Super Typhoon Ragasa has caused widespread flooding and damaged roads in Hong Kong, which resumed international flights on Thursday but kept kindergartens and some schools closed. Ragasa, the strongest storm so far this year, killed 14 people in Taiwan and 11 in the Philippines, according to officials. More than 100 people were injured in Hong Kong The Guardian
Tag: Extreme weather
Weakened Super Typhoon Ragasa heads towards Vietnam after battering China and Hong Kong
Huge clear-up operations were under way in southern China and Hong Kong on Thursday, after Super Typhoon Ragasa battered the region, causing widespread flooding and damaged roads. Ragasa, the most powerful tropical cyclone so far this year, left a trail of damage across Hong Kong, which resumed international flights on Thursday but kept kindergartens and some schools closed. In the economic hub of Guangdong province in mainland China, where more than 2 million people were evacuated ahead of the super typhoon, crews used excavators to clear thousands of toppled trees…
Typhoon Ragasa live: Two million people evacuated in southern China after deaths in Taiwan and Philippines
From 2h ago Typhoon Ragasa batters Hong Kong and southern China after causing deaths in Taiwan and Philippines Hong Kong and parts of southern China weere on high alert as Super Typhoon Ragasa, the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year, approached on Wednesday with powerful winds and rains, forcing Chinese authorities to shut down schools and businesses in at least 10 cities. Nearly 1.9 million people were relocated across Guangdong province, the southern Chinese economic powerhouse. The national weather agency forecast the super typhoon would make landfall between the…
Super Typhoon Ragasa: at least 14 killed in Taiwan as Hong Kong and southern China brace for impact
The bursting of a barrier lake in Taiwan has killed at least 14 people and left 124 people missing, officials have announced, after Super Typhoon Ragasa pounded the island with torrential rains and brought widespread damage to parts of east Asia. The outer rim of Super Typhoon Ragasa has been bearing down on Taiwan since Monday as its path moves down towards the southern Chinese coast. The barrier lake, formed by landslides triggered by earlier heavy rain in Taiwan’s east, burst its banks mid-afternoon on Tuesday, unleashing a wall of…
Weather tracker: Typhoon Podul pounds southern Taiwan
Typhoon Podul crossed southern Taiwan on Wednesday with wind speeds of up to 110mph (177km/h), equivalent to a category 2 hurricane. Podul had developed a week earlier, near the Northern Mariana Islands, and tracked west across the Philippine Sea, achieving typhoon status on Tuesday before making landfall in south-east Taiwan the following day. Podul whipped up high waves along the east coast, where a man died after being swept away while fishing. As the storm travelled overland, it dumped large amounts of rain across the south of the island, with…
Weather tracker: deadly floods devastate northern China
At least 70 people have died in northern China after another bout of torrential rain triggered flooding, the latest in a series of extreme rainfall events in recent months. Between 23 and 29 July, Beijing and its surrounding areas recorded an average of 166mm, equivalent to the monthly norm. The suburban district of Miyun received the highest amount of rainfall, with 543mm recorded, equivalent to the region’s annual average. The death toll included 31 people in a Miyun care home, 10 who were swept away in a minibus in Shangxi…
Chinese official makes rare admission of failings over deadly Beijing floods
A Beijing city official has issued a rare public acknowledgment of official failings in the authorities’ response to the severe flooding that hit China’s capital this week. Yu Weiguo, a Communist party secretary for Miyun, the northern district worst affected by this week’s extreme weather, said in a press conference on Thursday that there were “gaps” in the city’s readiness for the deadly floods. More than 40 people are confirmed to have died in the flooding that hit Miyun and Yanqing, another Beijing district, on Sunday and Monday. Nine are…
After the flood: Beijing residents left to count the cost with little state support
Wang Rongying was lying in bed at 6pm on Monday evening when her phone started pinging with messages. Neighbours said that the heavy rainfall Wang could hear outside was starting to cause the water levels on the street to rise to worrying levels. When she opened her front door to see for herself the flood water came rushing in. “I was so scared … never since the 1980s have I seen such heavy flooding. We didn’t receive any warning in advance,” Wang said, surveying the soaked remains of her two-storey…
Deadly floods leave trail of destruction in China – video
More than 30 people have been killed by heavy rain and flooding in Beijing and a neighbouring region, state media reported, and tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes. The state broadcaster CCTV said 28 people had died in Beijing’s Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district The Guardian
China floods: more than 30 killed in Beijing and tens of thousands evacuated
More than 30 people have been killed by heavy rain and flooding in Beijing and a neighbouring region, state media have reported, as tens of thousands more were evacuated from China’s capital. State broadcaster CCTV said that as of midnight on Monday, 28 people had died in Beijing’s hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown. On Monday a landslide in neighbouring Hebei province killed four people, with eight other still missing. Heavy rain…