Battle with the King of Storms: Super Typhoon Ragasa



Host: With wind gusts of 200 kilometers per hour and torrential rain, Ragasa has been called the worst storm of the year. And it's now approaching our correspondent Laura Bicker, who's in Zhuhai on the Chinese coast.



Laura Bicker: There have been mass evacuations. Around 400,000 people have been evacuated right across this densely populated province. This is a province where most of the things that are made in China come from huge factories. And in Shenzhen, that's a major technology hub. So that's one of the other concerns.



The rainfall is another concern. We're expecting here around a month's worth of rain in just a few days, and it's falling on already saturated ground after previous storms in the last month. Red alerts have been issued in mountain regions for landslips, and people are being urged to stay inside if possible.



We're seeing a lot of people heeding that advice. For those who are not, I'm watching right now the police patrolling the streets with their sirens and megaphones, telling people to stay inside.



We are actually just in the lobby of a hotel, so we're not really outside, we're just in the lobby of the hotel, but still you can feel those gusts of winds and see the huge swathes of rain that are battering this coastline.



Host: Absolutely, it sounds like you're really in the thick of it despite being indoors, as you say. Now, the region is used to storms, but does it feel like they're getting worse?



Laura Bicker: Well, I think that's one of the concerns of China's weather experts. They're monitoring all of this carefully, and they have said in recent years that the typhoons are increasing in intensity. This one they're describing as the king of storms.



I think what's also really evident since I've been here in the last two days is China's preparedness for these kind of events. They really take it very seriously. Local neighbourhood watches go around telling restaurants to close for the day, making sure that families have somewhere to go. Every building that's above 10 floors everyone's evacuated, low-lying areas are evacuated.



It's all very smooth, very organized, so they are very used to this. And perhaps now that, certainly, when you see your climate warnings from China's meteorological administration, this is something that they may have to get used to more of in the future.



Host: Laura Bicker reporting.



词汇表

Super Typhoon Ragasa [taɪˈfuːn rəˈɡɑːsə] 超强台风“桦加沙”

wind gusts / gusts of winds  [ɡʌsts] 阵风，狂风（短时间内突然变强的风）

torrential rain [təˈrenʃl] 倾盆大雨，暴雨

mass evacuations [mæs ɪˌvækjuˈeɪʃnz] 大规模疏散

evacuate [ɪˈvækjueɪt] （从危险的地方）疏散，撤离，转移

densely populated [ˈdensli ˈpɒpjuleɪtɪd] 人口稠密的，人口密集的

technology hub [hʌb] 技术中心

saturated ground [ˈsætʃəreɪtɪd] 浸透的土地，饱和的土壤

red alerts [əˈlɜːts] 红色警报（最高级别警报）

landslip [ˈlændslɪp] 山体滑坡，塌方

urge [ɜːdʒ] 敦促，力劝

heed the advice [hiːd] 听从建议

patrol [pəˈtrəʊl] 巡逻，巡查

siren [ˈsaɪrən] 警笛，警报器

megaphone [ˈmeɡəfəʊn] 扩音器，喇叭

lobby [ˈlɒbi] （酒店、办公楼等的）大堂，大厅

swathes of rain [sweɪðz] 大片的雨水，雨幕连绵

batter [ˈbætə(r)] 猛烈冲击，连续猛打，肆虐

coastline [ˈkəʊstlaɪn] 海岸线

in the thick of 处于…的核心地带，深陷于（形容身处事件最激烈、最关键的场景中）

monitor [ˈmɒnɪtə(r)] 监测，监控，密切注视

intensity [ɪnˈtensəti] 强度；强烈，剧烈

neighbourhood watch 社区巡逻队，邻里守望组织

low-lying areas [ləʊ ˈlaɪɪŋ ˈeəriəz] 低洼地区，地势较低的地区

meteorological administration [ˌmiːtiərəˈlɒdʒɪkl ədˌmɪnɪˈstreɪʃn] 气象局



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