Fifty dead and thousands stranded as cold snap hits East Asia

[webfact]

Fifty dead and thousands stranded as cold snap hits East Asia

SEOUL: -- A cold snap sweeping across East Asia has led to more than 50 deaths in Taiwan and stranded at least 60,000 tourists in South Korea.

Taiwanese media reported a rash of deaths from hypothermia and cardiac disease following a sudden drop in temperature over the weekend.

Meanwhile heavy snow forced the closure of the airport on the Korean holiday island of Jeju, cancelling flights.

The cold spell has also hit Hong Kong, southern China and Japan.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35397763


-- BBC 2016-01-25

[4evermaat]

Kind of chilli here in chumphon today....with lots of wind.

[arunsakda]

Chilli?

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[BeLars]

Think best way to save lives, buy warm clothes. It's not so cold 6C.

[DipStick]

Think best way to save lives, buy warm clothes. It's not so cold 6C.

Sorry totally disagree with you. If you're used to climates of 25-30c then an overnight drop down to 6c is almost bound to cause deaths. What has not been mentioned very much is that there were vicious winds involved also factoring in the wind chill issue. Trust me as I am sitting right in the middle of the so called Polar Vortex and it ain't pleasant

[jerojero]

Chilli?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes indeed. Aroi aroi. Or Seb seb?

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Cold snap hits east Asia, blamed for more than 65 deaths

RALPH JENNINGS, Associated Press

LOUISE WATT, Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Unusually cold weather in eastern Asia has been blamed for more than 65 deaths, disrupted transportation and brought the first snow to a subtropical city in southern China in almost 50 years. Here is a look at the worst cold weather to hit the region in years:

TAIWAN

Temperatures in Taiwan's capital of Taipei plunged to a 16-year low of 4 degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit), killing 57 mostly elderly people, according to government officials. The semi-official Focus Taiwan news website reported that 85 people had died because of the cold.

Most homes in subtropical Taiwan lack central heating, and the cold caused heart trouble and breathing problems for many of the victims, a city official said. Normally, temperatures in Taipei hover around 16 degrees C (60 degrees F) in January, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.

The cold snap was blamed in the deaths of 40 people in the capital, Taipei, and 17 in neighboring New Taipei City. The cold front also left 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) of snow on Taipei's highest peak.

JAPAN

Heavy snow in western and central Japan left five people dead over the weekend and possibly a sixth on Monday.

Kyodo News service said the victims included a woman who fell from a roof while removing snow, a man in a weather-related traffic accident, another man found under a snowplow and a couple that fell into an irrigation channel, apparently while removing snow.

An 88-year-old woman in western Japan's Tottori prefecture died after a landslide hit her house before dawn on Monday, Kyodo and other media reported.

The heavy snow stranded motorists, delayed bullet train service and caused flight cancellations.

MAINLAND CHINA

Most parts of mainland China experienced their coldest weather in decades over the weekend. The southern city of Guangzhou, which has a humid subtropical climate, saw snow for the first time since 1967 on Sunday.

The cold led to at least four deaths — strawberry farmers who died of carbon monoxide poisoning when they turned up the heat in a greenhouse, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The cold spell coincided with the beginning of the 40-day travel rush for the Lunar New Year, which is on Feb. 8 this year, disrupting cars, flights and trains. More than 11,000 passengers were stranded at Kunming airport in southern Yunnan province.

Temperatures fell 8 to 16 degrees Celsius from Thursday to Sunday in parts of north China, and temperatures in central and eastern China were 6 to 8 degrees lower than average, Xinhua said.

The National Meteorological Bureau forecast that temperatures in southern China would drop another 3-8 degrees on Monday.

SOUTH KOREA

Temperatures in the capital, Seoul, fell to minus 18 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the lowest since 2001. On Saturday, Jeju Island received 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) of snow, the heaviest since 1984, and its airport was closed from Saturday until Monday.

The shutdown stranded about 86,000 people, mostly tourists, on the island and forced the cancellations of about 1,100 flights, according to Transport Ministry and airport officials.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-01-25

[NeverSure]

I just hate global warming climate change weather patterns cool weather. So do New Yorkers right now. I blame it on Putin China the USA.

[NCC1701A]

it is seriously cold in hua hin right now. no joke.

its like a ghost town as everyone is off the streets.

18c. but the wind chill factor is much lower.

people are wearing ski clothes.

[hutchings1963]

Not stopped raining now for 2 days in Phayao and very cold

[i claudius]

Ime bloody freezing sitting here in Pattaya ,got my coat on ,wish we had an electric fire .

[Bpuumike]

Think best way to save lives, buy warm clothes. It's not so cold 6C.

Sorry totally disagree with you. If you're used to climates of 25-30c then an overnight drop down to 6c is almost bound to cause deaths. What has not been mentioned very much is that there were vicious winds involved also factoring in the wind chill issue. Trust me as I am sitting right in the middle of the so called Polar Vortex and it ain't pleasant

Indeed, two deaths in my village in the last two days and no alcohol involved either.

[northernphil]

Chilli?

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Maybe it is cold in Chile where the chillies are hot. Sorry but 9c here not hot like Patts at 18c and my cat is getting on my noms she can't handle this cold despite her wearing a real fur coat.