PAKISTAN: Quake offers a window of opportunity for women empowerment

"God caused the earthquake and it has brought a lot of destruction, but it has shaken the roots of society and has brought change into women's lives and has given us a voice," a woman from Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, told Sumeera Mehboob Qureshi, chair of a female committee for quake-displaced camps set up by the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier this year in February.

Huge storm batters southwest WA

Western Australia's south has ridden out a massive storm in a wild night.
The storm dumped record-breaking rains at Esperance, measured at more than 200mm in just 48 hours.

Heavy flooding has cut a major road by washing away part of the Oldfield River Bridge.

The South Coast Highway, the main road connecting Esperance to Perth, is expected to be out of action for weeks.

The only alternative is the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, but motorists have been warned to expect delays, as the road is down to one lane between Esperance and Gibson.

The storm was 450km wide, dropping rain across a massive area, with 221mm (just under nine inches) falling on Esperance.

Esperance was in the direct path of the storm. The caravan park bore the full brunt of wind gusts, more than 110km/h.

A tree trunk was ripped from the ground and dumped on a tent. Luckily, the owner had decided to ride out the storm in his car.

"The rain and the wind, it was just so noisy," tourist Michelle Ottaway said. "It just blew and blew, it was just unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it."

Wayne Martin was about to go to sleep when a tree trunk crashed onto his bedroom roof.

"Huge loud bang," he said. "Thought it might have been thunder, but it was too loud."

"Looked up, put the torch on, roof's cracked, looked out window. Tree sitting across my head."

Tonnes of sand was stripped from the Esplanade and one boat was rammed under a jetty, while another sank.

A rental car hired by 7News was hit by a piece of sheet metal torn from a nearby shop, narrowly missing our reporter and camera crew.

State Emergency Service volunteers answered 130 calls for help, mostly for roof damage and minor flooding.

Emergency Services Minister Margaret Quirk said the storm was "of Biblical proportions".

"I was waiting for a guy called Noah to turn up and offer us a lift in his ark," Ms Quirk said.

One-third of Esperance's power supply was cut.

Rolling blackouts could be in place for days and technicians have been flown in from Perth.

The winds were not the strongest seen along the south coast, but Esperance has never had so much rain: 172mm fell at the airport alone in 24 hours.

The previous record was 101mm.

It was reported that on one farm, 700 lambs drowned. Farmers were expecting more stock losses, either from drowning or hypothermia, especially in animals less than six weeks old.

2 killed by reported tornado in Louisiana

NEW IBERIA, La. - Powerful storms that killed at least two people and ripped apart mobile homes in Louisiana headed into Alabama on Friday, where tornado watches were posted across the state.

A flash flood watch was still in effect Friday morning for parts of southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi after the heavy rain.

Some of the worst damage from Thursday's storms was in Louisiana's Iberia Parish after what appeared to be a tornado hit in the New Iberia area just before 4 p.m.

A woman and 6-year-old girl were killed in their home as the storm hit, the Iberia Parish Coroner's Office said. At least 15 other people were injured, and several mobiles homes were blown over, Sheriff Sid Hebert said.

"We were just sitting and watching a movie, and then all of a sudden the wind started blowing and it got really bad," said Joyce Firmin of Iberia Parish. "It just sounded like a bunch of trucks or an airplane or something was coming toward the house."

Firmin's daughter, 14-year-old Jaci, said she could hear branches snapping and power lines popping during the storm. "My ears were popping a lot," she said. "Then we came out, everything was down."

Steven Bruno described from a hospital how he was flipped over twice while furniture and glass flew around his mobile home. His girlfriend, who is six months pregnant, was hospitalized for fetal monitoring, and the hospital gown he was wearing is now the only thing he owns, he said.

Whether it was a tornado won't be determined until storm surveys are conducted.

Damage was less serious as the storm continued through the state, though the heavy rain flooded roads, and windows were blown out and roofs ripped off homes in the New Roads area, National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Vasilj said.

In Mississippi, at least nine people were hurt in Kemper County and eight homes damaged when the storm hit there late Thursday and early Friday, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said. Five more homes and business were damaged in Stone County.

No serious injuries were reported early Friday in Alabama, but several vacant mobile homes parked outside a mobile home plant in Hamilton were damaged and power lines were down, officials said. Another mobile home was destroyed in Cherokee County.

In New Orleans, city workers had been dispatched early to clean drains and prepare for possible flooding ahead of the heavy rain.

Southern Louisiana has been pounded by major storms that bumped its December rainfall total to more than 10 inches, nearly twice the normal average, and forecasters on Friday warned that more rain was coming.

"More showers and thunderstorms are on the way Saturday afternoon and evening as we get another cold front coming through. We're in a progressive pattern — almost like clockwork, every three days we'll get a front through," said weather service forecaster Kent Kuyper.

Quake hits off Alaska coast, no tsunami fears

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan 5 (Reuters) - A 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean off the southern Alaska coast on Friday, but it did not trigger tsunami concerns, officials said.

The quake at 7:52 a.m. Alaska time (1652 GMT) was centered about 100 miles (161 km) southeast of Chignik, Alaska, which is located on the relatively unpopulated Alaska Peninsula, according to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.

There were no immediate reports of damage in the area, where temblors are not unusual, and an earthquake of that magnitude was not expected to trigger a tsunami, the center said.