Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Solar Energy News .




SHAKE AND BLOW
Six dead as Typhoon Saola lashes Taiwan
by Staff Writers
Ilan, Taiwan (AFP) Aug 2, 2012


Typhoon Saola pounded Taiwan with fierce winds and torrential rain that left six people dead and forced nearly the entire island to shut down on Thursday, rescuers and media said.

Nearly 200 international and domestic flights were cancelled and authorities suspended trading on financial markets due to the extreme weather.

Two passenger boarding bridges collapsed at Taoyuan international airport, which serves Taipei and northern Taiwan, slightly damaging a China Airlines aircraft, airport officials said.

The Taiwanese carrier was forced to scrap the flight bound for Japan, affecting more than 170 passengers, they said.

The slow-moving typhoon, which killed at least 23 people in the Philippines, lost momentum and weakened into a tropical storm after it made a second landfall in the northeast around 0600 GMT, the Central Weather Bureau said.

"The public must not relax their vigilance even though Saola has weakened into a storm over the past three hours. More torrential rains are expected in many parts of the island today," an official from the bureau warned.

More than 1.0 metre (39 inches) of rainfall has fallen in parts of the island since Tuesday, according to the bureau.

Saola made first landfall near the eastern coastal city of Hualien at 3:20 am and moved back out to sea four hours later, it said.

Saola -- the first typhoon to hit the island this year -- triggered heavy rains especially in the north and east and touched off widespread mudslides, forcing the authorities to evacuate more than 1,500 people islandwide.

Television images from a police helicopter showed mudslides engulfing roads and farmland and threatening numerous households.

The defence ministry, which had ordered more than 45,000 soldiers to stand by, mobilised amphibious vehicles to rescue residents trapped by breast-deep water in northeastern Ilan county.

In Sanhsia district in the north, one man was buried by mudslides and a police officer drowned while patrolling the area, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said.

A motorcyclist died after he crashed into a toppled tree in south Taiwan's Chiayi county, it said, adding that a married couple were buried by mudslides on their farmland in Ilan.

The sixth fatality, not included in the centre's toll but reported by local media, was a woman who was hit by a falling tree while distributing newspapers by motorcycle in the southern city of Kaohsiung.

Two people were listed as missing, with one man washed away and another feared buried by a mudslide.

Many residents across the island woke to see their neighborhoods covered in ankle-deep water, with classes and work suspended everywhere except for Taidong county in the southeast.

The typhoon, packing winds of up to 108 kilometres (67 miles) an hour, left toppled trees blocking streets and hampering traffic in several places in the capital Taipei.

Rail traffic was interrupted while the high-speed railway linking Taipei to Kaohsiung cut its services to 97 trains from the scheduled 123.

More than 50,000 households were left without power and nearly 7,000 households without water, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said.

The Central Weather Bureau said the storm would continue to have an impact into the weekend, and that winds following in its wake could cause heavy rainfall in the island's south next week.

As of 1115 GMT, Saola was 60 kilometres north of Taipei, moving northwest at up to 19 kilometres an hour for the Chinese mainland.

.


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






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SHAKE AND BLOW
Typhoon Saola makes landfall in Taiwan
Ilan, Taiwan (AFP) Aug 2, 2012
Typhoon Saola reached Taiwan early Thursday, causing nearly the entire island to close down and bringing torrential rains that could linger until next week, officials said. The slow-moving typhoon, which caused the deaths of at least 14 in the Philippines, made landfall near the eastern coast city of Hualien at 3:20 am (1920 GMT Wednesday), according to the Central Weather Bureau. As man ... read more


SHAKE AND BLOW
German National Academy of Sciences issues a critical statement on the use of bioenergy

U.S, Australian navies focus on new fuels

Strategies to improve renewable energy feedstocks

Brazil to build first algae-based biofuel plant

SHAKE AND BLOW
Dextrous robotic hand gets thumbs up

The first robot that mimics the water striders' jumping abilities

Insect-like robot can walk, leap on water

NRL Brings Inertia of Space to Robotics Research

SHAKE AND BLOW
SeaRoc to provide full installation services on Narec's Offshore Anemometry Hub

Italian police seize giant wind farm in mafia probe

GL Garrad Hassan releases update of WindFarmer 5.0

U.S moves massive wind farm plan forward

SHAKE AND BLOW
Toyota recalls 600,000 vehicles in Europe

US auto sales grow but GM, Ford stumble

Honda quarterly profit jumps fourfold to $1.7 bn

Nissan's profit down 15% on strong yen, Europe woe

SHAKE AND BLOW
Falklands tensions rattle oil investors

Iraqi Kurdistan says will resume oil exports

Baghdad reels as Total signs with Kurds

Never again a flat vehicle battery

SHAKE AND BLOW
Australia inks UAE nuclear deal

TEPCO chief vows cost cuts amid $3.68 bn loss

TEPCO receives $12.8 billion public bailout

EnBW says won't sue Germany over nuclear exit

SHAKE AND BLOW
Scottish firth dubbed marine energy park

EDF first-half profits up on hydro, renewables

Hunter-gatherers, Westerners use same amount of energy, contrary to theory

BSU starts second phase of largest geothermal system in U.S.

SHAKE AND BLOW
Turkmenistan to plant huge forest in Aral Sea region

Taking Stock Of Georgia State Forests

Tropical arks reach tipping point

Forest carbon monitoring breakthrough in Colombia




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement