Typhoon-strength winds slow Japan to halt

Tokyo (CNN) -- A spring storm packing typhoon-strength winds caused two deaths and paralyzed traffic in Japan on Tuesday.

In Toyama, strong winds pulled down a barn, killing a man, police there said. In Ishikawa prefecture, an 82-year-old woman died after hitting her head when she fell in strong wind.

Japan's meteorological agency predicted a developing low pressure system and front in the Sea of Japan will create strong winds and heavy rain in Japan from Tuesday morning through Wednesday. The agency asked people to avoid potential weather hazards by remaining indoors.

Strong gusts and rain hit western Japan in the morning and widened northward throughout the day.

A record-breaking wind was recorded in the western city of Tomogashima, at 150 kilometers per hour (94 miles per hour). Read More

Deadly Fiji floods displace thousands

(CNN) -- Severe flooding in the Pacific island nation of Fiji has killed five people and left about 8,000 others seeking shelter in evacuation centers, a government official said Tuesday.

Tropical Cyclone Daphne has lashed Fiji's largest and most populous island, Viti Levu, with strong winds and heavy rain.

The storm was expected to pass to the south of Fiji over the course of Tuesday. The Fiji Meteorological Service said it was maintaining its severe flood warning for "all major rivers, streams and low-lying areas" on the island.

Government officials, including Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, toured the affected areas on Monday.

Sharon Smith Johns, the government's information secretary, said Tuesday that improving weather in some areas was allowing some Fijians to move back to their homes. Read More

'Millions of lives at risk' from drought in the drought-stricken Sahel region of northern Africa.

Vast portions of west and central Africa have become so dry that they can't support crops, livestock and the millions of people who live there.

The Sahel - a belt of arid land that stretches across Africa below the Sahara Desert - is a zone prone to cycles of drought, and eight countries are seeing the worst of it this time.

The United Nations estimates that more than 10 million people are in danger of starving to death. Aid workers on the ground say it's getting worse quickly. Read More

Snow Is Moving South After Hitting Scotland

Snow is predicted to fall in northern England and Ireland and possibly in the Midlands and Wales today after around eight inches (19cm) came down across parts of Scotland.

Temperatures are set to plummet to as low as -5C tonight north of the border, as the big chill moves south, following one of the warmest ever March's.

On Monday last week, it was 23.3C in Cromdale in Moray, making it the hottest March 26 since records began.

And last Tuesday it was 23.6C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, marking a new high in Scotland for the month.

But the situation is markedly different now as about 10cm of snow blanketed most areas of northern Scotland overnight, with accumulations of 19cm in Aviemore in the Highlands and temperatures of close to -2C in Glen Ogle.

Scotland's central parts were also hit by the wintry weather, which will gradually creep into northern England, parts of Wales and the Midlands today.

The Met Office has issued an amber severe weather warning for snow in four areas of central and northern Scotland, advising the public to be prepared for transport disruption with ice developing on untreated roads. Read More

Strong winds pound Japan

April 3 - Transporation interrupted by typhoon like winds in Japan. Julie Noce reports

Infographic: The secret life of drinking water

Water scarcity will be one of the defining features of the 21st century. The U.N. predicts that by 2025 two thirds of the world's population will suffer water shortages. Here CNN takes a look at what we do with the water we can drink. More

New Zealand says it's ready to help Fiji

New Zealand will assist flood-ravaged Fiji, which is bracing for a tropical depression tracking towards the main island of Viti Levu.

A state of natural disaster has been declared for most of Fiji's Western Division, where heavy flooding has killed four people and forced about 5000 people into evacuation centres.

NZ Prime Minister John Key says the situation is very serious, and New Zealand will provide support if needed.

"It's people in rural parts of Fiji - we've already had a number of lives lost, people's homes devastated - so that's really where support would come in, and emergency food and blankets and the like," he said.

The government will get New Zealanders out of Fiji if "absolutely required", although many in tourist spots will be in "quite stable" conditions, he says. Read More

Hailstorm destroys cassava, damages houses in Mpulungu, Zambia

HEAVY rain has wreaked havoc in Mpulungu’s Kasakalawe Village in the Northern Province destroying more than seven hectares of cassava fields.

Mpulungu District Agriculture Co-operative Officer Kennedy Sinkamba confirmed the development in a telephone interview yesterday.

Mr Sinkamba said on Thursday last week, Kasakalawe village, which is made up of 189 peasant farmers experienced torrential rain which left most of the fields submerged.

“On Thursday last week, we experienced heavy rains in Kasakalawe village. Most of the crops were submerged. About seven hectares of cassava fields were also destroyed after the torrential rains,” he said.

Mr Sinkamba said people in Kasakalawe are peasant farmers who depend on cassava for their livelihood. Read More

Sandstorm hits Gansu, China

Northwest China's Gansu Province was hit by the biggest sandstorm in 2012 so far on Sunday due to the shortage of rainfall in March, local meteorological officials said.

The sandstorm first hit Dunhuang city in western Gansu at 2 p.m. and then blanketed cities like Jiayuguan and Jiuquan in central Gansu and reduced visibility to less than 900 meters, according to the provincial meteorological center.

This is the first regional sandstorm to hit the province this year and also so far the biggest one in terms of the affected area.

A blue wind alert was issued by the Lanzhou center observatory at 10 a.m., which then upgraded the alert level to yellow, the third-highest in the four-tier wind alert system. The wind speed reached 75 km per hour in the affected area, the observatory said.

The regional sandstorm occurred 24 days before the first regional sandstorm in 2011.

The sandstorm is still under way and is expected to weaken and end on Monday. Source

Fiji floods leaves 4 Dead and Hundreds Displaced

(CNN) -- Severe flooding in the Pacific island nation of Fiji has killed four people and left 800 people seeking shelter in evacuation centers, a government official said Monday.

Tropical Cyclone Daphne has lashed Fiji's largest and most populous island, Viti Levu, with strong winds and heavy rain.

The Fiji Meteorological Service said Monday that it was maintaining its severe flood warning for "all major rivers, streams and low lying areas" on the island.

Sharon Smith Johns, the Fiji government's information secretary, said she was touring the affected areas with the prime minister, Voreqe Bainimarama. She said some people had started to try to move back to their homes.

The extreme weather has disrupted both internal and external travel. Authorities on Sunday suspended inbound flights to Nadi International Airport because nearby roads were flooded. The suspension was lifted Monday but remained subject to review. Read More

Fishermen saved in Russian Far East.

April 1 - 675 stranded fishermen carried away to the sea on ice are saved in a massive emergency operation in the Russian Far East.

Tsunami- and earthquake-detecting network planned for waters off eastern Japan

A network of 154 sets of earthquake and water pressure detectors is planned for the waters off Japan's east coast, in an effort to more quickly and accurately predict tsunami.

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) plans to set detectors along the Japan Trench and in five ocean regions: off Boso, off Ibaraki and Fukushima prefectures, off Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, the northern part of the area off Sanriku, and off Tokachi and Kushiro. The detectors in the five regions are planned to be set at intervals of around 30 kilometers. Around 5,500 kilometers of fiber-optic cable are planned to connect them.

NIED plans to start setting up detectors in the waters off Boso and in the northern part of the area off Sanriku this fiscal year and begin running those detectors at the end of the fiscal year. The operation of all the detectors is planned in three years.

Earthquake and water pressure sensors are to be installed as sets inside containers capable of withstanding depths of up to 8,000 meters below sea level. The deepest location where sensors are planned is around 6,000 meters deep. Data is to be sent by fiber-optic cable to NIED, the Japan Meteorological Agency, and other related organizations. Read More

FORTY ONE states across the nation record the hottest March on record

From Colorado to Florida, 41 states are pulling out the record books, as the National Weather Service confirms they have had their hottest march on record.

Trend-setting Chicago was among record-breaking cities. It reported an average temperature of 53.5 degrees, topped the previous mark of 48.6 degrees, set in 1910.

Chris Dolce, a weather.com meteorologist, described the 4.9 degree leap as said: ‘pretty amazing’, especially given that records date back to 1871

And unusual high temperatures were recorded even in states where the record wasn’t broken.

New York fell short of beating its 51.1 degree record, set in 1945, but still basked in unseasonable warmth with the average temperature of 50.9 degrees 8.9 degrees above normal. Read More

Fishermen stranded after ice floe snaps and starts drifting out to sea

Russia's emergency services rescued 675 fishermen today from a huge sheet of ice drifting out to sea.

About half were picked up by helicopters and the others by boat in a remote part of the country's far east.

None of the rescued ice fishermen required medical treatment, the emergency services on Sakhalin Island said.

The emergency services said it received a report at midday today that an ice floe was drifting into the Sea of Okhotsk with hundreds of fishermen on it.

More than six hours later, all had been rescued. Read More

Landslide kills two in N China

TAIYUAN - Two people were found dead after a landslide obliterated village houses in Shanxi province on April 1, local government said.

The landslide completely destroyed two houses in Xinfang village at about 6:50 am, burying an unknown number of villagers, according to the government of Fangshan county which administers Xinfang.

As of 9 am, rescuers had pulled out two bodies of the rubble and debris and rescued another two, who suffered injuries and have been rushed to hospital.

Rescuers are still searching for more villagers. Source

Yacht race rescue launched in U.S.

(CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has dispatched a cutter and helicopter to rescue the crew of a yacht that got caught in stormy seas during a race around the world, the race organizer said Sunday.

The yacht, the Geraldton Western Australia, was hit by a large wave that swept away steering and communications equipment, according to organizers from the Clipper Round the World Race.

The wave also left four crew members with injuries, including possible broken ribs, pelvic sprain and back injury, organizers said. It hit the yacht in stormy weather about 400 miles off the coast of California as the yacht made its way from China to San Francisco.

The USCG Cutter Bertholf was en route and expected to reach yacht Sunday morning and launch a rescue chopper, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read said.

The yacht is still in rough conditions, with 9- to 15-foot seas, Read said. Read More

Miyagi Pref. to build embankments along rivers that carried tsunami inland, Japan

Following the terrible damage inflicted in March last year by tsunami washing upstream along river courses, disaster-hit Miyagi Prefecture has decided to build protective embankments along its rivers opening onto the sea.

The prefecture had been considering two common anti-tsunami damage strategies for coastal rivers: embankments and sluice gates near river mouths. The prefecture opted for embankments due to the deaths of a number of emergency workers in last year's tsunami when they went to close existing sluice gates, while areas around river mouths near gates that had been shut suffered greater damage.

According to the Miyagi official in charge of the project, about half of the about 30 significant grade-2 rivers in the prefecture are currently defended by sluice gates. However, the prefecture will build protective embankments along all these rivers, except for one that is administered jointly with several municipalities. A detailed work plan will be drawn up, and construction on the embankments is expected by fiscal 2015 at a total cost of tens of billions of yen. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, meanwhile, will build embankments along four rivers in Miyagi designated as major grade-1 water courses by the central government. Read More

Offshore Pacific quake could cause over-20m tsunami in central Japan

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Several parts of Japan's Pacific coast could be hit by tsunami higher than 20 meters if the largest possible earthquake occurs in the "Nankai Trough" located in the seabed off central to western Japan, an expert panel under the Cabinet Office said Saturday.

In its previous estimate in 2003 the panel had said no areas would be struck by tsunami higher than 20 meters. In light of the March 2011 disaster, however, it revised its projection assuming a magnitude 9 earthquake.

According to the new projection, there would be huge tsunami in areas from the Kanto region centering on Tokyo to the Kyushu region in southwest Japan in the event a massive quake occurred in the trough.

A tsunami of up to 34.4 meters might hit Kuroshio, Kochi Prefecture, while tsunami between 10 and 20 meters could strike parts of Shizuoka, Kochi and Miyazaki prefectures. Shizuoka is southwest of Tokyo and has a nuclear power plant.

Near the Hamaoka nuclear plant, now offline, a tsunami of 21 meters is anticipated, the panel said. The operator Chubu Electric Power Co. is working on building an anti-tsunami breakwater near the plant, but its planned height is only 18 meters. Read More

Britain's Easter freeze blows in

After thousands poured on to Britain's beaches last week to take advantage of the warm weather, today suncream and bikinis were replaced by scarves and gloves as temperatures plummeted across the country.

As many might have predicted the arrival of the weekend triggered a dramatic change in the weather with snow even being seen in the Shetland Isles in the early part of the day.

It was also a very different picture in the small Scottish village of Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire which recorded the highest March temperature ever in Scotland on Wednesday when it peaked at 22.9C.

Today the mercury had fallen to a much chillier 8C in Aboyne and it is a similar story across the rest of the country today with daytime temperatures in most places of between 8C and 10C. Read More

Asian beetle poses the biggest threat to woodlands since Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s

Asian long-horn beetles pose a mortal danger to English

woodland. Government scientists have discovered the beetle breeding in Britain for the first time

A Chinese beetle is threatening to wreak havoc on Britain’s trees on a scale not seen since the devastation of Dutch Elm Disease 40 years ago.

If unchecked, the Asian long-horn beetle threatens to lay waste to millions of poplar and willow trees as well as maple, sycamore, elm, horse chestnut, apple, pear and cherry species.

Government scientists have discovered the beetle breeding in Britain for the first time. They now fear young beetles will soon mature into adults and spread around the country.

Experts say a nightmare scenario could happen from May – and they are now in a race against time to prevent the spread of the beetle before then.

They are inspecting every tree within a mile radius of the outbreak, in Paddock Wood, Kent, using binoculars to scan the bark for tell-tale holes less than an inch in diameter in which beetles lay eggs. Read More