750+ doden door Tyfoon Morakot in Taiwan en China

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NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image that showed a huge cyclone named Morakot tracking through the East China Sea, on the way to a landfall in mainland China. Morakot is a large storm with maximum sustained winds near 69 mph (60 knots), just 5 mph shy of a category one hurricane strength. It's currently located in the East China Sea, near 23.2 north and 130.4 east. That's about 300 miles southeast of Okinawa, Japan. Its moving west near 14 mph. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is an instrument used in tropical storm research that flies on Aqua. AIRS provides visible, infrared and microwave images of tropical storms. AIRS also measures cloud top temperature and pressure and the profile of water vapor as functions of height. Infrared imagery shows the temperature of the cloud tops which gives a hint about the power of the thunderstorms in a tropical cyclone. The colder the clouds are, the higher they are, and the more powerful the thunderstorms are that make up the cyclone. Morakot will keep moving westward, and it will remain in warm sea surface temperatures and low wind shear over the next 72 hours, which will enable it to maintain its strength. Morakot's forecast track takes the center north of Taiwan and predicts a landfall almost directly between Hong Kong and Shanghai on August 6.

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Northern Taiwan braces for Typhoon Morakot

Taipei, Aug. 6 (CNA) The National Disasters Prevention and Protection Commission activated a "level one" alert against Typhoon Morakot Thursday after the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a land warning for northern Taiwan at 8:30 in the morning.



The level one alert-- the highest on a three-point scale -- puts more than 110 key personnel from 25 agencies on standby to monitor the impact of the typhoon around the clock and oversee disaster preparedness throughout the country, according to the commission.

The commission also urged the public to take precautions against the storm.

According to the Central Weather Bureau, Morakot was centered 540 kilometers southeast of Taiwan as of 11 a.m. Thursday, moving in a west northwesterly direction toward the island at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. The typhoon is packing maximum sustained winds of 137 kilometers per hour and has a radius of 250 kilometers, the CWB said.

If Morakot, the eighth storm system reported in the West Pacific region this year, maintains its course and continues to strengthen, the system will cover the entire Taiwan area early Saturday, CWB meteorologists said.

The weather bureau cautioned that the storm would bring strong winds and heavy rains to northern Taiwan Friday and into Saturday.

Residents in mountainous areas in northern and eastern Taiwan should be extra careful of landslides and people should keep away from the seaside, the CWB said.

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Op donderdag 6 augustus 2009 14:28 schreef FP128 het volgende:
m.a.w je raadt ons af,mocht iemand ooit het idee hebben, om daar te gaan wonen gezien de vele orkanen die daar langskomen.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan (BNO NEWS) -- Typhoon Morakot hit the southeast Asian island of Taiwan at around midday local time on Friday, authorities say, blasting the coast with recorded wind speeds of up to 89 mph.

NASA satellite scans show Typhoon Morakot having a massive diameter of nearly 528 miles across.

Schools and most businesses were closed throughout Taiwan on Friday. In China, meanwhile, more than 200,000 residents were told to quickly pack their bags and abandon their homes for evacuation, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Tourists and citizens on the adjacent Chinese coastal area have been urged to leave the area before the storm makes landfall on Saturday. Many flights to and from nearby Chinese areas were delayed until the storm passes.

The typhoon is expected to gain strength before it makes landfall in the Zhejiang province of China by Saturday.

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Zeker 12 doden door Morakot in Taiwan

De verwoestende tyfoon Morakot heeft het afgelopen weekend in Taiwan twaalf mensenlevens geëist. Er zijn 52 mensen vermist. Dat melden de hulpdiensten.

Morakot (Thais voor "smaragd") landde vrijdag rond middernacht op het eiland en ging gepaard met zware regen. Op meerdere plaatsen ontstonden overstromingen.

In het district Pingtung in het zuiden viel maar liefst 2,5 meter neerslag. Daar ontstonden de zwaarste overstromingen in vijftig jaar

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Veel schade door tyfoon in China

De tyfoon Morakot heeft honderden huizen verwoest en ervoor gezorgd dat grote stukken landbouwgrond onder water zijn komen te staan in het zuidoostelijke kustgebied van China



Met het oog op het passeren van de orkaan werden bijna 1 miljoen mensen uit het gebied geëvacueerd. In de provincie Zhejiang moesten ruim 470.000 mensen hun huis verlaten. Ook in de naburige provincie Fujian zijn bijna een half miljoen inwoners geëvacueerd.

Vliegtuigen mochten niet opstijgen en vissersboten werden terug naar de havens geroepen. Een jongen kwam om het leven toen een gebouw instortte.

Volgens Chinese staatsmedia werd de lucht compleet zwart in Beibi in de provincie Fujian, toen de orkaan het land bereikte. Bomen werden ontworteld toen zware winden en hevige regenbuien over het kustgebied trokken.

Verwacht wordt dat de storm naar het noorden trekt en zal afzwakken. Hevige winden zullen de komende drie dagen echter nog aanhouden, meldden meteorologen.

In Taiwan veroorzaakte Morakot de ergste overstromingen van de laatste vijftig jaar. Er viel meer dan 200 centimeter neerslag.

Het dodental in Taiwan door de tyfoon is opgelopen tot zeker 12, bleek maandag. Er worden nog 52 mensen vermist. Zeker 32 mensen raakten gewond.

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Typhoon Morakot has wreaked havoc in Taiwan, causing the island's worst flooding in 50 years.

The Taiwanese military is trying to rescue thousands of people cut off by fallen bridges and raging rivers.

At least 32 people were injured as Morakot lashed the island with powerful winds and rain, disrupting railway and road traffic and bringing down bridges.

In central and southern Taiwan, heavy rain caused widespread floods and mudslides, particularly in the county of Pingtung, where thousands of people were trapped in three coastal townships.

In Kaohsiung county, a bridge collapsed, cutting off road access to a remote village of 1,300 residents.

Local television reported that 200 homes in the village, Hsiaolin, are believed to have been buried in a mudslide.

Television footage showed a hotel in Taitung, south-eastern Taiwan, collapsing into a river. Staff and guests had already been evacuated, the reports said.