After a quiet start to the 2015 tornado season, a number of tornadoes were reported across Oklahoma last week. One destroyed 30 houses and damaged more than 400 in Moore. One death was attributed to the tornado, which came with lightning and hail. Even by the standards of “Tornado Alley”, in which Moore sits, the city has been unlucky. At least 10 tornadoes have been recorded there since 1998 – one killed 36 people in 1999, while a tornado with winds of more than 200mph killed 24 people, including 10 children, in 2013.
Torrential rain affected the Himalayan region of Kashmir late last week, six months after flash flooding killed more than 250 people and displaced more than 1 million. Rain has caused flooding and triggered landslides that have killed at least 15 people.
In Budgam, buildings whose foundations were damaged by flood water collapsed, trapping people in their homes. The flooding has seriously damaged agricultural land in the region, which supplies food and crops to the whole of India and beyond, and contributes almost a fifth of India’s GDP.
The latest typhoon barrelled its way across the Pacific islands on Tuesday and Wednesday. The category 5 storm, named Maysak, had winds of more than 160mph, having strengthened from a tropical storm which brought damage to Micronesia.
Chuuk was deluged by more than 250mm (10in) of rain and the powerful winds tore the roofs off buildings. The super-typhoon crossed Yap on Tuesday night UK time, bringing significant damage and killing at least five people.
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