All while Russia sure could use the rain.
Maybe not this much:
"Floods, landslides torment millions in Asia" by Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press | August 9, 2010
BEIJING — Floods and landslides across Asia plunged millions into misery yesterday as rubble-strewn waters killed at least 127 in northwestern China and 4 million Pakistanis faced food shortages amid their country’s worst-ever flooding.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, rescuers raced to find 500 people missing in flash floods that have already killed 132, while North Korea’s state media said high waters had destroyed thousands of homes and damaged crops.
And the Koreans are already starving.
How much of a threat can they really be?
In Pakistan, more than 1,500 people have been killed and millions more left begging for help after the worst floods in the country’s history. Prices of fruits and vegetables skyrocketed yesterday, with more than 1 million acres of crops destroyed.
Related: Taliban Flood Back Into Pakistan
If you want a bit of a cruise just scroll down my Pakistan file for more.
The latest Pakistani deaths included at least 53 people killed Saturday when landslides buried two villages in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Ali Mohamamd Sikandar, a senior government official, said.
It's a horror I can hardly imagine. I'm up on the hill.
In China’s Gansu Province, terrified residents fled to high ground or upper stories of apartment buildings after the debris-blocked Bailong River overflowed late Saturday, smashing buildings and overturning cars.
The official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday that authorities were seeking to locate an estimated 1,300 people missing in the latest deluge in a summer that has seen China’s worst seasonal flooding in a decade.
Worst hit was the county seat of Zhouqu in the province’s Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where houses buckled and streets were filled with more than a yard of mud and water.
The landslides struck after heavy rains lashed China late Saturday, causing the Bailong River to burst its banks, Xinhua reported, citing Zhouqu county officials.
The devastation was worsened by flotsam that blocked the river upstream, creating a 2-mile-long lake that overflowed and sent waves of mud, rocks, and water crashing down on the town, ripping houses from their foundations and tearing six-story apartment buildings in half.
That's a fancy way of saying garbage blocked the dams.
Explosives experts were flying to the scene by helicopter to demolish the blockage and safely release potential flood waters ahead of more rain forecast through Wednesday.
China Central Television said 45,000 people had been evacuated, but the region’s remote, mountainous location was hampering the emergency response. Narrow roads prevented the movement of heavy equipment, forcing rescuers to rely on shovels, picks, and buckets.
Firefighters rescued 28 people yesterday, and the government had allocated $73 million for recovery efforts, Xinhua said.
China’s worst flooding in a decade has killed some 1,100 people this year, with more than 600 missing. The floods have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage across 28 provinces and regions.
At least 1.4 million acres of crops were destroyed in the central Pakistani province of Punjab, the country’s breadbasket, the United Nations reported.
The loss of the precious food!
Many more crops were devastated in the northwest, where destruction from the floods has been most severe and many residents are still trying to recover from intense battles between the Taliban and the army during the last year.
F*** the WAR for RIGHT NOW, okay?!!!
The swollen Indus River overflowed near the city of Sukkur in southern Sindh Province yesterday, submerging the nearby village of Mor Khan Jatoi with chest-high water and destroying many of its 1,500 mud homes.
Yeah, why don't you war-mongers take a march through that?!
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"13.8m affected by Pakistan floods; Misery exceeds tsunami and quakes, UN says" by Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press | August 10, 2010
ISLAMABAD —In China yesterday, rescuers lifted muddy bodies into trucks, and aid convoys choked the road into the remote town where hundreds died and more than 1,100 were missing from landslides caused by heavy rain that has flooded swaths of Asia and spread misery to millions....
The flood death toll in China jumped to 337 late yesterday after Sunday’s landslides in the northwestern province of Gansu — the deadliest event so far in the country’s worst flooding in a decade. A debris-blocked swollen river burst, swamping entire mountain villages in the county seat of Zhouqu and ripping homes from their foundations.
The government said 1,148 people were reported missing last night.
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The rest of the article was about the Taliban flood so I cut it; you have the link above if you like.
WARSAW — The death toll in flooding in central Europe rose to 11 as Poland’s interior minister said yesterday that two more people had died in the southwestern region of the country.
The flooding has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Heavy rains in Poland caused flooding in the southwestern town of Bogatynia, and one person was reported dead Saturday.
In the northern Czech Republic, five people were found drowned over the weekend.
Another three people drowned in the eastern German state of Saxony on Saturday. Several roads and villages there were flooded by swelling Neisse river, and rescue workers with rubber boats evacuated hundreds of people from their homes in the city of Goerlitz....
The worst-hit town in Poland was Bogatynia, where a bridge was destroyed and many people were left without electricity and running water.
It is the third time this year that Poland has been affected by flooding. The first time, in May, was the most severe. It caused widespread damage to homes and killed more than 20 people.
In the Czech Republic, at least a thousand people had to be evacuated Saturday, some from areas below two dams threatened by rising waters. Police and military helicopters rescued people from the roofs of their homes in the towns of Chrastava and Frydlant.
Sound familiar, America?
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Don't worry, I have not forgotten you; in fact, we had something completely different:
The National Weather Service said storms triggered a number of tornadoes in North Dakota and Minnesota, including one that destroyed a structure in Wilkin County, Minn. (Aptn via Associated Press)
"Storms spawn tornadoes in N. Dakota, Minn." by Associated Press | August 9, 2010
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Strong storms spawned as many as seven tornadoes that touched down in southeast North Dakota and western Minnesota, including one that struck a farmhouse.
That must have it above.
No injuries were reported....
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