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Zeta slams into southern US, downgraded to tropical storm
By Mike Smith
New Orleans (AFP) Oct 29, 2020

21 dead, dozens missing in Vietnam after typhoon brings destruction
Quang Nam, Vietnam (AFP) Oct 29, 2020 - Twenty-one people have been killed and dozens more were feared dead on Thursday after a typhoon tore through central Vietnam, triggering landslides and causing some of the worst destruction seen in years.

Typhoon Molave hit villages as it made landfall a day earlier, tearing roofs from homes and bringing heavy rain to an area already badly affected by weeks of flooding.

Hundreds of rescuers were desperately trying to reach survivors after several landslides, but many were hampered by thick mud and fallen trees.

"My two daughters were pulled out from the mud by neighbours," Ho Thi Ha told AFP as one of her girls, four-year-old My, screamed in pain from an injured leg.

"But my father is dead and now I have nothing. Everything is buried in the mud," the 28-year-old said.

Nineteen bodies had so far been pulled from the mud across three hard-hit villages in Quang Nam province, state media reported. Authorities said another 45 people were believed to be buried in the area.

Soldiers were among a search team using heavy bulldozers and excavators to better access two of the villages.

Two people were killed earlier as they tried to protect their homes from the typhoon, Vietnam's fourth storm this month.

Authorities relocated around 375,000 people to safety, cancelled hundreds of flights and closed schools and beaches.

It made landfall south of Danang packing winds of up to 145 kilometres per hour (85 miles per hour), before weakening to a tropical depression on Thursday.

Nearly 90,000 homes had their roofs blown off and many were destroyed in the storm, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

- Communities 'torn apart' -

Twenty-six fishermen were also still missing on Thursday, with helicopters and navy ships deployed to look for their two vessels that disappeared before the storm made landfall.

The typhoon, which also killed 16 people and destroyed homes in the Philippines, came on the back of weeks of flooding and landslides that claimed 130 lives.

"We are heartbroken by more tragic loss of life as this typhoon has brought further misery and hardships to hundreds of thousands of people in central Vietnam," said Vietnam Red Cross Society president Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu.

More than 700 communities were without power, while infrastructure, crops and safe drinking water supplies had been damaged or destroyed, the Red Cross added.

Hoang Phuong Thao, executive director of ActionAid Vietnam, said the typhoon had brought more death and destruction to communities already "torn apart by the worst flooding we've seen in decades".

Vietnam is prone to natural disasters in the rainy season between June and November, with central coastal provinces commonly impacted, but the storms have noticeably worsened in recent years.

The Red Cross said the storms were "yet another example of the devastating impact of climate change".

Hurricane Zeta barreled through the southern United States as a Category 2 storm Wednesday, bringing dangerous winds and surging ocean waves as New Orleans residents were left without power.

Zeta, which was downgraded to a tropical storm during Thursday's early hours, would "continue to spread well inland across portions of northeastern Alabama, northern Georgia, the Carolinas, and southeastern Virginia," according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

It was packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour, the center said at 0900 GMT.

Early on Thursday, New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city was dealing with many downed power lines.

"Downed lines can be energized and are VERY dangerous," she tweeted. "Please continue to stay inside and let public safety officials respond to #Zeta hazards."

The city emergency medical service tweeted that there had been one "electrocution fatality" from a downed power line.

Mississippi governor Tate Reeves had signed an emergency declaration ahead of Zeta's approach earlier Wednesday, and Alabama governor Kay Ivey took to Twitter to advise state residents to prepare for the storm and "listen to all local advice."

Hurricane and storm surge warnings were lifted for Louisiana, but governor John Bel Edwards urged people to stay inside.

"Today has been hard," he tweeted. "As we continue to weather #Zeta and feel its effects, everyone needs to keep listening to their local leaders and follow any curfews that may be in place."

Heavy wind and sheets of rain cut through New Orleans, and power outages were reported in various areas.

Edwards said in an earlier radio interview that nearly 500,000 were without power in the state, including 78 percent of New Orleans.

Officials had urged residents to evacuate vulnerable areas or stock up on emergency supplies of food, water and medication for at least three days.

Curfews were in effect for harder-hit coastal areas.

Zeta hit just six days before the presidential election, although it was not expected to affect the outcome, with early voting in Louisiana already finished.

- French Quarter deserted -

As rainfall and winds began ahead of the storm's arrival, New Orleans residents rushed to prepare, boarding up windows, moving vehicles and boats to higher ground and in some cases stacking sandbags to guard against potential flooding.

The hurricane was the fifth major storm to hit Louisiana this year.

The New Orleans area has repeatedly had to be on guard, though it has been spared so far this year, with the brunt of earlier storms hitting cities such as Lake Charles, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) west near the Texas border.

This time, though, local officials were urgently warning against complacency.

Flooding was less of a threat this time for the low-lying city -- 80 percent of which flooded during 2005's Hurricane Katrina -- because the storm was fast-moving at 25 miles per hour.

New Orleans remains traumatized by Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people 15 years ago.

Annie Quattlebaum, a 39-year-old biologist, and a group of friends visiting from Denver were stranded when the storm caused their flight to be canceled.

They were roaming the city's famous French Quarter, largely deserted on Wednesday afternoon, in search of an open store to buy drinks and food as they prepared to hunker down in their hotel for the night.

"We've been told by friends that are familiar with this area and familiar with the weather to have snacks and have your phone charged," said a mask-wearing Quattlebaum.

"We're not going to do anything stupid. We're just going to hunker down while it's going on."

- 'These poor guys' -

Along the shores of Lake Catherine, on the far northeastern edge of the city where many locals have weekend homes and commercial fishermen operate, boats were lined up along the higher ground of roadsides.

At Island Marina, Geoff Wallace, 60, secured wood and other material he was using for a construction project to keep it from flying away and becoming missiles.

"It's just a part of living here," he said, gray skies shadowing the marshland and a shrimp boat behind him.

"These poor guys," he said of the marina owners. "They've had to go through this four or five times this year. It gets tiring."

The hurricane brought strong winds and heavy rains to Mexico's Caribbean coast on Tuesday after making landfall near the resort town of Tulum.

It is the 27th storm of an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season.

In September, meteorologists were forced to use the Greek alphabet to name Atlantic storms for only the second time ever, after the 2020 hurricane season blew through their usual list, ending on Tropical Storm Wilfred.

Scientists say there will likely be an increase in powerful storms as the ocean surface warms due to climate change.


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


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SHAKE AND BLOW
Seven fishermen missing as Typhoon Molave drenches Philippines
Pola, Philippines (AFP) Oct 26, 2020
Searches were under way Monday for seven fishermen in the Philippines as a typhoon swept across the archipelago, flooding low-lying areas and forcing thousands of people into emergency shelters. Packing maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometres (80 miles) per hour, Typhoon Molave made landfall Sunday on the southern end of the main island of Luzon before moving west across the country. Villages and farmland in the typhoon's path were flooded while powerful winds toppled trees and power lines. ... read more

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