Heavy rains and high winds lashed Taiwan on Thursday as the largest storm to hit the island in nearly three decades made landfall along its southeast coast, killing at least one person and injuring dozens.

Typhoon Kong-rey packed winds approaching 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph), equivalent to a Category 3 Atlantic hurricane, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), as it made landfall in Taitung county on Thursday afternoon.

Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind – how far the strongest winds are from its center – measured 320 kilometers (nearly 200 miles) on Wednesday evening, meaning it is the largest storm to hit Taiwan since Typhoon Herb in 1996, said Chang Chun-yao, a forecaster with the island’s Central Weather Administration.

A 56-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree while traveling by car in central Nantou county, according to Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC). At least 73 storm-related injuries have been reported across the island, it added.

Ahead of the powerful storm, local authorities ordered offices and schools to temporarily close, while Taiwan suspended trading on its stock market.

Taiwan generally has a strong track record of responding to major typhoons, though remote villages in more mountainous regions can be particularly vulnerable to landslides.

Taiwan’s military has put more than 34,000 soldiers on standby to assist with rescue efforts and over 8,600 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas on Wednesday, CEOC said.

More than 500 flights, including 300 international journeys, have been canceled, and all ferry services to Taiwan’s outlying islands have been suspended, according to Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration. High-speed rail services are operating at limited capacity, according to the rail operator, while the Taipei metro said it had suspended services on open-air sections.

Images from Taiwan’s official Central News Agency and social media showed ferocious waves slamming into the coast of Taitung county, while parts of neighboring Hualien county were submerged in floodwaters. Toppled road signs and traffic lights were also seen across Taiwan, social media images showed.

Kong-rey rapidly intensified to reach super typhoon strength on Wednesday as it barreled toward Taiwan after bashing the Philippines. Though the storm weakened slightly ahead of making direct landfall over Taiwan, it is unleashing intense downpours, bringing flash flooding, storm surges and the risk of landslides.

The heaviest rainfall is expected across eastern Taiwan. Taiwan’s weather agency on Thursday issued an “extremely torrential” rainfall warning, its highest level, for parts of Yilan, Hualien, Taichung and Taitung counties along the east coast.

The rest of eastern Taiwan and parts of the island’s north, including Taipei, are under a “torrential” rainfall warning, the second-highest level. Additional rainfall of over a half of meter (20 inches) is still possible across parts of eastern Taiwan, which could lead to flash flooding and landslides, according to the CWA.

Warmer oceans from the human-caused climate crisis are leading storms to intensify more rapidly, according to scientists.

Kong-rey is the third typhoon to make landfall on Taiwan this year after Krathon and Gaemi.

Earlier this month, Typhoon Krathon killed four people as it brought particularly heavy rains to the south of the island.

In recent days, northern parts of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon have been lashed by the outer bands of Kong-rey, known locally as Leon, as authorities ordered evacuations and warned of its impacts after already seeing devastation last week from Tropical Storm Trami, known as Kristine, which killed at least 130 people.

After moving into the northern Taiwan Strait, the storm is forecast to head into the East China Sea and toward Japan.

This story has been updated with additional information.

An electric motorcycle, made by Swedish-Kenyan manufacturer Roam completed a 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 17 days, using only solar power.

While the world record for the longest electric motorcycle journey is 25,000 kilometers (11,300 miles), undertaken over 42 days in the US, Roam hopes that its stunt helps to prove the viability of renewable energy for long-distance travel even in remote areas with poor charging infrastructure.

The batteries were charged en route through a solar panel charging system carried in a support vehicle, which would drive ahead each day, stopping to charge up the batteries, so that when the bike caught up it could swap the dead battery for a fresh one. During the journey, the motorcycle model, the Roam Air, achieved its new single battery record range of 113 kilometers (70 miles), and on the trip’s last day, it traveled 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) in less than 18 hours.

Kituyi split the riding with Stephan Lacock, a postgraduate student at Stellenbosch University who is working on a powertrain simulation project to boost the Roam Air’s efficiency. Accompanied by two support vehicles, they set off on 29 September, traveling through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana, before arriving in Stellenbosch on the morning of 16 October. The team drove along highways and dirt tracks, stopping off at Victoria Falls and Chobe River, where they camped under the stars and among hippos.

On average the team covered around 400 kilometers (250 miles) per day, with about 80 kilometers (50 miles) per battery.

Cloud cover

The biggest challenge the team faced during the journey was the weather. “You can’t force the sun to shine,” says Kituyi, and at some points they ended up adapting their route so that they could escape cloud cover and have an opportunity to recharge the batteries.

While Roam wanted to demonstrate the potential of solar energy as a solution for powering bikes in areas that lack charging infrastructure, Kituyi says that most of Roam’s customers charge their bikes at home with energy from the grid. However, he insists that this mammoth journey would still be possible for people without a solar support car.

“Anywhere you can charge your phone, you can charge the bike,” he says. “That means with enough planning and lodging in hotels that have electricity, you are able to do this journey yourself.”

However, he adds that he’s not expecting many of Roam’s customers to travel cross-continent – rather, riders might need the bike to travel between rural areas and cities. The feat was about “showing the flexibility works,” he says, and countering range anxiety.

Accelerating market

The journey was a collaborative effort between Roam and Stellenbosch University, which launched an Electric Mobility Lab this month, dedicated to advancing sustainable transport solutions.

Roam donated two motorcycles to the lab to support research and develop the bikes further. Kituyi hopes that through powertrain efficiency tests and “accelerated testing,” which involves charging and discharging the battery multiple times a day, the startup will gain a better understanding of the life cycles of the bike and the battery.

He adds that “accelerated testing” requires special facilities, and in the past Roam has carried out these tests outside Africa, including in China. The lab will give Roam the opportunity to keep the testing within the continent, which he says will make it more reliable as it’s undertaken in a similar climate, as well as helping to build Africa’s electric vehicle (EV) market.

According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the African EV market is worth an estimated $16 billion, and it is projected to reach $25 billion by 2029. It claims this is driven by increased investment, rising EV sales, and government policies that encourage electrification. For example, Rwanda has eliminated import taxes on electric vehicles and is offering incentives for charging infrastructure development.

They added that African startups are dominating the space, since they have designed bikes to withstand local road conditions, do not rely on traditional charging infrastructure, and offer flexible payment options. Rwanda’s Ampersand currently has a fleet of almost 4,000 and expects this to surpass 40,000 by the end of 2026, whereas Spiro has over 18,000 e-bikes on the road across Kenya, Benin, Togo, Rwanda and Uganda, and has launched in Nigeria.

Roam, founded in 2017 and formerly known as Opibus, has seen this transition firsthand. It started by electrifying safari vehicles, before turning to buses and motorcycles. Today, motorcycles are its main focus and it produces around 40 bikes a day, according to Kituyi. Currently, the bikes are available to buy in greater Nairobi, and in early 2025, it will be expanding across the whole of Kenya, as well as entering Uganda and Rwanda.

“There is a big demand and constant growth of the market for motorcycles,” says Kituyi, adding that he has seen a gradual shift in people’s mindset. “They are getting more confident with the idea of stopping at a restaurant and asking them for electricity to charge their bike.”

He hopes that the recent expedition will help to build trust in EVs even further.

Spain is reeling from its worst flooding in decades, after a year’s worth of rain fell in just hours this week in the country’s southern and eastern regions.

The storm began on Tuesday and has so far killed at least 95 people while dozens more remain missing. It has also flooded towns and roads, caused rivers to burst their banks and left thousands without power or running water.

Valencia, the worst-struck region, saw its heaviest rainfall in 28 years with people caught off guard and trapped in basements and lower floors of buildings. Vehicles abandoned in traffic were swept away by the rising water.

Emergency workers are still fighting to rescue those who are trapped, with operations underway to recover bodies and clear debris.

Here’s what we know.

Where is the worst damage?

Spain’s eastern and southern regions often see autumn rain, but this year’s downpour was unprecedented. Most of the deaths occurred in Valencia, which is located along the Mediterranean coast and is home to more than 5 million people.

The flash flooding in the region, a tourist hotspot during summer months, saw rural villages submerged in water and rendered main highways unusable on Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

A courthouse was turned into a temporary morgue in the region’s capital, the city of Valencia.

At least 40 people, six of whom were in a retirement home, died in the town of Paiporta in Valencia, Spanish state news agency EFE reported, citing its mayor.

Trains have been suspended in Valencia, as have other major public services in other affected regions. Schools, museums, and public libraries were closed into Thursday, according to the local government.

Flooding was also reported in and around the cities of Murcia and Malaga with more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain falling in some areas. In Malaga, in the region of Andalusia on Spain’s southern coast, a 71-year-old British man died from hypothermia, the city’s mayor said.

What has the response been?

More than 1,000 members of the military have been deployed to assist in rescue efforts, Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles said. Some areas can only be reached by helicopter.

Valencia’s regional leader Carlos Mazon told reporters early Wednesday that bodies were found as rescue teams began to reach areas previously cut off by the floods. As of Thursday morning, emergency services said they had reached all the affected areas.

The Spanish government sent emergency alerts on Tuesday asking people to stay indoors or seek high ground. Extreme rain warnings were put in place for some areas including around Valencia, according to Spain’s Meteorological Agency, AEMET. These warnings called for the potential of 200 mm (8 inches) of rain in less than 12 hours.

In some locations, the rainfall estimates were exceeded in even shorter periods of time. Chiva, which is east of Valencia, received 320 mm of rain in just over four hours, according to the European Severe Weather Database. The Valencia area averages 77 mm (3 inches) for the entire month of October.

However, many people were caught off guard, leaving it too late for them to seek safety. Some took to social media to vent their frustrations, claiming that they received the emergency alert in the midst of the storm.

Hannah Cloke, a professor of hydrology at the UK’s University of Reading, said the high death toll suggests Spain’s regional emergency alerts system failed.

“This suggests the system for alerting people to the dangers of floods in Valencia has failed, with fatal consequences. It is clear that people just don’t know what to do when faced with a flood, or when they hear warnings.”

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered support, pledging his government would do all it could to help flood victims, as he urged people to remain vigilant.

Sanchez visited Valencia on Thursday, where he instructed people to “please, stay home, don’t leave,” adding that “the damage continues” and the priority is to save as many lives as possible.

The Spanish government has also decreed three days of official mourning, starting on Thursday.

Thousands in Valencia’s suburbs were still without power and running water on Thursday, as search operations and debris clearing continued.

The Spanish Securities and Emergencies department has issued weather warnings for many regions. Orange and yellow alerts remained in place in isolated parts of Valencia, while rain continues in Castellon, a province to the north.

Extreme weather warnings continue for portions of eastern and southern Spain, according to AEMET, with more rain expected.

What caused the disaster?

The torrential rain was likely caused by what Spanish meteorologists call a “gota fría,” or cold drop, which refers to a pool of cooler air high in the atmosphere that can separate from the jet stream, causing it to move slowly and often lead to high-impact rainfall. This phenomenon is most common in autumn.

Figuring out the precise role climate change played in Spain’s devastating floods will require further analysis, but scientists are clear that global warming, driven by fossil fuel pollution, makes these types of extreme rainfall events more likely and more intense.

Hotter oceans fuel stronger storms and the Mediterranean hit its highest temperature on record in August. Warmer air is also able to hold more moisture, soaking it up like a sponge to wring out in the form of torrential rain.

“We can’t say anything on the fly,” said Ernesto Rodríguez Camino, senior state meteorologist and a member of the Spanish Meteorological Association. He added though that “in the context of climate change, these types of intense and exceptional rare rainfall events are going to become more frequent and more intense and, therefore, destructive.”

How does this compare?

This week’s floods are the most deadly Spain has suffered in decades.

In 1959, 144 people were killed by a flood in the Spanish town of Ribadelago. However, that disaster was caused by the failure of a dam, releasing water from the Vega de Tera reservoir, rather than a natural event.

The last comparable natural disaster was in 1996, when floods killed 87 people near the town of Biescas in the Pyrenees mountains.

While Spain has experienced significant autumn storms in recent years, nothing comes close to the devastation wrought over the past few days.

The disaster is on a similar level to flooding seen in Germany and Belgium in 2021, which killed more than 230 people.