Typhoon Mangkhut will make landfall around noon on Friday, September 14. It will most likely cross the northern half of Luzon Island and go straight to Hainan Island.  But it’s large enough that the southern half of Taiwan will get hit too, even if it doesn’t change direction. Speeds up to 60m/second (216km/h) are expected and its diametre approximately 600km.

I’m at the north end of Taiwan, almost 1000km away from the storm’s centre. It’s unlikely it will affect me, but that could change. Last weekend, the north end and the entire east side were battered by a rainstorm that caused flooding on streets in Taipei.

In 2011, the Centre for Disease Control created a “Zombie Emergency Preparedness” website (while zombies were still popular) as a humourous way to encourage people to think about emergency preparation.  Naturally, the far right gainsayed and flipped out about “libruls wasting money”, despite how little it would cost to produce a webpage, and the vast number of hits the page received.  It was likely one of their most efficient prmotional expenditures.

How to build an emergency supply kit in a hurry

According to House Bill 819, it is illegal to discuss sea level rise in North Carolina. Legislators were worried that predictions about the effects of climate change would “result in immediate loss of property value, staggering insurance premiums, and limit development along the coast.” Meanwhile, as Hurricane Florence rolls in, there are worries that sea level rise will make the damage worse.