Weather News

BEIJING (AFP) - At least 20 people have died and more than 670,000 had to be evacuated in China after torrential rain and floods destroyed houses, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow, state media said Sunday.

BEIJING - Floods blocked roads in southern China, leaving some 300 teenagers stranded at a school with limited supplies of food and water, an official said Sunday, after days of heavy rain killed at least 15 people.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Flooding and heavy rain in southern China have forced 550,000 people to evacuate their homes and killed at least 15, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

HANOI (Reuters) - Heavy rains triggering floods and landslides in mountainous northern regions of Vietnam have killed at least 15 people, destroyed houses and damaged roads, the government and state-run radio said on Sunday.

A low pressure system moving through the Central Plains on Saturday is forecast to kick up scattered showers and thunderstorms over the Upper Midwest and Mid-Mississippi River Valley. The Northern Plains may see scattered isolated thunderstorms develop in the afternoon, while the Southern Plains is expected to remain hot and humid with highs approaching 100 degrees.

DHAKA (Reuters) - Torrential rains triggered landslides and flash floods killing six people and stranding half a million in their homes in Bangladesh, officials said on Saturday.

WASHINGTON - El Nino may have a split personality.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Torrential rains are soaking New England and causing traffic backups and power failures as the holiday weekend approaches.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An El Nino weather pattern this year appears almost certain, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said on Wednesday in a revised forecast, raising the prospect of drought in Australia and a even weaker monsoon in India.

MIAMI - Forecasters say Tropical Storm Blanca has formed in the Pacific off Mexico's western coast.

PRAGUE, - Heavy rains are flooding southern parts of the Czech Republic, with mudslides damaging houses and roads in the region.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A sophisticated new weather satellite rocketed into orbit Saturday, giving forecasters another powerful tool for tracking hurricanes and tornadoes.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A tropical wave over the western Caribbean Sea between Honduras and Cuba has a moderate chance -- 30 to 50 percent -- of developing into a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center forecast Friday.

HADLEY, Mich. - Severe thunderstorms have moved through southeast Michigan, leaving about 100,000 electrical customers without service.

NOVY JICIN, Czech Republic (Reuters) - At least 10 people died in flooding in the eastern Czech Republic, and rising river levels prompted flood warnings across central Europe following heavy rains this week.

MANILA (AFP) - At least eight people were killed while 12 others remained missing after tropical storm Nangka swept through the central and northern Philippines, officials said on Thursday.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Andres, the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season, has weakened to a tropical depression, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said on Wednesday.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - A fisherman was reported missing in heavy seas as the first Pacific hurricane of the season, Andres, swept up the western coast of Mexico.