Free Republic

Lots of footage of flash floods as spring thaws early in northern hills, bringing torrential floods along the Ural river. Commentary from Konstantin accompanies footage.

Flash flooding north of Los Angeles sent water and mud flowing into canyons and across roadways Thursday, trapping drivers and closing a stretch of one of the state's main north-south freeways. The California Highway Patrol reported a 30-mile section of Interstate 5 was blocked by flooding near Fort Tejon, about 75 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Drivers stuck in the mud waited for roads to be cleared while thousands more were diverted to alternate routes expected to take four or more hours to traverse through the mountain region in Southern California.

Search teams have recovered the body of a missing hiker who was killed by a flash flood in Utah's Zion national park in Utah. The group, identified late Thursday, were washed away soon after they secured a permit to explore the canyon. The men and women were washed away on Monday afternoon. Search teams have found the body of a seventh hiker killed in a rain-swollen canyon of Utah's Zion National Park hours after the ill-fated group obtained a park permit to venture into that area despite forecasts of probable flash flooding, park officials said on Thursday.

Homecoming queen. Student council president. Star athlete. Her storied high school career was nearing an end with one final rite of passage: her senior prom. But as Ramirez, 18, was driving home from the prom over the weekend, her car was swept away by floodwater in southern Texas, ending her short but illustrious life. “She did the right things,” her aunt Roberta Ramirez told CNN affiliate WOAI. “She called 911. She called her father, but it was just too much and too quick.” Ramirez is one of six people who died in Texas and Oklahoma in the past four days...

How do you turn hundreds of thousands of acres of smallish trees into a profitable product? If you’re the Campbell Group, contractors for the Four Forests Restoration Initiative, you do it the old-fashioned way: Convert timber into lumber. Company officials say they will forgo more costly biofuel efforts for now as they prepare to thin 300,000 acres of northern Arizona forests. But the company faces a challenge even larger than the small trees. The logging industry has all but vanished from this region of the country. To thin that many acres, they’ll need drastically more loggers, trucks and mills. At...

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- Days of heavy rains caused flash flooding in Colorado's Boulder County early Thursday that has closed streets, prompted evacuations, and left one person dead.

developing...the river may go into record flood and top the levees at Wilkes-Barre and other towns/cities ..at this time the NWS is saying the river will rise to 38-40 feet by thursday(which would be the 2nd highest crest)...the levee is at 41..however the crest may be higher then that and the NWS has been raising the crest forecast all day. getting 2nd hand reports of local offcials saying the river may crest at 43 feet which would top the levee built after Agnes which crested at 40.9 feet .. it all depends on how much rain they get upstream and...

RICHMOND — About 20 blocks of downtown Richmond were condemned after the remnants of Tropical Storm Gason battered central Virginia with torrential rain Monday, causing heavy flooding that sent cars floating down streets and trapped people in buildings, officials said. Five fatalities were confirmed in the region, Gov. Mark R. Warner said today. "It's a remarkable blessing that more people weren't hurt," Warner told a news conference. "The devastation to a lot of the businesses in Shockoe Bottom is overwhelming." A brick building of at least two stories had collapsed in the city's historic and low-lying Shockoe Bottom area, and...

Austin area under flash flood watch until 4 p.m. today By Dick Stanley and Sarah Coppola AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, May 14, 2004 GRANGER -- When John Finan awoke Thursday in this small community northeast of Georgetown and swung his legs onto the floor of his apartment, his feet disappeared into about 12 inches of water. "It looked like we were in the middle of a river," Finan said. He was one of 18 people evacuated from their homes after 5 to 12 inches of morning rain fell from intense thunderstorms that swept through northeastern Williamson County eastward to just north...

12-Year-Old Ky. Girl Survives Flash Flood LORETTO, Ky. (AP) -- A 12-year-old girl was rescued in fair condition after a flash flood destroyed her home and swept her on a bruising path about a mile downstream. Teresa Hartley was found clinging to a tree Tuesday night, after her journey down normally docile Prather Creek. Authorities were called after the flash flood, caused by some 5 inches of rain, struck her family's mobile home. "We were told the trailer had been washed away with a mother and daughter inside. It floated down, it rolled, it disintegrated," said Marion County paramedic Gary...