HONG KONG: Taufan Wipha menghampiri Hong Kong memaksa pihak berkuasa mengeluarkan amaran tertinggi dengan lebih 500 penerbangan dibatalkan.
Kira-kira 200 penduduk dalam radius kawasan berisiko ditempatkan di pusat pemindahan sementara.
Taufan Wipha yang dikesan sekitar 60 kilometer ke tenggara Hong Kong dijangka membawa angin kencang melebihi 118 kilometer sejam.
Pasukan kecemasan menerima puluhan laporan membabitkan insiden pokok tumbang dan kerosakan harta benda.
Sebahagian besar sekolah ditutup, manakala pengangkutan awam terjejas dengan perkhidmatan kereta api terhad kepada laluan tertutup sahaja.
Pihak berkuasa memberi amaran berwaspada terhadap cuaca buruk yang dibimbangi memberi ancaman serius kepada keselamatan awam. – AFP
PEKAN BARU: Agensi Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofizik (BMKG) Indonesia mengesahkan sebanyak 259 titik panas menunjukkan kebakaran hutan dan tanah di seluruh Riau telah dikesan.
SEOUL – Sekurang-kurangnya dua orang terbunuh dalam kejadian hujan lebat di Korea Selatan hari ini, kata kementerian dalam negeri, menjadikan korban meningkat kepada 14 orang minggu ini.
Jumlah kematian dijangka terus meningkat, dengan 12 orang masih hilang selepas lima hari hujan lebat berlaku.
Taburan hujan hampir 170 milimeter melanda daerah Gapyeong, wilayah Gyeonggi yang terletak 70 kilometer ke timur Seoul awal hari ini, menyebabkan sekurang-kurangnya dua orang maut dan empat lagi hilang.
Seorang wanita berusia dalam lingkungan 70-an terbunuh apabila rumahnya ditimbus tanah runtuh, manakala mayat seorang lelaki berusia 40-an ditemui berhampiran sebuah jambatan selepas dia lemas, lapor agensi berita Yonhap.
Angka kematian akibat hujan lebat selama lima hari kini sekurang-kurangnya 14 orang, demikian menurut data rasmi.
Kebanyakan kematian berlaku di daerah selatan Sancheong yang menyaksikan hampir 800 milimeter hujan turun sejak Rabu lepas.
Korea Selatan mengalami hujan monsun pada bulan Julai dan lazimnya mengadakan persediaan rapi. Bagaimanapun minggu ini, wilayah selatan negara itu dilanda hujan sangat lebat di luar jangkaan pihak berkuasa. – AFP
MOSCOW: A tsunami alert was lifted after a series of powerful earthquakes off the coast of Russia's far east on Sunday did not result in deadly waves, according to the Russian emergencies ministry.
Earlier on Sunday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) issued a tsunami alert, forecasting "hazardous waves" after a 7.4-magnitude quake at 0849 GMT, which was the strongest of a series of earthquakes in the northern Pacific Ocean.
The USGS said it expected waves of between 30 centimetres and one metre (up to 3.3 feet) on Russian coasts, and less than 30 centimetres in Japan and the US state of Hawaii.
"The tsunami threat to populated areas in Kamchatka has passed," said Russia's emergencies ministry a few hours later.
This was also confirmed by local governor Vladimir Solodov, who said that by the estimated arrival time of the first wave, "no tsunami has been observed in any populated areas."
However, he warned of possible aftershocks, which are usual during seismic events and can trigger further earthquakes.
The epicentre of the quakes was in the Pacific Ocean, around 150 kilometres (93 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the USGS said.
The series of aftershocks included a 6.7-magnitude quake, it added.
Russia's emergencies ministry wrote on Telegram that it expected waves of up to 60 centimetres in the Commander Islands in the southwestern part of the Bering Sea, and waves of 15 to 40 centimetres in the Kamchatka peninsula.
The peninsula is the meeting point of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, making it a seismic hot zone.
Since 1900, seven major earthquakes of magnitude 8.3 or higher have struck the area.--AFP
