6A
Nation/World
Wednesday November 4,1998
Failed levee forces thousands to flee
The Associated Press
ARKANSAS CITY - A levee failed yesterday under the pressure of a record flood crest on the Arkansas River and forced at least 2,000 people to flee their homes.
Flood crests on both the Arkansas and Walnut rivers passed through the city of 12,000 people early yesterday, the Arkansas on the west side and the Walnut on the east.
Flooding caused by as much as 8 inches of rain in some areas had already forced hundreds of people from their homes in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma and caused millions of dollars in damage.
One person was missing yesterday at Arkansas City and one had died in Oklahoma.
The Arkansas River crested at a record 12 feet above flood stage at Arkansas City yesterday, and water flowed into the south side of town, rising 3 to 4 feet deep in some houses. The Walnut crested at just over 14 feet above flood stage.
The water broke a levee protecting the town from the Arkansas River and water also poured into the east side of town.
"We have reason to believe that we may have
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
water as high as 10 feet inside some homes there before the event is concluded," said Randy Duncan of the Cowley County Civil Defense office. "Even though the river is going down, the levee is failing."
The Election Day flood had forced the city to
move at least one polling place, The Arkansas City Traveler reported. Hours ahead of the crest, the Arkansas had already submerged restaurants and businesses outside town late Monday.
Upstream on the Walnut River, the nearby town of Winfield also had to move one of its polling places after the river crested there yesterday.
On monday, an undetermined number of rural homes near Winfield were flooded and firefighters had to rescue six people stranded at one house. Treetops were barely visible in parts of the city.
Many homes in Augusta were also damaged. Jay Hall's home was among the ones that flooded. He said that community members were rallying together during this natural disaster.
Hall said a lot of neighbors will be crying on each other's shoulders when they can finally get into their homes in a day or two.
"A lot of us didn't know each other until now," said Hall, who is considering a new job in Denver. "Considering we lost everything, it makes it really easy to relocate."
Nearly 400 families stayed in shelters for a sec ond night Monday.
Israel holds out for arrests, delays peace agreement
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Israel said yesterday that it will not carry out the land-for-security peace agreement until it gets assurances that the Palestinian Authority will arrest 30 Palestinian fugitives, raising questions about whether the accord could be implemented.
The Palestinians said the United States was satisfied with their anti-terror plan and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seizing a pretext to avoid handing over West Bank land.
The peace accord, signed Oct. 23 in Maryland, was to have taken effect Monday but was delayed at the request of Netanyahu. Under the agreement, the first installation of an Israeli troop pullback from 13 percent of the West Bank is due on Nov. 16.
U. senvoy Dennis Ross was to arrive tomorrow to oversee implementation of the program that is to be carried out over 12 weeks. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said it was up to the Americans to break the latest impasse.
"Netanyahu wants to break the timeline," Erekat told The Associated Press. He said the United States must interfere.
The new recriminations made it clear that any good will generated by the peace accord has already evaporated. With suspi-
Netanyahu: Has been accused of breaking timeline.
ions running high, the United States will likely have to step in as referee repeatedly in the coming weeks.
The latest crisis began yesterday morning, three hours before the Israeli Cabinet was to start a two-day debate on the peace agreement. Ratification had been expected today.
Netanyahu announced he would not convene the ministers because the Palestinians have not submitted a complete blueprint for fighting terrorism to the Americans, as promised.
Netanyahu would not say what information was missing, but Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechal later said Israel was holding out for a list of 30 wanted Palestinians the Palestinian Authority has promised to arrest as part of the peace agreement.
Israel also wants a timetable for the arrests, Mordechal said.
Israel has said it cannot begin implementing the agreement until it has been approved by the Cabinet and by parliament, which is to vote on the accord Nov. 12.
The United States appeared to side with the Palestinians. James Rubin, the State Department spokesman, said Monday that "the necessary plans were provided on time."
Mohammed Dahlan, the Palestinian security chief in the Gaza Strip, said he discussed the antiterror plan with Israeli security officials who also considered it sufficient.
Cabinet approval is not assured. At least six of 18 ministers are undecided and three are opposed to the plan.
Central American lives lost in hurricane's flood
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — With flood waters receding and communications improving, Central Americans struggled today to reach thousands cut off by Hurricane Mitch. As the official death count surged, authorities feared a lack of aid could push the number of dead well past the estimated 7,000.
The greatest losses were reported in Honduras, where an estimated 5,000 people died and 600,000 — 10 percent of the population were forced to flee their homes after last week's storm. Countless more lacked clean water, food and medicine.
Most of the deaths in Nicaragua occurred
when the crater lake of the Casitas Volcano collapsed, sending a wall of mud and debris onto several villages below.
The Associated Press
Preliminary figures from the Nicaraguan president's office said 1,338 people died in the crater lake mudslide. However, Felicita Zeledon, mayor of Posoltega, the largest city near the volcano, said yesterday workers have recovered 1,950 bodies. The differing figures could not immediately be reconciled.
Nicaragua reported 500 people killed elsewhere in the country. In El Salvador, 222 people were reported killed and 50,000 were homeless. Guatemala reported 157 storm-related deaths.
The European Union today approved $7.7
million in aid; the United States promised $3.5 million in emergency assistance and Canada pledged $1 million.
President Carlos Flores Facusse said, "The floods and landslides erased from the map many villages and households as well as whole neighborhoods of cities.
Many parts of Honduras remained cut off almost a week after Mitch barreled into the Bay Island of Guanaja dropping up to 25 inches of rain in a six-hour period, before dissinating Monday in southern Mexico.
U. S. military air flights began arriving Monday in Honduras and U.S. Blackhawk helicopters started distributing aid today in neighboring Nicaragua.
Details demanded of Yeltsin's health
Russian president denies alcoholism
The Associated Press
Yeltsin, who has been plagued by health problems in recent years, is resting at a Black Sea resort. Alides
MOSCOW — Hard-liners in Russia's parliament demanded details of Boris Yeltsih's health, while the recuperating president held private talks yesterday with his defense minister in southern Russia.
Yeltsin: Recently has been plagued with health problems.
The lower house of Russia's parliament will consider a bill tomorrow that would require Yeltsin to
undergo a medical checkup. If the bill is approved, presidential doctors would have to release their conclusions following an exam.
Communist Party leader Gennady Zvyosanij invoked the law
But the measure's chances are slim. To become law, the bill would have to be approved by Yeltsin himself, who is almost certain to veto it.
should be approved.
"He is an absolutely irresponsible person and is incapable of running the country," he said. "We are governed by an unsober person. In effect, the president has become a full-blown alcoholic."
Communists and other Yeltsin enemies have long accused the president of drinking heavily, a charge the president has denied.
Yeltsin's latest illness has brought new calls for his resignation by his Communist foes. He insists he has no serious illness and said he would serve out his term.
Yeltsin met with Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev yesterday to discuss military reform and building housing for retired officers. Russian television showed brief footage of a smiling Yeltsin, looking tired but displaying no visible signs of illness.
One of Yeltsin's biggest headaches has been Russia's severe financial troubles. Among other things, the ailing economy has scared away foreign investors, driven down stock prices and prompted the government to repeatedly postpone the sale of the natural gas monopoly Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, in hopes of getting a better price.
However, the Interfax news agency reported yesterday that the Cabinet has given the government until the end of the month to prepare an auction of up to 5 percent of Gazprom, one of the government's most valuable assets.
The Associated Press
Boeing union wants own as president
SEATTLE — Once again the "Fighting Machinists" in the biggest union at the Boeing Co. are fighting with each other, this time about a proposed change on who can run for president.
About 20,000 filers are being distributed at Boeing plants in Washington state amid preparations for a vote on the proposed changes in the bylaws of District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents more than 39,000 riveters, painters and other production workers in the state.
The change would make only the union's 15 business representatives eligible to run for president and set the election for May.
At present, elections for union office are in October, and the 37 members of the union's district council are eligible to run for president.
The next round of voting is at local lodge meetings, starting today and running through Nov. 12.
The chief opponent of the changes is David Clay of Everett, a district council member who came within 174 votes of unseating District 751 president Bill Johnson in January 1997.
Backers of the by-law change said that a spring election would save money and that limiting eligibility to business agents would ensure leadership by those with "extensive contract knowledge and experience working with the company."
Clay and other critics said it would be a bad move to shift eligibility from council members who work on the shop floor to union employees who are paid by the international union rather than the district lodge.
They also said union members have not gotten enough information on the proposals and might not know about the vote.