Hurricane Irma blasts up the west coast of Florida. More than 3.4 million homes are without power and parts of Miami are under water. Over 6.3 million people have been told to evacuate before the storm. The main airports were closed on Monday, making transportation almost impossible.
Although the hurricane has been downgraded from category three to one but still the winds are strong and they bring dangerous flooding with them. The hurricane moved over the Florida Keys on Sunday and storm surge warnings are effective for Tampa Bay and the Florida Keys. The worst damage is expected, however, on the west coast.
to blast up (blɑ:st ʌp) – sich durchschlagen, schlagen
almost (ˈɔ:lməʊst) – beinah, fast
to downgrade (daʊngreɪd) – herunterstufen
dangerous (ˈdeɪnʤərəs) – gefährlich
surge warning (sɜ:ʤ ˈwɔ:nɪŋ) – Flutwarnung, Warnung vor Flutwelle
effective (ɪˈfektɪv) – wirksam, effektiv
An earthquake struck Mexico on Thursday last week with a magnitude of 8.1. At least 90 people died but the number is expected to rise. Relief efforts continue as people are afraid to enter their homes for fear of aftershocks. It was the strongest earthquake Mexico has seen in a 100 years. It came with multiple aftershocks and on top of that the quake was rather shallow and therefor brought with it more intense shaking.
The quake hit Mexico in the evening surprising many people in their sleep. The states Chiapas and Oaxaca were hit the worst as they were closest to the epicentre of the earthquake. Now Mexico has to deal with aftermath of the catastrophe as tsunamis heading for the coast are confirmed.
earthquake (ˈɜːθkweɪk) – das Erdbeben
magnitude (ˈmægnɪtju:d) – das Ausmaß, die Stärke
relief effort (rɪˈli:f ˈefət) – die Hilfsmaßnahme
to continue (kənˈtɪnju) – andauern, weitergehen
afraid (əˈfreɪd) – befürchten, Angst haben
rather (ˈrɑ:ðəʳ) – ziemlich, eher
shallow (ˈʃæləʊ) – seicht, flach
worst (wɜ:st) – superl. von bad – schlimmster, schlechtester
epicentre (ˈepɪsentəʳ) – das Epizentrum
aftermath (ˈɑ:ftəʳmɑ:θ) – die Folgen, Auswirkungen