Flooding kills 1,200 in Asia and 39 in the US

| 31/08/2017 | 33 Comments
Cayman News Service

Flood victims in the Indian state of West Bengal

(CNS): As the US reels from the effects of Hurricane Harvey, with large swathes of Texas and parts of Louisiana still submerged, catastrophic flooding from monsoon rains in India, Nepal and Bangladesh has impacted millions of lives and is thought to have caused the death of at least 1,200 people. Save the Children says that in the parts of Asia affected 18,000 schools have been destroyed or damaged, which could put a permanent end to education for 1.8 million children.

While world news appears to be focussed on the floods in the US, pictures of submerged vehicles and stranded people in the city of Mumbai, India, are painfully similar to those taken in Houston, Texas. In both cities, streets are waist-high in water, hospitals have shut down and emergency services strained beyond capacity.

In Houston, where the population is around 2.3 million, at least 50,000 homes have been flooded. Meanwhile, Mumbai, home to more than eight times that number, is bracing for another day of rain. Particularly vulnerable are those living in shanty town slums, where more than half of the city’s population live. Earlier today a four-storey residential building collapsed, killing 21 and trapping many more in the rubble.

According to Oxfam, two-thirds of Bangladesh is under water and in some areas the flooding is the worst since 1988. The storm continued its deadly path as it reached the port city of Karachi, Pakistan, on Thursday, killing at least 14 people and destroying lives.

The misery in the US is far from over: there have been massive explosions at a chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, caused by the loss of power that kept volatile chemicals cool; the city of Beaumont, Texas, is without fresh water indefinitely; and even as the waters in some areas have started to subside, the National Weather Service said “life-threatening flooding will continue in and around Houston, Beaumont/Port Arthur, and eastward into Southwest Louisiana for the rest of the week”.

The death toll in Texas currently stands at 39 but is expected to rise.

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Category: Asia, Science & Nature, USA, Weather, World News

Comments (33)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    In other world news North Korean leader Kim Jun Un’s regime has conducted a hydrogen bomb test. For those of you who are unaware of what exactly a thermalnuclear bomb is able to achieve, find texas on a globe, scrape the plastic of till it’s nothing left and there you go.

    Chinese residents 60KM away we’re able to experience tremors from the blast.

    China can’t stop them, U.S can’t stop them, Godspeed everyone.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Relax. China can stop them. They just don’t want to end up with America as their next door neighbor. (And who could blame them?)
      The US can stop them right in their tracks as well.

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    • Anonymous says:

      China, Russia, South Korea and Japan should worry about it. America should focus on making itself great again. They have Texas now to worry about. Irma is on its way as well to add fuel into the fire. May be nature is trying to avert America’s focus?
      Military solution is a suicide solution at this age and time. Who would in their right mind continue threatening North Korea? Kim Jun Un’s has already said- America is to blame if anything happens (to the other than America countries). He is insane, no doubt about it, so the world must act with that in mind.

    • Anonymous says:

      Pressure and threats from the US are forcing Pyongyang to strengthen the defense. The US keeps provoking North Korea. Kim’s goals are clear: try now in a very short period of time to bring its nuclear-missile program to such a level that everyone could understand that there is no third option – either war begins or start negotiations with North Korea. Kim is not going to communize the south or in a fit of psychopathy to portray the main reptile of Indian cinema, his goals are more pragmatic.
      Pyongyang believes that by obtaining nuclear weapons capable of reaching the US, it will reach a level of nuclear deterrence similar to the US-Chinese one. And then, despite the contradictions, the variant of the war between the two countries will be eliminated. Kim’s actions are understandable, but unacceptable, because such a policy, firstly, greatly exacerbates tensions, and secondly, it shatters the world order, which is built on the authority of the UN whose resolutions are ignored, and on the fact that nuclear weapons must be where it should be. That is why Moscow and Beijing can question the essence of sanctions, but believe that every such action must be formally condemned.
      North Korea unsuccessfully chose the date of the test.
      This will cause a certain emotional irritation of Moscow and Beijing and, naturally, we should expect a new round of tightening of sanctions, although there is nowhere to toughen further.
      If earlier it was a pick, which could hardly lead to any serious conflicts, the tests that have passed today are a provocation on the part of North Korea. This is really serious and can no longer be allowed. There is no alternative to the negotiation process and peaceful discussion. Today it is necessary to sit down at the negotiating table and solve this problem, because defending North Korea’s sovereignty in this way can lead to a very serious conflict.
      The problem is that Trump threatened so much that he now has to do something.

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    • Unison says:

      Don’t you trust in God?

      He is in control ☝️

  2. Unison says:

    @ commenter 9:50

    Its a pity Matthew had to run neck to neck with Austin in the Prospect electoral district. Maybe he should run in another one. It seems like his own don’t accept him. Yes … both men had past domestic issues. I mean who is perfect?

    We knew Austin had alot of knowledged, eloquent and polish words. But everybody knew from events that warrant helping the needy, Matthew was the man of action. He was the guy who orchestrated shipping things overseas in Cayman’s name. And I will tell you, he did these things way before elections. So its not like he was doing them to score political points. And if so, still, who wouldn’t want a politician that value people?

    Next election should be interesting, because ever heard the saying, “love covers a multitude of sins”? ?

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Sad state of affairs! I tend to watch BBC for “World News”….American news not so much!

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  4. Anonymous says:

    You struck a nerve with the snowflakes, CNS! Truth hurts!

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  5. Sharkey says:

    I think this is a very sad story of so many innocent lives been lost . If we look at the many live that have been lost in India compared to in Texas . We have to wonder how such a thing could happen to one country and not the other.

    But I think that it all comes down to the Government and your own responsibility . The Government has all kinds of responsibility to the people of the country that could have prevented allot of deaths in India , if the Country had been developed with it’s Citizens in mind .

    This sad story just shows me that there’s Governments / Politicians who don’t care about the people’s lives like India .

    I wonder if there were any lost of either politicians life in India, not that I care about their life , but the poor innocent people I do .

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Yet our own local hero wants us to send everything we own to Texas. Any Caymankind for Bangladesh, Nepal and India? How’s the Carnival coming btw?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Think Matt is sending stuff to Texas because of the family ties we have to Port Arthur. I have family who lost there home there and appreciate any way to get supplies to them to help. Trolls like you are the ruin of this island.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe you need to start a drive for that and stop complaining internet bully…..let him deal with his drive and you do one for over there. U people expect miracles from one person yet cannot even make change on your own.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Wow, the US reports news ABOUT THE US. Does that mean the US thinks that American lives are more important than Indian lives…I think not! The anti-American sentiment (as this article implies) is starting to make me sick. We all, who went through Ivan, know what a catastrophe is. Prayers to all who are affected…American or Indian.

    PC….”paper Caymanian” (proud of it)…born in the USA

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    • Anonymous says:

      What a disgusting mega-prick you are. In what way is this article anti-American? It says WORLD NEWS, as in let’s remember the people in Asia who are also suffering but have been largely forgotten. Just wow. YOU make ME sick.

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  8. Unison says:

    CNS, REALLY? YOU POSTED THIS NEWS STORY?! –

    Just watch and see how Americas favorite news channels like CNN and FOX cover this story. With them, its all about their paid news and their American interest. I bet you despite over 1000 dead people and families experiencing hardships, you will not be given the real-life news :/

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    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe they just don’t have anyway of getting any reporters half way across the world. They have a story right at there doorstep already.

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      • Anonymous says:

        They can and they do. People in the middle US just don’t get that there are other countries outside the U.S..and even those that do care little as long as they can have their guns.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Ironically, many in Texas and Louisiana are Bible belt climate change deniers. We need to start preparing now, not just for the usual hurricanes but for rising water and bigger, more frequent hurricanes. How about electing politicians who respect science for a start?

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    • Anonymous says:

      I’m building my new house on top of Mt Trashmore.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Unfortunately one can’t be prepares in Cayman. No high grounds, other than the Dump.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Every government is selling us out to papa on the W B road. He must be what one group of people refers to as God Send. Let the music play, when it stops, there will be not one on the floor dancing.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Oh, is this the part where you equate these natural disasters with being under 20 feet of water by 2100 And having the planet unhabitable by 2050? What a loon

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