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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Cyclone cuts transport links to Sakhalin, Kuriles again |
| 2007-01-09 |
| (Itar-Tass) -- A powerful cyclone has imposed a transport blockade on Sakhalin and the Kuriles again. Planes do not fly to the island, and ships cannot reach them. The ferry service between Vanino and Kholmsk is halted. The vessels that carry people and cargoes between the island and the mainland have taken shelter near the ports of Vanino and Sovgavan at the Khabarovsk territory's coast. Wet snow covers the south of Sakhalin. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk's airport is closed. The Transaero plane on the flight from Moscow to Sakhalin had to land on Kamchatka. The work of all the Sakhalin Region's ports is halted. The wind speed reaches 21 metres a second on Kunashir Island, the head of the Yuzhno-Kurilsk regional department for emergencies, Alexander Mazunin, said. Fishing and transport ships working in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea have escaped from the storm to the safer side of the Kuriles. The cyclone will rage on Sakhalin and the Kuriles until January 9 and then will leave for Kamchatka. |
| Posted by:Fred |