This is a very worrying weather event indeed of biblical proportions and some are saying it is the worst storm ever. That is a big call.
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Cyclonic conditions earlier this year in Urunga
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Typhoon Haiyan (known in the
Philippines as
Typhoon Yolanda) is the second-deadliest
Philippine typhoon on record, killing at least 3,631 people in that country alone.
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. 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 Center (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
235 km/h (145 mph), the highest in relation to the cyclone. At 1800 UTC,
the JTWC estimated the system's one-minute sustained winds to 315 km/h
(195 mph), unofficially making Haiyan the fourth most intense tropical
cyclone ever observed.
Several hours later, the eye of the cyclone made
its first landfall in the Philippines at Guiuan, Eastern Samar,
without any change in intensity; if verified, this would make Haiyan
the strongest tropical cyclone to make a landfall on record, 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.
The cyclone caused catastrophic destruction in the central
Philippines, particularly on
Samar Island and
Leyte, where the governor estimated that at least 10,000 people may have died in the city of
Tacloban alone.
According to UN officials, about 11 million people have been affected and many have been left homeless
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
