More heavy rain and floods for S Asia
- Published
The strongest typhoon to make landfall in 16 years hit southern Vietnam during the early hours of Saturday morning. Typhoon Damrey had been gathering strength in the South China sea in recent days and when it made landfall near the city of Nha Trang it brought sustained winds in excess of 85mph, the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane.
大象传媒 Weather's Louise Lear looks at further heavy rain and floods across south Asia.
A huge storm surge capsized 6 ships whilst the strong winds tore more than a thousand roofs off buildings, uprooted trees and brought down hundreds of electricity poles. Over 250mm of rain (around 10 inches) fell in some areas.
The winds quickly weakened as the storm moved inland and Damrey has since become a tropical depression but further heavy rain over the coming days will bring life-threatening floods and landslides not only to Vietnam but possibly to Cambodia, Malaysia and southern Thailand too. Totals over a 6 day period for parts of Vietnam could add up to 1000mm, double the monthly rainfall in just a week which will threaten life and bring significant disruption to transport with a risk of blocked or flooded roads and bridges being swept away.
Southern India and Sri Lanka has seen severe floods this week with another 200mm of rain expected widely next week. Some areas could see up to another 500mm.
Meanwhile, further heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected in Southern India and Sri Lanka. Chennai has already seen severe flooding this week with 550mm of rain reported, which accounts for roughly three quarters of the expected seasonal north-easterly monsoon rainfall.
Around 550mm of rain has fallen around Chennai this week.