Flood CLOSED Panama Canal 12/9/10!
Channel: MsMilkytheclown
Date: 2010-12-09

Flooding forced the Panama Canal to close today December 9th, 2010 for the first time in 21 years and heavy rains were being blamed for at least two deaths.

More than 1,000 people were also evacuated because of what authorities called historic flooding.

"We're taking measures to normalise transit operations in the coming hours," Manuel Benitez, the executive vice president of canal operations, said today.

The last time the canal closed was on December 20 1989, when US troops invaded the country to topple president Manuel Noriega.
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The country's Civil Protection System declared that eastern Panama was on high alert and issued evacuation orders for about 1,500 people in dozens of flooded neighbourhoods.

Authorities recovered the bodies of two girls who were on a boat that capsized in the town of Chepo in the south-east part of the country.

About 5% of the world's naval commerce moves through the canal, and the US is its main user.


Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/latest-world-news/2010/12/09/flood-closes-panama-canal-91466-27795290/#ixzz17dTM0UIA