Current Events Scrapbook

Ethiopia gets flood instead of drought - 210 killed

There were 210 people killed in Ethiopia when heavy rains caused a river to escape its banks. Of those people, AP reports that 39 were children.

Associated Press

The article describes flash floods strong enough to destroy homes that struck the country and took with them many lives.

Ethiopia is not normally a place I think of as flooding a lot. I think in the 1980s it was known for droughts and famines, if I am not mistaken.

It is kind of odd it was struck by such heavy flooding the same week as Indian and Pakistan. It is apparently kind of normal for parts of India to flood this time of year - Mumbai (Bombay) flooded this time a year ago.

But ...Ethiopia? Strange....

posted by John Collins @ 10:25 PM 0 comments

Pakistan and India: United in wetness

One thing India and Pakistan have in common this week is water - a lot of it.

Both companies suffered serious flooding from relentless rains over the last week.

Reuters: Floods maroon hundreds of thousands in India and Pakistan - nearly 300 people dead already.

Schools and industries are shut down in some areas. Hundreds of thousands of people have had to be shifted to higher ground.

While some have been killed by the water, others have been killed by mudslides - like in Pakistani Kashmir.

Areas and cities affected include: Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), Surat (an industrial town in Gujarat), and the Pakistani part of Kashmir, towns of Nasik and Nended in the state of Muharashtra.

Farms were hit badly by flash flooding in Baluchistan province, taking away the crops and livestock from the villagers' farms.

posted by John Collins @ 10:16 PM 0 comments