Heavy Rains, Flood | featured news

Isaac was on the verge of ballooning into a hurricane Tuesday that could flood the coasts of four states with storm surge and heavy rains on its way to New Orleans, where residents hunkered down behind levees fortified after Katrina struck seven years ago this week.

Rescue workers used sandbags to stop a raging river from breaching its embankment near a southern Indian city on Monday as floods triggered by heavy rains over the last week left 2.5 million people homeless.

Rivers of mud unleashed by heavy rains flood parts of the Sicilian city of Messina, leaving at least 17 people dead and several still missing, Italian officials said Friday.