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  • This site deals with floods-Avalanche- and the mostly devastating aftermath. Efforts are made to control these floods; but sometimes the greatest engineering efforts do not accomplish the results we expect. The best way to avoid floods, which sometimes causes avalanches, is to keep out of the area of the possible flooding. Building dikes is a sort of preventative. But history has shown the water's crest can and has surpassed the projected height of many dikes that have been built to protect the intended from the effects of the the water's flow. We are human beings who will always try the seeming impossible. Although many failures may occur in trying to solve a problem, we (being the curious human beings we are) will never cease to try again and again. That is the only way to realize progress. Try again and again, until success is reached.
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  • An AVALANCHE is described as a large mass of snow, ice, rock, mud or other material rushing down a mountain or other precipice.
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    ~FLOODS~

    (STORM) LANDSLIDE
  • January, 2001-
    SLOVENIAOne person died, and seven remained missing, after a landslide hit the town of Log pod Mangartom on November 20. Rescue efforts were hampered by the storms that caused the landslides. An estimated 80 people were evacuated from nearby Bovec.
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    SNOW
  • January, 2001-
    NEW YORK-Two feet of snow hit Buffalo in 10 hours, at the start of the busy Thanksgiving week. Caused by moisture from the Great Lakes, it was the third heaviest snowfall in the city's history.
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    FLOODING
  • January, 2001-
    AUSTRALIA-The governor of the state of New South Wales declered a state of emergency, after extensive flooding forced the evacuation of the town of Woolomin, and temporarily cut the city of Tamworh in half.
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  • VENEZUELA-
    January, 2001--A state of emergency was declared in Caracas, Venezuela after incessant rain left 2400 people homeles in towns along the northern coast.
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    LAKE VANERN OVERFLOWS
  • January, 2001-
    SWEDEN-Glasfjorden lake in Arvika, rose nearly 10 feet above normal in mid-November; reaching its highest level in 50 years. Lake Vanern lapped the top of its banks. Railcars filled with rocks, had to be parked on flooded tracks, to keep them from been washed away. Meteriologists suggested a rear combination of heavy rains plus warm temperatures kept the lakes from freezing.
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  • January,2001
    NEW GUINEA-The New Ireland, New Britain and Bougainville islands were hit twice in mid-November, by a Tsunami and an earthquake that left 15,000 homeless; and three dead.
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    MUDSLIDE
  • January,2001
    ITALY-Four residents of the town of Vinchiana were killed by a mudslide that struck the Tuscany region after autumn rains.
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  • Wednesday, January 3,2001
    NEFYN, Wales-  A landslide on a Welsh beach road, swept at least two cars over a steep embankment and into the surf on Tuesday, killing one person, and severely injuring another. Two cars were stuck in the mud, deposited by the slide along the shoerline. At least one vehicle was left precariously perched at the edge of the sharp 40-foot precipice. The body of a female motorist was recovered by a rescue boat, as was reported by police. A man with serious injuries was flown by military helicopter to a hospital in Bangor. It was also reported that two other people were rescued from cars.
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    -Mudslide-
  • Thursday, November 16,2000
    VENEZUELA-The Venezuelan government has declared a state of emergency, following the heavy rains that forced thousands of people to flee their homes. The government has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Caracas and seven Caribbean and states to the north. Last December, Vargas was devastated by floods and mudslides that killed thousands of people. Vargas has suffered the most damages due to recent heavy rains.

  • Wednesday, November 8,2000
    LONDON-  Relentless rains, already blamed for 19 deaths across Europe, triggered further flooding in Britain, and landslides in northern Italy on Tuesday, with no end in site, officials said. In Britain, where 12 people have died since storms first struck last week, continued to bear the brunt of the rains, with 43 severe flood warnings of "imminent danger" to life and property in effect on 29 rivers. Three people, including an elderly man who drowned in his home, died on Monday in Liguria, the area around Genoa hit hard by recent bad weather. Three others have died in France; and another in Ireland.
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  • October,2000
    ENGLAND-Rains extensively, swamped southern England in October, when drainage systems that were built to divert storm waters southward, flooded the southern tip of the country; disrupting rail service in London.
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    FLOODS
  • October,2000-
    THE ALPS-Floods that followed downpours, which dumped two feet of rain in two days in mid-October, overflowed a dam above the gorge of Gondo in Italy. This caused a series of landslides that rushed through the Simplon pass, which connects Switzerland and Italy. An estimated 30 people died. More than 3000 were evacuated as a result of the flooding.
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  • Sunday, October 22, 2000
    ROME, ITALY-Flood waters have finally begun to recede after the week-long widespread flooding and mudslides; allowing clean up of the devastion; Rebuilding will follow the massive clean up. In Switzerland, search teams found another body, raising the overall death toll in the two countries to 37. Several people were still missing. At least 23,000 people were unable to return to their homes. Authorities estimated the damage to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
    The river's crest is expected to reach the Adriatic Sea on Sunday.
    On Saturday, the water level of the Po River was reported to be dropping about two inches an hour. In Comacchio, where the Po empties into the Adriatic, animal carcasses, tree trunks, and other debris clogged the port, hindering navigation.
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  • Friday, October 20, 2000
    OSTIGLIA,Italy-Church bells alerted the occupants of the medieval hamlet to the imminent danger rushing towards it.
    After having killed 35 people upstream in the Italian and Swiss Alps, flood waters, rushing across northern Italy had finally reached this Po River farm town of San Benedetto Po.
    Searchers digging through layers of mud and rock in Alpine villages on thursday, uncovered four more bodies--one in Italy's Val D'Aosta and three in a village in a Swiss mountain pass; one-third destroyed by slides.
    Ten people were still missing and presumed dead. Authorities in both Switzerland and Italy, said overall damage could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
    Italy's military was helping on Thursday, with the evacuation; as were a deployment of Foreign Legionnaires and other service people on loan from France.
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    LANDSLIDE
  • Thursday, October 19, 2000
    CREMONA,Italy-Landslides have swept away homes in Italy's Alps, yielding bodies of relatives who died together; and claimed another victim on Wednesday, when cleanup efforts set off another slide.  Downstream, the Flood-swolen Po River hit historic highs; as it surged past evacuated settlements in the northern plains on its way to the Adriatic. At the old Lombard farm center of Cremona, the Po burst its banks, flooding vacant homes.  Italian authorities praised themselves for the control projects built after previous floods; for the fact there were no immediate reports of deaths or widespread damage on the Po Valley.  In the Alps, the death toll was 31 on Wednesday; 23 in northern Italy and 8 in southern Switzerland. Most of the deaths occured over the weekend, when days of rain sent mudslides tumbling down on Alpine villages. A total of 17 people were reported missing. A worker trying to clear debris from a street, was crushed to death when a new mudslide came tumbling down on him. Another death during the day happened when a woman apparently slipped from her balcony; falling to her death, when she returned to check on the damage to her villa.
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  • Wednesday, October 18, 2000
    PIACENZA, Italy-Italy rushed more than 15,000 people from the path of two raging rivers on Tuesday, as flood waters that caused many deaths in Alpine towns bore down on the medieval villages and cities of the northern Italian plains.
    The death toll in Switzerland and Italy rose to 25.
    The Po River had already burst its banks at sone points. By Tuesday night, the flood crest was passing the old trade town of Piacenza; home to columned Romansque churches and a Botticelli painting. Although there has been some flooding of churches, where much of Italy's cultural patrimony is cached--the water generally has not threatened works of art.
    The Po divides the rich agricultural regions of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna; emptying into the lagoons of Venice. On Tuesday, it hit its highest level in at least 50 years. Its height at Piacenza was the highest ever recorded there.
    In both countries, authorities said overall damage would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
    Along the Ticino River, water sloshed at the third floors of evacuated palazzos in the Roman-era Lombard town of Pavia. Firefighters ferried food and clean water to the few who refused to leave.
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  • Tuesday, October 17, 2000
    GONDO, Switzerland-A total of 28 people were missing on Monday across southern Switzerland and northern Italy, where successive says of torrential rains loosened rocks and mud and flooded rivers. The missing included 11 who were caught in Saturday's landslide in Gondo.
    Three people have been confirmed dead in Switzerland; including a 70-year-old woman found downstream from her home near the village of Stalden. Twelve people were confirmed dead in Italy.
    The weather had improved by Monday--but a light rain continued to fall in Gondo; where the risk of mudslides hampered rescue work. The slide destroyed a third of the village of 200 people; which was a ghost town on Monday. Thousands were rescued from their homes--and rescue efforts continued.
    The Rhone River receded. However, parts of the southern state were still cut off by road; and many rail links were expected to remain closed for several days.
    Lake Maggiore was at its highest level in a century. The main square in the lakeside town of Locarno was flooded--forcing 1,000 people to leave their homes.
    In Italy, heavy rains continued to batter the country's north on Monday, forcing the evacuation of thousands, snarling traffic and cutting phone and rail lines.
    In Turin, the capital of Piedmont, the Dora Baltea river burst its banks overnight, flooding several main streets with about 20 inches of water and mud.
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    Friday, September 29, 2000.
  • Aisthala,India-
    Ten days after unseasonable monsoon rains forced to overflow across eastern India and western Bangladesh, people; with their goats and dogs, are still living on roofs of their mud and brick houses, to guard against theives that row up in boats to loot abandoned homes. In India, 651 people are known to have died in the floods--and 225 are missing and/or presumed dead. In Bangladesh, 57 have died. A total of 18 million people in both countries are believed to be marooned. Millions more have seen their meager homes washed away. The floods began on September 18, when late rains mixed with the melting snows of the Himalayas, forcing water to overflow the banks of the Ganges,Hoogly, Bhagirathi and other major RIVERS. When the rains eventualy stop, the water will flow into the Bay of Bengal.  Packs of jackals can be seen feasting on carcasses of animals as the waters begin to recede.
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    -Mudslide-
  • May, 2000
    CALIFORNIA-After heavy rains, mudslides freed a 40-ton boulder that rolled down a hill and demolished a San Diego home. The owners were fortunately on vacation at the time of the catastrophy.
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    -Mudslide-
  • February, 2000
    PERU-An avalanche of mud swallowed up homes in Tacabamba, burying alive, an estimated 50 people in the region located 500 miles north of Lima. It is assumed it may have been caused by an explosion that was set off when the floodwaters reached thermal springs.
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  • Tuesday, February 8, 2000
    Nelspruit, South Africa- Floodwaters caused by torrential rains in the northern part of South Africa, left at least 19 people dead.
    The rains washed away roads and bridges and snarled traffic, as news reported on Monday. South African Broadcasting Corp., reported that 15 people drowned when they tried to cross a swolen river in Northern Province.
    Two others drowned in the same province. It was reported that parts of popular Kruger National Park were isolated, due to flooded roads. About 18.4 inches of rain fell in 18 hours. The rain continued on Monday evening, but was expected to abate; the weather bureau reported.
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  • Wednesday, January 19, 2000
    CARACAS,Venezuela- Heavy rains caused more flooding on Tuesday in an area devastated by mudslides last month. There were no reported deaths by authorities. About 20 mountainside houses collapsed in Caracas, said the national civil defense director, Angel Rangel. Also, part of a main road in Vargas state along the Caribbean coast was washed out--preventing relief workers from reaching eight coastal communities still recovering from the December floods.
    Heavy rains last month, sent an avalanche of mud, water, boulders and trees rushing down the moutain that separates Caracas from the Caribbean Sea; killing about 30,000 people, as estimated by officials.
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  • Wednesday, January 5, 2000
    Rio De Janeiro, Brazil- Heavy rains washed away bridges, flooded cities, claimed at least 26 lives, and left thousands homeless in southeastern Brazil; civil defense officials reported on Tuesday.
    The death toll was highest in Rio de Janiero State; where 13 people were reported killed since Sunday; mostly in landslides, as reported by Col. Jorge Lopes, of Civil Defense. About 6,000 people were forced to hurridly leave their homes in Rio de Janiero State, due to the inundation. A state of emergency was declared by Campos do Jordao Mayor Oswaldo Gomes de Silva Filho.
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    MUDSLIDE (1998)
  • Thursday, May 7,1998
    SARNO, Italy-Mud and debris rushed through the narrow streets of southern Italy on Wednesday, killing at least 33 people, and engulfing hundreds of homes. About 70 people were missing; and feared buried alive.
      After two days of incessant rains, fast-flowing streams burst into towns in the heavily populated area south of Naples. The mud avalanches ripped apart houses and bridges--and swallowed cars in matter of minutes.
      Italy declared a state of emergency; promising $29 million in immediate aid; and calling out the army to help cope with the disaster Meanwhile, thousands of residents fled to higher ground.
      Andrea Todisco, chief civil protection officer, said that at least 1,800 people were left homeless in a 40-mile swath from Naples to Salerno.
      Hardest hit was Sarno; a town 2,000 people, 75 miles east of Naples, where at least 13 people perished. Mud flowing swiftly down a mountain, burst through Sarno's Villa Malta hospital, ripping away part of a staircase, pouring through its windows and doors.
      Cars and ambulances were left piled atop one another next to the hospital. Nearby, the mudslide dragged a five-story building about 500 yards.
      In nearby Bracigliano, a 34-year-old woman and her three children; ages 13, 9 & 7 were killed when a torrent of mud swept by their home, dragging them downstream for nearly a half mile. Their father escaped by climbing onto the roof top, as reported by the news media.
      In the town of Quindici, a mudslide killed the former mayor, Olga Santaniello; a local hero for her fight against the region's powerful organized crime syndicate, the Camorra.
      Piles of mud, boulders and branches covered railroad tracks and roads in the area; bringing transport to a halt. Power and telephone lines were down.
      Many of the deaths were blamed on people refusing to leave their homes despite the warning; and houses that were illegally built too close the rivers--against government regulations.

    • MUDSLIDE (1985)
  • COLOMBIA-
    In 1985, an estimated 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, were killed, when a gigantic mudslide buried the city.
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