THE SECRET DIARY OF...
Typhoon Hagibis
JAPAN TIMES
Typhoon Hagibis, which the US military’s forecasting agency has put on par with a Category 5 hurricane, is approaching Japan’s main island of Honshu.
JACINDA ARDERN
Let me be perfectly clear about Typhoon Hagibis. It’s a very complex situation. It’s got many, many variables, among them rain.
Now what we have to understand about rain is that it’s precipitative. It falls down. So it’s my understanding that rain does indeed have the potential, the very real potential, to get things — including people, I may add — wet.
But that’s by no means a certainty and I’ll need to consult with my team before I make any further statements.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
A super typhoon in the Pacific Ocean could hit Japan on Saturday, potentially causing grave damage in Tokyo, experts said.
SIMON BRIDGES
I’ve got a very clear view about Typhoon Hagibis. The Government is to blame and Jacinda Ardern needs to put her hand up because that way well see she isn’t holding an umbrella.
I’ve been around the block a few times and I’ve seen first hand the misery caused by typhoons, water spouts, plagues of bees, zephyrs of mysterious and haunting origin, and the odd rainshower.
And I will say this. My bottom line is that I’ll moan about anything, including the weather, if that’s what it takes to change the government.
WASHINGTON POST
Typhoon Hagibis is barrelling towards Japan after rapidly intensifying, having reorganised its inner core, known as the eyewall, where the strongest winds and heaviest rains are found.
GRANT ROBERTSON
Typhoon Hagibis may be on course but it may not. A world recession that will bring the New Zealand economy to its knees may be on course but it may not.
It’s important that we don’t talk ourselves into a downturn just because it suits some people’s negative narrative.
It’s true that the Government’s bumper $7.5 billion surplus puts us in a strong position to step in on a rainy day, but that day may never come and that’s true, too, of Typhoon Hagibis.
Straits Times of Singapore
One of the most violent typhoons ever on record is threatening the Tokyo metropolitan area this weekend, forcing the cancellation of two key rugby World Cup matches,
All Blacks v Italy, and England v France.
Tournament director Alan Gilpin said, ‘‘We’ve taken the very difficult but we think right decision to cancel matches. We have no regrets. People’s lives are at stake. Typhoon Hagibis is a very serious weather event.’’
THE GUARDIAN
Not since the late, great Jonah Lomu burst on to the scene in South Africa in 1995 has a larger shadow loomed over the competition.
STEVE HANSEN
Is it frustrating? Of course it is. But the reality is we can’t control the weather. Do we charge on and put people’s lives at risk? Or do we make a decision around making sure people are safe? It’s a nobrainer.
I won’t say what I was about to say, but a man from America could have even made this decision.
DONALD TRUMP
Typhoon Hagibis? Fake news. It’s just a bit of rain and that never hurt anyone. If it was me, I’d go outside. I’d go outside, and stay outside. Everything is beautiful. —