400+ Dead in Philippines Flood

Overflow from dams could be behind the slides

(NEWSER) - Landslides and continued flooding in the wake of two typhoons have killed more than 90 people in the Philippines. Many areas of the country are still underwater, and some reports suggest that water released by dams after Typhoons Ketsana and Parma is responsible for the landslides. More»

Areas still stricken by last storm evacuate; Parma expected to hit within hours

(AP) - Filipinos braced to be whipped by powerful winds and pelted with rain from a second typhoon in eight days, fleeing by the tens of thousands from low-lying areas and suspending cleanup operations in the flooded capital. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a nationwide "state of calamity" and ordered mass evacuations of six provinces in the path of Typhoon Parma, expected to hit the main island of Luzon mid-afternoon Saturday. More»

(NEWSER) - Some one million people on China's southeast coast have fled ahead of a massive typhoon spawning 30-foot waves and packing 74 mph winds, reports the BBC. Typhoon Morakot made landfall early today in Fujan Province after authorities sent more than 8 million text messages warning residents to evacuate. Morakot dumped more than 8 feet of rain on Taiwan earlier this week, triggering the worst flooding in 50 years. The typhoon also sparked violent rains in the Philippines, where at least 10 people died. More»

Rescuers widen search

(AP) - Fishermen joined Philippine navy sailors, police, and firefighters in an ever wider search for bodies from entire villages swept away in one of the country's worst flash floods. More bodies have washed ashore, pushing the death toll to more than 1,200, an official said today. While more than 60,000 homeless spent a miserable Christmas in jam-packed schools and gymnasiums, search teams retrieved an additional 150 bodies from the sea as far as 60 miles from worst-hit Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, says a civil defense official. More»

But survivors largely left to own devices

(AP) - A break in near-constant rain today allowed Brazilian rescue helicopters to deliver desperately needed food and water to neighborhoods buried under tons of earth in mudslides that have killed more than 600. Rain clouds lifted, allowing about a dozen helicopters to buzz around the craggy peaks of the emerald-green mountains some 40 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. "The priority is the rescue of people who are still isolated. We have to take advantage of this break in the weather to help people in these remote, collapsed areas," says a rescue official. More»