Good morning, Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
Hong Kong Hit By Typhoon Mangkhut, World’s Strongest Storm In 2018
Deemed to be the world’s strongest this year, Typhoon Mangkhut ripped through Hong Kong on Sunday, collapsing bamboo scaffolding, tearing the corner off of a building and slamming the city’s waterfront with nearly 13-foot surges.
Typhoon #Mangkhut: Bamboo scaffolding collapsing in #HongKong‘s Kowloon City https://t.co/vw3rCPfflY #TyphoonMangkhut ?: Shirlee pic.twitter.com/8AWZa68gQP
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) September 16, 2018
Typhoon #Mangkhut: Mui Wo ferry terminal flooded on #HongKong‘s Lantau Islandhttps://t.co/vw3rCPfflY pic.twitter.com/7iLQDrly69
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) September 16, 2018
Typhoon Mangkhut’s winds reached nearly 106 mph and upgraded to a hurricane on Sunday morning as it moved westward into China’s Guangdong Province.
As the storm ripped through the Philippines with sustained winds of over 105 mph and gusts of nearly 162 mph, it inundated its northern island with floodwaters and left dozens dead, The Huffington Post reports.
In Guangzhou, the Chinese province of Guangdong’s most populous city, the winds pinned people to the ground. Officials at two nuclear power plants in the storm’s path on the mainland said they were “in combat readiness” as the hurricane made its way onto land.
This storm comes as Hurricane Florence drenched the Carolinas in the United States. Hurricane Florence, which downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 1 as it made landfall on Friday morning, had knocked out power to nearly 930,000 homes on Saturday afternoon and left multiple people dead.
“Typhoon Mangkhut is a huge monster with very similar strengths as Hurricane Florence,” Yuan Xu, an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said.
Xu said that Hong Kong “has learned from past lessons to get itself well prepared,” and expected damage to the city to be limited, explaining that the city’s drainage system is built to handle storm surges and its buildings designed to sway in high gusts of wind.
In addition, according to HuffPost, Hong Kong began to build electrical cable tunnels in 1988, so many of the power lines are underground.
“Strong wind is not expected to cause significant, if any, disruption of electricity supply,” Xu said.
Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Denies Sexual Assault Allegations
President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, strongly denied on Friday the newly-surfaced allegations from a woman who claims that Kavanaugh “attempted to force himself on her” during a party when they were both in high school in the early 1980s.
“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh said in a statement Friday released by the White House. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”
On Friday, the New Yorker reported details of the allegations made by the woman in a letter that was given to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
According to the New Yorker, the woman claims that “during the party, Kavanaugh held her down and that attempted to force himself on her.”
The magazine also reported that the letter alleges “that Kavanaugh and a classmate of his, both of whom had been drinking, turned up music that was playing in the room to conceal the sound of her protests, and that Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand.”
The account said the woman was ultimately “able to free herself.”
On Thursday, Feinstein said she had received the “information” and had passed it on to the FBI.
“I have received information from an individual concerning the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. That individual strongly requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further, and I have honored that decision. I have, however, referred the matter to federal investigative authorities,” Feinstein said in a statement Thursday.
According to a source cited by the New Yorker, Feinstein had learned about the information in July, and while her staff had mentioned it to other Democrats, they did not share the letter.
The FBI said it had received the letter but was not pursuing the allegations at this time.
According to ABC News, Senate Republican released on Friday a letter drafted by 65 women who knew Kavanaugh during his high school years and vouched for his character.
“We are women who have known Brett Kavanaugh for more than 35 years and knew him while he attended high school between 1979 and 1983. For the entire time we have known Brett Kavanaugh, he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect,” the women said in the letter sent Friday to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is, however, pushing ahead for a committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination next Thursday.
Man Dies After Being Attacked By a Shark on Cape Cod
A man has died after he “was bitten by what is believed to be a shark” in the water of a Cape Cod beach on Saturday, according to the Wellfleet Police Department.
According to ABC News, the incident happened when the man was swimming at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.
The man was pulled from the water, given first aid and taken to Cape Cod Hospital where he, unfortunately, died.
— Andrew Jacob (@SoulKontroll) September 15, 2018
The victim was identified by the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office as 26-year-old Arthur Medici of Revere, Massachusetts.
Medici suffered “injuries to his lower extremities,” an off-duty lifeguard told The Cape Cod Times.
“Witnesses at the scene told officers the victim and another male were about 30 yards off the beach boogie boarding when the attack occurred,” the district attorney’s office said.
The local police is currently investigating the incident, along with the National Park Service and the state police.
What to look out for…
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards are tonight!