China's 1300-year-old Buddha statue endangered by floods

Leshan, Sichuan, China:  A 1,300-year-old stone Buddha in China's Sichuan province has been endangered by floods overloading its surrounding river on Tuesday, according to state media.

The 71-metre-tall Buddha in Leshan city which was built from 713 AD has been surrounded by swollen rivers caused by heavy rains. Its toes were submerged in water at one point, the first time this has happened in 70 years according to state news agency Xinhua. Sichuan launched the highest level of flood emergency response on Tuesday with almost 130,000 residents evacuated and entire villages submerged.

Southern China has been hit by torrential rains this flood season. According to China's Ministry of Emergency Management, more than 54 million people have been affected by the floods in July.

Millions displaced as floods continue to inundate one-third of Bangladesh

Louhajang, Bangladesh: About one-third of Bangladesh has been inundated by floods with local media reporting on Wednesday that millions of people were displaced and 161 people had died in floods which started more than a month ago.

In the village of Louhajang, about 55 km (34 miles) from the capital Dhaka, local residents displaced by floods received relief materials, with some rowing small boats across floodwaters to access the collection points. Sandbags were placed along the riverbank at Shimulia ferry terminal after Padma River overflowed and caused erosion. Residents were forced to travel by boat and had to move their cattle to higher grounds to avoid the flooding.

The agriculture ministry said that the longest-running floods in over two decades in Bangladesh have submerged nearly 80,000 hectares of paddy fields. he floods also complicated the efforts to fight the novel coronavirus. Bangladesh has reported 266,498 COVID-19 infections with 3,513 deaths as of Thursday.

Typhoon Mekkhala makes landfall in east China's Fujian

Fujian, China: Mekkhala, the sixth typhoon of this year, landed in east China's Fujian Province on Tuesday morning, local meteorological authorities said.

With a maximum wind force of 33 meters per second near its center, Mekkhala landed in coastal areas of the province's Zhangpu County at around 07:30 Tuesday, bringing gales and torrential rains. The Fujian Meteorological Observatory renewed a red alert for the typhoon on 06:56 Tuesday. Meteorological authorities forecast that the typhoon will move northwestward and start to weaken. The city of Shishi, on the southern coast of Fujian, issued several orange alerts for the typhoon in the early hours of Tuesday. 

An orange alert for heavy rain was also issued at 07:00 the same day. All the fishing boats in Shishi were already moored in the bay when Mekkhala made its landfall, thanks to the BeiDou position indicators installed, which allow relevant departments to locate the exact position of the boats in real-time and give prompt notification.

Shishi City has also evacuated nearly 1,000 people and prepared sufficient flood control supplies. Fujian's Xiamen City began experiencing torrential rain and strong winds brought by the typhoon early Tuesday morning. The city's Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has ordered all fishing boats to return to harbor, closed coastal scenic spots and halted ferry services for passengers.

Operations of Xiamen's express bus system, known as Bus Rapid Transit, were also suspended due to the typhoon. China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Typhoon Hagupit caused flood inundates homes, farmland in east China

Zhejiang, China: The powerful Typhoon Hagupit brought heavy rains caused floods in Pan'an County, east China's Zhejiang Province after making landfall in the same province in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Heavy rains and strong winds caused many rivers to swell, flooding roads, homes and farmlands. Typhoon Hagupit began to hit Panfeng Town Tuesday morning. Winds gusted as fast as 32.6 meters per second knocked down an old tree of more than 600 years old. The typhoon also caused flash floods and damaged roads in the town. A total of 140 local villagers from 73 households were evacuated for safety concern.

A total of 679 tourists stranded in the town have been properly arranged at farmer's inns. Local officials went from door to door to convince people to stay indoors. "We went from home to home and asked the tourists at farmer's inns to stay indoors and not to go out when typhoon strikes," said Lyu Shuaihang, a local official. Pan'an issued a top-level red alert for Typhoon Hagupit on Tuesday afternoon.

Millions displaced in Bangladesh as monsoon floods continue amid coronavirus worries

Sirajdikhan, Bangladesh: Severe flooding continued in parts of Bangladesh on Tuesday, August 4, with millions displaced. In the Sirajdikhan district, about 40 km (25 miles) from capital Dhaka, many houses near the Dhaleshwari river back have been washed away due to rising water levels and erosion of the bank, leaving occupants with piles of rubble.

"The entire country is now facing the flooding problem. Our Islampur village is also flooded, but in our village, the most noticeable thing is that about 30 houses were washed away by the river erosion. Many are facing problems. We demand help (from the government) for these affected people and we need shelter for these families immediately."said local village leader Mohammad Ashraf Ali.

The annual rainy season brought more misery with at least 135 people killed in Bangladesh since late June in the longest-running floods there in more than two decades. In flood-prone Bangladesh  where almost one-third of the impoverished nation is underwater- officials warned of an extended disaster in one of the worst deluges in recent years.

The annual monsoon is critical for replenishing water supplies, but also wreaks havoc across vast swathes of the densely populated region, causing widespread death and damage. Most people have died from drowning, officials said, with almost three million people hit by the natural disaster through flooded homes and inundated communities.

South Korea's rainstorms cause 15 deaths, leave muddy mess

South Korea: Heavy rains in South Korea, which lasted for four straight days, have left 15 people dead and 11 others missing as of Tuesday. The rain have left a muddy mess in Anseong of Gyeonggi Province, one of the worst hit areas.

Flash floods and mud flows caused by rainstorms damaged many roads and buried vast tracts of farmland in the southern mountainous area of Anseong. "The rain is heavier than expected. Although I am not very old, this is my first time to see such a heavy rain in 70 years," said a local resident. "The soil loosened because of the rain. A worker at the chicken farm over there died from a landslide accident. It is unfortunate," said another resident. Some main roads cut off by mud flows have reopened after the debris were cleared away. 

This round of rainstorms had forced 1,025 people in the country to be evacuated as of Tuesday and most of them are from Chungcheongbuk-do Province and Gyeonggi. Local authorities have set up temporary shelters at stadiums, schools and some other places to accommodate the affected people.

According to the meteorological department, heavy rains will continue to batter central South Korea on Wednesday under the impact of Typhoon Hagupit. Some people in the high-risk areas have been evacuated.

Hurricane Isaias lashes the Bahamas as it bears down on Florida

Florida, US: Hurricane Isaias strengthened slightly as it lashed the Bahamas on Saturday, August 1, bearing down on Florida, and was expected to approach the southeast of the state later in the day before traveling up the eastern U.S. seaboard.

In Miami Beach, patrol officers stopped beachgoers from entering the beach as the area braced itself for tropical storm force winds from Hurricane Isaias. Some tourists could be seen enjoying drinks at one of the few establishments that stayed open, but most restaurants were closed for business. Sidewalk dining on the city's famed Ocean Drive was also shut down. Florida's well-honed hurricane responses have been partly upended by its grappling with one of the country's worst outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.

Isaias was carrying top sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (130 km per hour) and was located about 40 miles (60 km) west-southwest of the Bahamas capital Nassau at 1100 ET (1500 GMT) heading northwest, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

It made landfall on Andros Island in the Bahamas and was due to pass over or near other islands in the central and northwest Bahamas on Saturday, bringing a danger of damaging storm surges of up to 5 feet (1.52 m) over normal tide levels, the NHC said.

The storm, a Category 1 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, prompted authorities in parts of Florida to close COVID-19 testing sites and people to stock up on essentials. Isaias is expected to move near the east coast of the Florida peninsula late Saturday through Sunday before hitting the eastern Carolinas by early next week, forecasters said.

Tropical Storm Hanna threatens flash floods on COVID-hit Texas coast

Texas, US: Hurricane Hanna's winds lashed the south Texas coast early Sunday, July 26, knocking out power to thousands before it was downgraded to a tropical storm that still threatened flash flooding in the area already badly hit by COVID-19 infections.

Hanna came ashore on Padre Island on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, and later made a second landfall in Kenedy County, Texas. More than 283,104 homes and businesses were without electricity by mid-morning Sunday, according to poweroutage.us. Weakening as it headed west over land, Hanna was a tropical storm by Sunday morning, with its center about 40 miles (65 km) from McAllen, Texas and about 65 miles (105 km) from Monterrey, Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

At 0400 CDT (0900 GMT), the storm's top sustained winds were around 60 miles per hour (95 kph), the center said. It was forecast to lose more steam as it moved across Texas and northeastern Mexico, and on Sunday weather watch officials canceled the storm surge warning they had issued for the Texas coast.

Hanna still posed a threat, the hurricane center said, noting it could dump upward of 18 inches (45 cm) of rain in the area through Monday.

The Texas area struck by Hanna has struggled to contain outbreaks of COVID-19 in recent weeks. Cases along the state's coast have soared into the tens of thousands. More than 400 people in Corpus Christi were hospitalized with the illness on Friday, according to city data. The storm was not expected to affect offshore oil and gas production. Energy companies have not evacuated workers or shut down production from their Gulf of Mexico platforms because of Hanna.

Torrential rains trigger landslides in southwest, northwest China, relief works are underway

Chongqing, China: Seasonal torrential rains have pelted parts of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and northwest China's Shaanxi Province over the past few days, flooding local rivers and triggering landslides.

Disaster relief works are underway in Chongqing after heavy rain triggered landslides last Thursday, damaging many roads. The torrential downpour led to landslides at sections of the national highways of 318 and 348 in Wanzhou District. Among them, the mountain torrents destroyed the original barricade at the junction of National Highway 318 and Longli Village in Wanzhou District, causing a large-scale landslide with a volume of more than 4,000 cubic meters, disrupting traffic at the highway.

Local authorities have rushed to clear the debris the first time by using some professional equipment, such as excavators, loaders and others. "We estimate that it will take four days to remove the landslide mass, and then we will send mechanical equipment to set up barriers. We will also repave the road with concrete, which is expected to be completed in about 10 days," said Jiang Bo, secretary of Wanzhou Construction Project of No. Three Engineering Co., Ltd. under the CCCC First Highway Engineering Co., Ltd.

So far, single-lane traffic has been resumed after the debris was cleared away on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a rainstorm on Thursday led to large-scale landslides at sections at the National Highway 541 in Zhenping County of Ankang City, Shaanxi Province.

A mass of rock and debris, measuring about 12,000 cubic meters, slide down a slope, cutting off a stretch of the roadway, disrupting local traffic. The local authorities immediately mobilized workers and machinery to unblock the road. It is estimated that traffic will be resumed on Friday afternoon.

Monsoon floods wreak havoc in Bangladesh

Louhajang, Bangladesh: Hundreds of people have been left stranded after monsoon rain floods devastated parts of Bangladesh. In Louhajong, 65 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, villagers have taken to boats and rafts to travel through the floodwaters, with the occasional person swimming through the water.

Floodwaters burst through sandbag walls built in a bid to protect the village, many homes have been left knee-deep in water leaving many residents feeling helpless. Earlier this week, officials said hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh have been marooned and thousands of hectares of farmland submerged, as floods triggered by monsoon rains ravage the country already grappling with the coronavirus.

Flooding in Bangladesh has been made worse by heavy rains in the neighbouring Indian state of Assam. Millions have been forced to flee their homes in Assam after the Brahmaputra river that flows from Tibet into India and then into Bangladesh burst its banks.

The floods are another headache for Bangladesh as it struggles to control the coronavirus outbreak with lockdowns across the country. There are now more than 216,110 confirmed cases and more than 2,801 deaths.