SEPTEMBER 2018

ASIA

Torrential rain caused major flooding and prompted scores of evacuations in the China province of Guangdong (1^st). Up to 250 mm of rain has fallen on the region in the past couple of days. Southerly flow off the South China Sea, associated with the southwest monsoon has caused rainfall to focus on the Guangdong region.

UNITED STATES

A child was killed when Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall on Tuesday, pounding states along the US Gulf Coast with wind, rain and surge waves (4^th-5^th). The Escambia County Sheriff's Office said a tree fell on a mobile home near Pensacola on Tuesday night. A state of emergency has been declared in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Thousands were reported to be without power on Wednesday morning despite Gordon's downgrade from a hurricane to a depression. Gordon made landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, with sustained winds of up to 110 km/h. The NHC had warned of "life-threatening" storm surges, and possible tornadoes.

Flooding killed one person in Arlington, Texas, as the area was hit by intense rainfall (21^st). A 25-year-old man was swept off a bridge near the University of Texas - Arlington campus. More than 8 inches of rain fell at Dallas Fort Worth Airport in less than 24 hours last weekend. Residents were forced onto of their roofs when water quickly inundated their homes, local officials said.

TROPICAL

Japan has been hit by its strongest typhoon in 25 years, with officials warning more than a million people to evacuate their homes (4^th). Typhoon Jebi made landfall in western areas, bringing heavy rain and reports of winds up to 173 kmhh. In Osaka Bay it swept a tanker into a bridge and in Kyoto parts of a railway station roof came down. Kyodo news says at least two people have been killed by the storm. The storm made landfall on Shikoku island around noon on Tuesday local time and then moved across Japan's largest main island of Honshu. There are warnings of high waves, flooding and mudslides. It has already left tens of thousands without power and authorities have urged people to move to safety. Jebi is the first typhoon classed as "very strong" by the country's weather agency to make landfall on Japan's main islands since a typhoon left 48 people dead or missing in 1993. Hundreds of flights, trains and ferries had to be cancelled. Flooding covered the runways at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, which is built on a man-made island in a bay. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened an emergency meeting and called on people "to take action to protect your lives, including preparing and evacuating early".

Tropical storm Florence moved slowly down the Carolina coast on Saturday, as officials forecast catastrophic flooding in the region and said at least 11 people had been killed by the giant weather system that is set to plague the area for days ahead (14^th-15^th). (This death toll later rose to 41.) The storm battered the coastline throughout Friday and Saturday with hurricane-force winds and as much as 600 mm of rain in some areas of North Carolina, breaking state records. With many areas already flooded by seawater, forecasts warned of a period of extensive flooding around the region's winding network of rivers and creeks. North Carolina's governor, Roy Cooper, labelled the storm 'an uninvited brute who doesn't want to leave'. He added, with reference to the storm's slow 2 mph progress: 'We know we're in for a long haul here. But I think we're ready.' In New Bern, a city that backs on to the Neuse river in North Carolina, rescue operations continued on Saturday as significant flooding destroyed homes and some of the city's historic colonial-era statues. More than 360 people were rescued from the flooding by crews in boats, some flown in from New York and other areas of the US. Florence knocked out power to close to a million households in the Carolinas, with some areas not expecting to regain electricity for days. In the historic port city of Wilmington, North Carolina, a mother and her baby were killed when a tree fell on their house, officials said. The deaths were among the first recorded fatalities from the storm, which also killed a 77-year-old man who was knocked over by wind after going outside to check on his dogs. Another man was killed by electrocution. Meteorologists warned it might be days and weeks after Florence's direct hit before the town sees rising water levels. On Saturday afternoon in Lumberton, North Carolina, the Lumber river was dangerously close to flooding. Officials said the river was at 14.45ft - a foot and a half over flood stage - and was projected to rise another 10ft on Sunday. South-west of Lumberton, it had already broken its banks. I-95, the main north-south highway, stood to flood on Sunday.

Some 14 people have been killed in a massive storm which brought destruction to the northern Philippines, a presidential adviser says (15h). Typhoon Mangkhut ripped through the Philippines' main island of Luzon, and is now moving west towards China. The storm tore off roofs, felled trees, triggered 42 landslides and caused extensive flooding. Mangkhut unleashed winds of 185 km/h as it careered from east to west across the north of Luzon. Five million people were in its path, and thousands were evacuated. Almost all buildings in the city of Tuguegarao - the capital city of the north-eastern Cagayan province - sustained some damage, a government official said, and communications were down in places. The typhoon made landfall at Baggao, in the north-east of the Philippines, at about 01:40 local time on Saturday (17:40 GMT on Friday), and left the country some 20 hours later. After losing some of its wind speed over land as it headed west, the storm was downgraded from a super typhoon. It is forecast to weaken slightly as it approaches China from the south-east. The storm - known locally as Ompong - has a cloud diameter of about 900 km and is heading west at about 30 km/h. The World Meteorological Organisation said that the storm was the strongest tropical cyclone the world has faced so far this year.

17thTropical storm Mangkhut continued on its destructive path on Sunday as it hit the southern coast of China, killing two, after leaving at least 64 dead in the Philippines amid landslides and flooding (17^th). The storm, which has been downgraded from typhoon status, battered the heavily populated Guangdong region on Sunday afternoon with 160 km/h winds. In Guangdong, more than 2.4 million people have been evacuated. The storm made landfall in the the city of Haiyan around 5pm local time, according to China's central meteorological observatory. China Central Television said Mangkhut, which the China Meteorological Administration called the 'King of Storms', triggered storm surges as high as 3 m. By Monday morning, the Chinese state broadcaster said four lives had already been lost. Schools have closed until Tuesday, the high-speed rail line has been suspended and hundreds of flights have been cancelled, according to China's state news agency, Xinhua. In the southern province of Fujian, officials have ordered thousands of fishing boats to return to harbor and closed construction sites near the coast. As the storm brushed passed Hong Kong, high winds smashed windows in the city, tearing off parts of buildings and roofs, while storm surges flooded hotels and restaurants with waters waist-deep. More than 100 people were injured. The neighboring Chinese gambling enclave of Macau also closed all 42 of its casinos for the first time. In the Philippines, the total death toll rose to 64. The heaviest casualties were in Benguet province, where 38 people died, mostly in two landslides, and 37 are still missing, the police said. Dozens of people, mostly small-scale miners and their families, are still feared to have been trapped by a landslide in the far-flung village of Ucab in Itogon town in the province.

Parts of northeast India, including New Delhi and the National Capital region, endured heavy rainfall and localized flooding as former Cyclone Daye tracked across the region earlier this week (26^th). Flood-related incidents claimed at least 25 lives in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, according to the Hindustan Times. Rainfall amounts in excess of 250 mm were reported in eastern Punjab and northern Haryana. The torrential rainfall triggered flooding and mudslides while also causing significant travel disruptions and forcing schools to close on Monday. More than 300 roads were closed due to flooding or mudslides and at least 21 people were rescued after being stranded by rising floodwaters across the region.

Even though the official start of the South Pacific tropical season is still more than a month away, Tropical Cyclone Liua developed near the southern Solomon Islands (2th). The official start of the tropical season in the South Pacific Basin is 1 November. Liua was named a tropical cyclone by the Fiji Meteorological Service on Thursday morning local time (Wednesday afternoon EDT), marking the basin's first cyclone to form in September since reliable record-keeping began in the 1950s. The previous earliest tropical cyclone on record for the South Pacific was Lusi, which formed in early October 1997.

Four people have been killed after a powerful typhoon struck Japan (30^th). Typhoon Trami made landfall on Sunday at 2000 local time (1100 GMT) near the western city of Osaka, with gusts of up to 216 km/h. The storm caused widespread disruption, with many flights and trains cancelled. More than 750,000 homes lost power. At least 120 people were injured. The typhoon comes less than a month after the country's strongest storm (typhoon Jebi) in 25 years hit western Japan. On Monday (1st), commuters faced long delays as trains were delayed or cancelled because of trees blown on to tracks. Kansai Airport, in Osaka, closed its runways when the storm swept in but reopened them on Monday. However, an estimated 200 flights were disrupted by the typhoon.