SEVERE WEATHER
Tropical storm loses strength after causing $2.5bn destruction in US
Boston/Singapore — Tropical Storm Nate is rapidly weakening over the southern US even as flooding from storm surges continues along the Mississippi-Alabama coast. Thousands were without power early on Sunday, and storm-related losses were estimated to reach about $2.5bn. Nate’s top winds fell to 70kph from 100kph in just three hours as it moved north-northeast, the US National Hurricane Centre said. The storm made its final landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, as a category 1 hurricane early on Sunday. "This morning’s after-landfall estimate is $2.5bn. That shouldn’t change much going forward," said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeller in Georgia. "The intensity crashed at landfall; the left side collapsed." The lack of power on the left, or west, side of the storm meant New Orleans was spared Nate’s flooding rains. That lowered damage estimates, which had been as high as $4bn when the storm was gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, Watson said. Flooding and landslides caus...
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