursday
Arthur is projected to develop into a Category One hurricane by the time it arrives off the New England coast. That’s the weakest kind of hurricane, but it is still expected to bring the possibility of “tropical downpours” for the Fourth of July.
“It’s hard to pinpoint the exact timing,” said meteorologist Bill Simpson of the National Weather Service, “but we want to emphasize periods of tropical downpours for Thursday into Friday. The storm passes east of Cape Cod late Friday night, but what’s well out ahead of it ... could be causing problems here.”
Although Arthur will be passing more than 70 miles east of the Cape, the system will push heavy rainfall and potentially damaging winds into the region, he said.
“Generally speaking, winds will have the biggest impact across the Cape and islands,” Simpson said, with gusts reaching up to 45 miles per hour. Wind gusts inland will be weaker - around 30 miles per hour in Boston.
As for rainfall, Simpson said, most of Eastern Massachusetts could expect an inch or two of rain, but “in some areas there will be some bands of higher amounts.”
“We won’t have river flooding, but you could have poor drainage flooding” in urban areas, Simpson said. He also warned that the periods of tropical downpours expected Thursday into Friday could result in low visibility.
Simpson said he didn’t expect winds to be a problem by Friday night, when many Fourth of July fireworks shows are planned, but he said rain might fall and low-hanging clouds could obscure the displays.
.
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Heavy Rain Causes Flooding Across Tri-State Area Wednesday
1010 WINS' John Montone Gets Stuck In Flood, Finds Himself Part Of The Story
. .
May 8, 2013 1:02 PM
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New York City got what appears to be a record-breaking soaking Wednesday morning.
According to CBS 2, New York City received 2.39 inches of rain in the early-morning drenching. That’s almost double what we received for all of April, which brought us just 1.31 inches of rain.
It appears to have broken the previous record for this date, set in 1886, when the Big Apple got 2.33 inches.
Photos: Heavy Rains Cause Flooding Around Tri-State
The National Weather Service will clarify whether the record was officially broken later today.
The worst of the rain passed through New York City this morning. Scattered showers were expected throughout the rest of the day, with pop-up thunderstorms possible.
CHECK: Radar | Forecast & Alerts | Traffic & Transit | Listen: 1010 WINS | WCBS 880
Excessive runoff from the heavy rainfall caused some flooding on highways, streets, underpasses and other low-lying areas.
An American Eagle jet from Detroit landed safely at LaGuardia Airport after reporting that it had been struck twice by lightning, the Federal Aviation Administration said. No one was injured.
1010 WINS’ reporter John Montone found himself becoming part of the story when his vehicle got stuck in a flooded street in Jersey City.
John Montone’s vehicle got stuck in the water during heavy rain May 8, 2013. (credit: John Montone/1010 WINS)
“I tried to get out to push the car, and as I’m sure a lot of people have experienced, the water came rushing in on me,” Montone said. “I stayed with the car, tried to get a tow, AAA informed me they didn’t want their trucks getting stuck in the water.”
John Montone Gets Stuck In Flood
1010 WINS play
In Hoboken, cars that attempted to driver under two separate underpasses near Newark Avenue got stuck. One quick-thinking pedestrian hitched a ride on a big-rig to escape the flooding, CBS 2′s Elise Finch reported.
The flagship Apple store at 59th Street and 5th Avenue apparently got partially flooded. Photos from its subterranean level show what appears to be significant water damage to part of the ceiling and a large puddle on the ground.
The Apple store was partially flooded following heavy rain on May 8, 2013. (credit: Errol Rappaport)
Source
.
. .
May 8, 2013 1:02 PM
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New York City got what appears to be a record-breaking soaking Wednesday morning.
According to CBS 2, New York City received 2.39 inches of rain in the early-morning drenching. That’s almost double what we received for all of April, which brought us just 1.31 inches of rain.
It appears to have broken the previous record for this date, set in 1886, when the Big Apple got 2.33 inches.
Photos: Heavy Rains Cause Flooding Around Tri-State
The National Weather Service will clarify whether the record was officially broken later today.
The worst of the rain passed through New York City this morning. Scattered showers were expected throughout the rest of the day, with pop-up thunderstorms possible.
CHECK: Radar | Forecast & Alerts | Traffic & Transit | Listen: 1010 WINS | WCBS 880
Excessive runoff from the heavy rainfall caused some flooding on highways, streets, underpasses and other low-lying areas.
An American Eagle jet from Detroit landed safely at LaGuardia Airport after reporting that it had been struck twice by lightning, the Federal Aviation Administration said. No one was injured.
1010 WINS’ reporter John Montone found himself becoming part of the story when his vehicle got stuck in a flooded street in Jersey City.
John Montone’s vehicle got stuck in the water during heavy rain May 8, 2013. (credit: John Montone/1010 WINS)
“I tried to get out to push the car, and as I’m sure a lot of people have experienced, the water came rushing in on me,” Montone said. “I stayed with the car, tried to get a tow, AAA informed me they didn’t want their trucks getting stuck in the water.”
John Montone Gets Stuck In Flood
1010 WINS play
In Hoboken, cars that attempted to driver under two separate underpasses near Newark Avenue got stuck. One quick-thinking pedestrian hitched a ride on a big-rig to escape the flooding, CBS 2′s Elise Finch reported.
The flagship Apple store at 59th Street and 5th Avenue apparently got partially flooded. Photos from its subterranean level show what appears to be significant water damage to part of the ceiling and a large puddle on the ground.
The Apple store was partially flooded following heavy rain on May 8, 2013. (credit: Errol Rappaport)
Source
.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
HEAVY RAINS WASH AWAY OBAMA SUPPORTERS AND PROTESTERS AT JAY Z FUNDRAISER
by REBEL PUNDIT 19 Sep 2012, 6:34 AM PDT
Last night pop stars Jay Z and Beyonce held a high-ticket fundraiser for President Obama at his 40/40 Club in Manhattan. For a mere $40,000 per ticket, guests could party down and rub elbows with the President. While supporters and protesters were expected to greet the president on his way to the event, however, heavy rains scared away most from coming out to the streets.
Coming just one day after the one year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, with hundreds of protesters still in town, Occupiers scheduled a protest of the president that was set to take place at the same time his motorcade whisked him through the police barricades to the night club.
However, due to heavy, monsoon-like rain, a few dozen protesters awaiting the president at Madison Square Park were forced to throw in the towel and abandon their march for the “99 percent.”
Police barricades left New York residents on their way home from work stranded during the heaviest moments of the downpour as the president’s motorcade passed.
Many cursed the president for causing the transit nightmare on their nightly trip home from work, while only a few supporters actually came out to cheer for the president.
One resident was overheard shouting, “**** this president, who the **** does he think he is? I’m sick of this and I don’t care who hears me.”
Another, in an almost zombie-like trance, walked out from the shelter of a tree on the side of 5th Avenue drenched by the downpour just to get glimpse of the president through the barricades as the flashing lights of squad cars went by.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
East Coast storms cut power to thousands, trigger twister alerts
Julio Cortez / AP
A guard shields himself from the rain at a worksite in Newark, N.J., on Tuesday.
Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET: Tornado watches were issued for much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Tuesday, part of a storm front that brought high winds and heavy rain. Thousands lost power and air travel was disrupted across the region.
Major cities within the tornado watches included New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The watches also cover parts of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
Wind gusts up to 70 mph are possible in those areas, the National Weather Service said in issuing the watches, some of which run through 11 p.m. ET.
In Wildwood, N.J., wind gusts ripped the facade off a store, NBCNewYork.com reported. In Ridgewood, N.J., winds toppled a tree onto the roof of a home. No injuries were reported in either incident.Airport travel was disrupted by winds throughout the day across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, the FAA said on its flight delay website.
Some 4,000 homes and businesses lost power on Long Island, the NBC station added.
In Connecticut, 15,000 customers had lost power, NBCConnecticut.com reported.
Localized flooding is also a danger from parts of the Appalachians into the Northeast, weather.com reported.
Some 28,000 homes and businesses lost power Tuesday afternoon in the Washington and Baltimore areas, NBCWashington.com noted.
In Pennsylvania, some 11,000 customers lost power, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported.
The same system on Monday caused flooding in parts of Tennessee. More than 5 inches of rain fell in Putnam County, where 8 water rescues were reported.
Source
.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Super Typhoon Lashes Philippines, Knocks Out Power
Updated: 13 minutes ago
Bullit Marquez
AP CAUAYAN, Philippines (Oct. 18) -- The strongest cyclone in years to buffet the Philippines knocked out communications and power as residents took shelter Monday, while flooding in Vietnam swept away a bus and 20 of its passengers, including a girl pulled from her mother's grasp by the raging waters.
Super Typhoon Megi, crossing the northern Philippines, was expected to add to the already heavy rains that have fallen on much of Asia. In China, authorities evacuated 140,000 people from a coastal province ahead of the typhoon.
Megi could later hit Vietnam, where flooding has caused 30 deaths in recent days, in addition to those missing and feared dead after a bus was snatched off a road by surging currents Monday.
Megi packed sustained winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 162 mph (260 kph) as it made landfall midday Monday at Palanan Bay in Isabela province, felling trees and utility poles and cutting off power, phone and Internet services in many areas. It appeared to be weakening while crossing the mountains of the Philippines' main northern island of Luzon.
With more than 3,600 Filipinos riding out the typhoon in sturdy school buildings, town halls, churches and relatives' homes, roads in and out of coastal Isabela province, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of Manila, were deserted and blocked by collapsed trees and power lines.
One man who had just rescued his water buffalo slipped and fell into a river and probably drowned, said Bonifacio Cuarteros, an official with the Cagayan provincial disaster agency.
As it crashed ashore, the typhoon whipped up huge waves. There was zero visibility and radio reports said the wind was so powerful that people could not take more than a step at a time. Ships and fishing vessels were told to stay in ports, and several domestic and international flights were canceled.
Thousands of military reserve officers and volunteers were on standby, along with helicopters, including six Chinooks that were committed by U.S. troops holding war exercises with Filipino soldiers near Manila, said Benito Ramos, a top disaster-response official.
"This is like preparing for war," Ramos, a retired army general, told The Associated Press. "We know the past lessons, and we're aiming for zero casualties."
In July, an angry President Benigno Aquino III fired the head of the weather bureau for failing to predict that a typhoon would hit Manila. That storm killed more than 100 people in Manila and outlying provinces.
This time, authorities sounded the alarm early and ordered evacuations and the positioning of emergency relief and food supplies days before the typhoon hit. The capital was expected to avoid any direct hit, though schools were closed.
Megi was the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines in four years, government forecasters say. A 2006 howler with 155-mph (250-kph) winds set off mudslides that buried entire villages, killing about 1,000 people.
In central Vietnam, officials said 20 people on a bus were swept away Monday by strong currents from a river flooded by recent rains unrelated to Megi, while another 17 survived by swimming or clinging to trees or power poles.
One survivor treaded water for 3½ hours as the current pushed her downstream and she was forced to let go of her daughter due to exhaustion. The girl is among the missing.
Officials said 30 other people died in central Vietnam from flooding over the weekend, and five remain missing.
Megi could add to the misery.
"People are exhausted," Vietnamese disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai said by telephone from Quang Binh province. "Many people have not even returned to their flooded homes from previous flooding, while many others who returned home several days ago were forced to be evacuated again."
China's National Meteorological Center said Megi was expected to enter the South China Sea on Tuesday, threatening southeasterern coastal provinces. The center issued its second-highest alert for potential "wild winds and huge waves," warning vessels to take shelter and urging authorities to brace for emergencies.
Floods triggered by heavy rains forced nearly 140,000 people to evacuate from homes in the southern island province of Hainan, where heavy rains left thousands homeless over the weekend, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.
Thailand also reported flooding that submerged thousands of homes and vehilce and halting train service. No casualties were reported, but nearly 100 elephants were evacuated from a popular tourist attraction north of the capital.
Associated Press writers Jim Gomez, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila; Margie Mason and Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam; and Chi-Chi Zhang in Beijing contributed to this report.
.
Source
.
Bullit Marquez
AP CAUAYAN, Philippines (Oct. 18) -- The strongest cyclone in years to buffet the Philippines knocked out communications and power as residents took shelter Monday, while flooding in Vietnam swept away a bus and 20 of its passengers, including a girl pulled from her mother's grasp by the raging waters.
Super Typhoon Megi, crossing the northern Philippines, was expected to add to the already heavy rains that have fallen on much of Asia. In China, authorities evacuated 140,000 people from a coastal province ahead of the typhoon.
Megi could later hit Vietnam, where flooding has caused 30 deaths in recent days, in addition to those missing and feared dead after a bus was snatched off a road by surging currents Monday.
Megi packed sustained winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 162 mph (260 kph) as it made landfall midday Monday at Palanan Bay in Isabela province, felling trees and utility poles and cutting off power, phone and Internet services in many areas. It appeared to be weakening while crossing the mountains of the Philippines' main northern island of Luzon.
With more than 3,600 Filipinos riding out the typhoon in sturdy school buildings, town halls, churches and relatives' homes, roads in and out of coastal Isabela province, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of Manila, were deserted and blocked by collapsed trees and power lines.
One man who had just rescued his water buffalo slipped and fell into a river and probably drowned, said Bonifacio Cuarteros, an official with the Cagayan provincial disaster agency.
As it crashed ashore, the typhoon whipped up huge waves. There was zero visibility and radio reports said the wind was so powerful that people could not take more than a step at a time. Ships and fishing vessels were told to stay in ports, and several domestic and international flights were canceled.
Thousands of military reserve officers and volunteers were on standby, along with helicopters, including six Chinooks that were committed by U.S. troops holding war exercises with Filipino soldiers near Manila, said Benito Ramos, a top disaster-response official.
"This is like preparing for war," Ramos, a retired army general, told The Associated Press. "We know the past lessons, and we're aiming for zero casualties."
In July, an angry President Benigno Aquino III fired the head of the weather bureau for failing to predict that a typhoon would hit Manila. That storm killed more than 100 people in Manila and outlying provinces.
This time, authorities sounded the alarm early and ordered evacuations and the positioning of emergency relief and food supplies days before the typhoon hit. The capital was expected to avoid any direct hit, though schools were closed.
Megi was the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines in four years, government forecasters say. A 2006 howler with 155-mph (250-kph) winds set off mudslides that buried entire villages, killing about 1,000 people.
In central Vietnam, officials said 20 people on a bus were swept away Monday by strong currents from a river flooded by recent rains unrelated to Megi, while another 17 survived by swimming or clinging to trees or power poles.
One survivor treaded water for 3½ hours as the current pushed her downstream and she was forced to let go of her daughter due to exhaustion. The girl is among the missing.
Officials said 30 other people died in central Vietnam from flooding over the weekend, and five remain missing.
Megi could add to the misery.
"People are exhausted," Vietnamese disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai said by telephone from Quang Binh province. "Many people have not even returned to their flooded homes from previous flooding, while many others who returned home several days ago were forced to be evacuated again."
China's National Meteorological Center said Megi was expected to enter the South China Sea on Tuesday, threatening southeasterern coastal provinces. The center issued its second-highest alert for potential "wild winds and huge waves," warning vessels to take shelter and urging authorities to brace for emergencies.
Floods triggered by heavy rains forced nearly 140,000 people to evacuate from homes in the southern island province of Hainan, where heavy rains left thousands homeless over the weekend, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.
Thailand also reported flooding that submerged thousands of homes and vehilce and halting train service. No casualties were reported, but nearly 100 elephants were evacuated from a popular tourist attraction north of the capital.
Associated Press writers Jim Gomez, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila; Margie Mason and Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam; and Chi-Chi Zhang in Beijing contributed to this report.
.
Source
.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Slum disappears in Rio mudslide; 200 feared dead
Firefighters pull the body of a landslide victim out of the mud in the Morro do Bumba neighborhood of Niteroi near Rio de Janeiro, Thursday, April 8, 2010. At least 200 people were buried and feared dead under the latest landslide to hit a slum in Rio de Janeiro's metropolitan area, authorities said Thursday. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Slum disappears in Rio mudslide; 200 feared dead
By BRADLEY BROOKS (AP) – 7 hours ago
NITEROI, Brazil — They are all gone. The Evangelical church where worshippers were praying. A daycare center where kids were playing. The pizza parlor where a family was eating.
All were buried under a mountain of mud, garbage and stone when yet another landslide hit metropolitan Rio de Janeiro late Wednesday. This one swept through the Morro Bumba slum, engulfing as many as 200 people and 60 homes. Nothing was left behind but a massive crater of blackened, sodden earth and the remnants of flimsy brick shacks.
"I had just picked up my 10-year-old son from the day care. We walked down the hill to the street, and within 10 minutes, my community collapsed," said Patricia Faria, 28, crying as she watched heavy machinery dump the remains of her life into a waiting truck. "All I have left is what you see on me — and my son. Thank God, I have my son."
Rio state health secretary Sergio Cortes said it was hard to say how many people were buried in the latest slide. "A worse-case scenario is 200," he told The Associated Press. "We know that about 60 houses were buried."
Already 161 people have been confirmed dead in the heavy rains that began Monday in Rio, most of them swept away in landslides that roared through city slums built on steep, unstable hillsides.
The death toll surpasses that of flooding and mudslides in the southern state of Santa Catarina in 2008, which killed nearly 130 people and displaced about 80,000.
"In our experience, it's an instant death," Pedro Machado, undersecretary of Rio state's Civil Defense department, said of the victims buried by landslides.
Faria said she was certain people were buried inside the Morro Bumba slum's Assembly of God church, which collapsed during nightly services.
Clesio Araujo, 39, said he narrowly escaped the slide, leaving a pizza parlor just a few minutes before the earth gave way. He said a family was still inside.
The destruction was compounded because the slum is largely built atop an old garbage dump, making it especially unstable and vulnerable to the heavy rains, said Agostinho Guerreiro, president of Rio's main association of engineers and architects.
"It is very fragile soil. It couldn't hold. The houses came down, destroying the ones below them," Guerreiro told Globo TV. "It was a tragedy foretold."
The federal government announced an emergency fund of $114 million to help Rio state, where the slum is located, to deal with the mudslides and flooding.
But the money will be of little help to people who have no choice but to live in such precarious sections of the city, said Rosana Fernandes, 43, whose sister, brother-in-law and two young nieces were buried under the mud.
Holding a faded photo of the smiling family, she didn't bother holding back the tears as she explained what it is that leads families to live atop a landfill formed by decades of accumulated garbage.
"Yes, it was a dump. But people are desperate to have a home anywhere," she said. "What else were they going to do? Where else were they supposed to go? This is our reality. They knew the risks, but when you have no money, you have no choice," she said.
Rio officials said they are going to step up forced evictions of slum residents living in at-risk areas. Mayor Eduardo Paes announced that 1,500 families are going to be removed from their homes in at least two Rio slums, and that more evictions are likely.
Officials from Rio state's Civil Defense department said that at least 14,000 people were forced from their homes by the mudslides and that potential slides threatened at least 10,000 other houses in the city.
On Thursday, scores of rescue workers poked at the massive mountain of earth that slid down the hills of the Morro Bumba slum toward a paved road in Niteroi, Rio's sister city of 500,000 people across the Guanabara Bay.
Mounds of soil and garbage rose 40 feet (12 meters) high. A dozen dump trucks were lined up to carry off the debris. Hundreds of onlookers watched as firefighters carried at least four coffins out of the crater created by the slide.
Homeless residents sought shelter in two Evangelical churches just down the road from the slum, where water, food and clothing were handed out. Small children played and slept on dozens of mattresses laid out on church floors.
Niteroi recovery operations were moving slowly: The wet, steep terrain posed a continued threat to anyone trapped in the wreckage and to emergency crews as well, said lead firefighter Alves Souza.
"The work is very intense, given the fact that the volume of material we have here is very large," Souza said.
While it rained only lightly Thursday, the forecast was for heavier rains later in the day and throughout the weekend.
Associated Press Writer Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
By BRADLEY BROOKS (AP) – 7 hours ago
NITEROI, Brazil — They are all gone. The Evangelical church where worshippers were praying. A daycare center where kids were playing. The pizza parlor where a family was eating.
All were buried under a mountain of mud, garbage and stone when yet another landslide hit metropolitan Rio de Janeiro late Wednesday. This one swept through the Morro Bumba slum, engulfing as many as 200 people and 60 homes. Nothing was left behind but a massive crater of blackened, sodden earth and the remnants of flimsy brick shacks.
"I had just picked up my 10-year-old son from the day care. We walked down the hill to the street, and within 10 minutes, my community collapsed," said Patricia Faria, 28, crying as she watched heavy machinery dump the remains of her life into a waiting truck. "All I have left is what you see on me — and my son. Thank God, I have my son."
Rio state health secretary Sergio Cortes said it was hard to say how many people were buried in the latest slide. "A worse-case scenario is 200," he told The Associated Press. "We know that about 60 houses were buried."
Already 161 people have been confirmed dead in the heavy rains that began Monday in Rio, most of them swept away in landslides that roared through city slums built on steep, unstable hillsides.
The death toll surpasses that of flooding and mudslides in the southern state of Santa Catarina in 2008, which killed nearly 130 people and displaced about 80,000.
"In our experience, it's an instant death," Pedro Machado, undersecretary of Rio state's Civil Defense department, said of the victims buried by landslides.
Faria said she was certain people were buried inside the Morro Bumba slum's Assembly of God church, which collapsed during nightly services.
Clesio Araujo, 39, said he narrowly escaped the slide, leaving a pizza parlor just a few minutes before the earth gave way. He said a family was still inside.
The destruction was compounded because the slum is largely built atop an old garbage dump, making it especially unstable and vulnerable to the heavy rains, said Agostinho Guerreiro, president of Rio's main association of engineers and architects.
"It is very fragile soil. It couldn't hold. The houses came down, destroying the ones below them," Guerreiro told Globo TV. "It was a tragedy foretold."
The federal government announced an emergency fund of $114 million to help Rio state, where the slum is located, to deal with the mudslides and flooding.
But the money will be of little help to people who have no choice but to live in such precarious sections of the city, said Rosana Fernandes, 43, whose sister, brother-in-law and two young nieces were buried under the mud.
Holding a faded photo of the smiling family, she didn't bother holding back the tears as she explained what it is that leads families to live atop a landfill formed by decades of accumulated garbage.
"Yes, it was a dump. But people are desperate to have a home anywhere," she said. "What else were they going to do? Where else were they supposed to go? This is our reality. They knew the risks, but when you have no money, you have no choice," she said.
Rio officials said they are going to step up forced evictions of slum residents living in at-risk areas. Mayor Eduardo Paes announced that 1,500 families are going to be removed from their homes in at least two Rio slums, and that more evictions are likely.
Officials from Rio state's Civil Defense department said that at least 14,000 people were forced from their homes by the mudslides and that potential slides threatened at least 10,000 other houses in the city.
On Thursday, scores of rescue workers poked at the massive mountain of earth that slid down the hills of the Morro Bumba slum toward a paved road in Niteroi, Rio's sister city of 500,000 people across the Guanabara Bay.
Mounds of soil and garbage rose 40 feet (12 meters) high. A dozen dump trucks were lined up to carry off the debris. Hundreds of onlookers watched as firefighters carried at least four coffins out of the crater created by the slide.
Homeless residents sought shelter in two Evangelical churches just down the road from the slum, where water, food and clothing were handed out. Small children played and slept on dozens of mattresses laid out on church floors.
Niteroi recovery operations were moving slowly: The wet, steep terrain posed a continued threat to anyone trapped in the wreckage and to emergency crews as well, said lead firefighter Alves Souza.
"The work is very intense, given the fact that the volume of material we have here is very large," Souza said.
While it rained only lightly Thursday, the forecast was for heavier rains later in the day and throughout the weekend.
Associated Press Writer Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
.
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)