Torrential downpours associated with severe flash floods have left Vietnam devastated. Ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Sarika, at least 30 people have been killed and a further 30 injured. More than 100,000 houses have been submerged and destroyed, but it was anticipated that the typhoon would cause further damage when making landfall this week, sustaining wind speeds in excess of 100mph.
Typhoon Sarika developed on 14 October and is the Pacific’s 21st named storm of 2016. On Tuesday it hit China’s southern province Hainan and by this Wednesday was pummelling a northern area of the Philippines. It had gained strength equivalent to a category 4 hurricane.
In the Atlantic, the post-tropical cyclone Nicole (formerly Hurricane Nicole), has been declared the longest-lived Atlantic tropical cyclone, since 1906, to have formed after the first day of October.
Wind speeds of up to 75mph were still prominent in the north Atlantic on Monday morning, but lost strength the following day out to the west of Maine. Nicole regained hurricane status twice, since initially starting up on 4 October and lasting a total of 14 days. Coastal regions of Britain are now on flood alert following Atlantic sea-surge warnings.
Across north-western parts of the US, remnants of the Pacific typhoon Songda hit Seattle on Saturday, with some heavy rain squalls and gusts of 50mph. Though it had the potential for more a catastrophic impact, the Pacific storm unexpectedly split into two separate pressure centres, so weakening its intensity before landfall.
However, a further storm following on behind this, also brought, to Oregon, intense rainfall and a tornado. Both of these storms left thousands of homes without power, as trees and power lines fell.
