South Korea braces for second typhoon

August 30, 2012
AAP

A TYPHOON barrelling towards South Korea has forced rescuers to suspend the search for seven missing crew members of two Chinese fishing boats wrecked in a previous gale.

Typhoon Bolaven - the strongest to hit the country for almost a decade - left a trail of death and damage this week.

A fresh typhoon alert was raised early on Thursday over the Yellow Sea off the west coast as Typhoon Tembin was 200 kilometres southwest of the southern island of Jeju and moving north at a speed of 41km/h.

Storms pound Philippines in the thick of night, kill at least 436

Residents are rescued by volunteers Saturday following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines. (Erwin Mascarinas / AP)

Entire families wiped out by Typhoon Washi; many still unaccounted for, say officials

12/17/2011
msnbc.com news services

MANILA, Philippines — Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crushing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said Saturday.

Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang told The Associated Press that the latest toll was based on a body count in funeral parlors.

She said that 215 died in Cagayan de Oro and 144 in nearby Iligan cities, and the rest in several other southern and central provinces.

China braces for deadly Megi as 200,000 left homeless

Thursday, October 21, 2010
By Min Lee, HONG KONG, AP

Residents scrambled to stockpile food and authorities ordered ships to remain docked as southern China geared up Wednesday for a "super typhoon" that killed 20 people and left over 200,000 people homeless in the northern Philippines.

Typhoon Megi packed winds of 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour) when it struck the Philippines on Monday. Philippine officials reported 20 deaths, including several people who drowned after being pinned by fallen trees. The storm damaged thousands of homes and flooded vast areas of rice and corn fields.

Late Wednesday, Megi was about 350 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of the southern financial hub of Hong Kong and expected to eventually hit the southern Chinese coast, the Hong Kong Observatory said on its website.

The storm's winds have weakened to 110 mph (175 kph), but are expected to build strength over the next two days before losing steam again Saturday, when the typhoon is projected to make landfall in China's Guangdong province, the observatory said.

In Guangdong, officials have ordered all fishing boats back to shore, put the provincial flood control headquarters on alert and warned that reservoirs should be watched, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. In the southern island province of Hainan, residents rushed to supermarkets to stock up on food, vegetables and bottled water, Xinhua said.

In Hong Kong, the mood was calmer in the densely populated city of 7 million whose infrastructure has traditionally held up well against the annual summer barrage of typhoons. Still, the Hong Kong Observatory urged residents to make sure their windows could be properly bolted, avoid the coastline and refrain from water sports. It also ordered small vessels to return to shore.

In the Philippines, more than 215,000 people were forced out of their homes by the typhoon, including 10,300 people who fled to evacuation centers, officials said. About US$30 million (1.3 billion pesos) worth of infrastructure and crops were damaged and nearly 5,000 houses were damaged or destroyed by Megi's ferocious wind, according to the government's main disaster-response agency.

Oil platforms in the eastern part of the South China Sea were evacuated on Wednesday, a source said. Asia's top oil refiner, China's Sinopec Corp, suspended some small volumes of fuel loading destined for Hong Kong, another source said.

"It's one of the biggest (typhoons) in recent years," said Kong Wai, a scientific officer with the Hong Kong Observatory, adding that it was expected to make landfall on Saturday and pick up strength in the warm waters of the South China sea.

Hong Kong's Cable Television said a Taiwan vessel had sunk in the storm and at least one sailor died.

About 2,500 fishing boasts in Haikou, the capital of the Chinese resort island province of Hainan, had returned to harbor on Tuesday and the city of Sanya was taking down billboards, the China Daily said, to prevent injuries. Trains from the island had been halted.

Megi had winds in excess of 250 kph (155 mph) when it hit Isabela province on Monday. It lost strength overland, only to pick up energy again from the warm sea waters west of the Philippines.

Tropical Storm Risk's (http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com) projections show the storm hitting the Chinese coast between Hong Kong and Zhangzhou later in the week.

Flooding in Cambodia, meanwhile, claimed at least 8 lives and wrought an estimated US$70 million in damage to roads, irrigation systems, bridges and homes, officials said.

"We hope for assistance from development partners, local and international charities," Nhim Vanda, vice chairman of the National Committee for Disaster Management told Reuters.

1 dead, 2 missing as Typhoon Megi crosses into the Philippines

October 18, 2010
By the CNN Wire Staff

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: An official says a fisherman drowned in huge waves
• Typhoon Megi is the strongest storm since 2005
• Parts of the Philippines could get 300 to 500 millimeters (11 to 20 inches) of rain
• Megi, also known as Juan, carries maximum sustained winds of 190 kph (118 mph)

(CNN) -- A fisherman is dead and two others were missing Monday as Typhoon Megi wreaked havoc in the Philippines.

The Philippines' civil defence chief said a fisherman drowned in huge waves from Megi, which made landfall Monday on the northern Philippine island of Luzon.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard said two people were reported missing.

Megi, also known as Typhoon Juan, has battered Luzon with torrential rain. It made landfall near Sierra Madre, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Services Administration.

About 3 p.m. (3 a.m. ET), the storm was about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south-southwest of Tuguegarao City and had maximum sustained winds of about 190 kph (118 mph), with gusts of up to 225 kph (140 mph).

When Megi made landfall around 11:35 a.m. Monday, it had maximum sustained winds of about 225 kph (140 mph) and gusts of up to 260 kph (162 mph).

CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera said the typhoon is the strongest storm on the planet since 2005, when Hurricane Wilma passed over south Florida in the United States. Megi is also the strongest storm in the Pacific Ocean since Typhoon Flo in 1990.

"Unfortunately, this is a part of the world where the infrastructure is quite fragile, the power grid is quite fragile and a lot of people live in quite basic houses," James Reynolds, a storm chaser who is on Luzon, told CNN Monday.

Trees swayed and relentless rains inundated roads. Cabrera said parts of the Philippines could see 300 to 500 millimeters (11 to 20 inches) of rain.

The typhoon could damage large amounts of agricultural land along its path.

"Thousands of hectares are in danger of being ruined," Cabrera said.

Typhoon Mirinae likely to worsen Cambodia's flood problems: Oxfam

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- International aid agency Oxfam has cautioned that a new wave of rain from Typhoon Mirinae is expected to reach Cambodia on Nov. 2.

In a statement received Saturday, Oxfam said situations in communities already affected by Typhoon Ketsana and prolonged annual floods in central and northern Cambodia are likely to worsen with the effects of the new typhoon, putting already affected people further at risk.

"Typhoon Mirinae is currently on track to hit the northern Philippines island of Luzon . Although Cambodia may not be hit with the full strength of the typhoon, the country remains vulnerable due to its limited resources for preparation and response, and while the country is just beginning to recover from recent flooding," the statement said.

"Typhoon Mirinae could set back on-going emergency work and planned recovery and rehabilitation efforts in Cambodia ," said Francis Perez, Country Lead of Oxfam in Cambodia .

"The effects of the new typhoon could increase hazards in still flooded areas and cause further damage to crops and livelihoods. It may also displace communities or prolong the return of those already displaced by Typhoon Ketsana," he added.

Fearing a new threat of another typhoon, Oxfam is alerting humanitarian agencies and government authorities to help communities living in areas susceptible to flooding to be prepared by stocking on clean water and food and securing important documents.

The damage from Typhoon Ketsana runs to around 40 million U.S. dollars in Cambodia, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The storm, which killed at least 30 people, affected about 6,000 families and destroyed thousands of hectares of rice fields, and local infrastructure such as irrigation systems, roads, schools and houses.

3 Dead as Typhoon Parma Hits Philippines

Local residents make their way through floodwaters in Taytay township, Rizal province east of Manila, Philippines, 03 Oct 2009

By VOA News
03 October 2009

Officials in the Philippines say at least three people have been killed by a powerful typhoon that hit the northern province of Cagayan with wind and heavy rain.

Typhoon Parma, known locally as Pepeng, with gusts of about 200 kilometers per hour, made landfall Saturday, tearing roofs off buildings, toppling trees and cutting power lines.

Flooding in Manila was averted when the storm veered to the north, sparing millions of people. A deadly storm just a week ago caused the worst flooding in the capital city in decades.

Typhoon Parma is expected to head back out to sea in the direction of Taiwan, where evacuations in some areas are underway.

As Parma approached the Philippines on Friday, President Gloria Arroyo declared a "state of calamity" throughout the island nation and ordered mass evacuations in six provinces.

Her declaration of emergency freed up funds to help the government respond to emergencies.

The commander of U.S. troops in the Pacific region, Admiral Timothy Keating, said two U.S. Navy ships with several hundred Marines on board are off the coast of Manila, ready to help.

Parma was expected to make conditions worse for nearly 700,000 people who had already been forced into emergency shelters by Typhoon Ketsana.

After plowing through the Philippines, Ketsana ripped across Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. It killed more than 290 people in the Philippines, nearly 100 in Vietnam and at least 14 in Cambodia. The Red Cross in Laos said 16 people have been killed and at least 100 others are missing.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Cambodian king declares colourful annual boat race celebration open

Fri, 23 Nov 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni declared the annual Water Festival open Friday before hundreds of thousands of Cambodians who have traveled to the capital to see three days of colourful traditional boat racing. After the king released ceremonial doves and viewed heats of the three days of races, fireworks lit up the sky to mark the beginning of one of the agriculturally dependent nation's most important festivals, which marks the end of wet season.

However, climate change has wreaked havoc on the festival, with unseasonal rains marring the celebrations several times in past years and fallout from a powerful typhoon currently slamming the coast of neighbouring Vietnam expected to again pose problems for racers this year.

Thousands of police have been deployed to maintain order as visitors crowd the capital's river front to catch a glimpse of the delicate and precariously balanced traditional wooden boats.

Organizers said hundreds of the brightly painted vessels from every province in the country and several neighbouring nations including Laos and Vietnam are expected to race this year for prize money and the chance of receiving personal congratulations from the king.