Flash floods
Rising Teesta: Flash floods snap Lalmonirhat-Rangpur road link
Road communication between Lalmonirhat and Rangpur remained suspended Thursday due to the collapse of Kakina-Rangpur Road in Kaliganj upazila collapsed in flash floods.
Local people said the water of the Teesta entered into Rudreshor village as the river was flowing 60 cm above the danger level at Dalia point on Wednesday.
Read: Red alert issued as Teesta flows 60 cm above danger level
Due to the excessive pressure of the river water, Kakina-Rangpur Road caved in, disrupting road communication between Rangpur and Lalmonirhat districts.
The Bangladesh Army has been pressed into action to evacuate stranded people from the affected areas, officials said.
Shahidul Haque Shaheed, chairman of Kakina Union Parishad, said 3,000 people have been stranded due to the flash floods and the main road connecting the two districts has caved in.
Rashedin Islam, executive engineer of the Water Development Board, said the Teesta river is flowing 70 cm above its danger level from Wednesday night.
Read: Teesta flowing above danger level, all 44 barrage gates opened
The Water Development Board (WDB) has issued a red alert in the Teesta Basin after the river swelled above the danger level due to the onrush of hill water and heavy rainfall upstream in India.
Authorities in Bangladesh ordered evacuation of the people living in villages along the river’s banks.
Death toll passes 150 in Nepal and India floods
More than 150 people have died after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods in two Indian states - Uttarakahand and Kerala - and parts of Nepal.
Homes were submerged or crushed by rocks swept into them by landslides, reports BBC.
At least 50 people, including five from a single family, died in Uttarakhand some 77 people died in Nepal, with dozens more missing in both nations.
Read: Floods, landslides kill at least 28 people in southern India
Rains further south in India's Kerala state also triggered deadly floods, leaving another 39 dead there.
Six more bodies were recovered on Wednesday in Uttarakhand, taking the death toll in the Himalayan state, a popular tourist spot, to 52.
Schools have been closed and religious and tourist activities suspended in the state.
The Ganges burst its bank in Rishikesh and the popular Nainital region was severely affected.
Uttarakhand, which normally sees up to 30.5mm (1.2in) of rain for the whole of October, recorded 328mm in a 24-hour period this week.
But the Indian Meteorological Department says the rainfall is now easing.
Rainfall in Nepal may not be so quick to ease.
The worst-affected areas are Panchthar district in east Nepal, and Ilam and Doti in west Nepal.
Read: 21 dead in India floods & landslides
At least 10 killed in Tennessee flash floods; dozens missing
Catastrophic flooding in Middle Tennessee left at least ten people dead and dozens missing Saturday as record-shattering rainfall washed away homes and rural roads, authorities said.
Business owner Kansas Klein watched in horror from a bridge Saturday morning as cars and entire houses were swept down a road in Waverly, a town of about 4,500 people that Klein, 48, has called home for more than half his life. Two girls who were holding on to a puppy and clinging to a wooden board swept past, far too fast for Klein and other onlookers to go down and grab hold of them.
After being told by authorities to go back, Klein returned a couple hours later, shocked that the floodwaters had almost entirely receded and aghast at the destruction that was left behind.
Read:Coastal evacuations urged as Hurricane Henri heads north
“It was amazing how quick it came and how quick it left,” Klein said.
Klein said his restaurant, a decade-old New York-style pizzeria, was still standing, but the morning deluge of between 10 and 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) of rain in Humphreys County had caused floodwaters to reach 7 feet (2.1 meters) inside the eatery, rendering it a total loss.
After leaving his restaurant, Klein walked to the nearby public housing homes and heard yelling. A man had just recovered a baby’s body from one of the homes. Other bodies would soon follow.
“I’m looking at my restaurant, thinking how horrible it was that I lost my restaurant and then I walk around the corner and see someone’s baby dead — my restaurant doesn’t mean a whole lot right now,” Klein told the Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday night, still in shock as he watched a local news channel air footage he had recorded on his phone hours ago.
The low-income homes — dozens of block buildings known as Brookside — appeared to have borne the brunt of the flash flood, Klein said.
“It was devastating: buildings were knocked down, half of them were destroyed,” Klein said. “People were pulling out bodies of people who had drowned and didn’t make it out.”
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told news outlets more than 30 people have been reported missing. It was not immediately clear how many had lived at Brookside, located about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Nashville.
Read:Dominica Completes $2m Bypass Project to Safeguard Community During Hurricane Season
Two of the bodies recovered were toddlers who had been swept away from their father, Davis told WSMV-TV.
Waverly couple Cindy Dunn, 48, and her husband Jimmy, 49, were rescued from their attic by a crew who used a bulldozer to reach them.
“Hell. That’s what we had to go through,” Cindy Dunn told The Tennessean.
She said her husband woke her up Saturday, telling her that floodwaters had pushed her car to their backyard. Eventually the water in their house rose to at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) high, forcing them to the attic. Dunn said the rooftop wasn’t an option.
“My husband is dealing with cancer. He’s going through chemotherapy. And I am an amputee. So there was no going anywhere besides the attic,” Dunn said.
Dunn said their home and neighboring houses “are gone.”
Just to the east of Waverly, the town of McEwen was pummeled with about 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain in less than a day, prompting water rescues, road closures, and communications disruptions. That rainfall total smashed the state’s 24-hour record of 13.6 inches (34.5 centimeters) from 1982, according to the National Weather Service Nashville, though Saturday’s numbers would have to be confirmed.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee tweeted on Saturday, “Tennesseans, please stay cautious of rising floodwaters caused by heavy rainfall in parts of Middle TN. We are actively working with emergency response officials & first responders as they support Tennesseans in flooded areas.”
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency activated its emergency operations center and said agencies that include the Tennessee National Guard, the state Highway Patrol, and Fire Mutual Aid were responding to the flooding. In a bulletin, TEMA called the situation “dangerous and evolving” and urged people to avoid travel in the affected counties.
Read:Officials: Storm lashing Florida strengthens into hurricane
Klein isn’t sure for what the future holds for his family or his town.
He also isn’t sure what happened to the two girls and the puppy he witnessed who had been clinging on to the board. He heard that a girl and a puppy had been rescued downstream, and that the other girl was also saved, but he wasn’t sure it was them.
“This is the third 100-hundred year flood that we’ve had in about 10 years,” referencing 2010 and 2019 floods. “But this is 100 times worse than either one of them was. ... The last report I saw was there were 31 missing. This is a small town so the odds are I know most of those people.”
6 killed in India cloudburst, 26 missing
At least six people were killed and more than 26 others went missing after flash floods triggered by a cloudburst lashed a remote hamlet in the northern Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours of Wednesday.
The cloudburst -- a sudden aggressive rainstorm limited to an area -- occurred in Honzar village in the federal government-controlled territory's hilly Kishtwar district, when most of the victims were fast asleep in their houses.
Read:18 die in India road crash
Officials said at least eight to 10 houses in the village were swept away by the flash floods. "Six bodies have been recovered so far," Kishtwar deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Sharma told the local media. "Some 12 people have been rescued and admitted to hospitals."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the federal government would extend all possible help to the affected people.
"The Central Government is closely monitoring the situation in the wake of the cloudbursts in Kishtwar and Kargil. All possible assistance is being made available in the affected areas. I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being," Modi tweeted.
Read:Pandemic leaves Indians mired in massive medical debts
Federal Minister Jitendra Singh said that the Indian Air Force was asked to join the rescue operations.
"Following cloudburst in Dachhan region, 30 to 40 persons missing... Air Force authorities contacted for lifting the injured as and when required.Keeping close track of the situation. Every kind of further help will be provided as per requirement," he tweeted in the morning.
Read:Floods & landslides in India kill over 100
The northern Indian territory has been experiencing heavy monsoon rains for the past three days.
"The meteorological department has predicted heavy rains during the upcoming days and water levels in rivers and nallas (streams) are expected to rise, which can pose a threat to the inhabitants residing near rivers, nallas, water bodies and slide-prone areas," the district administration said in an advisory on Tuesday night.
Bangladesh mourns loss of lives due to flash floods in Indonesia, Timor-Leste
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has expressed deep condolences over the loss of lives in the flash floods and landslides in different parts of Indonesia and Timor-Leste.
In separate messages sent to Foreign Minister of Indonesia Retno L P Marsudi and Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister of Timor-Leste Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno, Dr Momen conveyed heartfelt sympathies to both the leaders.
Also read:Indonesia landslides, floods kill 55 people; dozens missing
He expressed his deep sympathy particularly to the members of the bereaved families who lost their near and dear ones, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.
Dr Momen prayed and hoped that the resilient people of both friendly countries can withstand all adversities and rebuild their flood affected areas to come back to normal life.
He reiterated Bangladesh Government’s commitment to work with international community on global climate change mitigation and adaptation issues.
Also read:Heavy rains trigger landslide, floods in Indonesia; 44 dead
Dr Momen wished both the Foreign Ministers good health, long life and renewed prosperity.
Community radio stations start broadcasting on flash flood
Seven community radio stations in the northern regions of Bangladesh have started broadcasting programmes on flash flood situation to alert people to reduce loss.
Flash floods inundate parts of Sunamganj town; 250 villages flooded in Kurigram
Flash floods triggered by onrush of water from the upstream and heavy rains have inundated low-lying areas in different upazilas in Sunamganj district.
Besides, 250 villages have been flooded in Kurigram district, rendering over 75,000 people marooned as the Brahmaputra and the Dharla Rivers are flowing above the danger level.
In Sunamganj, The Surma and the Jadukata rivers are flowing above the danger level on Saturday.
The Surma River was flowing 46cm above the danger level at 9am while Jadukata River was flowing 57cm above the danger level.