11 lakh affected in E.Midnapore district flood

Kolaghat (WB), Oct. 2 (PTI): About 11 lakh people of 25 blocks of East Midnapore district was affected floods, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said today.

Bhattacharjee, who held a meeting with top officers of East Midnapore district here, said the administration opened 71 relief centres where 6000 people had taken shelter.

However, after water receded a bit now, about 2500 people were currently lodged in these centres.

The chief minister said crops of 1.28 lakh hectare land were destroyed in the flood in the district.

Uganda: Don't Send Cash to Flood-Stricken African Countries

The Monitor (Kampala)

COLUMN
3 October 2007
Posted to the web 2 October 2007

Austin Ejiet

When hurricane Katrina struck the coast of the state of Louisiana, practically annihilating the poorer districts of the city of New Orleans, the Uganda government quickly mobilised and sent some $100,000 as its contribution towards the relief effort.

An attempt by obese men and women here in Kampala to organise a charity walk in aid of the victims was quietly abandoned amidst sniggers of derision from an increasing cynical population.

Full Story

U.S. Senate dips toe into flood insurance overhaul

Tue Oct 2, 2007 11:37pm BST

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel inched toward reforming federal flood insurance on Tuesday, amid broad agreement that better flood maps are badly needed and with at least one senator backing a plan to add wind damage coverage.

The House of Representatives last week voted to overhaul the almost 40-year-old National Flood Insurance Program, which was badly crippled by the 2005 hurricanes, including Katrina and Rita that caused billions of dollars in property damage.

Full Story

The House bill would expand the flood program to cover wind damage, a response to outrage among some Gulf Coast homeowners over insurers' refusal to pay claims for hurricane damage. Many disputes over coverage centered on wind versus water damage.

Insurers are lobbying hard to block a wind expansion to the program, arguing it would crowd them out of a viable business. The Bush administration has pledged to veto the House bill.

Native Americans, Visitors Celebrate Return of Salmon to US State of Washington
By Mike O'Sullivan Central Washington State 02 October 2007

O'Sullivan report (mp3) - Download 625k
Listen to O'Sullivan report (mp3)

Each year, salmon head upriver to their spawning grounds in the Columbia River basin in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington. Mike O'Sullivan reports, the event has inspired a festival in which Native Americans and wildlife experts help visitors celebrate the salmon.

Icicle Creek

Beginning in March, the fish start the arduous journey 800 kilometers upriver from the Pacific Ocean.

These Spring Chinook salmon are heading for the Wanatchee River and Icicle Creek, in the shadow of the majestic Cascade Mountains.

Salmon once thrived here, but over the years dams, overfishing and habitat destruction have diminished their numbers.

So 60 years ago, the U.S. government established a hatchery to give them some human help. Workers collect more than 1.5 million salmon eggs and raise the fish in tanks for 16 months. The young salmon are then released and head for the ocean. Guided by their sense of smell, they will return in a few years to spawn.

Full Story

Recovery of ravaged Dominican rivers starts in a few weeks

SANTO DOMINGO. – The recovery of the Nizao River basin will start in the next few weeks, paid for by the companies which extract aggregates in that zone, said Environment minister Omar Ramirez on Tuesday. "They must recover it because it it’s an obligation of the sector which has lived off the extraction of materials.” He said in one week Environment will manage brigades paid by the companies, to work and recover those areas and once the river’s level is reestablished the companies have 90 days to begin dismantling their machinery. He said the lack of a superficial current causes confusion in the Nizao, where only the water table remains. The official said the aggregate associations of the Nizao, Yuna and North Yaque rivers have been legally notified of the measure.

South Asia Flood Death Toll Rises to 4,000 as UN Seeks More Aid

By Michael Heath

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The death toll from monsoon floods in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan rose to more than 4,000 people and the humanitarian crisis could worsen without more aid, the United Nations said.

Floods in the June to September monsoon season ``disrupted the lives of more than 66 million -- a number larger than the population of France'' the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday in a statement.

Rains last month inundated areas that were starting to recover from flooding, stranding another 100,000 people in Bangladesh and leaving millions homeless in India, OCHA said. Northeast India was hit by three successive floods this year.

Stagnant waters are contributing to the outbreak of disease, the UN said. In Pakistan, more than 86,000 cases of malaria have been reported and 70,000 people are suffering from gastroenteritis, mainly from drinking contaminated water.

Full Story

It's a new water year in California: Facts and figures

By: Department of Water Resources (DWR) Published: Oct 1, 2007 at 10:47

October 1st is the beginning of the 2007-2008 water year which will last until September 30, 2008.

During this period, Department of Water Resources (DWR) hydrologists and meteorologists will measure precipitation (the combination of rain and snow) and runoff in the Northern Sierra and other key watersheds and produce runoff forecasts.

The northern Sierra and southern Cascades are of particular importance because that's where most of the state's water supply accumulates. Measurements are taken in the watersheds of the major rivers, including the Sacramento, Feather, Yuba and American. Snow surveys are conducted throughout the Sierra range and other mountains to measure water content. The first Snow Survey will be around the first of December, the date to be announced.

The data that is gathered is evaluated to forecast water supply for the spring and summer, the heaviest months of water use by farms and homes.

For the Sacramento River basin the past 2006-2007 water year finished as the 18th driest in the 102 year record of stream flow measurements.

Full Story