super typhoon megi (means “catfish” in korean) strikes the philippines then heads towards taiwan...
TRANSCRIPT
SUPER TYPHOON MEGI (MEANS “CATFISH” IN
KOREAN) STRIKES THE PHILIPPINES THEN HEADS
TOWARDS TAIWAN AND CHINA
OCTOBER 22
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of
North Carolina, USA
Megi, known locally as Juan, was a category 5 super typhoon, the highest rating, with winds of
more than 250 kph and a diameter of over 600 km when it made landfall at Sierra Madre’s
Estagno Point in Isabela at 11:25 a.m. on Monday.
Megi was a low pressure storm that was larger and stronger
than Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
MEGI: A LOW PRESSURE STORM
MEGI: 600 KM ACROSS (NASA PHOTO)
EARLY FORECAST OF MEGI’S PATH
MEGI’S FINAL PATH (AS OF OCT 24TH)
About 20 typhoons and tropical storms hit the Philippines each year, giving it the reputation as “the welcome mat” for the most destructive cyclones forming in
the Pacific.
Megi, the 10th and strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year,
reached Isabela province on Monday morning (local time) , October 18th, and by early evening was heading
west-southwest across the north of the main island of Luzon with winds
of 180 kph .
MEGI LEAVING LUZON: MONDAY NIGHT, OCT 18
Megi tore roofs off houses, destroyed rice crops, toppled
trees, ripped down power lines, triggered landslides in the
mountains and whipped up huge waves.
.
On Tuesday (Oct 19th), in the Philippines, 7,000 people
were sheltered in evacuation centers to avoid problems associated with the heavy rain fall; this number later
swelled to 11,600. .
Typhoon Megi affected more than 300,000 people, leaving an
estimated 200,000 homeless. .
MEGI’S WIND FIELD LEFT A PATH OF DESTRUCTION
HOUSES OF THE POOREST OF THE POOR DESTROYED
MEGI’S WIND TEARING OFF A ROOF
MEGI’S WIND TEARING OFF A ROOF
MEGI’S WIND TEARING OFF ROOFS OF GOVERNMENT HOUSES
Weather forecasters say that Megi produced 50 millimeters per hour of
rain - similar to that produced in 2009 by Tropical Cyclones Ketsana
and Parma when they struck the northern Philippines in 2009,
causing massive devastation and over 1,000 deaths.
.
FLOODING
FLOODING
DOWNED TREES
MEGI’S WIND DOWNED TREES
MEGI’S WIND KNOCKING OUR POWER
MEGI’S WIND KNOCKED OUT POWER
MEGI’S WIND DAMAGES ROOF OF GAS STATION
PHILIPPINES HIT BY KETSANA, PARMA, MIRINAE: SEPT- NOV, ‘09
2009’s KETSANA: CAINTA RIZAL
2009’s KETSANA: QUESON CITY
2009’s KETSANA: PHILIPPINES; SEPT 23-30
2009’s PARMA: PHILIPPINES; OCT 9
2009’s PARMA: MUD FLOWS; OCT 12
2009’s MIRINAE: NOV 2
Initial estimates indicate that Megi destroyed/damaged
over 6,100 homes.
Initial estimates indicate that Megi’s damage to
infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries and schools in the
Philippines reached 1.4 billion Philippine pesos ($32
million). .
Loss of communications made it impossible at first to estimate casualties, but data later indicated that loss of life
was only about twenty-two people.
.
The apparent low death toll appears to have been the result of the Philippines
Government's timely preparations for the storm.
.
MEGI: FORCAST TO REACH CHINA ON OCTOBER 22
The forecast was for Typhoon Megi to move to
Taiwan and then towards the southern coast of China and
Hong Kong, where rainfall since Sept. 30th had already
caused authorities to evacuate 140,000 from
Hainan Island.
LANDSLIDES - SUHUA HIGHWAY, TAIWAN: OCT 21
HELICOPTER RESCUE FROM SUHUA HIGHWAY: OCT 21
BUT… the Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) was
concerned that two high pressure ridges might cause
Typhoon Megi to stall or even to make a U- turn and return to the
Philippines.
While China evacuated 160,000 people and called in fishing boats before the expected
onslaught of Megi on Friday (Oct 22nd), the storm brought heavy rainfall to Taiwan on
Thursday (Oct 21st), which led to severe flooding and rock falls.
10,000 BOATS RECALLED IN FUJIAN PROVINCE: OCT 21
Although a little later arriving than initially forecast, Megi
made landfall in Zhangzhou City in the southeastern Chinese
province of Fujian at 12:55 p.m. Saturday, October 23, 2010
272,300 were evacuated to safe havens before Megi’s arrival.
The storm is expected to move northward at 10 km per hour as
it weakens and to dump an additional 100 mm or more of
rain during the next 12 hours in addition to the 200-300 mm or
more that has already fallen in a broad area.
As a result of preparations in Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, no major casualties
were reported after landfall.
Nevertheless, more than 647,900 people and 26,190 hectares of
crops were affected by the typhoon, which flattened 500
houses, forced 313,200 people to evacuate their homes, and caused losses estimated at
$238 million.