Third time lucky by Kirsty McCabe
The Cook Islands have survived their third tropical cyclone in just 12 days. Olaf, the most powerful storm of the three, slid past the islands on Friday before heading off into the open ocean of the South Pacific. Although the cyclone did cause substantial property damage there were no injuries or loss of life
The centre of the storm passed about 140 miles (220 kilometres) west of the main island of Rarotonga during the night, bringing surging seas and hurricane-force winds of up to 180 mph (285 kph). The sea surge damaged hotels, motels and homes in low-lying areas of the island’s northern coast, where beach were eroded by powerful waves.
On Saturday morning the weakening storm was over 400 nautical miles south of Rarotonga and Olaf will continue to weaken considerably over the next two days to an extratropical low.
The other two storms that have threatened the Cooks in the past fortnight were tropical cyclones Meena and Nancy, which both thrashed the central and southern islands causing widespread damage but no serious injuries.
Elsewhere in the world, tropical storms have been causing problems in Bangladesh. Rainstorms on Friday levelled more than a thousand homes and damaged rice crops in the country’s northern districts of Naogaon and Bogra. At least one person was killed and dozens were injured by the storms, which are common at this time of year.
Two other countries in Asia that have suffered severe weather conditions recently are Pakistan and Afghanistan, which is still trying to recover from heavy snowfalls and freezing conditions. Conditions in both countries are already improving as high pressure builds.
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