Prophecy, Drought, Earthquakes, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Strange Weather.

[Soldier4Christ]

Botswana: Diarrhoea Epidemic Kills 470 Children

Botswana is struggling to control a diarrhoea epidemic that has claimed the lives of 470 children since January.

"A few adult cases have been reported but mostly children are affected," Colo Boitshoko, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told IRIN. "We had a lot of rain for this time of the year - normally we have some diarrhoea cases around this time, but it never turns into an epidemic. The rain is the underlying cause."

Kutloano Leshomo, Communications Officer for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said laboratory tests of samples from Francistown, conducted by the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, USA, suggested the outbreak had come from various sources.

"Contaminated water, unhygienic practices at the household level, poor sanitation, infant feeding-bottle contamination with human waste and ongoing person-to-person transmission" had all contributed to spreading the disease.

The tests indicated the presence of Enteropathogenic E. Coli bacteria and Cryptosporidium, a microscopic parasite that lives in the intestines of infected humans and animals, and is found in soil, food, water, or surfaces that have been contaminated with infected human or animal faeces.

Water authorities, "especially in villages, have acknowledged that they do not have capacity and resources for regular monitoring of the quality of water, meaning that sometimes water is not chlorinated," Leshomo said.

Boitshoko pointed out that "we have contamination in the water, mainly in rural areas where the majority of the population lives - village reservoirs and natural ponds have been affected, and people are drinking rainwater".

The reason it has taken so long to control the outbreak, Leshomo suggested, was "first, because the Ministry of Health lacks sufficient capacity to handle an emergency of this nature, especially diarrhoea coupled with malnutrition, but also because some of the issues are outside the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health ... the water supply authority in the villages, for example, falls under the Ministry of Local Government."

"Even large villages, where infrastructure is relatively good, have not been spared."

According to dr Dorothy Ochola, Project Officer at UNICEF, "severe, acute malnutrition, secondary to diarrhoea, is contributing to the high fatality rate".

Since the onset of the outbreak, a steady increase in cases of malnutrition-related illnesses, especially marasmus and kwashiorkor, have been registered. "It is estimated that approximately 450 to 500 children are in urgent need of therapeutic feeding," she said.

Some patients postpone seeking medical attention, raising the fatality rate. According to one humanitarian official, "children often develop 'phogwana e wetse' [sunken fontanelle] as a result of diarrhoea and malnutrition, but in rural areas that is often attributed to something spiritual and a traditional healer is consulted first, delaying rehydration."

The outbreak is widespread and 23,264 cases have been reported across all of Botswana's districts. Ministry of Health statistics recorded 4,564 cases in the southeastern region of Serowe-Palapye, believed to be the origin of the epidemic, and 4,391 cases in Kweneng East, the areas that have been hit hardest.

With the number of weekly cases on the decline - 1,201 reported last week - Boitshoko said the "epidemic is still not under control but it is going in the right direction".

A concerted effort by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the International Red Cross, the CDC, Medecins sans Frontieres and local water authorities, coordinated by the Ministry of Health, has accelerated the response to the outbreak.

"The numbers have been going down due to the various interventions that have been put in place, such as concerted social mobilisation to educate parents," Leshomo noted.

"We are now very hopeful," Boitshoko said. "We should not have to lose so many children to such a disease. Diarrhoea should not have to kill."

[Soldier4Christ]

Magnitude 6.2 Quake Hits Southeast Taiwan

 TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- A strong undersea earthquake shook southeastern Taiwan on Sunday, the Central Weather Bureau said, but no serious damage or injuries were immediately reported.

The 6.2-magnitude quake was centered in the Pacific Ocean, 12 miles off the southeastern coast, at a depth of 7.2 miles, the weather bureau said.

Taitung is 155 miles southeast of the capital, Taipei.

The tremor, striking at 6:41 a.m. local time, came as many people were still sleeping.
   
   

At least four aftershocks were registered within hours, measuring between 4.3 and 4.5, the weather bureau said.

Quakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor. However, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan in September 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.

[Soldier4Christ]

5.4-magnitude earthquake hits Greek islands


    ATHENS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A 5.4-magnitude undersea earthquake hit Greece's western Ionian islands Sunday, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported, the Athens News Agency reported.

    The earthquake occurred at 12:15 a.m. (1015 GMT), with its epicenter 240 km west of the Greek capital Athens, but close to the island of Zakynthos.

    The Zakynthos island has been jolted by a series of earthquakesmeasuring from 4.8 to 5.7 on the Richter Scale since April 3.

    The region is one of the most earthquake-prone in Greece, whichis considered one of the most seismically active countries in the world.

[Shammu]

Danube threatens to burst its banks in the Balkans
Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:32am ET163

By Beti Bilandzic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - The Danube threatened to spill over soaked anti-flood defenses in Serbia's capital and wash through towns across southeastern Europe on Sunday after heavy rains helped push it to its highest levels in a century.

The river, fed by heavy rain and melting snow in central Europe, rose to a 111-year record high on Saturday, displacing hundreds of people across the Balkans and putting tens of thousands more at risk.

A bottleneck at Serbia's narrow Djerdap gorge, near its border with Romania, caused the river to back up and water levels to rise upstream all the way to Belgrade.

The city's mayor, Nenad Bogdanovic, said he expected the waters of the Danube and the Sava river, which converge in the city, to peak on Sunday after surpassing their record highs.

"We have reinforced barriers which will resist the wave but the question is how long the water level will remain so high. That's what's worrying," said Srdjan Jovanovic, head of the Belgrade flood defense team.

He appealed to citizens to avoid a popular recreation spot on the Sava, saying some young women had pierced sandbags with their high heels, increasing the danger of collapse.

"The danger is big, and water can break the top of the dikes. The whole recreation area would be flooded in only a few seconds," he said.

Workers also scrambled to stem flooding downstream in the center of Smederovo, where waters have inundated the city's ancient fortress, train station, and other buildings.

"There are too few volunteers, unfortunately. It seems citizens don't understand seriousness of the situation and what consequences a breakthrough of the dykes might have," Smederovo mayor Sasa Radosavljevic told daily Politika.

Much of the area is still reeling from devastating floods last year which drowned scores of people and destroyed houses, farmland and infrastructure worth hundreds of millions of euros.

TEMPORARY EBB

Downstream, the intentional flooding of a vast swath of forest and farmland in Romania prevented the river from engulfing towns there and across the river in Bulgaria.

But the move forced 113 people from their homes in the village of Rast in southwest Romania, raising the total number evacuated in that country to 750. Officials were also preparing to move 500 more in the affected zone.

"The controlled flooding is bearing fruit, triggering lower water levels in some locations," deputy Environment Minister Lucia Varga told Reuters by phone from the scene.

"We are continuously monitoring the situation downstream because we expect higher water levels in the southeast."

On the opposite bank in Nikopol, a Bulgarian town of 4,000 that was largely under water on Saturday, authorities said water levels had fallen, but soldiers and divers continued to fortify dykes there and in other partially swamped towns.

In Vidin, home to 50,000, authorities erected a tent city in case they needed to evacuate people from low-lying areas.

They said that although the river should recede slightly on Monday and Tuesday, they were not out of danger, as the flood now in Serbia was expected to reach the area and push waters higher again in the middle of the week.

"I expect a drop tomorrow. But it will not last for long and I expect another rise from Wednesday or Thursday," Hristian Kirilov, head of the Vidin civil defense office, told Reuters.

Danube threatens to burst its banks in the Balkans

[Shammu]

Brazil floods kill eight, leave 116,000 homeless
Apr 15 7:47 PM US/Eastern
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Floods killed eight people and left 116,000 homeless after torrential rains in northern Brazil, officials said, declaring a state of emergency in some areas.

The national weather institute predicted rain through Monday in the northern state of Para. Civil defense said food for at least 8,000 families would be needed as well as drinking water.

Firefighters said that on Friday they had distributed food for 10,000 families supplied by the federal government.

Among the dead are a three-year-old boy, a 10-month-old baby and a man, 74.

Thousands of families were taken to shelters set up by the military for persons who had lost their homes.

The army moved troops into several areas likely to be flooded by Amazon tributaries, like the Tapajos, as rain continues to fall.

Residents are using boats for transportation in some areas, and are threatened by cobras and alligators swimming in the waters.

Area businesses have been flooded and milk production has been cut by half.

Brazil floods kill eight, leave 116,000 homeless

[Shammu]

Uganda fishermen high and dry on Lake Victoria
Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:15 PM ET

By Euan Denholm

GGABA, Uganda (Reuters) - Sitting alone in a short wooden boat, Ugandan fisherman Mike Selwanga hauls his nets in one-by-one -- only to find them all empty.

Buffeted by the heaviest rains he has seen in months, the 29-year-old rows back to shore, deep in thought about how to find other work to feed his family.

All the fishermen at the small Lake Victoria port of Ggaba, 10 km (6 miles) south of the capital Kampala, say they are seeing smaller and smaller catches.

Selwanga set out at 5:30 a.m. to bring back 38 empty nets.

"I used to be able to give my children two meals a day, but since the problems started they eat badly," he says, warming his hands on a mug of steaming tea.

"Since things got really bad in December I have had to take them out of school," he says, staring out into the rain pounding on Ggaba market's tin roof.

"I just don't know what the future will hold for us."

The fall in catches has coincided with the lowest water levels in Lake Victoria for 80 years. Partly, that is blamed on severe drought has gripped much of east Africa for months.

But to the surprise of Selwanga and his colleagues, Uganda's government has been accused of making things worse.

DRAINING THE LAKE

A U.N. report in February said Uganda was seeking relief from a crippling power crisis by letting too much water through two hydropower dams on the Nile out of Lake Victoria.

It said the Kampala government was effectively draining Africa's biggest freshwater lake to meet its energy needs, and that the dams had caused 55 percent of its recent drop.

Stung by the criticism, the government cut inflows at its Nalubaale and Kiira dams, adding to the electricity shortages.

Exporters who fly frozen fish fillets mostly to the European Union, now contend with jetties left high and dry and refrigerators that regularly click off with power cuts.

"Some companies have big loans from the banks," says Ovia Matovu, chief executive of the Uganda Fish Processors and Exporters Association.

"If we have another five months of this then we will be seeing bankruptcies."

Heavy rains started across much of Uganda last month, and officials hope they will boost power generation -- and begin to refill the lake.

Fisheries Commissioner Dick Nyeko, a senior government official, admits low levels are causing serious problems for his sector. But he denies any drop in fish stocks, and says the smaller catches are only due to "normal seasonal variations".

MUD AND STONES

Walking along the Ggaba shoreline shortly before dawn, Frank Ssenyonjo, chairman of the local fishermen's association, hopes Nyeko is right. But he has his doubts.

"Two years ago, the water would have come up to here," he says, prodding the sand about 12 meters (40 ft) from the waves.

"All round the lake, papyrus where tilapia go to breed are left high and dry," he says. "Now they have mud and stones."

One kilo (2 lb) of the popular and once-plentiful tilapia fish has risen to 3,500 Ugandan shillings ($1.95) from 2,000 shillings six-months ago. But Ssenyonjo says, because of the smaller catches, fishermen such as Selwanga are taking home only about 5,000 shillings a day, or half their usual income.

In thousands of small fishing villages, about 30 million Ugandans, Kenyans and Tanzanians depend on Lake Victoria for a living. And it is not just the fishermen feeling the strain.

CYCLE OF DROUGHT

Alice Bogele, 35, turns fillets on the grill of a smoking mud kiln in Ggaba under the watchful eye of swooping storks, her youngest baby strapped to her back.

Her income has fallen to just 1,000 shillings ($0.55) a day from 3,000 shillings last year. To make matters worse, her husband is a fisherman, so that means no school fees for their five children and no money for medicine.

"I just pray God keeps them healthy, but they always feel weak because I don't have money to buy enough food," she says.

A smaller Lake Victoria could mean reduced rains in future, and possibly throw the region into a frightening, self-perpetuating cycle of drought.

"It is a very delicate balance," says John Okedi, a Ugandan marine biologist who works for the World Bank. "The lake is like a magnet for the winds and rain."

Back in Ggaba, Selwanga is disappointed with his catch, but pleased for now to be soaked to the bone.

"Perhaps God has answered our prayers," he says, smiling. "We are happy, but it is not before time and there is still a long way to go."

Uganda fishermen high and dry on Lake Victoria

[Shammu]

San Francisco said unprepared for the 'Big One'
Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:14 PM ET

By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco-area households are woefully unprepared for the "Big One," the catastrophic earthquake expected to strike the region one day, according to an American Red Cross survey released on Thursday.

Only 6 percent of residents of the region, which suffered a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in October 1989 and is laced with major faults, have a disaster plan, a kit with basic items and some training to cope with catastrophe, according to the survey by American Red Cross Bay Area.

The finding comes as the region prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary next week of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which killed about 3,000 people and ranks as one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.

The American Red Cross is using the anniversary to launch a campaign to urge individuals and households to prepare for natural disasters because, as was the case with Hurricane Katrina last year, government relief agencies are expected to be overwhelmed initially.

"Government is not going to be there in the first 24 hours," Jerry Brown, a former California governor now mayor of Oakland, said at a Red Cross event rolling out the initiative.

The relief group aims to secure commitments by a million San Francisco area residents to have plans, kits and training in the event of a regional emergency.

Damage, displacement and death from the "Big One" could dwarf the suffering in 1906, Mary Lou Zoback, regional coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey, told Reuters.

If the San Andreas Fault running through much of California and off its coast were to rupture violently, 10 million people would be affected, Zoback noted.

Certain areas lightly populated in 1906 but now heavily urbanized would be hit especially hard.

"It's becoming clear from our modeling that there are certain hot spots that will shake longer and harder," Zoback said. "Silicon Valley is one of those hot spots."

Seismologists estimate the 1906 earthquake at about a magnitude 7.8. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates a 62 percent probability of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake striking the San Francisco area before 2032.

Risk-modeler AIR Worldwide Corp. estimates the value of homes and commercial property in the "damage footprint" of the 1906 earthquake at more then $1.6 trillion. If an earthquake rivaling the 1906 temblor strikes, property losses across the region would top $300 billion, according to AIR.

San Francisco said unprepared for the 'Big One'

[Soldier4Christ]

Could anyone really be prepared for the "Big One" without God on their side?

[Shammu]

Could anyone really be prepared for the "Big One" without God on their side?

NOPE!!

[Shammu]

Thousands flee as Danube breaches defenses
Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:29pm ET173

By Martin Dokoupil

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The Danube river broke through flood defenses in southeastern Europe on Monday, driving thousands of people from their homes along its banks in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, officials said.

Swollen by heavy rain and melting snow from central Europe, the river hit its highest level in 111 years at the weekend, swamping ports and thousands of hectares (acres) of farmland.

Authorities evacuated 3,200 people and more than 6,000 animals from the village of Rast in southern Romania on Monday after the Danube breached a nearby dam and flooded the area.

"Police and paramilitary units used trucks to take people out of the flooded village. They have been taken to stay with relatives or friends," said police spokeswoman Maria Vasile.

In the nearby village of Negoi, 230 people were taken to safety. Television footage showed police in rescue boats helping people to escape from their houses.

Elsewhere in Romania, authorities employed controlled flooding at the weekend to slow the river's rise and in some places its level dropped.

But officials said a wave of floodwater traveling down river from Serbia would reach Romania in coming days and that hundreds more people were ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.

ALERT TO SAVE LIVES

More than 44,000 hectares in southern Romania, a fertile region for wheat and maize farming, are under water and officials said they would submerge another 26,000 hectares this week to help protect heavily populated areas.

"We are on alert and doing what we can to prevent damage and to save lives," said Chirica Lefter, government representative for Romania's Tulcea county.

Much of the region is still reeling from floods last year in which scores of people were drowned and houses, farmland and infrastructure worth hundreds of millions of euros (U.S. dollars) were destroyed.

In Serbia's capital Belgrade, 250 km of flood defenses held the Danube at bay as it reached record levels, but officials said there was a danger waterlogged dykes could collapse.

The Tisa river also hit a record level, just centimeters below the top of embankments.

"We now have to watch out for the long-standing pressure on the barriers, with water expected to stay high for some 10 to 15 days," said Goran Kamcev, head of Serbia's anti-flood task force.

"It could cause the dykes to leak or even break and our teams on the ground have to stay vigilant."

Officials said heavy flooding had been reported in Ritopek, downstream from Belgrade, and people in the area had asked for sandbags.

In the port of Vidin in northwest Bulgaria, the river dropped slightly but more than 100 people fled for dry ground from the town and from Nikopol downstream. Many of Nikopol's houses were submerged.

Civil defense workers prepared to evacuate 600 people from the village of Zabovanovo because they expected the Danube to rise again.

"A new high wave is expected this Wednesday and there may be new flooding," said Georgi Linkov, civil defense head in Pleven, northern Bulgaria.

Thousands flee as Danube breaches defenses

[Shammu]

Sand storm, pollution envelop Beijing
Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:38am ET171

BEIJING (Reuters) - A sand storm struck the Chinese capital on Monday, covering homes, streets and cars in brown dust and leaving the skies a murky yellow as it suffers its worst pollution in years ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Desertification of the country's west and Mongolian steppes has made the spring sand storms worse in recent years, reaching as far away as South Korea and Japan.

Cold, windy weather, a glut of construction sites and poor plant cover around Beijing have also contributed.

So far in 2006, Beijing has notched up 13 days of the worst measure of pollution, more than last year's total and the highest in six years, state media said.

Only 53 "blue sky" days in Beijing had been recorded in 2006 by last Wednesday. The city sets a target of about 230 such clean days a year to help what it says will be a "Green Olympics".

Hospitals have also dealt with a sharp increase in patients with respiratory diseases, and on Monday local newspapers warned residents to wear masks outdoors.

"It took me quite a while to wipe off the sand on my car," said office clerk Chong Zi, who drove to work. "But there's no point in washing it -- who knows when the next storm will hit?"

Sand storm, pollution envelop Beijing

[Shammu]

Villagers flee as southeastern Europe battles floods

19 minutes ago

ZRENJANIN, Serbia-Montenegro (AFP) - Emergency workers used heavy machinery in a race against time Monday to build up defences against flooded rivers threatening large swathes of southeastern Europe.

Thousands of villagers were forced to flee as floodwaters from the overflowing Danube river spread across southern Romania and completely submerged their homes, officials said.

In parts of the Balkans, the Danube recently reached its highest level in more than 100 years.

The dangerous tide of water has been moving eastwards beyond Belgrade towards Bulgaria and Romania, where authorities deliberately flooded fields in a bid to spare towns after a similar situation there last year claimed dozens of lives.

Some 3,000 residents of the Romanian village of Rast were evacuated before the surging Danube entirely submerged their homes. Some 115 houses were completely destroyed and another 600 were damaged, local officials said.

Dolj district chief Nicolae Giugea said 10,000 residents of four villages in the area were on standby for evacuation if the water continued to rise.

In Serbia, civil teams backed by the police force and army were reinforcing about 250 kilometres (155 miles) of dykes lined with white sandbags on the bulging banks of several rivers.

Using heavy earth-moving equipment, tractors and industrial trucks, the crews shored up the defences of Veliko Gradiste and Golubac, two Serbian towns on the border with Romania that are expected to bear the brunt of the flooded Danube within hours.

The situation was made worse by swelling Danube tributaries, including the Tisa and Begej rivers, which meet at the town of Titel north of the Serbian capital.

"I don't think I've ever seen the Tisa like this," said Milan, a 52-year-old resident of Titel.

Near Zrenjanin, about 70 kilometres (44 miles) north of Belgrade, the only features that can be seen above the flooded plains are the road linking the town with the capital, and the tops of trees.

"Three hectares of my land is under water," said Ljubomir, a 43-year-old farmer from the area, in a flat and fertile region which is considered Serbia's breadbasket.

"I planned to sow wheat and corn, but who knows whether I will be able to sow anything if the water does not subside in the next four weeks."

A restaurant on the banks of the Tisa was surrounded by water, while a military vessel scraped sand from the bottom of the Begej, to be used for filling bags to protect embankments.

Some 300 houses were evacuated in the village of Stari Kostolac, after the floodwaters spilled across the banks of the Mlava River, which also flows into the Danube.

Closer to Belgrade in the town of Smederevo, workers were battling to protect the main train station despite a fall in water levels after the Danube reached its highest recorded level there.

In the capital itself, where the Danube meets another major river, the Sava, authorities warned people not to go to a popular area surrounding an artificial lake, Ada Ciganlija, describing it as a "zone of high risk".

"Our principal concern is the survival of the dykes," Nikola Marjanovic, of Serbia's water authority, told B92 radio.

"They are exposed to continuous pressure from the water of the Tisa for a long period and could yield," Marjanovic said. The Tisa, which is also in flood, joins the Danube north of Belgrade.

In Bulgaria, a state of emergency was maintained along the Danube, with the government warning the water levels were expected to reach a peak of up to 990 centimetres in the northwestern town of Vidin on Wednesday.

Authorities set up a tent camp outside the town in case they needed to evacuate and shelter people from low-lying areas.

In the northern town of Nikopol, where riverside streets and houses were severely flooded at the weekend, water levels were stable at about 855 centimetres. The floods had forced the evacuation of the town hospital on Sunday.

Further downstream, a port on the Danube remained closed, while the customs agency near the northwestern town of Ruse was preparing to halt traffic crossing the river from Bulgaria to Romania, authorities said.

Villagers flee as southeastern Europe battles floods

[Soldier4Christ]

Thousands Flee Homes in Eastern Europe to Escape Record Flooding

Thousands of people are being evacuated across Eastern Europe because of heavy flooding. Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary have declared a state of emergency in flood-stricken regions.

As the floodwaters keep rising, officials in Romania are sounding alarms to warn villagers who live close to the Danube River that they must leave their homes. Many days of heavy rain and the melting of this winter's record snows have combined to send the Danube, the region's largest river, to the highest levels in more than 100 years.

On Monday, over three-thousand people were evacuated from the village of Rast and surrounding territory in southern Romania after the river breached a dam and flooded the area.

In many parts of the Balkans, beleaguered emergency crews and soldiers are struggling to keep embankments and sand barriers from giving way.

More than 44,000 hectares in southern Romania's wheat and corn growing regions are already under water. Officials say they will flood another 26,000 hectares this week to help protect heavily populated areas. Many people in the affected areas are poor farmers living in rundown homes without insurance.

In neighboring Bulgaria, several port cities have been flooded. In Serbia several towns and villages are also trying to cope with floods. Even parts of the capital, Belgrade, located near the Sava River and the Danube, have been submerged, including the city's ancient fortress.

Hungary is also suffering under heavy flooding. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurscany has rushed to oversee rescue efforts in central Hungary because of the flooding along the country's second largest river, the Tisza.

Mr. Gyurcsany, speaking in the central town of Szolnok, urges people to remain calm. He says he is confident that the floods will be contained and that the government has earmarked enough funds to supply emergency aid.

Flooding in the Balkans last year left dozens of people dead. This year officials in the region say they are doing all they can to keep the death toll down.

[Soldier4Christ]

Beijing hit by eighth sandstorm

The Chinese capital, Beijing, has been hit by its eight - and worst - sandstorm of the year.

Millions of residents woke to find their city covered in a thin film of yellow dust after the storm blew in from the border of China and Mongolia.

Some are wearing face masks and hospitals reported increased numbers of patients with breathing problems.

Such storms occur annually, but experts say desertification in western China is increasing their frequency in the east.

Scientists blame poor farming practices and drought for the expanding desert, which now covers a third of the vast country.

The authorities in Beijing have planted trees around the capital to try to stem the spread of the desert.

'Restless and annoyed'

Across the city on Monday, residents were hosing down their homes, cars and monuments.

Parents have been told to keep their children indoors.

One taxi driver said the storms had brought him more business than usual, "because people don't want to stand on the road and wait for buses".

But for many others, such storms are nothing more than an irritant.

"I always feel like something is in my throat and it's very dry. My eyes get tired easily and I can't see things clearly," one woman told the BBC.

"The weather plays a big role in people's mood. On a day like this, I feel restless and annoyed. I am in a bad mood no matter what I do."

[Soldier4Christ]

Mumps Cases Spread in Neb., 8 Other States

Nebraska, which is part of an nine-state mumps epidemic, is now reporting 110 cases of the disease in 22 counties, health officials said Monday. Thirty-two of those cases are confirmed.

"Currently, most of our mumps cases are in southeastern Nebraska," said Dr. Anne O'Keefe, epidemiologist for the state Health and Human Services System.

She said most of the cases are among people ages 10 to 18 and 35 to 45.

"However, we're seeing cases in children as young as 2 and adults up to age 64," she said.

The mumps epidemic is the nation's first in 20 years.

Some 600 suspected cases have been reported in Iowa, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are also cases reported in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Mumps is a viral infection of the salivary glands. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches and swelling of the glands close to the jaw. It can cause serious complications, including meningitis, damage to the testicles and deafness.

Mumps is spread by coughing and sneezing.

No deaths have been reported from the current epidemic.

A two-dose mumps vaccine is recommended for all children and is considered highly - but not completely - effective against the illness.

According to HHS, Nebraskans ages 30 to 65 years old are the most at risk to catch the disease because they probably never were vaccinated or had the disease.

Nebraska law for years has required two doses of the mumps vaccine before a child can enter school or college. Thus Nebraskans under the age of 30 who followed the K-12 and college entry requirements probably have been vaccinated.

Nebraskans over the age of 65 are likely to have natural immunity to the virus. Many in this age group had mumps as a child.

Two infected airline passengers may have helped spread Iowa's mumps epidemic.

Iowa health officials last week identified two people who were potentially infectious when they were traveling in late March and early April.

The CDC said the present outbreak is the nation's biggest epidemic of mumps since 269 cases were reported in Douglas County, Kan., from October 1988 to April 1989.

A mumps vaccine was introduced in 1967.