The latest in Hurricanes and Cyclones

Fiji cyclone damage overwhelming, leader says

2010-03-17T17:45:12Z

<div id="subtitle">Fiji cyclone damage is overwhelming, prime minister says as troops start relief operations</div><div><p>A powerful cyclone destroyed more than half the houses in many villages in northern Fiji, but only one death has been reported, officials said Thursday.</p><p>The full extent of the damage from Cyclone Tomas has yet to be determined because co...

Madagascar tropical storm death toll up to 54

2010-03-17T09:18:00Z

<div><p>A tropical storm that battered Madagascar last week has left at least 54 people dead and nearly 100,000 others homeless, the disaster management agency said Wednesday.</p><p>Madagascar's southeastern regions were the worst affected by the tropical storm Hubert, which has so far been the most devastating since the start of the cyclone season in November.&...

Relief effort launched in storm-ravaged Fiji

2010-03-17T01:16:03Z

<div><p>International relief supplies began arriving in cyclone-ravaged Fiji on Wednesday as reports emerged of widespread destruction in isolated parts of the Pacific nation.</p><p>Officials said there were estimates that half the buildings in the eastern Lau group of islands had been destroyed or badly damaged by Cyclone Tomas and two villages were believed to have been wip...

Relief effort underway in Fiji after Cyclone Tomas

2010-03-16T16:17:24Z

<div><p>Relief efforts got underway Wednesday in Fiji after Cyclone Tomas devastated areas in the north and east of the Pacific nation, officials said.</p><p>The category four cyclone -- the second strongest on a five point scale -- was weakening and moving away from the south of the country, allowing surveys of the devastated area and the shipment of the first relief supplies.</p><p>Communications with...

State of disaster declared in cyclone-hit Fiji

2010-03-16T08:16:09Z

<div><p>Fiji's government Tuesday declared a state of disaster as the first deaths were reported in the cyclone-ravaged Pacific nation where 17,000 people have fled to evacuation centres.</p><p>The leader of the military regime, Voreqe Bainimarama, said although the full extent of the damage from Cyclone Tomas was yet to be determined, it had been de...

Cyclone leaves trail of damage in Fiji

2010-03-15T15:15:29Z

<div><p>A powerful cyclone left a trail of damage through Fiji as winds averaging 175 kilometres an hour smashed into the Pacific island group Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 people.</p><p>The main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu had been spared the worst of Cyclone...

Thousands evacuated as powerful cyclone hits Fiji

2010-03-15T00:15:22Z

<div><p>A powerful cyclone battered Fiji's northern islands Monday, damaging homes and crops and forcing thousands of people to flee to evacuation centres, officials said.</p><p>Cyclone Tomas was classified as a category-four cyclone -- the second-most destructive on a five-point scale -- and packed winds averaging up to 175 kilometres (109 miles) an hour, the Fiji Meteorolog...

Fiji braces for powerful cyclone

2010-03-14T15:15:51Z

<div><p>Fiji's main centres were put under curfew overnight as the South Pacific nation braced for a powerful cyclone expected to pass over the north and east of the country, officials said Monday.</p><p>Cyclone Tomas was located about 185 kilometres (115 miles) northeast of the town of Labasa on the northern island of tropical storm Hubert smashed into Madagascar this week, authorities said Saturday.</p><p>"So far we have counted 14 dead, two missing and 37,891 homeless on the east coast," of the Indian Ocean island, the press service of the nati...

Experts warn of monster mudslides in Taiwan

2010-03-11T09:17:41Z

<div><p>Southern Taiwan could experience even bigger mudslides than those that buried hundreds alive last year, when the worst typhoon in half a century hit the island, experts warned Thursday.</p><p>Typhoon Morakot touched off massive landslides in August, killing about 700 people, including an estimated 400 buried in the village of Hsiaolin alone.</p><p>...

Whale Sushi Sting

2010-03-10T19:17:52Z

The Hump Restaurant, located on the floor above the Typhoon Restaurant, is seen in Santa Monica, Calif., Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Federal prosecutors Wednesday filed a criminal complaint that charges Typhoon Restaurant, Inc. – the parent company of The Hump restaurant – and Hurricane Katrina are seeking to sue carbon gas-emitting multinationals for helping fuel global warming and boosting the devastating 2005 storm, legal documents showed.</p><p>The class action suit brought by residents from southern Mississippi, which was ravaged by hurricane-force winds and driving rains, was first filed just weeks aft...

Global warming raises Taiwan typhoon danger

2010-03-01T05:16:31Z

<div><p>Global warming is raising the danger from typhoons, Taiwan experts warned Monday, saying the island may be hit in a year or two by a powerful storm like the one which killed more than 700 last August.</p><p>Typhoon Morakot dumped a record 3,000 millimetres (120 inches) of rainfall and caused massive mudslides in the south of the island, and the government shou...

NH hotel fire fanned by strong wind destroys block

2010-02-26T19:00:06Z

<div id="subtitle">NH oceanfront hotel fire fanned by winds near hurricane force destroys block of 5 businesses</div><div><p>A fire that started in an unoccupied oceanfront hotel was fanned by hurricane-force winds and spread to several nearby buildings, engulfing and destroying an entire block of businesses on a stretch of Hampton Beach popular with summer tourists. No injuries were reported.</p><p>The...

Tropical storms to be more intense but less frequent: climate study

2010-02-21T16:16:01Z

<div><p>Tropical cyclones may become less frequent this century but pack a stronger punch as a result of global warming, a paper published on Sunday said.</p><p>The study is an overview of work into one of the scariest yet also one of the least understood aspects of climate change.</p><p>Known in the Atlantic as hurricanes and in eastern Asia as typhoons, tropical storms are driven by the raw fuel of warm seas, which rai...

Study: Warming to bring stronger hurricanes

2010-02-21T10:45:17Z

<div id="subtitle">Experts settle hurricane and global warming feud; predict bigger storms, but fewer ones</div><div><p>Top researchers now agree that the world is likely to get stronger but fewer hurricanes in the future because of global warming, seeming to settle a scientific debate on the subject. But they say there's not enough evidence yet to tell whether that effect has already begun.</p><p>Since just before Superdome in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina left much of the city under water. Top researchers now agree that the world is likely to get stronger, but fewer, hurricanes in the future because of global warming, seeming to settle a scientific debate on the subject...

Cyclone Rene pounds Tonga, major damage in capital

2010-02-22T09:28:49Z

<div id="subtitle">Cyclone Rene batters Tonga, tearing off roofs, cutting power, phone service in capital</div><div><p>Tropical Cyclone Rene pounded Tonga with powerful winds overnight, causing major damage to buildings in the capital city, tearing off roofs, downing trees and cutting power and phone lines in the Tonga takes direct hit from cyclone, though no serious injuries, damage yet reported</div><div><p>Northern and central Tonga were being slammed by Cyclone Rene on Monday, with powerful winds ripping off roofs, tearing down trees and power lines and cutting communications with the capital in the south of the country, officials...

Cyclone misses American Samoa, turns toward Tonga

2010-02-22T09:57:17Z

<div id="subtitle">Tropical Cyclone Rene brings rain, wind but misses American Samoa, turns toward Tonga</div><div><p>A powerful tropical storm missed American Samoa early Saturday morning, causing heavy rains and high winds but sparing more devastation to the