GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

 

SEPTEMBER 2013

 

 

ASIA

 

A tornado ripped through parts of eastern Japan on the 2nd leaving dozens injured and many properties damaged. Police in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, say that 63 people were reported injured. Residents reported that roofs were carried off houses while electricity poles collapsed.

 

Just a few days after the remains of Kong-rey flooded parts of Japan, Toraji brought another round of heavy rainfall to southern Japan onb the 5th. Tropical Storm Kong-rey drenched parts of southern Japan, as well as northern Honshu and Hokkaido with 75-150 mm over the weekend. One of the hardest hit areas was Kagoshima, in the south, where more than 250 mm of rain fell Saturday through Monday. Toraji has brought around 100 mm of additional rain to the Kagoshima area.

 

Torrential rainfall across the northern Philippines, including the capital city of Manila, has led to widespread flooding problems since the weekend on the 25th. Former Typhoon Usagi passed north of the Philippines on Friday before moving westward and making landfall in China on Sunday.

 

29th

Several days of excessive rains in the Indian state of Gujarat have turned deadly on the 29th. At least 13 people have been killed. Earlier reports stated at least 50,000 people had been displaced by the flooding rainfall. A slow-moving monsoonal low has led to an extended period of torrential rainfall across the state. One of the hardest-hit areas is around Rajkot, where more than two feet of rain has fallen since Monday. The rainfall led to the closure of many schools and universities while also bringing travel to a standstill due to road closures. Trains in and out of the region were also brought to a halt. Travel by road and rail is slowly being restored across the region.

 

30th

At least 30 people have died in Cambodia after two weeks of floods caused by heavy rains and the Mekong River overflowing its banks on the 30th. More than 9,000 families fled their homes and about 100,000 hectares of rice fields were destroyed by rising waters, local reports say.

 

SOUTH AMERICA

 

Peru has declared a state of emergency in 10 regions as temperatures in the Andes this week plunged to their lowest levels in decades. Tens of thousands of animals, including valuable alpacas, have died and crops have been ruined as heavy snowstorms continue to sweep the area. About 100,000 people living in vulnerable mountain communities, some as high as 15,000ft, have been affected. Although there have been waves of bitterly cold weather, overall temperatures have risen nearly 2C in the summer since 1965, while the range of temperatures over 24 hours has increased to nearly 27C, compared with 18C in 1980. The changing climate and growing water scarcity has made many communities more vulnerable to disaster, as people move their herds to remote pastures at ever higher altitudes as the land near their homes wilt.

 

After seeing little rainfall through the winter in Buenos Aires, some heavy rains have finally made an appearance which will only help farmers ready to plant crops in the next few weeks on the 7th. This heavy rainfall is occurring as a storm moves up the coastline and brings a wide swath of over one inch of rain to coastal Argentina and coastal Uruguay. In the last 24 hours, ending Saturday afternoon local time, 3.62 inches of rain fell in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This rain mostly came in around sunrise as over 2 inches fell in less than 6 hours. This heavy rainfall caused some flooding across the city which has seen nearly half the typical rainfall for the winter months. Only a bit over 3 inches of rain fell in June through August, with normal rainfall of close to 8 inches. Being south of the equator, this is the time of year that Buenos Aires is coolest.

 

EUROPE

 

A 130-car accident occurred just before 0615 GMT on the Isle of Sheppey UK crossing on the 5th. This is a bridge that connects the island to nearby Kent. There were many injuries, some serious. Witnesses reported low visibility due to fog during the time of the accident and that the accident went on for nearly 10 minutes as cars continued to collide with others already involved in the accident.

 

A freak hail storm has left part of Falmouth in Cornwall UK looking like a winter's scene on the 6th. The hail storm, which left cars sliding on roads, occurred at about 1600 GMT (lasting for about 20 minutes) after a Met Office warning of heavy rain in the South West overnight.

 

Multimillion-pound flood protection schemes on Teesside UK)were "overwhelmed" during torrential downpours on Friday evening, leaving 60 homes inundated on the 6th. Cleveland fire brigade received nearly 240 calls for help during the flooding, which washed away two cars. Their drivers escaped. Hartlepool, Billingham and the A19 were also badly affected by flooding. Alistair Baker, a spokesman for Northumbrian Water, said the ferocity of some storms was "well in excess of the design capabilities" of their defence schemes, completed last year at a cost of about £2.5m. The water company began work on the scheme, which was meant to deal with extremely heavy rainfall, in May 2011.

 

Many places from southern Germany through the Balkans to Romania experienced a drier- and warmer-than-normal summer. Although a rainy stretch ended August in some areas of central and eastern Europe, the wet weather was not accompanied by lower temperatures. Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have been hit hardest with parched conditions. Belgrade, Serbia, has picked up just 44 per cent of normal rain since June 1 while places farther north like Budapest, Hungary, have only received 54 per cent of normal.

 

TROPICAL

 

A powerful typhoon has made landfall in central Japan, flooding scores of houses and forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate on the 16th. Officials have asked at least 400,000 residents from four prefectures to leave their homes due to Typhoon Man-yi. The evacuation orders were issued to residents in Kyoto, Shiga, Hyogo and Mie prefectures. Overnight, Japan experienced "an unprecedented amount of rainfall" in Kyoto, Fukui and Shiga, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. As much as eight centimeters per hour of rainfall was recorded, it added.

 

Hurricane Manuel, who has already caused devastation in south-western Mexico, has made landfall again in the north-west threatening more destruction on the 19th. Authorities in the northern state of Sinaloa have set up dozens of temporary refugee centers. Meanwhile, those in the South are assessing the damage left by the hurricane. At least 80 people have died so far and dozens are still missing. Floodwaters also destroyed roads and bridges leaving communities cut-off.

 

Heavy rain and howling winds are lashing the northern Philippines and Taiwan as Typhoon Usagi goes through the Luzon Strait which divides them on the 21st. Villages have been evacuated, ferries suspended and flights cancelled. Meteorologists say the storm is the most powerful this year and will bring a cumulative rainfall of 1000 mm as it heads towards China. The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said on Friday that Usagi was packing sustained winds of 240 km/h, with gusts of up to 300 km/h, making it the equivalent of a strong category four Atlantic hurricane. Taiwan is reported to have deployed more than 1,600 soldiers in "high risk" areas prone to flooding and landslides while placing 24,000 others on standby.

 

CENTRAL AMERICA

 

At least 12 people have been killed in mudslides in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz as the country continues to be battered by two tropical storms on the 17th. Hurricane Ingrid made landfall on the Atlantic coast, while Tropical Storm Manuel has triggered mudslides causing buildings to collapse in states along the Pacific. More than 20,000 people have been evacuated and moved to shelters.

 

UNITED STATES

 

Emergency teams are searching for hundreds of people still missing after Colorado's deadly floods. State officials say more than 300 are still unaccounted for, but many are believed to be merely cut off in remote areas inundated by the historic rains. Several towns were encircled by raging waters. More than 3,000 people have been evacuated by air and ground. The floods have been blamed for eight deaths, 1,500 homes destroyed, and another 17,000 properties damaged. Days of rain was followed by a flash-flood rainstorm in the early hours of Wednesday last week. The downpour dumped about 53 cm of rain in parts of Boulder city, nearly double the area's average annual rainfall. It is expected to take weeks or possibly months to search through all the flooded areas and confirm a final death toll. More than 400 lane-miles of state highway and some 30 bridges are destroyed or impassable.

 

RUSSIA

 

Heavy rain has caused widespread flooding in Sochi, Russia, which will be the site of the Winter Olympics in 2014 (23rd-25th. During the 23rd-25th the region has received 196 mm of rain. Resulting flooding and mudslides caused Russian government officials to declare a state of emergency. Rivers flooded their banks and the rain caused some local highways to be impassable.

 


Jim G. Munley, jr.
http://www.jimmunleywx.com


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