[NWS] Hurricane Season 2006

quote:

Typhoon kills eight in China, 99 fishermen missing
Bron : Reuters.com
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A typhoon slammed into south China on Thursday killing eight people and forcing the evacuation of more than 900,000, Xinhua news agency said, while Vietnam was searching for 99 fishermen missing at sea.

Typhoon Chanchu, packing heavy rain and winds up to 170 kph (106 mph), made landfall between the cities of Shantou and Xiamen in the early morning, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

China's coastal provinces of Guangdong and Fujian took the full brunt of the storm.

Eight people were killed in Shantou, where Chanchu, the strongest typhoon on record to enter the South China Sea in May, triggered house collapses and landslides, Xinhua said.

Two children were among the dead, Xinhua reported, quoting local government sources.

Almost all roads in Shantou were flooded and there were several blackouts, Xinhua said, adding downpours in Fujian had led to flooding in a number of rivers.

State television news said Chanchu had been downgraded to a tropical storm and was heading northeast at a speed of only 25 kph but it would still bring strong rainfall to China's eastern provinces, including financial hub Shanghai.

Vietnam's National Search and Rescue Center, in a bulletin carried by the Voice of Vietnam radio station, said 99 fishermen aboard 11 ships last made radio contact on Wednesday morning some 160 nautical miles south of Hainan island, then in the storm's path.

Pham Quoc Te, a senior official at the center, said the coast guard and navy were leading a rescue mission, and officials had contacted authorities in China and Hong Kong for help.

"Because the typhoon is still very strong at the moment, it will take time for rescue teams to locate and approach the missing ships," Te told Reuters.

Typhoons, drawing strength from warm water, roar into China from the South China Sea every year between May and September, losing power once they make landfall.

Xinhua said more than 900,000 people in Guangdong and Fujian had been evacuated in the path of Chanchu, which killed at least 37 people when it swept through the Philippines at the weekend.

The eye of the storm crossed the Chinese coast halfway between Hong Kong and Taiwan, both often the victims of direct hits.

An ore-carrying Belgian ship with eight crew members was stranded offshore and a Chinese rescue vessel was expected to reach it on Thursday, state television said.

In Taiwan, rescuers winched to safety the crew of an oil tanker that had run aground off the coast of Kaoshiung after being hit by a large wave, television footage showed.

In the Philippines, Chanchu killed at least 37 people last weekend and "affected" about 53,300 people in wide areas of Luzon and the Visayas, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said.

quote:

Psychische klachten verdubbeld door Katrina
Bron : Nu.Nl

Uitgegeven: 29 augustus 2006 06:14
BOSTON - Het aantal mensen met psychische problemen in de Amerikaanse gebieden die precies een jaar geleden werden getroffen door de orkaan Katrina, is het afgelopen jaar verdubbeld. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek van de universiteit van Harvard dat maandag openbaar werd gemaakt.

Bij vijftien procent van 1043 overlevenden werd vijf tot acht maanden na de ramp vastgesteld dat er sprake was van ernstige psychische problemen. "Dat cijfer suggereert dat ongeveer 200.000 inwoners van Alabama, Louisiana en Mississippi kampen met mentale problemen door Katrina", aldus onderzoeker Ronald Kessler.

Zelfmoord

Opvallend genoeg speelden volgens het onderzoek juist minder mensen met de gedachte zelfmoord te plegen. Katrina zou volgens de wetenschappers een sterk gevoel van onderlinge verbondenheid teweeg hebben gebracht.

Bush

De orkaan, die op 29 augustus over het zuiden van de Verenigde Staten raasde, kostte aan ongeveer 1500 mensen het leven en verwoestte New Orleans. Dinsdag bezoekt president Bush de stad die nog lang niet de oude is. "Dit is een gedenkdag, maar dat betekent niet dat het een einde is. Het is enkel het begin van een lange weg naar herstel", zei Bush maandag in Mississippi tijdens een toespraak.

De regering Bush kreeg het afgelopen jaar veel kritiek te verduren over de hulpverlening na de ramp. "Wij begrijpen dat mensen nog steeds bang zijn om hun huizen in te gaan. Dat mensen horen over hulp en zich afvragen waar die blijft", aldus Bush. De president liet weten dat het herstel van het gebied "niet maanden, maar jaren" zal duren.

quote:

Category 4 Hurricane John threatens Mexico
Bron : CNN

• Category 4 John has top sustained winds of 135 mph
• Storm center located 130 miles south of Manzanillo
• Hurricane watch issued for 300 miles of Mexican coast
• Forecasters predict landfall Wednesday near Puerto Vallarta

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) -- Hurricane John lashed tourist resorts with heavy winds and rain Wednesday as the dangerous storm marched up Mexico's Pacific coast, and forecasters predicted its center would brush close to land before nicking the tip of Baja California and heading out to sea.

Forecasters warned the Category 4 hurricane could dump up to a foot of rain along parts of Mexico's southern coast, causing landslides or flooding. The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 135 mph and stronger gusts capable of ripping roofs off buildings and causing storm surges of up to 18 feet above normal.

John was not expected to affect the United States -- cooler Pacific waters tend to diminish the storms before they reach California. But a hurricane warning covered a more than 300-mile stretch of the Mexican coastline from the port city of Lazaro Cardenas north to Cabo Corrientes, the southwestern tip of the bay that holds Puerto Vallarta. (Path)

The government also issued a hurricane watch for portions of the southern Baja Peninsula, from La Paz south on the east coast and from Sante Fe south on the west coast, an area which includes the resort city of Cabo San Lucas.

So far, the most damaging winds have remained offshore, and only tropical storm-force winds have hit the coast.

In Puerto Vallarta, skies were clear and tourists relaxed on the beach. But officials postponed the arrival of a Carnival cruise chip and prohibited customary tours of the bay.

William Rousseau, a tourist from Oregon vacationing with his family in Puerto Vallarta, said hotel officials had warned about John, "but we're calm because they say it's not going to hit this city."

"We're continuing to enjoy the city," he said. "They just asked us not to go into the ocean or on any bay tours."

Other tourists could be seen strolling through the streets visiting craft shops and eating in restaurants.

The area south of Lazaro Cardenas to Acapulco was under a tropical storm warning. Tropical storm-force winds were lashing Lazaro Cardenas and the resort of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.

Although the center of John was forecast to remain just offshore, hurricane-force winds were likely to begin raking beaches near Puerto Vallarta late Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm was then expected to nick Los Cabos at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula on Friday before heading out to sea.

The Mexican army and emergency services were on alert all along the coast. The civil protection agency for the state of Jalisco, which includes Puerto Vallarta, announced it would ask 8,000 residents living in risk-prone coastal areas to evacuate voluntarily to 900 temporary shelters. Those who refused would be moved by police officers, the government agency Notimex reported.

Mexican forecasters predicted up to 10 inches of rain on the coast and "torrential downpours" in the Jalisco state capital of Guadalajara, Notimex said. Public schools were canceled in Acapulco and surrounding communities.

In the resort cities of Ixtapa and Zijuatanejo, about three hours up the coast from Acapulco, authorities closed the port to small ocean craft and set up temporary shelters. Some students decided to leave school early before any potential flooding.

Light rain fell in Ixtapa, where the five-star Emporio Hotel received only minor warnings of rising tides. Receptionist David Gonzalez said none of the hotel's 92 guests had said they would leave early.

Pedro Ochoa, reception clerk at the four-star Posada Real Ixtapa Hotel, said neither staff nor guests were making any special preparations for the storm because "we were advised that it was headed elsewhere."

The center of the hurricane in late afternoon was about 130 miles south of the resort of Manzanillo, and was moving to the northwest at close to 14 mph.

Meanwhile, a second weather system, Tropical Storm Kristy, formed in the Pacific far off the Mexican coast early Wednesday, but was forecast to move farther out to sea with no threat to land, the Hurricane Center said. Kristy had maximum sustained winds of 58 mph and was moving northwest at about 6 mph.