Word: storme
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Whatever the legal process uncovers, the story of Richard Heene - incessantly pitching producers across Hollywood his show about a wacky storm-chasing family, parading Falcon on morning shows though the boy was sick, twice, on air - is like an updated Mosquito Coast but with the eccentric dad dragging his family into the floodlights of reality TV instead of away from civilization. (See a brief history of do-it-yourself ballooning...
...seeking medical attention. In flood-ravaged Marikina, one of 16 cities that make up Metropolitan Manila, only four out of 21 public health facilities were in operation as of Oct. 24. San Lazaro Hospital, the main government hospital specializing in infectious diseases, has treated 451 leptospirosis cases since the storm hit on Sept. 26 - nearly double the number of cases in the span of just a month than is usual for the whole last year. "We expected cases to rise because of the unusually heavy flooding, but we were not prepared for the numbers and we eventually...
...Ketsana dropped more rainfall on greater Manila's 14 million residents in a nine-hour deluge than in an average month of the country's rainy season from July to November. At the height of the storm, 80% of the capital was underwater. The rainfall was exceptional, but the severity of the flooding was intensified by the city's garbage-clogged drainage system, partly from the shanties of informal settlers living along waterways and decades of skewed urban planning...
...Authorities quickly issued health warnings about waterborne diseases after the storm. For leptospirosis, people were told to cover cuts and abrasions with waterproof bandages, and thoroughly wash after wading in floodwater. Early symptoms of the disease include fever, rash, vomiting and jaundice; renal failure, hemorrhaging and liver disease are among its life-threatening complications. An average of 680 leptospirosis cases and 40 deaths from the disease are reported every year in the Philippines. And while its incidence is far higher in tropical than temperate regions, global surveillance of the disease is generally poor, said Adam Craig of WHO's Western...
...those living in flooded areas, the specter of swarms of rats on the loose after being flushed from their lairs by storm waters is obviously still alarming. "We told our children not to go in the water and we check them every day for cuts," said Nerio Taculod, a 45 year-old father of five and a member of the security detail of Pasig's mayor. "The people here now know about leptospirosis, but many have no money to buy protective clothing like rubber boots, but we're taking no chances...