LA NINA 1998-1999
Wild weather in review

Georges unleashes its fury

September 1998, Puerto Rico: Four months after La Nina suddenly replaces El Nino, evidence of her fury is realised as Hurricane Georges kills more than 500 people on its march through Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Mitch leaves wake of sadness

October 1998, Central America: Hurricane Mitch slams into Central America spawning incredible flooding which kills 9000 and leaves two million homeless.In Honduras alone, Mitch leaves 5,657 dead, more than 8,000 missing, 12,000 injured, and 220,000 homes and other buildings destroyed. Hundreds were killed and hundreds more affected in El Salvador.Damage bill: US$6 billion.

New Zealand floods

October 28, 1998, Wellington, New Zealand: A man dies, schools are closed, homes evacuated, roads and bridges closed, and farms flooded as the Wellington region reels under its second rain deluge in a week. MetService said 66 millimetres of rain fell in the three hours.

Yacht race tragedy in face of extreme storm

December 28, 1998, Bass Strait: Six sailors die when a meteorological 'bomb' punishes the 55th Sydney to Hobart yacht race. The 115 boat fleet sailed south from Sydney in rising north-easterly winds and collided with a very intense low pressure cell in the Bass Strait. Leading boats escaped the full fury but boats in the middle of the pack copped it very bad, experiencing 80 knot winds and 10 metre seas. Because the storm took place in the shallow strait, and winds from the south west bucked a nearly opposing current, many of these seas were 'backless' - meaning yachts were presented with virtual wall of water. Three-hundred and sixty-degree roll-overs, broken decks , masts and shredded rigging and death by drowning were the result.

Queensland floods damage crops

February 11, 1999, Queensland: The crop and infrastructure damage bill from this month's cyclone Rona and floods on the Sunshine Coast will exceed $150 million, while other losses will be 'astronomical', Emergency Services Minister Merri Rose says. As Rona sweeps across the coast forty passengers aboard a stricken tourist boat spent a terrifying night at sea off Port Douglas. The master of the 35-metre steel ketch Atlantic Clipper, which was having engine problems, radioed authorities late in the night seeking to have passengers taken off the boat. However, cyclonic conditions and winds of 100 nautical miles per hour made retrieval impossible, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. The ship anchored offshore to brave the cyclone. Cyclone Rona, which crossed the state's north coast near Port Douglas, caused much of the crop and property damage in the north of the state, while flooding rains caused heavy losses in the south-east. Sugar cane crops between Mossman and were flattened by Cyclone Rona, creating a gloomy outlook for sugar producers this year, the industry association said. "There is no doubt that there will be significant damage to individual farms and this year's total harvest estimate will almost certainly need to be downgraded," said Canegrowers general manager Ian Ballantyne. The Mossman-Townsville region, which produces one-third of Queensland's sugar cane, had been hit hard, just days after many southern Queensland sugar growing regions were submerged in the floodwaters around Maryborough, Gympie and Nambour. During these southern floods two children died and other children and teenagers had to be rescued in separate incidents over the past week on the Sunshine Coast and in Brisbane. Most of the children and at least one man who died had been skylarking in the floodwaters.

Vance wipes township clean

March 21, Exmouth, Western Australia: Category 5 Cyclone Vance, the wildest Australian cyclones on record, attempts to wipe the town of Exmouth off the map. Winds are in excess of 260kph and 110 homes are leveled. The parents of a two-week old baby wrap their daughter in a rug and lock her in a metal toolbox to protect her from the onslaught. After the storm, the town is without water or electricity for up to two weeks. More than 280 people are evacuated. At least 100 rural properties in the north-west of the State suffer 'unbelievable' damage at the hands of the cyclone, station owners say. "It's a lot more extensive than we initially thought," said WA Pastoralists and Graziers Association administration director Sandy Hayter. People have been left with absolutely nothing, no home and no livelihood." The cyclone deteriorates over land but the remnants continue to wreak havoc as it passes over Kalgoorlie, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania before sliding away into the Southern Ocean. In Victoria alone, 50,000 homes and business are blacked out as a result of gales from the ex-cyclone. Two weeks later State and Federal Governments announce a $10 million assistance package for businesses affected by the cyclone and floods.

Gwenda hassles Western Australia

April 7, Western Australia: Two weeks after Vance, north-west residents prepare for the onslaught of Cyclone Gwenda, with gusts up to 250kph.

Sydney hailstorm costs a fortune

April 14, Sydney: A severe hailstorm deals Sydney a king hit, causing tens of millions of dollars damage. Emergency services are stretched to the limit in the worst affected areas of Kensington, Waverley and Paddington. The storm damaged roofs, cut power to 15,000 homes, trashed cars, knocked out traffic lights and phones while lightning sparked at least 25 fires, some serious. Hail stones the size of cricket balls fell in some areas. One stone, nine cm in diametre, fell on Randwick and was the biggest on record since 1795, according to meteorologist Andrew Treloar.

Tasman low pounds Australian beaches

April 28, NSW coastline: Waves up to six metres and 1.6 metre tides combine to pound beaches from north to south as an intense low of 995hPa, 500km to the east, creates drama in the Tasman Sea. Brisbane shivers through its lowest April temperature on record, 7.5 degrees C at 6am - 10 degrees below average. The cool morning is blamed on the Tasman low working with a high pressure cell in the Bight to drive frigid southerly air into the sunshine State.

Japan reels under floods, landslides

June 29, Japan: At least 28 people are dead after torrential rains in western Japan triggered floods and landslides.

Coastal chaos in South Island New Zealand

June 15, New Zealand: Very high spring tides, low atmospheric pressure and southerly swells prompt South Island authorities to issue warnings to people living in low-lying coastal areas. The Canterbury Regional Council says flooding in coastal areas could occur during the next three to four days as sea levels rise up to 75cm higher than usual. In Dunedin, St Clair Esplanade shudders as waves batter its retaining wall during the highest recorded tides in Otago for 31 years. Waves hit the St Clair Esplanade sea wall with such force the footpath and road shake and water in vases and curtains in houses fronting the street also move.

Asia struggles under deluge

August 5, East Asia: Tens of millions of people try to rescue their possessions, and safeguard their lives, as relentless rainfalls deluged the region with floods. The combined death tolls for the stricken countries is in the hundreds.
The death toll in South Korea rises to 40, as the nation races to repair the devastation or keep encroaching waters at bay from homes and buildings. Visiting a flood-stricken town north of Seoul, President Kim Dae-jung promises $US1 billion to help rebuild dikes and homes. In nearby Paju, dozens of angry residents shout and hurl mud at government officials, accusing them of failing to prevent recurring floods. Since August 1, up to 1000mm of torrential rains have buffeted South Korea. Rivers have overflowed, breaking dikes, sweeping away roads and homes and triggering deadly landslides, including one that killed 10 vacationers. Some 25,000 residents were driven out of deluged houses. Five more bodies were discovered in the devastation left by four days of severe flooding and high winds from Typhoon Olga. Typhoon Paul moving south west from Okinowa is expected to bring more rain to South Korea. "It is very unusual that a typhoon is having a direct impact on the Korean peninsula," a disaster agency official says.
Meanwhile. the International Red Cross warns 60 million Chinese are at risk from flooding along the Yangtze River. The floods have already left 240 dead and at least 24,000 injured and made more than 1.8 million people homeless in six Chinese provinces. Some 60 million people living near the river's banks, which are in danger of being submerged, are affected by the flooding.
In the Philippines, the death toll from torrential rains rises to 68, with 35 still missing, as more bodies are pulled from the debris of a neighbourhood swamped by a landslide near Manila.
In Thailand, five people are dead and 1,000 homeless after five days of flash floods engulf the low-lying coastal province of Chanthaburi, southeast of Bangkok.
About 32,000 people have fled their homes and more than 60,000 others are badly affected by the floods across Chantaburi, which have been far heavier than normal for the early monsoon season. Authorities estimate 90,000 people are affected by the floods. Damages could exceed US$7 million.
In neighbouring Cambodia, eight children are feared drowned and thousands of people are left homeless by flash floods in the southern province of Kampot.
In Vietnam, a flood-stricken province on the country's south-central coast appeals for emergency food supplies for 22,000 people who have been washed out of their homes over the past week. The appeal, included in a local report to the prime minister, said 3,668 households in Binh Thuan needed help, while US$650,000 was required to patch up roads and bridges. The report puts the provincial death toll at 17, with a further 12 people missing.

Dennis sets the scene for future floods

August 30, North Carolina: Gale-force winds and tropical rains lash North Carolina's barrier islands as Hurricane Dennis sweeps perilously close to the coast, leaving three people dead in its wake. Dennis kicks up nine-metre waves offshore as it moves past Cape Fear and out toward the open Atlantic, but the storm is expected to stall off the North Carolina coast and could threaten the US East Coast for several days. As the eye of the storm skirts past the North Carolina coast, a weather buoy at Frying Pan Shoals, off Cape Fear, is tossed about in 8.5-metre seas and records wind gusts to 180kph.

Floyd batters Bahamas

September 15, Bahamas: Islanders begin to dig out after Hurricane Floyd batters the archipelago, blowing roofs off houses, sending unearthed coffins out to sea, and killing at least one person.
Dealt a stunning blow by one of the fiercest Atlantic storms in recent memory, the Bahamian capital Nassau is choked with debris. The hurricane rips trees from the ground, topples power poles and shreds lines. The 241 kph winds surrounding Floyd's eye steamroll the islands of Abaco, Eleuthera and Grand Bahama where winds blow out glass doors at hotels, rip a petrol pump from the ground and toss boats at marinas onto land. The roof tears off the Bahamas Academy, which is being used as a stormshelter, forcing the Red Cross to relocate hundreds of storm evacuees. There are some reports in Eleuthera that 1.6km of road has been lifted and blown into the sea. Meanwhile, another tempest, Tropical Storm Gert, roils in the central Atlantic. Gert, the seventh named storm of the season, is located about 900 km west of the Cape Verde Islands, heading westward. Forecasters predicted this could be a brutal hurricane season.

Hurricane Floyd a 'one-in-500 year event'

September 16, North Carolina: Hurricane Floyd, which has already wreaked havoc in the Bahamas lands closes on Cape Fear with winds of 177 kph and torrential rains that flood the eastern third of the state. The drenching storm dumps up to 500mm of rain on North Carolina's coastal plain - two weeks after a 200mm rainfall from Hurricane Dennis - and the effects are devastating. The hurricane prompts the largest evacuation in US history, with 2.6 million people driving inland from coastal areas of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. of the 68 killed in total by the storm, 40 die in North Carolina, where rivers peak at up to 7m above flood level. More than 30,000 homes are flooded and 400 roads closed.
At least 2.9 million poultry and 100,000 hogs drown. Sewage plants and hog waste lagoons are inundated, bloated animal carcasses and household goods are seen bobbing in the polluted floodwaters across a 28,000 square-kilometre area.
"We're looking at flooding of historic proportions," says state meteorologist Ron Wall. The storm is heralded as a one in 500 year event. As it travels north it weakens but leaves a trail of destruction north into Eastern Canada. In New Jersey, more than a million people are without safe drinking water. Officials estimate that four million people from Florida to New Jersey lost electricity at some point during the storm.
Damage bill: Conservatively speaking, US$1.3 billion

Hong Kong scores direct hit

September 16, Hong Kong: With winds of 145kph, Typhoon York roars across the territory - the first direct hit by such a powerful storm in 16 years - knocking windows out of skyscrapers and yanking trees from the ground as the normally bustling city collapses into a chaotic mess. One man dies after being struck by flying debris, three people are missing and at least 493 people are injured - 11 seriously - as York pounded Hong Kong with hurricane-force winds for nearly 11 hours. The typhoon was milder when it struck the Philippines earlier a few days before, though it caused landslides on September 13 that killed 18 people.

Central America saturated

September 19, Central America: Flooding caused by a week of heavy rain leaves 12 dead and forces thousands from their homes in the Central American nations of Honduras and El Salvador. The intense rains, generated by a tropical disturbance on the Atlantic coast, have dumped an average of 60mm of rain each day in Honduras alone. In Nicaragua, about 1,300 people are evacuated from flooded areas. Two die in Guatemala. In Mexico, torrential downpours from the same tropical weather system claim eight lives and affect 25,000 people in four states after 15 rivers overflow their banks. Honduras and El Salvador are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Mitch, which struck last October and November.

Gert smashes Bermuda paradise

September 21, Bermuda: Hurricane Gert smashes the walls off seaside cottages and washes away three miles of Bermuda's prime beach, including the famed Pink Beach, with three metre waves. No one is injured despite gusts up to 220kph.

Chinese typhoon kills 30

October 9, China: Typhoon Dan roars into south-eastern China's Fujian province, killing at least 30 people, injuring 500 and leaving thousands stranded after high winds and torrential rain paralyse transportation and telecommunications facilities. It is the fourteenth typhoon of the season. The city of Xiamen, where five people were killed and more than 17,000 trees uprooted by powerful winds, reported economic losses of more than US$241 million.

Mexico death toll rises after floods

October 14, Mexico: After a week of torrential rains, mudslides and floods along the Gulf Coast, the unofficial death toll in nine of Mexico's 31 states stands at 425, while some 270,000 people have been driven from their homes. Tabasco State in the southeast is spared the dozens of deaths being counted in Veracruz and Puebla states to the north. But material damage is extensive and likely to worsen as tropical downpours continue to swell rivers. Survivors beg for more emergency stocks of food as health officials warn conditions are ripe for an outbreak of disease. Rescue workers struggle to unearth the bodies of more people killed in mudslides, while fresh rainfall in hard-hit central Puebla state hampers helicopter rescue missions to remote mountain villages. Rescue workers in Mixum, a small Indian village in Puebla, use buckets to remove earth 30 metres deep that had buried a kindergarten class of 20 and their teachers. So far the bodies of just four children have been recovered.

Irene spares flood plains further damage

October 17, North Carolina: Hurricane Irene races along the Cape Hatteras coast before making a turn out to sea, sparing more damage to already saturated coastal plains. This sixth hurricane of the Atlantic season packs 120 kph winds at its core and has already killed 15 people in Cuba, the Bahamas and Florida. At its peak the storm knocked out power to one million homes and businesses in Florida and dumped as much as 460mm in 24 hours.

India faces cyclone damage

October 18, India: A cyclone slams into the east Indian port of Gopalpur drowning one, injuring 15 and causing extensive damage to property.

Super cyclone inundates Bay of Bengal

October 29, India: The country's worst 'super cyclone' of the century smashes into 12 coastal states fronting the Bay of Bengal, killing at least 10,000 people and 375,000 cattle and leaving 1.5 million homeless. The storm created winds exceeding 260 kph and pushed a 10 metre wall of water 10km inland drowning entire villages. For the next month, bloated bodies wash up on beaches creating a nightmare for health workers and affecting the health of 15 million people. "Bloated corpses are everywhere. Each time the floodwaters recede a few inches we find grotesque bodies of men, women and children. The stench is unbearable," an official says.

Vietnam faces brutal wet season

November 7, Vietnam: Late wet season downpours create the worst floods to hit central Vietnam in 40 years leaving at least 434 people dead and 94 missing. The central province of Thua Thien-Hue is the worst affected with 257 killed in severe flooding. More than 550,000 dwellings are flooded or swept away, and millions of hectares of farmland are under water. Damage bill: $US50 million. Cambodia is also affected with the worst flooding in a decade. Late rainy season downpours flooded Phnom Penh and many parts of central provinces earlier in the week and forced some 10,000 people from their homes.

French floods end in tragedy

November 14, France: Thirty people die in floods affecting the Aude and Eastern Pyrenees regions. Torrential rains inundate towns with two metres of water. Up to 500 litres of water per square metre fall in some areas. The record rainfall equals annual falls in some areas and are the worst in 50 years. One family, from the Aude village of Nevian, escaped from their submerged car and climbed a tree to save their lives. But after several hours the seven-year-old son lost his grip and was swept away. His four-year-old sister died of cold in her father's arms. One village in the region where most lives were lost had a risk prevention plan dating back to 1960 which was never updated, even though an Environment Ministry document from 1992 showed the area had been declared a natural disaster zone five times. In the country's south-west, 10 cavers are trapped underground by rising waters. They are later rescued.

Floods of the century in New Zealand

November 17, South Island New Zealand: Worst floods in 121 years strike Queenstown. Lake Wakatipu rises 50mm each hour to flood a third of the town's business district.
The same storm traps Australian climber Hugh Webb in a snow cave on Mt Aspiring for five days.

Hurricane confounds forecasters

November 20, Caribbean: Late season Hurricane Lenny confounds forecasters by moving from west to east, hammering islands not protected from this direction. Forecasters call it a once-in-a-century storm and it brings 240kph winds, kills at least nine people and causes million of dollars in damage to the 16 Caribbean islands. Lenny deals a major blow to St Croix, which has a US$1 billion debt and still owes US$8 million for federal disaster loans from hurricanes Marilyn and Hugo in 1989. In Grenada storm surges sweep away four houses, wash away asphalt roads and flood the business district. On St Lucia, 70 homes are destroyed. Rains from the hurricane soak coastal villages in Colombia and Venezuela, leaving more than 540 people homeless.

Autumn front paralyses Europe

November 21, Europe: Wild winter weather paralyses southern Europe with heavy snow. French Soldiers are called in to dig out hundreds of motorists stranded on the main highway from the central city of Lyon to the south of France.. About 500 drivers are sheltered overnight in makeshift refuge centres. The Spanish Balearic Islands record their coldest November for the last 30 years.

Vietnam inundated

December 7, Vietnam: Raging floodwaters leave 750,000 people homeless across central coastal areas. More than 100 people are dead. These floods are expected to cause more damage than the November disaster because more land is covered by water. The area is prone to flooding because of widespread illegal logging along a steep coastal mountain range.

Australian cyclone batters one-pub town

December 15, Western Australia: Cyclone John, a category 5 tempest with winds up to 290km/h crosses the coast near the on-pub town of Whim Creek. Residents shelter in shipping containers anchored with concrete-filled fuel drums while incredibly large objects are blown away. Wittenoon reports 300mm in 24 hours and mining operations in the Pilbara grind to a halt. Considering John was one of Australia's strongest cyclones, with winds greater than Vance or Tracey, the region is lucky indeed.

Venezuelan tragedy

December 15-16, Venezuela: Weeks of wet weather have already saturated the coastal mountains in the Vargas State when torrential downpours trigger a catastrophic landslide of mud and debris. It is the worst natural disaster of the century in Venezuela. Entire towns are buried, some areas lie seven metres under the mud, and those who fare worst are the uncountable poor who built their flimsy shacks on the slopes of Mt Avila because they couldn't afford to live anywhere else. The official death toll varies from 20,000 to 50,000. About 150,000 lose their homes. Survivors, meanwhile, cover dead bodies with salt to kill the stench and contend with deadly outbreaks of dengue fever, cholera and gangrene. Damage bill: US$2 billion.

Colombian landslides

December 18-19, Colombia: Landslides and flooding in the northwestern State of Antioquia, caused by the heaviest rains in 30 years, kill six Colombians, bringing the total to 95 people killed since August, thanks to prolonged wet weather. More than 770,000 are temporarily displaced.

Record winds bludgeon Europe

December 26, Paris: More than 80 people are killed across northern Europe as record-breaking winds of up to 213kph rage through the region. The north of France is the worst-affected , with at least 27 people dead. Gales there were the strongest ever recorded, according to the official French forecasting agency, Meteo-France. “In the meteorological records, there is no trace of a phenomenon as violent as this,” says Hubert Brunet, chief forecaster in the agency’s Toulouse station. The list of damaged buildings in France read like an A-Z of the capital’s historic buildings: the Versailles chateau, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Pantheon and the Sainte Chapelle. An estimated 10,000 trees are blown down in the grounds of Versailles. Whole plantations are flattened and all of Versailles’ oldest trees fall, including one planted by Napoleon Bonaparte. At least 12 people die in storms in Germany, most in accidents caused by falling trees. “This is the worst hurricane Germany has ever had,” says Petra Fechner, an official at the national metereological office’s branch in the western city of Offenbach. At least 11 people die in Switzerland, two after a cable car falls to the ground in the central Swiss Alps. Avalanche warnings are issued in the Bavarian Alps and in Switzerland. In Britain, at least five die, among them two sailors swept into icy seas. In Norway, seven people are rescued after a freight ship runs aground outside Haugesund off Norway’s western coast. In freezing temperatures in Russia, five people die of hypothermia in Moscow.

More of the big blow in Europe

December 27, Madrid: Five people die and more than 50 are injured when a new storm front sweeps through northern Spain, one day after Europe’s worst-ever tempest. Authorities say violent winds of up to 130 kilometres per hour pushed a wall down on two construction workers. Two others die when a crane falls on them, and the fifth dies when he was crushed by a construction site hut.

This story would not be possible without REUTERS.


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LA NINA 1998-1999 Wild weather in review