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Tropical Storms
The U.S. National Hurricane Center was forced to call in extra personnel to cope with a near record number of storms in the Atlantic, while three severe typhoons struck the western Pacific. Typhoon Janice produced cloudbursts over the Korean peninsula that killed at least 53 people and left 110,000 homeless. Heavy rains from super Typhoon Kent unleashed floods and mudslides on Luzon Island.
Typhoon Lois lashed Vietnam with high winds and heavy rains, then produced flash flooding in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Remnants of Tropical Storm Jerry swamped parts of the southeastern United States before returning to the Atlantic, then brought another round of rain to Florida and the Gulf Coast as it made a second loop over the region.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Hurricane Iris killed three people in the eastern Caribbean before heading northward away from land areas. Hurricanes Humberto and Luis and Tropical Storm Karen, passed over the open waters between Africa and North America.
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Earthquakes
A moderate quake centered along the Hungary- Croatia border killed at least one person in Croatia and damaged numerous buildings in the region. In Southern California, a swarm of aftershocks from the Aug. 17 Ridgecrest quake rumbled beneath the desert community.
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Wildfires
Ongoing summer heat across the Mediterranean sparked devastating forest fires from Portugal and Spain eastward to Turkey.
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Droughts
New Yorkers braced for the prospect of shorter showers, limited air- conditioning and brown lawns as the driest August on record parched the state. In western India, a weak monsoon season has forced officials to consider imposing cuts in water supplies, or even cutting off the supply once each week until the rains return.
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Eruptions
Residents of Montserrat remained on high alert as the volatile volcano on Chance’s Peak continued to rattle the small Caribbean island. In southern Japan, the strongest eruption of Mt. Minami in three years sent smoke soaring hundreds of yards into the air above Kyushu Island.
Additional sources: U.S. Climate Analysis Center, U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization. Copyright 1995 Chronicle Features
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