Cyclone Bopha

[Dennis Leahy]

A large tropical typhoon, "Bopha", is currently pounding the Philippine Islands.


An intense typhoon made landfall in the southern Philippines early Tuesday amid fears that it could be worse than a 2011 storm that killed more than 1,200 people.

Typhoon Bopha struck the southern island of Mindanao shortly before 4:45 a.m. (3:45 p.m. Monday ET), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center reported.

The storm packed top winds of 175 kph (110 mph) as it came ashore over the city of Baganga, and millions of people -- many of whom live in remote and unprepared communities -- were in the storm's path, Philippine authorities and aid groups said.

The tightly packed but powerful storm threatened to bring devastating flash floods and landslides. High winds could blast some homes into sticks, uproot trees and cut power for days, government officials warned.

The storm weakened slightly as it moved west across Mindanao during the course of the morning, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The storm, dubbed "Pablo" in the Philippines, had blown up into a super typhoon at one point Monday, with sustained winds greater than 240 kph -- the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center reported.Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/03/world/asia/philippines-typhoon/


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(This color-enhanced satellite image was from when Bopha was at its greatest strength. )
Super Typhoon Pablo Cat 5
• central pressure 941hpa
• wind gusts 250kmhr or higher
• storm surge 48 feet

Luckily, the typhoon has "calmed" considerably, as it had been the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. Lots of rain and wind, and storm surge.

Send good, protective thoughts to those in the path.

Dennis

[mosquito]

Thank you Dennis, I was going to start a thread on this too. My girlfriend lives in Mindanao, and I don't know how long it will be before communication is restored.

For those in the West who don't know, the majority of people living here are very poor, and their homes are made of plywood and corrugated steel - no match for winds of 200kmh. The amount of human suffering is likely to be much higher than that from hurricane Sandy.

[Flash]

I am very sad for these people. This is true, those are very poor places and almost nobody in North American can envision the amount of suffering in lenght or time as well as in numbers when such hurricanes strikes such poorest of the poors.

[DeDukshyn]

48 ft surge??! wow! that's huge. Sandy the "MEGASTORM!" doesn't look so bad now ... (condolences to any who had loses though).

[Dennis Leahy]

Update: Dec 6


HONG KONG — The official death toll from Typhoon Bopha climbed to 325 by Thursday afternoon, and with nearly 400 Filipinos still unaccounted for, the typhoon appeared as if it would be twice as deadly as Hurricane Sandy, the storm that thrashed the Caribbean and the eastern United States six weeks ago.

...

...“last December, Tropical Storm Washi — another out-of-season storm that hit south of the usual Philippine typhoon belt — killed more than 1,200 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.“This year, officials put out strong warnings days in advance and carried out mandatory early evacuations of vulnerable communities.”


Source: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/typhoon-bopha-hurricane-sandy-times-two/