Extreme weather - 09/29/2015

'Super typhoon' Dujuan kills two and injures hundreds in Taiwan

More than 12,000 people are evacuated from their homes and half a million are without electricity as storm leaves trail of destruction in the north of the island

the Guardian,

29 September, 2015

‘Super typhoon’ Dujuan killed two people and left more than 300 injured in Taiwan after it swept across the island before reaching land in eastern China, authorities said on Tuesday.

Almost half a million people are still without electricity in Taiwan.

The storm hit the Chinese coastal city of Putian on Tuesday morning, state news agency Xinhua said, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Many of the injured in Taiwan were hit by flying debris or involved in traffic accidents, the emergency operation centre said. It put the death toll at two and the number of injured at 324.

Severe winds uprooted trees and smashed windows and the heavy rains triggered multiple landslides.

More than 12,000 people have been evacuated and almost 3000 are in temporary shelters, authorities said.

Taiwan’s aboriginal mountain communities are particularly at risk during typhoons, often affected by flooding and mudslides.

Landslides blocked the roads into the hot spring town of Wulai, in mountains just outside the capital, Taipei.

It was the latest hit for Wulai which was severely damaged by flooding and landslides in August when typhoon Soudelor hit. Some residents were unable to return home for weeks. Many shops and hotels were still rebuilding even as the latest typhoon struck.

“The roads are blocked but residents aren’t in any immediate danger,” a spokesman for New Taipei city fire department said.

Dujuan was categorised as a “super typhoon” by regional forecasters, taking residents by surprise as it sped up before reaching land late on Monday in the eastern county of Yilan.

It was downgraded to a “moderate typhoon” by Taiwan’s central weather bureau as it crossed the island.

“It’s expected the typhoon will continue to weaken and its radius to keep shrinking,” the weather bureau said.

At the peak of the storm 2m homes were left without electricity. On Tuesday morning 498,458 were still without power.

Towering waves crashed through windows at a seaside hotel in eastern Yilan and fierce winds also damaged Taipei’s famous 101 skyscraper.

In Hsinchu city, a crane fell from 20 storeys on to cars below but no one was injured, local reports said.

Performances by the US rock band Bon Jovi, due to take place in Taipei on Monday and Tuesday, were cancelled.

China’s national meteorological centre issued a red alert on Monday afternoon, Xinhua reported, adding that 260,000 people have been evacuated in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

Tens of thousands of boats were called back to shore in Zhejiang and neighbouring Fujian province and all flights at three airports in Fujian were cancelled on Tuesday, state media said.

Typhoon Soudelor caused at least eight deaths in Taiwan last month and killed 21 people in China

Extreme weather in Australia

**** IMPORANT MESSAGE IT IS VITAL YOU READ AND SHARE/TAG THIS AS EARLY SEASON HEAT POSSIBLY RECORD BREAKING FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR & WIND PLUS THE CURRENT DROUGHT SITUATION IS LIKELY TO INCREASE THE CHANCE OF IGNITING FIRES IN SOUTH EASTERN AUSTRALIA BETWEEN FRIDAY OCTOBER 2ND & WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7TH ****

In what will be a shock to the system a possible five day heatwave is becoming very likely for the Southern states from Friday 2nd October onwards.

South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, NSW, inland parts of Western Australia will all be impacted.

A high will move into the Tasman sea by Friday and remain there for 4-6 days and create a blocking set up with hot north to north west winds set to drive temperatures up to record breaking numbers for this time of the year.

Temperatures are likely to reach the 30's in Adelaide and possibly Melbourne by Friday and continue this way until the middle of next week! A very weak change may cool things off for a brief period Sunday for Tasmania and possibly southern parts of Victoria but otherwise the heat will be continuous in what will seem like December weather rather than early October.

It is possible Adelaide may see temperatures reach 37-38c during this heatwave and Melbourne could see temps rise as high as 35-36c by early next week.

Some parts of inland SA and northern Victoria may see temperatures close to 40c during this period especially early next week.

ACT and Sydney will also see this heat with temperatures also likely to hit the 30's and even Hobart may see temps close to 30c by early next week.

The worrying and disturbing part is this heat is likely to break records for so early in the season and some regions of Victoria and SA that have seen very little rainfall this year with the drought being worse on records in some parts of SE SA and western Victoria & it is likely to increase the fire risk rapidly and catch some people off guard especially with stronger winds which is possible on Saturday and Tuesday/Wednesday ahead of changes. At this stage very little to no rainfall is shown by the models the next 7 to 10 days even after this heat is done.

Please take pre cautions and clean up your land as this risk of fires in this time period is real.

Map one: This shows temperatures at 850 levels. The dark red represents temperatures in the high 30's nearing 40c for Tuesday October 6th and as we can see that is likely to happen in a large region from northern WA through most of SA into Victoria and southern NSW. This is shown through the EC Euro model.

Map two: Temperatures expected next Monday October 5th week across Australia with most of Australia seeing hot conditions (away from SW WA) this is shown by the GFS model via BSCH.