Typhoon Wipha
Again I reiterate, why are we the last to hear of this stuff?
One dead in Taiwan from Typhoon Wipha, Shanghai evacuates 200,000
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP
SHANGHAI, China -- China's commercial center of Shanghai was evacuating 200,000 people on Tuesday ahead of the expected arrival of Typhoon Wipha, potentially the most destructive storm to hit the city in a decade.
One worker was killed and another seriously injured Tuesday as the fringe of the typhoon lashed Taiwan, causing scaffolding to collapse at a highway construction site in Taipei, Taiwan's Disaster Relief Center reported.
Schools, offices and the stock market in northern Taiwan were ordered closed as a precaution and flights from Taiwan to Japan, South Korea and a few other Asian countries were canceled, officials said.
On the Chinese mainland, state-run television showed families being evacuated from their fishing boats and other vessels and rescue workers stacking sand bags to prevent flooding.
The typhoon was moving northwest across the sea north of Taiwan at about 25 kilometers per hour (16 mph) and was forecast to make landfall south of Shanghai early Wednesday morning, weather reports said.
The storm, which was whipping up waves up to 10 meters (36 feet) high, was upgraded from a tropical storm on Monday afternoon. With wind gusts of up to 300 kilometers per hour (190 mph), local meteorological officials said it could be the most destructive storm to hit the Shanghai area in years.
"The typhoon is very likely to develop into the worst one in recent years. We are still observing it. It's hard to say at this moment," said a man who answered the phone at the city's meteorological bureau. As is common with Chinese officials, the man identified himself only by his surname, Fu.
Shanghai and the coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian to the south issued typhoon warnings requiring all vessels to return to shore or change course to avoid the storm, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
State-run newspapers reported that some 200,000 people living in coastal or low-lying rural areas of Shanghai were being evacuated as a precaution.
Zhejiang's flood control headquarters also ordered authorities to prepare for evacuations, patrol reservoirs and to be on the lookout for flash floods and landslides, Xinhua said. It said nearly 30,000 fishing boats in the province had taken shelter in port by late Monday and ferry service with outlying islands had been suspended.
The deadliest storm to hit the China coast in recent years was Typhoon Winnie in 1997, which killed 236 people. Typhoon Rananim, with winds of more than 160 kph (100 mph), was the strongest typhoon to hit the Chinese mainland since 1956, killing nearly 200 people.
I spent about 3 hours at the Big Bamboo today watching them Sandbag their doors over a few Carlsberg Beers. News travels slow in the PRC unless you're a celebrity or a dissident.
City issues orange alert for typhoon Wipha
By Lydia Chen 2007-9-18
THE SHANGHAI Meteorological Bureau issued an orange typhoon alert at 2:47pm today with Typhoon Wipha, the most destructive storm in a decade, less than 660 kilometers away from the city and heading our way.
The orange alert is the second highest weather warning in the face of a typhoon, following the highest level of red alert. Yellow alert is the second lowest, followed by blue alert.
Wind speed is predicted to increase to 102 kilometers an hour in urban areas of the city soon, accompanied by up to 50 millimeters of rainfall, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau warned in the alert.
Winds along the mouth of the Yangtze River and coastal areas are expected to reach up to 117 kph, the bureau added, while winds near the Yangshan Deep Water Port will hit 134kph to 149kph, it added.
At 1pm today, Wipha was about 660 kilometers away from Shanghai.
Packing winds of up to 201 kilometers an hour at its center, it is moving northwest across the East China Sea at a speed of 20 kilometers an hour.
The storm is expected to dump up to 100 millimeters of rain on most areas of Shanghai tomorrow, driven by winds of between 75 and 103 kilometers an hour.
It is forecast to make landfall south of Shanghai late tomorrow afternoon through Hangzhou Bay after it first arrives in the central area of Zhejiang Province early tomorrow morning.
Shanghai education authorities released an urgent notice this afternoon saying that most students across the city will have one day off tomorrow due to the storm.
The city had evacuated 200,000 people at 10am today in some coastal districts and Chongming county ahead of Wipha.
Shanghai today also canceled a parade for the annual Shanghai Travel Festival in Pudong New area and all water trips bound for Zhejiang Province while Donghai Bridge may also close as soon as wind speeds reach 133 kilometer an hour during the storm.
As Reported by the Shanghai Daily.
So... I guess... we're in for a big one. All the more reason to grab the camera & get the hell out of my apartment tomorrow morning bright and early.
According to Weather Underground, we'll get the worst of it around 3pm. I've survived Hurricane Emily, which barely even touched Norfolk VA in '93. We survived, and Rocked like a Hurricane 2 years ago at Senses Wine Lounge. Now it's time for some photo evidence.
But Pray to the Lords of Kobol, PLEASE let my newest Monopoly set survive this one!
