British couple die in Spain flood

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22 October 2011 Last updated at 21:09 GMT Eyewitness Peter Desaunois: "There was so much water, so much mud"

A British couple have died in Spain after being swept away in a flash flood, a government official has said.

The pair, believed to be in their 70s, were hit by a torrent of water at a street market in the town of Finestrat on the Costa Blanca, said Interior Ministry official Jose Perez Grau.

Heavy rain inland caused the torrent to rush downhill into a dip where the market was being held, he said.

A witness said people had tried to save the couple, "but couldn't".

The Foreign Office confirmed the deaths and said it was offering assistance.

BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford, in Madrid, said the couple were sitting outside a cafe-stall at the weekly market when they were hit by a wall of water up to a metre high.

One onlooker said the woman clung to a stall for safety, but was struck by another that was washed away by the water, our correspondent said.

Local media said bodies of the British couple, who have not yet been named, were found trapped under a trailer after the flood.

'Large wave'

Peter Desaunois, from Finestrat witnessed the elderly couple being swept away.

He said: "The water came down the hill in a big wave. It was so powerful it broke the stones away from the wall and then the whole wall fell and was carried by the water down the hill. So much water came down.

"At that very moment an elderly couple who were at the market, near the beach got swept away. There was a big panic, everyone tried to help them but couldn't.

"About five to eight minutes later four ambulances arrived and the fire brigade. Other people got hurt too. It all happened in just a second. It rained so hard."

One eyewitness told Reuters TV: "Everything filled up with water.

"There was a lot of plastic accumulated next to a car and when we went to remove it we realised there were two people underneath it."

Another said: "A large wave came along and swept them away down here among the iron debris, clothes and market debris."

Council fine

Government official Jose Perez Grau told the Associated Press news agency that it had been raining heavily inland for about 25 minutes before the incident, which happened at about midday on Friday.

Stallholders and visitors had been caught by surprise when the flooding hit because it had not been raining in the town itself, he added.

Local media said the water came gushing through a dried-up ravine and into the market place, wrecking cars and stalls.

Another two people were taken to hospital, according to local media, and a 90-year-old was missing for a time but was later found unharmed in a nearby street.

Last October, the town's council was fined around 83,000 euros by the local hydrographic authority for asphalting the ravine bed without permission. The authority says the area was first paved in 2004.

In its ruling, the Hydrographic Confederation said the council had the "obligation to abstain from using the ravine for a municipal market".

A Finestrat council spokesman said it had appealed the ruling. The council argued the paving was done by a private company that had been managing the market at the time and that too much time had passed since the supposed offence for a punishment to be issued. The result of the appeal is still pending.

Town hall spokesman Juan Francisco Perez said there had been a market in the ravine "all his life" and the area had been paved for many years. "It's like a street," he said. "So if it's been that way for years, and the environment ministry paid no attention, why did they find the problem now?"

Mr Perez said flooding was a common problem in all streets in the area and that there was nothing specific about the ravine. But he said that on days where there was an official flood alert, stall holders were not allowed to pitch their stalls for the market

But source at the Hydrographic Confederation - who did not want to be named - told BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford the authority rejected the council's arguments against its ruling, saying: "Did it need these two people to die, for them to understand?"

One local trader described the tragedy as "predictable".

Sarah Rainsford said there were signs on the walls warning of the danger of flooding when it rained.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the death of two British nationals in Finestrat, Spain.

"We are providing consular assistance to the family."

The authorities in Finestrat have declared two days of official mourning for the couple, who regional newspaper Diario de Informacion said had been on holiday in the resort of Benidorm, about seven miles east of the town.

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Tributes flood in for Steve Jobs

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 18:28 GMT 1984-2011: How Steve Jobs transformed Apple over the years

World and business leaders have paid tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who has died at 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said Mr Jobs had changed the world.

Microsoft's Bill Gates said it had been "an insanely great honour" to work with him. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg remembered his "mentor and friend".

The Twitter microblog site struggled to cope with the traffic of tributes.

Apple itself said Mr Jobs had been "the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives" and had made the world "immeasurably better".

Thousands of celebrities and ordinary people went on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to record their tributes and memories of the man behind products such as the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad.

The death of Mr Jobs could create a record for Twitter traffic.

Thousands of people all over the world have also been attending Apple stores to leave flowers, notes, and apples with a bite taken from them to mimic the company's logo.

Apple's leading rivals such as Microsoft, Google, Sony and Samsung all chipped in with glowing tributes.

GS Choi, chief executive of Samsung, which is embroiled in a major court battle with Apple on patents, said Mr Jobs was an "innovative spirit" who "introduced numerous revolutionary changes to the information technology industry".

In his statement, Bill Gates said: "The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honour."

Continue reading the main story Peter Jackson BBC News, London

A single bunch of flowers - still in their plastic wrapper - were the only outward sign of the passing of Steve Jobs outside Apple's flagship London store in Covent Garden.

Ginnie Leatham, a brand director in the media industry, from West Sussex, hand delivered a single red Gerbera to staff inside the store.

She said: "I was really sad when I woke up this morning. I had a real lump in my throat and felt quite tearful.

"I was thinking about it on my commute into work. I always walk past the Apple store and I just thought 'I'm going to stop'.

Mr Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook: "Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."

His comments were "liked" by more than 200,000 people within hours.

In his own tweet, Barack Obama wrote: "There may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."

Web users in China have reportedly posted almost 35 million online tributes.

Tim Cook, who was made Apple's CEO after Mr Jobs stood down in August, said his predecessor had left behind "a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple".

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Steve Jobs transformed the way we work and play; a creative genius who will be sorely missed."

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the US had "lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein".

News Corp's Rupert Murdoch said: "Steve Jobs was simply the greatest CEO of his generation."

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will remember Mr Jobs for "knowing what made sense in a product"

People also gathered outside Mr Jobs's home in California's Silicon Valley to lay floral wreaths, while flags were flown at half mast outside the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.

A statement from Mr Jobs's family said they were with him when he died peacefully on Wednesday.

"In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family," they said, requesting privacy and thanking those who had "shared their wishes and prayers" during his final year.

Face of Apple

Mr Jobs built a reputation as a forthright and demanding leader who could take niche technologies - such as the mouse and graphical user interface, using onscreen icons rather than text - and make them popular with the general public.

Continue reading the main story Born in San Francisco in Feb 1955 to students Joanne Schieble and Syrian-born Abdulfattah Jandali - adopted by a Californian working class coupleHad a summer job at Hewlett-Packard while at school - later worked at AtariDropped out of college after six months and went travelling in India, where he became a Buddhist Launched Apple with school friend Steve Wozniak in 1976 - first Apple computer sold the same yearLeft Apple amid disputes in 1985 but returned in 1996 and became CEO in 1997Bought Pixar animation company in 1986 for $10mMarried in a Buddhist ceremony in 1991 - has three children with his wife and a daughter from a previous relationshipHad a personal wealth estimated at $8.3bn (£5.4bn) in 2010Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, and after three periods of sickness leave, resigns as Apple CEO in August 2011He introduced the colourful iMac computer, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad to the world. His death came just a day after Apple unveiled its latest iPhone 4S model.

With a market value estimated at $351bn (£227bn), Apple became the world's most valuable technology company.

More than almost any other business leader, Mr Jobs was indistinguishable from his company, which he co-founded in the 1970s.

As the face of Apple, he represented its dedication to high-end technology and fashionable design.

And inside the company he exerted a level of influence unheard of in most businesses.

Mr Jobs also provided major funding to set up Pixar Animation Studios.

In 2004, Mr Jobs announced that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer. He had a liver transplant five years later.

In January, he took medical leave, before resigning as CEO in August and handing over his duties to Mr Cook.

In his resignation letter, Mr Jobs said: "I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role."

However, Mr Jobs stayed on as Apple's chairman.

Despite his high profile, he remained fiercely protective of his private life.

He married his wife Laurene in 1991, and the couple had three children.

Mr Jobs also leaves a daughter from a previous relationship, and as an adult he discovered that he had a biological sister, US novelist Mona Simpson.

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Flying over Pakistan's flood zone

Last on the list Ghehnu said he had no money to seek help for his ill infant son

About 3m people in southern Pakistan are now facing food shortage, the UN says

20 September 2011 Last updated at 18:41 GMT By Orla Guerin BBC News, Sindh province, Pakistan Over 300 people have already been killed by heavy monsoon floods
There is only one way to get an idea of the scale of Pakistan's newest crisis, and that is from the air.
Floodwater has spread over much of the southern Sindh province like a murky green carpet - smothering villages and crops, destroying lives and infrastructure.
We flew over the disaster zone with the Pakistan air force, joining them on their first relief mission of this year's floods.
The helicopter was packed with sacks of aid. For the crew, it was standing room only.
As the chopper hovered near a ruined hamlet, the hungry came running. One man gazed upwards, gesturing repeatedly towards his mouth.
Once again flood victims are looking to the military. Many here despair of Pakistan's ineffective civilian government.
The crew dropped essential supplies including cooking oil, rice and milk, before moving on to another stranded community.
Continue reading the main story

I'm shocked that the international community has either forgotten, or doesn't care ”

End Quote Mark Pearson UK's Shelterbox charity Staggering numbers After the aid was gone, there was a reconnaissance mission over the sodden landscape to search for other flood victims. Pilots believe some have yet to be located.
"I absolutely believe there will be people who could not be seen right now," squadron leader Nasir Malik said from the cockpit, as he scanned the ground down below.
"But as we fly further missions they will be approachable, with the passage of time."
The air force says it will keep looking, and keep dropping aid, as long as there is a need. That could be some time.
The numbers affected by the torrential monsoon rains are staggering.
At last count the estimate is more than 7.5m people, and the figure is continued to rise.
Of these, about three million are critically short of food, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
More than a million houses have been damaged or destroyed, and almost 4m acres (1.6m ha) are under water.
'Where is everyone?'
On the ground in Sindh, we saw mile after mile of destroyed communities. Flood victims were everywhere - on levies, on rooftops, and often on the roadsides in makeshift camps.
But a key piece of the puzzle was missing: any sign of an international relief effort matching the scale of the disaster.
In four days of driving around the province we came across just one aid distribution: a lone tanker dispensing water in the badly hit district of Badin.
"Where is everyone?" asked Mark Pearson, a field operations specialist with the UK charity Shelterbox, which began its relief work more than six weeks ago.
"I got a call in the first week of August to say that the situation was really bad, and we got moving straight away."
People and animals in the affected areas are forced to use the same contaminated water
The charity has already distributed 3,200 shelter kits, each containing a 10-man tent, blankets, cooking utensils and water purification equipment.
"Personally I'm really frustrated by the fact that people have been living in the mud, in appalling conditions for weeks," he said.
"It's already costing lives, with the spread of waterborne diseases. I'm shocked that the international community has either forgotten, or doesn't care."
Lethargic response
But the government in Islamabad was slow to request international assistance.
Continue reading the main story

The magnitude is so large, so huge, that one government cannot control the situation”

End Quote Yousuf Raza Gilani Pakistani Prime Minister President Asif Ali Zardari waited until 8 September to ask for help. At that stage more than five million lives had already been disrupted by the floods.
Since then the international effort has been grinding into gear: UN agencies have begun distributing emergency aid including tents, food and water.
"We responded immediately once we were asked," said UN spokesperson Stacey Winston.
"Officially for us to go in and set up shop, we have to be asked. Within days of the government's request the World Food Programme had reached 140,000 people and the World Health Organization had reached hundreds of thousands with essential medical help."
And what of the government's own relief efforts?
This year, as last year, Pakistan's leaders are being criticised for a lethargic response to a growing emergency - though this time they are at least present in the country.
During a whistlestop tour of flood affected areas, I asked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani if more lessons could have been learnt from last year.
"You can't compare the two," he said. "Last year there was flooding from the Indus River, this year it's from the rains."
That distinction probably won't mean much to the many flood victims living under the open skies.
The prime minister stressed that fewer lives had been lost this year - around 350, compared with up to 2,000 in 2010 - and he denied the government was ill prepared.
"We were all set for any sort of eventualities. But the magnitude is so large, so huge, that one government cannot control the situation."
Mr Gilani was speaking in a relief camp in the district of Mirpurkhas, where he handed out bags of aid to a select few men and women.
They sat on the ground, in a neat line, waiting patiently for their turn.
Vishan, one of the lucky few, told us they were drinking the same contaminated water as their animals.
Many cannot afford to wait much longer for help.
In a makeshift camp in Badin, we met a young father called Ghehnu whose only son was getting weaker by the day.
Twelve-month-old Raja, whose name means King, laid across his mother's lap, crying weakly and arching his tiny body in pain. He was suffering from diarrhoea.
"He was OK before," said Ghehnu," but when the rains started he got sick. If we had money we would bring him to a doctor. But we are poor. I am worried for my son but what can I do?"
Ghehnu is a lower caste Hindu, like many other flood victims in the area. Religious minorities expect to be last on the list when there is aid to be given out.
It has been two weeks since local officials evacuated families from Ghehnu's flooded village, and deposited them in Badin.
The villagers have not seen them since.

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New York, Pennsylvania see décrue of flood waters, while Maryland worst braces

BLOOMBSBURG, PA. -areas in the North of the Susquehanna River swollen began Friday but after days of rain from the remnants of the storm tropical Lee flooded communities from Virginia to New York, leading to evacuation orders for 100,000 people. Some evacuees were allowed to the House.

The damage was concentrated along the Susquehanna at Binghamton, New York; in the cities of up - and downstream protected lifting Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where more than 70 000 people were told to evacuate; and communities more downstream, in Maryland.

Susquehanna River crested at 42.66 feet Thursday evening at Wilkes-Barre - to beyond of design more than the record set in historic flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and in quality of the system of reception of the city.

"They did what was good for them, the people there," said Tom Vaxmonsky, a resident of Pittson West, just above the Wilkes-Barre. "But it's like everything else, for every action there is a reaction." And the reaction is that we had much more that we made in 72 with the Agnes flood water. »

As floodwaters that invades the city of Binghamton, including the Mayor called the worst in more than 60 years and the surrounding communities start decreasing, the first 20,000 evacuees began returning to their homes.

Robert Smith, 35, he return around noon at his home in an article struggling to Binghamton. Mud and debris covered pavement, and the water still blocked streets closest to the River. But he feels inspired to the point where that he spent in a shelter; When a woman collapsed on the floor, he said, transported foreigners to emergency to tend to him.

"Everyone was help each other out, just complete strangers," he said. "You have never seen it before in your life.".

Flooding was fed by days of heavy rains was tropical storm Lee and followed a little more than a week in watering of this hurricane Irene gave the coast is. In some parts of Pennsylvania, the total precipitation reached 9 inches or more, at the top of what was already a relatively wet summer.

The authorities closed Pennsylvania countless roads, including some interstates strong and evacuation shelters open as many displaced persons.

In Wilkes-Barre, officials have said the dikes holds that the Susquehanna was under "extreme stress", but holding.

A broken gauge flooding hindered the ability of officials to measure the height of the River, but the U.S. Geological Survey Friday estimated that the River had crested 42.66 feet, well above earlier estimates and higher than the record of 1972 of 40.9 feet.

Executive Director of alfalfa County Flood Protection Authority Jim Brozena, said the River was down Friday, but that the flood control system was in its "extreme limits".

Heavy rain is also at the closure of some parts of the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County, Virginia, but some parts have reopened. As well as 10 inches of rain fell in some places in the vicinity of Washington since Wednesday.

In Maryland, most of the 1,000 residents of the Port deposit have been advised to evacuate after the dam of massive Conowingo upstream on the Susquehanna, opened its doors in case of spill and flooded the city with 4 feet of water. Hundreds more were told to leave their home in Havre de Grace, where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay.

The River crested Friday morning under record levels but dam was not intended to repelled until, in the night. Shelters opened in Perryville and Aberdeen, with river levels expected to be higher since Agnes.

President Barack Obama declared States of emergency in Pennsylvania and New York, Friday at first, paving the way with the Federal Government. Also, Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell said an emergency situation, allowing State agencies to help communities.

Evacuees said expect to remain at least until Sunday or Monday, and it will be some time before officials get a handle on the damage which included a partial bridge collapse in Northern Pennsylvania, vehicles and other property has swept away sewage treatment plants and failed.

"We have some damage, but you won't know until it's over, said Mayor Tom Leighton Wilkes-Barre."

People in many small towns and rural areas in the Centre of Pennsylvania sometimes scrambled to get their families and their luggage out of danger, as the waters rose with frightening speed.

West Pittston, unprotected by dikes, several hundred houses were under water - much to the second floor, said former Mayor Bill Goldsworthy. Home of the own Goldsworthy was among those flooded.

It's the same story downstream in Plymouth Township, where homes and businesses flood submerged approximately 80 water.

More on the Susquehanna in Bloomsburg, the height reached by Agnes topped flood waters and were expected to Crest just below the record set by a flood of 1904.

Harrisburg evacuated 6 000 to 10 000 people in low-lying areas, while in alfalfa County, PA., which includes Wilkes-Barre, the evacuation order covered all communities along the Susquehanna River flooded in the deluge of Hurricane Agnes of 1972.

Late Thursday, city Wilkes-Barre crews scrambled to connect system with bags of sand control of the holes in the floods developed city. Dramatic increase in the river begins to slow, giving hope that the walls and earthen mounds would hold.

Nearby place not protected by the receiving system, however, officials of emergency should flooding of the structures of 800 to 900, with likely River Ridge above the roofs.

At least 12 deaths were attributed to Lee and his suites: four in Pennsylvania; three in Virginia. one in Maryland; and four other people killed when he came ashore on the Gulf Coast last week.

There were also mandatory evacuations in a neighbourhood along the Housatonic River in Shelton, Conn., as residents were cleaning up messes that Hurricane Irene left for account.

"I still have fish swimming in my garage, this is a first," Brian Johnson said the position of Connecticut. "It y Minnow swimming there.".

Damage in parts of New Jersey that have been flooded by Irene rains were less to fear. About 300 residents waiting to return home after the remains of Lee renewal of floods. Three houses were swept off the coast of their foundations by a mudslide, but no one was injured.

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Pennsylvania officials consider evacuation order of lifting as inflated by the river flood recedes

Published September 10, 2011| NewsCore

Wilkes-Barre, PA-Pennsylvania Saturday emergency management officials were considering lifted an evacuation order affecting approximately 100,000 people after days of rain and floods in the area submerged roads and left at least six dead, the Leader of the Wilkes-Barre times reported.

Affected communities flooding of New York, Virginia, with much of the damage along the Susquehanna River, swollen first by tropical storm Irene and then shortly after by tropical storm Lee. More than 12 inches of rain were dumped in some parts of New York and Pennsylvania since Monday.

Officials in alfalfa County, Pennsylvania, said Saturday that the Susquehanna water levels were back and they were considering allowing some residents to return to their homes.

"We are beginning to move in the opposite direction at this time," the paper quoted Executive Director of alfalfa County Flood Protection Authority Jim Brozena saying. "We start the preparation of things so that we can return people."

From 6: 30 pm et Saturday, the Susquehanna River had fallen to a level of 33.02 feet. Brozena, has declared a level below 30 feet, which could be reached Saturday afternoon - render safe for some of the 100,000 people displaced to return to their homes.

The River crested Friday at a record-setting 42,66 feet, higher than the National Weather Service approximately four feet estimated initially, Mayor of Wilkes - Barre Tom Leighton said.

Leighton has urged residents to take account of the orders of evacuation Friday after President Barack Obama said the State of emergency for New York and Pennsylvania during the night.

Three dead in Pennsylvania in incidents related to flooding, including a boy of eight years in the County of Lancaster, who was swept down a storm drain, said police in East Cocalico, according to the Intelligencer Journal.

Two people died in Virginia after having been swept away by flood waters, the Washington Post reported. A 12 year old boy was swept by flooding from a Creek, in Fairfax County and a man 67 year-old died in a car when it has been overwhelmed by rushing water from the Potomac River.

In Maryland, a 49-year-old man died after drowning near his home in Pasadena, near Chesapeake Bay, the Post reported.

In addition, the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey, overflowed its banks Thursday, flooding of several neighbourhoods of city and urging the closure of schools, The Star-Ledger reported.

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