Typhoon Koppu in the Philippines

Sunday 18th October 2015

The lowdown: On Sunday morning a huge typhoon, called Typhoon Koppu, hit near the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. The typhoon brought winds of about 200km/h. The typhoon is up to 650km across and is very slow moving, say the BBC.More than 15,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes, with more expected in the next few days. A teenage boy was killed, and four others injured when a tree fell on top of houses in Manila. People in the worst hit areas have to be able to sustain themselves with enough food and water for up to 72 hours. Flights, bus and ferry services in the north have been cancelled for fear of landslides. Aid agencies have already distributed emergency supplies to evacuation centres while the Philippine military in Northern Luzo has been placed on alert for disaster operations. Typhoon Koppu is not due to leave the Philippines until Tuesday, when it will start heading towards Taiwan.

What is a typhoon?

A typhoon is a type of large storm with a spiral system of violent winds. A typhoon/hurricane/cyclone generally has winds stronger than about 120 kph. It is typically hundreds of kilometres or miles in diameter. 

Whats the difference between a cyclone and a typhoon?

There is no difference between a hurricane, a cyclone and a typhoon. They are all different names for the same kind of intense low pressure storm system.

In  the Western Pacific, near Asia, they call tropical cyclones "typhoons." In most of the southern hemisphere and the Indian Ocean, they simply call tropical cyclones a "tropical cyclone."

 

Floods in Southern France

3rd October 2015

 

The lowdown: Violent storms and flooding hit south-eastern France on Saturday. 17 people have been killed and 4 more are missing. Meteorologists issued a warning, but no one expected that the storms would dump nearly 200 litres of rain per square metre in less than three hours on an area between Nice and Cannes. The rainfall total was the equivalent of two months of downpours in the area. The areas worst-hit by flooding were also the hardest to access, officials said, raising fears the death toll could rise again. About 27,000 homes remained without power Sunday morning, 14,000 of them in Cannes alone. The flooded streets stranded many vehicles made numerous trees fall over. Forecasters at France's weather agency said the worst storms had now passed over the French mainland and were headed for the Italian coast. French President Francois Hollande announced a state of "natural disaster" in the affected regions.

 

 



Train stations were completely flooded with water, disrupting public transport for those coming in and out of the affected cities.

 

 

 

 

What causes a storm?

 

An area of warm, wet air and colder, dry air collide in a zone called a "front." The warm air is forced to rise above the cold air, causing an area of low atmospheric pressure, which acts sort of like a vacuum. Winds blow as more cold air rushes in to fill the vacuum.Gradually the formed clouds build up and precipitation occurs. The drops are too heavy to stay in the cloud so they start to fall, with cool winds.