The storm "Haiyan"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Haiyan
Typhoon Haiyan, known as
Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, was an exceptionally powerful
tropical cyclone that devastated portions of
Southeast Asia, particularly the
Philippines, in November 8, 2013. It is the deadliest
Philippine typhoon on record,
[1] killing at least 6,201 people in that country alone.
[2] Haiyan is also the strongest storm recorded at landfall, and unofficially the strongest typhoon ever recorded in terms of wind speed.
[3] As of January, 2014, bodies are still being found.
[4]
The thirtieth
named storm of the
2013 Pacific typhoon season, Haiyan originated from an
area of low pressure several hundred kilometers east-southeast of
Pohnpei in the
Federated States of Micronesia on November 2, 2013. Tracking generally westward, environmental conditions favored
tropical cyclogenesis and the system developed into a tropical depression the following day.
After becoming a tropical storm and attaining the name Haiyan at 0000 UTC on November 4, the system began a period of rapid intensification that brought it to typhoon intensity by 1800 UTC on November 5. By November 6, the
Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) assessed the system as a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon on the
Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale; the storm passed over the island of
Kayangel in Palau shortly after attaining this strength.
Thereafter, it continued to intensify; at 1200 UTC on November 7, the
Japan Meteorological Agency
(JMA) upgraded the storm's maximum ten-minute sustained winds to
230 km/h (145 mph), the highest in relation to the cyclone. The
Hong Kong Observatory put the storm's maximum ten-minute sustained winds at 275 km/h (170 mph)
[5] prior to landfall in the central Philippines, while the
China Meteorological Administration
estimated the maximum ten-minute sustained winds at the time to be
around 75 m/s (270 km/h or 165 mph). At 1800 UTC, the JTWC estimated the
system's one-minute sustained winds to 315 km/h (195 mph), unofficially
making Haiyan the strongest tropical cyclone ever observed based on
wind speed; several others have recorded lower central pressure
readings. Several hours later, the eye of the cyclone made its first
landfall in the Philippines at
Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
With little change in intensity at landfall, this would make Haiyan the
strongest tropical cyclone at landfall on record based on wind speed,
surpassing the old record of 305 km/h (190 mph) set by Atlantic Hurricane Camille in 1969. Gradually weakening, the storm made five additional landfalls in the country before emerging over the
South China Sea. Turning northwestward, the typhoon eventually struck northern
Vietnam as a severe tropical storm on November 10. Haiyan was last noted as a tropical depression by the JMA the following day.
The cyclone caused catastrophic destruction in the
Visayas, particularly on
Samar and
Leyte. According to UN officials, about 11 million people have been affected and many have been left homeless.
[6]
