. Earth Science News .
SHAKE AND BLOW
Powerful typhoon heads for China after lashing Taiwan

by Staff Writers
Taipei (AFP) Sept 19, 2010
Typhoon Fanapi churned towards mainland China on Sunday after pounding Taiwan with fierce winds and torrential rains, leaving dozens of people hurt, sparking landslides and gridlocking traffic.

Chinese authorities upgraded their warning level to the second highest, the official Xinhua news agency said, as the mainland braced for Fanapi, which was expected to hit coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian provinces Monday.

Packing gusts of up to 155 kilometres (97 miles) an hour, it was moving west towards China at 20 kilometres an hour, and as of 1315 GMT its centre was in the Taiwan Strait, the Central Weather Bureau said.

Typhoon Fanapi, which made landfall near Taiwan's east coast city of Hualien Sunday morning, caused 66 injuries on the island, with some people blown over by gales, knocked from motorcycles or hit by flying debris.

Television footage from Hualien showed lines of fallen trees, several houses with their roofs ripped off and an upturned lorry.

"Over the past three hours, the winds have slightly slowed after the typhoon was hampered by the high mountains," an official with the bureau said.

The weather bureau warned that the storm might bring more torrential rain and had already set off dozens of landslides.

"People should take precautions against possible flash flooding and avoid low-lying areas," Hsieh said.

The weather bureau said the typhoon dumped more than 1,000 millimetres (40 inches) of rain in the south of the island, prompting the military to send soldiers equipped with amphibious vehicles.

Memories are still raw in Taiwan of the onslaught of Typhoon Morakot in 2009, which left more than 700 people dead or missing in one of the island's worst natural disasters.

President Ma Ying-jeou and his administration came in for criticism after Morakot for reacting too late.

Authorities appear determined to take a more proactive approach this time, with Ma presiding over a video conference with local officials Sunday, urging measures to prevent major damage from the typhoon, whose name means "small atoll islands" in Micronesian.

High-speed rail services were interrupted and partially resumed, while all domestic and five international flights were called off. The National Fire Agency said more than 6,000 people had been evacuated from mountainous areas.

The typhoon also brought an abrupt halt to the inaugural Yeangder Tournament Players Championship golf tournament in Taiwan, with Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant declared the winner after 54 holes.

The Yeangder TPC is the second event on the Asian Tour schedule to be reduced to 54 holes, after bad weather also struck the Ballantine's Championship in Korea this season.

Taiwanese fishermen sought safety in ports along the coast, tying their vessels together with heavy ropes in an attempt to withstand powerful winds and waves.

Taiwan's population is accustomed to several typhoons each year, and many people went to shops and open-air markets Saturday to buy enough food to last for a couple of days.

In Hong Kong, a spokeswoman for the airport authority said 22 flights between Hong Kong and Taiwan were cancelled while another 16 were delayed because of the typhoon.

In China's Fujian province, more than 55,000 fishing boats had returned to port in anticipation of the dangerous winds and nearly 150,000 people had been moved to safety, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities there warned Fanapi could be the fiercest typhoon to hit so far this year, the report said.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


SHAKE AND BLOW
Hurricane Igor batters Bermuda
Hamilton, Bermuda (AFP) Sept 19, 2010
Tiny, remote Bermuda found itself at the mercy of giant Hurricane Igor on Sunday, whipped by fierce winds and rain that authorities fear could spell disaster. The brunt of the unusually large storm, whose eye was bigger than the entire British overseas territory of 65,000 people, was not expected to strike until late Sunday. But hurricane-force gusts already battered Bermuda and huge sto ... read more







SHAKE AND BLOW
Millennium Development Goals seek end to poverty, hunger

Chile celebrates bicentennial with miners' fate in focus

UN gathers pledges for two billion dollar Pakistan appeal

Philanthropist sees China as charity superpower

SHAKE AND BLOW
Samsung takes aim at Apple's iPad, iTunes

ARTEMIS - The First Earth-Moon Libration Orbiter

Asia defies global newspaper meltdown

E-readers yet to win mass market in China

SHAKE AND BLOW
Global Fisheries Research Finds Promise And Peril

Drought shrinks Amazon River to lowest level in 47 years

Marine Scientists Call For European Marine Observatory Network

Human Impacts On The Deep Seafloor

SHAKE AND BLOW
Russia, Canada trade rival Arctic claims

Glaciers Help High-Latitude Mountains Grow Taller

Arctic sea ice shrinks to third lowest area on record

Arctic ice melting quickly, report says

SHAKE AND BLOW
NGOs call for African biodiversity centre

In hungry region, S.African maize may feed Chinese chickens

China's Sinochem asks government to back Potash bid: report

Global Project Underway To Preserve Yam Biodiversity

SHAKE AND BLOW
Karl claims two lives, dissipates over Mexico

Hurricane Igor batters Bermuda

Powerful typhoon heads for China after lashing Taiwan

Hurricane Karl menaces Mexico, Igor eyes Bermuda

SHAKE AND BLOW
Mauritanian troops battle Al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Mali

Kenya may be lifeline for new Sudan state

Termites Foretell Climate Change In Africa's Savannas

Nigeria leader replaces military, security heads: presidency

SHAKE AND BLOW
Factfile on world population growth

Roma issue could overshadow EU summit

Scientists Glimpse Dance Of Skeletons Inside Neurons

European Parliament blasts Roma expulsions


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement