5-14-06 - 37 people killed in the Philippines
5-20-06 - 90 killed in Asia
5-22-06 - 37 killed in Vietnam
7-21-06 - over 500 killed in China
8-27-06 - 1 killed in Cuba
9-27-06 - 100+ killed in the Philippines
10-2-06 - 15 killed in Vietnam
12-2-06 - 1000 killed in the Philippines
12-10-06 - 3 killed in the Philippines
Forecaster Sees Calmer 2006 Hurricane Season
Next Year Seen as Busy, But Not as Disastrous as 2005
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Dec. 6, 2005) - Next year's
hurricane season is likely to be busier than average but not up to this
year's ruinous, record-setting pace, one of the nation's top hurricane
forecasters said Tuesday.
William Gray of Colorado State University
predicted 17 named storms in 2006, almost double the long-term average,
and said nine of them could become hurricanes - five of them major
hurricanes, with winds of at least 111 mph.
Gray's research team estimated there is an 81
percent chance that at least one major hurricane would strike the U.S.
coast.
"Enhanced major hurricane activity is likely to
continue in the Atlantic basin for the next 15 to 20 years," Gray said in
his first extended forecast for 2006.
Gray has been forecasting hurricane activity for
22 years. One year ago, he predicted that 2005 would have 11 named storms,
including six hurricanes, three of them major.
Instead, 2005 had a record 26 named storms, 14
of which were hurricanes and seven of which were intense hurricanes.
Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma combined to make it the costliest
hurricane season on record.
The team's forecasts are based global oceanic
and atmospheric conditions.
12/06/05 16:16 EST
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
Climate Experts Predict La Nina Phenomenon
Thu Feb 2, 12:47 PM ET
ATLANTA - Climate experts on Thursday confirmed the start of a mild
cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean known as La Nina.
It's too early to tell how that will affect spring and summer
weather, they said, but often La Nina conditions coincide with stronger
and more numerous hurricanes, wet weather in the Pacific Northwest and dry
conditions in the South.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate
Prediction Center made the announcement at the American Meteorological
Society's meeting in Atlanta, confirming the slight cooling of parts of
the Pacific Ocean and changes in the jet stream.
Internationally, La Nina typically creates more rainfall across
Indonesia and northern Australia and the Amazon basin, said Edward Alan
O'Lenic, chief of the operations branch of the Climate Prediction Center.
La Nina is the opposite of the better known El Nino, a Pacific
warming. The last La Nina was in 2000-2001.
For every year, there is a pre-approved list of names for tropical
storms and hurricanes. These lists have been generated by the National
Hurricane Center since 1953. At first, the lists consisted of only female
names; however, since 1979, the lists alternate between male and female.
Hurricanes are named alphabetically from the list in chronological
order. Thus the first tropical storm or hurricane of the year has a name
that begins with "A" and the second is given the name that begins with
"B." The lists contain names that begin from A to W, but exclude names
that begin with a "Q" or "U."
There are six lists that continue to rotate. The lists only change
when there is a hurricane that is so devastating,
the name is retired and another name replaces it.
2006 Hurricane Names
Alberto
Beryl
Chris
Debby
Ernesto
Florence
Gordon
Helene
Isaac
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William
New storm forecast released STATE COLLEGE,
Pa. (May 17, 2006) — AccuWeather
metereologists released their 2006 Atlantic Hurricane forecast this
week, and they want the focus not to be on the number of storms, but
on the intensity and likely landfall locations.
Many weather outlets release hurricane predictions for each
season, including the famed Dr. William Gray of Colorado State
University and the National Hurricane Center. For 2006, AccuWeather
predicts that five hurricanes will strike the U.S., with three of
them being major.
Yet AccuWeather meteorologist Ken Reeves says his agency's
forecast is different because it focuses mostly on intensity and
landfall.
"For an example of why that's important, look at the 1992
Atlantic Hurricane season," said Reeves, director of forecasting
operations for AccuWeather. "There were seven total storms - six
were named. That's well below normal for a given season. Yet until
2004, it was the most damaging year for hurricanes in history, and
all because of one storm: Hurricane Andrew.
"It's not the number that sets the tone for the season, it's
the intensity and landfall location."
Reeves says AccuWeather aims at giving people an idea of where
the greatest threat is and what the number of landfalls may be.
Along with the 2006 prediction, AccuWeather released a graphic
of which parts of the U.S. would be most prone to a hurricane this
season based on historical data and trends.
"The 2006 season will be a creeping threat," said Joe
Bastardi, AccuWeather's chief forecaster.
"Early in the season - June and July - the Texas Gulf Coast
faces the highest likelihood of a hurricane strike, possibly putting
Gulf energy production in the line of fire. As early as July, and
through much of the rest of the season, the highest level of risk
shifts to the Carolinas. From mid-August into early October, the
window is open for hurricane strikes to spread northward to the more
densely populated Northeast coast. At the very end of the season,
southern Florida also faces significant hurricane risk."
The graphic shows part of the Carolinas and the northeast and
New England area as being at "high risk" of hurricanes.
Several other hurricane predictions have also noted that the
eastern seaboard is at a high risk of a major hurricane this year
based on historical data showing that in a year after a major Gulf
Coast hurricane, the east coast is often hit hard the next year.
Reeves said that this season's heightened risk for the eastern
seaboard is based on two factors, though.
"Essentially we are in an elevated risk period, it's a
multi-decadal cycle that lasts for 20 years or so," explained
Reeves. "The last cycle like this went from the 1930s to the 1950s.
That's important because there are some signals that point toward
the east coast getting hit by more frequent storms in a year where a
more elevated cycle exists. The Atlantic shows this trend.
"We've also identified that there is an apparent cycle within
the cycle, it correlates to cooling Pacific waters. When we switch
from an El Nino to a La Nina situation, there's a shifting of the
hurricane track in the Atlantic to the east. We're seeing this
cooling now, and the track last season was through the Gulf area."
Reeves said given those factors, this year's hurricane track
may shift to the east. "That opens up the eastern seaboard to what
could be a more active pattern."
He added that temperatures in the northwest Atlantic are
higher than usual for this time of year, which only signifies more
that this season's hurricane track could shift further east.
"That warming contributed to the heavy rains and flooding last
fall in New England, and even to this latest round of heavy rain
there," said Reeves. "That's a by-product of the extra moisture put
into the area by that warmer water. The records broken this week
were from 1954 - the same year there were three east coast
hurricanes."
Yet despite the probabilities of "very high" or "low" for
hurricane danger on the AccuWeather prediction graphic, Reeves
cautioned the public about thinking a low risk means their season
will be hurricane-free.
"'Low risk' doesn't mean 'no risk,'" he said. "There are very
few areas on the coast that won't be in the bull's-eye at some point
this season."
May 21, 2006 — There is no official Category
6 for hurricanes, but scientists say they're pondering whether there
should be as evidence mounts that hurricanes around the world have
sharply worsened over the past 30 years — and all but a handful of
hurricane experts now agree this worsening bears the fingerprints of
man-made global warming.
In fact, say scientists, there have
already been hurricanes strong enough to qualify as Category 6s.
They'd define those as having sustained winds over 175 or 180 mph.
A couple told me they'd measured close to 200 mph on a few
occasions.
The Saffir-Simpson hurricane category scale
is based on wind speed: A Category 1 hurricane has sustained winds
from 74 to 95 mph, Category 2 has sustained winds from 96 to 110
mph, Category 3 has sustained winds from 111 to 130 mph, Category 4
has sustained winds from 131 to 155, and a Category 5 storm has
sustained winds greater than 155 mph.
The categories run in roughly 20 mph
increments, so a Cat 6 would be greater than 175 or 180 mph.
"Remember, for each 10 mph increase of wind
speed," says atmosphere scientist Greg Holland, "there's about 10
times more damage, and 20 times more financial loss."
In other words, the increase is not "linear" but "exponential."
To put this all in perspective, Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane
out over some hot spots in the Gulf. But when it hit New Orleans,
scientists now know, Katrina had winds at a low Category 3, and much
of them Category 2, including the "left side winds" that then came
down from the north and pushed the surge-swollen waters of Lake
Pontchartrain over and through NOLA's levees. (Hurricanes spin
counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, so when Katrina came
ashore just east of New Orleans, its winds hit the city from the
north.)
Only three Category 5s have come ashore in
the United States in the past century — the 1935 Labor Day
Hurricane, Camille in 1969 and Andrew in 1992.
But because of man-made global warming,
most hurricane scientists say now we will probably be getting
Category 4 and 5 hurricanes more frequently in the coming decades.
That's on top of the natural multi-year cycles of hurricane
intensity the scientists already know about.
In fact, says Greg Holland, the world already has seen far
more frequent Cat 4s and 5s. He points to several studies published
over the past 12 months which "indicated the frequency of Category 4
and 5 hurricanes had almost doubled around the world in the period
since 1970."
The fact that these patterns (on top of the natural cycles)
have been seen in not just one ocean but all tropical and
subtropical waters around the world is what worries many hurricane
experts — and, they say, it is why they now calculate that they are
due to man-made global warming, not regional natural weather
patterns.
"We're actually looking at an entire world that is heating
up," says Holland, "not just the Atlantic Ocean — which is why we
are absolutely convinced that there is a very large greenhouse
warming signal in what we're seeing."
In the past, say these scientists, when one region of the
globe concentrated more heated water or air (both of which can
intensify hurricanes), other regions would cool in compensation
because the total heat available on the planet at any one time is
limited; now, with the average global temperatures going up, such
related cooling is happening less and less.
Greg Holland's research base — the National Center for
Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. — receives overwhelming
evidence for the human contribution to global warming constantly
now, challenging NCAR's ranks of world class climatologists (and
their sleek black humming supercomputers in the basement) to produce
ever more refined predictions of the planet's rising fever over the
next few decades.
How well did the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration do a year ago in predicting the 2005 Atlantic
hurricane season? Not so well, and the relatively new and unfamiliar
factors of manmade global warming, say some scientists, may be part
of what threw last year's predictions off.
In May 2005, NOAA predicted the summer Atlantic would see 12
to 15 named tropical storms. There were 28. It predicted seven to
nine storms would become hurricanes, with winds of at least 74 mph.
Fifteen did. It predicted three to five of the hurricanes would be
"major," with winds of at least 111 mph. Seven were, and four of
them came ashore in the United States.
A "Category 6?"
Making that official, say several hurricane scientists, would
require sober deliberation by their guild, assessing whether there
would be any real advantage to it — even though it seems reasonable
to expect that the frequency of storms we have already seen with
sustained winds over 175 or 180 mph may indeed creep up as the globe
keeps warming.
Category 5, they point out, is already bad enough, way beyond
almost everyone's ability to imagine, given that Katrina came ashore
as a 3.
Tropical
Storm Chanchu Leaves at Least 32 Dead in Philippines
May 14, 2006 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Chanchu left at
least 32 people dead in the Philippines -- 25 from the sinking
of a ferry boat -- and at least eight missing, the National
Disaster Coordinating Council said.
The confirmed deaths occurred as far north as Manila and
as far south as Negros Occidental province, the agency said
today in a report. Aside from the ferry sinking off Masbate
island, most of the other deaths resulted from falling trees.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported as many as 35 people
died.
More than 600 homes were destroyed, some ``carried by
floodwaters,'' the report said. More than 42,000 persons were
evacuated or otherwise ``affected'' by the storm. Crops,
fisheries and at least two ports were destroyed, the report
said.
Chanchu, the second named storm of the Pacific Ocean
cyclone season, hit the country on the afternoon of May 12, with
its strongest effects being felt through last night. The
Philippines is regularly hit by typhoons that sweep in from the
Pacific during the May-October cyclone season.
As of noon today, Chanchu was in the South China Sea 430
kilometers (266 miles) west of the country, Agence France-Presse
reported, citing the Philippine weather bureau. It was traveling
west-southwest, in the direction of southern Vietnam, AFP said.
China Evacuates
900,000 As Typhoon Chanchu Roars On
Nearly 900,000 people were evacuated as gale
force winds and heavy rain from Typhoon Chanchu hit China's
southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, and though
landslides and flashfloods were reported, there have been no
reports of deaths as of Thursday.
On Wednesday Typhoon Chanchu battered Hong Kong and Taiwan
after killing at least 37 people in the Philippines.
About 70,000 ships were called in from sea in the two provinces,
according to disaster relief officials.
Dozens of flights were cancelled in Guangdong and Fujian, which
were hit by super-hurricane force winds on Wednesday.
Fujian, which evacuated 578,000 people, had already reported
flash floods and landslides by Wednesday evening, the official
Xinhua news agency said.
Guangdong provincecials.
Massive evacuation as Chanchu heads ashore
2006-05-18
EMERGENCY authorities yesterday evacuated almost a
half-million people from south China's coastal areas,
canceled flights and called ships into harbor as Typhoon
Chanchu moved toward the mainland packing winds up to 157
kilometers an hour.
In Fujian Province, more than 307,000 people were taken to
higher ground and 42,000 ships ordered to seek safe haven.
In Guangdong, 180,000 residents were removed from the coast
and 25,000 ships returned to harbor.
As the storm churned through the South China Sea, it caused
an oil tanker to run aground near Taiwan's southern port of
Kaohsiung, officials said. Rescuers in helicopters lifted 13
crew members off the ship.
The typhoon, the strongest ever reported in the South
China Sea in May and the first major storm of the year, was
heading toward Hong Kong earlier this week, but it changed
course abruptly, swirling about 220 kilometers east of the
city yesterday afternoon. Chanchu kicked up high waves and
spawned showers but caused no major damage.
Hong Kong ordered kindergartens to close yesterday along
with schools for mentally handicapped children. Some ferry
services to outlying islands were suspended.
The Hong Kong Airport Authority said 52 flights were
canceled and eight delayed.
The full force of the storm was expected to hit the mainland
between Huilai in Guangdong and Zhangpu in Fujian late last
night or early this morning, according to the Fujian
Provincial Meteorological Bureau.
Many south China towns reported landslides and flooding
yesterday.
Taiwan's weather bureau forecast flooding for yesterday and
today on the outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu.
Schools in Kinmen were ordered closed today because of the
storm.
The weather bureau also warned residents of areas along
Taiwan's western coast against the danger of flooding and
landslides.
Chanchu, which means "pearl" in Cantonese, formed on May 9
in the Pacific Ocean about 550 kilometers east of Mindanao
in the Philippines. It hit the central Philippines on
Saturday, killing at least 32 people and leaving more than
1,000 others homeless.
Those words, spoken over a radio across hundreds of
kilometers (miles), were among the last that Nguyen Ut Thanh, a
fishing boat captain, spoke to his wife. Thanh is believed to
have died hours later in Typhoon Chanchu, which killed at least
87 people across Asia. Nearly 200 Vietnamese fishermen were also
missing and presumed dead.
The typhoon raged across the South China Sea this past
week, then weakened into a tropical storm and lost strength
Saturday off southern Japan. It killed Chinese, Taiwanese,
Filipinos, Vietnamese and Japanese, and forced the evacuation of
1 million people in China.
On Saturday, Chinese state media said a Chinese rescue
ship saved 97 Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea, and
continued to search for other missing Vietnamese. It was unclear
if the 97 fishermen were among almost 200 reported missing by
authorities in the Vietnamese port city of Danang.
China's official Xinhua News Agency also reported that the
rescue ship recovered 18 bodies.
Nguyen Ba Luong, a coast guard official in Danang, and
Tran Van Huy, director of Danang's Fisheries Department, said
they had not heard of the reports that 97 Vietnamese fishermen
had been rescued.
Officials and relatives in Danang struggled to determine
what happened to dozens of fishermen whose vessels sank in the
storm, far from home. People sat beside radio equipment in the
kitchen of one house, listening intently to scratchy bursts of
talk between fishing vessels searching for survivors in the
choppy seas.
The missing fishermen were in two groups of boats in the
South China Sea. Authorities in Danang, the biggest city in
central Vietnam, said 198 remained missing. At least two dozen
bodies have been recovered.
"It's been several days. I think the chances of survival
of the missing fishermen are very slim,'' said Huy at Danang's
Fisheries Department.
Seated in her Danang home, hands folded on her lap, Le Thi
Hue said she last spoke by radio to Thanh, her husband, on
Wednesday as his fishing boat lingered near Taiwan, trying to
sidestep the typhoon. In a radio conversation at 5 p.m., he told
Hue not to worry after she saw a typhoon warning on television.
"Everything's OK,'' he said calmly. He explained that he
had decided to stay put rather than make a dash for the
Vietnamese coast.
Hue called her husband again at 8 p.m. This time, Thanh,
44, sounded nervous and talked fast. They had trouble hearing
each other because winds buffeted the boat, and he told her to
call back at 8 a.m. the next day.
Hue made that call, but she was unable to contact the
boat. Officials confirmed that it sank with 33 crew members
aboard. At least eight bodies were recovered. Thanh, a fisherman
for the past quarter century, was missing.
Japan's coast guard said high waves off the country's
south cost on Wednesday killed one teenager who went swimming in
the sea and left another missing. Earlier, Chanchu battered
parts of the South China Sea after rising to typhoon strength,
killing 37 in the Philippines a week ago. Officials across the
region have confirmed a total of 87 deaths.
Chanchu was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday as
it hit China, but caused landslides and flooding and forced mass
evacuations. Landslides and collapsing buildings killed 15
people and left four missing in China's Fujian province,
provincial authorities said. Eight more people died in
neighboring Guangdong province.
Flooding in southern Taiwan swept two women to their
deaths.
T.C. Lee, an official with the Hong Kong Observatory, said
Chanchu was the most intense typhoon on record to strike in the
South China Sea in May, an early month in the annual typhoon
season.
Two Vietnamese fishing boats that survived the storm were
expected to return to Danang on Monday with 20 corpses and four
surviving sailors, said Ha Van Thong, a coast guard official. He
said nearly 60 other survivors were rescued. Chinese boats
delivered food and fuel to 14 Vietnamese boats that searched the
sea for survivors or bodies near Taiwan.
Hue, the captain's wife, said she had worried for a long
time because her husband spent as many as 10 months a year at
sea.
Local officials said fishermen, beset by rising fuel and
other costs, have been forced to sail into deeper waters in
order to boost their catch.
Trips have lengthened from 20 to 30 days to as long as two
to three months. Thanh had been away this time for 26 days,
hunting squid. His wife speculated that Chanchu caught him
unaware, despite his experience, because it suddenly changed
direction.-AP
Posted on Fri, May. 19, 2006
Typhoon causes mass evacuation
SHANGHAI, China - A powerful typhoon pummeled southern
China on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and leaving 27
Vietnamese fishermen missing after their boats sank in
Chinese waters.
Typhoon Chanchu has killed at least 50 people in Asia,
including 37 last weekend in the Philippines, where it
destroyed thousands of homes.
There were fears the death toll could rise
dramatically.
The storm hit the coast of China early Thursday,
flooding scores of homes and forcing the evacuation of more
than 1 million people before weakening to a severe tropical
storm.
Herald wire services
37 Vietnamese
die in storm, 330 saved
Published: Monday, 22 May, 2006, 10:36 AM Doha Time
DANANG, Vietnam: Typhoon Chanchu
killed at least 37 Vietnamese fishermen in the South
China Sea but Chinese rescue ships have saved 330
sailors, state media in the communist countries reported
yesterday.
The Chinese rescue vessels had picked up the crews of 22
ships and given them water, food and fuel in “the
largest international rescue operation at sea ever
conducted by China”, official Chinese television
reported.
In Vietnam’s central city of Danang, the port where many
of the ships came from, government officials held an
emergency meeting while anxious relatives of more than
230 sailors listed as missing awaited news on their
loved ones.
“We still don’t know who survived,” said Le Minh A,
deputy chairman of the Quang Nam people’s committee.
“Local people are in real panic.”
Deputy Fisheries Minister Nguyen Viet Thang said: “This
is a big loss for the fishermen, and for Vietnam’s
fishing industry. We are making the greatest efforts to
deal with the dead and the survivors.”
Two Vietnamese naval vessels were due to leave the port
in the early afternoon to meet several storm-battered
fishing vessels limping back toward the coast, carrying
survivors and at least 17 bodies.
Police would take photographs and DNA samples before
releasing the bodies to relatives, said officials.
With the 37 reported Vietnamese deaths, the strongest
typhoon recorded for the month of May has claimed more
than 100 lives, having also killed 23 people in China
and 41 in the Philippines.
“We are very sad, the loss is huge,” Major Tran Hoa of
the Danang Border Command told the emergency meeting.
The typhoon surprised scores of Vietnamese vessels, some
as far as 1,000km from home, mid-week when it changed
course and hit them with lashing rains and churning
seas, also cutting radio contact.
Up to 17 boats were sunk, according to Vietnamese state
radio. More than 230 sailors were officially listed as
missing yesterday.
However, there was much confusion between reports from
different national and provincial state agencies on the
number of ships and crew affected.
“At present, the information is very inconsistent,” said
Thang. “We have to avoid causing more panic among the
people.”
Most of the missing sailors were from Danang and nearby
Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces.
“We are waiting for news every minute,” said Vo Huu Son,
55, whose son, nephew and three younger brothers were
missing.
“We really want them to return home safe. We don’t know
what to do — we just wait and wait, expecting more news
from radio and TV. We pin our hope on the authorities
and China to help our fishermen.”
A Chinese rescue ship early Saturday picked up 97
Vietnamese fishermen stranded on a remote island, as
well as 18 bodies.
However, in waters around Taiwan, the island which China
considers a renegade province, the operation was
complicated as the search area stretched across disputed
maritime borders.
“China has given us positive support, but until Saturday
Taiwanese armed ships kept waving our ships out of their
sea territory,” said Hoa. “We are still trying to work
with Taiwanese authorities.”
National Search and Rescue Committee deputy head of
office Nguyen Trong Nhu said: “The greatest difficulty
now is the rescue operation and supporting the victims,
but Taiwan is still hindering us.”
Vietnamese fishing crews were eager to help in the
search in Chinese waters, said Danang People’s Committee
deputy chairman Tran Phuoc Chinh.
“We would like to ask the government to intervene so
China allows Vietnamese vessels to join the rescue
effort,” he said. “Otherwise it will be too late.”-AFP
FLORIDA BRACES FOR A
TROPICAL STORM
Posted:
Saturday, June 10, 2006 at 5:03 PM EDT
By AccuWeather.com Sr.
Meteorologist Henry Margusity
(STATE COLLEGE) - Tropical Depression One
formed Saturday morning in the northwestern
Caribbean. Given the warm water across the
region and somewhat favorable upper-level
winds, further strengthening is expected and
it is likely that Tropical Depression One
could become a tropical storm by later today.
Although computer models are still indicating
a wide scenario of paths, AccuWeather.com
Hurricane Center meteorologists believe the
most likely scenario is that a tropical storm
will move northward through the eastern Gulf
of Mexico and make landfall Monday night
somewhere along the upper West Coast of
Florida or in the Florida Big Bend. Rainfall
from this system in Florida tomorrow through
Tuesday is expected to total at least 4-8
inches with isolated higher amounts. Although
the primary threat from this system across
Florida will likely be heavy rains and the
threat of flooding, especially east of where
the center of circulation makes landfall,
there will be other hazards to contend with.
In addition, a threat for rough surf and rip
currents will be felt in the Lower Florida
Keys and along the Florida West Coast, Big
Bend Coast and panhandle coast beginning
tomorrow. Tides will likely run above normal
tomorrow into Monday from the Keys into the
Big Bend. A threat for storm surge will be a
concern near where the center of the system
crosses the Florida coast and extending all
the way south along the Florida West Coast.
The Florida coastline from Franklin County
southward to Pasco County is a highly
storm-surge prone area due to shape of the
coastline and the shallow slope of the
continental shelf offshore. In addition, the
approaching system will bring an increase
twisting of the winds with speed and direction
with height Sunday night into Tuesday near and
east of where of the center comes ashore
bringing the threat for tornadoes.
Those in Florida and
elsewhere along the Gulf Coast should monitor
further updates here at AccuWeather.com.
People vacationing in and living in the area
most at risk to feel an impact from this
system, Florida, should take the time now to
make necessary storm preparations for the
potential arrival of a tropical storm in the
next 48 hours.
A frontal boundary will continue to remain
parked from the northeastern Rockies through
the north-central Plains and into the Ohio
Valley and southern Virginia Saturday
afternoon and Sunday, where it will continue
to serve as a focusing mechanism for showers
and thunderstorms to develop. Some of these
thunderstorms will be strong to severe
containing strong gusty winds, frequent cloud
to ground lightning, heavy downpours, and
large hail. A few tornadoes are possible
across parts of the Plains this afternoon and
evening.
South of a boundary stretching from the
northern Rockies into the mid-Atlantic, heat
continues to grip much of the country as an
upper-level ridge of high pressure remains in
place. Over the weekend, this heat will build
eastward into the southeastern United States.
AccuWeather.com is forecasting high
temperatures to be on average 6 to 12 degrees
above normal from South Carolina and Georgia
westward to Arizona this weekend.
Tropical Depression Heading Toward
Florida
By JENNIFER KAY, AP
MIAMI (June 10, 2006) - A tropical
depression in the Caribbean headed toward Florida on
Saturday and was expected to become the first named storm of
the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season
The depression formed earlier in
the day, nine days after the official start of the season,
but the poorly organized system was not expected to become a
hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.
"It will be relatively weak in
terms of wind, but that doesn't mean it's going to be weak
in terms of rainfall," senior hurricane specialist Stacy
Stewart said.
The system, which had maximum
sustained wind near 35 mph, would be named Alberto if it
reaches the 39 mph threshold for a tropical storm.
At 5 p.m. EDT, the depression was
centered in the Caribbean Sea about 50 miles west of Cabo
San Antonio on the western tip of Cuba, forecasters said. It
was moving north-northwest near 6 mph.
The hurricane center
recommended tropical storm warnings for the Cuban
provinces of Pinar Del Rio and the Isle of Youth.
Over the next three days, the
system is expected to move through the Yucatan Channel into
the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, then toward Florida where
it could make landfall Monday or Tuesday somewhere between
South Florida and the western tip of the Panhandle,
forecasters said.
The depression's outer rainbands
stretched Saturday to the southern tip of Florida, and heavy
rain was forecast over the state's Gulf Coast and the
Florida Keys through Monday.
State officials pleaded with
residents to update their hurricane preparedness plans but
most shrugged at the news.
"The media overplays this, they
get people very scared," said Tim Roberts, a Fort Lauderdale
condo owner who was visiting Tallahassee. "Sure, when the
time comes to be alarmed, yes, but don't make more out of it
until it's time."
Scientists predict the 2006 season
could produce up to 16 named storms, six of them major
hurricanes.
Last year's hurricane season was
the busiest and most destructive in recorded history.
Hurricane Katrina alone devastated Louisiana and Mississippi
and was blamed for more than 1,570 deaths in Louisiana
alone.
Mike Martino lost his Navarre
Beach home twice in the past two hurricane seasons - first
to Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and never got to move into a new
home built on the same lot because Hurricane Dennis wiped it
out in 2005. Instead of rebuilding again, he moved to the
mainland.
Martino, who rents kayaks, bikes
and surfboards out of his store in Navarre Beach, worried
that the weather would do more economic damage than property
damage.
"I know that we have weather
coming, so I can't have weekly rentals, it's all going to
have to be done by the day," he said.
The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season
was the busiest in 154 years of storm tracking, with records
set for the number of named storms (28) and hurricanes (15).
Forecasters used up their list of 21 proper names (beginning
with Arlene and ending with Wilma) and had to use the Greek
alphabet to name storms for the first time.
Meteorologists have said the
Atlantic is not as warm as it was at this time in 2005,
meaning potential storms would have less of the energy
needed to develop into hurricanes.
Atlantic hurricane seasons were
relatively mild from the 1970s through 1994. Since then, all
but two years have been above normal. Experts say the ocean
is in the midst of a 20-year-cycle that will continue to
bring strong storms.
From 1995 to 2005, the Atlantic
season averaged 15 named storms, just over eight named
hurricanes and four major hurricanes, according to the
hurricane center. From 1971 to 1994, there were an average
of 8.5 named storms, five hurricanes and just over one major
hurricane. The Atlantic hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
6/10/2006 18:28:33 EDT
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
Beryl deals Massachusetts a glancing blow
Most rain falls off Nantucket shore; storm heads for Nova Scotia
Friday, July 21, 2006; Posted: 6:52 p.m. EDT (22:52 GMT)
NANTUCKET, Massachusetts (AP) -- The
Massachusetts coast was spared the worst of Tropical Storm Beryl, which
left high surf but minimal damage Friday before heading toward Nova
Scotia.
"It's turned out to be a good beach day," Rocky Cox, owner of Chicken
Box bar on Nantucket, said Friday morning. "On Nantucket, if they say it's
going to hit us directly, it usually misses us."
Such was the case with Beryl.
The bulk of the rain, between 2 1/2 and 3 inches, fell over the ocean
well east of the island, according to the National Weather Service, while
rainfall over Cape Cod and the islands varied between two-tenths of an
inch and half an inch. Wind gusts on Nantucket topped out at 44 mph.
Nantucket residents are used to hoping for the best while preparing for
the worst, said Liz Almodobar, who sells real estate on the island.
"We had a lot of wind and a lot of rain. But it turned out to be
nothing much of anything, and that was a relief," she said, adding that
the sun had even poked through the clouds Friday between intermittent rain
and fog.
NStar, which has about 200,000 customers on Cape Cod and Martha's
Vineyard, had minimal power outages. The National Grid reported no
storm-related power outages, spokeswoman Debbie Drew said.
The storm hit Nantucket around 3 a.m. Friday, said Jack Beven, a
hurricane specialist at National Hurricane Center in Miami.
At 11 a.m., Beryl was centered 215 miles west-southwest of Nova Scotia,
moving northeast at 23 mph, according to the center.
A record 28 named storms and 15 hurricanes, including Katrina, occurred
during last year's June through November Atlantic hurricane season.
The first named storm of the 2006 season, Tropical Storm Alberto, swept
over Florida in mid-June, then plowed northward along the coast past the
Outer Banks. It was blamed for one drowning.
Copyright 2006 The
Associated Press.
All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed.
China storm toll nears 500
Friday, July 21, 2006
BEIJING,
China (AP) -- China's death toll from tropical storm Bilis more
than doubled to 482 on Friday after a hard-hit province reported a
sharp rise in fatalities, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Authorities in inland Hunan province said 346 people died in
floods triggered by Bilis, while 89 others were missing, according
to Xinhua. The province had previously reported 92 deaths.
Bilis slammed into China's southeastern coast on July 14 and
churned inland, setting off flooding and landslides and forcing
nearly 3 million people to flee their homes, according to the
government.
The higher death toll in Hunan included 197 deaths in the
village of Zixing, Xinhua said. It said a reporter from state
television found that the Zixing government apparently
underreported the number of deaths.
Chinese officials frequently are accused of hiding accident
deaths and other unfavorable information.
Phone calls were not answered Friday evening at Zixing's
government office or Hunan's flood prevention office.
Also Friday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a warning
to local authorities that they would be punished if they fail to
report disasters accurately.
The death toll in crowded Guangdong province, which borders
Hong Kong, rose Friday by 19 to 63, while the toll in neighboring
Guangxi province rose by one to 30, Xinhua said. It said there
were 43 deaths in coastal Fujian province.
Losses in Guangdong totaled 9 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion),
the report said.
Flood waters washed away roads, cut power supplies and
submerged part of China's main north-south railway line in a swath
of destruction that stretched across southern China.
Storm-ravaged areas faced new problems this week as a heat
wave swept the region, with temperatures in Fujian on Thursday
rising to 38 degrees centigrade (100 degrees Fahrenheit), Xinhua
said.
Separately, Xinhua said flash floods struck a county in
China's mountainous southwest on Friday, killing at least eight
people and leaving 27 others missing.
The floods swept through a town in Mengzi County in Yunnan
province at about 3 a.m. on Thursday (1900 GMT on Wednesday),
Xinhua said.
Work sheds beside an expressway that was under construction
were swept away, the report said. It didn't say whether anyone was
in the sheds, but Chinese construction workers often live at the
site of building projects.
China's death toll
from tropical storm Bilis more than doubled to 482 on Friday after a
hard-hit province reported a sharp rise in fatalities, the official Xinhua
News Agency said.
Authorities in inland Hunan province said 346 people died in floods
triggered by Bilis, while 89 others were missing, according to Xinhua. The
province had previously reported 92 deaths.
Bilis slammed into China's southeastern coast on July 14 and churned
inland, setting off flooding and landslides and forcing nearly 3 million
people to flee their homes, according to the government.
The higher death toll in Hunan included 197 deaths in the village of
Zixing, Xinhua said. It said a reporter from state television found that
the Zixing government apparently underreported the number of deaths.
Chinese officials frequently are accused of hiding accident deaths and
other unfavorable information.
Phone calls were not answered Friday evening at Zixing's government
office or Hunan's flood prevention office.
Also Friday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a warning to local
authorities that they would be punished if they fail to report disasters
accurately.
The death toll in crowded Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong,
rose Friday by 19 to 63, while the toll in neighboring Guangxi province
rose by one to 30, Xinhua said. It said there were 43 deaths in coastal
Fujian province.
Losses in Guangdong totaled 9 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion), the report
said.
Flood waters washed away roads, cut power supplies and submerged part
of China's main north-south railway line in a swath of destruction that
stretched across southern China.
Storm-ravaged areas faced new problems this week as a heat wave swept
the region, with temperatures in Fujian on Thursday rising to 38 degrees
centigrade (100 degrees Fahrenheit), Xinhua said.
Separately, Xinhua said flash floods struck a county in China's
mountainous southwest on Friday, killing at least eight people and leaving
27 others missing.
The floods swept through a town in Mengzi County in Yunnan province at
about 3 a.m. on Thursday (1900 GMT on Wednesday), Xinhua said.
Work sheds beside an expressway that was under construction were swept
away, the report said. It didn't say whether anyone was in the sheds, but
Chinese construction workers often live at the site of building projects.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Aug. 2, 2006) -
Tropical Storm Chris swept through the eastern Caribbean on
Wednesday, forcing cruise ships to change course and tourists to
evacuate small islands off the coast of Puerto Rico as it threatened
to become the first hurricane of the Atlantic season.
The storm had top sustained winds of
60 mph as it swirled past the northern Leeward Islands and
moved west-northwest toward the U.S. Virgin Islands, the
British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
A hurricane watch was issued in the
southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the
National Hurricane Center said. The watch meant hurricane
conditions of winds of at least 74 mph were possible by late
Thursday.
Some 600 tourists evacuated Culebra
and Vieques, islands off Puerto Rico's east coast.
"Everybody left," said Jacinto
Jiminez, owner of a hotel on Culebra.
The storm was projected to pass at
least 100 miles north of Puerto Rico, but could produce strong
gusts of wind and up to 8 inches of rain. Authorities in the
U.S. territory warned of possible flash floods and mudslides.
The center of the storm was
about 115 miles northeast of St. Thomas in the U.S.
Virgin Islands at late Wednesday afternoon.
Forecasters said it was likely
to strengthen and could hit anywhere from south of Cuba
to Florida by late this weekend.
Royal Caribbean, the cruise
line operator, said it was changing the itineraries of
three ships - the Navigator of the Seas, the Explorer of
the Seas and the Freedom of the Seas - to keep them
clear of the storm .
"Royal Caribbean will continue
to closely monitor weather conditions," the company
said.
Trevor Basden, senior
meteorologist with the Bahamas' National Emergency
Management Agency, said he expected Chris to strengthen
into a weak hurricane as it passed through the island
chain. He said the storm was likely to reach the Bahamas
on Friday morning.
Bahamian officials advised
people to stock up on water and canned food and be
prepared to take precautions - such as boarding up their
houses - if the storm reaches hurricane strength.
There were no reports of major
damage or injuries as the storm skirted the Leeward
Islands.
In Anguilla, Chris
brought heavy rain and strong winds overnight
but the storm was much less severe than expected
because it shifted to the north at the last
minute, said Elizabeth Klute, director of the
disaster management agency for the British
Caribbean territory.
"It just kind of
skirted us," Klute said. "It's moving on."
Islanders in Antigua
and St. Maarten awoke to a light rain. There
were no reports of major flooding or other
damage.
The first named storm
of the 2006 season, Tropical Storm Alberto,
swept over Florida in mid-June, then plowed
northward along the U.S. coast past the Outer
Banks. It was blamed for one death.
Last year's hurricane
season was the worst in more than 150 years of
record-keeping. A record number of tropical
storms and hurricanes formed, including the
devastating Hurricane Katrina.
Associated Press
writers John Pain in Miami, Marvin Hokstam in
St. Maarten, Colin James in Antigua and Clive
Bacchus in St. Kitts contributed to this report.
AP-NY-08-02-06 1928EDT
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
8-27-06 -
State of
Emergency Declared in Florida Aug 27, 4:16 PM (ET)
By JESSICA GRESKO
TAVERNIER, Fla. (AP) - Visitors
were ordered to leave the Florida Keys on Sunday and Gov.
Jeb Bush issued a state of emergency because of the
possibility that Hurricane Ernesto could threaten the state.
Bush's order came after the
Monroe County Emergency Management office told tourists to
postpone any immediate plans to travel to the Keys and
ordered those already in the island chain to leave.
All travel trailers and
recreational vehicles were ordered off the islands
immediately.
The state of emergency directed
counties to activate their emergency management offices and
activated the National Guard, among other things. Bush also
canceled a scheduled trip to New York for meetings Monday,
choosing instead to stay in Tallahassee and monitor storm
developments.
Monroe County authorities
planned to begin moving special needs patients to a shelter
Monday morning.
Ernesto, the first hurricane of
the Atlantic season, was lashing Haiti on Sunday with heavy
rain and sustained wind of 75 mph.
The storm was expected to move
over Cuba, then bring rain and wind to southern Florida by
early Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said. It was
projected to strengthen off western Florida on Wednesday but
the location of any U.S. landfall was unclear.
Tourists like Jim Rogers, of
Lodi, N.J., made preparations Sunday to leave the low-lying
Keys, which are connected to each other by just one highway,
U.S. 1. Traffic leaving the Keys on the single evacuation
route was steady but not heavy Sunday afternoon.
Rogers was part of a group of
eight staying on Key Largo who had planned to stay in the
Keys until Thursday or Friday. Rogers said the group now
might go to Naples, but they were not going home.
"You don't know where to go.
You don't know where it's going to blow," he said. "You
don't want to be in Key West."
Key West International Airport
was expected to remain open until at least Monday night.
A tropical storm or hurricane
watch was possible for sections of the Keys by Monday
morning, meteorologists said as the hurricane center urged
residents of southern Florida, the Florida Keys and Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula to monitor the storm.
"It's on a track toward the
Florida peninsula early this week, and all of Florida is in
the area that's being threatened, from the Keys all the way
up to the Panhandle," said Michael Brennan, a meteorologist
at the hurricane center in Miami.
Florida's emergency management
center in Tallahassee was partially activated Sunday, and
several counties around the state planned to activate their
own centers on some level Monday.
Florida has been hit by eight
hurricanes in the past two years.
"The message to Floridians is
that Ernesto bears watching," said Mike Stone, spokesman for
the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Ernesto
became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season Sunday with winds of
75 mph, and forecasters said it would strengthen as it headed toward
the Gulf of Mexico, where it could menace a wide swath of coastline
including New Orleans.
The National Hurricane Center
in Miami said the storm could grow by Thursday into a hurricane as
strong as Katrina, which struck the city a year ago Tuesday.
"It's over nice warm Caribbean waters, and far enough off the
coast of Haiti that it is still strengthening now," said Ron Goodman,
a forecaster at the center.
The storm, moving northwest at 10 mph, was projected to make
landfall in Haiti on Sunday afternoon, dropping heavy rain that could
cause deadly mudslides in the heavily deforested country. Ernesto was
expected to cross west-central Cuba on Tuesday night before continuing
into the Gulf of Mexico.
Ernesto was expected to bring rain and wind to southern Florida
by early Tuesday, and the hurricane center encouraged people in
southern Florida, the Florida Keys and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to
monitor the storm. It was projected to strengthen off western Florida
on Wednesday but the location of any U.S. landfall was unclear.
Emergency officials in Haiti evacuated some residents low-lying
areas in the northwest city of Gonaives, which was devastated by
Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004.
The storm was expected to pass Sunday afternoon near the tip of
Haiti's southwestern peninsula, where officials said there was heavy
rain but no reported damage. "There's no plan to evacuate now but if
there's more rain later we may have to," said Adel Nazaire,
coordinator with Haiti's civil protection agency.
Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller put the country's
security forces on alert and said at a news conference Saturday that
all the island's shelters were open.
"Ensure that the children are not left alone, and make it easier
for rescue workers," she said.
Jamaica issued advisories by radio and television for residents
in low-lying areas across the island to be prepared to evacuate if
necessary.
In Cuba, the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde warned
Cubans of heavy rain, winds and potential flooding on the southeast
coast starting Sunday night. Cattle were moved to higher ground, and
workers cleaned gutters and picked rubble off the streets ahead of the
storm.
At 11 a.m., the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane
season was centered about 115 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, and 205 miles southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba. Hurricane-force
winds of at least 74 mph extended up to 15 miles from the storm's
center.
The Royal Caribbean cruise line said it was diverting three
ships scheduled to depart the United States on Sunday and Monday,
sending them to alternative Caribbean ports to avoid the storm.
The hurricane center said the storm's 75 mph winds pushed it
just above the threshold for a Category 1, the weakest category of
hurricane. To reach Category 3, Katrina's strength, the winds would
have to reach at least 111 mph.
"There will be probably be a restrengthening after it leaves the
Cuban coast to a Category 2, and Wednesday night it will be west of
Fort Myers as Category 3. That's the current thinking," Goodman said.
Heavy showers hit Kingston on Saturday afternoon, causing
traffic jams as motorists tried to reach stores. People waited in long
lines at supermarkets, filling grocery carts with canned goods,
batteries and candles.
"It's nature and we can't stop it from taking its course," said
taxi driver Patrick Wallace, 55, as he left a supermarket after
stocking up on canned goods.
In Haiti, emergency officials went on local radio to warn people
living in flimsy shantytowns on the southern coast to seek shelter in
schools and churches. The hurricane center said Haiti and the
Dominican Republic could get up to 20 inches of rain in some places —
which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.
"These people could be in great danger," said Adel Nazaire, a
coordinator with Haiti's civil protection agency. "Flooding is the
biggest concern because a lot of residents live along the rivers and
the sea."
Floridians Relieved As
Ernesto Loses Punch Before Striking State
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
MIAMI Aug 29, 2006 (AP)— Tropical Storm
Ernesto sloshed rather than slammed ashore surprising forecasters by
failing to strengthen Tuesday as it approached Florida and providing
relief to hurricane-weary residents.
Briefly a hurricane Sunday, Ernesto lost much of its punch
crossing mountainous eastern Cuba. The storm crossed the Florida
Straits with top sustained winds of 45 mph and was expected to move
through Florida overnight as a weak tropical storm.
That was good news for Florida, the victim of seven hurricanes
since 2004.
"Frankly, I am surprised it has not strengthened," said Max
Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center. "But for all
those thousands and thousands of people with blue-tarped roofs,
that's good news. … As a homeowner, I'm very happy. As a forecaster,
I'm not very happy."
The storm contributed to at least one death. A Miami woman
died after her car hydroplaned off an expressway and hit a palm
tree, authorities said.
When the threat of damaging winds abated, rain became the
biggest concern, and police distributed thousands of sandbags in the
low-lying Miami suburb of Sweetwater. Five to 10 inches of rain was
possible, forecasters said.
Some 36 hours earlier, officials had feared much worse. In the
Keys, Monroe County emergency management director Irene Toner smiled
as she watched steady rain fall.
"This is great," she said. "Compared to what it could have
been, we are fortunate."
On Miami Beach, usually vibrant Lincoln Road was quiet, and
many businesses closed early. Among those finding food at an Italian
restaurant was actor Mickey Rourke with his dog Loki, wearing a pink
argyle sweater.
"What storm?" Rourke said. "This is nothing."
The state had been ready to respond with 500 National Guard
members and another 500 state law enforcement officers.
"This does not look like a catastrophic event, but we always
want to be ready," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said
in Tallahassee. He attended Katrina anniversary events earlier in
the day in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Ernesto was forecast to move up the middle of the state and exit
on the northeast coast by early Thursday, moving into the Atlantic
and potentially gaining hurricane strength before hitting Georgia or
the Carolinas.
NASA scrubbed Tuesday's launch of Atlantis. The space agency
began moving the shuttle back to its hangar to protect it from the
storm, then reversed course later in the day when forecasters
predicted that winds would not be as severe as initially feared.
"It is always difficult to forecast intensity," Mayfield said.
"We've been very honest with people about that."
Tropical storm watches or warnings remained in effect for much
of coastal Florida. A hurricane watch was posted for the coasts of
Georgia and the Carolinas.
At 8 p.m. EDT, Ernesto was centered 70 miles south of Miami
and was moving northwest near 13 mph.
Across populous south Florida, residents scurried to make
last-minute preparations before hunkering down. Lines formed early
in the morning at groceries, gas stations, pharmacies and home
supply stores, and many schools were closed through Wednesday.
The storm was especially worrisome for thousands of residents
still awaiting repairs to damage from hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.
More than a thousand people sought refuge at shelters in
Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Latosha Mikell reluctantly brought
her 9-month-old son to a Miami shelter.
"There is no privacy here," she said. "There is no bedding,
and there are a lot of people just sleeping on the floor."
Others embraced the weather as an opportunity. A squall
preceding the storm brought out kite-surfers on Miami Beach until
the wind became too strong.
In the laid-back Florida Keys, many residents took the storm
in stride. At the Hurricane Grille in Marathon, wall-mounted
televisions showed Ernesto heading for the Keys as Dean Carrigan
enjoyed beer and a game of darts.
"It's definitely the Keys lifestyle that we're out here
drinking and having a good time," he said.
Ernesto killed at least two people in Haiti, including a woman
washed out to sea Sunday from a southern island, the country's civil
protection agency said
There were no reports of damage or deaths in Cuba. In an unusual
public acknowledgment of the cooperation that has long existed
between U.S. and Cuban weather services, the hurricane center
thanked Cuba's government for permitting reconnaissance aircraft "to
fly right up to their coastline to gather this critical weather
data."
Meanwhile, off Mexico's west coast, Hurricane John grew into a
powerful Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.
The storm threatened to cause flooding and ruin vacations in some
Pacific resorts, but it was not expected to directly hit land.
John became the sixth Pacific hurricane of the season earlier
in the day.
Associated Press Writers Michelle Spitzer in Davie, Adrian
Sainz in Key Largo, Jessica Gresko in Key West and Matt Sedensky in
Marathon contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Typhoon Xangsane Leaves 76 Dead, 69 Missing in
Philippines
Sunday, October 01, 2006
MANILA, Philippines — The death toll from a typhoon
that ravaged the Philippine capital and northern farming regions
has risen to 76, with 69 others missing in floods and
landslides, officials said Sunday.
Most of the
additional deaths were caused by drowning, landslides or falling
debris as Typhoon Xangsane roared across Manila and nearby
provinces on Luzon island Thursday. The fatalities were only
reported over the weekend due to downed communication lines,
officials said.
Xangsane has since hit Vietnam and been downgraded to
a tropical storm.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
appealed for public patience as authorities struggled
to fully restore power, communications and water
supplies, and to clear roads of debris and fallen
trees three days after the typhoon.
"The tragedy has been disheartening but our
nation needs to be strong to cope with and to overcome
these trying times," presidential spokesman Ignacio
Bunye said in a statement.
Arroyo on Saturday presided over a meeting
of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, and
ordered authorities to intensify a massive cleanup in
the capital and beyond. As complaints mounted, she
ordered power restored in the capital within 48 hours.
About 72 percent of power in Luzon, hit by a
total blackout Thursday, had been restored Sunday.
However, efforts to fully restore electricity were
being stymied by downed power poles and giant steel
pylons, officials said.
"We're trying to abide by the president's
order but there was just too much structural damage,"
said Jocelyn Abrera, an information officer of the
state-run National Transmission Corp.
About 20 typhoons and storms lash the
Philippines yearly, but many people seemed overwhelmed
by the extent of damage caused by Xangsane, which blew
out of the country Friday.
Many Manila residents crammed hotels and malls to
escape the heat and inconvenience in their powerless
homes. Some gasoline stations closed due to delays in
supply deliveries and panic buying, officials said.
They said Internet and cable TV were still out in
some areas, and users have complained of sluggish cell
phone services.
The typhoon, the worst to hit the bustling capital
in over a decade, left many villages still littered
with fallen trees and debris after bright sunshine
returned Sunday.
About 2,000 soldiers were helping clear fallen
trees, billboards and power poles in Manila, the
military said.
In a desperate bid to hasten the cleanup,
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman
Bayani Fernando announced a cash prize for residents
who help clear fallen trees and turn them into
artworks.
The storm affected more than 1 million people in 17
central and northern provinces and in metropolitan
Manila, and nearly 105,000 remained in 198 emergency
government shelters, the National Disaster
Coordinating Council said.
As authorities grappled with Xangsane's aftermath,
government forecasters on Sunday found a new tropical
depression swirling in the Pacific Ocean about 630
miles east of southern Luzon with winds of up to 34
miles per hour, officials said.
It was moving at 7 mph toward the northern tip of
the Philippines and Taiwan, and was expected to
strengthen in the new few days. The depression,
locally named Neneng, was not expected to hit the
Philippines unless it changes course, forecaster Peter
Kindipan said.
Vietnam's death toll from Typhoon Xangsane rises to 15 as
residents inspect damage
The
Associated Press
DANANG, Vietnam Disheartened residents
returned to Vietnam's battered central coast Monday to
inspect damage wrought by Typhoon Xangsane as the country's
death toll rose to 15, with one missing and nearly 600
others injured, officials said.
The overall toll from the storm stood at 91 — with 76 killed
and 69 left missing in the Philippines last week before the
typhoon barreled into Vietnam and weakened into a tropical
storm on Sunday.
"The areas in the typhoon's direct path looked like they
were just bombarded by B-52s" said Nguyen Ngoc Quang, deputy
provincial governor of the coastal province of Quang Nam.
Quang Nam and the key port city of Danang bore the brunt of
the damage.
The most unfortunate found their homes demolished; the lucky
ones discovered they still had foundations upon which to
rebuild. Virtually everyone along the coast from Danang to
the ancient city of Hoi An will have some rebuilding to do.
"When I returned home, there was nothing left," said Pham
Thi Thanh of Son Tra District in Danang. "Luckily, all my
four family members are safe."
In Danang alone, nine people were killed and the damage was
estimated at 3.2 trillion dong (US$200 million;€159
million), according to a report by the city's government.
Officials had yet to tally damages in other provinces.
The typhoon killed one person each in the provinces of Quang
Nam, Quang Binh and Quang Tri. Further south, in Binh Dinh
province, where the winds from the storm weren't as strong,
three boys aged 11 to 13 drowned while swimming during the
storm. A fourth boy was still missing, disaster officials in
these provinces said.
In Quang Nam, where some 61,000 people were evacuated ahead
of the typhoon, 3,700 houses were destroyed and 132,000
others were damaged, said Quang, the deputy provincial
governor.
Soldiers were mobilized to help villagers clean up and
repair their homes. Quang said the provincial government
will give 2 million dong (US$125; €100) to each family whose
house was destroyed and 1 million dong (US$63; €50) to each
family whose home was badly damaged.
The damage to the ancient town of Hoi An, a popular tourist
destination just south of Danang, was not major.
A report of the National Floods and Storms Control Committee
said 5,600 houses were destroyed and 211,117 others were
damaged and another 19,000 homes were flooded in the
affected central provinces.
About 435 people were injured by collapsing homes or tin
roofs hurled by the winds in Danang, said Trinh Luong Tran,
director of the city's public health department. Another 94
people were injured in Quang Nam and 43 others in Thua Thien
Hue province.
No rains were reported in the region Monday. Weather
forecasters had feared that heavy rains could continue for
several days, possibly unleashing flash floods and
landslides.
Danang disaster official Huynh Van Thang said, "the
evacuation of people from high-risk areas ahead of the
typhoon helped us to minimize human losses."
In all, some 200,000 people were evacuated in advance of the
storm, 17,000 of them from Danang
Philippines
Struggles With 4th Big Storm Dec 2, 2006 - 5:12 PM (ET)
By OLIVER TEVES
PADANG, Philippines (AP) - Doomed by geography and hobbled
by poverty, the Philippines has long struggled to minimize
damage from the onslaught of typhoons it faces each year.
But the high death tolls and destruction persist, with the
latest storm killing more than 300 people and leaving 300
missing in the northern Philippines.
Typhoon Durian was the fourth major storm to hit the country
in four months. It buffeted the Mayon volcano with so much
wind and rain that ash and boulders cascaded down in walls
of black mud that swamped entire villages on Thursday.
The Philippines' location in the northwestern Pacific often
makes it the region's welcome mat for typhoons.
"We are often the first to experience typhoons before they
go to China, Taiwan and Japan," said Thelma Cinco, senior
weather specialist of the Philippine weather bureau.
Durian, named after a thorny fruit with a powerful odor that
many find offensive, blew away roofs, toppled trees and
power lines and sent tons of rocks and volcanic ash down
Mayon, the region's most famous landmark about 210 miles
southeast of Manila.
Rescuers scouring mountain villages buried under mud and
boulders discovered more bodies Saturday, and prospects for
finding any of the 300 missing people alive were fading.
The first funerals were held Saturday evening as bodies
rapidly decomposed in the tropical heat.
In the town of Padang, only rooftops protruded from the mud
and debris. Power pylons were toppled, a two-lane highway
became a one-lane road strewn with debris and overturned
trucks.
Silangan Santander, 21, attended funeral services for her
brother, Larry, whose widow was five months pregnant. Only
his lower torso and legs were found near the sea. Another
brother was missing.
"In the community where my brother lived, all the houses
there were gone," she said. "There are only rocks, sand and
water."
The sound of boulders crashing down Mayon's slopes "were
like thunder, and the ground shook," she said. "We thought
it would be our end."
The Red Cross appealed for food, tents, water, blankets,
mats, mosquito nets and body bags. Canada donated $876,000
while Japan said it would send $173,000, the Philippine
government said.
Nationwide, at least 2,892 people have been killed and 909
have gone missing in storms between 2001-05, according to
the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Damage has
totaled $521 million.
The calamities came despite preparations and measures to
mitigate the damage.
Anthony Golez, the council's deputy chief said the people of
the Philippines need to be better informed about disaster
preparedness.
He said Filipinos should be "bombarded" with disaster
information, including stories of the Indian Ocean tsunami
two years ago and the February 2006 landslide in the central
Philippine village of Guinsaugon that killed more than
1,000.
"They have to get scared, or else," he said. "We have to
give them the reality, and it's a sad reality. We have to
tell them the truth."
But beyond preparedness, Golez said too many people live
close to danger zones like mountainsides or riverbanks.
"They are pushed there because they do not have any choice.
If you develop their economy, then they would have more
options," he said.
Sen. Richard Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red
Cross, said better planning is needed.
"We have to break the cycle of disaster and poverty by being
smarter, by being sure we can plan our community smarter,"
he said. "The big problem here in our country is we don't
plan our communities. It's every man for himself."
He said the government has money for disaster mitigation but
that politicians look to building projects that last only
long enough for people to remember them during election
campaigns.
Mayor Jessie Robredo of Naga city in Camarines Sur, a
province in the Bicol region often hit by typhoons, said his
people are used to the yearly storms and began bracing for
Durian a week before it arrived. The result was "zero
casualty" this time, he said.
But he laments that emergency funds, used to help his
constituents get back on their feet after typhoons, could be
used for economic projects.
"We would have been more progressive, more productive," he
said. "The worst part of a typhoon is that instead of using
our funds for livelihood, we use them for relief to help
people rebuild their lives. Instead of building
infrastructures, we repair buildings."
The cycle seems unlikely to break soon.
"The people of Naga are very resilient," Robredo said.
"Typhoons are like a way of life, a part of life. We do not
like them, but our attitude is that there is still another
day and we will rise again."
The Red Cross estimates that up to 1,000 people
may have died after a typhoon struck the
Philippines last Thursday.
Typhoon Durian unleashed mudslides which
engulfed entire villages, and the government has
declared a state of national calamity.
Torrential rains and winds reaching 265 km/h
caused ash and boulders from the Mayon volcano on
Luzon island to swamp villages around its base.
At least 425 people died and almost 600 are still missing.
The Red Cross says hopes of finding any survivors beneath the volcanic mud, debris and boulders has virtually vanished, and the exact death toll may never be known.
Bodies have been buried in mass graves to prevent them from decomposing in the tropical heat.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have been evacuated and ships called to shore in south central Vietnam, where the typhoon is expected to hit land later today.
However, state media said that many others seemed not to be taking the evacuation seriously.
While the storm is not expected to be as strong, it is said to be carrying winds of 130 km/h and lashing rains.
Authorities are warning that the storm could cause landslides.
It is thought the rains could also disrupt the country's coffee-growing region, which is in peak harvest time.
At least 425 people died and almost 600 are still
missing.
The Red Cross says hopes of finding any
survivors beneath the volcanic mud, debris and
boulders has virtually vanished, and the exact
death toll may never be known.
Bodies have been buried in mass graves to
prevent them from decomposing in the tropical
heat.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have been
evacuated and ships called to shore in south
central Vietnam, where the typhoon is expected to
hit land later today.
However, state media said that many others
seemed not to be taking the evacuation seriously.
While the storm is not expected to be as
strong, it is said to be carrying winds of 130
km/h and lashing rains.
Authorities are warning that the storm could
cause landslides.
It is thought the rains could also disrupt the
country's coffee-growing region, which is in peak
harvest time.
Vietnam braces for Durian after typhoon kills
up to 1,000 in the Philippines
Oliver Teves, Canadian Press
Published: Monday, December 04, 2006
GUINOBATAN, Philippines (AP) - Rescuers in the
Philippines all but gave up hope Monday of finding
survivors in mudslide-swamped villages on the
slopes of the Mayon volcano, five days after
typhoon Durian killed an estimated 1,000 people.
A weakened Durian headed toward southern
Vietnam, where authorities evacuated tens of
thousands of people. The typhoon's winds were
clocked at 130 kilometres an hour Monday.
Durian lashed the Philippines last Thursday
with 265 km/h winds and a five-hour deluge that
dislodged tonnes of debris from the slopes of the
volcano. Walls of mud and boulders destroyed
nearly every standing structure in their path.
"It was like bowling," said Guinobatan
Vice-Mayor Gene Villareal.
Official figures showed 450 dead, 507 injured
and 599 missing, but Senator Richard Gordon, head
of the Philippines Red Cross, said he believed
more than 1,000 died in the thousands of homes
buried under volcanic debris, mud and flood
waters.
Juan Garcia, mayor of the devastated town of
Guinobatan, was pessimistic about finding
survivors.
"It's almost impossible," he said. "They have
been buried under sand and boulders. I don't think
they can survive. It's impossible for anyone to
survive."
He said 186 bodies had been recovered and more
than 300 were still missing in his village alone.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared the
area a national disaster Sunday, freeing up
government funds to bolster aid efforts.
"We are no strangers to this kind of tragedy,
and we have always been able to recover and become
stronger," she said Monday.
Arroyo said she instructed the Department of
Environment to step up a project to map all
hazardous areas, like Mayon, to help forewarn
communities of possible dangers.
"We must not leave things to fatal luck when we
can develop the tools to prevent harm," she said.
Fernando Gonzalez, governor of worst-hit Albay
province, said the ground was too slippery for
backhoes.
"There's no choice but to dig by hand," he told
Radio DZBB. "Practically speaking, we are not very
optimistic we'll find survivors."
Residents of Vietnam's south central provinces
of Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Phu Yen braced for
Durian to hit Monday night.
Two fishermen were killed and another was
missing in Phu Yen after their boats capsized in
strong winds, disaster official Duong Van Huong
said.
Soldiers and police were ordered to evacuate
people from high risk areas in Khanh Hoa province
before noon Monday, and all schools there were
closed, said provincial Gov. Vo Lam Phi.
Provincial disaster official Phan Van Giac said
that nearly 14,000 people have been evacuated to
schools, government buildings or safer areas, and
that authorities are forcing from their homes
another 10,000 who have so far refused to leave.
He said about 4,000 people in Phu Yen province
have been evacuated to safe areas.
Just to the south, in Ninh Thuan province,
provincial Gov. Hoang Thi Ut Lan said about 2,000
residents had been evacuated, but many later
returned to their homes. Lan said authorities are
trying to force them to move to safer places.
Hanoi - Vietnam evacuated tens of thousands of
people in central southern provinces on Monday as
typhoon Durian barrelled toward the coast after
triggering a devastating mudslide in the
Philippines.
The typhoon, packing winds of 130km per hour, was
expected to hit towns and tourist resorts between
Binh Dinh and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces later on
Monday, said meteorologists and officials.
Vietnam's air force dispatched planes over the
South China Sea and fishing boats were ordered to
return to shore, while authorities prepared for
possible search and rescue missions, the Vietnam
News Agency said.
Three fishermen drowned off central Phu Yen
province on Sunday as they were sailing for shelter
from the approaching typhoon, the agency reported.
Local authorities aided by troops were on Monday
trying to evacuate more than 90 000 people from the
region, which was less frequently hit by typhoons
than central Vietnam, the national flood and storm
control committee said.
"We have evacuated more than 6 800 people to
safer areas like schools, churches and cultural
centres," said one provincial official, Tran Minh
Tien of the Ninh Thuan agriculture department.
"In some areas, we need to mobilise soldiers to
help in the evacuation."
He added many people did not want to leave their
homes because the weather until Monday noon had been
relatively calm but warned: "From this afternoon,
those who have refused to be evacuated will be
forced to do so."
State television said many people in Khanh Hoa -
the province where the popular beach resort town of
Nha Trang is located - did not believe the storm was
coming, having had little exposure to typhoons.
Some people went to the beach to fill sandbags to
reinforce their houses, but they were mostly from
northern areas of Vietnam, whose residents have
greater experience with typhoons, said the report.
Central Vietnam was in October hit by typhoon
Xangsane, which killed at least 70 people and
brought widespread flooding and destruction.
Typhoon
Utor Lashes Philippines; 3 Dead
By OLIVER TEVES 12.10.06, 5:26
AM ET
