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Sinkholes, slides endanger entire neighborhood in Tillamook
A
neighborhood of seven homes overlooking the Tillamook River are banding
together after extreme weather has caused their hillside to shift,
sending bits of road, mud and trees onto their homes and barns.
It
began Monday as a few little cracks on Burton Hill Road, just outside
Tillamook. By Wednesday the cracks had collapsed into a quarter-mile
series of sinkholes and creeping mud that put three homes at risk,
pushed a barn off its foundation and left homeowners fearful of what
will move next.
As the rains continue, they say only one thing is clear:
No one is coming to the rescue.
Morgan
Kottre, 27, said she and her neighbors – some of them relatives – have
been told by county, state and federal officials that they don't qualify
for assistance because Burton Hill Road and the lower Hillside Drive
are private roads on private land. Same story from at least one
insurance company. Kottre said a representative told one family the
devastation qualifies as an "act of god," which the insurer doesn't
cover.
"In theory, we could try to fight it," she said, "but right now we're just trying to fight the land." Storms over the past week that have brought flooding and
landslides across northwestern Oregon. On Saturday afternoon, blizzard
conditions closed three highways in Southern Oregon. The extreme weather
has caused at least two deaths in Oregon and federal officials set
early damage estimates at about $15 million.
Tillamook County was
among the 13 counties where Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of
emergency. In fact, not far from Kottre's home on Saturday night, the town of Oceanside was cut off as the only road out of town was closed due to a failed culvert.
A
rescue team searches for survivors and remove bodies after a landslide
at Jemblung village in Banjarnegara, central Java province, on December
13, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
JAKARTA: A
landslide triggered by torrential rains on Thursday engulfed a village
in western Indonesia, burying 18 people, an official said.
Three
have been found dead and rescuers are searching for the bodies of 15
others after the landslide hit the village of Lebong Tandai on Sumatra
island, a hilly area known for gold mining.
Several houses were
buried when mounds of earth and rocks surged down a hillside in the
early hours, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
Floods, landslides hit West, North Sumatra, cut off access
Photo: Reuters
Torrential rain has caused landslides in parts of West and North Sumatra, cutting off access and disrupting economic activity.
A
150-meter stretch of the highway connecting West Sumatra and Riau in
Jorong Sopang, Pangkalan Koto Baru, Limapuluh Kota regency, was engulfed
by up to a meter of floodwater on Sunday at 5 a.m. local time.
Limapuluh
Kota Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Nasriyanto said the
flooding was triggered by the overflowing Batang Manggilang River.
"Only
large trucks were able to pass, resulting in other vehicles from
Pekanbaru and Payakumbuh backing up 2 kilometers for eight hours,"
Nasriyanto told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He said the heavy rain
that had drenched the region in the past three days had triggered
floods and landslides in a number of locations in the regency. At least
500 homes were engulfed by over 50 centimeters of floodwater and eight
homes were reportedly damaged by a landslide on Sunday morning.
A man crosses a flooded road in Sta Rosa, Nueva Ecija, one of the
provinces hardest hit by Typhoon Koppu, Oct. 19, 2015. Koppu has
weakened to a tropical storm, but authorities warn flooding may continue
as water comes down from higher elevations. Reuters
Disaster
officials advised communities in flood-prone areas of the northern
Philippines to evacuate Saturday as the slow-moving Typhoon Koppu bore
down on the coast with heavy rains and high winds. Heavy rains are
expected to inundate many areas on the main northern island of Luzon
even before the typhoon makes landfall early Sunday, and 24 hours
thereafter, acting weather bureau chief Esperanza Cayanan said. Cayanan
said that another typhoon farther east and a high pressure area north of
the country will hold Koppu in a "semi-stationary" position and shroud
most of Luzon with an enormous band of thick rain clouds. President
Benigno Aquino appeared on national television to warn Filipinos about
the typhoon and appealed for cooperation to prevent casualties. The
typhoon was packing sustained winds of 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph)
and gusts of up to 190 kph (119 mph) early Saturday about 300
kilometers (188 miles) east of Aurora, one of two provinces where it is
forecast to come ashore. Forecasters expected sustained winds will reach
185 kph (116 mph) before it hits land. "We are looking at the possible
worst scenario, not to scare but to allow us to prepare," Cayanan said.
"If it stays 24 hours ... and the downpour is sustained, we will surely
have floods and landslides." She said the typhoon's cloud band is about
600 kilometers (375 miles) across, unleashing the most intense rain
close to the center. "Your government is here in order to ensure that we
will meet our goal of zero casualties," Aquino said Friday. "But I must
emphasize (that) each local government unit, community, and Filipino
that will be affected has the duty to cooperate ... to overcome the
challenges ahead." It was the first time Aquino has personally issued a
storm warning on television since super Typhoon Haiyan barreled through
the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,300 dead
and missing. He said the Social Welfare Department estimates that 1.5
million families, or about 7.5 million people, will need relief
assistance. Metropolitan Manila, a sprawling urban area of 12 million,
will be spared from the brunt of the typhoon but it is expected to be
drenched with intense rain starting late Saturday, forecaster Adzar
Aurelio said. "Let us not wait to be told to evacuate," he said. "Let us
evacuate and find the safe places." Gabriel Llave, a disaster
management officer of Aurora's Baler township, told ABS-CBN television
they expect to complete "pre-emptive" evacuations by nightfall. Civil
defense chief Alexander Pama advised travelers to areas affected by the
typhoon to postpone their trip. He said rescue units and relief supplies
have been prepositioned near areas expected to suffer the worst from
flooding and landslides. Koppu will likely be equivalent to a Category 3
or 4 hurricane, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Adam Douty.
Douty said 300-600 millimeters (12-24 inches) of rain is expected to be
widespread on Luzon but certain areas could be inundated by over 900 mm
(36 in.) that is "sure to trigger severe and life-threatening flooding
and mudslides." Koppu will be the 12th storm to hit the Philippines this
year. An average of 20 storms pummel the country annually.
Thousands
of residents of the northern Philippines were forced to flee Sunday as
Typhoon Koppu began its multiday battering of the region. The fierce
storm is forecast to lumber over the country's main island of Luzon at
an excruciatingly slow pace and dump huge amounts of rain on the rugged
terrain, setting off floods and landslides. Koppu came ashore in the
early hours of Sunday morning at super typhoon strength, ripping the
roofs off buildings and uprooting trees in the coastal province of
Aurora. "Through the night, we've had extremely ferocious wind,
torrential rain," storm chaser James Reynolds told CNN from the town of
Maddela. "The building I'm in -- the water's been coming in the
windows." Roads and communications to three towns in Aurora province
have been cut off by flooding and landslides, including Casiguran, where
the typhoon made landfall, authorities reported. "Based on the report
of the Philippine Army, there were many houses destroyed and trees
uprooted in the three towns," the official Philippines News Agency said.
The army and other agencies are trying to clear the routes to
Casiguran, which has about 25,000 inhabitants, and the other towns,
Dinalungan and Dilasag, it reported. In Baler, another town in Aurora,
CNN Philippines reporter Paul Garcia said there was flooding in several
neighborhoods. Surprised local residents said that while storms are
common in the area, flooding is not, Garcia reported. Roughly 15,000
people are taking shelter in evacuation centers, the Philippines'
disaster management agency said Sunday. That number is expected to rise
as the storm, known in the Philippines as Lando, crawls across northern
Luzon. No casualties have been reported so far, according to the agency.
The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 240 kph (150 mph) when
it slammed into the eastern coast of Luzon, according to the U.S.
military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, although the Philippines'
national weather agency measured the winds as being significantly
weaker, at 185 kph. The typhoon has since lost some of its strength as
it has moved over land. The typhoon is predicted to dawdle across
northern Luzon for several days because of a ridge of high pressure over
China blocking its progress farther north. That gives it longer than
usual to soak the region's mountains and swell its rivers, threatening
people who live downhill and downstream. "That's where the problem with
the flash flooding comes in, because when you have all of this rain that
keeps coming down over the same places over and over, that is likely to
trigger mudslides and landslides in addition to flash flooding problems
in ... some of the low-lying areas," Chinchar said. Officials reported
dozens of flight cancellations, thousands of people stranded in ports
and many municipalities without power.
Slow-moving
Typhoon Koppu weakened after blowing ashore with fierce winds in the
northeastern Philippines on Sunday, leaving at least one person dead and
six others missing, while displacing 16,000 villagers, officials said.
Army troops and police were deployed to rescue residents trapped in
flooded villages in the hard-hit provinces of Aurora, where the typhoon
blew ashore early Sunday, and Nueva Ecija, a nearby rice-growing
province where floodwaters swamped farmlands at harvest time, officials
said. After slamming into Aurora's Casiguran town after midnight
Saturday, the typhoon weakened and slowed considerably, hemmed in by the
Sierra Madre mountain range and a high pressure area in the country's
north and another typhoon far out in the Pacific in the east, government
forecaster Gladys Saludes said. Howling winds knocked down trees and
electric posts, leaving nine entire provinces without power while floods
and small landslides made 25 roads and bridges impassable. Authorities
suspended dozens of flights and sea voyages due to the stormy weather,
and many cities canceled classes on Monday. By Sunday afternoon, the
typhoon had veered toward the north from its westward course and was
tracked over mountainous Nueva Vizcaya province with sustained winds of
150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 185 kph (115 mph),
according to the government's weather agency. Satellite images show
that the typhoon appeared to be losing its eye, a sign of its
dissipating strength, acting weather bureau chief Esperanza Cayanan told
reporters, adding that Koppu was forecast to move at a slow pace of 5
kph (3 mph) across the north before exiting the main northern island of
Luzon on Wednesday. While weather had begun to improve in some towns,
and villagers had started to clear roads of fallen trees and debris,
Koppu was still packing a ferocity that could set off landslides and
flash floods, officials said. "There's still danger," Cayanan said. "We
shouldn't be complacent." A teenager was pinned to death on Sunday by a
fallen tree, which also injured four people and damaged three houses in
suburban Quezon city in the Manila metropolis. A man was electrocuted in
northern Tarlac province and two bodies were seen being swept by
floodwaters in Nueva Ecija, but authorities were trying to determine
whether those were typhoon-related deaths. Three fishermen were reported
missing in northern Bataan province, along with three other men in
Aurora's Baler town, according to the Office of Civil Defense. President
Benigno Aquino III and disaster-response agencies have warned that
Koppu's rain and winds may potentially bring more damage with its slow
speed. But Saludes, the government forecaster, said there was less heavy
rain than expected initially in some areas, including in Manila, but
fierce winds lashed many regions. A wayward barge carrying coal and 10
crew drifted dangerously close to a breakwater and marina in Manila Bay.
A tugboat positioned to prevent the barge from drifting away.
Forecasters said the typhoon had a cloud band of 600 kilometers (372
miles) and could dump rain over much of Luzon.
Army,
police and civilian volunteers scrambled Monday to rescue hundreds of
villagers trapped in their flooded homes and on rooftops in a northern
Philippine province battered by slow-moving Typhoon Koppu. The typhoon
blew ashore into northeastern Aurora province with fierce wind and heavy
rains early Sunday, leaving at least two dead, forcing more than 16,000
villagers from their homes, and leaving nine provinces without
electricity. But after its landfall, the typhoon weakened, hemmed in by
the Sierra Madre mountain range and a high pressure area in the
country's north and another typhoon far out in the Pacific in the east,
government forecasters said. By Monday morning Koppu was located over
Ilocos Norte province with winds of 74 miles per hour and gusts of up to
93 mph. Several of the affected provinces, led by Nueva Ecija, were
inundated by flash floods that swelled rivers and cascaded down
mountainsides, trapping villagers in their homes and on rooftops, said
Nigel Lontoc of the Office of Civil Defense. "There were some people who
needed to be rescued from the roofs of their homes," Lontoc told The
Associated Press by telephone on Monday. "But our rescuers couldn't
penetrate because the floodwaters were still high." Hundreds of
soldiers, police and volunteers have converged on Nueva Ecija, a
landlocked, rice-growing province in the heartland of the main northern
Luzon island, to help villagers whose homes had been flooded, said
Lontoc, adding there have been no deaths reported so far in Nueva
Ecija's flooding. Erwin Jacinto, a 37-year-old resident of Nueva Ecija's
Santa Rosa town, said the flooding turned his farmland into "nothing
but mud." Jacinto spoke from the top of a high-level bridge that juts
out from his flooded town and where dozens of farm villagers like him
stayed in the open overnight with their families, and their pigs and
chickens. Koppu's winds knocked down trees and electric posts, leaving
nine provinces without power. Authorities suspended dozens of flights
and sea voyages, and many cities canceled classes on Monday. A teenager
was pinned to death on Sunday by a fallen tree, which also injured four
people and damaged three houses in metropolitan Manila. In Subic town,
northwest of Manila, a concrete wall collapsed and killed a 62-year-old
woman and injured her husband, officials said. President Benigno Aquino
III and disaster-response agencies had warned that Koppu's rain and
winds may potentially bring more damage with its slow speed. But
government forecasters said that there was less heavy rain than expected
initially in some areas, including in Manila, but that fierce winds
lashed many regions. Koppu, Japanese for "cup," is the 12th storm to hit
the Philippines this year. An average of 20 storms and typhoons each
year batter the archipelago, one of the world's most disaster-prone
countries.
At
least six people were confirmed dead due to incidents caused by Typhoon
Lando over the weekend, according to reports reaching authorities. The
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), which
is based in Quezon City, has reported three fatalities as of late Monday
afternoon - one in Quezon City due to an accident involving a fallen
tree, one in Benguet due to landslide, and one in Zambales due to a
collapsed wall. Meanwhile, the Regional Disaster Risk and Reduction
Management in Region III reported four fatalities, including the one in
Zambales, as of 6 p.m. Monday. The three other fatalities were two from
Nueva Ecija and one in Tarlac. The latest NDRRMC report said five were
injured while one was missing. "Para po sa ating casualties, may naitala
po tayo na tatlo po na namatay, lima pong injured and isa po ang
kasalukuyan na nawawala," Mina Marasigan, NDRRMC spokesperson, said in a
press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo. "Yung sa ating mga namatay na mga
biktima, isa po mula sa Zambales, isa [sa] Quezon City, at isa po mula
Benguet na ang dahilan po nito ay landslide, dun po sa ating injured ay
isa pa rin po sa Zambales, apat po sa Quezon City," she added. An
earlier NDRRMC report identified two of the fatalities as 14-year-old
Aron Castillo, who was pinned down by a fallen tree in Quezon City, and
62-year-old Benita Famanilay, who was pinned down by a collapsed wall in
Subic, Zambales.
A report by the Office of Civil Defense in
the Cordillera Autonomous Region identified the latest fatality as
Fernando Laso Gumpad, 57, a resident of Bakun, Benguet. According to the
report, the victim went to tend to his farm at around 8 a.m. on Sunday
but failed to return home in the afternoon, prompting his wife and son
to look for him. "At around 6 p.m. of the same day, his wife and son
decided to follow him and saw a landslide near their farm. The wife and
son suspected that the victim was buried so they subsequently grabbed a
crowbar and grabhoe to dig. The victims lifeless body was reported via
cellphone call at around 12:30 a.m. on October 19, 2015," it said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard said seven people died while two
others were missing when a passenger banca capsized off Iloilo City on
Sunday during the height of Typhoon Lando. Although reports like this
indicate a higher death toll, Marasigan said NDRRMC only recorded three
fatalities so far as reports need to undergo a stringent validation and
confirmation process. "Katulad ng mga report na natatanggap natin mula
sa ating ahensya, ito ay dumadaan pa sa confirmation at validation. Di
tayo nagre-rely lang sa mga nakukuha natin mula sa social media at sa
mga initial reports na binibigay. Ang mahalaga kasi dito ay may body
count, may identification, at maitatala nating related nga ito sa
bagyo," she said. Typhoon Lando has affected a total of 283,486
individuals in Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, Calabarzon (Calamba, Laguna,
Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) and the CAR. Of this number, 132, 621
individuals are staying with their families. Marasigan said the NDRRMC
is continuously monitoring the rise of water in the Ambuklao, Binga and
Magat Dams. A total of 36 road sections and 18 bridges, meanwhile, have
been rendered impassable due to floods and possible landslides.
Army,
police and civilian volunteers rushed Monday to rescue hundreds of
villagers trapped in their flooded homes and on rooftops in a northern
Philippine province battered by slow-moving Typhoon Koppu, officials
said. The typhoon blew ashore into northeastern Aurora province early
Sunday, leaving at least 11 dead, forcing more than 65,000 villagers
from their homes, and leaving nine provinces without electricity. By
Monday afternoon, Koppu had weakened into a tropical storm over Ilocos
Norte province with winds of 105 kilometers (65 miles) per hour and
gusts of up to 135 kph (84 mph). Several of the affected provinces, led
by Nueva Ecija, were inundated by floods that swelled rivers and
cascaded down mountains, trapping villagers in their homes, said Nigel
Lontoc of the Office of Civil Defense. "There were people who got
trapped by the flood on their roofs, some were rescued already," Vice
Mayor Henry Velarde of Nueva Ecija's Jaen town told The Associated Press
by telephone, adding that about 80 percent of 27 villages in his
farming town of more than 45,000 people were inundated by flood. When a
flooded river swamped the villages, residents scrambled to safety but
many failed to save their poultry and farm animals. Out of more than
5,000 ducks, for example, only about 1,000 were saved and many rice
crops ready to be harvested in a few weeks turned into a muddy waste, he
said. "Our rice farms looked like it was ran over by a giant flat
iron," Velarde said. "All the rice stalks were flattened in one
direction." Hundreds of soldiers, police and volunteers have converged
on Nueva Ecija, a landlocked, rice-growing province in the heart of
Luzon island, to help villagers whose homes had been flooded, said
Lontoc.
Koppu
weakened from typhoon to tropical storm even as some areas of northern
Philippines remained flooded, and authorities warned flooding and
landslides could worsen. As of 4 a.m., local time Tuesday, Koppu's winds
slowed to 95 kilometers per hour (59 mph) as its center left the main
Philippine island of Luzon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration said. Its winds were as strong as
185 kph (115 mph) just before hitting land Sunday. Aside from weakening,
it is now forecast to turn east into the Pacific Ocean in the next few
days, sparing Taiwan, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center
predicted. Sixteen people were dead and more than 60,000 forced to
evacuate, Agence France-Presse reported. The worst single incident
reported so far was the drowning of seven people on a ferry that
capsized off the island of Guimaras Sunday. The casualty report may
climb as information comes in from remote areas, or areas where
transport and communication have been cut off. Authorities warned people
in evacuation centers not to return to their homes, saying even if
rains have abated, the water they left in the mountains will flow down
for days, ABS-CBN News said. Rice and other crops were destroyed, and
farm animals were killed by the wind, rains and floods, the Philippine
Daily Inquirer and other media reported. The typhoon hit regions
considered among the country's biggest sources of rice, the country's
staple. That could revive inflation, which is low, or even increase
world prices. The Philippines is one of the world's biggest importers of
the grain.
A man crosses a flooded road in Sta Rosa, Nueva Ecija, one of the
provinces hardest hit by Typhoon Koppu, Oct. 19, 2015. Koppu has
weakened to a tropical storm, but authorities warn flooding may continue
as water comes down from higher elevations. Reuters
UPDATE: 1 a.m. EDT -- The death toll from Koppu rose to 22 as more reports came in from northern Philippines, Agence France-Presse reported.
Meanwhile,
the one-time supertyphoon, now classified as a tropical storm, weakened
further, with winds of 85 kilometers per hour, according to the national weather agency.
ASSOCIATED PRESSThis
still frame from video provided by KABC-TV shows vehicles stuck in a
muddy road in the mountainous community of Lake Hughes, Calif., about 65
miles north of downtown Los Angeles, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015.
LOS
ANGELES (AP) — Flash flooding north of Los Angeles sent water and mud
flowing into canyons and across roadways Thursday, trapping drivers and
closing a stretch of one of the state's main north-south freeways.
The
California Highway Patrol reported a 30-mile section of Interstate 5
was blocked by flooding near Fort Tejon, about 75 miles north of
downtown Los Angeles.
Drivers stuck in the mud waited for roads to
be cleared while thousands more were diverted to alternate routes
expected to take four or more hours to traverse through the mountain
region in Southern California.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
"Due
to the drought and fires, all the rain coming down heavily is causing
floods," CHP Officer Andrew Mack said. "We have a lot of people up there
trapped on the roadway."
Flooding, mudslides strand Southern California drivers following storm
October 15, 2015 8:57 PM
LOS
ANGELES (Reuters) - Heavy rains touched off flooding and mudslides in
foothill communities north of Los Angeles on Thursday, swamping cars,
stranding drivers and prompting authorities to close several major
roads.
The Latest: All Interstate 5 lanes reopened after mudslide
October 16, 2015 9:46 PM
.
View gallery
.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The latest on mudslides that closed a California interstate (all times local):
6:20 p.m.
All
lanes of Interstate 5 have been reopened, about 24 hours after the
major north-south artery linking Los Angeles and Central California was
blocked by a mudslide.
A spokeswoman with the California Highway
Patrol says all lanes were cleared shortly after 6 p.m. Friday. Two
southbound lanes and the northbound ones were reopened earlier in the
day.
A storm system that drenched northern Los Angeles County
Thursday sent mud and debris onto the roadway, trapping hundreds of
drivers. Highway crews worked overnight and throughout Friday to free
vehicles and clear the roadway.
To the west, State Road 58 is expected to remain closed for days.
5:55 p.m.
A
fresh round of flash flooding stranded dozens of vehicles on a highway
in Central California, but the troubles appear to be only temporary.
Santa
Barbara County fire spokesman Dave Zaniboni said the Friday afternoon
flooding affected Highway 166 west of Cuyama. That's a remote, sparsely
populated community about 50 miles north of Santa Barbara.
Zaniboni
says about 100 vehicles, including a school bus, were stuck on the
roadway at one time but that traffic began moving by Friday evening.
A
woman mourns the death of a member in her family, a victim of
landslide, in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015. (AP
Photo/Shakil Adil)
At least 13 people were
killed early Tuesday when a hillside gave way and buried several
makeshift homes in a slum of southern Pakistan's port city of Karachi,
officials said.
The mass of mud and rocks came down the hill and
hit a camp in the capital of the southern Sindh province, according to
the Associated Press. It has not been determined if weather caused the
collapse.
Rescuers
carry a body recovered on the fourth day of searching for victims of a
mudslide in Cambray, a neighborhood in the suburb of Santa Catarina
Pinula, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. (AP
Photo/Moises Castillo)
Guatemalan
authorities on Tuesday called off the search for victims buried under a
massive landslide that killed at least 280 people near the Central
American nation's capital. The National Disaster Reduction Commission
decided it was time to end the search and rescue operation, while work
to stabilize and recover the disaster zone will continue, agency chief
Alejandro Maldonado said. He said 70 people are listed as missing. The
number has fluctuated in the nearly two weeks since the disaster as
bodies were found and missing people were accounted for. Some 50
unidentified human remains will be subjected to DNA testing. "The people
are aware that the necessary time has been given to searching for
cadavers," said Williams Mancilla, minister of national defense and a
member of the disaster commission's board. "Now they have passed that
phase and what interests them is the next one." The Oct. 1 slide
unleashed at least 105 million cubic feet (3 million cubic meters) of
earth on a neighborhood in Santa Catarina Pinula, on the outskirts of
Guatemala City. Maldonado, who is the son of Guatemala's president, also
named Alejandro Maldonado, said it will be up to the local government
to decide if the disaster area is declared a gravesite. Authorities
promised financial aid for victims of the slide and are proposing to
build 150 new homes for survivors on a 10-block parcel of land near
Guatemala City that was seized from a convicted drug trafficker and gang
leader.
..........
Bulldozers
move land for a fourth day to search for victims of a fatal mudslide,
amid new, smaller slides in Cambray, a neighborhood in the suburb of
Santa Catarina Pinula, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Oct.
5, 2015. (AP Photo/Moises
Rescuers
leave after a day of searching for victims of a mudslide in Cambray, a
neighborhood in the suburb of Santa Catarina Pinula, on the outskirts of
Guatemala City, Friday, Oct. 9, 2015. The death toll of the massive
landslide has risen over 250 as the search for victims entered its
second week. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) – The
death toll from the mammoth landslide that buried a neighborhood on the
outskirts of Guatemala's capital has risen to 253 as the search for
victims enters its second week. Nearly 400 people were still missing
Friday.
Rescue
workers in Guatemala are digging through rubble from a mudslide that
hit a village not far from the capital, in search of hundreds missing.
At least 26 bodies have so far been recovered from the village of El
Cambray Dos, rescue services say. Heavy rains swept a torrent of
boulders and mud onto houses on Thursday, 15km (nine miles) east of
Guatemala City. Relatives have been receiving calls and texts from
people trapped under the rubble, reporters at the scene say. The injured
and homeless are being taken to makeshift shelters. Julio Sanchez, a
spokesman for Guatemala's volunteer firefighters, said 26 people had
died and another 36 people were taken to hospitals.
.......... Sunday, 04 October, 2015 at 09:50 UTC
At
least 30 people were dead and several hundred missing a day after a
landslide smashed through a village on the outskirts of the Guatemalan
capital, officials said. More than 500 rescue workers, police and
soldiers, as well as desperate residents, clawed away at the debris with
picks and shovels searching for survivors all day and into the late
evening, before suspending the painstaking hunt for the night. Families
reported receiving text messages from people they believed to still be
trapped, more than 24 hours after the landslide struck the village of El
Cambray II, in the municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula. Authorities
said that about 600 people are missing and they expect the death toll to
rise. Their estimate is based on the 125 homes that Thursday's
landslide destroyed or damaged after heavy rain. The affected area is
about 15 kilometers (10 miles) east of the capital Guatemala City. "We
have 29 dead people identified and one still unidentified," Sergio
Cabanas, incident commander for the government's disaster reduction
office CONRAD, told AFP. The victims include at least three children.
Thirty-four people were pulled out alive from the mud and rubble, while
25 others were injured, CONRAD officials said. The impact of the heavy
rain was exacerbated by a nearby river, officials said. Municipal
authorities had urged the community several times to relocate, most
recently in November last year. Amid the debris Josue Coloma, a
40-year-old mechanic, anxiously looked on as a rescue crew dug through
the mud searching for any sign of his two nephews, ages 11 and 14. "My
nephews should be in the place where I'm standing," Coloma told AFP. "I
have trust in God that they are well." Two other relatives who were with
the kids at the time of the landslide were pulled out alive, Coloma
said, while their parents survived because they were out of the house at
a religious service. "The rescue job is very difficult because of the
terrain -- it's practically as if it were a mountain," said Cecilio
Chacaj, a rescuer with a local firefighter unit. Soon after Chacaj spoke
to AFP he pulled out a survivor from the debris. President Alejandro
Maldonado said that several countries, including the United States and
Cuba, had offered to help. "We are a beautiful country but unfortunately
we are vulnerable to this type of catastrophes," Maldonado told
reporters. The hunt for survivors was expected to resume at sun rise.
Eight people had already died in previous weather-related events tied to
Guatemala's rainy season, which lasts from May to November, according
to government data. Last year's rainy season was linked to 29 deaths and
damage to more than 9,000 homes.
.......... Sunday, 04 October, 2015 at 03:08 UTC
A
Guatemalan emergency official says the number of people killed when a
hillside collapsed Friday on more than 100 homes has risen to 56. Julio
Sanchez, a spokesperson for Guatemala's volunteer firefighters, says
officials estimate that 350 people remain missing. The previous death
toll was 30 and estimates of the number of missing had been as high as
600. Rescue specialists from the Red Cross and fire and police
departments were using dogs to search for possible survivors in the
mudslide zone on the outskirts of Guatemala City, where tons of earth
fell over some 125 homes, authorities from the region estimate.
.......... Sunday, 04 October, 2015 at 16:07 UTC
Hopes
faded of finding any remaining survivors of a massive landslide in
Guatemala that killed at least 86 people, even as families scrabbled
through rubble to find the bodies of loved-ones, with hundreds of others
still missing. Distraught relatives of the victims shoveled alongside
diggers through the mounds of earth that destroyed homes in Santa
Catarina Pinula on the southeastern flank of Guatemala City after
Thursday night's collapse of a hillside. Every batch of earth turned up
by the diggers held more personal belongings, from mattresses and books
to toys and Christmas decorations, reminders of around 350 people who
authorities said were still unaccounted for. Clutching photos of
loved-ones, family members stood in line outside a makeshift morgue near
the excavation site, some of them crying, to see if they recognized any
corpses. "This is the worst thing that has happened to us," said Ana
Maria Escobar, a 48-year-old housewife, sobbing as she waited for news
of 21 missing family members who lived in the town she had left a year
ago. "So far only my sister-in-law has been found," she added. One
digger unearthed the body of a little girl with scratch marks on her
arms and legs, which rescue workers said may have been signs of her
struggles to escape. People looking on cried out to prevent the digger
from destroying her body. Gaby Ramirez, an 18-year-old courier, had been
searching for her brother with shovel in hand since 6 a.m., after the
landslide buried a neighbor's house he was visiting. "I don't hope to
find him alive, but I do hope to find his body and bury him," she said.
"I have to bury him, I can't leave him there." Loosened by rain, tons of
earth, rock and trees had cascaded onto a neighborhood of the town
known as El Cambray II near the bottom of a ravine, flattening houses
and trapping residents who had gone home for the night. Some houses were
buried under about 50 feet (15 meters) of earth, and Guatemalan
disaster agency Conred said it doubted any other survivors would be
found. "Hope is the last think you lose, so we hope to find someone
alive," said Guatemala's defense minister Williams Mansilla, though he
also acknowledged the likelihood was very low. At last count, the
Attorney General's office reported 86 dead via Twitter, though fears
that hundreds more remain trapped threaten to make the landslide one of
the worst natural disasters to hit Central America in recent years.
Among the dead were 17 children, and at least 26 people were injured. On
Friday, there were reports of family members receiving text messages of
buried survivors asking to be rescued. Authorities said they did not
rescue a single survivor on Saturday despite a team of around 1,800
volunteers, soldiers and firemen. But some 400 survivors had been
evacuated in total from the site since the tragedy, they added. The
search was scheduled to end around 7.30 p.m. local time, and in keeping
with international protocol, it would be relaunched for at least one
more day on Sunday. Due to the unstable terrain and wet weather,
volunteers would no longer be allowed to assist on Sunday. The tragedy
has hit Guatemala after weeks of political turmoil, just as it prepares
to elect a new president. Last month, outgoing President Otto Perez was
forced to stand down and was arrested on corruption charges. In October
2005, heavy rainfall triggered a devastating landslide in Panabaj in the
southwest of the Central American country, burying the village.
Hundreds of people are believed to have died, and many of the bodies
were never recovered.
..........
At
least 131 people were killed in mudslides that smashed into a village
outside Guatemala City, officials said, three days after the disaster
struck the Central American nation. "Unfortunately, a new count shows
that there are 131 confirmed dead and recovered," and still about 300
people missing and unaccounted for, said volunteer fire brigade
spokesman Julio Sanchez. He told reporters yesterday that several young
children, including newborn babies, were among the dead in Santa
Catarina Pinula. On Thursday night, following heavy rain, waterlogged
earth and debris tore through the village of El Cambray II, in the
municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula, destroying or damaging 125 homes.
Relatives of the missing checked in at a makeshift morgue set up next
to the buried homes. Municipal authorities had urged the community,
about 15 kilometres east of the capital Guatemala City, to relocate
several times, most recently in November of last year. But many families
have refused, saying that they have nowhere to go. "We can't live here
any more," Carlos Hernandez, an electrician who survived the landslide,
lamented as he stepped between rescuers with his few remaining
belongings on his shoulder. Late yesterday, rescue workers had to
suspend their work when rain resumed, making things too dangerous to
continue before Monday. The bad news came as, with every passing hour,
hopes for finding survivors fade a bit further.
The
death toll from a mudslide on the outskirts of the Guatemalan capital
has climbed to 152, as rescue workers recover more bodies from a
hillside. The development came late Monday, with chief of emergency
services Alejandro Maldonado saying that at least 300 people were still
unaccounted for. The landslide, which was triggered by torrential rains,
happened in the Cambray neighborhood in Guatemala City's suburb of
Santa Catarina Pinula on October 1. Search crews have found entire
families who died huddled together and buried alive. "We found almost
all of them huddled together, which means that they were going to try
and evacuate but sadly they didn't have time," Sergio Cabanas, an
official at Guatemala's National Disaster Reduction Commission, known as
the Conred, said. "Some died from the impact, some from asphyxiation
and some... from heart attacks," he added. The Conred has now declared
the area uninhabitable.
The
death toll from a landslide caused by heavy rain in Guatemala's Santa
Catarina Pinula municipality reached 175, the country's public
prosecutor's office said Tuesday. The earlier reports had put the number
of victims at 161. More than 300 people remain missing. "Prosecutors
[on site] report that 175 bodies have been recovered as of now," the
office said on Twitter. The landslide occurred late on Thursday in a
suburb located about 9 miles east of the country's capital Guatemala
City, burying some 125 homes. Nearly 1,800 people are involved in the
ongoing search and rescue operations, including Red Cross workers,
police officers and rescue teams.
Guatemala
raised today the death toll to 186, confirmed by a recent landslide
that buried a community near the capital and where there are still
nearly 300 missing. The Public Prosecutor updated the data after the
morgue received more bodies recovered in the last hours by rescue teams
of the country and Mexican brigades. According to the State Coordinator
for Disaster Reduction, crews continue to search for the missing with
the support of canine units, but with no hope of finding any survivors. A
huge landslide buried last Thursday El Cambray II locality, located at
15 kilometers from the Guatemalan capital and where the ground was
saturated by the rains of the previous days. That community was included
among high-risk areas by poor urban planning and the high concentration
of poverty. The government described the tragedy as the worst and
strongest of 2015, as it left under mud125 homes and 172 homeless.
Moreover, declared uninhabitable the area where the landslide occurred,
restricted press access and instructed rescuers to wear masks at all
times because of the strong odors emitted by decomposing bodies. On this
day national mourning decreed concludes Monday in tribute to the
victims.
Rescue
workers pulled 20 more bodies from a landslide outside the Guatemalan
capital, bringing the number of confirmed dead to 191, officials have
said. "The latest toll of victims is 191," said Julio Sanchez yesterday,
a spokesman for the firefighters and other rescue personnel working at
the site on the outskirts of Guatemala City. Authorities said about 150
people still have not been accounted for, as they searched for more
bodies at the disaster site in the village of Cambray II. A growing
stench from decomposing bodies has filled the air at the scene of the
tragedy, requiring workers to don face masks as the carry on with their
grim recovery efforts. The village -- in a section of the town of Santa
Catarina Pinula, some 15 kilometers east of the capital -- was buried
late Thursday by a mountain of mud and debris following heavy rains.
Rescuers said it would be nothing short of a miracle if anyone were
found alive at this point, as they continue their search for more
bodies, aided by specially-trained dogs. Officials said they also have
opened an investigation to determine who or what might have been
responsible for the disaster.
At
least 220 bodies have been recovered after a massive landslide buried
part of a town in Guatemala last week while about 350 people are
missing, national disaster agency Conred said on Thursday. Loosened by
heavy rains, a hillside collapsed onto Santa Catarina Pinula on the
southeastern flank of Guatemala City on Oct. 1, burying more than a
hundred homes under tons of earth, rock and trees, and sparking a huge
rescue effort. Conred said 386 people were evacuated after the tragedy,
one of the worst in years to strike Central America, a region long been
prone to devastating floods. Entire families were buried alive and
hundreds of rescue workers have spent the past week trying to dig out
bodies. Guatemalan authorities initially said up to 600 people were
accounted for in the disaster. Since then, it has given various
estimates on the number missing. Prosecutors in Guatemala said they are
looking at whether there was any criminal misconduct at the site after
Conred had warned of the risks of building homes in the neighbourhood,
which lies at the bottom of a deep ravine.
The
death toll from the mammoth landslide that buried a neighborhood on the
outskirts of Guatemala's capital has risen to 253 as the search for
victims enters its second week. Nearly 400 people were still missing
Friday. Deputy hospitals minister Israel Lemus said officials still had
not decided to suspend the search in Santa Catarina Pinula, but planned
to meet to discuss it on Monday. Alejandro Maldonado, executive director
of the National Disaster Reduction Commission, said the current count
of missing people stood at 374. He said 184 homes were affected.
Maldonado said the decision to stop or continue looking for bodies would
be based on the risk to search crews.
The
death toll from the mammoth landslide that buried a neighborhood on the
outskirts of Guatemala's capital has risen to 253 as the search for
victims enters its second week. Nearly 400 people were still missing
Friday. Deputy hospitals minister Israel Lemus said officials still had
not decided to suspend the search in Santa Catarina Pinula, but planned
to meet to discuss it on Monday. Alejandro Maldonado, executive director
of the National Disaster Reduction Commission, said the current count
of missing people stood at 374. He said 184 homes were affected.
Maldonado said the decision to stop or continue looking for bodies would
be based on the risk to search crews.
People and relatives attend the funeral of the victims of a landslide EPA
The
number of people killed by the deadly landslide that hit a Guatemalan
city has risen to 131, authorities said, with potentially 300 more
people still missing three days after the disaster.
An estimated
125 homes were buried in El Cambray, a village on the outskirts of the
capital, Guatemala City, when a 300ft hillside collapsed and covered an
area of four acres with mud and dirt around 14 metres deep.
Rescue
workers continued to pull corpses from the mud on Sunday as families
began to bury their dead in the overcrowded local cemetery.
A
funeral procession for the son and grandaughter of 59-year-old carpenter
and painter Ismael Estrada saw 200 people walking through the streets
to the cemetary. Estrada returned to the improvised morgue immediately
after the service to search for his 19 family members that are still
missing.
Washington mudslide's confirmed death toll rises to 16
By Matt Pearce
March 25, 2014, 7:49 p.m.
The
confirmed death toll for the Washington state mudslide rose to 16 on
Tuesday night, and officials said rescuers might have located eight more
bodies. If so, that would bring the toll to 24.
The
day was rainy and difficult for the more than 200 rescue personnel
scouring the mud and slurry just east of Oso, using cadaver dogs and
sometimes their hands to pick through the wreckage.
"We didn’t
find any signs of life; we didn’t locate anybody alive," Travis Hots,
chief of Snohomish County Fire District 21, told reporters. "Our
condolences go out to the families that have lost people here."
About
49 homes were smashed in northwestern Washington, about an hour north
of Seattle, when a massive segment of land cut away from a hill along
the Stillaguamish River on Saturday.
Rescuers have found no
survivors since the first day, and have been holding out diminishing
hope for a miracle rescue. Instead, the death toll has continued to
rise, with two more bodies recovered Tuesday, Hots said.
Hope for survivors of landslide dims as death toll rises as high as 24
By Ed Payne, Ana Cabrera and Mariano Castillo, CNN
updated 10:18 PM EDT, Tue March 25, 2014
After landslide, search for missing ahead
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Two more bodies have been recovered and up to eight more have been located
NEW: Lists of missing and unaccounted for are being revised, an official says
The body of a Navy commander and his dog have been recovered, the family says
Landslide has affected or destroyed nearly 50 structures, officials say
Darrington, Washington (CNN)
-- Brenda Neal was still at the firehouse at midnight, watching as
rescuers caked with mud returned from the search for survivors of a
massive landslide in rural Washington state.
But they had no answers for her about her missing husband, Steven.
There was despair on their faces, she said.
Rescuer: Houses exploded from the mud
Rescuers
on Tuesday continued to battle debris and mud -- with the consistency
of quicksand in some places -- in the search for survivors, but hopes
dimmed as news broke that more bodies were found.
"Unfortunately,
we didn't find any signs of life," Snohomish County Fire District 21
Chief Travis Hots told reporters during a briefing.
The
number of dead climbed to as high as 24 with the recovery Tuesday of
two more bodies and another eight believed to have been located in the
debris.
Authorities
did not immediately release the identities of the dead nor did they
provide details about where the bodies were found.
At
least 176 people are unaccounted for. Officials have stressed those
unaccounted for are not necessarily all victims of the disaster. They
say they believe many names have been duplicated.
Three
sheriff's deputies who specialize in missing persons cases have begun
reviewing the lists to get a more accurate count,Snohomish County
Emergency Management Director John Pennington said.
Steven Neal's family holds out hope, despite discouraging signs.
Neal is a plumber who was on a service call in the area where the landslide hit.
"None of us feel like he's gone," Brenda Neal said.
Her daughter, Sara, agreed: "I think if anyone had a chance to getting through, it would be him."
The
waiting came to end Tuesday for the family of U.S. Navy Cmdr. John
Regelbrugge, 49, whose body and that of his dog were found by his
brothers, his sister-in-law, Jackie Leighton, told CNN. Still missing is
Regelbrugge's wife, she said.
On Monday, search efforts yielded a grim result -- six bodies.
But searchers still are going through the area with the hopes of making rescues, Pennington said earlier Tuesday morning.
"I
believe in miracles, and I believe people can survive these events.
They've done it before," and they can do it again, he told reporters.
The
landslide covered about a square mile and was caused by groundwater
saturation tied to heavy rain in the area over the past month. It
affected Oso, with a population of about 180, and Darrington, a town of
about 1,350.
Authorities have been warning the search area remains unstable
A
volunteer rescue worker was injured Tuesday while working in an area
where the landslide struck, according to a statement released by the
Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. The rescue worker was hit in the head
by debris kicked up "in helicopter wash," it said.
President
Barack Obama, in the Netherlands on Tuesday, asked that "all Americans
to send their thoughts and prayers to Washington state and the community
of Oso."
Obama said he had spoken with Gov. Jay Inslee and signed an emergency declaration.
Early hopeful signs, such as the rescue of a 4-year-old boy on the day of the landslide, have faded for some.
DARRINGTON, Washington (CNN) —Brenda
Neal was still at the firehouse at midnight, watching as rescuers caked
with mud returned from the search for survivors of a massive landslide
in rural Washington state.
But they had no answers for her about her missing husband, Steven.
There was despair on their faces, she said.
Rescuers
on Tuesday continued to battle debris and mud -- with the consistency
of quicksand in some places -- in the search for survivors, but hopes
dimmed as news broke that more bodies were found.
"Unfortunately,
we didn't find any signs of life," Snohomish County Fire District 21
Chief Travis Hots told reporters during a briefing.
The number of
dead climbed to as high as 24 with the recovery Tuesday of two more
bodies and another eight believed to have been located in the debris.
Authorities
did not immediately release the identities of the dead nor did they
provide details about where the bodies were found.
At least 176
people are unaccounted for. Officials have stressed those unaccounted
for are not necessarily all victims of the disaster. They say they
believe many names have been duplicated.
Three sheriff's deputies
who specialize in missing persons cases have begun reviewing the lists
to get a more accurate count, Snohomish County Emergency Management
Director John Pennington said.
Steven Neal's family holds out hope, despite discouraging signs.
Neal is a plumber who was on a service call in the area where the landslide hit.
"None of us feel like he's gone," Brenda Neal said.
Her daughter, Sara, agreed: "I think if anyone had a chance to getting through, it would be him."
The
waiting came to end Tuesday for the family of U.S. Navy Cmdr. John
Regelbrugge, 49, whose body and that of his dog were found by his
brothers, his sister-in-law, Jackie Leighton, told CNN. Still missing is
Regelbrugge's wife, she said.
On Monday, search efforts yielded a grim result -- six bodies.
But searchers still are going through the area with the hopes of making rescues, Pennington said earlier Tuesday morning.
Rescuer: Houses exploded from the mud
