Typhoon Saola made landfall in southern China before dawn Saturday after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and most of Hong Kong and other parts of coastal southern China suspended business, transport and classes. Guangdong province's meteorological bureau said the powerful storm churned into an outlying district of the city of Zhuhai, just south of Hong Kong at 3:30 a.m. It was forecast to move in a southwesterly direction along the Guangdong coast at a speed of around 17 kph (10 mph), gradually weakening before heading out to sea. Philippines warns of possible flooding, landslides as Typhoon Mawar slowly passes to north On Friday, 780,000 people in Guangdong were moved away from areas at risk as did 100,000 others in neighboring Fujian province. More than 80,000 fishing vessels returned to port. Workers stayed at home and students in various cities saw the start of their school year postponed to next week. Trading on Hong Kong’s stock market was suspended Friday and hundreds of people were stranded at the airport after about 460 flights were canceled in the key regional business and travel hub. Rail authorities in mainland China halted all trains entering or leaving Guangdong province from Friday night to Saturday evening, state television CCTV reported. Typhoon Mawar closes in on Guam as residents shelter, military sends away ships The Hong Kong Observatory had issued a No. 10 hurricane alert, the highest warning under the city’s weather system. It was the first No. 10 warning since Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in 2018. The observatory said Saola — with maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour — came its closest to the financial hub at around 11 p.m. Friday, skirting about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the city’s Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district. The storm’s eyewall, which surrounds its eye, was moving across the city overnight, “posing a high threat” to the territory, the agency said. By Saturday, morning, it said, maximum sustained wind speeds had fallen to 145 kilometers (90 miles) per hour. The observatory warned of serious flooding in coastal areas and said the maximum water level might be similar to when Mangkhut felled trees and tore scaffolding off buildings in the city. In recent months, China has experienced some of its heaviest rains and deadliest flooding in years in various regions, with dozens killed, including in outlying mountainous parts of the capital, Beijing. Guam braces for hit from Typhoon Mawar as storm heads toward Pacific US territory As the storm's heavy rains and strong winds closed in on Hong Kong, about 400 people sought refuge at temporary shelters and ferry and bus services halted. Residents of low-lying areas placed sandbags at their doors hoping to prevent their homes from being flooded. Dozens of trees were knocked down, and seven people were injured and sought treatment at public hospitals. Classes at all schools were to remain suspended Saturday. Some residents, including security guard Shirley Ng, still had to go to work Friday. Ng said people were stocking up on food to prepare for the storm. “I just hope that the typhoon won’t cause causalities,” she said. Weather authorities in the nearby gambling hub of Macao also warned of flooding, forecasting that water levels might reach 1.5 meters (5 feet) in low-lying areas Saturday morning. The cross-border bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai city was closed at midafternoon. Macao leader Ho Iat Seng ordered a halt to casino operations. Another storm, Haikui, was gradually moving toward eastern China. Coupled with the influence of Saola, parts of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces would experience strong winds and heavy rains, the meteorological administration said. It predicted Haikui would hit Taiwan’s east coast Sunday. Dozens of domestic flights were canceled along with air services to Hong Kong and Macao. Despite the twin storms, China's military conducted more operations Friday night and early Saturday meant to intimidate Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy that Beijing seeks to bring under Chinese sovereignty by force if necessary. Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had detected six Chinese military aircraft and three naval vessels around Taiwan during the 24 hours leading up to 6 a.m. Saturday. It said the island's armed forces were monitoring the situation and put aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems on alert. However, it said there were no indications that the Chinese ships or aircraft had crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait or entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone as they often do. Saola passed just south of Taiwan on Wednesday before turning toward mainland China, with its outer bands hitting the island’s southern cities with torrential rain. The typhoon also lashed the Philippines earlier this week, displacing tens of thousands of people in the northern part of the islands because of flooding.

Typhoon Noru blew out of the northern Philippines on Monday, leaving five rescuers dead, causing floods and power outages and forcing officials to suspend classes and government work in the capital and outlying provinces. The most powerful typhoon to hit the country this year slammed into the coast in Burdeos town in Quezon province before nightfall on Sunday then weakened as it barreled overnight across the main Luzon region, where thousands of people were moved to emergency shelters, some forcibly, officials said. Gov. Daniel Fernando of Bulacan province, north of Manila, said five rescuers, who were using a boat to help residents trapped in floodwaters, were hit by a collapsed wall then apparently drowned in the rampaging waters. “They were living heroes who were helping save the lives of our countrymen amid this calamity,” Fernando told DZMM radio network. “This is really very sad.” On Polillo island in northeastern Quezon province, a man was injured after falling off the roof of his house, officials said. More than 17,000 people were moved to emergency shelters from high-risk communities prone to tidal surges, flooding and landslides in Quezon alone, officials said. More than 3,000 people were evacuated to safety in Metropolitan Manila, which was lashed by fierce wind and rain overnight. Classes and government work were suspended Monday in the capital and outlying provinces as a precaution although the morning skies were sunny. The entire northern provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija, which were hit by the typhoon, remained without power Monday and repair crews were at work to bring back electricity, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in a televised meeting he called to assess damages and coordinate disaster-response. Marcos Jr. praised officials for evacuating thousands of people to safety as a precaution before the typhoon hit which prevented large number of casualties despite the Noru's potentially disastrous force. Noru underwent an “explosive intensification” over the open Pacific Ocean before it hit the Philippines, Vicente Malano, who heads the country’s weather agency, told The Associated Press on Sunday. From sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour (53 mph) on Saturday, Noru was a super typhoon just 24 hours later with sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles per hour) and gusts of up to 240 kph (149 mph) at its peak late Sunday. By Monday morning, Noru had sustained winds of 140 kph (87 mph) and gusts of 170 kph (105 mph) and was moving westward in the South China Sea at 30 kph (19 mph), according to the weather agency. About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago also lies in the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines — well to the south of Noru’s path.

The most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in years battered its southern region Tuesday, dumping almost a meter (3 feet) of rain, destroying roads and felling power lines, leaving 20,000 homes without electricity as thousands of people fled to safer ground. Typhoon Hinnamnor grazed the resort island of Jeju and made landfall near the mainland port of Busan in the morning and was moving northeast toward the sea with winds of up to 144 kilometers (89 miles) per hour. It is on track to move closer to eastern China later in the week, after ferry services in eastern China and flights in Japan were suspended in previous days. South Korean officials put the nation on alert about potential damages from flooding, landslides and tidal waves unleashed by Hinnamnor, which came just weeks after heavy rains in the region around the capital Seoul caused flooding that killed at least 14 people. Also read: More than 200 dead after typhoon slams Philippines Prime Minister Han Duk-soo called for evacuations in areas vulnerable to flooding, saying Hinnamnor could end up being a “historically strong typhoon that we never experienced before.” The storm dumped more than 94 centimeters (37 inches) of rain in central Jeju since Sunday, where winds peaked at 155 kph (96 mph). A 25-year-old man was missing after falling into a rain-swollen stream in the southern city of Ulsan, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which didn’t immediately report more casualties. Fires were reported at a major steel plant operated by POSCO in the southern city of Pohang, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were caused by the storm. The Safety Ministry said more than 3,400 people in the southern regions were forced to evacuate from their homes because of safety concerns and that officials were advising or ordering 14,000 more people to evacuate. At least five homes and buildings were flooded or destroyed, and scores of roads were damaged. More than 600 schools were closed or converted to online classes. More than 250 flights and 70 ferry services were grounded while more than 66,000 fishing boats evacuated to ports. Workers as of 6 a.m. managed to restore electricity to 2,795 of the 20,334 households that were knocked out of power. Also read: Typhoon In-fa hits China’s east coast, canceling flights A South Korean presidential official, who spoke on condition of anonymity during a background briefing, said officials were investigating the cause of the fires at POSCO's Pohang plant, where firefighters were working to extinguish flames that damaged at least three facilities at the complex. Lim Yoon-sook, an official from the North Gyeongsang province fire department, said the flames destroyed a building housing electricity equipment and were continuing to burn through a separate office building, although workers were close to extinguishing a smaller fire at a cokes factory. In North Korea, state media reported “all-out efforts” to minimize damage from flooding and landslides. The Korean Central News Agency reported leader Kim Jong Un during government meetings had issued unspecified “detailed tasks” to improve the country’s disaster response capacity but it didn’t elaborate on the plans. North Korea sustained serious damage from heavy rains and floods in 2020 that destroyed buildings, roads and crops, shocking the country's already-crippled economy.

The governor of a central Philippine province devastated by Typhoon Rai last week pleaded on radio Tuesday for the government to quickly send food and other aid, warning that without outside help, army troops and police forces would have to be deployed to prevent looting amid growing hunger. Governor Arthur Yap of Bohol province said he could no longer secure rice and other food aid after his contingency fund ran out and added that many of the 1.2 million people in his island province, which remained without power and cellphone service five days after the typhoon struck, have become increasingly desperate. The most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippine archipelago this year left at least 375 dead and 50 others missing mostly in its central region, including nearly 100 dead in Bohol, according to officials. President Rodrigo Duterte visited Bohol over the weekend and witnessed the extensive devastation. Yap said the government’s social welfare department promised to send 35,000 food packs, an inadequate amount for the province’s 375,000 families, but even those have not yet arrived. Read: More than 200 dead after typhoon slams Philippines In an interview on DZBB radio network, Yap thanked Duterte for visiting his province but said, “If you would not send money for food, you should send soldiers and police, because if not lootings will break out here.” Some lootings mostly of small merchandise stores have occurred, Yap said, adding that the situation remained under control. But he warned that the lootings could worsen if people, especially in hard-hit island municipalities, grow more desperate. People cannot withdraw money from banks without cellphone connections and power, and fuel and water shortages have also sparked long queues, he said. The national police said widespread lootings were not a problem in the typhoon-ravaged regions and added that they were ready to deal with any lawlessness. Typhoon Rai packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 270 kph (168 mph) at its most lethal before blowing out into the South China Sea on Friday. At least 375 people were killed mostly by falling trees and in flash floods, with 56 others missing and 500 injured, according to the national police. But the toll may still increase as emergency crews restore communications and power to more towns and villages. Nearly a million people were lashed by the typhoon, including more than 400,000 who had to be moved to emergency shelters as the typhoon approached. Some have begun to return home but others either lost their houses entirely or need to do major repairs. Read: Powerful typhoon hits Philippines, nearly 100,000 evacuated Emergency crews were working to restore electricity in 227 cities and towns, officials said Monday, adding that power had been restored in only 21 areas so far. Cellphone connections have been restored in at least 106 of more than 130 cities and towns. Two local airports remained closed Monday except for emergency flights, but most others have reopened, the civil aviation agency said. Duterte said government emergency funds have been mostly used for the coronavirus pandemic but promised to raise 2 billion pesos ($40 million) from government agency savings to provide additional funds to typhoon-hit provinces. The Philippines has not appealed for international help but Japan said it was sending power generators, camping tents, sleeping pads, water containers and tarpaulin roofing sheets to hard-hit regions while China announced it was providing 20,000 food packs and rice. About 20 tropical storms and typhoons annually batter the Philippines, which also lies along the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions frequently occur, making the Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.ucci, File)

The death toll following the strongest typhoon to batter the Philippines this year has risen to more than 200, with 52 other people still missing and several central towns and provinces grappling with downed communications and power outages and pleading for food and water, officials said Monday. At its strongest, the typhoon packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 270 kph (168 mph) before it blew out Friday into the South China Sea. At least 208 people were killed, 52 remained missing and 239 were injured, according to the national police. The toll was expected to increase because several towns and villages remained out of reach due to downed communications and power outages although massive clean-up and repair efforts were underway. Many died due to falling trees and collapsing walls, flash flood and landslides. A 57-year-old man was found dead hanging from a tree branch and a woman was blown away by the wind and died in Negros Occidental province, police said. Governor Arlene Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands, among the southeastern provinces first hit by the typhoon, said Rai’s ferocity on her island province of more than 130,000 was worse than that of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful and deadliest typhoons on record and which devastated the central Philippines in November 2013 but did not inflict any casualties in Dinagat. “If it was like being in a washing machine before, this time there was like a huge monster that smashed itself everywhere, grabbed anything like trees and tin roofs and then hurled them everywhere,” Bag-ao told The Associated Press by telephone. “The wind was swirling north to south to east and west repeatedly for six hours. Some tin roof sheets were blown away then were tossed back.” At least 14 villagers died and more than 100 others were injured by flying tin roofs, debris and glass shards and were treated in makeshift surgery rooms in damaged hospitals in Dinagat, Bag-ao said. Many more would have died if thousands of residents had not been evacuated from high-risk villages. Read: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan summoned by Enforcement Directorate in Delhi Like several other typhoon-hit provinces, Dinagat remained without electricity and communications and many residents in the province, where the roofs of most houses and buildings were ripped off, needed construction materials, food and water. Bag-ao and other provincial officials traveled to nearby regions that had cellphone signals to seek aid and coordinate recovery efforts with the national government. More than 700,000 people were lashed by the typhoon in central island provinces, including more than 400,000 who had to be moved to emergency shelters. Thousands of residents were rescued from flooded villages, including in Loboc town in hard-hit Bohol province, where residents were trapped on roofs and trees to escape from rising floodwaters. Coast guard ships ferried 29 American, British, Canadian, Swiss, Russian, Chinese and other tourists who were stranded on Siargao Island, a popular surfing destination that was devastated by the typhoon, officials said. Emergency crews were scrambling to restore electricity in 227 cities and towns, officials said. Power has been restored in only 21 areas so far. Cellphone connections in more than 130 cities and towns were cut by the typhoon but at least 106 had been reconnected by Monday, officials said. Two local airports remained closed except for emergency flights, but most others have reopened, the civil aviation agency said. Bag-ao and other officials were concerned that their provinces may run out of fuel, which was in high demand due to the use of temporary power generators, including those used for refrigerated warehouses with large amounts of coronavirus vaccine stocks. Officials delivered vaccine shipments to many provinces for an intensified immunization campaign, which was postponed last week due to the typhoon. At the Vatican, Pope Francis expressed his closeness Sunday to the people of the Philippines, referencing the typhoon “that destroyed many homes.” About 20 storms and typhoons annually batter the Philippines, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. The Southeast Asian archipelago also lies along the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

A powerful typhoon left at least 19 people dead, knocked down power and communications in entire provinces and wrought widespread destruction mostly in the central Philippines, officials said Saturday. A governor said her island province has been “leveled to the ground." Typhoon Rai blew away Friday night into the South China Sea after rampaging through southern and central island provinces, where more than 300,000 people in its path were evacuated to safety in advance in a pre-emptive move officials say may have saved a lot of lives. At its strongest, Rai packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 270 kph (168 mph), one of the most powerful in recent years to hit the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. The typhoon slammed into the country’s southeastern coast Thursday but the extent of casualties and destruction remained unclear two days after with entire provinces still without power and cellphone connection. READ: Powerful typhoon hits Philippines, nearly 100,000 evacuated The national police reported at least 19 dead but did not provide other details. The government’s main disaster-response agency reported a lower death toll of 12, mostly villagers hit by falling trees, because it said it had to carefully validate each death. Officials on Dinagat Islands, one of the first provinces to be lashed by the typhoon’s ferocious winds, remained cut off Saturday due to downed power and communication lines. But its governor, Arlene Bag-ao, managed to post a statement on the province’s website to say that the province of about 180,000 “has been leveled to the ground.” She pleaded for food, water, temporary shelters, fuel, hygiene kits and medical supplies. She said only a few casualties have been reported in the capital so far because other towns remain isolated. “We may have survived, but we cannot do the same in the coming days because of our limited capacities as an island province,” Bag-ao said, adding some of Dinagat’s hospitals could not open due to damage. “Most of our commercial and cargo vessels ... are now unsuitable for sea voyages, effectively cutting us off from the rest of the country.” Vice Gov. Nilo Demerey managed to reach a nearby province and told DZMM radio network that at least six residents died and that “almost 95% of houses in Dinagat have no roof,” and even emergency shelters were destroyed. “We’re currently doing repairs because even our evacuation centers were destroyed. There are no shelters, the churches, gymnasium, schools, public markets and even the capitol were all shattered,” Demerey said. Pictures posted on Dinagat’s website show low-slung houses with roofs either blown off or damaged and surrounded by tin roof sheets and debris. In central Bohol province, which was directly hit by the typhoon, the coast guard said its personnel on board rubber boats rescued residents who were trapped on roofs and trees, as waters rose rapidly. It released footage showing coast guard staff helping people from the roof of a house nearly engulfed by brownish floodwater to a rubber boat. They also help a villager climb down from a tree above the floodwater while another man, also wearing an orange life vest, waits for his turn. With government contingency funds used for the coronavirus pandemic, President Rodrigo Duterte said he would look for money to help the provinces. He planned to visit the devastated region this weekend. About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago is located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

A powerful typhoon slammed into the southeastern Philippines on Thursday and was blowing across island provinces where nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas that could be devastated by flash floods, landslides and tidal surges, officials said. Forecasters said Typhoon Rai, which had sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph), blew from the Pacific Ocean into the Siargao Islands. There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage but military and coast guard rescue personnel were helping residents stranded by fast-rising waters. Disaster-response officials said about 10,000 villages lie in the projected path of the typhoon, which has a 400-kilometer (248-mile)-wide rain band and is one of the strongest to hit the country this year. The Philippine coast guard said it has grounded all vessels, stranding nearly 4,000 passengers and ferry and cargo ship workers in dozens of southern and central ports. Several mostly domestic flights have been canceled and schools and workplaces were shut in the most vulnerable areas. More than 98,000 people have been evacuated to safety, the government's disaster-response agency said. Crowding in evacuation centers was complicating efforts to keep people safely distanced after authorities detected the country’s first infections caused by the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Intensified vaccinations were also halted in provinces likely to experience stormy weather. Also read: Pandemic Olympics endured heat, and now a typhoon’s en route The Philippines is among the hardest-hit in Southeast Asia by the pandemic, with confirmed infections of more than 2.8 million and more than 50,000 deaths. Quarantine restrictions have been eased and more businesses have been allowed to reopen in recent weeks after an intensified vaccination campaign helped reduce infections to a few hundred from more than 26,000 in September. The detection of the omicron cases this week, however, has set off the alarm and the government renewed calls for people to avoid crowds and get vaccinated immediately. Gov. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar province said he suspended vaccinations in his region of nearly half a million people due to the typhoon. More than 70% of villagers in the province have gotten at least one shot, and Evardone expressed concern because some vaccines stored in Eastern Samar will expire in a few months. Overcrowding is unavoidable, he said, in the limited number of evacuation centers in his province, where more than 32,000 people have been moved to safety. “It’s impossible to observe social distancing, it will really be tough,” Evardone told The Associated Press. “What we do is we cluster evacuees by families. We don’t mix different people in the same place as a precaution.” Also read: Typhoon In-fa hits China’s east coast, canceling flights About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago is also located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.

First, the sun. Now: the wind and the rain. The Tokyo Olympics, delayed by the pandemic and opened under oppressive heat, are due for another hit of nature’s power: a typhoon arriving Tuesday morning that is forecast to disrupt at least some parts of the Games. “Feels like we’re trying to prepare for bloody everything,” said New Zealand rugby sevens player Andrew Knewstubb. Don’t worry, Japanese hosts say: In U.S. terms, the incoming weather is just a mid-grade tropical storm. And the surfers at Tsurigasaki beach say Tropical Storm Nepartak could actually improve the competition so long as it doesn’t hit the beach directly. But archery, rowing and sailing have already adjusted their Tuesday schedules. Tokyo Games spokesman Masa Takaya said there were no other changes expected. “It is a tropical storm of three grade out of five, so you shouldn’t be too much worried about that, but it is a typhoon in Japan interpretation,” Takaya said. “This is the weakest category, but this is still a typhoon so we should not be too optimistic about the impact of the course.” On the beach about 90 miles east of Tokyo, the competitors want the change in weather so long as the rain and wind don’t make total landfall. The surfing competition was delayed Monday because of low tide. But if the storm hits as expected, it could deliver waves twice as high as expected. “As a homeowner I say, ‘Oh no, stay away!’” said Kurt Korte, the official Olympic surfing forecaster. “But as a surfer, ‘OK, you can form if you stay out there,’ Everybody can agree a storm out in the distance is the best.” Also read: Tokyo Olympics 2020: Meet the Bangladesh Athletes The Japan Meteorological Agency said Nepartak was headed northwest over the Pacific Ocean east of Japan on Monday with landfall expected Tuesday afternoon. The storm could bring strong winds, up to 5.9 inches (150 millimeters) of rainfall and high waves as it cuts across Japan’s northeastern region. In advance, organizers made the first major alterations to the Olympic archery schedule because of weather. There was an hour delay at the Beijing Games in 2008. Here, the Tuesday afternoon sessions have been postponed until Wednesday and Thursday. “We’ve heard that storm could be anything from rain or 80-mph wind,” said American archer Jack Williams. Added Brady Ellison, his teammate: “Unless there’s lightning, right here, we’ll shoot it. We’ll deal with whatever it’s going to be. Rain just starts to suck in general.” Beach volleyball plays in everything but lightning. Both the women’s final at the Beijing Games and men’s final at the Rio Games were held in heavy rain. At Ariake Tennis Park, center court has a retractable roof that can be closed for inclement weather, but play on outer courts would have to be suspended. Also read: Tokyo Olympics begin with muted ceremony and empty stadium “They can move every match, I think, if there is really going to be a typhoon with rain,” said Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 player in the world. “We never know. I guess they will maybe try to move six matches, but it depends how long the matches will be." Any sort of rain — typhoon, tropical storm, or even light sprinkling — will be a wild swing from the first three days of the Games.   Svetlana Gomboeva collapsed from heatstroke on the first day of archery but recovered to win a silver medal. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and Medvedev, who who complained his first round match was “some of the worst” heat he’d ever played in, successfully leaned on the International Tennis Federation to give Olympics players extra time during breaks to offset the high temperatures. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had resorted to shoving bags of ice up her skirt, and fiddled with a tube blowing cold air next to her seat. At skateboarding, the intense sun turned the park into a furnace, radiating off the light concrete with such blinding effect that skaters complained the heat was softening the rubber joints on their wheel axles and making the boards harder to control. July and August in Japan are notoriously hot and humid. Japan has faced criticism for not accurately describing the severity and instead, during the bidding process, calling it mild and ideal. Daytime highs regularly hit 95 degrees (35 Celsius) but have exceeded 104 degrees (40 Celsius) in some places in recent years. The Environment Ministry began issuing heatstroke alerts in July 2020 for the Tokyo areas and in April for the entire nation. Japan reported 112 deaths from June to September last year, as well as 64,869 people taken to hospitals by ambulance for heat-related issues. Tokyo logged the largest number of heat stroke sufferers at 5,836 during the three-month period. Australian canoeist Jessica Fox, the gold medal favorite in the kayak slalom, said the wild weather swings have been a disruption to the Olympic event. “It is like a bath,” she said. “It is like paddling in bathwater.” And the impending typhoon disruption? “I am a bit concerned about that,” Fox said. “I saw the surfers and they were all excited about the weather, which isn’t ideal for us.” If Tuesday’s bronze medal softball game is postponed, the Canada team worries it could get stuck in Japan because members had flights the following day. “We very much hope that the game goes (Tuesday) so that we can get on a plane and go home,” coach Mark Smith said. “As you probably know, with the pandemic, that flights are very hard to come by.” The weather extremes are just another obstacle Olympic organizers have faced during these beleaguered Games, already delayed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Asked on Monday if Tokyo officials feel they can’t catch a break, Takaya said they’ve had to be flexible. “I mean, you know, we’re supposed to react to any situation, that’s one of our jobs,” he said. “This is absolutely a regular exercise we have to face.”

Typhoon In-fa hit China’s east coast south of Shanghai on Sunday, after airline flights and trains were canceled and the public was ordered to stay indoors. The typhoon made landfall in Zhoushan in Zhejiang province, state TV reported, citing the national weather agency. It forecast rainfall of 250-350 millimeters (10-14 inches). “People should not willingly go outdoors,” the bureau said. Also read: China blasts dam to divert floods that killed at least 25 The typhoon was packing winds of 155 kilometers (95 miles) per hour and gusts up to 191 kph (120 mph) when it dumped rain on Taiwan. It knocked down tree branches but no deaths or injuries were reported. Hundreds of flights at Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao airports were canceled and more were expected to be canceled on Monday, state TV reported. Shanghai closed parks and the riverfront Bund district, a popular tourist area. The international airport in Hangzhou, southwest of Shanghai, also canceled flights. Also read: At least 12 dead as floodwaters rush into subway tunnel in China Train service to Ningbo, a port city south of Shanghai, was suspended, according to state TV. The Zhoushan Bridge that connects islands near Ningbo was closed, as were schools, markets and businesses in Zhejiang province. On Saturday, large container ships were moved from Yangshan Port in Shanghai, one of the world’s busiest shipping centers. State TV said a ship lock in Nantong, which abuts Shanghai to the north, stopped releasing vessels into the Yangtze River. Meanwhile in central China, the death toll rose to 58 after record rains hit the major city of Zhengzhou on Tuesday, state TV reported. The rains flooded a Zhengzhou subway tunnel where at least 12 people died, knocked out power to a hospital and other buildings and left streets filled with mud. Rescuers used bulldozers and rubber boats to evacuate residents of areas that still were underwater, according to the Shanghai news outlet The Paper.

Taiwan is supposed to be one of the rainiest places in the world - its climate is subtropical in the northern and central regions, and tropical in the south. Typhoons are common in summer and autumn, and it also gets monsoons. It rains so often here that umbrellas are placed at subway stations and businesses for anyone to borrow. But something unusual happened last year - no typhoon hit the island. And there has been little rain in the past year, reports BBC. That has plunged Taiwan into its worst drought in 56 years. Many of its reservoirs are at less than 20% capacity, with water levels at some falling below 10%. At the Baoshan No. 2 Reservoir in Hsinchu County, one of the primary water sources for Taiwan's $100bn semiconductor industry, the water level is at the lowest it's ever been - only 7% full.If this and other reservoirs in Taiwan dry up, it could be detrimental for the global electronics sector, because so many of the products people use are powered by semiconductors - computer chips - made by Taiwanese companies. Also read: Taiwanese man involved in deadly train derailment released on bail Around 90% of the most advanced microchips are manufactured in Taiwan.They're key to objects ranging from ventilators to smartphones, and the pandemic has left demand high and supply tight. The US is now worried about over-reliance on chips made overseas, including in Taiwan.The sector is a big contributor to the island's overall economy, but it requires a lot of water to clean the wafers that go into many tech devices. Struggling to ensure supplies, the government stopped irrigating more than 74,000 hectares of farmland last year.It has also turned off the tap for residents and businesses in three cities and counties, including one of its biggest municipalities, Taichung, two days a week.In dry areas, high-volume industrial users including semiconductor manufacturers have been asked to reduce water usage by 13%, and non-industrial users, such as hair salons and car wash businesses, by 20%.Farmers have been the hardest hit.Like thousands of crop planters cross Taiwan, Chuang Cheng-deng, a fourth generation rice farmer in Hsinchu, has been forced to leave his seven hectares of land fallow."We also think about our country's economy, but they shouldn't completely stop providing water. You can give us water for two days a week or one day. Farmers will find a way. But now they've completely cut our water, farmers can't find a way out. You're focusing entirely on semiconductors," Mr Chuang says.The government is compensating farmers, but Mr Chuang says a lot of landowners take the subsidies instead, and farmers can't object for fear they will not be able to lease the land. Even if they get the money, they risk hurting their brand and losing clientele they've worked hard to build by not growing their products.He points out the government has been encouraging young people to go into farming as Taiwan's farmers are ageing, but young farmers are now left with no way to farm after they've invested in equipment and land."Farmers feel really helpless," Mr Chuang says, looking sadly at the dry irrigation canal running through his fields. Also read: Taiwan prosecutors probe train crash that killed 51Experts say Taiwan should have seen the warning signs."Taiwan has been suffering from a significant decrease in the number of rainy days each year since the 1960s," says Hsu Huang-hsiung, a climate change expert at government-funded think tank Academia Sinica.In parts of the island, the number of rainy days each year has fallen by about 50.And a warming trend in the Indian Ocean since 1950 may have brought about the Pacific Ocean's high pressure system last year, which prevented rain from falling in June and reduced the number of typhoons that were formed, according to experts."Climate change has never been a centre of discussion in our government or society. Although everybody talks about being afraid of climate change, it tends to be lip service. They express care, but don't take any action," Mr Hsu says.Taiwanese people's tendency to take water for granted - and some would say the government's neglect of how water resources are managed - are at the root of the shortage, according to people who have looked into the problem."If you look at Taiwan as a whole, it has sufficient rainfall. The problem is how we use water," said Kuo Yu-ling, a young farmer. "The first problem is our pipes leak water. Another problem is how we transfer water from one place to another. I don't know if the government is considering transferring water from the eastern part of Taiwan to the west, because the east enjoys several months of rain each year, but Hsinchu and north of it get almost no rain."Leaking pipes have caused Taiwan to lose nearly 14% of its water. Deforestation has also led to soil runoff when it does rain, leading to sediment build-up in the reservoirs, depriving them of their capacity to collect more water during rainy periods, for use in dry spells.The government has been tackling these problems: for example, the pipe leakage rate has dropped from 20% a decade ago.However, Taiwan's notoriously low water prices - blamed for giving consumers little incentive to conserve water - seem untouchable. Some say it's because it would be very unpopular to raise prices and politicians are afraid to do so because they don't want to lose votes.At NT$11 (US$0.39; £0.27) a ton, Taiwan's water rates are the second lowest among 35 countries and territories surveyed; half the cost of South Korea's rate, four times lower than that of the US and six times lower than costs in the UK.The Water Resources Agency says: "Due to the economic and social development and the fairness of social resources, it is still being carefully evaluated and there is no mature adjustment plan for the time-being."Instead, it's looking at Taiwan's surrounding waters for solutions, planning to build more seawater desalination plants. Most are located in outlying islands, with only three on Taiwan's main island. A new facility has been built in Hsinchu to deal with the current drought, but it can only treat 13,000 tons of water daily, a drop in the bucket compared to the 170,000 tons used each day just by Hsinchu Science Park, where many semiconductor makers are based.Desperate for rain, the government has tried to manipulate nature by carrying out cloud seeding numerous times, while officials from the Irrigation Agency held a rain worshipping ceremony in early March at which they prayed for help from Mazu, a sea goddess in Taoist and Buddhist traditions.It's hoping the annual rainy season, which normally lasts from mid-May to mid-June, will bring lots of showers.But it shouldn't get its hopes up. Last year, by May the rainy season was over and not enough rain had fallen.For now, people with no tap water fill up their buckets twice a week in advance, or fetch water from tanks set up on the street on the off days.TSMC and other chipmakers are planning for the worst. They are recycling more of the water they use - TSMC says it recycles more than 86%. The company is also buying truckloads of water from construction sites and other places. So far, it says, its operations have not been affected.Kuo Yao-cheng, a spokesman for the Water Resources Agency, says everyone will have to pitch in to resolve this issue."The government is taking measures to address these problems. … Everyone and every sector must think about how we can conserve water, especially because climate change will lead to insufficient rainfall," says Mr Kuo.For his part, Farmer Chuang has taken to growing watermelons and sunflowers, which require less water. He pumps ground water from the well he has dug in his farm to water his plants. But he believes sacrificing farming every time there's a drought will only worsen Taiwan's already low food self-sufficiency rate - the amount of food its people consume that is locally grown and not imported from overseas."We have to find a long-term solution to this problem," Mr Chuang says.If Taiwan doesn't rise to the challenge, both its farms and its prized semiconductor industry can expect to suffer in years to come.