Flash floods killed a woman and forced evacuations as torrential rain drenched Australia`s battered city of Brisbane Thursday just days after it was hit by a violent storm, officials said.

The woman died when her car was swept away by floodwaters east of the Queensland state capital, police said.

The Atlantic hurricane season in 2008 is coming to a close after producing 16 storms, including eight hurricanes, and inflicting record damage in the United States, a report by university researchers said on Wednesday.

The storm activity was `well above-average` overall and `very active` in terms of storms making US landfall, a team of forecasters at Colorado State University said.

A violent storm ripped through picturesque tourist hubs in eastern Australia, leaving one person dead and causing damage comparable to that wrought by a cyclone, officials said Monday.

Sunday`s storm tore the roofs off scores of homes, felled trees and power lines that flattened cars and sent corrugated iron sheeting and other debris flying through the air.

CHICAGO, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Storms that spun tornadoes and dropped pounding hail in the central United States, killing six people, barreled toward the east coast Friday, bringing hope for relief to parched southern states suffering the worst drought in a century.

About 30 tornadoes were reported from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico Thursday as unusually warm temperatures created instability not normally seen this late in the year, the national weather service reported.

TUNIS, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Four more bodies were found northwest of Tunis on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 13 after Tunisia was hit with deadly torrential rains, rescue services said Sunday.

One body was found in an open field, while three others were fished from the muddy water in the agricultural region of Sabalet Ben Ammar, 15 kilometres (nine miles) outside of Tunis, according to rescuers.

Torrential rains fell mainly on the north of the country on Saturday, filling formerly dry river beds known as wadis and causing them to overflow.

TUNIS, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - At least nine people died and nine others went missing Saturday in torrential rains that caused serious damage in and around the Tunisian capital, national radio reported.

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali gave instructions 'to ensure the situation is monitored in all affected regions and to bring necessary help and assistance to the victims in these exceptional climatic conditions,' the presidential spokesman said.

MADRID, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - A savage storm packing rain and winds strong enough to uproot trees injured around 20 people when it tore through Spain's Mediterranean island of Mallorca, emergency services said Friday.

The sudden storm hit the island -- popular with European tourists, especially Germans -- late Thursday and wreaked destruction within the space of half an hour.

Authorities said winds racing at over 100 kilometres (60 miles) an hour pummelled the main town of Palma.

MIAMI, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - A new tropical storm dubbed Melissa has formed in the eastern Atlantic, becoming the 13th named storm appearing in the ocean this hurricane season, the US government announced Saturday.

At 0900 GMT, Melissa packed sustained winds of 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour and churned about 420 kilometers (260 miles) west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, said the National Hurricane Center.

The storm was expected to turn west-northwest in the next 24 hours.

MIAMI, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Tropical Storm Ingrid emerged over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, becoming the ninth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic season, the US National Hurricane Center said.

With winds of up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour, Ingrid was about 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) east of the Lesser Antilles, a chain of popular tourist islands, the center said.

TRIESTE, Italy, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - They're called stormchasers, and by any yardstick, they are a strange breed: while everyone else flees an incoming storm, these individuals head towards it, eager to witness Nature's greatest fury first-hand.

Quirky, courageous or suicidal according to your viewpoint, chasers are popularly known for dramatic video footage, often snatched from a wind-tossed 4x4, as a tornado zigzags terrifyingly towards the camera.

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, MEXICO, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Tropical storm Henriette, on Mexico's northern Pacific coast, was expected to regain hurricane status Monday as it barreled towards resorts in Baja California, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center reported.

Henriette earlier killed seven people, five of them children, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, local officials reported.

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - Tropical storm Henriette was barreling for tourist resorts in Baja California Sunday after killing seven people, five of them children, in Mexico's Pacific coastal state of Chiapas.

Henriette dumped torrential rains in Guerrero state on Friday, triggering a rockslide that buried six people in their homes in the resort city of Acapulco, the Civil Protection service said.

Another man was killed when his vehicle was crushed under another rock slide in jungle ravine in neighboring Chiapas state, the service added.

MIAMI, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Felix strengthened into a full-fledged hurricane Saturday as it churned toward the Caribbean island of Aruba, the US National Weather Service said.

The hurricane was classified as a category one on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the weakest out of a scale of five, but was expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours.

At 0300 GMT Sunday the storm's center was located about 340 kilometers (210 miles) east of Aruba, the service's National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.

MIAMI, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Felix strengthened into a full-fledged hurricane Saturday as it churned toward the Caribbean island of Aruba, the US National Weather Service said.

At midnight GMT, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles an hour) and its center was 435 kilometers (270 miles) east of Aruba -- a popular tourist destination, the service's National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Six people died when rocks crushed their houses in a landslide in the southern Mexican resort of Acapulco after tropical storm Henriette strafed the country's Pacific coast, local authorities said.

'Six people died when rocks fell on their houses in two separate parts of Acapulco. The ground is unstable because of the rains over the last three days due to Henriette,' civil protection spokeswoman Nadia Vela told AFP.

Five of the dead were children, according to a report released by the city's civil protection authority.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Six people died when rocks crushed their houses in a landslide in the southern Mexican resort of Acapulco after tropical storm Henrietta strafed the country's Pacific coast, local authorities said.

'Six people died when rocks fell on their houses in various parts of Acapulco. The ground is unstable because of the rains over the last three days due to Henrietta,' civil protection spokeswoman Nadia Vela told AFP.

The town contains many flimsy houses built on an outlying hillside, which makes them particularly vulnerable to bad weather.

MIAMI, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Tropical Storm Felix is strengthening in the eastern Caribbean and could grow into a full-fledged hurricane Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center said Saturday.

A tropical storm warning was issued for the Netherlands Antilles -- Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao -- as Felix's maximum sustained winds hit 105 kilometers (65 miles) per hour, the center said.

At 1500 GMT the storm was located over the eastern Caribbean north of Carupano, Venezuela and west of Grenada and was moving west at 30 kilometers (18 miles) per hour.

NAIROBI, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Six men were killed and 16 wounded Saturday when lightning struck a church in western Kenya during heavy rains, police said.

The fatalities were among a large group of people sheltering in the church in Munenge village, near regional capital Kakamega, said Western provincial police commander Peter Kavila.

'Six men were killed on the spot and 16 taken to hospital with serious wounds. Three of them are in a coma,' he added.

MIAMI, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - A tropical storm brewing in the Caribbean was baptized Felix on Saturday, becoming the sixth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic season, the Florida-based US National Hurricane Center announced.

At 0500 GMT the center of Tropical Storm Felix was located some 45 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Grenada, the Hurricane Center said in a statement.

Felix was moving to the west at 30 kilometers (18 miles) an hour, and is expected to continue the movement but pick up strength over the next 24 hours.

CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush next week will visit New Orleans and parts of the Mississippi coast ravaged two years ago by Hurricane Katrina, the White House said Friday.

Bush will arrive in New Orleans on Tuesday after a fundraising swing and a speech to a US veterans group to defend the war in Iraq, spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters as the president spent time on his ranch here.

MIAMI, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Dean weakened into a tropical storm over eastern Mexico Wednesday, one day after it first slammed ashore as a top scale hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Winds weakened to 110 kilometers (70 miles) per hour a few hours after Dean swirled ashore from the Gulf of Mexico one day after it slammed Mexico's Caribbean coast.

Now ranked as a tropical storm, Dean was expected to fizzle out altogether during the night, the Miami-based NHC said.

BEIJING, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from Typhoon Sepat in southeastern China has risen to at least 20, the government said Monday, as the remnants of the storm continued to cause damage.

In the southeastern province of Fujian, eight people were confirmed dead after torrential rain triggered flooding and mudslides, an official at the Ministry of Civil Affairs told AFP.

WASHINGTON, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Seven people were found dead in the southern US state of Texas after tropical storm Erin swept through, US media reported on Friday.

The storm, which was downgraded to a tropical depression as it made landfall Thursday on the Texas coast, was accompanied by torrential rains that caused massive flooding and made many roads in Houston impassable, the Houston Chronicle said.

MIAMI, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Tropical storm Dean was expected to strengthen into a hurricane early Thursday as it churned toward the Caribbean, the US National Hurricane Center said.

The islands of St. Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe were placed under hurricane watch, meaning they could be hit by hurricane conditions within 36 hours.

At 0300 GMT, the center of tropical storm Dean was about 1,005 kilometers (625 miles) east of Barbados, moving west at 37 kilometers (23 miles) per hour with maximum sustained winds of nearly 110 kph (70 mph).

MIAMI, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - Tropical storm Dean, headed from the Atlantic toward the Caribbean, could become the region's first hurricane of the season overnight Wednesday, the US National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.

At 2100 GMT the storm was located 1,460 kilometers (900 miles) east of the Lesser Antilles and blowing winds of 100 kilometers per hour (65 miles per hour), the Miami-based center said.

MIAMI, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - The National Hurricane Center on Wednesday issued a warning for the gulf coast of Texas as a Tropical Storm storm Erin inched towards landfall, as another storm named Dean formed in the Atlantic and headed towards the Caribbean.

Erin reached tropical storm status at 1500 GMT Wednesday, and the Florida-based Hurricane Center issued a storm watch for much of the state's gulf coast.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - Hurricane Flossie weakened to a tropical storm on Wednesday as it unleashed rain, strong winds and rough surf on Hawaii's biggest island.

The National Weather Service lifted a hurricane watch for the US state and said the Pacific storm had weakened as it moved past Hawaii's 'big island,' the largest of the sprawling archipelago's islands, about 160 miles from its southern tip.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Hawaii's largest island shut schools and closed down tourist sites and roads on Tuesday as category-three Hurricane Flossie, the first hurricane to batter the region in 15 years, swept just to the south, officials said.

At 2:40 pm Tuesday (0040 GMT Wednesday) Flossie was about 160 miles (260 kilometers) south of Hilo on Hawaii island, the largest of the sprawling archipelago's islands, blowing maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (170 kilometers per hour), the US National Weather Service said.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - A powerful storm in the Pacific Ocean was expected to graze Hawaii on Tuesday, delivering strong winds, heavy rain and high surf, US weather forecasters said.

The National Weather Service said while a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch remained in effect for Hawaii's big island, Hurricane Flossie appeared to be slowing down on Monday evening.

HONG KONG, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - A typhoon lashed Hong Kong Friday forcing the closure of the stock market and leaving the streets deserted, as the Pabuk storm changed direction and headed back towards the city.

The Hong Kong Observatory issued a level eight storm signal at 2:30 pm (0630 GMT), advising members of the public to return home immediately and closed all of the city's schools.

Trading was suspended on the stock exchange 15 minutes later, an exchange spokesman said.

HONG KONG, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Hong Kong issued a typhoon warning Friday and closed the stock market after the Pabuk storm changed direction and headed back towards the territory.

The Hong Kong Observatory issued a level eight storm signal at 2:30pm (0630 GMT), advised members of the public to return home immediately and closed all the city's schools.

Trading was suspended on the stock exchange 15 minutes later, an exchange spokesman said.

GENEVA, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Storms and torrential rains swept Switzerland on Thursday, leaving one man dead, another seriously injured and damage estimated in the tens of millions.

The downpours were subsiding by Thursday night but not before a 66-year-old farmer had drowned when he fell into a ditch of liquid manure after its cover was carried away by the water, police said.

Another man trying to clear up after the rains was seriously injured when he was hit by a tree trunk being swept along by floodwater.

NEW YORK, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - New York commuters beat a wary path to work Thursday, the day after a freak storm plunged the city into chaos, felling trees, flooding roads and jamming the city's vast underground train network.

Streets were blocked by fallen trees, wrecked cars and rubble from damaged homes after the brief but fierce storm Wednesday which unleashed a mini-tornado, sending winds of 135 miles per hour raging through the neighborhood of Brooklyn.

BEIJING, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - China braced for more killer weather on Wednesday as two tropical storms approached, continuing a devastating spell of natural disasters that last month left nearly 900 people dead or missing.

More than 20,000 people were evacuated from their homes and 50,000 vessels ordered to return to shore in southeastern China's Fujian province as tropical storm Pabuk neared after lashing Taiwan, the official Xinhua news agency said.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - A New Orleans doctor accused of the mercy killing of four patients in the chaos following Hurricane Katrina was cleared Tuesday of murder charges.

A grand jury declined to indict doctor Anna Maria Pou, who was accused of administering lethal doses of painkillers to at least four elderly patients.