Current Events - Weather
G6 Modern Studies
CBSN Aug 6, 2015 (0:44)
The strongest storm of 2015 is heading for Taiwan. An image of Typhoon Soudelor was captured from space. In it, you can clearly see the eye and bands of thunderstorms spiraling around the center.
CBS Aug 7, 2016 (1:00)
A powerful Pacific storm is bearing down on Taiwan, as the country braces for massive super typhoon named Soudelor. Seth Doane reports from Taipei, where the deadly storm is expected to make landfall within hours.
TomoNews US Aug 8, 2015 (1:09)
As typhoon Soudelor is beginning to make its way to Taiwan, hundreds have been evacuated from east coast areas, as there is risk of a storm surge, flooding and landslides.
On Friday, flights were cancelled and offices and schools closed across the country. The island’s high speed rail service will also be suspended on Saturday.
The typhoon has been labelled a category 3 storm on a scale of 1 to 5 but is expected to quickly reach category 4. Its winds have reached 173 kph (107 mph) close to its centre, the Central Weather Bureau said.
Waves along the coast up to 5 meters high have been reported by local media
After passing over Taiwan, the typhoon is expected to hit the Chinese province of Fujian, and eventually weaken before reaching northern China.
8 August, 2015
8 August, 2015
8 August, 2015
Depending on where you are in the world, you may call these weather systems by a different name. In the USA, once wind speeds reach 74 mph they are referred to as hurricanes; in Bangladesh, they are called tropical cyclones; in Japan, people speak of typhoons; in Australia, they have willy-willies. All of these terms refer to the same weather event.
Note the absense of storms in southeast Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans. Cool ocean currents keep sea temperatures from reaching temperatures needed for tropical cyclone development.
TomoNews US Aug 12, 2015 (1:50)
When the typhoon hit Taiwan this past weekend it destroyed homes and flung vehicles around. The strong winds flattened trees to the ground, ripped signs off buildings, and blew down houses.
Construction cranes and the Miramar Ferris Wheel were set spinning by the high winds.
Buckets of rain caused mudslides which wiped homes off the mountainside and giant waves broke over cement barriers to crash down on the roads below.
Rows of scooters were knocked over, and some people who attempted to go out in the storm found that the strong winds made walking impossible.
Typhoon Soudelor's Impact and Aftermath (Aug. 20, 2015)
It's been more than a week since Typhoon Soudelor slammed into Taiwan, but for some villages the impacts from the storm are far from over.
Remote mountain towns like Wulai, which suffered some of the storm's worst damage, are still cut off from the rest of the country thanks to landslides that have blocked its only road access.
Roughly 2,000 of its 3,100 residents were evacuated before Soudelor made landfall, but about 1,100 stayed behind because they wanted to clean up what the storm left behind.