The flash floods struck in the early hours of Saturday as a passing tropical storm coincided with high tides.

BBC: Mass burial for Philippines floods victims

Gibbons are at home in the high canopy of tropical forests, but they are relatively heavy and the gaps between trees are too large to travel by swinging alone.

BBC: Gibbons' extraordinary jumps 'down to technique'

Dengue fever, a viral infection endemic to tropical and sub-tropical climates, is characterized by high fever, body aches and intense headache.

WSJ: Dengue Fever on the Rise in Singapore

As a tropical storm, Gustav blasted Jamaica with high winds and drenched it with heavy rain Thursday night into Friday.

CNN: Hurricane Gustav churns into Gulf

Maroua, Cameroon (CNN) -- Cameroon authorities have found six more bodies in flood waters, bringing the number killed to as high as 40 in the wake of tropical downpours and the breaching of a dam in the west African country.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Tropical forest is wetter and usually supports only knee-high fires that spread slowly through the understorey.

ECONOMIST: A new experiment is setting the Amazon on fire

There are similar properties throughout Gulberg, where large houses with tropical gardens, carefully watered lawns, and expansive pools lie hidden behind high brick walls.

NEWYORKER: Days of Rage

Even coastal defences built to withstand the strongest tropical storms may be little use when struck by a wall of water up to 10m high, as hit some Asian countries on Sunday.

ECONOMIST: Deluged without warning | The

New Zealand's high commissioner in Apia, Nick Hurley, said the cyclone was bigger than other tropical storms he had experienced in the region, and its strength was unexpected.

BBC: Cyclone Evan rips through Samoa as Apia homes flattened