Record rainfall causes flooding in Hong Kong days after typhoon

Record rainfall in Hong Kong caused widespread flooding in the early hours of Friday, disrupting road and rail traffic just days after the city dodged major damage from a super typhoon.

The Hong Kong Observatory, the city's weather agency, reported hourly rainfall of 158.1 millimetres at its headquarters in the hour leading up to midnight, the highest since records began in 1884.

Late on Thursday, authorities in the Chinese city said various districts had been flooded and emergency services were conducting rescue operations. Members of the public were instructed to stay in a safe place.

"Heavy rain will bring flash floods," the Observatory warned. "Residents living in close proximity to rivers should stay alert to weather conditions and should consider evacuation" if their homes are flooded, it added.

No injuries were reported in the early hours of Friday.

Earlier in the week, Typhoon Haikui left a trail of destruction in Taiwan before crossing the strait and making landfall in China's Fujian province on Tuesday.

Hong Kong's observatory said the latest torrential rain was brought by the "trough of low pressure associated with (the) remnant of Haikui".

The city's Mass Transit Railway announced that it would partially suspend service on one of its lines after a station in the Wong Tai Sin district was flooded, with another handful of stations also affected.

Footage circulated on social media showed an MTR train not stopping at Wong Tai Sin station, which had floodwater on its platform.

Other video clips showed cars and buses half-submerged on main roads.

Heavy rain was also reported in the neighbouring Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen.

Shenzhen prepared to discharge water from its reservoirs, according to Hong Kong officials, which they said could lead to flooding in parts of northern Hong Kong as a result.

Southern China was hit the previous weekend by two typhoons in quick succession -- Saola and Haikui -- though Hong Kong avoided a feared direct hit.

Tens of millions of people in the densely populated coastal areas of southern China had sheltered indoors ahead of the storms.

Climate change has increased the intensity of tropical storms, with more rain and stronger gusts leading to flash floods and coastal damage, experts say.

Agence France-Presse

Beijing on alert with two killed as heavy rain batters north China

BEIJING - Heavy rains battered northern China on Monday, killing at least two people in Beijing while washing away cars and forcing the capital to issue its highest alerts for flooding and landslides.

Storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon, has swept northwards over China since Friday, when it hit southern Fujian province after scything through the Philippines.

Emergency personnel recovered two bodies from waterways in Beijing's Mentougou district on Monday, the state-run People's Daily said.

AFP reporters saw tree branches and dented cars, left by receding floodwaters, strewn on riverbanks in Mentougou on Monday afternoon.

"This morning it was crazy, the water overflowed the Mentougou river and the whole avenue was flooded," Guo Zhenyu, a 49-year-old resident, told AFP.

Yellow bulldozers, workers in orange mackintoshes and residents cleared away the mud and debris during a period of lighter rain on Monday afternoon.

"I'm old but I've never seen flooding like this before in my life," Mentougou resident Qin Quan said.

She showed AFP a video on her phone, shared among residents of the area, of workers attempting to resuscitate an unconscious man, as well as footage of a man desperately clinging to a pole with one hand as water washes over him.

The much larger and still swollen Yongding River in the same district churned up debris in brown torrents as residents looked on in shock from a bridge.

Chen Hong, a resident of the southern Fengtai district, shared footage with AFP that showed a parked van half-submerged in fast-flowing brown water on Monday morning as the rain continued to fall.

Residents in Chen's neighbourhood cleared mud outside their homes with shovels during a brief respite from the downpour.

"Once it starts raining the road turns into a drain, and there's water on the first floor inside houses," said Chen, 52.

"The houses here are all old houses, so there are definitely concerns about safety," she said.

A section of road surface in the outer Fangshan district caved in under rising water, local media reported.

Hundreds of bus services in the capital were suspended, according to state news agency Xinhua, while the city government issued the highest flood warning for the suburban Dashihe River.

Social media users uploaded footage of vehicles swept away by muddy torrents and thoroughfares turned into rapids on the outskirts of the city.

Murky water can be seen in one clip posted on the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu platform on Monday swamping a large intersection in the outer Mentougou district next to high-rise apartment blocks. The clip was geolocated by AFP.

Rainwater also appeared to leak onto a subway platform in western Beijing's university district in another Xiaohongshu video from Sunday that was geolocated by AFP.

- Extreme weather -

The streets of central Beijing were quieter than usual on Monday morning as residents heeded official recommendations to work from home, with only a handful of delivery drivers braving pools of water seen in usually packed bike lanes.

The governments of Beijing and neighbouring Hebei province renewed red alerts for rainstorms on Monday.

China has been experiencing extreme weather and posting record temperatures this summer, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

Experts have warned that the ongoing downpour could prompt even worse flooding than in July 2012, when 79 people were killed and tens of thousands evacuated, according to local media.

An average of 170.9 millimetres of rain inundated Beijing in 40 hours between Saturday night and noon on Monday, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said.

That is almost equivalent to the average rainfall for the entire month of July, according to official records.

Agence France-Presse

China reports record temperature for mid-July at 52.2C

BEIJING, China - China on Monday said the mercury hit 52.2 degrees Celsius (126 degrees Fahrenheit) in the northwest of the country over the weekend, setting a record for mid-July.

A weather station in the Xinjiang region's Sanbao village "recorded a temperature peak of 52.2 degrees Celsius at 19:00 on July 16, breaking the historic heat record for the same period of the year", the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said in a statement.

The previous record of 50.6C was set in July 2017, according to the statement.

Xin Xin, an analyst working for the CMA, said in post on his verified Weibo account that 52.2C was the "highest measured temperature at a regional station in our country that I have ever seen".

Sanbao lies on the outskirts of Turpan city, where authorities have told workers and students to stay home and ordered special vehicles to spray water on major thoroughfares, the meteorological body said.

Ground surface temperatures reached 80C in parts of Turpan on Sunday, according to the statement.

The Northern Hemisphere has endured record-setting summer heat waves in recent weeks, which scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

Chinese authorities have warned of extreme weather and "multiple natural disasters" this summer.

Agence France-Presse

Death toll tops 40 after Ida’s remnants blindside Northeast

NEW YORK (AP) — A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers, tornado damage and continuing calls for rescue Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning more than 40 people in their homes and cars.

In a region that had been warned about potentially deadly flash flooding but hadn’t braced for such a blow from the no-longer-hurricane, the storm killed at least 45 people from Maryland to Connecticut on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

At least 23 people died in New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said. At least 12 people in New York City, police said, one of them in a car and 11 in flooded basement apartments that often serve as relatively affordable homes in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets. Suburban Westchester County reported three deaths.

Officials said at least five in Pennsylvania, including one killed by a falling tree and another who drowned in his car after helping his wife to escape, according to authorities. A Connecticut state police sergeant, Brian Mohl, perished after his cruiser was swept away. Another death was reported in Maryland.

In New York City, Sophy Liu said she tried using towels and garbage bags to stop the water coming into her first-floor apartment in Queens, but the flood rose up to her chest in just a half hour. She roused her son from bed and put him in a life jacket and inflatable swimming ring.

The door stuck when she tried to open it, possibly from water pressure, she said. She called two friends who helped her jar it loose.

“I was obviously scared, but I had to be strong for my son. I had to calm him down,” she recalled Thursday as medical examiners removed three bodies from a home down the street.

In another part of Queens, water rapidly filled Deborah Torres’ first-floor apartment to her knees as her landlord frantically urged her neighbors below — who included a baby — to get out, she said. But the water rushed in so strongly that she surmised they weren’t able to open the door. The three residents died.

“I have no words,” she said. “How can something like this happen?”

Ida’s remnants maintained a soggy core, then merged with a storm front and soaked the Interstate 95 corridor, meteorologists said. Similar weather has followed hurricanes before, but experts said it was slightly exacerbated by climate change — warmer air holds more rain — and urban settings, where expansive pavement prevents water from seeping into the ground.

The National Hurricane Center had warned since Tuesday of the potential for “significant and life-threatening flash flooding” and major river flooding in the mid-Atlantic region and New England.

Still, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the storm’s strength took them by surprise.

“We did not know that between 8:50 and 9:50 p.m. last night, that the heavens would literally open up and bring Niagara Falls level of water to the streets of New York,” said Hochul, a Democrat who became governor last week after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned.

De Blasio, also a Democrat, said he’d gotten a forecast Wednesday of 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) of rain for the day. The city’s Central Park ended up getting 3.15 inches in just one hour, surpassing the previous one-hour high of 1.94 inches (5 cm) during Tropical Storm Henri on Aug. 21.

Wednesday’s storm ultimately dumped over 9 inches (23 cm) of rain in parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and nearly as much on New York City’s Staten Island.

In Washington, President Joe Biden assured Northeast residents that federal first responders were on the ground to help clean up.

In New York, some highways flooded, garbage bobbed in streaming streets and water cascaded into the city’s subway tunnels, trapping at least 17 trains and halting service until early morning. Videos online showed riders standing on seats in swamped cars. All riders safely evacuated, officials said.

At one Queens development, water filled the sunken patio of a basement apartment, then broke through a glass door, trapping a 48-year-old woman in 6 feet (2 meters) of water. Neighbors unsuccessfully tried for an hour to save her.

“She was screaming, ‘Help me, help me, help me!’ We all came to her aid, trying to get her out,” said the building’s assistant superintendent, Jayson Jordan, but “the thrust of the water was so strong.”

Residents said they have complained for years about flooding on another Queens street, where a woman and her 22-year-old son died in a basement apartment. Her husband and the couple’s other son were spared only because they stepped out to move a car, next-door neighbor Lisa Singh said.

“No one should have to go this way. I feel like this was 100% avoidable,” she said.

In Elizabeth, New Jersey, rain and river flooding in an apartment complex killed four people and forced 600 from their homes, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said.

Greg Turner, who lives elsewhere in the northern New Jersey city, said his 87-year-old mother started calling 911 at 8 p.m., when the water started rising in her apartment. High water kept him and his brother from getting to her.

As midnight approached, the water reached her neck, he said. Rescuers finally cut through the floor of the apartment above and pulled her to safety.

 “She lost everything,” Turner said as he headed to a bank for money to buy his mother clothes and shoes.

In New Jersey’s Milford Borough, authorities said they found a man’s body in a car buried up to its hood in dirt and rocks.

The ferocious storm also spawned at least seven tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service. One split trees on Cape Cod, another tore off part of a high school roof in suburban Philadelphia and yet another splintered homes and toppled silos in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia.

“It just came through and ripped,” said resident Jeanine Zubrzycki, 33, who hid in her basement with her three children as their house shook and lights flickered.

“And then you could just hear people crying,” said Zubrzycki, 33, whose home was damaged but liveable.

Record flooding along the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania inundated homes, highways and commercial buildings, even as meteorologists warned that rivers likely won’t crest for a few more days. The riverside community of Manayunk remained largely under water.

The Schuyilkill reached levels not seen in over 100 years in Philadelphia, where firefighters were still getting calls about minor building collapses and people stuck in flooded cars Thursday morning. The managers of a 941-unit apartment complex near the river ordered residents to evacuate, citing “deteriorating” conditions after water rushed into the parking garage and pool areas.

In suburban Bucks County, several firefighters had to be rescued after rushing floodwaters pinned a rescue boat against a bridge pier, state emergency management director Randy Padfield said.

Others were unable to escape the floods, including Donald Bauer, who was driving home to Perkiomenville with his wife after attending their daughter’s volleyball game at DeSales University, near Allentown.

Their SUV stalled in the water and floated into a house, breaking the back windshield, said Darby Bauer, who was on the phone with his parents when the engine died. Donald Bauer helped his wife, Katherine, escape out the broken windshield and urged her to go, their son said.

She clung to a tree and watched the rising waters carry the SUV out of sight, he said. She was rescued about an hour later and hospitalized.

Donald Bauer, a 65-year-old retired school bus driver, “had one of the biggest hearts we knew,” his son said. “He was selfless down to his last act.”

Authorities used boats to rescue people in places from North Kingstown, Rhode Island, to Frederick County, Maryland, where 10 children and a driver were pulled from a school bus caught in rising waters.

On Sunday, Ida struck Louisiana as the fifth-strongest storm to ever hit the U.S. mainland, leaving 1 million people without power, maybe for weeks.

Porter reported from Elizabeth, New Jersey. AP reporters Karen Matthews in New York City; Maryclaire Dale in Mullica Hill, New Jersey; Seth Borenstein and Darlene Superville in Washington; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Pat Eaton-Robb in Columbia, Connecticut; Mark Pratt in Waltham, Massachusetts; Michael Catalini and Shawn Marsh in Trenton, New Jersey; Wayne Parry in Point Pleasant, New Jersey; Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report

-Associated Press-

Volunteers help evacuees in 'catastrophic' Hurricane Ida aftermath

Catera Whitson (C) and Kyler Melancon (R) ride in the back of a high water truck as they volunteer to help evacuate people from homes after neighborhoods flooded in LaPlace, Louisiana on Monday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Rescuers on Monday combed through the "catastrophic" damage Hurricane Ida did to Louisiana, a day after the fierce storm killed at least two people, stranded others in rising floodwaters, and sheared the roofs off homes. 

Agence France-Presse

Sizzling heat wave blankets US Southwest

LOS ANGELES - Much of the western United States baked for a third day on Wednesday under a punishing heat wave that has set temperature records, prompted health warnings and strained power grids.

Although a shift in the weather has provided some relief to northern states, including Montana and Idaho, the worst was still to come for California and parts of the Southwest, National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Schoening said.

"We're in a long-duration heat wave across the Western U.S.," Schoening said. "Across the desert Southwest extending into California we're still ramping up the temperatures throughout the rest of the week."

Salt Lake City, Utah, on Tuesday tied its all-time high temperature since record-keeping began in 1894, at 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius). Phoenix tied a record for this date at 115 degrees and Needles, California, in the Mojave Desert near the border of both Nevada and Arizona, hit 121 degrees, also tying a daily record.

The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings across the U.S. West, warning that such conditions can be dangerous, even fatal. No deaths had been reported from the brutally hot weather as of Wednesday afternoon.

"Try not to spend too much time outside during the hottest part of the day. Wear light clothing, stay hydrated," Schoening said, adding that residents should be "keeping an eye on pets, checking on the elderly, not leaving anyone, including kids or pets in hot cars."

WILDFIRE DANGERS

The weather service also issued red flag warnings of high fire danger in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. Major wildfires were burning in Colorado and Arizona.

Wildfires scorched more than 6,500 square miles (17,000 square km) of land in 2020, destroying hundreds of Californian homes during a particularly fierce fire season.

The unusually severe late-spring heat wave was the result of a high-pressure ridge that built over southwestern deserts, weather service meteorologists say, and could not be blamed directly on global warming.

"But studies show that as the climate changes and it gets warmer, we will see more of these anomalous events over time," Schoening said.

The brutal heat triggered a surge in electricity demand as residents cranked up air conditioners and fans. Texas and California, the two most populous U.S. states, urged energy conservation.

California's grid operator issued a "Flex Alert" for Thursday evening, telling residents to turn off unneeded appliances and office equipment between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. and thermostats higher.

California and Texas both imposed rolling blackouts over the last year to avoid a power system collapse, California due to the heat in August 2020 and Texas in February 2021 after a deep freeze that left millions without heat.

Much of the U.S. Southwest is also in the grip of a drought that has cut hydropower supplies, leaving rivers running dry and prompting ranchers to sell livestock.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates most of the state's power system, projected demand would break the June record, set on Monday, in the coming days.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York, Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico, Aishwarya Nair in Bangalore and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler)

-reuters-

Monster cyclone heads for COVID-stricken India

AHMEDABAD, India - A major cyclone packing ferocious winds and threatening a destructive storm surge bore down on India on Monday, disrupting the country's response to its devastating Covid-19 outbreak.

At least six people died over the weekend in torrential rains and winds as Cyclone Tauktae, according to press reports the biggest to hit western India in 30 years, swept over the Arabian Sea with Gujarat state in its sights.

The "Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm" was due to make landfall on Monday between 8-11 pm (1430-1730 GMT) with winds of 155-165 kilometers per hour (95-100 miles per hour) gusting up to 185 kph, the Indian Meteorological Department said.

It warned of storm surges of up to three meters high (10 feet) in some of Gujarat's coastal districts.

The colossal swirling system visible from space exacerbated India's dire problems dealing with a huge coronavirus surge that is killing at least 4,000 people every day and pushing hospitals to breaking point.

In waterlogged and windswept Mumbai, where authorities on Monday closed the airport for several hours and urged people to stay indoors, authorities on Sunday shifted 580 Covid patients "to safer locations" from three field hospitals.

In Gujarat, where on Sunday and overnight more than 100,000 people from 17 districts were evacuated, all Covid-19 patients in hospitals with five kilometers of the coast were also moved.

Authorities there were scrambling to ensure there would be no power cuts in the nearly 400 designated Covid hospitals and 41 oxygen plants in 12 coastal districts where the cyclone was expected to hit hardest.

"To ensure that Covid hospitals are not faced with power outages, 1,383 power back-ups have been installed," senior local official Pankaj Kumar said.

"Thirty-five 'green corridors' have also been made for supply of oxygen to Covid hospitals," he said.

Virus safety protocols such as wearing masks, social distancing and the use of sanitizers would be observed in the shelters for evacuees, officials added. 

The state also suspended vaccinations for two days. Mumbai did the same for one day.

Thousands of disaster response personnel had been deployed, while units from the coast guard, navy, army and air force had been placed on standby.

Maharashtra evacuated around 12,500 people from coastal areas.

Four people died on Saturday as rain and winds battered Karnataka state while two died in Goa as winds hit power supplies and uprooted trees.

S M Bandekar, dean of the Goa Medical College Hospital (GMCH), said that one Covid ward suffered minor flooding because rain came in open windows.

"But there was no need to shift the patients," he said, adding that the state's hospitals were not affected by the power cuts because they had back-up generators.

Two others were reported dead and 23 fishermen were feared missing in Kerala, local media said.

The vast nation of 1.3 billion people reported on Monday 4,100 deaths and 280,000 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total close to 25 million -- a doubling since April 1.

"This cyclone is a terrible double blow for millions of people in India whose families have been struck down by record Covid infections and deaths," said Udaya Regmi from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The organization said it was helping authorities to evacuate people most at risk in coastal areas, providing first aid, masks "and encouraging other critical COVID-19 prevention measures".

Last May, more than 110 people died after "super cyclone" Amphan ravaged eastern India and Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal.

The Arabian Sea previously experienced fewer severe cyclones than the Bay of Bengal but rising water temperatures because of global warming was changing that, Roxy Mathew Koll from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology told AFP.

"(The) Arabian Sea is one of the fastest-warming basins across the global oceans," told AFP.

Agence France-Presse

Hawaii declares state of emergency after rains cause floods

Hawaii Governor David Ige declared an emergency in the US state after heavy rains brought floods, landslides and fear of dam failures, prompting evacuations in at least 2 counties, while flood advisories stayed in effect for a second day.

The move came after a dam overflowed on the island of Maui, forcing evacuations and destroying homes, with the dam's "unsatisfactory" condition leading to it being scheduled for removal this year, the land department has said.

"The emergency proclamation makes state general funds available that can be used quickly and efficiently to help those impacted by the severe weather," Ige said on Tuesday.

Poor weather was expected to run until Friday, he added. There were no immediate reports of deaths or casualties.

The emergency declaration covers the counties of Hawai'i, Maui, Kalawao, O'ahu and Kaua'i, the governor's office said in a statement, while the disaster relief period runs until May 8.

In Maui, heavy rains damaged roads, leaving them impassable, with one bridge completely washed out and another displaced, the governor's office said, as higher water levels boosted the risk of erosion and seepage.

State emergency management officials had said the rains led to the cresting of the Kaupakalua dam in the northern region of Haiku, prompting authorities to open evacuation shelters and urge people not to return home.

Six homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, said Maui mayor Michael Victorino.

-reuters-

Wintry 'polar plunge' wallops much of US

An "unprecedented" winter storm system will sweep the United States this week, the National Weather Service warned Monday, with Arctic air driving a "polar plunge" that is expected to break record-low temperatures.

The coast-to-coast cold front has already pushed its way across Canada and into parts of northern Mexico, and much of the continental United States has been shivering under chilly temperatures for days, with about half of all Americans now under some sort of winter weather warning.

Temperatures have dropped across the country, with only parts of the southeast and southwest dodging it.

The cold snap has led to heavy snowfalls and ice storms that have caused a spike in electricity demand and power outages. 

Ice on the roads was blamed for several deadly accidents including a 100-car pile-up in Texas last week that left at least six people dead. 

"Over 150 million Americans are currently under winter storm warnings, ice storm warnings, winter storm watches, or winter weather advisories as impactful winter weather continues from coast to coast," the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

"This impressive onslaught of wicked wintry weather across much of the Lower 48 (states) is due to the combination of strong Arctic high pressure supplying sub-freezing temperatures and an active storm track escorting waves of precipitation."

At least seven states -- Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas -- have declared weather-related emergencies, CNN reported. 

The NWS described conditions as an "unprecedented and expansive area of hazardous winter weather" that will set record lows.

"Hundreds of daily low maximum and minimum temperatures have been/will be broken during this prolonged 'polar plunge', with some February and even all-time low temperature records in jeopardy," the NWS said.

In a large area known as the Southern Plains that spans parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, temperatures are expected to fall as much as 45 degrees Fahrenheit (25 Celsius) below typical readings for the time of year. 

Florida will remain the warmest spot in the continental United States, with highs above normal and temperatures generally around 80 Fahrenheit (27 Celsius).

Agence France-Presse

Seven dead as Typhoon Vamco triggers Philippine capital's worst floods in years

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday ordered government agencies to hasten relief efforts after a powerful typhoon killed at least seven people and unleashed some of the worst flooding in years in the capital Manila.

Duterte cut short his attendance of a virtual meeting of Southeast Asian leaders to inspect the damage from Typhoon Vamco, moments after a speech during which he urged his counterparts to urgently combat the effects of climate change.

The typhoon, the eighth to hit the Philippines in the past two months and 21st of the year, forced residents to scramble onto rooftops to await rescue after tens of thousands of homes were submerged.

Those killed across the main island of Luzon, home to half of the country’s 108 million population, included people who drowned, an elderly man hit by a tree and three workers crushed when a warehouse collapsed.

It struck areas still reeling from Goni, the most powerful typhoon in the world this year, which killed 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes earlier this month.

“Rest assured, the government will not leave anybody behind,” Duterte said in a national address, pledging shelter, relief goods, financial aid and counselling.

Nearly 200,000 people were evacuated before Vamco arrived late on Wednesday packing winds of 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 255 kph (158 mph). It has since weakened and exited the mainland.

Duterte told Southeast Asian leaders the devastation of recent weeks was “a stark reminder of the urgency of collective action to combat the effects of climate change”.

‘OVERWHELMING’

Nearly three million households in and around Manila were without power as people waded through waist-high floods, carrying valuables and pets.

Coastguard swam through brown floodwater as high as electricity poles in some areas, while rescue workers used rubber boats and makeshift floats to move children and the elderly to safety.

In some suburbs east of Manila, residents took refuge atop flooded homes.

“The flood reached the entire second floor of our house. For more than eight hours, we stayed at our neighbour’s house,” call center worker Albert Rano, 35, told Reuters.

“Aside from some clothes and laptops, nothing is left.”

The typhoons have battered the Philippines as it faces an uphill struggle to breathe life into its withering economy while keeping coronavirus infections under control.

Roughly 40,000 homes had either been fully or partially submerged in the Marikina area, a situation its mayor, Marcelino Teodoro, said was “overwhelming” and the worst since a typhoon flooded large swathes of the capital in 2009.

“The local government cannot handle this,” Teodoro told DZMM radio, requesting motorised boats and airlifts.

Residents posted images on social media of flooded homes and the disaster agency said parts of 36 cities and towns were inundated.

Flights and mass transit in Manila were suspended and port operations stopped. Government work was halted and financial markets shut.

Vamco was headed towards Vietnam, where devastating floods and mudslides over the past month have killed at least 160 people in central areas.

Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Additional Reporting by Eloisa Lopez and Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Ed Davies and Martin Petty

-reuters-

Hurricane Delta bears down on storm-weary US Gulf Coast

BATON ROUGE, La. - Residents in parts of the US state of Louisiana jammed highways as Hurricane Delta spun across the Gulf of Mexico toward a region struggling to recover from the damage inflicted by a hurricane less than two months ago.

Delta on Friday morning was a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, packing winds of 120 miles per hour (325 km) and expected to bring winds, rain and a "life threatening" storm surge, National Hurricane Center forecasters said.

Residents and businesses boarded windows and several southwest parishes closed schools, government offices and called for residents to flee to safer ground.

"I know people in Louisiana, especially the southwest, are very strong and very resilient, but they are going to be tested here," Governor John Bel Edwards said at a Thursday news conference.

Forecast models show Delta weakening slightly but remaining at or near a category 3 hurricane at landfall between the cities of Lake Charles and Lafayette, driving a 4- to 11-foot (1.2-3.3 meters) storm surge up Vermilion Bay on the coast. It could also unleash tornadoes as it moves over land and drop up to 10 inches (25 cm) of rain.

The same region was hard hit by Hurricane Laura in August, leaving more than 6,000 people still living temporarily in hotel rooms and others with damaged homes.

Another storm, Hurricane Sally, brought torrential rains and flash flooding to Alabama and Georgia in September.

"They never had time to recover from Laura and now this next storm is hitting them. They never had time to get back on their feet and they didn't think they could survive the second one," Cathy Evans, 63, said of her daughter's family as she helped them move out of their Lake Charles home.

Evans, who traveled to Lake Charles from Texarkana, Arkansas, left with her daughter and family for Texas on Thursday evening as Louisiana was closing its flood control gates.

New Orleans may be spared the worst of the storm, although it will be hit by gusty winds and mild rain, said AccuWeather meteorologist Dan Kottlowski, with Lafayette the largest city on the storm's eastern and more dangerous side.

The state received a federal emergency declaration and Wal-Mart said it was closing many of its stores across the Gulf Coast as a precaution.

Energy companies halted 92%, or nearly 1.7 million barrels per day of offshore oil output, and 62% of natural gas production, data showed. The U.S. Coast Guard warned shippers of impending gale force winds from Port Arthur, Texas, to New Orleans.

When Delta reaches the northern Gulf Coast, it will be the 10th named storm to make a U.S. landfall this year, eclipsing a record that has stood since 1916. 

-reuters-

Typhoon Maysak causes flooding in South Korea

A man wades through a flooded street after Typhoon Maysak hit the eastern port city of Gangneung, South Korea on Thursday. A powerful typhoon drenched the two Koreas on Sept. 3, killing at least one person in the South and inundating streets in a Northern port as it churned its way up the peninsula.

YONHAP, AFP

Japan on alert as 2 powerful typhoons approach

TOKYO - Japan's weather agency warned Wednesday of 2 powerful typhoons approaching, as 1 of them began to affect islands off Kyushu, while the other is expected to make landfall in a few days.

A freighter with 43 foreign crew aboard sent a distress call while traveling about 185 kilometers west of Amami-Oshima Island off southern Kyushu, prompting the Japan Coast Guard to send patrol boats to search for the vessel.

Typhoon Maysak came close to northern Kyushu on Wednesday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, warning of heavy rain that could cause mudslides and flooding, as well as high waves and high tides.

More than 100 flights were canceled at airports on Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture, according to a tally of reports by Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, and more cancellations are expected Thursday morning.

Bullet train services between Hiroshima and Hakata stations in western Japan will be suspended Thursday as a precaution, from the first departure of the day until around 8 a.m., said West Japan Railway Co.

Eight people in Okinawa have so far been slightly injured as the typhoon brought about strong gusts of wind. Thunderstorms hit southern Kyushu as well.

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Typhoon Maysak was traveling 100 kilometers west of Goto, Nagasaki Prefecture, with an atmospheric pressure of 950 hectopascals at its center and winds of up to 216 km per hour.

In the Pacific to the south, Typhoon Haishen was moving through sea areas with high surface temperatures near the Mariana Islands and is projected to become as powerful as to cause record rain, storms, high waves and high tides.

It is expected to approach southwestern and western Japan from Sunday to Monday with an atmospheric pressure of less than 930 hectopascals, the agency said.

Kyodo News

Summer unlikely to curb coronavirus pandemic growth: study

WASHINGTON - The higher summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere are unlikely to significantly limit the growth of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Princeton University study published Monday in the journal Science.

Several statistical studies conducted over the past few months have shown a slight correlation between climate and the novel coronavirus -- the hotter and more humid it is, the less likely the virus is to spread.


But the findings remain preliminary, and much remains unknown about the exact relationship between climate and COVID-19.

The Princeton study does not rule out the correlation entirely but concludes that the impact of climate on the spread of the virus is "modest."

"Our findings suggest, without effective control measures, strong outbreaks are likely in more humid climates and summer weather will not substantially limit pandemic growth," the study said.

"We project that warmer or more humid climates will not slow the virus at the early stage of the pandemic," said Rachel Baker, a postdoctoral research associate in the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI).

While climate, particularly humidity, plays a role in the spread of other coronaviruses and the flu, the study said a more important factor is the absence of widespread immunity to COVID-19.

"We do see some influence of climate on the size and timing of the pandemic, but, in general, because there's so much susceptibility in the population, the virus will spread quickly no matter the climate conditions," Baker said. 

Baker said the spread of the virus seen in countries such as Brazil, Ecuador and Australia indicates that warmer conditions do little to halt the pandemic.

"It doesn't seem that climate is regulating spread right now," Baker said.

Without strong containment measures or a vaccine, the coronavirus may continue to infect a large proportion of the world's population, the researchers said, and only become seasonal later, "after the supply of unexposed hosts is reduced."

"Previously circulating human coronaviruses such as the common cold depend strongly on seasonal factors, peaking in the winter outside of the tropics," said co-author Bryan Grenfell, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at PEI.

"If, as seems likely, the novel coronavirus is similarly seasonal, we might expect it to settle down to become a winter virus as it becomes endemic in the population," Grenfell said.

For the study, the researchers conducted simulations on how the pandemic would respond to various climates. They ran scenarios based on what is known about the effect seasonal variations have on similar viruses.

In all three scenarios, climate only became a mitigating factor when large portions of the human population were immune or resistant to the virus. 

"The more that immunity builds up in the population, the more we expect the sensitivity to climate to increase," Baker said. "If you run the model long enough, you have a big pandemic and the outbreak settles into seasonal infection." 

Agence France-Presse

2 people killed, around 40 buildings destroyed by Nashville tornado

A tornado struck Nashville, Tennessee in the early hours of Tuesday morning, killing at least two people, destroying around 40 buildings and leaving tens of thousands of people without power.

The Metro Nashville Police reported two fatalities in the East Nashville region. The Nashville fire department said it was responding to reports of approximately 40 structure collapses around Nashville.

The police department in the Mt. Juliet suburb east of Nashville reported multiple homes damaged and people injured.

"There are gas lines that are leaking, power lines that are on the ground, and multiple emergency responders are responding to those who are injured," the Mt. Juliet Police department said.

Tennessee is one of 14 US states that will vote on Tuesday in the contest to choose a Democratic nominee to stand against President Donald Trump in November.

Nashville's Emergency Operations Center announced it had opened an emergency shelter with running water in a farmer's market to help displaced residents.

Schools will be closed on Tuesday due to the tornado damage throughout Nashville, Metro Schools said, adding that election polling sites at schools will be open.

Nashville Electric, the city's public utility, said there were more than 44,000 customers without power early in the morning, with reported damage to four substations, 15 primary distribution lines, and multiple power poles and lines.

John C. Tune Airport (JWN), located 8 miles from downtown Nashville, "sustained significant damage" due to severe weather and several hangars had been destroyed, the airport said on its website.

Several people took to Twitter to say they were without power in the region. Some posted videos of lightning flashing across the sky.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Storm Dennis wreaks havoc across UK, parts of France

Britain on Monday grappled with the fallout from Storm Dennis, with several major incidents declared due to flooding and hundreds of warnings still in place after it battered the country over the weekend.

The second severe storm in a week to hit Britain brought high winds of more than 90 miles (140 kilometres) an hour and more than a month's worth of rain in 48 hours in some places, leading officials to issue rare "danger to life" warnings.

The storm also pummelled much of France, with some 20,000 people still without electricity on Monday after suffering power cuts in the northwest of the country and rail traffic disrupted.

"This is not yet over," warned James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, which is responsible for flood protection in England.

"We still have many flood warnings in force and we may still see significant flooding in the middle of this week from larger rivers," he told BBC radio.

Bevan said more than 400 homes in England had been flooded while at least 1,000 agency staff were working around the clock alongside emergency officials "to protect and support those communities which have been hit".

- Major incidents declared -
More than 600 warnings and alerts -- a record number -- were issued on Sunday, extending from the River Tweed on the border of England and Scotland, to Cornwall in southwest England.

After a day of torrential rain, major flooding incidents were later declared in south Wales and parts of western England.

Some five "severe" warnings -- denoting lives could be endangered by the flooding -- remained active Monday on two rivers in Worcestershire and Herefordshire in west central England.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue service on Sunday airlifted to hospital one man pulled from the River Teme, who was in a stable condition on Monday.

But emergency responders suspended the search overnight for a missing woman also swept away by the floodwater near the town of flood-prone town of Tenbury, according to police.

"The search has continued this morning, including the use of the police helicopter," said Chief Superintendent Tom Harding, from West Mercia Police.

"Sadly, however, due to the circumstances of the length of time in the water and other conditions we believe that this will now be a recovery rather than rescue operation."

Two rivers in south Wales burst their banks, prompting rescue workers to launch operations in several places to evacuate people and their pets trapped in their homes.

Police said a man in his 60s died after entering the River Tawe, north of the Welsh city of Swansea but later clarified that the death was not "linked to the adverse weather".

On Saturday, the coastguard said the bodies of two men were pulled from rough seas off the south coast of England as the storm barrelled in.

One is thought to have been the subject of a search triggered when a tanker reported that one of its crew was unaccounted for.

- 'More extreme' -
In northern England, the defence ministry deployed troops in West Yorkshire, which suffered badly from flooding caused by last weekend's Storm Ciara.

There are fears rivers there could burst their banks later on Monday.

Newly appointed environment secretary George Eustice said the government had done "everything that we can do with a significant sum of money" to combat increased flooding.

"We'll never be able to protect every single household just because of the nature of climate change and the fact that these weather events are becoming more extreme."

France was also affected by the storm, especially northwestern Brittany where the Finistere and Morbihan regions were temporarily placed on orange alert for rain and flooding, according to the national weather service Meteo-France.

Electricity provider Enedis said it had deployed 450 staff to restore power to 30,000 homes in Brittany. Power cuts also hit parts of northern and central France.

The storm interrupted two high-speed TGV train services, one stopped by a fallen tree and the other by a power failure, the national rail company SNCF said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global warming to blame for hottest day in Argentine Antarctica

Global warming is to blame for Argentine Antarctica recording its hottest day since readings began, Greenpeace said on Friday.

Temperatures climbed to 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) at midday Thursday at the research station Esperanza base, the highest temperature on record since 1961, according to the National Meteorological Service.

The previous record stood at 17.5 degrees on March 24, 2015.

The new record is "of course shocking but unfortunately not surprising because Antarctica is warming up with the rest of the planet," said Frida Bengtsson, marine environment specialist for Greenpeace, in a statement.

At Marambio, another Argentine base in Antarctica, temperatures reached 14.1 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the hottest temperature for a day in February since 1971.

The news comes after a decade of record temperatures on the planet and a 2019 that was the second hottest year since registers have been kept.

And the new decade has begun along the same tendency, with last month the hottest January on record.

The effects of global warming have already seen ocean levels rise due to melting ice caps.

The two largest ice caps on the planet, in Antarctica and Greenland, have already lost an average of a combined 430 billion tons a year since 2006.

According to UN climate experts, the oceans rose 15 centimeters during the 20th century.

It's a threat to coastal towns and small islands the world over.

One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is the Thwaites glacier, which is the size of Britain.

Scientists say that if it melted it would raise sea levels by 65 centimeters.

"Over the last 30 years, the amount of ice melting off Thwaites and adjacent glaciers has nearly doubled," said the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration group of scientists in a statement.

Argentina has had a presence in Antarctica for the past 114 years, including several scientific research bases, and is also a signatory of the Antarctic Treaty, which came into force in June 1961 and prohibits any militarization of the continent.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Jakarta flood kills 9

Man carries his belongings across floodwaters at the Jatinegara area after heavy rains in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday. At least 9 people were reported killed and thousands evacuated after heavy rains caused massive flooding in Jakarta.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Christmas typhoon Ursula kills at least 21

MANILA - A typhoon that struck the central Philippines over Christmas has killed at least 21 people, disaster agency officials said Friday.

Typhoon Ursula (international name Phanfone) hit the Philippines late Tuesday with winds of up to 120 kph and gusts of 150 kph, bringing heavy rain and flooding.

More than 58,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the storm, which caused widespread property damage, and more than 15,000 were stranded at ports when ferries were suspended. Scores of flights were cancelled.

Most of the fatalities were reported in Eastern and Western Visayas, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Two others were injured while 10 people remain missing.

The typhoon affected 185,168 persons and damaged 55 schools, according to NDRRMC.

It also cut power in 147 cities and town in Regions MIMAROPA, VI, VII, and VIII.

The typhoon left the Philippines on Wednesday night and was out over the South China Sea, moving west.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines each year, with storms becoming fiercer in recent years. - with a report from Reuters

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Thousands of 'penis fish' exposed on California beach

LOS ANGELES, United States - Thousands of marine worms dubbed "penis fish" for their shape and color appeared this week on a California beach after a strong winter storm exposed them.

The creatures -- more commonly known as fat innkeeper worms -- covered Drakes Beach, 50 miles north of San Francisco.

Despite their eye-catching appearance, the pulsating worms which reach around 10 inches are adept at digging U-shaped burrows on beaches and marshes, using the tunnels to catch food.

Found almost exclusively in California, they are themselves considered a culinary delicacy in South Korea, with reputed aphrodisiac effects.

"Yes, the physical design of the fat innkeeper worm has some explaining to do," wrote biologist Ivan Parr. "But the fat innkeeper is perfectly shaped for a life spent underground."

Parr explained in a column on the Bay Nature website this week that fossil evidence of the animals dates back at least 300 million years.

"They are preyed on by otters, flounders, sharks, rays, gulls, and humans," the latter of whom eat them as sashimi, fried or grilled.

In this case, the worms were caught out by heavy rain.

"We're seeing the risk of building your home out of sand," noted Parr.

"Strong storms... are perfectly capable of laying siege to the intertidal zone, breaking apart the sediments, and leaving their contents stranded on shore.

The beach is named after Francis Drake, who is believed to have landed here in 1579 during his circumnavigation of the globe.

source: news.abs-cbn.com