Weather Woes Continue

LOUISIANA: Two days of strong thunderstorms socked the Shreveport-Bossier area, causing widespread flooding, knocking out electricity, blowing over trees and closing schools. Rainfall began Tuesday night and broke several records, including the most rain to fall in a 20-minute interval and the most rainfall in a 180-minute period. More than 10 inches of rain deluged the Shreveport area, flooding at least 125 homes, officials said. The National Weather Service said the 4.43 inches that fell in one hour broke a record of 3.16 inches.

RANGOON, Burma (AP) — Myanmar's junta warned Thursday that legal action would be taken against people who trade or hoard international aid in the aftermath of this month's devastating cyclone. It was the first acknowledgment by the military government, albeit indirectly, of problems with relief operations in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which left at least 78,000 dead and another 56,000 people missing two weeks after the storm, Myanmar state television reported Friday.. The warning came amid reports that foreign aid was being sold openly in markets, and that the military was pilfering and diverting aid for its own use. The ruling junta has been blasted by aid agencies for refusing to allow most foreign experts into the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta and not responding adequately to what they say is a spiraling crisis.

• The United Nations said Friday that severe restrictions by Burma's military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent of survivors' suffering, two weeks after a killer cyclone left up to 2.5 million people destitute. The most basic data was missing, from the number of orphans to the extent of diseases and the number of refugee camps. They also couldn't say whether all survivors are in camps, on the move or still living in destroyed villages in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta, an area the size of Austria. Cyclone Nargis also pounded Rangoon, Burma's main city.