Floods hit up to 1.8 million in Horn of Africa -UN

NAIROBI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and threatening to trigger epidemics, U.N. aid bodies said on Friday.

In the latest reports of growing disaster around the region, the UNHCR refugee agency said rising waters had uprooted more than 78,000 people in northeast Kenya and completely cut off three refugee camps near Kenya's border with Somalia.

Heavy rains are forecast to continue into at least December, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Roads and bridges have been washed away, and homes destroyed, especially in Somalia, it said in a statement.

"Accumulated estimates from the three countries put the total number of affected people between 1.5 million and 1.8 million," OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told a news briefing in Geneva.

Helicopters were urgently needed to reach isolated villages under water in Somalia, where relief operations are hampered by conflict, she said.

Epidemics linked to polluted, stagnant water -- including cholera, malaria and dysentery -- are feared, so products to treat water and mosquito nets are urgently needed, Byrs said.

A dam on the river Tana in Kenya was "about to burst" and authorities were trying to warn the population. A breach must be opened to keep the dam, south of the town of Garissa, from collapsing, she said.

Kenya's health ministry has reported 13 cases of cholera and two deaths, she said.

The UNHCR refugee agency will fly emergency fuel, medicines and plastic sheets to Dadaab on Sunday, where some 160,000 mostly Somali refugees are sheltering in low-lying settlements after fleeing growing tensions in their homeland.

"If roads in the region remain impassable, UNHCR expects to mount further flights next week," it said in a statement.

MISERY

Torrential rains have pounded the Horn of Africa this month, bringing misery to large parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.

At least 47 people have died in floods in southern Somalia described as the worst for 50 years, and one charity said up to half a million children there needed emergency aid.

Kenya has reported more than 25 killed, according to the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP).

The UNHCR said the hospital at one refugee camp in Kenya had been badly damaged by the floods, and that its staff were digging dikes and stacking sandbags to try to protect other medical centres.

Kenyans living around the camps had also been affected, it added, and had turned to the U.N. for help.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in the region in recent weeks, especially in Somalia, where many sleep outdoors in unsanitary conditions, according to the U.N. Children's Fund.

WFP said it had distributed emergency food rations to hard-hit Ifo camp in Kenya, which holds 54,000 refugees.

It planned to airlift 190 metric tonnes of high-energy biscuits for 100,000 mainly Somali refugees and 100,000 Kenyans living in the Dadaab region of eastern Kenya.

"People were actually telling us that the present flooding is worse than the El Nino floods in 1997 that submerged most of eastern Kenya," WFP spokesman Simon Pluess said.

Storms head north after killing 12

RIEGELWOOD, North Carolina (AP) -- Hours after a deadly tornado ripped through this small riverside community, Tomeka Jenkins was allowed to return to her home -- what was left of it.

The walls and roof were gone, and the exposed carpeting was covered in debris: broken bunk beds, an artificial Christmas tree, clothing, two teddy bears.

"Other than what I have on, this is all I have right in front of me," 29-year-old Jenkins said Thursday, as crews worked to restore electricity to nearby homes spared by the storm.

Eight people were killed when the tornado ripped through a cluster of mobile homes and an adjacent neighborhood of brick homes Thursday morning. At least 12 people were hospitalized, including four children in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The tornado was part of a devastating line of thunderstorms that swept across the South, raising their two-day death toll to 12. The storms then headed north, causing some flooding and wind damage in the Mid-Atlantic.

In Maryland, emergency crews performed several water rescues as dozens of people were trapped in their vehicles in high or fast-moving water, said Montgomery Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer.

Three freight cars derailed in Bowie, Maryland, and investigators were trying to determine whether the storm caused the wreck, CSX Corp. spokesman Gary Sease said. The empty coal hoppers jumped off tracks shared with Amtrak trains, bringing down some power lines. No one was injured.

The power outage delayed passenger service in the Northeast corridor, Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell said. Service was halted between Baltimore and Washington, Connell said, although trains were moving north and south of the region.

In New Jersey, the storm caused flight departure delays of more than two hours Thursday evening at Newark Liberty International Airport. Despite the high winds, there were few reports of power outages.

In North Carolina, Columbus County Sheriff Chris Batten said several of the dead were found within 200 yards of where the tornado touched down.

"We assume they were literally consumed by the tornado," he said.

When the tornado struck Riegelwood -- situated on the Cape Fear River about 20 miles west of Wilmington -- people learned of the storm from radio and television reports, because the area has no tornado sirens.

"There was no warning. There was no time," said Cissy Kennedy, a radiologist's assistant who lives in the area. "It just came out from nowhere."

County Commissioner Sammie Jacobs said several mobile homes were demolished, and there were "houses on top of cars and cars on top of houses."

About 100 people in Riegelwood were left homeless by the storm, and dozens planned to sleep at a shelter established at a nearby elementary school.

The storms began Wednesday, unleashing tornadoes and winds that overturned mobile homes and tractor-trailers, uprooted trees and knocked down power lines across the South.

In Louisiana, a man died Wednesday when a tornado struck his home. In South Carolina, a utility worker checking power lines Thursday during the storm was electrocuted. Two people died in car crashes in North Carolina, as heavy rain pounded the state.

The storm knocked out power to 45,000 customers in North Carolina, but the electricity was back on in most places by mid-afternoon Thursday.

Storm causes flooding, cancellations, tornado warnings

WASHINGTON (AP) — Winds and heavy rain from a severe storm that blew through the Mid-Atlantic region Thursday caused flooding, prompted some schools to cancel evening activities and led weather forecasters to issue a tornado watch.
The storm system, which spawned tornadoes that were blamed for several deaths in the South, passed through the Washington area in the early afternoon.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the area through 6 p.m. Flood warnings also were issued for the Washington and Baltimore regions.

No tornadoes had been reported by mid-afternoon, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's office in Sterling, Va. Flooding was reported in small creeks in Montgomery and Fairfax counties, he said, but larger rivers stayed within their banks.

Montgomery Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer said emergency crews performed several water rescues Thursday. In Germantown, a minivan became trapped in swiftly rising water about 1 p.m. and two people had to be rescued.

The MARC commuter rail service said flash flood warnings would force trains to cut their speed to no greater than 40 mph during the evening rush hour on the Brunswick and Camden lines. MARC said passengers should expect delays of 30 minutes to an hour.

Meanwhile, the Maryland Transportation Authority barred trailers and other vehicles vulnerable to high winds from crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge because of high winds.

Several school districts in Virginia and Maryland canceled after school activities and evening classes because of the weather. And the Montgomery County Parks Department announced that all outdoor activities were canceled Thursday evening.

Lee said the severe weather was not unusual for November. While the peak of tornado activity in the region is in May and June, tornadoes have occurred in every month of the year, he said.

Further to the south near Richmond, heavy rain from storms caused flash flooding, stranded some travelers and residents in high water and closed dozens of roads, officials said.

Police also responded to numerous car crashes caused by the foul weather.

The rains flooded portions of roads in southern and eastern Virginia, including some Interstate 95 exit ramps. The Virginia Department of Transportation said about 70 roads — most of them secondary roads — were closed Thursday afternoon. VDOT posted a list of closed roadways on its website, http://www.VirginiaDOT.org.

Lt. Keith Vida of the Richmond Fire Department said crews had rescued several drivers and passengers from cars trapped in high water around the city.

In Chesterfield, fire officials were evacuating people by boat from an apartment complex surrounded by rising water. Lt. Matthew Coffin said three buildings were affected, and six residents had been evacuated by mid-afternoon.