Floodwaters that rose as swiftly as 8 feet an hour rushed into a remote Arkansas valley, killing at least 20 people, many of them campers who became trapped by a devastating wall of water. Dozens more were missing and feared dead.
Heavy rains caused the normally quiet Caddo and Little Missouri rivers to climb out of their banks during the night. Around dawn, floodwaters barrelled through the Albert Pike Recreation Area, a 54-unit campground in the Ouachita National Forest that was packed with vacationing families who were probably still asleep when their tents began to fill with water. Two dozen people were hospitalised.
The water quickly began to recede, and anguished relatives pleaded with emergency workers for help.
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PIO scientist claims his product can clean mess
Washington : An Indian-origin researcher from Texas Tech University has come up with a product, Fibertect, which he claims can clean up the Gulf oil spill.
Seshadri Ramkumar has created a non-woven cotton carbon absorbent wipe that can clean up crude oil up to 15 times its weight and adsorb toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon vapours reportedly sickening oil spill clean-up crew members. The product, he says, can retain off-gassing mustard vapours from dumped munitions. “Last week, Fibertect was approved for use as a sorbent by the US Environmental Protection Agency,” he said. —ANI