Germans describe helplessness in face of flood devastation

By Martin Schlicht and Fanny Brodersen

SCHULD, Germany (Reuters) – It took just minutes for residents of a prosperous corner of one of the world’s richest countries to be reduced to helplessness, fending for themselves as flood waters roared into the town of Schuld, wrecking homes and everything else they relied on.

In parts of western Germany, more than 150 liters of rainwater per square meter fell over 24 hours, causing ordinarily placid rivers in idyllic wine-producing valleys to swell and burst their banks.

The freak floods tore down houses, overwhelmed plumbing and sewage, severed electricity links, cut off mobile phone signals and left residents accustomed to the luxury of an advanced, fully-functioning state agonizing over their friends and neighbors.

“It was terrible not to able to help people,” said Frank Thel. “They were waving at us from windows. Houses were collapsing to the left and right of them and in the house between they were waving. We were lucky, we survived.”

The region, south of Bonn, an ancient university city that was for 40 years the capital of West Germany, is famed for its wine and the beauty of its sloping vineyards. Now residents are fending for themselves following the deluge, Thel said.

Though emergency services and the army have deployed to the region, they have yet to make much of a dent on the devastation. “The clean-up as far as I can see is neighbors and farmers using their tractors.”

Germany’s 2002 floods, in which 21 died and which were billed by media as “once-in-a-century,” have now easily been outdone.

Over 100 are known to have died in Germany, and over 1,000 are still missing, partly because the mobile phone networks have collapsed in much of the region.

Regional broadcaster WDR faced criticism on Wednesday night for struggling to inform the world about the brewing disaster. The mockery stopped when they explained why: their own studio in the region had been flooded.

The shock was easy to read in the faces of residents who could not believe how swiftly things had deteriorated.

As the waters rose on Wednesday, Michael Lang, a wine merchant in the region took to Facebook to warn friends of the imminent floods.

“I’m going to evacuate now. Take care of yourselves,” he said, with the roaring Ahl river in the background, still composed despite the worry etched on his face.

On Friday, standing above his wrecked village, that composure was gone. “The whole infrastructure has gone,” he said, choking back tears. “Our house is still standing, but nothing else.”

(Writing by Thomas Escritt; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Rising flood waters from Florence menace Carolinas – kills at least 32

Houses sit in floodwater caused by Hurricane Florence, in this aerial picture, on the outskirts of Lumberton, North Carolina, U.S. September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Miczek

By Ernest Scheyder and Patrick Rucker

WILMINGTON/FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (Reuters) – Rising flood waters threatened communities across the Carolinas on Tuesday as storm Florence hit the U.S. Northeast with heavy rains and tornadoes after killing at least 32 people.

Widespread flooding has already reached roofs, turned highways into rivers and left thousands to be saved by rescue workers. Waterways are expected to keep rising on Tuesday in places like Fayetteville, North Carolina, a city of 200,000 in the southern part of the state, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

People take cell phone photos of the flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Fair Bluff, North Carolina, U.S. September 18, 2018. REUTERS/Randall Hill

People take cell phone photos of the flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Fair Bluff, North Carolina, U.S. September 18, 2018. REUTERS/Randall Hill

At least 32 people have been killed since Florence came ashore as a hurricane on Friday, including 25 in North Carolina and six in South Carolina. One person was killed when at least 16 tornadoes developed from Florence on Monday in Virginia, where dozens of buildings were destroyed, the NWS reported.

The dead included a 1-year-old boy swept from his mother as they tried to escape their car amid floodwaters. The woman had driven around barricades to reach a closed road, the sheriff’s office in Union County, near North Carolina’s border with South Carolina, said on Facebook.

“Flooding is still going to be a concern into the weekend and into next week,” NWS meteorologist Hal Austin said, noting there is a chance of rain for the region on Tuesday and Wednesday. “No more water, not even a drop, please.”

With 1,500 roads closed across North Carolina, fire and rescue crews were waiting to go into many areas to assist with structural damage after Florence dumped up to 36 inches (91 cm) of rain on the state since Thursday.

“Road conditions are still changing,” the North Carolina Department of Transportation said on Twitter on Tuesday. “What’s open now may become impassable.”

All told, more than 8 trillion gallons of rain fell on North Carolina, NWS said.

Forecasters warned heavy rains could cause flash flooding in the U.S. Northeast on Tuesday. As much as 6 inches (15 cm) of rain was possible in parts of the region, the NWS said. The storm was now passing through the mid-Atlantic and was about 100 miles (165 km) northwest of Philadelphia, according to the NWS.

It is expected to keep producing heavy rain over Pennsylvania into southern New England.

An aerial picture shows a flooded Interstate 95 (I-95) after Hurricane Florence in Lumberton, North Carolina, U.S. September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Miczek

An aerial picture shows a flooded Interstate 95 (I-95) after Hurricane Florence in Lumberton, North Carolina, U.S. September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Miczek

STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

Thousands of rescues have taken place in the Carolinas and more than 650 people were taken to safety in and around Wilmington, North Carolina, said Barbi Baker, a spokeswoman for New Hanover County. The city took a direct hit when Hurricane Florence came ashore and has been largely cut off since then due to storm surges and flooding from the Cape Fear River.

More than 340,000 customers were without power on Tuesday morning, according to power companies, down from a peak of nearly 1 million outages.

North Carolina had deployed about 2,000 boats and 36 helicopters to help people stranded in floods, the state’s director of emergency management, has said.

The Coast Guard said it had 26 helicopters and 11 aircraft looking for people in trouble.

Property damage from the storm is expected to total at least $17 billion to $22 billion but that forecast could be conservative depending on further flooding, risk management firm Moody’s Analytics said.

A power outage at a wastewater treatment plant in Wilmington caused partially treated sewage water to be released into the Cape Fear River, said Reggie Cheatham, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Emergency Management.

Sewage releases in the Neuse River were reported as well as overflows at several hog “lagoons,” used to store waste from pig farms.

(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall in Miami; Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee: Jessica Resnick-Ault and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Anna Mehler Paperny in North Carolina; and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Bill Trott; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Rescuers seek to drill hole in hunt for boys missing in Thai cave

Family members pray near the Tham Luang cave complex during a search for members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 27, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

By Chayut Setboonsarng

CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Reuters) – Thai rescue workers will drill a narrow shaft into a cave where 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach are believed to be trapped by flood waters, Thailand’s interior minister said on Wednesday, the fourth day of a search that has been hampered by heavy rain.

The boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach, went missing on Saturday after soccer practice when they set out to explore the Tham Luang cave complex, even though it is known to be prone to flooding in the rainy season.

Thai volunteers and military teams, including 45 navy SEAL unit members, have been deployed at the flooded cave complex, which runs 10 km (6 miles) under a mountain in the northern province of Chiang Rai.

“Tomorrow we can drill into the mountain but we won’t drill too deep. Just enough to allow people through,” interior minister Anupong Paochinda told reporters in Bangkok.

Soldiers take a rest in Tham Luang caves during a search for 12 members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 27, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Soldiers take a rest in Tham Luang caves during a search for 12 members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 27, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

“We are trying every way to find the children,” he added.

While distraught relatives and friends gathered at the mouth of the cave, rescue workers pumped water out, but the persistent heavy rain has slowed their progress.

“Water is the biggest challenge. There is a lot of debris and sand that gets stuck while pumping,” Army officer Sergeant Kresada Wanaphum told Reuters.

“We have to switch out units because there is not enough air in there,” he added, before heading back down the cave.

According to messages the boys exchanged before setting off, they had taken flashlights and some food.

Apart from some footprints and marks left by their muddy hands near the cave entrance, nothing has been seen or heard of them since Saturday evening, and the race to find them has dominated Thai news cycles.

“I’m confident all are still alive,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters.

‘MASSIVE AMOUNTS’ OF WATER

Vern Unsworth, a British cave explorer based in Chiang Rai who has joined the search, said a lot of water was seeping into the cave from two directions.

“There is a watershed inside, which is unusual, it means there is water coming in from two directions,” Unsworth told Reuters.

Family members pass their time as they wait for their children near Tham Luang caves during a search for 12 members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 27, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tu

Family members pass their time as they wait for their children near Tham Luang caves during a search for 12 members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 27, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

“The biggest challenge is the water. Massive amounts.”

Three foreign divers coming from Britain were expected to reach Thailand on Wednesday evening to join the search, the interior minister said.

Thailand has asked the United States for survivor detection equipment, said Tourism Minister Weerasak Kowsurat.

“We hope this equipment will allow us to locate the spots that we need to reach faster,” Weerasak told reporters.

A guide book described the Tham Luang cave as having an “impressive entrance chamber” leading to a marked path. It then describes the end of the path and the start of a series of chambers and boulders.

“This section of the cave has not been thoroughly explored. After a couple of hundred meters the cave reduces in size to a mud floored passage 2 meters wide and 3 meters high,” author Martin Ellis wrote in ‘The Caves of Thailand Volume 2’.

Nopparat Kantawong, the head coach of the team who did not attend practice on Saturday, said the boys had visited the caves several times, and was hopeful that the boys would stick together and stay strong.

“They won’t abandon each other,” Nopparat told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Aukkarapon Niyomyat, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Michael Perry & Simon Cameron-Moore)

Stranded Texans turn to social media for help as flood waters rise

Women are illuminated by the light of a smart phone as they seek refuge in the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission in Corpus Christi.

By Peter Szekely

(Reuters) – Flood-stranded Texans in the Houston area took to social media on Sunday with desperate pleas to be rescued from their homes as Tropical Storm Harvey and its torrential rains slowly lumbered across the region.

With authorities urging Houston’s more than 2 million residents to stay in their homes rather than risk venturing outside, some 70,000 of them formed a Facebook group that many of them used to call for help.

“Rescue needed!!” Lorena Martinez posted on the group, known “Hurricane Harvey 2017 – Together We Will Make It; TOGETHER WE WILL REBUILD.”

Martinez said 20 people, including six children, an elderly person and a pregnant woman, were stranded in a house on Houston’s Roper Street.

“Tried emergency service but not responding,” she said. “They’re in the attic with ax on hand if necessary.”

Many Houston residents reported being holed up in their attics, some with axes to chop their way out if necessary, even though emergency services advised people to climb onto the roofs to escape rising waters.

“Anyone in the area that can help… 4 adults 4 kids stuck in the attic.. no tools to break/cut into the roof,” said Carolyn Withrow Hutchins, who also posted a map with the location.

Emergency crews had rescued more than 1,000 stranded people from cars and homes in the Houston area by early Sunday.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state was adding helicopters to those operated by officials in Houston and Harris County to help rescue stranded residents.

“Before today, the state had already made multiple water rescues from helicopters from dropped lines, and we are prepared to continue that process,” Abbott said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

Many residents posted that they were unable to reach emergency services by phone or were told that their rescues would take several hours.

Kathaleen Hervey was among many who turned to Twitter for help, saying a resident she knew needed to be rescued.

“He is trapped and can’t get through 911 or any of the emergency numbers, send a boat!!!” she tweeted to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Turner said emergency responders were giving their highest priority to the most flood-ravaged areas.

“911 is working,” Turner tweeted. “Every need is important. Please give preference to life-threatening situations.”

 

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)