Weather has dominated the news in the past 48 hours with floods and storms being seen in many parts of the world. Florida has been hit by Hurricane Katrina. At least 4 have died and the state remains on high alert [CNN]. In Europe, flooding has swept through low lying valleys in Switzerland making many homeless and destroying property worth millions of Euros. Other countries badly hit include Germany, Austria and Bulgaria [BBC]. Meanwhile, Portugal is cooling off after huge forest fires swept through vast swathes of countryside. The fires have killed 15 and destroyed 180,000 hectares of land and taken in its wake at least 100 homes [BBC]. And India has banned blamed recent flooding in some regions on plastic bags. Maharashta has subsequently banned the use and sale of plastic bags and one state official said. “Mumbai and other areas suffered because of the misuse of plastic bags”, said Chief Minister Vilastrao Deshmukh. Floods in the region caused 1000 death and widespread destruction [BBC].
[16:12 GMT 26/08/2005]
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