Two Tornadoes In Two Weird Places

Tornado the other day in Taiwan

Videos have emerged of two separate tornadoes in the past couple of days, which in and of itself isn't weird. Tornadoes are fairly common in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere summer.

It's just where these two happened: One was in Taiwan. The other was in Portland, Oregon.

Tornadoes are not unheard of in either location. However, people are also not used to them in either place.

You can tell that by the videos at the bottom of this post. People stayed outside filming the tornadoes when they were right on top of them. They should have been hiding indoors, preferably in a basement.

The amateur videographers all survived, which is great. I present the videos with mixed emotions, because I don't want to encourage people to go out in dangerous conditions and shoot videos. But still, they're pretty cool.

Tornado damage in Portland, Oregon. 

The tornado in southern Taiwan injured two people, cut power to about 7,400 others and caused quite a bit of structural damage.

The Portland, Oregon tornado was fortunately weak. It had peak winds of 80 mph, was only 40 yards wide and had a path length of 1.6 miles. It caused roof damage to a couple houses and knocked down several trees.

It was the fifth tornado in records dating back to 1904 of hit within Portland city limits, says the National Weather Service.

First up: A compilation video of the Taiwan tornado. Still surprised only two people were hurt, given how many people were too close to flying debris:



Next video is the funnel almost directly overhead of the people shooting the video in Portland, Oregon. They can't believe there's actually a tornado in Portland. Then they realize that it has actually touched down. Still, they stay outside. Luckily no harm done to them:

Not Sure Why This Scooter Rider Was Out In A Typhoon, But Bad Idea

A guy on a scooter should not have been
out riding during Typhoon Meranti in Taiwan. 

Typhoon Meranti, the strongest of the year so far, battered far southern Taiwan this week.

It then moved into China, where at last report it was causing high winds, destructive storm surges and torrential flooding rains.

There will be a lot of damage.

A video surfaced of a man on a scooter out in the typhoon in Taiwan.

I'm not sure why he thought it was a good idea to be out like that in such scary weather, but it didn't end well. Not sure of his condition now, but watch:

Super Typhoon Meranti Threatens Taiwan, China

Massive Typhoon Meranti in the eastern
Pacific ocean yesterday.  

Here in the United States, the tropical storm and hurricane is quieter than it usually is this time of year.

Tropical Storm Ian is way out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and is no threat to anybody.

There's a little tropical disturbance near Florida, but that won't amount to anything. Something else is coming off the west coast of Africa, but that won't be a threat to anybody in particular for several days at least, if ever.

Out in the eastern Pacific, it's a different story. There's a massive typhoon named Meranti approaching southern Taiwan. This one's a monster and would mow down anything it hits. It's got sustained winds of 185 mph, the strongest tropical system in the world so far this year.

Everybody's hoping the center of Meranti misses the southern tip of Taiwan. It's going to be close.

The further offshore it stays from southern Taiwan, the better, but even then, horrible winds and flooding rains will trash that neck of the world. If the center of Meranti comes ashore in Taiwan they have a HUGE disaster on their hands.

Meranti will then head towards China. By then, its ferocious winds will have died down some, but it would unless torrential rains that would cause epic flooding in parts of China.

This isn't a good one, folks.

Typhoon Tornado Blows Car Away In Scary Video

A  car in Taiwan gets swept away in a tornado
spun off by Typhoon Soudelor over the weekend. 

Typhoons and hurricanes (both are exactly the same kind of tropical storms, just different names) often spin off tornadoes when they hit land.

Typhoon Soudelor was no exception when it smashed into Taiwan this past weekend.

Here's a dash cam video of a tornado sweeping a car away. I'm not even sure where it ends up, or whether the people inside survived.

I know at least 30 people were killed by the typhoon in Taiwan and China, and there is massive damage.

Here's the really, really frightening video of the tornado in Taiwan spun off by Soudelor:

Typhoon Soudelor Trashes Taiwan, As Expected

A scene in Taiwan as Typhoon Soudelor approached on Friday.
Photo from Getty Images 

Taiwan took the brunt of Typhoon Soudelor, which made landfall there, Saturday morning their time.

Peak wind gusts on land reached as high as 145 mph. Taipei, home to more than 2.5 million people, had gusts to 86 mph downtown and 93 mph out at the airport.

The big part of this storm was the rain. If you think Taipei's 12 inches and counting is huge, another town in Taiwan has so far reported 51 inches of rain in the past couple of days from the typhoon.

For comparison's sake, most cities in the United States East Coast normally get about 40 or 45 inches of rain per year.

Taiwan is among the most prepared areas for typhoons in the world, but even they can't escape the effects and disruption, of course. At least three people have died so far, two million people have no electricity, and there is massive, massive flooding.

Here are some videos that have so far come from Taiwan and Typhoon Soudelor:

Watch a very scary looking flash flood/mudslide associated with Soudelor's torrential rains:



Waves crash into the coast ahead of the typhoon:



The typhoon's winds blow this ferris wheel like a pinwheel: