Cyclone Raja was a severe tropical cyclone that spawned in the South
Pacific in December 1986. It holds the 24-hour rainfall record of
674.9 mm (26.57 in) for the French Overseas Territory of Wallis and
Futuna. After it was named on 23 December, it unexpectedly headed
southeast toward Futuna. The system peaked at Category 3 on 28 December,
with sustained winds of around 150 km/h (90 mph). It turned southwest
the next day, toward Fiji and several smaller islands in the Lau group.
The storm dissipated on 5 January over the north Tasman Sea. Raja caused
two deaths as it impacted the island nations of Tuvalu, Wallis and
Futuna, Tonga and Fiji. Gusty winds and rough seas caused extensive
damage to crops, coastal installations and buildings in Tuvalu, and
greater destruction in Futuna. Raja was responsible for the worst flood
of the Labasa River in Fiji since 1929. The name Raja was later retired
from the South Pacific naming lists.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Raja>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1594:
In the Philippines, Philip II of Spain recognized the right to
govern of the Principalía, the local nobles and chieftains who had
converted to Roman Catholicism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%C3%ADa>
1963:
The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor George
Wallace stepped aside after defiantly blocking the entrance to an
auditorium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door>
2008:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologised to the First
Nations for past governments' policies of forced assimilation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
esquamulose:
(botany, mycology) Not covered in scales or scale-like objects; having a
smooth skin or outer covering.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/esquamulose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He is a narrow-minded man, that affects a triumph in any glorious
study; but to triumph in a lie, and a lie themselves have forged, is
frontless. Folly often goes beyond her bounds; but Impudence knows none.
--Ben Jonson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson>