CNN news 2011-01-17 加文本

cnn news 2011-01-17

The number of people left homeless or displaced by the floods has in thousands. Agencia Brasil, the official Brazilian news agency, reports that nearly 75,000 people in this mountainous area are without power. Civil Defense officials report there have been at least 30 mudslides in the region in the last two days. Meanwhile, in the state of Sao Paulo, at least 24 people were killed as heavy rains continued to batter ground already soaked. To complicate matters even more, a dam gave way, flooding streets in Sao Jose dos Campos near the city of Sao Paulo. Non-stop rains have been pounding the region since the beginning of the year and forecasters expect storms to continue until the end of this week.

The suburb I'm in in Fairfield is completely underwater. You wouldn't even recognize it. It just looks (INAUDIBLE). All you see is rooftops poking out at the moment. I haven't been able to go down there this morning. It's a ghost town.It could take up to two months before we can even get in there and try to salvage anything because there's so much damage and so much debris.  I've been told that we have seen the worst of it this morning. But there's always a possibility that we could get another high tide.

Yet another country's affected by heavy flooding-- Sri Lanka, where thousands of troops are working to rescue nearly a million people threatened by high water levels. Officials say at least 13 people have been killed in the central, north and eastern provinces. Sri Lanka’s president made a visit to one stricken area earlier this week. But then the bad weather forced him to cut the trip short.

“As you've heard from the president yesterday, it is true, she did have spontaneous eye opening yesterday and she is becoming more and more alert at this time period”.

“She is still holding her own, she is still following simple commands. And for me, that tells that her higher brain center is working. But as you heard from the president, she is now starting to open her eyes spontaneously. I was there when she was surrounded by her friends from the Congress and Senate. I think it was a combination, perhaps of the unexpected but familiar, that really prompted her to open her eyes.

“Violence is never, ever acceptable. We had people that died. We had people whose lives will be changed forever because of the deranged actions of a mad man. Those are not American.”