Dozens dead in Ethiopia flooding


Residents of the Southern Nationalities, Nations and People's State in Ethiopia walk through flooded lands after massive flashfloods in Tolta. Major floods that unleashed hungry crocodiles from a burst river have killed at least 67 people and displaced tens of thousands in southeast Ethiopia since the weekend.(AFP/File/Abraham Fisseha)

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Four days of devastating floods along Ethiopia's eastern border killed dozens of people and prowling crocodiles hampered rescue efforts as rain continued to fall, officials said Tuesday.

The deadly floods began Friday when the Shebelle River overflowed its banks in the Ogaden region, more than 600 miles from the capital, Addis Ababa.

"Sixty-seven people have died since the worst flooding hit Friday, and the crocodiles in the area are eating some of the bodies," said Muktar Mohammed, flood coordinator for the government-run Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau.

Four survivors have been injured by crocodile attacks, he added.

"We need helicopters, boats and food and medical supplies urgently," Muktar said.

Muktar said more than 2,500 acres of crops were washed away in the floods, along with thousands of cattle, camels, donkeys and other livestock. Rain was expected to continue through the week.

In August, flooding across the country killed more than 600 people and displaced about 50,000.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than half of its 77 million people living on less than $1 a day. Aid groups were sending food and other help to the region, officials said.

Flash floods kill 21 in southeast Turkey


Locals wade through mud carried by flash floods in Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir's Cinar district, November 1, 2006. Flash floods caused by torrential rainfall have killed 21 people across southeast Turkey, most of them swept away in their vehicles, officials said on Wednesday. (Anatolian News Agency/Ibrahim Yakut - TURKEY/Reuters)

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Flash floods caused by torrential rain have killed 21 people across southeast Turkey, most swept away in their vehicles, officials said on Wednesday.

Fourteen people died when floods overwhelmed a minibus in Cinar on the road from the region's largest city Diyarbakir as it travelled to a wedding in the neighbouring province of Mardin.

Another three people were killed in floods in Diyarbakir's Bismil district after hours of heavy rain overnight swept away many vehicles. Six people were still missing there.

Helicopters and boats supported rescue efforts in Cinar and Bismil, bringing to safety 300 people stranded in their homes.

Authorities sent a 25-strong search and rescue team to help with relief efforts in the southeastern province of Sirnak bordering Iraq, where four people died, including two infants.

Some houses were also damaged in the floods. Among the dead in Sirnak was a 70-year killed by falling debris from a house.

Super typhoon Cimaron



Persistent dead zone off Oregon coast

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — An ocean dead zone off Oregon that killed fish, crabs and sea worms in an area bigger than Rhode Island last summer lasted nearly three times longer than any of its predecessors before dissipating with autumn's change in the weather, scientists said Monday.

This year's dead zone off Oregon ran for 17 weeks, compared to the previous high of six weeks in 2004, and saw oxygen readings near zero that left the ocean bottom littered with dead crabs, sea stars and sea anemones. This is the fifth straight year the dead zone returned. It covered 70 miles of the central Oregon Coast and there are indications a dead zone also formed off southern Washington.

Southerly winds in recent weeks have flushed out the oxygen-depleted waters that were stuck along the Continental Shelf off the central Oregon Coast, and put an end to the condition known as ocean upwelling that triggered the dead zone, Jack Barth, professor of physical oceanography at Oregon State University (OSU), said from Corvallis.

"The fact that we've seen five in five years now, and this one in 2006 was the most devastating does not bode well for the future," Jane Lubchenco, a professor of marine biology at OSU who served on the Pew Oceans Commission, said from Corvallis. "We're seeing a system that is acting very sporadically. It's changing in ways we haven't seen before, or at least we haven't documented before. We can trace all those changes to changes in the winds."

Man arrested for California arson fires


Oscar and Svetlana Pineiro survey the ruins of their home destroyed by the Esperanza fire in Tein Pines, Calif., as they see it for the first time Saturday Oct. 28, 2006. They had lived in the home since 1985 and raised their family there. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

BEAUMONT, Calif. - Authorities arrested a man Tuesday who is suspected of intentionally starting two wildfires this summer and is considered a person of interest in a blaze started last week that killed five firefighters.

Raymond Lee Oyler, 37, of Beaumont was arrested on two counts of arson related to wildfires in June, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Oyler was not named as a suspect in the wildfire that started last week and roared across more than 60 square miles.

Four U.S. Forest Service firefighters died shortly after the blaze began Thursday when flames overran them as they tried to protect homes in the area. A fifth firefighter died Tuesday evening.

Investigators interviewed Oyler on Friday and then searched his home on Monday, the sheriff's department said. No other details were released.

Firefighter Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley died at 5:08 p.m. at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, after his family decided to take him off life support following extensive surgery last week to remove damaged skin.

"He was a great fighter," said Dr. Dev Gnanadev, who spoke to reporters outside the hospital. "In the end we did talk to the family and gave them an option of taking him to the operating room again for further surgeries, knowing his prognosis is very, very poor, and they decided to let Pablo go."

A group of U.S. Forest Service firefighters attended the evening news conference, with tears in their eyes.

"I felt the faith and hope for Pablo's recovery and actually felt a miracle might be possible," said Jeanne Wade Evans, the San Bernardino National Forest supervisor. "Today more sadness is added to our almost unbearable grief."

Cerda was burned over 90 percent of his body Thursday as he and the crew of Engine 57 tried to protect a home from wind-driven flames in the San Jacinto Mountains of Riverside County, 90 miles east of Los Angeles. Three other crew members died at the scene and Cerda's captain died soon after at a hospital.

The fifth death made it the greatest loss of firefighters in a single incident while battling a wildfire since 14 were killed in July 1994 near Glenwood Springs, Colo., according to the National Interagency Fire Center statistics.

Cerda was in just his second year of fighting fires for the Forest Service. He had planned to begin studying to become a paramedic.

The other victims were the engine captain, Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, of Idyllwild; Jason McKay, 27, of Apple Valley; Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; and Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto.

"All of us from the forest and all those from the fire service deeply mourn the loss of these brave men. In my mind there's no greater calling than to help those in need," Evans said.

As part of the investigation, authorities said they sifted through hundreds of tips and interviewed previously convicted arsonists who live in the Cabazon area. Assisting in the investigation were the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The reward for information leading to an arrest topped $500,000.

The blaze started early Thursday and scorched 40,200 acres, or more than 60 square miles, of forest and brush before being fully contained Monday. It destroyed 34 homes and 20 outbuildings. A portion of Highway 243 in the fire area remained under indefinite closure for repair of the two-lane road.

Firefighting costs reached $9.9 million, the California Department of Forestry said.

Authorities said the fire was deliberately set at the base of a slope in Cabazon, west of Palm Springs, as fierce Santa Ana winds hit Southern California. Residents said they saw two young men leaving the area where the fire began.

At the crime scene, investigators had planted blue, red and yellow flags attached to wire stakes in the ground to mark the location of possible evidence. Part of the hillside was marked by a grid made of pegs and string.

A public memorial service for the dead firefighters was scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at the Hyundai Pavilion in Devore. Individual firefighter funerals will be private, officials said.