Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms

In the Western Pacific:

Category 2 Typhoon Usagi Hits China

Typhoon Usagi veers from Hong Kong at last minute, hits southern China. Usagi made landfall near Shanwei, China, about 90 miles east-northeast of Hong Kong, near 6 pm local time (6 am EDT) on Sunday. At landfall, Usagi was a powerful Category 2 typhoon with top sustained winds of 110 mph. Shanwei recorded a sea level pressure of about 941 mb at landfall. As of noon EDT, the top winds recorded at the Hong Hong Airport were sustained at 40 mph, with gusts to 53 mph.

The year's most powerful typhoon slammed into southern China on Sunday evening, forcing hundreds of flight cancellations, shutting down shipping and putting a nuclear power plant on alert after pummelling parts of the Philippines and Taiwan with heavy rains and fierce winds. Forecasters had warned earlier that it posed a "severe threat" to the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong.

Newly formed Tropical Storm Pabuk is a threat to Japan, but likely to have no impact on Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said Saturday. Pabuk strengthened from a tropical depression north of Guam on Saturday afternoon.

NewsBytes:

Dangerous storm hits Perth, Australia. About 20,000 homes have been left without power after violent 146km/h winds hit the South West and metropolitan Perth, Australia.

Tornado in Maungatapu, New Zealand has damaged houses and downed trees.