Storm hits China after killing 12 in Taiwan

Play VideoReuters – China braces for Typhoon Megi

• Slideshow:Typhoon Megi
• Play VideoWeather Forecast Video:National Forecastweather.com

AP – Paramilitary policemen evacuate a fisherman, center, from a docked fishing boat at the Gaoqi Safe Harbor …

By ANNIE HUANG, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwanese rescuers searching mountainsides hit by massive mudslides unleashed by Typhoon Megi found mangled parts of a vehicle thought to be a bus that was carrying 19 missing Chinese tourists, the transport minister said Saturday.

Landslides caused by the typhoon killed nine people and buried a Buddhist temple in hardest-hit Ilan county in the northeast, where a record 45 inches (114 centimeters) of rain fell over 48 hours. Three other people drowned in their flooded homes, the Central Emergency Operations Center said. A total of 23 people were missing.

Megi, which earlier killed 28 people in the Philippines, pounded southern China's Fujian province on Saturday after leaving Taiwan but was downgraded to a strong tropical storm with winds of up to 67 mph (108 kph). TV news showed flooded streets, uprooted trees and swollen waterways, but there were no immediate reports of major damage.

Taiwanese Transport Minister Mao Chih-kuo said rescuers found the vehicle parts in a deep valley next to a coastal highway.

"The bus was covered all over by thick mud," Mao said.

Next to the vehicle was the wreckage of another bus crushed by a huge boulder, but Chinese tourists on that bus were able to escape, Mao added.

Several buses carrying Chinese tourists were on a six-mile (10-kilometer) stretch of the Ilan coastal highway that was hit by at least seven rockslides Thursday night. A 500-yard (500-meter) stretch of the highway collapsed.

Nineteen Chinese who were rescued from another bus told reporters that their Taiwanese driver and Chinese tour guide helped them get to safety, but a boulder then crushed the bus and sent them down a valley with the vehicle.

The rockslides trapped 30 buses, cars and vans, stranding a total of 400 people. All other stranded travelers had been rescued by early Saturday, Interior Minister Chiang Yi-hua said.

In China, the storm forced the cancellation of nearly 80 flights at the airport in Fujian's Xiamen city. Authorities evacuated 272,300 people from villages, according to the provincial water resources department.

News footage from Fujian showed waves crashing on the shore amid steady rain, and residents used ropes to secure street lamps and other objects that could be blown away by the wind. Workers tied down large boats in the Zhangpu port.

Earlier, Megi killed at least 28 people and damaged more than 100,000 homes in the northern Philippines. The storm also forced about 40,000 Filipinos from their homes and caused about $190 million in damage to infrastructure and crops, disaster officials said.

In Vietnam, the death toll from severe flooding in four central provinces climbed to 75, including 14 victims from a bus swept off a road by strong currents, with six passengers still missing, disaster officials said Friday.

While Megi bypassed Vietnam, the country's central region was pummeled by 4.6 feet (140 centimeters) of rain over the past week, inundating large swaths of land, submerging nearly 280,000 houses and forcing more than 170,000 villagers from their homes.

In Thailand, the government said the death toll from heavy flooding rose to 23 with some 1.3 million people affected in 30 provinces in the north, east, northeast and central regions.

Meanwhile, another storm, Cyclone Giri, was spinning in the Bay of Bengal and likely to make landfall Saturday in western Myanmar. The storm was expected to hit with winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and a tidal surge as high as 12 feet (370 centimeters).

Cyclone Nargis in 2008 killed 130,000 people in Myanmar.

___

Associated Press writers Anita Chang in Beijing and Denis Gray in Bangkok contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101023/ap_on_re_as/as_asia_typhoon

Typhoon Megi Philippines

Typhoon Megi kills 3 in Philippines

Published On Mon Oct 18 2010

This NASA satellite image, taken and released on October 17, 2010, shows Typhoon Megi, locally known as Juan, approaching the Philippines at 0500 GMT.

HANDOUT/REUTERS

Jim GomezAssociated Press

CAUAYAN, PHILIPPINES—The strongest cyclone in years to crash into the Philippines killed at least three people Monday, leaving a wasteland of fallen trees and power poles and sending thousands scampering to safety in near-zero visibility. A retired general said bracing for the onslaught was like preparing for war.Related

• Photos: Typhoon Megi

More about

Philippines»

Super typhoon Megi, blowing across the northern Philippines, was forecast next to head toward China and Vietnam, where recent floods unrelated to the storm have caused 30 deaths.

On Monday, strong currents on Vietnam's flooded main highway swept away a bus and 20 of its passengers, including a boy pulled from his mother's grasp. In China, authorities evacuated 140,000 people from a coastal province ahead of the typhoon.

Megi packed sustained winds of 225 kilometres per hour and gusts of 260 km/h as it made landfall midday Monday at Palanan Bay in Isabela province, felling trees and utility poles and cutting off power, phone and Internet services. Its ferocious wind slightly weakened while crossing the mountains of the Philippines' main northern island of Luzon.

With more than 4,000 people riding out the typhoon in sturdy school buildings, town halls, churches and relatives' homes, roads in and out of coastal Isabela province, 320 kilometres northeast of Manila, were deserted and blocked by collapsed trees, power lines and debris.

One man who had just rescued his water buffalo slipped and fell into a river and drowned in Cagayan province, near Isabela. A woman was pinned to death when a tamarind tree crushed her house and injured her child in Kalinga province, and a security guard died after being struck by a pine tree in nearby Baguio city, officials said.

At least six were injured in the region by falling trees, collapsed roof and shattered glass, officials said.

As it crashed ashore, the typhoon whipped up huge waves. There was near-zero visibility and radio reports said the wind was so powerful that people could not take more than a step at a time. Ships and fishing vessels were told to stay in ports, and several domestic and international flights were cancelled.

The entire Isabela province lost power along with 16 of Cagayan's 28 towns as the typhoon blew by. Cagayan Governor Alvaro Antonio said the wind was fierce but blew high from the ground, sparing many ricefields ready for harvesting.

Although initial casualties were low compared to past storm disasters, retired army Maj.-Gen. Benito Ramos, who heads the country's disaster-preparedness agency, expressed sadness over the deaths. Bracing for the typhoon, he said, was like “preparing for war.”

“This was tougher because in war, I could take a nap,” Ramos told The Associated Press.

Thousands of military reserve officers and volunteers were on standby, along with helicopters, including six Chinooks that were committed by U.S. troops holding war exercises with Filipino soldiers near Manila, Ramos said.

In July, an angry President Benigno Aquino III fired the head of the weather bureau for failing to predict that a typhoon would hit Manila. That storm killed more than 100 people in Manila and outlying provinces.

This time, urgent preparations included evacuations and the positioning of emergency relief and food supplies days before the typhoon hit. The capital was expected to avoid any direct hit, though schools were closed.

Megi was the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines in four years, government forecasters say. A 2006 howler with 250-km/h winds set off mudslides that buried entire villages, killing about 1,000 people.

In Vietnam, officials say up to 800 millimetres of rain have pounded areas in just a few days, forcing 126,000 people to flee their homes. Earlier flooding this month left more than 80 people dead or missing.

Megi could add to the misery.

“People are exhausted,” Vietnamese disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai said by telephone from Quang Binh province. “Many people have not even returned to their flooded homes from previous flooding, while many others who returned home several days ago were forced to be evacuated again.”

China's National Meteorological Centre said Megi was expected to enter the South China Sea on Tuesday, threatening southeastern coastal provinces. The centre issued its second-highest alert for potential “wild winds and huge waves,” warning vessels to take shelter and urging authorities to brace for emergencies.

Nearly 140,000 people fled homes in the southern island province of Hainan, where heavy rains left thousands homeless over the weekend, the official Xinhua news agency reported Monday.

Thailand also reported flooding that killed at least four people, submerged thousands of homes and vehicles and halted train service. It also prompted the evacuation of nearly 100 elephants from a popular tourist attraction north of the capital.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/philippines/article/876870--typhoon-megi-hits-philippines-vietnam

Philippine authorities try to reach Megi survivors

AFP – Houses submerged by flooding due to heavy rains brought by Typhoon Megi in Baguio City, Benguet province, …

• Slideshow:Typhoon Megi

by Jay Directo – Wed Oct 20, 3:26 am ET

CAUAYAN, Philippines (AFP) – Typhoon Megi inched away from the Philippines on Wednesday after killing 19 people, as relief workers scrambled to deliver aid to remote towns that were devastated by the storm.

The governor of the hardest-hit province of Isabela, Faustino Dy said that residents in three coastal towns had suffered massive damage to their homes and were left with limited food supplies after huge waves washed away roads.

"Their food supply is only up to Sunday. But going there is very difficult. There is no road to reach them," Dy told reporters in Cauayan, the closest city to the worst-hit towns.

Dy, who had flown by helicopter to the devastated areas, said that as many as 20,000 people were affected.

Many of them had survived by fleeing into the mountains before Megi hit, he and other officials said.

Regional social welfare chief Arnel Garcia said the government planned to send food and tents to the affected towns of Maconacon, Palanan and Divilacan but that both air and sea travel were dangerous.

"Helicopters have to pass through the mountains and the mountain ranges are often covered with clouds," Garcia said.

Click image to see photos of Typhoon Megi

AP/Bullit Marquez

US ambassador Harry Thomas said in a statement that US military personnel and equipment that was already in the Philippines for a joint exercise would be diverted for typhoon relief.

"My embassy team is in constant contact with Philippine authorities and NGO (non-governmental organisation) representatives to determine how we can be of further assistance," Thomas said in a statement issued by the embassy.

Megi smashed mostly farming and fishing areas of northern Luzon with gusts of 260 kilometres (160 miles) an hour on Monday, making it the strongest typhoon in the world this year.

The three million residents of Isabela province and other areas of the Cagayan Valley farming region were the worst hit.

The government raised the death toll to 19 on Wednesday, up from 14 the previous day, after more detailed reports from around Luzon were compiled.

The civil defence bureau said it was still sheltering over 10,000 people in evacuation centres across northern Luzon while roads were being cleared.

Although the typhoon was already over the South China Sea, the government weather station said it had remained almost stationary on Wednesday, hovering over the western coast of the Philippines.

The typhoon, which is still packing maximum gusts of 210 kilometres (130 miles) per hour, is expected to continue hovering throughout the day before moving northeast towards southern China, the weather station said.

The first level of a four-step storm alert remained in effect over several provinces in the northern Philippines due to continuing rain from the typhoon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101020/ts_afp/philippinestyphoon_20101020072623

Typhoon Megi gains strength, approaches south China

MANILA, PHILIPPINES : Typhoon Megi has gained strength over the South China Sea to Category 4 intensity, after leaving the Philippines reportedly killing at least 19 people, mostly in Northern Luzon, local media reported Wednesday.

Typhoon Megi currently holds sustained winds of approximately 135 mph, traveling north at around 10 mph, and moving towards the coastal areas in the central part of Guangdong. It is expected to make landfall on Saturday with an intensity of Catergory 2 or 3 on the east and north area of Hong Kong.

"We expect that the strong winds and torrential rain brought by Megi will increase the probability of geological disasters happening in the south such as floods, land and mudslides," China's National Meteorological Center said.

Due to the large size of the typhoon, Megi, which has increased its size and strength since leaving the Philippines, will likely impact weather in south China and Taiwan.

Damages in the northern region of the Philippines are reportedly of about USD 30 million, destroying infrastructure and crops. In addition, nearly 5,000 houses were damaged or destroyed by Megi's winds.

Noel Lopez, provincial administrator of Isabela province in the Philippines said that it was "the worst typhoon to hit out province in nearly 20 years", stating that the lives of more than 256,000 people were affected.

--BNO News

http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-66921.html

Typhoon Megi Kills 10 in Philippines, Heads for China

October 19, 2010, 5:05 AM EDT

MORE FROM BUSINESSWEEK

• Philippine Civil Defense Says 10 Killed Due to Typhoon Megi
• Born in the U.S.A. Is What Makes Someone American: Eric Foner
• China Begins Emergency Preparations as Typhoon Megi Nears Coast
• Rice Output May Drop in Thailand on Drought, FAO Says (Update2)
• China Henan Coal Mine Blast Kills All 37 Miners, Government Says

By Stuart Biggs and Aaron Sheldrick

(Updates with typhoon’s Hong Kong path in first paragraph.)

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Megi, which left at least 10 people dead as it crossed the Philippines yesterday, strengthened as it churned over the South China Sea on a path to Hong Kong, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.

The storm, which made landfall as a supertyphoon on Luzon’s northeast coast yesterday before weakening over land, was about 350 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Manila and 780 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong at 2 p.m. local time, the U.S. Navy said. Megi’s winds increased to 185 kilometers per hour and the storm was moving west-northwest at 11 kph.

Megi’s winds are forecast to strengthen to 213 kph as it crosses the South China Sea. That would make it a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, capable of “catastrophic damage,” according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Megi may hit Hong Kong within three days, the U.S. Navy tracking map shows.

Megi will “severely” affect China’s coast, the nation’s National Meteorological Center said in a statement yesterday.

China’s State Disaster Relief Commission issued warnings for the southern regions of Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian to prepare for relief operations yesterday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. On the island of Hainan, work began to shore up reservoirs, Xinhua said in a separate report.

Luzon Victims

At least 10 people died as the storm passed over Luzon, the most populous island in the Philippines, including three fishermen killed off the coast of Isabela province, Civil Defense Administrator Benito Ramos told reporters in Manila today. Three members of a family were killed by a falling tree in Pangasinan province, he said.

A state of calamity was declared in Isabela province, where Megi made landfall.

The storm, which had sustained winds of about 270 kph before making landfall, destroyed five houses and damaged 30 others as it disrupted power supply in 210 towns and cities, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on its website today. Mobile phone networks were also damaged and some roads were blocked by landslides.

Four northern provinces may have power disruptions for as long as a week after Megi toppled 11 towers in a transmission line, National Grid Corp. said in a press briefing today. Manila Electric Co., which supplies the capital and neighboring areas, said there may be three-hour outages in parts of the city today.

Storm Ketsana

Rice crops in key growing regions in Isabela and Cagayan provinces may have been “severely affected” by Megi, the strongest storm to hit the country this year, the government said today. As much as 132,847 hectares (328,272 acres) may be affected, with power and communication outages making it difficult to get accurate reports of damage, the Department of Agriculture said in a faxed statement.

The Philippines is regularly battered by tropical cyclones that form over the Pacific Ocean to the east of the country. The government was criticized for its response last year when Tropical Storm Ketsana flooded Manila and parts of Luzon, leaving about 460 people dead and affecting almost 5 million.

Thousands of people died this year in China as torrential rain and floods inundated the country. Typhoon Fanapi, the 12th storm of the season, brought the heaviest rains in a century to China’s southern province of Guangdong in September, Xinhua News Agency reported at the time.

Storms in the northwest Pacific are designated as supertyphoons when their wind speed exceeds 241 kph, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Megi is the name of a catfish in South Korea and is related to the feeling of getting wet, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names assigned to storms in the northwest Pacific. It’s the 15th storm of the season.

--With assistance by Francisco Alcuaz Jr. and Cecilia Yap in Manila and Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore. Editors: Aaron Sheldrick, Jane Lee.

To contact the reporters for this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at ssbiggs3@bloomberg.net; Aaron Sheldrick at asheldrick@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net; Amit Prakash at aprakash@bloomberg.net

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-19/typhoon-megi-kills-10-in-philippines-heads-for-china.html

Typhoon Megi leaves 200,000 homeless in Philippine

20 October 2010 Last updated at 08:42 GM

Typhoon Megi leaves 200,000 homeless in Philippines

Typhoon Megi left a trail of destruction in the northern Philippines before heading towards China

Typhoon Megi is gathering strength and heading towards southern China, meteorologists said, after leaving 200,000 Filipinos homeless.

The severe storm left a trail of destruction in its wake after hitting the northern Philippines on Monday.

Officials there said at least 200,000 people remained homeless with the cost to infrastructure still unknown.

The storm is described as the worst in many years, but predictions vary about where it will make next landfall.

Continue reading the main story

Related stories

• Typhoon Megi heads towards China
• Super typhoon lashes Philippines
• In pictures: Typhoon Megi aftermath

The typhoon was originally heading westwards toward Vietnam, where heavy rains and floods have so far killed scores of people.

Its course has been edging northward however, with tens of thousands of residents evacuated in China's Hainan island and Guangdong province.

Some predications now suggest it could more northerly still, towards Taiwan.

People in the Chinese province of Guangdong and Hong Kong are stockpiling food ahead of the storm, which has been gathering strength over the South China Sea.

Ships and fishing boats have been told to stay in harbour, as Hong Kong's weather officials predicted winds of up to more than 185 km/hour(115mph).

In the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino praised his administration's response to Typhoon Megi.

He said that the thorough preparations had helped minimise loss of life, after at least 11 people died.

President Aquino said that by forward planning and accurate weather predictions, government agencies had been able to make a real difference to the level of destruction wrought by Typhoon Megi.

Cut off

Before the storm, thousands of people were moved from low-lying areas, to avoid flash floods and landslides.

Evacuation centres were stocked with food and medicines, and the weather bureau gave hourly radio updates about the path of the storm.

Physical destruction has nonetheless been extensive - thousands of homes flattened, crops destroyed and roads and bridges damaged.

"Their food supply is only up to Sunday. But going there is very difficult. There is no road to reach them," the governor of the hardest-hit province of Isabela, Faustino Dy told reporters in Cauayan, northern Philippines.

The BBC's correspondent in Manila, Kate McGeown, says the Philippine response to this storm was in stark contrast to that of past disasters.

A typhoon of similar magnitude hit the Philippines in 2006, and more than 1,000 people died.

Earlier this year, the weather bureau was heavily criticised for failing to predict that a typhoon would hit Manila, leaving the capital completely unprepared.

Are you in an area affected by the typhoon? Are you part of the emergency services rescue effort?

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to61124 (UK) or 0044 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11581196

Vietnam mom recalls how bus was submerged by flood

AP – Tran Thi Mung, 46, a survived passenger from a bus that was swept away by high waters early Monday morning …

By MARGIE MASON, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 39 mins ago

NGHI XUAN, Vietnam – It was dark and quiet in the early morning when the bus engine stalled and Tran Thi Mung suddenly heard the driver yell for everyone to remain calm. She felt the wheels rock, then the floor tilt as the raging Lam River sucked away the vehicle's footing and slowly began to swallow it.

The 38 Vietnamese passengers trapped inside screamed for help while kicking and punching at the unyielding windows. Finally, someone broke through the glass pane in the front seat where Mung and her 19-year-old son, Tuyen, were sitting.

Eighteen people, including the driver, managed to reach safety before the bus disappeared into the water Monday along with 20 other passengers. Divers located it on the river bottom Wednesday about half a mile (one kilometer) downstream from where it was yanked off the road. It's unclear how many people are entombed inside, but all 20 missing people are presumed dead.

In the past week, parts of central Vietnam have suffered the worst flooding in more than 30 years. At least 45 others have died, besides those in the submerged bus. Churning waters have devoured sections of the country's main north-south highway the bus was traveling.

When the river started to consume the vehicle, a handful of young men were the first to shimmy out. But their escape was hindered by whitewater-style currents, forcing them to cling to the side of the bus or grab onto nearby power poles. As water began to gush inside, Mung knew it was sinking and they too had to climb out the window.

"We clung to the bus for 15 to 20 minutes. My son told me, 'Mom, I'm very cold,'" Mung said. "We were together, and he was holding my hand."

Vietnam, a tropical country mapped by a spider web of rivers, is prone to storms and flooding that kill hundreds of people every year. The central region has been punished especially hard in the past month. The first round of flooding two weeks ago killed 66 people.

Click image to see photos of Typhoon Megi

AP/Bullit Marquez

Another 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) of rain has fallen in the past week, submerging more than 220,000 houses and forcing some 173,000 people to flee their homes, authorities say.

Green rice paddies have become endless coffee-colored lakes with only the occasional rooftop poking out of the water. Many flood victims have been stranded without food and water, some forced to wait for help inside attics or perched atop flimsy tin roofs.

In some upstream areas of hardest-hit Ha Tinh province, the flooding is the worst ever recorded with rivers surging to all-time highs, said disaster official Bui Le Bac. In the low-lying areas, waters are reaching levels not seen since 1978.

The rains have now stopped, and it appears Vietnam may be spared Typhoon Megi, which slammed into the Philippines killing 20 and is headed to southern China. But waters here continue to rise. About 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rain drenched Ha Tinh province Tuesday, and officials discharged water from a reservoir hours later to protect the dam, worsening flooding in areas downstream and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.

The bus Tuyen and Mung took was traveling from the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong to the northern province of Nam Dinh. It was caught on a section of Highway 1 that police were actually diverting traffic away from, as the Lam River overflowed its banks.

Like many Vietnamese, Tuyen could not swim, and Mung, a thin 46-year-old farmer, had not been in deep water herself since childhood. As they clung to the bus, she tried to prepare Tuyen for their ordeal, first telling him to remove his clothes and then to lie back and float. But he was too scared and there was no time. He decided to help others instead.

"He kept calling into the bus, urging the others to take the children outside and give them to the strong young men," Mung said. "He managed to take out one child that was saved."

Minutes later, the bus began to sink and Mung lost her hold on Tuyen. She was struggling to keep her own head above water, but she could still see her son.

"I saw him slowly disappear in the water and he yelled, 'Mom, where are you?'" she recalled, gasping as she wiped her swollen eyes. "The current was so strong, I could not reach him. I still remember that image vividly of him slowly sinking with his hand waving, trying to ask for help."

She then saw the bus roll onto its side and vanish into the murky water, with several screaming passengers still huddled inside.

Instead of giving up, Mung, a widow with two other children at home, channeled her grief into determination. She had to live so that someone could recover Tuyen's body and give him a proper burial, allowing his spirit to rest.

She floated and thrashed in the swift-moving river for 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), exhausting herself. At one point, the mother called out to her son, "I'm going to die with you because I can't stand it anymore."

But just when she was ready to stop kicking, she felt a hand reach for her, a fisherman — aged 19 like Tuyen — had spotted her and pulled her to safety.

Although she survived, she says she cannot live again until the river gives back her son. On Wednesday, she gathered with relatives near the site where the bus went down, praying and burning incense. As she tossed crackers, bottled water and fresh flowers into the river as offerings, she nearly collapsed while screaming her last wish into the swirling water.

"Tuyen, my son, come back to me! Do you hear what I'm telling you?" she cried, as a relative steadied her. "You must be very cold down there. Come back to me, I will not abandon you again."

____

Associated Press writer Tran Van Minh contributed to this report from Nghi Xuan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101020/ap_on_re_as/as_vietnam_floods_last_words;_ylt=Av9c.qKL4oruyOIrVPCLTu5vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0cWJrdG10BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMDIwL2FzX3ZpZXRuYW1fZmxvb2RzX2xhc3Rfd29yZHMEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3ZpZXRuYW1tb21yZQ--