I ask that question due to the idea that China may have supplied Iran which has supplied Hezbulla with rockets and missiles... perhaps there is a lot going on behind the scenes that we just don't know about...



Saomai became a super typhoon on Wednesday but has since weakened very slightly down to the equivalent of a strong category 4 hurricane just as it closes in on the China coast. Landfall is occurring as this is being written.

Currently packing estimated maximum sustained winds of 150 mph with higher gusts, Saomai will be the strongest landfalling typhoon this season along the Chinese coast. Wenzhou, with a population estimated around 2.5 million to Xiapu, China is taking a direct hit from Saomai's eyewall. Coastal water surges up to 24 feet are possible as Saomai makes landfall. Major structural damage, flooding and power outages are likely as this monster storm roars ashore. The threat for a major loss of life with this system are possible.

The ring of fire. No judgement but a continual prodding from nature to move away from the coastline. It is like mother nature is saying, 'Do not become so enamored by my waters that you become deaf to my cycles.'

Sorrow for the inhabitants of the west coast of North America, the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....=rss&rpc=22

Super typhoon slams into China
Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:27 AM ET



By Nir Elias

FUZHOU, China (Reuters) - Super Typhoon Saomai, the strongest to threaten China in 50 years, slammed into the southeast coast on Thursday after forcing more than 1.5 million people from their homes.

Saomai, one of three storms to hit East Asia in the past few days, made landfall at 0925 GMT in Cangnan county near the booming city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, state television said.

Storm tracker Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com) had graded Saomai a category five "super" typhoon -- its highest category -- but revised that down to category 4 once it came ashore.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Chinese state media said it was the most powerful storm to hit the country since August 1956, when a typhoon hit Zhejiang, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 3,000.

"Saomai is packing winds of 216 km per hour (134 mph) and has outpaced forecasts," Xinhua quoted Li Yuzhu, head of the Zhejiang provincial observatory, as saying.

Wenzhou residents had reinforced windows and doors against the storm and stockpiled drinking water and food, state television said.

Wenzhou airport had closed and hundreds of passengers were stranded because of canceled flights, one airport manager said.

"We don't know when we will open again," the manager, surnamed Zhou, told Reuters by telephone. "The wind is only fitful but rain is really heavy here."

GONG ALERT

Wenzhou, once a prosperous foreign treaty port and now a manufacturing center, has a central population of 1.3 million, but there are 7.4 million in the greater Wenzhou area.

Xinhua reported that Zhejiang had already evacuated nearly 1 million people, with another 569,000 people moved in the neighboring province of Fujian, as heavy rain, strong winds and a high tide hit the area.

Schools, theatres and stadiums had been opened as shelters for the displaced, a Wenzhou official said. Factories, shops and offices had been ordered to stop all activities "unrelated to battling the typhoon".

Officials in Wenzhou's Cangnan county resorted to television, Internet, text messaging and even two satellite phones to alert residents about Saomai.

They had also prepared 30 gongs, traditionally used in ancient China to warn people of disasters, the local government said on its Web site (www.cncn.gov.cn).

Much of south China has been repeatedly battered by typhoons and tropical storms this year. Hundreds have been killed by rainstorms, mudslides and floods.

Tropical storm Bilis killed more than 600 in China last month and typhoon Prapiroon killed about 80 last week.

Tropical storm Bopha fizzled to the south of Taiwan this week and another veered toward the east of Japan.

Typhoons and tropical storms are common each year in Taiwan, southeast China and the Philippines between July and October.

I love to see God in action. He is such a terrific God to be able to display his might. I do pray for these people to be safe and repent and ask for their saviour in their life Jesus.

You bet this typhoon was a judgement...the number of houses destroyed by the typhoon is the same number of dogs the Chinese beat to death in the streets in front there owners not very long ago....the gov't stated it was an attempt to eliminate rabies...but rabies is usually a rural problem and can be prevented with vaccaniations...now before this typhoon hit, in a dream, I complained to God about the Chinese, especially beating dogs to death. In the dream, God asked me to name their punishment...I had like 3 seconds to come up with something....I couldn't think of anything...only God can judge appropriately...it is not my place to judge...that is the lesson I learned from the dream...God has repaid China

(AP) Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to strike China in 50 years, weakened to a tropical depression Friday but drenched the country's southeast as it moved inland after killing at least 104 people, blacking out cities and wrecking more than 50,000 houses.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/11/...in1884976.shtml

I believe when a natural disaster is involved
it's either God's judgment
or
war in the heavenlies...influencing the people of that area

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060811/ap_on_...asia_typhoon_23

Powerful typhoon kills 104 in China

By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 11, 9:12 AM ET

BEIJING - Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to strike China in 50 years, weakened to a tropical depression Friday but drenched the country's southeast after killing at least 104 people, blacking out cities and wrecking more than 50,000 houses.

Another 190 people were missing after Saomai, whose winds peaked at 170 mph, battered areas where more than 1.6 million people were evacuated before it hit late Thursday.

Hardest-hit was Wenzhou, a coastal city where at least 81 people were killed and 11 were missing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said Wenzhou suffered $560 million in damage, including more than 18,000 flattened houses.

In Cangnan County on Wenzhou's outskirts, 43 bodies, including those of eight children, were found in the debris of collapsed houses where they sought shelter from the storm, Xinhua said. News photos showed relatives weeping over bodies covered in sheets and quilts.

State television showed cars flipped over on rain-slicked streets, fallen trees and broken road signs. Exhausted evacuees sat in public buildings waiting out the storm.

Saomai weakened to a tropical depression Friday, and torrential rains were forecast over the weekend across China's south, from coastal Zhejiang and Fujian inland to the poor rural provinces of Jiangxi and Anhui.

Much of that region was still recovering from Tropical Storm Bilis, which killed more than 600 people last month, many of them in mountain villages and other inland areas.

Saomai, the Vietnamese name for the planet Venus, was the eighth major storm to hit China during an unusually violent typhoon season. It was dubbed a "super typhoon" by Chinese forecasters due to its huge size and strong winds.

Deaths were reported in Zhejiang province, where Wenzhou is located, and neighboring Fujian province to the south, where power was knocked out in several cities, state media said.

More than 32,000 houses were wrecked in Fujian, Xinhua said. The government didn't immediately say how bad the damage was in Zhejiang outside of Wenzhou.

Saomai was the most powerful typhoon to hit China since a storm on Aug. 1, 1956, that had winds up to 145 mph, Xinhua said. It said that typhoon killed 4,900 people in Zhejiang.

"It is the strongest typhoon that we have ever seen," Xinhua quoted an unnamed official as saying in Fuding, where at least two people were killed. The government said the city got more than a foot of rain in 12 hours.

Ahead of the storm, about 1 million people were evacuated from flood-prone areas of Zhejiang and 620,000 from Fujian, according to the government.

More than 20,000 soldiers and paramilitary police reportedly were mobilized for relief work. The Fujian government said it sent 1,500 tents, 3,000 quilts and 50,000 pieces of clothing to storm survivors.

Late Friday, the government announced that it was allocating $21 million in disaster aid to regions hit by Saomai and other recent storms.

Last week, Typhoon Prapiroon battered Guangdong province and the Guangxi region on China's southern coast, killing at least 80 people.

Even as Saomai moved inland, Chinese forecasters were already closely watching Tropical Storm Bopha, which trailed behind it farther out in the Pacific.

AMEN! I WAS JUST PRAYING THE SAME!
... God's mercy endures forever!

gregg, there is no mother nature. She doesn't exist. People treat 'mother nature' as a goddess, attributing power to 'her'. There is only Father God. Isaiah called Jesus Everlasting Father. In Collossians, Paul tells that by Jesus all things consist (hold together NIV). John tells us the same. So you see, it isn't 'mother nature', but Jesus. He created everything. He created the processes that cause natural disasters. He even claims to send the disaster. He has mercy on whom He chooses, and gives grace to whom He chooses.

Also, goddess mn doesn't speak. Romans 1:18 says that the wrath of God is revealed against the wickedness of men. Not it once was, or it will be. But that it is. Present tense. So many people declare that it isn't the case at all, exalting their beliefs above the knowledge of God. This is pure foolishness and to be expected of the lost, but not the church.

I live in New Orleans and did hurricane relief for 3 cat 5 hurricanes last year. There can be no doubt that we are dealing w/ the judgement of God. Being inland or in the mountains ensures no safety. Isaiah said that every mountain will be laid low and every valley exalted. It will all burn w/ fire. Move if you feel better about it and you can. Move if you are led of God even if you don't think that you can. Other than that, there is only this. Be hid in Christ. Or put another way, dwell in the secret place of the Most High God. Cry out to him in repentence and for mercy & protection. Only He is our strong tower, our fortress.