| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | John McLean, the BBC’s Correspondent in the Philippines, and Andrew Wood, the BBC’s Correspondent in South Korea, reported on weather conditions in Asia including monsoon rains in the Philippines and typhoons in South Korea. |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
 |  | 5th August 1999 Weather - Monsoons And Typhoons |
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| NEWS 1 | | The Philippines is accustomed to torrentialmonsoon rains and Manila is a low-lying city that’s always liable to flooding. But the downpour that the capital and nearby provinces has experienced over the past three days is extraordinary. Much of this city of some ten million people is now underwater. Landslides and rising flood waters have claimed several lives. The floods have forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes and into makeshift evacuation centres, such as schools and churches. |
WORDS | | torrential: an adjective used to describe very heavy rain monsoon: a rainy season low-lying: geographically situated at a low altitude downpour: another way of saying 'torrential rain' underwater: a literal way of saying 'flooded' |
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| NEWS 2 | | Typhoon Olga brought winds of more than one hundred kilometres per hour that were strong enough to flip over cars. Some pedestrians were reported to have been killed by flying debris. Forecasters had been expecting rainfall of up to four hundred millimetres, in the event there was less rain than predicted but there are still strong fears that flash floods will force more people to abandon their homes.
Already tens of thousands of Koreans are having to shelter in schools or with friends or relatives. Police and fire-fighters have been supplemented by the military, they’ve used helicopters and boats to rescue people who’ve been trapped on roofs in Seoul and in surrounding towns. |
| WORDS | | typhoon: a storm with a circular wind were reported to have been killed : another way of saying "It was reported that some pedestrians have been killed." This construction is often used in news reports. flip over: to turn something upside down debris: scattered pieces of rubbish or remains flash floods: floods which take place very rapidly |
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| | | Read more in BBC News Online |
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