MADRID, - A storm washed away part of a wall designed to keep out illegal immigrants crossing into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla on Sunday and heavy rains flooded many of the city’s streets.
Civil guard police reinforced the border near the 30-metre (yard) stretch of damaged wall, which was built to stem a flow of Africans trying to get into Spain in search of work, the Spanish government’s office in the city said.
VERACRUZ, Mexico - Tropical Storm Marco roared ashore on Mexico’s Gulf coast with near-hurricane force winds on Tuesday, prompting a shutdown of some oil platforms and forcing the evacuation of some 3,000 people.
Once over land, Marco quickly weakened to a tropical depression and was expected to dissipate as it moved over Mexico’s mountainous terrain. Forecasters still warned that rains of up to 5 inches could unleash mudslides.
The storm flooded coastal highways and brought heavy rains to the coast, including the city of Veracruz. But the busy port appeared to have escaped most of the storm’s wrath.
Typhoon Higos, the 17th tropical storm of 2008, hit China’s southern Hainan island on Friday evening, and moved on towards the mainland. it was forecast to weaken, and move northwest towards the coastal areas of western Guangdong Province.
Higos was formed on Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean, coming on the heels of tropical storms Jangmi and Hagupit, which combined killed around 20 people in China.
Those who have outdoor or travel plans this weekend may want to reconsider. The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday that a low-pressure system near Guam has been upgraded to a tropical storm and may approach Taiwan this weekend.
The newly formed tropical storm is named Higos, which means “fig” in Spanish. At press time yesterday, the bureau said the center of Higos was located 610km southeast of Manila, which is about 1,600km from Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻). The storm was moving northwesterly at a speed of 20kph. The radius of the storm was 200km.
CWB forecast center director Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said the tropical storm is near the Philippines, and its structure may be damaged by land there.
TAIPEI (AFP) — Typhoon Jangmi lashed Taiwan with heavy rain and strong winds Monday as it moved offshore, leaving two dead and forcing the closure of schools, offices and financial markets, officials said.
A further 58 people were reported to have been injured by Jangmi, which was downgraded to a tropical storm, as it was forecast to churn towards Japan.
Authorities in China ordered hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate from the country’s southeast coast, despite the storm losing momentum as it approached the area.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan authorities have issued a sea and land warning as a powerful typhoon barrels toward the island.
The Central Weather Bureau urged residents in eastern and northern Taiwan on Saturday to beware of strong winds and heavy rains being whipped up by Typhoon Jangmi.
The bureau says that as of 12:15 p.m. (0415 GMT) Saturday, Jangmi was about 341 miles (550 kilometers) east of Taiwan’s southern tip.
BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) — The death toll from typhoon Hagupit in south China rose to 10 as of 8 a.m. on Thursday, with two still missing, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.
According to the office, Hagupit-triggered floods and high winds had affected 8.73 million residents and 400,000 hectares of crops in southern Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The disaster toppled 18,500 houses and caused a direct economic loss of 6.3 billion yuan (923.7 million U.S. dollars) there, it said.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A powerful typhoon plowed into a densely populated area of southern China on Wednesday, prompting the state Meteorological Administration to issue an “urgent red alert,” its highest-level warning.
Authorities evacuated more than 100,000 people before typhoon Hagupit made landfall around dawn. The storm killed at least eight people in the Philippines earlier in the week.
Tropical Storm Risk (http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/) downgraded the storm from category 4 to 3 on a scale of 5 once it made landfall.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A powerful typhoon plowed into a densely populated area of south China Wednesday, triggering a “once-in-a-century storm tide” in several cities, state media said.
Authorities evacuated more than 100,000 people before typhoon Hagupit made landfall around dawn. The storm killed at least eight people in the Philippines earlier in the week.
Streets were deserted and shops and businesses shuttered as the storm uprooted trees and brought down billboards in cities across the booming southern Chinese province of Guangdong, including Maoming where the center of the storm made landfall.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Authorities say torrential rains and rivers swollen by Typhoon Sinlaku have killed at least five people and left seven others missing and presumed dead in central Taiwan, as the storm barrels toward Japan.
Taiwan Radio reported late Monday that four cars with an unknown number of passengers are buried in a tunnel hit by a mudslide in central Nantou county. Workers are digging through the debris to rescue those trapped.
The Disaster Relief Center says a woman was killed when a resort hotel was buried by mudslides in scenic Lushan in central Taiwan, bringing the total reported death toll to five.
