At least 14 people have died due to floods and landslides in China as heavy rains and hailstorms wrecked havoc in several provinces causing economic losses and forcing thousands to flee homes, the ministry of civil affairs said today. 
 
Nine died in the southwestern Guizhou Province, while another nine have been reported missing. More than 65,000 have been relocated due to heavy rainfall and landslides this month, the ministry said in a statement. 
 
Hailstorms have forced nearly 4,000 residents to relocate temporarily earlier this month and damaged over 520 hectares of crops in the province. 
 
In the central Hunan Province, four persons died, six remained missing and 1,57,000 people have been evacuated. 
 
One person died and another was listed as missing in the northern Shanxi Province. 
 
The central government has dispatched emergency response teams to supervise relief work in the three provinces, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. 
 
&quot;The rescue and relief work in three provinces is going well,&quot; the statement said. 
 
The seasonal rains, known as the &quot;plum rains&quot; or Meiyu-baiyu rains, cause heavy flooding in China every year, usually affecting the country for around two months beginning in late May. 
(PTI)

More than 65,000 people have been relocated due to heavy rainfall and landslides have damaged 520 hectares of crops

At least 14 people have died due to floods and landslides in China as heavy rains and hailstorms wrecked havoc in several provinces causing economic losses and forcing thousands to flee homes, the ministry of civil affairs said today. Nine died in the southwestern Guizhou Province, while another nine have been reported missing. More than 65,000 have been relocated due to heavy rainfall and landslides this month, the ministry said in a statement. Hailstorms have forced nearly 4,000 residents to relocate temporarily earlier this month and damaged over 520 hectares of crops in the province. In the central Hunan Province, four persons died, six remained missing and 1,57,000 people have been evacuated. One person died and another was listed as missing in the northern Shanxi Province. The central government has dispatched emergency response teams to supervise relief work in the three provinces, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. "The rescue and relief work in three provinces is going well," the statement said. The seasonal rains, known as the "plum rains" or Meiyu-baiyu rains, cause heavy flooding in China every year, usually affecting the country for around two months beginning in late May. (PTI)

14 dead in floods, landslides in China

Strong winds and heavy rainfall are&nbsp;expected across the southeastern US&nbsp;on Tuesday even as the centre of Tropical Storm Colin is moving into the Atlantic Ocean.

The storm was 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, at 4 am&nbsp;eastern time (0800 GMT) and moving at 31 mph, the US&nbsp;National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from the Altamaha Sound Georgia to Oregon Inlet in North Carolina on Tuesday morning. On its forecast path, Colin is to barrel along the coast of the southeastern United States before moving out to sea during the day.

As 50 mph winds are expected in the region, a tornado was reported in Lee County Florida, the National Weather Service said. The storm is forecast to&nbsp;dump as much as 1 to 3 inches&nbsp;of rain as flash flood warnings and watches are in effect across the region, the hurricane centre said.

Florida Governor Rick Scott, who&nbsp;declared a state of emergency on Monday in 34 of the state&#39;s 67 counties, said more than 6,000 Florida National Guard members were activated and ready for deployment.

Flooding and property damage resulting from the fierce winds remain&nbsp;threats into the day, and far beyond the storm&#39;s immediate path, forecasters have warned.

A statement from Scott&#39;s office warned residents to be wary of rip currents and the possibility of 10 foot (3 m) waves along the Gulf Coast.

&quot;It is critical that all Floridians use caution and remain alert,&quot; he said in the statement.

In the St&nbsp;Petersburg beach town of Gulfport and in Charleston, South Carolina, roads were flooded, local authorities said on social media.

About 10,000 customers were without power in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, utilities reported.

Colin is part of a brisk start to the Atlantic hurricane season that runs through November&nbsp;30. Over the US&nbsp;Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Carolinas were lashed by heavy rain and winds from Tropical Storm Bonnie.

Tropical storm Colin is expected to damage property and crops, apart from disrupting normal life.

Strong winds and heavy rainfall are expected across the southeastern US on Tuesday even as the centre of Tropical Storm Colin is moving into the Atlantic Ocean. The storm was 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, at 4 am eastern time (0800 GMT) and moving at 31 mph, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said. A tropical storm warning is in effect from the Altamaha Sound Georgia to Oregon Inlet in North Carolina on Tuesday morning. On its forecast path, Colin is to barrel along the coast of the southeastern United States before moving out to sea during the day. As 50 mph winds are expected in the region, a tornado was reported in Lee County Florida, the National Weather Service said. The storm is forecast to dump as much as 1 to 3 inches of rain as flash flood warnings and watches are in effect across the region, the hurricane centre said. Florida Governor Rick Scott, who declared a state of emergency on Monday in 34 of the state's 67 counties, said more than 6,000 Florida National Guard members were activated and ready for deployment. Flooding and property damage resulting from the fierce winds remain threats into the day, and far beyond the storm's immediate path, forecasters have warned. A statement from Scott's office warned residents to be wary of rip currents and the possibility of 10 foot (3 m) waves along the Gulf Coast. "It is critical that all Floridians use caution and remain alert," he said in the statement. In the St Petersburg beach town of Gulfport and in Charleston, South Carolina, roads were flooded, local authorities said on social media. About 10,000 customers were without power in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, utilities reported. Colin is part of a brisk start to the Atlantic hurricane season that runs through November 30. Over the US Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Carolinas were lashed by heavy rain and winds from Tropical Storm Bonnie.

Heavy rain with strong wind, to lash southeast US as storm moves into Atlantic

Giant waves, cyclone-strength winds and torrential rain swept three people to their deaths on&nbsp;Australia&#39;s east coast on Monday after the&nbsp;storm&nbsp;forced hundreds to flee their homes.

Waves up to five metres (17.5 feet) were pounding much of the east coast, including Sydney, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of further danger as the&nbsp;storm&nbsp;moves south.

Two bodies were found in cars washed away in flood waters while a man was swept off the rocks south of Sydney&#39;s surfing beach of Bondi, police said.

The New South Wales state emergency services said they had received more than 9,250 calls and had conducted 280 flood rescues.

Insurers received more than 11,150 claims with estimated insured losses of A$38 million, the Insurance Council of&nbsp;Australia&nbsp;said. It expects the number of claims to rise further over the coming days.

Stocks in&nbsp;Australia&nbsp;biggest insurers, including QBE Insurance &lt;QBE.AX&gt;, Insurance&nbsp;AustraliaGroup &lt;IAG.AX&gt; and Suncorp &lt;SUN.AX&gt;, skidded in a stronger wider market.

But CLSA analyst Jan Van Der Schalk did not see a major earnings impact on insurers who said they were still assessing the impact of the catastrophe.[S9N0ZH019]

Australian websites including Channel Nine &lt;NEC.AX&gt;, Foxtel Play &lt;TLS.AX&gt; &lt;NWSA.O&gt; and Domino&#39;s Pizza &lt;DMP.AX&gt; went down on Sunday when Amazon Web Service&#39;s &lt;AMZN.O&gt; Sydney zone experienced a two-hour power outage, ITnews website said.

An Amazon spokesman declined to comment but Amazon Web Services&rsquo; status page on Monday showed several connectivity issues in Sydney had been resolved.

Automated teller machines and point-of-sale banking services were also hit.

A spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New South Wales state said Newcastle, the world&#39;s largest exit point for sea-borne thermal coal and used by global miners Glencore &lt;GLEN.L&gt;, Rio Tinto &lt;RIO.AX&gt; &lt;RIO.L&gt; and Anglo American &lt;AAL.L&gt;, was placed on restricted ship movements over the weekend but did not sustain any damage.

&quot;While some sites had minor production interruptions, none of these has impacted our contractual obligations or production forecasts,&quot; Glencore said.

Port Kembla, the largest vehicle import hub in&nbsp;Australia, remained closed as the&nbsp;storm&nbsp;moved south.

Three people died as the giant waves and torrential rain hit the east coast of Australia on Monday. The storm has forced hundreds of people to leave their homes.

Giant waves, cyclone-strength winds and torrential rain swept three people to their deaths on Australia's east coast on Monday after the storm forced hundreds to flee their homes. Waves up to five metres (17.5 feet) were pounding much of the east coast, including Sydney, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of further danger as the storm moves south. Two bodies were found in cars washed away in flood waters while a man was swept off the rocks south of Sydney's surfing beach of Bondi, police said. The New South Wales state emergency services said they had received more than 9,250 calls and had conducted 280 flood rescues. Insurers received more than 11,150 claims with estimated insured losses of A$38 million, the Insurance Council of Australia said. It expects the number of claims to rise further over the coming days. Stocks in Australia biggest insurers, including QBE Insurance <QBE.AX>, Insurance AustraliaGroup <IAG.AX> and Suncorp <SUN.AX>, skidded in a stronger wider market. But CLSA analyst Jan Van Der Schalk did not see a major earnings impact on insurers who said they were still assessing the impact of the catastrophe.[S9N0ZH019] Australian websites including Channel Nine <NEC.AX>, Foxtel Play <TLS.AX> <NWSA.O> and Domino's Pizza <DMP.AX> went down on Sunday when Amazon Web Service's <AMZN.O> Sydney zone experienced a two-hour power outage, ITnews website said. An Amazon spokesman declined to comment but Amazon Web Services’ status page on Monday showed several connectivity issues in Sydney had been resolved. Automated teller machines and point-of-sale banking services were also hit. A spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New South Wales state said Newcastle, the world's largest exit point for sea-borne thermal coal and used by global miners Glencore <GLEN.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.AX> <RIO.L> and Anglo American <AAL.L>, was placed on restricted ship movements over the weekend but did not sustain any damage. "While some sites had minor production interruptions, none of these has impacted our contractual obligations or production forecasts," Glencore said. Port Kembla, the largest vehicle import hub in Australia, remained closed as the storm moved south.

Australia storm sweeps three to their death as it hits east coast

The Louvre and Orsay&nbsp;museums&nbsp;in&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;moved&nbsp;art&nbsp;works&nbsp;stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city&#39;s deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people.

Floodwaters&nbsp;have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of&nbsp;Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway.

&quot;For the&nbsp;museums, even if fortunately there isn&#39;t any&nbsp;flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to&nbsp;move&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the deepest storerooms higher,&quot; Bruno Julliard,&nbsp;Paris&#39; deputy mayor, told France Inter radio.

The Louvre and the Musee d&#39;Orsay are both home to world-renowned&nbsp;art&nbsp;collections.

Julliard said the&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the&nbsp;museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed.

Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses.

The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of&nbsp;Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city.

Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the&nbsp;floods may take several weeks to subside.

&quot;What&#39;s going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow,&quot; Royal&nbsp;said.

The retreating&nbsp;waters&nbsp;could reveal further victims, she&nbsp;added.

In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of&nbsp;Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le&nbsp;Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

The Louvre and Orsay?museums?in?Paris moved?art?works to safety on Friday as the river Seine kept rising. Thousands of people have evacuated their homes and dozens of schools closed down.

The Louvre and Orsay museums in Paris moved art works stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city's deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people. Floodwaters have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway. "For the museums, even if fortunately there isn't any flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to move works in the deepest storerooms higher," Bruno Julliard, Paris' deputy mayor, told France Inter radio. The Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay are both home to world-renowned art collections. Julliard said the works in the museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed. Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central Paris on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses. The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city. Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the floods may take several weeks to subside. "What's going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow," Royal said. The retreating waters could reveal further victims, she added. In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

Paris museums move art works as flood waters rise

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