Thousands flee rainfall,Alligators,hunger,flooding Brazil

SAO MIGUEL DE ROSARIO, Brazil — The dirt road in front of her house is a river. Her fields of rice are underwater. And with water seeping into her home, Maria do Remedio Santos knows it’s time to leave.

Like 218,000 others in northern Brazil, Santos fled the worst rainfall and flooding in decades, braving newly formed rivers teeming with alligators and legless reptiles whose bite is excruciating.

Already, 36 people have been killed in the flooding. But authorities worried about thousands of people isolated for days with little food or clean water.

"There isn’t enough food, they even have a shortage of tents,” said Maranhao state’s Maj. Wellington Soares Araujo.

Brazilian flood causes food-water worries

SAO PAULO — Brazil rushed aid Wednesday by air, over land and through rapidly rising waters to dozens of cities and towns isolated by floods that have killed at least 32 people and left more than 200,000 homeless.

Some complained that aid wasn’t coming fast enough to help flood victims deal with the disaster, which officials said is the worst flooding that some parts of the region have seen in two decades.

In an ominous sign that worried officials, rain continued to fall across a vast region stretching from the Amazon jungle to the northeastern Atlantic coast and meteorologists predicted the bad weather could last for weeks.

Isolated looting was reported in communities cut off by flooding. People with pets and chickens jammed inside an abandoned hospital turned into a shelter. Some victims paddled canoes to retrieve belongings from inundated homes. Children called out for food.

Most victims drowned or were killed when mudslides swept over ramshackle homes, but authorities feared the situation could get much worse because many areas had been isolated for days without shipments of food or water.

Protests began emerging Wednesday night from flooded communities that aid was taking too long too arrive. In the Maranhao city of Bacabel, population about 70,000, officials said the displaced needed mattresses, blankets, personal hygiene products and drinking water.

"We’ve only had 13 shipments and there are still a lot of isolated people in rural areas,” Bacabel civil defense coordinator Roseane Silva said.



by the associated press

Gray skies in Oklahoma

Oklahomans, for the most part, are becoming weary of the rain.

Statewide rainfall on Tuesday included nearly 2 inches at Rush Springs, where resident Ashley Johnson looks out her window and sees tall grass.

"It’s been raining for about a week,” Johnson said. "I’m kinda tired of it because my yard’s about a foot tall. It’s really soggy, and I’ve got a lake out in the street.”

Oklahoma City resident Kelly Winters is also "tired of the rain,” she said. It’s the amount of rain she finds most disagreeable.

Tuesday was the 10th straight day of rainfall in Oklahoma City, according to the National Weather Service’s gauge at Will Rogers World Airport. More than 5 inches has fallen since the streak began on April 26. And Oklahoma City hasn’t seen a day of clear skies, as determined by the weather service, since April 21.

But not everyone is crying the blues.

Kelly Winters’ husband, Matt, said the rain has been a reprieve from springtime chores.

"It’s nice because I don’t have to turn on the air conditioner, and she doesn’t ask me to mow because it’s wet and she knows that I can’t,” Matt Winters said.

Such long-term exposure to gloomy weather can have effects on a person’s mood, much like winter time, said Tom Brian, health service psychologist and director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Tulsa.

While decreased light levels may play a part, disruptions of routines, such as daily outdoor exercise, or disruptions of plans, such as a rained-out graduation ceremony, fishing trip, cook-out or even being unable to mow the lawn, can cause frustration and feelings of unpleasantness, he said.

"Those are all things that contribute to lower moods,” Brian said.

"The weather may be part of it, but one’s emotions are not a total victim of the weather.”


Goodbye, drought?
The heaviest rain Tuesday fell from south-central to southeast Oklahoma. A Mesonet site near Rush Springs had measured 1.88 inches by 8 p.m.
Is the drought over? Technically, no, for some areas, said Alex Lamers, a forecaster for the National Weather Service. Areas of western and southern Oklahoma still were abnormally dry or in a moderate drought when the U.S. Drought Monitor figures were released last week.

It could change when the weekly report is released Thursday morning.

The last 30-day period has been the eighth wettest for that time period since record-keeping began in 1921. All of the state received rainfall well above normal for that period.

A brief respite is expected today.



by the associated press

Fight Flooding with a Rock in North Dakota ?

LaMOURE, N.D. — Crews worked in strong winds to reinforce a southeastern North Dakota dam spillway that was being eroded by floodwaters Sunday, and nearby farms were evacuated as a precaution.

The earthen Cottonwood Creek Dam at Lake LaMoure is about 20 miles from the nearest community and its greatest threat is to farms and roads, State Water Commission assistant engineer Todd Sando said. A Black Hawk helicopter from Fargo dropped about 80 1-ton sandbags, and bulldozers pushed rock into the spillway.

"It’s stable right now but it’s not under control,” Sando said.

LaMoure County officials asked for help late Saturday after erosion problems worsened on the spillway, a channel to handle an emergency volume of water on a tributary of the James River.

Valley City has been battling the Sheyenne River, which overwhelmed its sewer system. Residents in the community of about 7,000 were advised to leave after the system failed Friday

by the associated press