Philippines mulls mass graves after typhoon kills hundreds

An aerial view shows shanties damaged by flash floods brought by Typhoon Washi (Sendong) in Cagayan De Oro city, southern Philippines December 18, 2011. REUTERS/Stringer

Disaster agencies Monday rushed to deliver body bags, food, water, and medicine to crowded evacuation centres in the southern Philippines as officials considered digging mass graves for hundreds killed in weekend flash floods.


The national disaster agency said 533 died and 309 remain missing, while the local Red Cross put the toll at 652 killed and more than 800 missing.

Casualties from the flashfloods exceeded the more than 450 people killed in 2009 when a tropical storm dumped heavy rains on the main Luzon island, inundating nearly the entire capital Manila.

Thai PM pledges flood relief as fight for Bangkok goes on

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pledged more than US$4 billion (RM12.47 billion) today to help Thailand recover from the worst floods in half a century, as workers slowed the flow of water threatening the commercial heart of the capital, Bangkok.

Evacuation orders have spread to a third of Bangkok’s districts, mostly in the north of the densely populated city of 12 million people, since late October, as floodwater strewn with trash slowly seeps in from northern and northeastern provinces.








Yingluck, a political novice elected this year, said about US$3.9 billion had been set aside for a flood recovery effort, a figure that rises to US$4.2 billion when local government funds are added.

On the streets of Bangkok, few see an end to the slow-moving disaster that began after tropical storm Nock-ten battered Southeast Asia in late July. Since then, at least 529 people have been killed, many electrocuted or drowned, in floods that have affected 63 of Thailand’s 77 provinces.

Some hard-hit regions have started to recover since the end of the August-to-October monsoon season, with only 24 provinces now classified as flooded. But for low-lying Bangkok, the disaster is far from over, as the authorities struggle to keep inner-city neighbourhoods and business districts dry.

“I’m concerned about more water reaching Bangkok and I just want to know when it will recede. It’s rising and it should recede but when will that be?” said Bangkok resident, Nee Jiranantawat, 53.

Others said they feared they may run low on food and other supplies, especially in homes flooded in waist-high water.

Nikom Teo-au, a 56-year-old garage owner, said he was facing difficulty delivering food to his family at his home on a street under up to 1.5 metres of water in Bangkok’s Din Daeng neighbourhood, just 7km from the main Silom business district where buildings are ringed with sand bags.

Yingluck, a 46-year-old former businesswoman and sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said the money would ease the suffering of victims and repair damaged infrastructure.

She spoke at a special session of parliament called to debate the flooding and her management of the crisis a day after announcing she had pulled out of a weekend summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Hawaii to concentrate on relief work.

ECONOMIC TOLL

The toll on Thailand’s economy and hundreds of global manufacturers who rely on its low-cost factories keeps rising.

The central bank has slashed its economic growth forecast for this year to 2.6 per cent from 4.1 per cent, citing the repercussions of floods which forced seven big industrial estates to close in central provinces in October.

The economic impact will be even worse if Bangkok, which accounts for 41 per cent of gross domestic product, is overrun.

Workers and soldiers are trying to hold the line at the city’s Bang Sue canal, pushing water into the Chao Phraya river and stopping it from overflowing to the south. Reporters in the area said they had mostly achieved this so far.

Even so, with each week, the water has slowly drawn closer to the business district and the Ratchaprasong intersection, whose swanky shopping malls and five-star hotels were closed for weeks by political protests in April-May last year.

The major north-south Ratchadaphisek and Viphavadi-Rangsit roads were flooded in the vicinity of the Bang Sue canal. A reporter said the area was under 60cm of dark, foul-smelling water in places, with trash on the surface.

Chatuchak market, whose 11,000 stalls are a draw for tourists and residents alike, opened last weekend but was now submerged, with vendors’ carts and tables washed away and stray dogs taking refuge on the rooftops, the reporter said.

Barefoot soldiers were ushering people from the elevated Skytrain – still working across the capital, like the MRT underground railway – onto buses crammed with passengers.

In the east of the capital, floodwater still threatened two big industrial estates, Bang Chan with 93 factories including Nestle SA and Lat Krabang with 254 including Unilever Pcl and Honda Motor Co .

“The water level situation in Beung Kratiem on the north side of Bang Chan Industrial Estate is still a concern. Even with the water pumps there, water keeps rising,” said Thanes Weerasiri, secretary-general of the Engineering Institute of Thailand.

“The water level has risen by 3cm from yesterday,” he said, adding that efforts to divert the water into a major canal nearby had been stepped up. Channel 3 television said water had got into one factory compound.

However, the situation inside the Lat Krabang Industrial Estate was still normal.

The estates are about 10km north of Bangkok’s main Suvarnabhumi airport, which is functioning normally inside a reinforced dike at least 3 metres high.

The Chao Phraya river snaking through Bangkok has another phase of high tides from Thursday to Monday and riverside communities are braced for floods, especially on the relatively dry east bank, although a navy official said the river should not reach the record high levels seen at the end of October.

Thursday sees the Loy Krathong festival, when Thais like to float offerings of food, flowers and candles on rivers and lakes, a symbolic pushing away of bad feelings and bad luck.

But Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra has cancelled a big event on the fast-flowing river scheduled for Thursday and urged people not to float their offerings in flooded areas. They would add to the tonnes of rubbish lying in sodden piles in the streets, he said, and the candles were a fire hazard.

As Floods Drag on in Thailand, Displaced Grow Restless

As Floods Drag on in Thailand, Displaced Grow Restless Ron Corben | Bangkok In Thailand, local aid groups are calling on authorities to better manage and support local communities that are struggling to cope after spending weeks under ...

Thai flood frustration grows, Cabinet eyes recovery

Airplanes are reflected in flood waters in Bangkok’s domestic Don Muang airport at dawn on November 1, 2011. Nearly 400 people have been killed in months of floods that have disrupted the lives of more than 2 million. Don Muang, used by budget airlines for domestic flights and by private planes, has been closed since Oct. 25.


Anger mounted among victims of Thailand’s catastrophic floods today as water flooded new neighbourhoods as it made its way to sea and the government plotted a recovery aimed at securing the long-term confidence of investors.

The floods began in July and have devastated large parts of the central Chao Phraya river basin, killed nearly 400 people and disrupted the lives of more than 2 million.

Inner Bangkok, protected by a network of dikes and sandbag walls, survived peak tides on the weekend and remains mostly dry.




But large volumes of water are sliding across the land to the north, east and west of the city, diverted by the city centre’s defences into new suburbs as it recedes in others.

In one northeastern city neighbourhood angry residents have been demanding the opening of a sluice gate to let water out of their flooded community.

Residents jostled with police yesterday and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ordered that the gate be opened by one metre (three feet).

But city authorities have warned that the flow through the sluice gate could move via a canal into large parts of the city which are now dry, including an industrial estate.

“We are opposed to it but the government has ordered the BMA to open the gate, so more water will come,” said Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) spokesman Jate Sopitpongstorn.

“It could reach the Bang Chan industrial estate. We have to see the consequences,” he told Reuters.

Yingluck’s government and the Bangkok authority represent opposing factions in Thailand’s strife-plagued politics.

The disaster has been the first big test for the government of Yingluck, a political novice who took over this year after an election that many Thais hoped would heal deep divisions.

Saving Bangkok from a ruinous flood would be an important victory. The city’s 12 million people account for 41 per cent of Thailand’s gross domestic product.

MISERY

But prolonged misery in outlying areas and heavily flooded provinces to the north would take the gloss off that victory, especially given a perception that those areas have been sacrificed to save the centre of the capital.

To the north of Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya provinces have been largely inundated for weeks, along with seven industrial estates that have sprung up over the last two decades on what used to be the central plain’s rice fields.

Yingluck, holding a Cabinet meeting today to work out a recovery plan, said the previous day it should take three months to rehabilitate the estates.

Thailand is the second-largest exporter of computer hard drives and global prices are rising because of a flood-related shortage of major components used in personal computers.

Thailand is also Southeast Asia’s main auto-parts maker and Japan’s Honda Motor Co said car production could be difficult in the second half of its business year ending in March. Its Ayutthaya plant has suspended work indefinitely.

Yingluck said she had assured Japanese investors of steps to prevent a repeat of disaster from the annual rainy season.

The Cabinet is discussing a recovery plan that Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said would cost up to 900 billion baht (RM89.88 billion), including 800 billion baht for an overhaul of the water-management system and 100 billion for the rehabilitation of industrial estates.

The Bank of Thailand has nearly halved its projection of economic growth this year to 2.6 per cent from July’s 4.1 per cent estimate, and said the economy — Southeast Asia’s second largest — would shrink by 1.9 per cent in the December quarter from the previous three months due to the floods.

The floods submerged four million acres (1.6 million ha), an area roughly the size of Kuwait, and destroyed 25 per cent of the main rice crop in the world’s largest rice exporter.

The deluge was caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain falling on a low-lying region, but the weather has been largely clear for a week as the cooler dry season begins.

Deadly Thai floods close factories, threaten Bangkok

Nearly 200 factories, including one run by Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co Ltd , closed in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya because of flooding, which could threaten Bangkok this week, officials said today.

About 261 people have died since late July in flood-related incidents, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said. Some 2.3 million people have been affected in the worst flooding to hit parts of Thailand in 50 years, mainly in the centre, north and northeast.

The Rojana estate in Ayutthaya province, run by Rojana Industrial Park Pcl , was flooded after a wall of sandbags failed to hold back water overnight.




“All 198 factories at Rojana have to be closed because the water is about 5.1 metres high,” Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul told Reuters.

A Honda spokeswoman said it had moved about 3,000 assembled cars from the estate to other areas. Hana Microelectronics Pcl has also had to close its plant in Ayutthaya.

On Thursday the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, part of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, cut its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to 3.6 per cent from 4.4 per cent because of the floods.

It put the impact of the flooding at between 1.0 and 1.3 percentage points of GDP and said its new growth forecast would have been lower but for recent strength in exports.

The commerce ministry said on Friday it had slashed its forecast for the main rice crop, which farmers are just starting to bring in, to 21 million tonnes from 25 million because of the flooding.

Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter. The crop damage will add to the pressure on export prices, already being forced up by the high buying price set under a government intervention scheme aimed at helping poor farmers.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said in a statement the authorities were preparing an evacuation plan to move people from affected areas if floods hit the capital, much of which is just two metres above sea level.

Some riverside areas have already suffered minor flooding but the level of the Chao Phraya River could rise sharply from October 15-18 when a large amount of water will reach the area from the north, where dams are close to overflowing, at a time of high sea tides.

The government was trying to accelerate the drainage of water from the Chao Phraya into the sea before the high tide.

Other Southeast Asian countries have suffered serious flooding in recent weeks because of heavy monsoon rains combined with tropical storms.

The death toll from two strong typhoons that cut across the north of the Philippines’ main island and left behind widespread flooding had risen to 101 as of today, the national disaster agency said.

At least 167 people had died in Cambodia by late last week and 15 in Vietnam.

Ash cloud clears, Australia flights resume

A Virgin plane takes off at Sydney’s domestic airport June 22, 2011. Tens of thousands of air passengers faced more flight chaos in Australia on Wednesday caused by an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano, although grounded flights were starting to resume from some cities as the ash moved offshore


Australian airlines struggled to move a backlog of tens of thousands of passengers today after an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano, which had grounded flights across the country’s eastern and southern states, cleared .

The ash cloud has circled the earth twice to disrupt Australian airlines for a second time, costing Qantas an estimated A$20 million (RM64.20 million) before the latest disruptions and the tourism industry more than A$15 million in two weeks.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre said long-term modelling suggested the ash cloud would not pass over Australia for a third time and disrupt airlines.

Volcanic ash can be extremely dangerous to aircraft and cause engine failure or engine damage.



Qantas said it had resumed flights from Melbourne and Sydney, the country’s two main terminals, while Virgin Australia had also resumed flights. Qantas low-cost subsidiary Jetstar and discount carrier Tiger Airlines were all also gradually resuming flights.

“There’s possibly some hope that Thursday will start to return to normal,” said Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson.

The majority of international carriers continued flights to and from Australia today, with airlines including Singapore, Thai, Etihad and Emirates landing in Sydney.

A volcano in Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain erupted on June 4 after lying dormant for decades, the latest eruption to hit international travel.

Iceland’s most active volcano at Grimsvotn sent a thick plume of ash and smoke 25km into the sky last month, disrupting air travel in northern Europe.

The eruption of another Icelandic volcano in April 2010, Eyjafjallajokull, led to 100,000 cancelled flights, affecting 10 million people at a cost of US$1.7 billion (RM5.14 billion).

Australia’s Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the disruption would impact the economy, already hit by natural disasters that cut 1.7 per cent from growth during the first three months of this year, the biggest decline in 20 years.

“Having that disruption to international services means lower revenue in terms of tourism and in a country such as ours, where we rely on aviation to connect each other and to the world, there is a bigger economic cost,” he said.

Air New Zealand domestic flights operated as scheduled today, while Jetstar in New Zealand said yesterday it would cancel all New Zealand domestic flights until midday today.

Andrew Tupper from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, said it was unlikely the ash cloud would make a third journey round the globe.

“The volcano is still erupting but not at the same levels,” he said. “It is very unusual for ash clouds to do two circuits.”

“The last time volcanic ash circled the globe in the southern hemisphere was in 1991.

Tokyo launches large-scale radiation monitoring after Fukushima

A radiation monitor indicates 0.82 microsieverts per hour at a checkpoint to the restricted zone of a 20km radius around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, in Kawauchi village, about 20 km (12 miles) from the plant in Fukushima ...
China's nuclear regulators have given the country's reactors a clean bill of health following inspections ordered after the disaster at Japan's tsunami-struck Fukushima Dai-ichi facility. Inspections have been completed on all 13 of ...

Chilean ash cloud problems continue - Ash from Chilean volcano continues to disrupt flights

Peru's president-elect, Ollanta Humala, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are among those forced to take other modes of transport to reach Argentina. The ash cloud has also led Argentina to declare a state of emergency for farmers. ...

UN report puts focus on Japan nuclear plant flaws

International Atomic Energy Agency fact-finding mission team leader and Britian’s top nuclear safety official Mike Weightman answers questions from reporters after a meeting with Goshi Hosono, special adviser to Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Tokyo on June 1, 2011.

Less than a week after touring the radioactive rubble of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a team of international safety inspectors today plans to hand Japan’s government a preliminary review of what triggered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.




The report, from an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team led by Britain’s top nuclear safety official Mike Weightman, is expected to highlight some of the well-documented weaknesses that contributed to the crisis at Fukushima when the plant, 240km north of Tokyo, was hit by a massive earthquake and then a tsunami in quick succession on March 11.

Those start with the failure to plan for a tsunami that would overrun the 5.7-metre break wall at Fukushima and knock out back-up electric generators to four reactors, despite multiple forecasts from a government agency and operator Tokyo Electric Power Co’s own scientists that such a risk was looming.

“We had a playbook, but it didn’t work,” said Tatsujiro Suzuki, a nuclear expert and vice chairman of Japan’s Atomic Energy Commission.

The acceptance of the IAEA report by Goshi Hosono, an aide to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, marks the first step in effort by Japanese officials to show that the lessons learned from Fukushima can be applied to make its remaining reactors safe.

The economic stakes are high. Japan is operating only 19 of its pre-Fukushima tally of 54 reactors. Unless local officials can be convinced that Tokyo has a plan to make the others resistant to the kind of blackout that plunged Fukushima into meltdown, more plants will drop off-line for maintenance.

In the worst case, all of Japan’s reactors could be shut down by the middle of 2012. That would take out 30 per cent of the nation’s electricity generation and raise the risk of deeper, near permanent power rationing, officials say.

The Fukushima accident has forced more than 80,000 residents from their homes and raised deepening concerns about the safety of nearby children, workers battling to stabilise the reactors and the food supply as radiated water leaks from the site.

The crisis has also diverted attention and resources from rebuilding after the quake and tsunami that killed about 24,000 people in northern, coastal Japan.

Start of the debate

Experts who have reviewed the Fukushima accident say the draft IAEA report represents a starting point in the debate over what needs to be done to make nuclear plants safe in a country where the risks of earthquakes are still imperfectly understood.

“There are aspects of the planning for the safety of the Fukushima plant which are, in retrospect, very stupid, and show a lack of imagination,” said Kim Kearfott, a University of Michigan nuclear safety expert who toured Japan on her own this week. “The nuclear industry can do better than this.”

As the uranium fuel in the No. 1 reactor began heating towards meltdown on March 11, Tokyo Electric (Tepco) officials grappled with outages of key safety equipment because of the loss of power to the plant.

With gauges black from Fukushima, officials in Tokyo monitoring the expected radiation risk faced a related problem. Complicated software to model the expected plume of debris from a Fukushima explosion had been set up to run with precise data rather than rough assumptions.

By early on March 12, officials at the Ministry of Education and Technology had fixed the glitch and sent a projected radiation map to Prime Minister Kan’s office, but the data was never released to the public.

Meanwhile, it was dangerously unclear who was in charge on the ground at Fukushima. Tepco’s chairman was in China, the utility’s president was grounded in western Japan on a personal trip. Sakae Muto, the ranking Tepco official, spent the night of the quake huddled with mayors of small towns near Fukushima, giving them formal notice of the accident rather than joining the command centre.

The plant’s chief operating officer, Masao Yoshida, ignored an order to stop injecting seawater into the No. 1 reactor based on a request from Kan’s office. Experts say Yoshida made the right call, but say the confusion underscored the bigger problems in the early response to the accident.

“It was impossible for the system to work as it had been set up,” said Suzuki, who believes Japan’s nuclear industry will now have to show it can manage and contain the most improbable accidents at all of its remaining reactors to win public trust. “Unless they can show that, it’s going to be very hard.”

Others say Japan needs to show it will act on the toughest advice from critics, including long-delayed steps to make its nuclear regulatory agency independent of the politically powerful power industry.

“Japanese nuclear operations need to be upgraded based on international advice,” said Kearfott. “Much of this advice was ignored in the past.”

Another Tornado Reported, This One in Massachusetts

Residents of Springfield, Mass., sought cover Wednesday after a warning about another possible tornado. An earlier storm damaged buildings, toppled trees and caused numerous injuries

The National Weather Service says experts are preparing to go out and assess the severity of a severe weather system that has spawned apparent tornadoes and caused heavy damage in several Massachusetts communities.At least two tornadoes struck Springfield, Massachusetts, and numerous other communities in the western part of the state Wednesday, leaving behind "many injuries" and extensive damage, the state's governor said.

Deadly tornadoes churn across Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas

At least 15 people died in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma in the latest round of severe weather to strike the US heartland, authorities said Wednesday, in what has already become a historic spring storm season.

Joplin deaths rise, more twisters in US Midwest

The death toll from a monster tornado that savaged Joplin, Missouri, rose to 125 today after an overnight search turned up more bodies but no new survivors, authorities said.

The tornado that wrecked up to a third of the city of 50,000 on Sunday was upgraded to an EF-5, or the highest rating possible on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado power and intensity. It had been rated an EF-4.

Search teams using dogs and heavy equipment pressed on through a harsh night of more stormy weather amid the wreckage of homes, business, schools and churches.



About 1,500 people have been reported missing and some 750 people were injured, according to authorities.

EF-5 tornadoes, with winds at or above 328 km/ph, are rare in the United States but already this year there have been at least four – two in Mississippi, one in Alabama, and in Joplin. They are so destructive that experts said they can turn a house into a missile.

A fresh line of tornadoes and thunderstorms rumbled through the Midwest again yesterday night, bringing more death and destruction to the region, though sparing Joplin.

The storms killed at least seven people and injured many more as tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma, Kansas and into Arkansas.

President Barack Obama plans to visit Joplin on Sunday, after he returns from a weeklong, four-nation tour in Europe

Europe on alert for Icelandic volcano ash cloud

Smoke rise from the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland May 21, 2011.

An eruption by Iceland’s most active volcano was set to keep the island’s main airport shut today, while other European nations watched for any impact on their air routes from a towering plume of smoke and ash.

Experts said they saw little chance of a repeat of last year’s six-day closure of airspace, which also hit transatlantic flights, when another Icelandic volcano erupted, although airlines have been warned the new ash cloud will drift.

So far Iceland, particularly the towns and villages to the south and east of the Grimsvotn volcano, have suffered most. Day turned into night when a thick cloud of ash descended on the area, smothering cars and buildings.







The cloud had also begun to drift over the capital Reykjavik by late last evening and the civil aviation authority said the prospects for re-opening the main international airport on Monday were not good.

Europe’s air traffic control organization warned on its website that ash could spread southwards.

“Ash cloud is expected to reach North Scotland on Tuesday 24th May. If volcanic emissions continue with same intensity, cloud might reach west French airspace and north Spain on Thursday 26th May,” it said in a traffic bulletin.

Iceland’s meteorological office said the plume from Grimsvotn, which last exploded in 2004, had fallen to 10 to 15km in height from a peak of 25km.

But the eruption was much stronger than the one at a volcano further south last year which closed European airspace and halted transatlantic flights, due to worries that particles could get into aircraft engines and cause accidents. The airline industry said it lost US$1.7 billion (RM5.12 billion) in revenues.

“It could lead to some disruption, but only for a very limited time and only over a very limited area,” said University of Iceland Professor of Geophysics Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson.

“We see some signs that the (eruption’s) power is declining a bit, but it is still quite powerful,” he said, adding that the eruption was the most violent at the volcano since 1873.

LAYERS OF ASH

Gudmundsson and other vulcanologists said the impact on air travel this time would be more limited as winds were more favourable, the plume’s content was heavier and less likely to spread, and authorities had a higher tolerance for ash levels.

Some airlines complained that authorities had been excessively cautious in imposing blanket closures of airspace during last year’s eruption.

Icelandair, the main airline on the island, stopped flights on Sunday and said on its website the halt could continue on Monday. It said 6,000 passengers had been affected by cancellations so far.

Dave Mcgarvie, vulcanologist at Britain’s Open University, said any ash which reached Britain would be less than last year and added that experience gained since the 2010 eruption would lead to less disruption.

In emailed comments, he said “minor re-routing” should enable aircraft to avoid zones where ash is concentrated.

Grimsvotn lies under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, the largest glacier in Europe.

Areas to the south of glacier have been covered in thick layers of ash and the sun was blocked out for several hours.

“It was like night is during the winter,” said Benedikt Larusson, speaking in the town of Kirkjubaejarklaustur. “Now it is a little bit better. Now I can see about 100m, but before it was about one meter.”

Iceland volcanic ash threatens half-term getaway dozens of europe flights cancelled.

* BA, Easyjet, Loganair, KLM and Eastern Airways all cancel flights after Civil Aviation Authority warning
* President Obama cuts short his stay in Ireland to avoid effects of ash cloud
* Aviation sector says it is better prepared than last year
* Transport Secretary warns of further disruption in the week ahead
* Click here to see live video of volcano eruption viewed from space

Tens of thousands of families are facing air travel chaos from today – and into the half-term holidays – as a thick cloud of volcanic ash descends over the UK.

The towering plume of Icelandic ash, smoke and steam hit Scotland and Ireland last night, bringing disruption to airlines.

British Airways last night cancelled all flights between London and Scotland until 2pm today.

Between 30 and 40 BA flights will be affected from airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and London City to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The airline runs 80 flights a day between these airports.

This latest shot shows the ash cloud (the reddish colour) swirling into the atmosphere after spewing from the Grimsvotn volcano

Covered from head to toe with ski goggles and face mask this farmer's son - preparing to herd his sheep to shelter - looks like he is on the set of a science fiction film set

Looking up to the darkened sky because of the ash cloud, Sunna Agustdottir, seven, carries a new-born lamb to shelter at the family farm in Longumyri, Iceland

The ash billows into the sky from the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in south east Iceland

The huge puffs of ash from the active volcano could ruin many people's plans to jet off as it starts to drift into Europe

Sample: Ash is collected awaiting examination at the command centre in Kirkjubaejarklaustur as authorities prepare to deal with the effects of the eruption

Huge eruption: Smoke plumes from the Grimsvotn volcano create a stunning scene about 120 miles east of Rejkjavik

Chaos in the sky: Aerial view of the eruption of the volcano Grimsvotn in the south-east of Iceland which has forced shut its main international airport

Wearing a face mask, Anna Hardadottir, a farmer of Horgsland, leads a horse through the ash pouring out of the erupting volcano. It has spewed an ash cloud about 15 miles into the sky

An infra-red image showing the plume of smoke spreading out from south-east Iceland. The pinkish-red part shows the fallout from the eruption, the brown is normal cloud cover. Britain is braced in case it begins to drift east.

Stunning: As the volcano erupts, huge dark ash and storm clouds gather across the Icelandic skyline

Ash from the Grimsvotn volcano hanging in the sky over Iceland. The cloud has spewed 12 miles into the atmosphere

How are we going to get home? Tourists leave the Islandia Hotel yesterday in Nupur as ash continue to pour out of the erupting volcano

Electrical storm: Ash is hurled miles into the air by the eruption, creating thunderstorms around the volcano

Awesome power: Keflavik airport has been closed to air passengers as of 8.30am this morning following the eruption

Iceland Volcano May Disrupt European Air Traffic as Ash Cloud Reaches UK

An Icelandic volcanic eruption pushed an ash cloud toward the UK, curtailing US President Barack Obama's visit to Ireland and threatening to snarl air traffic across Europe.

Joplin Tornado wide spread destruction.

America's deadliest tornado for 64 years: Terrifying twister cuts six-mile swathe through a Missouri town, leaving up to 116 dead

* Devastating 198mph tornado tore a path a mile wide and six miles long straight through Joplin, Missouri
* Deadliest single tornado in over 60 years with at least 116 people killed
* Meteorologists issue new tornado warning for the ruined city
* Nearly 500 people have now died as a result of tornadoes in the U.S. in 2011
* Residents only had 20 minutes to take cover before monster tornado swept through the heart of the city
* Missouri governor declares state of emergency in city of about 50,000 people
* Emergency workers say thunderstorms are hampering efforts to find survivors as 1,500 rescuers search for missing
* Family and friends of the missing post moving appeals for information on Facebook and blogs
* Storm Prediction Center says more violent weather expected with further tornadoes through the middle of week

Thousands of people were left without homes to go tonight after the deadliest single tornado to strike the United States in over 60 years touched down on Missouri, reducing the city of Joplin to rubble, ripping buildings apart and killing at least 116 people in a 6-mile path of destruction.

Authorities said they had rescued seven people alive on Monday, but emergency warned that the death toll could climb higher as heavy winds, strong rain and hail quarter-sized hail stones hampered the search effort.

Meteorologists issued a new tornado warning for the devastated city as forecasters warned large swathes of the country to brace for more big storms on Tuesday.

Despair: A tree stripped of bark and leaves frames St John's Regional Medical Center

Relief: Maggie Kelley and her husband, Trey Adams hug their dog, Saint, after finding him amid the rubble of her home in Joplin

Map: Infrared image of the powerful tornado that spun through a densely populated part of Missouri

Devastation: Destroyed homes and debris cover the ground as a second storm moves in on Monday in Joplin, Missouri

Eye of the storm: The tornado tore a 6-mile path across southwestern Missouri

Desolation: A residential neighbourhood in Joplin is seen after it was levelled by the tornado

Aftermath: Aerial footage of the destruction in Joplin, Missouri, where a massive tornado tore straight through the city

Heatbreaking: Joplin resident Chue Vang, 50, reacts after coming home to discover that her home was destroyed by the devastating tornado

Widespread devastation: Another tornado in Minneapolis damaged at least 100 homes, toppling hundreds of trees and injuring at least 29 people

Emergency: Extensive damage can be seen at the St John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Missouri. An emergency agency spokesman says fatalities had been reported but was unsure of the exact figure

Devastation: Emergency personnel walk through a neighbourhood severely damaged by a tornado near the Joplin hospital. There are are no firm details on the number of dead or injured, as the hospital is out of action

Unbelievable: Destroyed vehicles are piled on top of one another in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Centre

Levelled: Red Cross representatives say 75% of Joplin is gone - here, vehicles and houses in the vicinity of Twenty-fourth and Main Streets are a jumble of rubble after a the tornado swept through

Nothing remains: Anita Stokes salvages meat from a freezer at her home that was destroyed by a tornado in Joplin

Efforts: Rescue workers in lime-green jackets search for bodies and survivors inside St John's hospital

Soul destroying: Jean Logan surveys the damage to her home in Joplin after the tornado. She had taken refuge in her laundry room with her granddaughter

Homeless: Ted Grabenauer sleeps on his front porch the morning after a tornado ripped off the roof of his home when it hit Joplin, Missouri

Search: An emergency vehicle drives through a severely damaged neighbourhood in Joplin

Ruins: A view of the devastation after a tornado blew the roof off the St John's Regional Medical Center, rear, where about 180 patients cowered and were eventually evacuated

Raised to the ground: Blocks of homes lie in total destruction after the devastating tornado

Clean-up begins: 'There was significant damage caused by large hail, which broke windows and broke tree limbs,' Ms Watson said. The local post office and volunteer fire department were damaged

A total mess: Rachel Hurst picks through her belongings that were strewn about from her garage that was blown away in Minneapolis on Sunday

Path of destruction: No house escaped the wrath of nature in some of Minneapolis

Condolences: President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon during his visit to Dublin, Ireland. The President extended his condolences to all impacted by the deadly tornadoes

Flattened: Reading - a town of about 250 people, 50 miles south of capital city Topeka

A taste of spring? Trees were stripped of branches and many were left resting against houses

Re-united: A man carries a young girl who was rescued after being trapped with her mother in their home

Community spirit: Residents of Joplin help a woman who survived in her basement after a tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long destroying homes and businesses

Desperate: Amy Langford carries items from her house that she was in with her husband Mark when the tornado hit their home in Joplin