Rain Asia

When monsoons and typhoons strike Asia, as they do every year in the steamy heat of summer, people ride out the storms and eventually take inventory of the death and destruction. This year, the southwest monsoons have swept out of the Indian Ocean with unusual force. They have lashed Asia from China to the Philippines with torrential rains and transformed the skies into displays of streaking lightning.

At least 58 people, most of them Russian vacationers, have died in floods in Russia's Black Sea region, the Emergencies Ministry said Sunday, as fierce weather continued to hit wide swaths of Europe and Asia. In India, police put the death toll at 43 after torrential rains triggered flooding and landslides in the northern state of Uttaranchal, nearly 185 miles northeast of the capital, New Delhi. But large areas of the rest of India were suffering their worst drought in at least 14 years.

At least 58 people, most of them Russian vacationers, have died in floods in Russia's Black Sea region, the Emergencies Ministry said Sunday, as fierce weather continued to hit wide swaths of Europe and Asia. In India, police put the death toll at 43 after torrential rains triggered flooding and landslides in the northern state of Uttaranchal, nearly 185 miles northeast of the capital, New Delhi. But large areas of the rest of India were suffering their worst drought in at least 14 years.

When monsoons and typhoons strike Asia, as they do every year in the steamy heat of summer, people ride out the storms and eventually take inventory of the death and destruction. This year, the southwest monsoons have swept out of the Indian Ocean with unusual force. They have lashed Asia from China to the Philippines with torrential rains and transformed the skies into displays of streaking lightning.