Storms
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East China coast braces for tropical storm Meari

Xinhua
Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:33 UTC

© Xinhua/Yu Qibo High billows strike on the seashore of a park in Weihai, east China's Shandong Province, June 26, 2011. Strong winds and heavy rains are forecast to hit China's eastern coast as tropical storm Meari is moving northwest from the southern Yellow Sea waters, according to a statement issued by the nation's meteorological authority Sunday. The tropical storm Meari will shave off the eastern coasts of Shandong Peninsula or may make a landfall around the region between Sunday afternoon and evening, said the National Meteorological Center (NMC) of China Meteorological Administration in the statement.

East China coastal regions are bracing for strong gales and heavy rains as tropical storm Meari moves closer for landing.

Thousands of people have been evacuated amid storm-triggered floodings, authorities said Sunday.

The tropical storm is expected to make a landing near the city of Donggang, northeast Liaoning Province, or areas to the north of Democratic People's Republic of Korea at Monday dawn, the National Meteorological Center said in its latest bulletin.

The storm was projected at the Yellow Sea, about 35 kilometers southeast off the coast of eastern Shandong Province, at 5 p.m. Sunday, according to the bulletin. The storm is moving north at 20 to 25 kilometers per hour, packing sustained gusts of 23 meters per second near its center.

Strong winds and heavy rain are forecast near the coasts of Shandong, Liaoning and the province of Jilin. The strength of the storm will be reduced after landing, the meteorological authorities said.

© Xinhua/Li ZihengTaxi drives on the roads covered with rain water in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, June 26, 2011. Strong winds and heavy rains are forecast to hit China's eastern coast as tropical storm Meari is moving northwest from the southern Yellow Sea waters, according to a statement issued by the nation's meteorological authority Sunday. The tropical storm Meari will shave off the eastern coasts of Shandong Peninsula or may make a landfall around the region between Sunday afternoon and evening, said the National Meteorological Center (NMC) of China Meteorological Administration in the statement.

Storm drenches east China while drought plagues northwest

Deng Shasha
Xinhuanet.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:03 UTC

Shanghai - Extreme weather conditions are plaguing China with a strengthening tropical storm on the eastern coastline and a prolonged drought in the northwest.

The full force of Meari, still gaining in strength and likely to soon become a typhoon, would be felt in Zhejiang Province as it makes landfall there Saturday evening, according to an alert from the meteorological station of Zhejiang Province.

Meari, heading northward, is forecast to hit Shanghai soon after, with its center about 150 km to the east and out to sea of the city, according to the Shanghai municipal meteorological station.

Shanghai has emptied reservoirs to make room for the water the typhoon is likely to bring, said Zhang Zhengyu, spokesman for the Shanghai Flood Control Headquarters.

Storm Haima wreaks havoc in North Vietnam

English.vietnamnet.vn
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:50 UTC

Contrary to previous predictions, tropical storm Haima landed in Thai Binh province yesterday evening. At least 10 people were killed, 14 were missing and hundreds of others were injured in some northern provinces, Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Central Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Center, said.

Previously, the storm was expected to make landfall in the Vietnam-China border area, he said.

In the past few days, the storm has caused heavy rains in many Northern Vietnam provinces, with rainfalls measuring 50 mm to over 150 mm. In the central area of Hanoi, the rainfall reached 120 mm.

The coastal areas of Quang Ninh-Thai Binh province are experiencing winds of force 7-8.

After landing in Thai Binh with force of 6-7, the storm has weakened to a depression and continued moving west. It will fade away when it reaches Northern Laos this evening, he added.

The heavy rains are expected to continue in the next few days, Hai said.

So far the coastal city of Hai Phong suffered the most from the storm, with 6 people dead, including four by lightning, in four districts Thuy Nguyen, An Duong, Tien Lang and An Lao.

US - New York - Solutions needed in storm's wake

Lohud.com
Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:10 UTC

Thursday's was an imperfect storm, especially in hard-hit Rockland County. It dumped huge amounts of rain, much of it when large numbers of motorists were in transit. On top of that, the heavy rain fell upon ground already saturated, making for more runoff than might have been expected. Ongoing construction projects added to the congestion and the runoff; delays with other projects make it even harder to cope with inordinately heavy rains.

Such heavy rains have been an especially vexing problem for Rockland. Twice in March the area got hit hard, with rains causing spot flooding. On March 6 and 7, five communities - Valley Cottage, West Nyack, Hillburn, Nanuet and Thiells - all recorded rainfalls of 4 inches or more; Thiells registered 5.28 inches. This time there was less rain and more flooding. New City, with 3.4 inches, was treading water; Nyack had a river running through it; West Nyack was awash, as were several other communities.

US - Minot, North Dakota Floods: Threat of Rain Looms as Residents Brace for Flooding

Michael Murray and Gerard McNiff
Abcnews.go.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:02 UTC

Residents and officials in Minot, North Dakota, are bracing for record flooding from the swollen Souris River as the threat of more rain looms later today.

"A rain event right now would change everything. That's the scariest," Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman told The Associated Press.

Some 4,500 homes are expected to be damaged from the expected surge of the river.

The flooding is due to the combination of excessive snow melt from an above normal winter snow pack, and above normal rainfall this past spring from the northern Rocky Mountain states through the Plains and Midwest.

Montreal - Heavy rains wash out roads in Gatineau region

Montrealgazette.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:10 UTC

Ottawa - Residents of Gatineau and the surrounding regions were struggling to cope Saturday after heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms washed out stretches of highway and reportedly resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of homes.

At 4:26 p.m. Friday, Environment Canada's weather watchers issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Ottawa, Pontiac and Upper Gatineau. About 100 millimetres of rain fell over the next several hours. Authorities reported that numerous streets, many of them residential, flooded in Aylmer, Gatineau and Hull.

The Gatineau region appears to have been hardest hit by the storm. Highway 148 in Pontiac was closed in and around Eardley and Masham, with some of the four lanes on the highway near Luskville washed away. Notch Road in Chelsea was also reportedly washed out.

Heavy rains continue to disrupt flights in Philippines

Julie M. Aurelio
Globalnation.inquirer.ir
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:05 UTC

Manilla, Philippines - Bad weather continued to disrupt flights in and out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Saturday as Topical Storm Falcon (Meari) exited the country.

As of 2:30 p.m., one international flight had been cancelled and another was delayed by nearly six hours while at least two domestic flights were cancelled because of continued heavy monsoon rains aggravated by the storm.

An advisory from the Manila International Airport Authority Media Affairs Division said Philippine Airlines flight PR 438 for Nagoya, Japan, at 2:30 p.m. was cancelled because of bad weather.

US - Heavy rains flood Omaha streets

Sam Womack, Emily Nohr and Kirby Kaufman
Omaha.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:54 UTC

Several streets north of TD Ameritrade Park are flooded after heavy rains fell early Saturday morning.

Water gushed, storm drains overflowed and water flooded some businesses in the area.

At least a foot of water surrounded Hot Shops Art Center at 13th and Nicholas Streets, said the building's managing partner Tim Barry.

He said there was also about a foot of water in the building's boiler room. Pumps were installed to dry out the bottom floor, Barry said.

"We hope and pray we don't get a three inch rain in the next couple days," he said.
Hot Shops Art Center is closed on weekends and open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Barry was unsure if the shop would be open Monday.

US - Montana - Hail, heavy rain move through Billings area

Zach Benoit
Billingsgazette.com
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:48 UTC

Heavy rain and thunder cleared the way for a short burst of hail in parts of south-central Montana on Friday night, although no significant damage was reported.

The National Weather Service's Billings office issued an advisory for Stillwater and Yellowstone counties before 9 p.m. warning of strong rains, hail, lightning, thunder and wind gusts of up to 50 mph.

A short, heavy downpour started in Billings just after 9 p.m., although little hail was reported east of the West End, said Vickie Stephenson, an NWS hydrometeorologic technician.

It dropped a 0.26 inches of rain on Billings in less than an hour before moving out of the area before 10 p.m., according to the weather service.

Trained weather spotters reported hail 0.88 and 0.75 inches in diameter about four miles northwest of Laurel and three miles southwest of Billings, respectively.