Tag: Climate change

HONG KONG —  Heavy rain in Hong Kong and southern China overnight flooded city streets and some subway stations, with hundreds evacuated and two deaths reported in Hong Kong. Hong Kong authorities said during a joint news conference Friday that the extreme weather was expected to last until at least midnight, with widespread flooding and heavy disruptions to public transport in multiple districts. An official from the Hong Kong observatory said the city had recorded over 600mm of rain so far — a quarter of the city’s average annual rainfall.…

TAIPEI —  Domestic flights were canceled and almost 3,000 people were evacuated as Taiwan prepared for the arrival of Typhoon Haikui on Sunday. The storm is expected to bring torrential rain and strong winds to the island’s south and east. Haikui is forecast to make landfall in the mountainous and sparsely populated far southeast of Taiwan late Sunday afternoon, with counties and cities in the east and south canceling classes and declaring a day off for workers. Haikui is a much weaker storm than Typhoon Saola, which hit Hong Kong…

BEIJING —  Typhoon Saola made landfall in southern China before dawn Saturday after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and most of Hong Kong and parts of the coastal mainland suspended business, transport and classes. Damage appeared to be minimal, however, and some services were returning to normal by afternoon. Meanwhile, Taiwan issued a warning Saturday for a second typhoon, Haikui, which was expected to pass over the island Sunday before traveling onward to the central Chinese coast. Guangdong province’s meteorological bureau said the powerful storm churned into an…

BEIJING —  China issued the highest typhoon warning on Thursday as Typhoon Saola crawled closer to the southeastern coastline, threatening Hong Kong and other major manufacturing hubs in neighboring Guangdong province. Chinese forecasters issued a typhoon red warning at 6 a.m. (2200 GMT). China’s National Meteorological Center said Saola, currently located about 295km southeast of Guangdong province, will move northwest across the South China Sea at a speed of about 10 kph, gradually approaching the coast of Guangdong, then slowly weaken in intensity. Wind speeds at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT)…

Bad weather continues to wreak havoc in China, where heavy rains have resulted in mudslides and flooding around the country. In the northwestern part of the country, at least two people were killed in mudslides in the outskirts of Xi’an and 16 people are missing, a state news agency said Saturday. Two houses were also washed away in the deluge. Roads, bridges and power supply facilities were also damaged. Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to the area. Train service was suspended Saturday in Beijing and the northeastern city…

TAIPEI —  Rain continued to pelt northeastern China in the wake of Typhoon Doksuri on Saturday, as authorities reported more fatalities and missing people while evacuating thousands more. Six people died and four went missing in the city of Shulan in Jilin province, which has seen five straight days of rainfall, according to state media. Over 18,900 people were evacuated from the city of more than 700,000, according to the local disaster relief agency. State news agency China News Service showed images of waterlogged streets around homes and factories. The…

SHENZHEN, China —  Floodwaters from Typhoon Doksuri continued to deluge farms and cities in northeast China into the weekend, with the country’s disaster relief systems struggling to contain the aftermath of one of the strongest storms in years. Almost 15,000 residents were moved out of the city of Shulan in corn-growing Jilin province, where one person was dead and four others missing, according to state media. Rain has fallen continuously in Shulan since Aug. 1, some areas getting nearly 49 centimeters of rainfall, five times the previous record. Bridges have…

BEIJING —  As residual rain from a typhoon drifted to northeast China, Heilongjiang province on Friday warned of swelling rivers amid severe weather and even tornadoes as storms pounded cities, including the already waterlogged provincial capital, Harbin. Grain-producing Heilongjiang is the latest place hit by Doksuri, which has caused deaths, displaced thousands and put China’s disaster-response systems to the test after swamping Beijing and nearby cities since making landfall in the south a week earlier. Heilongjiang was forecast on Friday to experience strong convective weather, including short-term heavy precipitation, thunderstorms…