Tropical Storm Narra Approaches Guangdong as Philippine Flood Money Comes Under Scrutiny

The Hong Kong Observatory said on Saturday it will assess next week whether to issue a typhoon warning as Tropical Storm Narra moves toward the western Guangdong coast. Guangdong is the manufacturing and port base for a large share of China's exports, and warning signals there suspend cargo handling and factory shifts before any wind arrives.

In the northern Philippines, communities still under water are demanding an accounting of the money allocated to flood control, Al Jazeera reports. That question turns a weather event into a governance problem, because the flood defences were budgeted and the water arrived anyway.

Pakistan's meteorological department forecast a fresh spell of rain across the country's upper regions and flagged the risk of urban flooding, flash floods and landslides. Dawn reports that the Indus is running at moderate flood level at Kalabagh and that the Tarbela reservoir has reached full capacity, which removes the buffer that absorbs the next surge.

Three countries, one pattern. The physical event is weather. The economic damage depends on whether the infrastructure meant to absorb it was built, maintained and correctly sized, and in each case that question is now political.