Many of the deaths in Vietnam came in the Central Highlands

The powerful typhoon that has hit the Philippines and Vietnam with deadly force is now battering Cambodia.

At least nine people have died in Kampong Thom province in central Cambodia.

When Typhoon Ketsana hit Vietnam, more than 30 people were killed and almost 200,000 people fled their homes; severe flooding remains in central provinces.

In the Philippines, where the typhoon hit on the weekend, 246 people are dead and 380,000 trapped in shelters.

Relief officials in the Philippines, struggling to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of displaced people, admit they have been overwhelmed by the disaster.

They warn that new storms are heading towards the country.

Cambodia caught

In Vietnam, Ketsana hit with torrentials rains and winds of more than 150 km an hour before it headed inland towards northern Cambodia and southern Laos.

Typhoons usually weaken on reaching land, but Ketsana is still dangerous, officials said.

Ly Thuch, deputy chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said Wednesday the storm made landfall on Tuesday afternoon with winds of up to 145 km (90 miles) per hour.

“At least nine people were crushed last night when their house fell down,” said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in Kampong Thom province, about 130 km (80 miles) north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

The official added that at least 78 houses in his province were destroyed and that heavy rain and rising floods were continuing.

International organisations and government officials in Cambodia said they were distributing tents and food to affected people while assessing damage across at least five of the country’s provinces..

Vietnam floods

The BBC’s Guy De Launey said that Ketsana, had been devastating when it headed toward the city of Danang, on central Vietnam’s coast.

The airport and schools were closed. Railways and roads linking north and south Vietnam were cut off. Danang airport has since reopened.

The biggest floods in decades now threaten Vietnam’s central provinces, correspondents said, with thousands of homes inundated

Vietnamese state media reported that at least 33 people had died from floods and landslides in seven coastal and central highland provinces and river waters in Quang Nam provinces could reach a level last seen in 1964.

Around 170,000 people were evacuated before the typhoon made landfall.

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said late on Tuesday that he hoped power supplies would be restored quickly, particularly to Quang Ngai province where Vietnam’s first oil refinery, Dung Quat, was due to reopen after an outage shut the plant’s test runs last month.

Overwhelmed

In the Philippines, the government said it now believed 246 people had died after the storm struck on Saturday, a figure that is expected to rise as mud is cleared from the worst affected areas.

Almost two million people were affected by the flooding in Manila, the worst to hit the city in 40 years. At one point, 80% of the city was submerged.

Ketsana, with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph), hit the Philippines early on Saturday, crossing the main northern Luzon island before heading out toward the South China Sea. Officials say more than 40cm (16in) of rain fell on Manila within 12 hours, exceeding the average for the whole month of September.

Meanwhile, forecasters said a new storm forming in the Pacific Ocean was likely to enter Philippine waters on Thursday and make landfall later on the northern island of Luzon.

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Devastation hit Pago Pago on American Samoa

A tsunami triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific has killed at least 34 people in Samoa, say reports.

Samoa’s delegate to the US Congress, Eni Faleomavaega, told AFP thousands of people had been left homeless.

Dr Lemalu Fiu, at a hospital in the Samoan capital, Apia, said the number of casualties was expected to rise as people arrived from coastal areas.

An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of Samoa and American Samoa.

The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities – the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory – with a total population of about 250,000 people.

A tsunami warning was issued for the wider region but cancelled a few hours later.

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in American Samoa, enabling federal funding to made available to help victims.

Floating cars

“Some of the areas there are only a few feet above sea level, so you can imagine the devastation,” said Mr Faleomavaega.

The high waves damaged property and swept cars out to sea

“It caused severe damage to property, there are cars floating everywhere.”

Mase Akapo, a National Weather Service meteorologist in American Samoa, told the AP news agency that at least 14 people had been killed in four different villages on the main island of Tutuila.

He said another 20 people had died in Samoa.

Talutala Mauala, Secretary General of the Red Cross in Samoa, said she was travelling to the country’s south coast, where injuries had also been reported.

“We won’t know the full extent of the damage until we get there and see for ourselves,” she said.

Ms Mauala said it could take many months for people to rebuild their homes.

An Associated Press reporter said he had seen “bodies everywhere” in the main hospital in Lalomanu, on Samoa’s main island of Upolu, including at least one child.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency has reported that three South Koreans were among the dead and one is still missing.

Beaches gone

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said the quake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles) some 190km (120 miles) from Apia. Waves of 5.1ft (1.57m) hit Apia and Pago Pago in American Samoa.

Radio New Zealand quoted Samoan residents as saying that villages were inundated and homes and cars swept away.

Graeme Ansell, a New Zealander near Apia, told the radio station the beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale had been “wiped out”.

“There’s not a building standing. We’ve all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need around here,” he said.

Samoalive News said local radio stations had been receiving reports of high sea swells hitting coastal areas on the eastern and southern side of Upolu island

“School has been called off for the day with tsunami warnings calling for people to head to higher grounds,” the website said.

Witnesses have reported scenes of destruction.

“It’s horrible… The village is gone and my once beautiful beach front villa has now been submerged in water,” Josh Nayangu told the BBC after fleeing the area on a small fishing boat with his wife and son.

Ula Osasa-Mano, who was visiting family on the island, told the BBC the water along the Apia seawall was turbulent.

“The water was kind of swirling like a spa pool outwards [towards] the rim of the lagoon and in a few seconds the water sunk,” Ula Osasa-Mano said.

The PTWC – a branch of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – issued a general alert for the South Pacific region, but it was cancelled by 2200 GMT.

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24hr Graph for 29th September 2009

Average temperature = 15.3°C
Average humidity = 81%
Average dewpoint = 12.0°C
Average barometer = 1022.7 mb
Average windspeed = 3.0 mph
Average gustspeed = 6.7 mph
Average direction = 286° (WNW)
Rainfall for month = 31.3 mm
Rainfall for year = 777.0 mm
Rainfall for day = 0.0 mm
Maximum rain per minute = 0.0 mm on day 29 at time 23:50
Maximum temperature = 19.2°C on day 29 at time 15:37
Minimum temperature = 11.8°C on day 29 at time 08:15
Maximum humidity = 89% on day 29 at time 09:06
Minimum humidity = 72% on day 29 at time 15:39
Maximum pressure = 1025.1 mb on day 29 at time 00:16
Minimum pressure = 1020.8 mb on day 29 at time 17:24
Maximum windspeed = 10.4 mph on day 29 at time 12:57
Maximum gust speed = 17 mph from 293 °(WNW) on day 29 at time 14:42
Maximum heat index = 22.9°C on day 29 at time 15:39

24hr Graph for 28th September 2009

Average temperature = 15.9°C
Average humidity = 79%
Average dewpoint = 12.4°C
Average barometer = 1026.3 mb
Average windspeed = 2.6 mph
Average gustspeed = 6.1 mph
Average direction = 293° (WNW)
Rainfall for month = 31.3 mm
Rainfall for year = 777.0 mm
Rainfall for day = 0.0 mm
Maximum rain per minute = 0.0 mm on day 28 at time 23:50
Maximum temperature = 19.3°C on day 28 at time 15:30
Minimum temperature = 13.8°C on day 28 at time 03:34
Maximum humidity = 84% on day 28 at time 22:22
Minimum humidity = 72% on day 28 at time 12:46
Maximum pressure = 1027.9 mb on day 28 at time 00:31
Minimum pressure = 1024.4 mb on day 28 at time 18:05
Maximum windspeed = 9.2 mph on day 28 at time 17:22
Maximum gust speed = 17 mph from 248 °(WSW) on day 28 at time 16:14
Maximum heat index = 22.7°C on day 28 at time 15:38

Comparison of surface temperature projections from the high-end emissions scenario, without carbon cycle feedbacks. Temperature increases between 1961-1990 and 2090-2099, averaged over all high-end members.

If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unchecked, it is likely that global warming will exceed four degrees by the end of the century, research by Met Office scientists has revealed.

Our scientists, working on behalf of Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), have found that if current high emissions continue there could be major implications for the world — with higher temperature rises than previously thought.

Dr Richard Betts, Head of Climate Impacts at the Met Office Hadley Centre, presented the new findings at a special conference this month. 4 degrees and beyond at Oxford University, attended by 130 international scientists and policy specialists, is the first to consider the global consequences of climate change beyond 2 °C.

Dr Betts said: “Four degrees of warming, averaged over the globe, translates into even greater warming in many regions, along with major changes in rainfall. If greenhouse gas emissions are not cut soon, we could see major climate changes within our own lifetimes.”

In some areas warming could be significantly higher (10 degrees or more).

* The Arctic could warm by up to 15.2 °C for a high-emissions scenario, enhanced by melting of snow and ice causing more of the Sun’s radiation to be absorbed.
* For Africa, the western and southern regions are expected to experience both large warming (up to 10 °C) and drying.
* Some land areas could warm by seven degrees or more.
* Rainfall could decrease by 20% or more in some areas, although there is a spread in the magnitude of drying. All computer models indicate reductions in rainfall over western and southern Africa, Central America, the Mediterranean and parts of coastal Australia.
* In other areas, such as India, rainfall could increase by 20% or more. Higher rainfall increases the risk of river flooding.

Dr Betts added: “Together these impacts will have very large consequences for food security, water availability and health. However, it is possible to avoid these dangerous levels of temperature rise by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. If global emissions peak within the next decade and then decrease rapidly it may be possible to avoid at least half of the four degrees of warming.”

A DECC spokesman said: “This report illustrates why it is imperative for the world to reach an ambitious climate deal at Copenhagen which keeps the global temperature increase to below two degrees.”

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/news/latest/four-degrees.html

Sydney's red dust has been blown from the outback

Environmentalists have raised concerns that another giant dust storm blowing its way across eastern Australia may contain radioactive particles.

It is argued that sediment whipped up from Australia’s centre may be laced with material from a uranium mine.

Scientists have played down concerns, saying there is little to worry about.

Last Wednesday Sydney and Brisbane bore witness to their biggest dust storm in 70 years. Both were shrouded in red dust blown in from the desert outback.

The massive clouds of dust that choked heavily populated parts of Australia have caused problems for people with asthma, as well as those with heart and lung conditions.

But some environmental campaigners believe that the dry, metallic-tasting sediment could threaten the health of millions of other Australians.

David Bradbury, a renowned filmmaker and activist, claims the haze that engulfed some of the country’s biggest cities in the past week contains radioactive grains – or tailings – carried on gale force winds from a mine in the South Australian desert.

“Given the dust storms… which [the] news said originated from Woomera, and which is right next door to the Olympic Dam mine at Roxby Downs, these [storms] could blow those tailings across the face of Australia,” Mr Bradbury asserted.

Mining companies have stressed that dust levels are carefully monitored, while the health concerns have been dismissed by a senior environmental toxicologist.

Barry Noller from the University of Queensland says that many of the particles from mines in the outback are simply too heavy to be carried by the wind over long distances.

“In a big dust storm, the dust is not going to come from one isolated site, it is going to be mixed in with dust from a [wide] area and diluted considerably,” Mr Noller said.

The latest murky haze that spread over parts of Queensland at the weekend is dissipating and weather forecasters say it should soon start to move out to sea.

A cold front combined with strong winds whipped up topsoil from the dried-out Lake Eyre basin and swept across New South Wales spreading about 600km along the east coast

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