Thousands Dead in Myanmar Cyclone

Breaking Earth News
Myanmar
Official death toll approaches 4,000; government says total could reach five figures in wake of monster storm.
Image:This image provided by NASA's MODIS instrument on board the Terra satellite shows Cyclone Nargis as it approaches the coast of Bangladesh Thursday May 1, 2008
Photos: Burmese Cleanup

YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from the cyclone that ripped through Myanmar could reach 10,000, a top government minister said Monday.

Foreign diplomats said Foreign Minister Nyan Win acknowledged the possibility of the high casualty figure at a briefing given to them and representatives of U.N. and international aid agencies.

State radio earlier reported that the official death toll from Saturday's Cyclone Nargis had risen to 3,939 from an original count of 351.

The agencies said they are rushing to prepare assistance for victims of the cyclone.

Story Continues

Cyclone Jokwe lashes Mozambique

Breaking Earth News
Mozambique, Africa
Satellite Image: Cyclone Jokwe

MAPUTO, March 10 (Reuters) - Tropical cyclone Jokwe battered parts of Mozambique for a third day on Monday, killing at least eight people and destroying thousands of homes in the northern Nampula province, Radio Mozambique reported.

The state-controlled broadcaster said four districts were being lashed by heavy downpours and winds of up to 200 kph (125 miles per hour).

Thousands of people have had to flee their homes and the cyclone has destroyed almost 20,000 homes, wrecked electricity pylons and uprooted trees.

Emergency officials said the cyclone was moving south and they expected the death toll to increase.

Paulo Zucula, director of the National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC), said Cyclone Jokwe was more dangerous than Cyclone Favio, which hit Mozambique last year killing 10 people.

"The situation is terrible right now with dangerous winds of 200 kph travelling to the southern parts of Mozambique," he told Reuters.

MADAGASCAR: Violence of Cyclone Ivan overwhelms careful preparations

Image: Aftermath of Cyclone Ivan in Madagascar
JOHANNESBURG, 20 February 2008 (IRIN) As initial assessments shed light on the extensive damage caused by Cyclone Ivan earlier this week, Madagascar is bracing itself for another onslaught as Cyclone Hondo picks up and heads for the island’s east coast. Ivan slammed into Madagascar's northeastern coast on Sunday, 18 February, with winds of up to 210km per hour, leaving a trail of destruction on its way across the island until it slowly diminished in strength and dissipated in the Mozambique Channel on Tuesday. Ivan brought “two levels of disasters: destruction caused by the intense wind first, and now the flooding.” And we can expect more - we are in the middle of cyclone season you know - Hondo is now threatening our coast.” Hondo developed into a full-blown category four tropical cyclone in the centre of the Indian Ocean at the beginning of February, but quickly lost intensity and never threatened to make landfall. But Hondo is making a comeback. “Hondo is now 1,600km from our east coast. It does not affect the weather yet, but we must be alert to its evolution.” On Sainte Marie, a 60km long island off Madagascar’s northeast coast, which bore the brunt of cyclone Ivan, “75 percent of the houses have been destroyed." Over 8,000 were left without shelter and two people died. An additional nine victims are thought to be buried under the rubble of a collapsed hotel. “The cyclone damaged road infrastructure and houses and blew down trees. In many parts of the country, especially the northeast, the electricity is cut off and rivers are reported to have begun flooding." Concerns have also been raised over food security after large areas of rice fields were flooded in the Ambatondrazaka region, where most of Madagascar’s rice, the staple food, is grown. The cyclone season was overlapping with the lean season between harvests, and the precarious food security situation was worrying. “After the passage of the cyclones, many people lose their harvest. This situation would likely cause a severe deterioration of the situation in the coming months.”

Cyclone Gene Causes Havoc in South Pacific

South Pacific Weather News
In Solomon Islands, residents in Guadalcanal are being warned of the dangers of rising flood waters and the possibility of crocodiles, after heavy rain in the area at the weekend.

The flooding, caused by heavy rains from Cyclone Gene, has caused damage to family gardens, bridges and roads in many parts of Guadalcanal.

A team of assessment officers from the disaster office spent Sunday wading through muddy roads to get to villagers affected by Saturday's floods.

The assessment officers say major suppliers of market produce to the capital, Honiara, have been affected by the flooding.

They have also warned of the threat of crocodiles that may have been swept into residential areas by the rising waters.

Cyclone Gene Hits Fiji, Heads for Vanuatu

Fiji lashed by powerful cyclone

The Fiji Islands
At least six people have died and thousands are without power or water after Cyclone Gene lashed Fiji.

At least six people have died, half of Fiji's population is without power and water, and tourists remain stranded after category two Cyclone Gene lashed Fiji. Winds gusted at 140km/h (88mph), tearing off roofs, causing flooding and bringing down trees and power lines. Hundreds of people took refuge in schools and government shelters after fleeing damaged houses. Forecasters warned of further serious flooding, as the tail-end of the storm dumped large amounts of rain on Fiji. The cyclone is moving slowly westward towards Vanuatu, forcing the authorities there to issue a cyclone alert. The Disaster Management Office in the capital Suva said the CYCLONE HAD NOT BEHAVED LIKE OTHERS. "We were not really ready for it since the hurricane just DEVELOPED ALL OF A SUDDEN, and then we were caught off balance when it struck. This one really followed a pattern that is quite different from the pattern that we normally follow. It is QUITE UNIQUE in a way."

RELATED NEWS
Record rainfall causes heavy flooding in Samoa
A clean up is underway in Samoa's capital, Apia, after extensive flooding caused by the highest rainfall ever recorded by the local weather bureau.

The 108 millimetres over the last four days came from a low pressure trough that emerged south of the country.

Most businesses were closed, schools were dismissed early and many cars broke down in the floodwaters.

Kamchatka is Fighting Damage Caused by Powerful Snow Cyclone

VLADIVOSTOK, January 13, vladivostoktimes.com
Kamchatka is fighting the damage caused by the powerful snow cyclone, RIA Novosti (News) informs.

The Pacific atmospheric vortex brought heavy snowfalls to the peninsula. The amount of precipitation came to 20% of the monthly norm, and the snow depth grew 70 - 120 centimeters in different districts. On Saturday the air service between Kamchatka and continent was blocked due to the snowfall and poor visibility was renewed. The damage caused by avalanching from the hill slopes into Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski has been already removed.

However, avalanche warning in the capital of the Kamchatka Territory and mountain districts of Elizovo, Ust-Bolsheretzk, Ust-Kamchatski, Milkovo, and Bystrinskiy stays for two more days. The specialists of the Anti Avalanche Center intend to make preventive bombardment of the most dangerous slopes with artillery to prevent uncontrollable avalanching.

RELATED NEWS
Tajikistan: Energy Shortages, Extreme Cold Create Crisis Situation
A crippling shortage of energy, combined with severe weather conditions, have left many people living in cold, dark homes in Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Coupled with increasing prices for food and gasoline, it's creating a miserable winter for many. Image: The wintry conditions, such as on this road in Baljuvan district, east of Dushanbe, are causing some Tajik bus drivers to charge passengers twice the price for tickets.(RFE/RL)

Treacherous cyclone hitting Fiji islands

Breaking Storm News
Fiji Islands
Destructive Category 4 Super Storm
(CNN) -- Powerful Tropical Cyclone Daman closed in on Fiji on Friday, threatening the Pacific island chain with home-destroying winds and dangerous floods.

"It's most likely going to be one of the severest cyclones to hit the country in recent times," Fiji Disaster Management Office director Joeli Rokovabe told The Associated Press. Tourist resorts -- Fiji's top industry -- are also threatened, he added.

The population of the nation's 332 islands is about 900,000, according to the CIA World Factbook, and many residents rely on fishing and farming to survive.

A Category 4 storm, Daman has triggered a hurricane warning for some of Fiji's larger islands, including Cikobia and northeastern Vanua Levu. Daman's eye is expected to brush Vanua Levu, which is Fiji's second largest island, said meteorologist Alipate Waqaicelua.

Vanua Levu residents and those on the Lau and Lomaiviti island groups have been warned to move from coastal areas to cyclone shelters and other safe buildings, said Rokovabe, according to The Associated Press.

The storm is predicted to bring "winds of very destructive hurricane force" within 30 miles (48 kilometers) of its center, according to the Fiji Meteorological Service.

VIEW VIDEO

Up to 10,000 dead in cyclone-hit Bangladesh

BREAKING EARTH NEWS
BANGLADESH
A NATIONAL CALAMITY: 7 million affected by storm.
Image: A man sits on a dead cow as he collects cattle corpses from a canal in Taful of Bagherhat district on the south coast of Bangladesh, two days after Cyclone Sidr devastated parts of the country. (AFP Photo: Jewel Samad)

Officials say up to 10,000 people are dead and millions homeless and hungry in cyclone-hit Bangladesh, as the army and aid workers battled to reach the devastated coast.

Three days after cyclone Sidr tore into one of the world's poorest nations from the Bay of Bengal, rescue workers were still fighting their way through a landscape of flattened villages and traumatised crowds.

The chairman of the Bangladeshi Red Crescent Society, the country's central humanitarian organisation, said 3,000 bodies had already been recovered.

RELATED NEWS

Cyclone Sidr an 'ecological disaster'
Dhaka - Experts said Sunday they feared for the wildlife and ecology of the world's biggest mangrove forest after a deadly cyclone tore through the Sunderbans - home to the endangered Royal Bengal tiger.

Zunayed Kabir Chowdhury, a Dhaka-based mangrove expert, said he feared thousands of deer as well as many tigers and wild boar had been swept away by the massive tidal wave triggered by cyclone Sidr last Thursday.

"The eye of the cyclone hit the part of the Sunderbans which is known to be the most important habitat of the tigers and other wildlife," he said.

The nests of many birds would also have been destroyed, he added.

RELATED VIDEO

Cyclone Toll Reaches 1,100 in Bangladesh

Breaking Storm News
Bangladesh
Image: Waves approach the shore along the southern district of Cox's Bazaar ahead of a storm November 15, 2007. A super cyclone was bearing down rapidly on Bangladesh's southwest coastline, ripping off tin roofs from houses and uprooting trees, as tens of thousands of mainlanders were evacuated to shelters. REUTERS/Mustafizur Rahman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A cyclone that slammed into the coast with 150 mph winds killed at least 1,100 people, isolating remote towns and villages swamped by a storm surge or hemmed in by piles of debris, aid workers and a Bangladeshi news agency said Friday.

Tropical Cyclone Sidr roared across the country's southwestern coast late Thursday with driving rain and high waves, leveling homes and forcing the evacuation of 650,000 villagers, officials said.

The United News of Bangladesh news agency said reporters deployed across the devastated region made their own count in each affected district and reached a toll of 1,100.

The government, which earlier put the death toll at 242, has acknowledged its trouble keeping count — with power and phone lines down in most remote areas — and said it expected the official number to rise significantly.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information.

RELATED NEWS

Cyclone smashes into Bangladesh coast

BREAKING STORM NEWS
INDIA
VIEW ANIMATED SATELITE IMAGERY OF CYCLONE

DHAKA (AFP) — A fierce cyclone packing extreme winds and torrential rain smashed into Bangladesh's southwestern coast Thursday, wiping out homes and trees in what officials described as the worst storm in years.

The eye of cyclone Sidr, visible in satellite images as a colossal swirling white mass racing north from the Bay of Bengal, hit land in an impoverished coastal area near Bangladesh's border with India.

"The cyclone has battered Bangladeshi coastal areas. The velocity of the wind in that area is 220 to 240 kilometres (140 to 155 miles and hour). (This) is a violent storm," said Samarendra Karmakar, the head of the Bangladeshi meteorological department.

The storm matched one in 1991 that sparked a tidal wave that killed an estimated 138,000 people, Karmakar told AFP.

But he said he was optimistic a major effort this time to evacuate villages and place people in special shelters could mean low-lying Bangladesh -- one of the world's poorest countries -- would escape significant loss of life.

"It is not less severe than the 1991 cyclone, in some places it is more severe. But we are expecting less casualties this time because the government took early measures. We alerted people to be evacuated early," he said.

Cyclone Sidr, a Fierce Category 4 Storm, Heads for Bangladesh

BREAKING STORM NEWS

BANGLADESH
Image: Top: Satellite image of cyclone SIDR; Alerted fishing boats are seen near Patenga sea beach in Chittagong yesterday as the cyclonic storm packing high winds and heavy rains seemed imminent. Photos: Focus Bangla/Star






Mongla Seaport on Highest Alert

Cyclone Sidr, a powerful Category 4 storm with destructive potential, gained even more strength in the past 12 hours, and shows no signs of losing strength for at least 24 hours. It is forecast to lose strength before landfall, but would still hit land as a strong Category 1 storm.

The storm, now packing 138 mph sustained winds, is headed for landfall on the western edge of Bangladesh, at the border with India, near to where Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), the capital of its province, sits.

Past strong storms to hit Bangladesh have caused massive casualties, numbering in the hundreds of thousands -- giving this hurricane perhaps the most deadly potential of any so far this year.

Cyclone Sidr Grows into Fierce Category 3 Storm

Breaking Earth News
Bangladesh

If It Hits Bangladesh, Hundreds of Thousands Could Die

Cyclone Sidr, which is a hurricane of at least Category 3 strength, could track toward Bangladesh and repeat episodes of destruction that have witnessed hundreds of thousands dying from single strong storms. It already packs winds of 120 mph, having intensified rapidly in the past 12 hours.
The image above is a NASA satellite image resembling a photograph, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. The Nov. 12 image shows "the storm’s swirling clouds straddling the center of the Bay of Bengal with the eastern shores of Sri Lanka and India forming the left edge of the image.

Cyclone cuts off electricity to almost 200,000 people in Primorye

Russia

A snow cyclone in Primorye, in Russia's Far East, has caused power outages in several areas and interrupted water supplies in Vladivostok. The snow cyclone swept through the region during the night Friday. The cyclone has left about 100 populated areas of almost 200,000 people without electricity. Repair teams continue to work day and night there, but it is difficult for them to reach some areas because of the heavy snowfall. While some electro-transmission lines are repaired, new line breaks occur. Specialists plan to resume electricity supply to most of the affected areas in 12 hours. The situation is also complicated on roads. The snowfall disrupted traffic on the Khorol-Yaroslavka-Sibirtsevo section where about 100 vehicles were trapped in snow and on the federal Khabarovsk-Vladivostok road where several hundred vehicles were blocked in a congestion. The cyclone is moving across the central and northern regions of the Primorsky Territory. According to meteorologists, it will move to the northeast and to the Sea of Okhotsk and then come to Sakhalin.

‘Cyclone Yemyin fuels separatist movement’

Karachi, Pakistan

The devastation caused as a result of Cyclone Yemyin in Balochistan has fueled the separatist movement in that province. “Districts Kech, Panjgur, Gwadur, Kharan, Khuzdar, Lasbela, Naseerabad, Katchi and Jhal Magsi have been completely destroyed by the cyclone and there was no help either from the federal or the provincial government for five days. The Pakistan government should have sought help from the United Nations and other aid agencies but it was totally indifferent to the plight of the Baloch people...It’s true that there is a movement in Balochistan for an independent state and the devastation caused by Cyclone Yemyin and the aloofness and indifference of the State has acted as a catalyst in the movement.”

Thousands flee as cyclone hits Pakistan coast

Pakistan

June 26, 2007

Associated Press
QUETTA, Pakistan – Ten people drowned and thousands fled to higher ground today as a tropical cyclone lashed Pakistan's coastline with heavy rains and high winds, officials said.
Navy ships rescued 75 people from four foundering vessels and were searching for more boats caught in the rough seas, said navy spokesman Lt.-Com. Salman Ali.
Cyclone Yemyin hit parts of the coastline of Baluchistan province at about noon today with winds of up to 90 kilometres an hour, said Qamaruz Zaman, director-general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
Rain-swollen rivers flooded several coastal districts, killing at least 10 people, including four children, said Raziq Bugti, spokesman for the provincial government.
Floods washed away some bridges and part of the main coastal highway, causing lengthy traffic delays. Hundreds of villagers clutching possessions filed past on foot.
In the hills, spillways were opened to release the water pressure on two dangerously full dams, Bugti said.

Cyclone stays at sea

Breaking Earth News

Australia

Photo: Wild storm: Massive waves pound the coal carrier Pasha Bulker at Nobbys Beach in Newcastle. Picture: Liam Driver

WIND gusted to 100km/h as 10m waves, pushed ashore by a cyclonic depression, pounded the NSW coast yesterday.But a forecast cyclone failed to eventuate, the worst of the depression centering about 50km out to sea and losing its cyclonic strength 10-20km off shore.

Fears of cyclonic wind and torrential rain sparked widespread alerts on Tuesday from the South Coast to the Hunter Valley, with residents warned to "batten down the hatches" for a category two cyclone.

State bracing for worst storm

Stay indoors ... Severe storms are expected to hit the east coast tonight with the SES warning residents to brace themselves for 125km/h winds.

Roads closed after icy blast Weather updates

Breaking Earth News

Australia

Cyclone Alert

Emergency crews stand ready as residents of New South Wales coastal areas brace for what threatened to be the most dangerous of three major storms to hit the state this month. Cyclonic winds up to 125km/h and huge waves are forecast to batter the coastline from tonight and into tomorrow, starting at Moruya in the state's south and moving north. Forecasters warned of cyclone-strength winds whipped up by an intense low pressure system. The state already faces huge damage costs. "Estimates are that the damage bill will ultimately top $1 billion, larger than either the (1999) Sydney hailstorm or the (1989) Newcastle earthquake." The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service also announced the 24-hour closure of popular areas within national parks in the Blue Mountains area, west of Sydney. Following the rescue of backpacking campers during the earlier storms, bushwalkers have been advised to postpone all back-country travel until conditions improve. NSW Maritime was urging boat owners to secure their boats and stay off the water from later today. The dumping rain and violent storms were further evidence of a developing and hopefully drought-busting La Nina, a weather expert said.

Update: 3 killed, 50 missing as cyclone Akash makes landfall

From the Europe Media Monitor
St Martin's Island
Photo: Charpara Road in the coastal Cox's Bazar town went under knee-deep water yesterday as tropical cyclone Akash triggered a tidal surge in the Bay. PHOTO: STAR

Three fishermen were killed in Saint Martin's Island while at least 50 others went missing in the bay as cyclone Akash crossed the coastal area yesterday morning and weakened into a land depression.

A tidal surge triggered by the cyclonic storm with winds up to 80 kph, swept through the coastal district of Cox's Bazar at about 9:00am yesterday, damaging some two thousand houses, sources at the district administration's control room said.

Quoting the island's union parishad chairman Firoz Ahmed, BSS reports that some 45 houses and 30 shops were flattened and around 200 trees were uprooted by the cyclone while a fishing boat capsized in the sea. Twenty fishing boats were rescued.

In Cox's Bazar, the storm and accompanying rain cut off power and uprooted trees, while the tidal surge swamped several roads, a disaster management official said. They also said that at least 10 boats with some 50 fishermen aboard are still missing, our correspondent there added. Satellite Image: Cyclone Akash on Monday May 14

Bangladesh on cyclone alert

Tropical Cyclone Alert
Bangladesh
Photo: People in coastal areas headed to storm shelters as the tropical cyclone approached [AFP]

As many as 80,000 people have been evacuated to cyclone shelters in Bangladesh as the tropical storm blew in towards the low-lying South Asian country. About 100 fisherman and up to 20 boats have been reported missing as rain and strong winds swept Bangladesh's coast. The body of one man had already been washed ashore. Tropical storms and cyclones kill hundreds of Bangladeshis every year. One of the worst cyclones to hit the country killed 138,000 people in 1991.

Cyclone spawns floods in North

Breaking Earth News

Thailand

Hundreds of homes and farms in Thailand's northern provinces have been inundated, and more rain is on the way, all due to a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, west of neighbouring Myanmar. Hundreds of families in Pichit were affected by floods, with homes and farmland in Photalae district and a concrete bridge destroyed by rising torrents. In Nakhon Sawan, continuous rain has caused flooding and road links with other communities have been cut off. Some 4,000 acres of croplands were inundated. Residents of low-lying areas have been warned of imminent flash floods. In Phrae, a flash flood hit three villages in Wangshin district. Hundreds of homes have been damaged, and few villagers were able to move their belongings to higher ground before the onrushing waters arrived. Many farming families reported that their livestock was swept away by the floodwaters. Provincial authorities in Phrae warned residents of five districts to brace for more flash floods. In Uttaradit, local authorities are concerned about the flood situation. Some 4,000 acres of paddy fields were under one-metre deep floodwaters. The Meteorological Department warns of further heavy rain throughout Thailand as the weather system is influenced by the Bay of Bengal cyclone.