Flash flooding and landslides led to the death of a two-year-old boy in California in the US last week, after heavy rainfall followed on the heels of Tropical Storm Mario further south. The storm skirted the Pacific coast of Mexico with minimal disruption, eventually dissipating to the west of Baja California on Tuesday, but the remnants went on to cause havoc on Thursday. Residual moist air from the tropical storm was drawn north-east towards California, bringing heavy downpours and thunder to central and southern counties.
The heaviest rainfall was in the mountains of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where up to 68mm (2.67in) fell in a few hours. Further north, Death Valley – famously one of the driest places on Earth – received 15mm of rain, triple the average rainfall for September and a full quarter of the yearly average.
This led to flash flooding and mudslides, some powerful enough to carry trees and rocks. Debris buried homes and covered roads, trapping several drivers, and killing a two-year-old boy travelling in a car swept away by flood water.
In New Zealand, a very active weather front travelled slowly north-east across South Island on Saturday, prompting authorities to issue wind and rain warnings across most of the island, including a rare red wind warning for the whole of the Canterbury region. Large swathes of the island received more than 50mm of rain as the heavy downpours lingered, with Aoraki Mount Cook recording 83mm in six hours. Wind gusts widely reached 50-60mph, with far higher speeds over the mountains, topping out at 139mph on Mount Hutt.
Though the front weakened somewhat as it moved towards North Island on Sunday, lower parts of the island were also battered by wind and rain. Across both islands, hundreds of homes lost power, trains were cancelled, and major roads were flooded. There was little let-up for western parts of South Island, which is being lashed by further heavy rain after a second front moved in during Sunday night. While winds this time are not so severe, similar amounts of rainfall are expected.
Southernmost China is bracing for Super Typhoon Ragasa, which is skirting the northern tip of the Philippines as it barrels towards an expected landfall on Wednesday. CForecasts suggest Ragasa will hit the Leizhou peninsula before crossing the Gulf of Tonkin towards northern Vietnam. Ragasa underwent rapid intensification on Saturday, reaching mean wind speeds of 165mph, equivalent to a category 5 hurricane, and could bring record-breaking wind gusts to Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau as it approaches land.
