Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms

In the Atlantic:

Subtropical storm Melissa is racing east-northeastward over the northeastern Atlantic Ocean about 980 mi (1575 km) W of the Azores.

Melissa has transitioned into a mainly warm-air system and is, for now, a full-fledged tropical storm. However, its peak wind speeds have decreased.

In the North India Ocean :

Tropical cyclone 04b (Helen) is located approximately 128 nm south-southeast of Vvisakhapatnam, India.

Cyclone Helen is expected to hit South India today. India's southern coast is likely to be hit by a cyclone packing winds of 100-120 kilometres an hour Thursday evening. A month after facing cyclone Phailin, Andhra Pradesh is gearing up for the new storm.

Italy

Emergency services sifted through the devastation left by a cyclone that tore through the island of Sardinia as storms and floods continued to batter southern Italy on Wednesday. 16 people have been confirmed killed by Cyclone Cleopatra, revising an earlier death toll of 18, as extreme rainfall inundated houses, swept away cars and caused rivers to burst their banks late on Monday night. One person was still missing. The bad weather moved across to mainland Italy overnight, with storms pummelling Rome and flooding vast areas of the southern province of Crotone, closing roads and railway lines. Residents of Olbia, a town of 50,000 people that was among the worst hit areas of Sardinia, said the cyclone had left them with nothing, and that help was not coming fast enough. Some roads collapsed in the storm, which uprooted trees and swept away bridges and left streets blocked with debris.

NewsBytes:

China has been battling the first blizzard of the winter for a third day, with deaths reported on dangerous, icy roads.The blizzard swept through the northeast Chinese provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning since Saturday, leaving many highways and schools closed, and flights and trains delayed on Monday.