11. Typhoon and Hurricane

South China bracing for typhoon

Typhoon Sepat has battered Taiwan with winds and heavy rain and is heading for provinces of south China where hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing.

It disrupted power to some 240,000 homes, uprooted trees and caused mudslides in Taiwan, forcing 1,800 people to evacuate, officials say.

In China, more than 540,000 people have left low-lying areas and flights have been cancelled, state media reported.

Nearly 300,000 were evacuated in Fujian where the storm is due on Saturday.

Sustained winds of 126km/h (78mph) were recorded off Taiwan early on Saturday, local meteorologists report.

Of the homes hit initially by power cuts, nearly 95,000 remained without electricity on Saturday, officials say.

There are unconfirmed reports of one fatality in Taiwan from Sepat, which earlier blew through the Philippines.

In China, the provinces of Zhejiang and Guangdong are also braced for the typhoon which is forecast to spread rain as far north as Shanghai.

Sepat is expected to hit China's coast with sustained winds of 144kp/h (90mph), according to Chinese media.

The typhoon is named after a species of fish.


And hurricane churns up the Caribbean...

Most people in Martinique sat out the storm on Friday.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are braced for potential flooding as Hurricane Dean passes to the south after gathering force in the Caribbean.

Winds have hit 233km/h (145mph) and the storm may achieve the highest category, Five, with speeds of about 250km/h, by the time it reaches Mexico on Monday.

Dean has claimed three lives on islands in its path, and there are now fears it will directly pass over Jamaica.

Forecasters warn this could be an unusually active Atlantic storm season.

We are just getting ready. Filling up the bath with water, unplugging all the computers at work and covering them with polythene bags. Taping the windows.

In the US, Louisiana has declared a state of emergency, though the chances of the storm hitting are slim.

Governor Kathleen Blanco took the decision amid heightened sensitivity to hurricanes since Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005.

The neighbouring state of Texas has categorised Dean as an imminent threat - BBC.



Hurricane Dean (the swirl in the bottom right) has been gathering force as it rolls west across the Caribbean.



The island of Dominica was among the first to be hit as hurricane winds whipped up the sea.