Heavy monsoon rains have claimed more than 200 lives across South Asia in the past month

At least eight people were killed in building collapses caused by heavy rain in the western Indian city of Mumbai.

Six people died when a six-storey residential building collapsed in south Mumbai, fire and police officials said. Two people were declared dead on Thursday evening, and rescuers pulled four more bodies from the rubble during the night.

Several people had been trapped under the debris and many more stranded in the portion left standing after the collapse, city fire chief P S Rahangdale said.

"The risk of secondary collapse can't be ruled out," he said.

Witness told local television stations that the dilapidated building was home to five or six families who had stayed on despite residents being advised to move out as it was under repair.

Another building collapsed in the western suburb of Malad earlier, killing two, including a child, and injuring several.

Weather officials had on Thursday upgraded an alert for Mumbai and surrounding areas from orange to red following intense rains in previous days.

The annual monsoon rains regularly cause old or poorly built structures in India's financial capital to collapse.

The eight people killed in Mumbai are among at least 221 who died as result of heavy monsoon rains across South Asia over the past month, officials said on Friday.

More than 1 million people have been marooned in Nepal, Bangladesh and India and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes for higher ground.

India's death toll stood at 101, including 16 people killed in floods and mudslides in the north-east. Nepal reported at least 117 deaths over the past month and Bangladesh reported three.

Rains caused the Brahmaputra River, which flows through Tibet, India and Bangladesh, to burst its banks in India's Assam state in late June, inundating large swathes of the state, triggering mudslides and displacing about 3.6 million people, officials said. Vast tracts are still underwater, with 26 of the state’s 33 districts badly affected.

Authorities rescued about 4,000 people trapped by the surging flood waters in various parts of Assam, said M S Mannivanan, chief of the state Disaster Management Authority. About 36,000 people whose homes were destroyed or submerged have taken shelter in nearly 300 government-run relief camps, he said.

The floods also inundated most of India’s Kaziranga National Park, home to an estimated 2,500 rare one-horned rhinos.

In the eastern state of Bihar, at least nine rivers swollen by heavy downpours in Nepal rose beyond their danger levels and flooded many villages. One of them, the Gandak River, swept away the connecting roads of a newly built multimillion dollar bridge in Gopalganj district, disrupting transportation in the area.

The Meteorological Centre in the state capital, Patna, forecast heavy rain over the next 48 hours.

Nepal’s Home Ministry said 117 people have died in monsoon-related incidents, including landslides in mountainous areas and flooding in the southern plains. At least 47 people were reported missing and 126 have been injured in the past month, it said.

In Bangladesh, the Ministry of Disaster and Relief said at least three people died and more than one million people were marooned since floods hit the country late last month. Officials said heavy rainfall and the onrush of river waters from upstream India were creating havoc in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 160 million people that is crossed by 230 rivers.

Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said on Thursday that flooding could worsen at the beginning of next week because of growing devastation in the vast region along the Brahmaputra and Teesta rivers. It said the situation would remain unstable over the next two weeks, causing further suffering for affected people.

The monsoon rains that hit the region from June to September are crucial for crops planted during the season but often cause extensive damage.

Updated: July 17, 2020 12:55 PM

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on August 24, 2020 at 7:13am: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/building-at-lemp-brewery-...

Building at Lemp Brewery collapses, hundreds of bicycles underneath rubble

building at the Lemp Brewery complex partially collapsed Sunday morning, potentially destroying hundreds of bicycles stored there.

No one was injured in the collapse of the six-story brick building, which happened around 9 a.m., at Cherokee and 18th streets. St. Louis BWorks, whose charter program is St. Louis Bicycle Works, was using part of the building to store at least 700 bicycles, said Patrick Van Der Tuin, the nonprofit’s executive director.

The group teaches children about bicycle safety and maintenance; giving them a free bicycle at the end of the program. The bicycles under the rubble were collected in spring and summer to keep them working through the winter.

“Our bikes are underneath likely tons of bricks,” Van Der Tuin said at the scene of the collapse. “It’s just devastating to look at.”

He said he previously reported sections of loose bricks that had popped out from the wall to the complex’s owner, Shashi Palamand. Caution tape had been put up just last week, said Dan Guenther, alderman for the 9th Ward.

Police and first responders searched the scene with K-9s and did not find anyone inside the building. Utility workers responded to turn off water, gas and electrical connections. Nearby business Mac’s Local Eats closed for the day.

Palamand, who owns the complex under Historic Lemp Brewery LLC, said Sunday that he believed storms in April and again in July contributed to the collapse, and he had called in an engineer and a masonry company in the last few weeks to look at it. They said the damage appeared to be cosmetic and the building was structurally sound, he said. He had spent $1 million about 10 years ago to replace the roof of that building and strengthen its walls.

He said that a controlled demolition of the building would start Monday morning, and he hoped most of the bicycles would be fine. “Two-thirds of the building is not really affected as well,” he said. “I’m very confident that bikes can be saved.”

Van Der Tuin said at least one-third of the bikes were gone from what he can see on the outside, and said he thought it was a “huge maybe” that others were undamaged.

The Lemp Brewery complex is a campus of 29 buildings between Cherokee Street, South Broadway and Lemp Avenue, owned by the Historic Lemp Brewery LLC. The building that collapsed is building No. 20.

“It’s just fortunate no cars were driving by or no people walking by or anyone in the building. I don’t think anyone would have imagined a whole wall would come down,” Guenther said.

Van Der Tuin said BWorks had a work truck stolen about two weeks ago. “We keep getting kicked in the head,” he said. The bicycles in the building would have been used for the Earn-a-Bike program and for holiday bike giveaways. The program has about 300 other bicycles at its shop in the Soulard neighborhood, at 2414 Menard Street.

Employees had worked in the building as recently as Thursday, Van Der Tuin said. The space was ideal because they and volunteers could social distance and continue to work. He said that business had continued at the shop in Soulard but was curbside pickup only, and that while they stayed busy during the pandemic, accessory sales that would normally happen inside were down.

“If you manage a nonprofit, you know you have limited resources,” said employee and mechanic Chris Koehler. “We just lost all the limited resources that we have.”

Buildings in the complex were damaged in an April storm. In 2015, a fire damaged a building there; fire officials said it looked like people had been squatting in the building.

Adam Lemp founded the Western Brewery in 1840. His son renamed it for himself, and William J. Lemp Brewing Co. was one of the largest national breweries, rivaling Anheuser-Busch at the turn of the 20th century. The two brewery complexes are just blocks away from each other, both built to take advantage of natural cave complexes in the area.

Prohibition decimated Lemp’s business, and the brewery buildings were sold in 1922. The International Shoe Co. used the complex until 1992, according to the website for the group that now owns it. Manufacturing at the site ended in the 1980s, the site says. Parts of several buildings in the complex are rented out for artists’ studios, offices and other purposes.

The Lemp Mansion, a block away, and the brewery complex are rumored to .... Several commercial haunted houses have used various brewery buildings during Halloween season.

In 2019, Blue Arrow Holdings LLC received a license to use a building to gro....

St. Louis BWorks also has a program where students work to earn a desktop computer system and a cultural literacy program where students write and illustrate their own books.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on August 21, 2020 at 1:43am

https://www.kctv5.com/news/local_news/post-office-collapses-in-miss...

Post office collapses in Missouri town of Jamesport

Posted on Aug 19, 2020

JAMESPORT, MO (KCTV) — Emergency crews say no one was hurt Wednesday morning when the United States Post Office building in the small north-central Missouri town of Jamesport collapsed.

Officials with the Daviess County Emergency Management Agency said that the building collapse happened around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and that no one was inside the structure at the time.

The collapse has closed traffic in the blocks around the building.

DCEMA, the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office and Jamesport Fire and Rescue were involved with the response.

Emergency officials in Daviess County saw the cause of the collapse is still under investigation.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on August 19, 2020 at 2:33am: https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/environment/2020/08/18/road-col...

Road collapse as storms lead to travel disruption and flooding of properties

Recovery and repair work is still under way after landslides caused by flash floods flooded six properties and brought chaos to the region.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service was called out to various incidents in Knighton, Presteigne, Llandrindod Wells and Rhayader after the weather turned sour.

A hand pump was also used to remove water from nearby businesses while a Dyfed Powys Police van wheel got stuck in a sink hole on a Radnorshire road

The van’s wheel sank into the hole, where a culvert collapsed, washing the road surface away, on the B4355 at Lloyney, near Knighton, at about 1.30am on Thursday.

A spokesman said: “The vehicle became trapped and was recovered shortly after 4am with only minor damage. The van was not on its way to an incident at the time, so no response times were affected.”

The road was closed and Powys County Council’s Highways Department said the closure would remain in place until September 1.

The storms also caused extensive damage to the Heart of Wales railway line. Passengers are encouraged to check before they travel while Network Rail engineers carry out repairs.

Replacement bus services remain in place between Shrewsbury and Llandrindod Wells.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service was called out to various incidents in Knighton, Presteigne, Llandrindod Wells and Rhayader last Wednesday.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s Head of Operational Response for Powys, Craig Thomas said it was a busy night for firefighters, particularly in the Knighton and Rhayader areas.

He said: “We were called to a number of incidents throughout the evening and were quite busy in Rhayader and Knighton.

“There was a landslide caused by flash floods which led to six properties being flooded in Knighton, so we were on hand to pump water away and give assistance to business and home owners affected.

“There were also a number of incidents in Llandrindod Wells so it was a busy night.”

Meanwhile, passengers using the Heart of Wales line are encouraged to check before they travel as the railway between Shrewsbury and Llandrindod Wells has been closed owing to extensive damage caused by extreme rainfall in mid-Wales on August 12 and 13.

Near Knighton, the railway has been damaged at various sites including across a 350m stretch where ballast has been washed away and significant debris has been washed onto the track meaning it is completely buried in some areas.

Network Rail engineers are working around the clock to inspect and repair the damage and will confirm how long the closure will last as soon as possible.

The closure means buses will replace trains between Shrewsbury and Llandrindod Wells with passengers advised to check before they travel at National Rail Enquiries or with Transport for Wales.

Bill Kelly, Network Rail’s Wales route director, said: “We are sorry for the disruption this has caused to passengers who use the Heart of Wales line.

“We saw extreme rainfall for a prolonged period on Thursday which has caused significant damage to sections of the railway and left debris across hundreds of metres of track.

“We are already working around the clock to repair the damage as quickly as possible and we will keep everyone updated with our progress.”

James Price, Transport for Wales CEO said: “We would like to apologise to our customers for any disruption that has been caused, we’ll be working with our partners in Network Rail to resume services as quickly as possible.

“There will be rail replacement buses available and please could all our customers check online before they travel for updated information.”

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on August 15, 2020 at 8:52pm: http://egypttoday.com/Article/1/90835/Building-collapses-in-Cairo-s...

Building collapses in Cairo's Qasr el Nile neighborhood

Sat, 15 Aug 2020 - 11:37 GMT

CAIRO - 15 August 2020: A building collapsed Saturday in Cairo's downtown neighborhood of Qasr el Nile. Civil protection units were able to rescue 14 people.

The civil protection units rushed to the scene and cordoned off the environs of the building. Also, traffic diversions took place following the accident.

The sources emphasized that an inventory of the population is underway, in addition to counting the losses in conjunction with the continuing rescue operations.

Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel Aal decided to form an engineering committee to examine the properties nearby to the collapsed property No. 50 on Qasr El Nil Street to clarify the extent of its impact by the collapse.

The collapsed property is an architectural style registered, and two decisions were issued to remove it, but it was unimplemented. It is located in an area of 1500 meters and consists of four floors.

It has a money exchange company, a closed furniture showroom on the ground floor, clothing stores, and administrative and commercial offices. All facilities were disconnected from it immediately after the collapse.

Civil protection and security personnel at the Cairo Security Directorate evacuated residents from two properties close to the collapsed property.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on August 10, 2020 at 4:48am: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_f...

Baton Rouge firefighters respond to North Street club following building's collapse

August 9 2020

A building housing a night club on North Street partially collapsed late Sunday afternoon and lead to the building's tear down, Baton Rouge Fire officials said.

Firefighters responded around 5 p.m. to Herson's Private Club in the 3400 block of North Street after part of the building's front and side collapsed.

No one was in the building at the time, and the club has been closed the past several weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, said Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesman Mark Miles.

Investigators aren't sure why the building collapsed.

Officials had to tear the building down because of safety concerns, Miles said.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on August 9, 2020 at 1:00am: https://newsghana.com.gh/8-people-killed-in-building-collapse-in-eg...

8 people killed in building collapse in Egypt’s Delta city

August 7 2020

At least eight persons were killed after a five-storey building collapsed in the Egyptian Delta city of Mahala, state-run Ahram newspaper reported on Friday.

According to preliminary investigations, the building collapsed and other neighboring three houses cracked due to the digging work with heavy machines for installing sanitation pipes by a private company.

The front walls of the nearby houses were also damaged, the report added, noting that the security and health teams are still searching for more victims under the debris.

Three workers including the sub-contractor have been arrested on accusations of negligence and killing. Four other houses in the area were evacuated of inhabitants amid concern of probable collapse.

The Ministry of Solidarity orders a formation of a compensation committee and transferring the endangered families to a governmental youth dormitory.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on July 29, 2020 at 10:51pm

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8567565/Shocking-moment-tw...

Shocking moment two pedestrians are swallowed by a sinkhole as pavement suddenly collapses in China

Terrifying footage shows two women tumbling into the giant sinkhole in China
The pedestrians were walking on a footpath before it suddenly ripped in half
Both of them survived the accident in Chongqing and suffered minor injuries
The collapse was reportedly caused by a landslide due to recent heavy rain

July 28 2020

This is the terrifying moment a giant sinkhole suddenly opened up on a Chinese street, swallowing two pedestrians.

Shocking footage shows the two female residents walking on the footpath next to a main road before tumbling into the deep pit as the pavement ripped in half in Chongqing.

Both women survived the accident with minor injuries after being rescued by firefighters, according to reports.

Officials believed that the collapse was caused by a landslide due to recent heavy rain in the region, reported Chinese media. A further investigation is said to be underway.

Traffic police said that they had sealed off the road after the incident occurred yesterday evening in Chongqing’s Wulong district.

Surveillance footage captures the shocking moment two female pedestrians were dropped into a giant sinkhole after the sidewalk suddenly collapsed.

Local firefighters are seen in the video searching for the residents in the debris after being called to the scene.

An onlooker can be heard saying: ‘You can’t even see them.’

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on July 19, 2020 at 10:40pm: https://www.thenational.ae/world/asia/rains-cause-two-deadly-buildi...

Rains cause two deadly building collapses in India's Mumbai city

Heavy monsoon rains have claimed more than 200 lives across South Asia in the past month

At least eight people were killed in building collapses caused by heavy rain in the western Indian city of Mumbai.

Six people died when a six-storey residential building collapsed in south Mumbai, fire and police officials said. Two people were declared dead on Thursday evening, and rescuers pulled four more bodies from the rubble during the night.

Several people had been trapped under the debris and many more stranded in the portion left standing after the collapse, city fire chief P S Rahangdale said.

"The risk of secondary collapse can't be ruled out," he said.

Witness told local television stations that the dilapidated building was home to five or six families who had stayed on despite residents being advised to move out as it was under repair.

Another building collapsed in the western suburb of Malad earlier, killing two, including a child, and injuring several.

Weather officials had on Thursday upgraded an alert for Mumbai and surrounding areas from orange to red following intense rains in previous days.

The annual monsoon rains regularly cause old or poorly built structures in India's financial capital to collapse.

The eight people killed in Mumbai are among at least 221 who died as result of heavy monsoon rains across South Asia over the past month, officials said on Friday.

More than 1 million people have been marooned in Nepal, Bangladesh and India and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes for higher ground.

India's death toll stood at 101, including 16 people killed in floods and mudslides in the north-east. Nepal reported at least 117 deaths over the past month and Bangladesh reported three.

Rains caused the Brahmaputra River, which flows through Tibet, India and Bangladesh, to burst its banks in India's Assam state in late June, inundating large swathes of the state, triggering mudslides and displacing about 3.6 million people, officials said. Vast tracts are still underwater, with 26 of the state’s 33 districts badly affected.

Authorities rescued about 4,000 people trapped by the surging flood waters in various parts of Assam, said M S Mannivanan, chief of the state Disaster Management Authority. About 36,000 people whose homes were destroyed or submerged have taken shelter in nearly 300 government-run relief camps, he said.

The floods also inundated most of India’s Kaziranga National Park, home to an estimated 2,500 rare one-horned rhinos.

In the eastern state of Bihar, at least nine rivers swollen by heavy downpours in Nepal rose beyond their danger levels and flooded many villages. One of them, the Gandak River, swept away the connecting roads of a newly built multimillion dollar bridge in Gopalganj district, disrupting transportation in the area.

The Meteorological Centre in the state capital, Patna, forecast heavy rain over the next 48 hours.

Nepal’s Home Ministry said 117 people have died in monsoon-related incidents, including landslides in mountainous areas and flooding in the southern plains. At least 47 people were reported missing and 126 have been injured in the past month, it said.

In Bangladesh, the Ministry of Disaster and Relief said at least three people died and more than one million people were marooned since floods hit the country late last month. Officials said heavy rainfall and the onrush of river waters from upstream India were creating havoc in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 160 million people that is crossed by 230 rivers.

Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said on Thursday that flooding could worsen at the beginning of next week because of growing devastation in the vast region along the Brahmaputra and Teesta rivers. It said the situation would remain unstable over the next two weeks, causing further suffering for affected people.

The monsoon rains that hit the region from June to September are crucial for crops planted during the season but often cause extensive damage.

Updated: July 17, 2020 12:55 PM

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on July 18, 2020 at 1:59am: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/wall-collapse-at-construction...

Wall collapse at construction site on East Side

7 16 2020

The wall of the vacant five-story mixed residential and commercial building at 211 East 34th Street partially collapsed around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. A secondary collapse happened hours later.

Video from NewsCopter 7 and from an Eyewitness News camera on the ground showed a large portion of the side of the building had fallen. Debris was seen strewn outside the area which collapsed.

Hours later, officials said a second wall collapsed at the site. There were no injuries in that incident.

There was an ongoing excavation operation at the adjacent property, 209 3rd Avenue, in preparation for a new 35 story building.

The neighboring building, 213 E. 34th St, is being temporarily evacuated as a safety precaution.

34th street was closed between 2nd and 3rd Avenues because of FDNY activity. The Queens Midtown Tunnel exit was also closed.

The Department of Buildings was investigating what caused the collapse.

and another:

https://abc7ny.com/brooklyn-wall-collapse-home-greenwood-heights-ne...

Wall collapse in Brooklyn forces evacuation of 3 buildings

Tuesday, July 14, 2020 3:57PM

GREENWOOD HEIGHTS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A section of wall collapsed off a Brooklyn home on Tuesday morning, prompting a full evacuation of three buildings.
It happened at a two-story semi-detached home on 17th Street in the Greenwood Heights section around 10 a.m.
No injuries were reported.
Department of Buildings inspectors determined that the exterior side wall had collapsed to the ground below. They also observed further cracking at the roof level.
A violation was issued to the building owner for failure to properly maintain the building.
A Full Vacate Order was also issued, and the owner was ordered to erect a construction fence around the property.
Additionally, two neighboring properties have also been issued vacate orders as the department continues its investigation into the structural stability of the initial building.
The American Red Cross has been called to the scene and is offering immediate relocation assistance to anyone affected.
The investigation is ongoing.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on June 25, 2020 at 6:22pm: https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/25/boy-sees-mum-two-children-crushed-de...

Boy sees mum and two siblings crushed to death as building collapses in Italy

Thurs 25 June 2020

A young boy watched in horror as his mum and two younger siblings were crushed to death when a building collapsed. Fouzia Taofiq, 38, and her children Soulaymane Hannach were killed instantly by falling bricks and mortar in Albizzate, near Milan in Italy, yesterday. Fouzia’s 15-month-old daughter Yaoucut was pulled from the rubble and rushed to hospital, but sadly died shortly after the incident. The family were crushed when a decorative cornice measuring almost 230ft long suddenly fell from the old factory building, pulling a large part of the connecting wall down with it.

Another woman, 42, was also hit though he injuries are not believed to be life threatening. One witness told Reppublica: ‘Across the street was the eldest son of the dead woman. He was in tears, he asked about his mother.‘I took him to the supermarket until his dad, who was at work, arrived.’ Heartbroken dad and partner Noureddin Hannach, who works nearby as a mechanic, arrived at the scene as rescuers were still attempting to recover his family. He reportedly called the disturbing scene a ‘slaughterhouse’.‘I did not sleep… We were married since 2007.’ Mayor Mirko Zorzo, whose office is in the building, narrowly avoided being crushed in the collapse. He said: ‘I am upset, at the moment I do not feel like commenting much. I am talking with emergency services to reconstruct what happened.’ A supermarket and a pizzeria were also in the converted premises.A ‘twin’ building on the same street has been closed as a precautionary measure. Local prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation to determine if any person or organisation is to blame.

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Collapsing Buildings and Roadways

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Building at Lemp Brewery collapses, hundreds of bicycles underneath rubble

Post office collapses in Missouri town of Jamesport

Road collapse as storms lead to travel disruption and flooding of properties

Building collapses in Cairo's Qasr el Nile neighborhood

Baton Rouge firefighters respond to North Street club following building's collapse

8 people killed in building collapse in Egypt’s Delta city

Shocking moment two pedestrians are swallowed by a sinkhole as pavement suddenly collapses in China

Rains cause two deadly building collapses in India's Mumbai city

Wall collapse at construction site on East Side

Wall collapse in Brooklyn forces evacuation of 3 buildings

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