Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms

In the South Indian Ocean:

Tropical cyclone Amara has formed approximately 1,400 miles (2,250 km) east of Madagascar.

Over the next 96 hours, Amara is forecast to track to the west-southwest and slowly strengthen – becoming Category 1 hurricane strength by Saturday 21 December. During this period, Amara poses no threat to land – but could potentially threaten the islands of Mauritius and Reunion early next week should the storm continue tracking to the southwest.

Tropical cyclone Four (Bruce) is located approximately 150 nm north of Cocos Island, Australia.

Bruce is gathering strength off the North-West coast of Western Australia, near Cocos Islands this morning.

Gales with wind gusts up to 100km/h are expected on Cocos Island from this morning and are likely to continue into early Thursday morning. This afternoon winds could reach 120km/h. At 7am today the cyclone had wind gusts of 95km/h at its centre which were intensifying. Heavy rain and thunderstorms will hit the islands today as the system moves closer. Meanwhile, at the other end of the WA, Esperance, 720km south east of Perth, had a record 45.3C maximum temperature yesterday.

NewsBytes:

China - Traffic in Guizhou province affected by icy weather. Extreme weather is also affecting southwest China's Guizhou province. Freezing rain hit many parts of the region on Sunday, leading to icy situations on the roads, affecting ground traffic in many parts.

Around 150,000 people have been affected by severe storms that swept across southern China this weekend. Flash flooding was reported across 158 villages in 12 townships in the city of Wanning, which is located in China’s southernmost island province of Hainan.

Floods hit the East Java cities of Bojonegoro and Gresik (Indonesia) when the Bengawan Solo and Lamong Rivers overflowed, thus killing four.