Canada woman survives snow burial

Ms Molnar’s car became stuck in Friday’s snowstorm near Toronto

A Canadian woman who went missing during a blizzard last week has been found alive, buried in 23in (58cm) of snow, police say.

Rescuers were shocked to find Donna Molnar, of Ancaster, west of Toronto, still conscious after she spent three days outside in freezing temperatures.

Ms Molnar, 55, vanished on Friday after her car became stuck in a snowy field, and is now being treated in hospital.

Police dog Ace and his handler Ray Lau have been credited with the find.

“When I came up to her she was covered in snow, just her face and her neckline were exposed,” rescuer Ray Lau said. “I was surprised she was alive.”

Mr Lau found Ms Molnar on Monday, just a few hundred yards away from her four wheel drive car, wearing little more than a winter jacket and suffering from hypothermia.

Police credited the insulating effect of the snow with keeping her alive.

Staff Sgt Mark Cox said she was suffering from frostbite and could lose some of her extremities, although she was expected to survive.

“That’s the miracle. That’s a Christmas miracle. Sometimes the good don’t die young,” said Mark Mackesy, a family friend who spent the weekend comforting Ms Molnar’s husband and son.

“Donna Molnar is an exceptional person,” he added.

Canada and much of the US have been hit by extreme winter weather in recent days, with vast amounts of snow falling from coast to coast.

Transport has been disrupted and thousands of homes have been left without power.

‘Hundreds’ killed by Haiti storm

Floods in Gonaives left people stranded and in desperate need of help

Almost 500 bodies have been found in the port city of Gonaives, Haiti, after floodwaters caused by recent storms receded, according to reports.

Polie commissioner Ernst Dorfeuille said 495 bodies had been found and the toll could get higher.

A ship carrying 33 tons of UN aid arrived in Haiti on Friday to help an estimated 600,000 people struggling in the wake of tropical storm Hanna.

The storm is heading for the US, while Hurricane Ike threatens the Bahamas.

See Ike’s predicted path

The US National Hurricane Center says Ike is a Category Three hurricane, with winds of up to 185 km/h (115mph).

The smell of the dead is very unpleasant in Gonaives Commissioner Ernst Dorfeuille

It is expected to pass near or over the Turks and Caicos Islands and south-eastern Bahamas late on Saturday or early Sunday.

By then it could be a major hurricane, forecasters say.

Tropical storm Hanna is causing heavy squalls off the coasts of North and South Carolina and tropical storm warnings are in force along the Atlantic coast from Georgia to New Jersey.

In Haiti, the devastation from the storm in Gonaives has been described as catastrophic.

Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis said her newly-installed government would take the necessary measures to help victims.

Stench of death

Commissioner Dorfeuille told Reuters new agency: “The weather is calm now and we are discovering more bodies. We have found 495 bodies so far and there are 13 people missing.

“The smell of the dead is very unpleasant in Gonaives. The death toll could be even higher.”

Hanna dumped massive amounts of rain on the country over four days, blowing down fruit trees and swamping tin-roofed houses.

The port city of Gonaives bore the brunt of the storm, forcing thousands of people to seek shelter on rooftops and balconies as flood waters rose.

The UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator in Haiti, Joel Boutrioue, told the it was still difficult to get aid to thousands of people. Roads are cut off and access to some areas is only possible by air – which is limited by the available number of helicopters.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has also launched an appeal, asking for $3.4m in aid.

Haiti was first drenched by Tropical Storm Fay, before Hurricane Gustav wreaked havoc last week, with torrential rainfall over heavily deforested and hilly terrain causing floods and mudslides.

Earlier, Hanna was also blamed for two deaths in Puerto Rico.

In the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, there have been no reports of major damage.

However, preparations are under way for the arrival of Hurricane Ike.

“The ground is saturated and some of the dams in the south-east region are fairly close to their maximum capacity,” said meteorological official Gloria Ceballos.

Civil defense director Colonel Juan Manuel Mendez said Dominican troops had been put on alert.

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Empty Olympic seats cause concern

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing

In a number of events, clumps of empty seats have been visible

Courtesy BBC

Chinese officials have admitted that they are concerned about the lack of spectators at some Olympic events.

They have hired volunteers, dressed in yellow shirts, to fill up empty venues and improve the atmosphere inside.

But Wang Wei, a senior official with the Beijing organising committee (Bocog), said other Olympics had experienced similar problems.

The comments came after spectators and journalists noticed that certain venues were far from full, even though all events are sold out.

Weather?

Speaking at a daily press briefing, Mr Wang said: “We are also concerned about this not full stadium [issue].”

There were heaps of empties, it’s sickening Judo spectator

He said a number of factors had contributed to this, including the hot and humid weather in Beijing, as well as the rain.

Mr Wang said some spectators were also only turning up for specific events, even though they had tickets for a whole session.

“For competitions like beach volleyball and basketball, [spectators] have one ticket for the whole afternoon, morning, evening,” he explained.

“They may choose to go to one of them, but not all them.”

Mr Wang, executive vice-president of Bocog, said local authorities were hiring volunteers to fill empty seats.

In some cases, volunteers have been drafted to fill the gaps

“If they find that there are not enough people, or if they find that there are too many empty seats, they organize some cheerleaders,” he said.

These cheer for both sides to “create a good atmosphere”, he added.

Although some events are full – such as Sunday’s clash between the men’s basketball teams from China and the United States – others have been less well attended.

Corporate sponsors

These include sessions of judo, badminton and water polo.

“There were heaps of empties. It’s sickening,” said one spectator who went to the judo expecting to see a full house.

There were even a number of empty seats at the opening ceremony on Friday.

One reason for less-than-full venues could be that seats allocated to corporate sponsors are not being used.

Many of these tickets are handed out the night before events take place, sometimes too late for those who get them to attend, according to someone with access to these tickets.

US Gulf states prepare for storm

Weather forecasters in the US have warned that a tropical storm could gain near-hurricane strength winds before reaching Texas or Louisiana.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Tropical Storm Edouard was crossing the Gulf of Mexico and could make landfall by Tuesday morning.

The governor of Louisiana declared a state of emergency as winds reached sustained speeds of 45mph (75 km/h).

Oil workers have left some offshore rigs but no damage has been reported.

Evacuations

A hurricane watch is in place from west of Intracoastal City, in western Louisiana, to Port O’Connor in Texas, south-west of Galveston.

About 6,000 residents of two communities in western Louisiana had been asked to evacuate low-lying coastal areas.

The mayor of Galveston has not ordered an evacuation but has asked residents and visitors to be prepared.

A storm is considered to be a hurricane once its winds reach an average speed of at least 74mph (119 km/h), according to the NHC.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port has stopped offloading tankers and two oil firms were evacuating workers from platforms, Reuters news agency said.

Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell said they were removing employees from rigs as a precaution, but both insisted that production had not been affected.

Oil prices dropped below $120 a barrel on Monday for the first time since early May as it appeared unlikely that the storm would significantly affect oil and gas facilities.

The Houston Ship Channel has also closed.

Hurricane Dolly

At 1300 CDT (1900 BST) Edouard was 145 miles (230km) south-southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana and 240 miles (390km) east-southeast of Galveston, Texas, a statement by the NHC said.

“Edouard could be nearing hurricane strength before reaching the coastline,” it added.

Rainfall of 3ins to 5ins (7.6cm to (12.7cm) was predicted in Louisiana, and up to 10 inches (25.4cm) in Texas.

With winds extending outwards from the centre of a tropical storm for 35 miles (56km), residents were braced for the second bout of severe weather to batter the Gulf’s coastline in a month.

On 24 July, a state of disaster was declared in 14 Texas counties when Hurricane Dolly lashed the state’s coast with winds of 100mph (161km/h).

The Gulf of Mexico supplies about 25% of the US’s crude oil.

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