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Typhoon Yolanda

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babe

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Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan

Possibly the strongest tropical storm to make landfall in recorded history. . . .. Typhoon Haiyan, locally named Yolanda in the Philippines, struck near Tacloban, Leyte and Guiuan, Samar yesterday with 195 mph sustained winds, gusting to 235 mph.

I've been in some typhoons. . . . once I went outside in the eye of typhoon to see the tin roofs blowing around me in a circle. A 3' X12' sheet of metal at flying at 120 mph is an awesome thing to behold. It can make even an immortal 19-yr-old run for cover. I've also seen cities under flood waters for weeks with staples being dropped on roofs from helicopters. . . .

This typhoon is powerful enough to be a killer in both ways. Modern construction is more dangerous than the traditional filipino "Nipa Hut" and less resilient to both wind and water.
 
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here's a top meterologist talking about it:

Averaging together these estimates gives a strength of 190 mph an hour after landfall. Thus, Haiyan had winds of 190 - 195 mph at landfall, making it the strongest tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in world history. The previous record was held by the Atlantic's Hurricane Camille of 1969, which made landfall in Mississippi with 190 mph winds.
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ww.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2573
 
No doubt this is a big deal. Absolutely horrific.

https://news.yahoo.com/one-worlds-strongest-storms-blasts-philippines-141047128.html

Weather officials said Haiyan had sustained winds of 235 kph (147 mph) with gusts of 275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall. That makes it the world's strongest typhoon this year, said Aldczar Aurelio of the government's weather bureau.

Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado said the typhoon triggered landslides that blocked roads, uprooted trees and ripped roofs off houses around his residence.

The dense clouds and heavy rains made the day seem almost as dark as night, he said.

"When you're faced with such a scenario, you can only pray, and pray and pray," Mercado told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that mayors in the province had not called in to report any major damage.

"I hope that means they were spared and not the other way around," he said. "My worst fear is there will be massive loss of lives and property."

Eduardo del Rosario, head of the disaster response agency, said a powerful typhoon that also hit the central Philippines in 1990 killed 508 people and left 246 missing, but this time authorities had ordered pre-emptive evacuation and other measures to minimize casualties.
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Just amazing how bad Mother Nature can be. Also a testament to how much preparation can help. 508 dead with 246 missing in 1990. Only 4 confirmed deaths as of 55 minutes ago. There will be more, but hopefully a lot less than 508.
 
That article may, or may not be correct in the wind force.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeL3xTOfO8A

That video says 195 mph upon landfall.
 
ElRoach0 said:
That article may, or may not be correct in the wind force.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeL3xTOfO8A

That video says 195 mph upon landfall.
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The estimates of wind force are based on satellite data. No plane was inside this storm taking on-the-spot measurements. Jeff Masters is the leading expert, and the numbers come from his report, which I linked above. He is not known to exaggerate.
 
Welp, nevermind. Evacuation didn't really help all that much.

The red cross says at least 1000 dead.
 
officials are estimating a possible 10,000 dead.

Most directly affected. . . . Samar and Leyte, Masbate, Romblon, Mindoro. Cebu, Negros, Panay, and Palawan will have some parts heavily impacted as well. I've seen reports from Bohol, over a hundred miles off the track. I've seen pics from the cities of Legazpi on the southernmost reach of Luzon Island, the Bicol region. . . . One video I saw was from Cebu City, also about a hundred miles off the track. The sea surge was a killer. . . . 10 to 20 ft with an impact comparable to a tsunami of that height. Pictures out so far show a lot of tin roofs blown off buildings, houses moved off their foundations by the sea.

I went with the local name "Yolanda" because it reminds me of the most severe typhoon I've been in ..... Typhoon Yoling(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Patsy_(1970)) in November 1972, whose eye passed over Manila. The modern apartment I was in had it's roof lifted enough to crack the walls. It was the most powerful typhoon to affect Manila from the beginning of record-keeping in 1865 until 2009.

I was in an area in 1972 that was flooded from June through July by a series of seven typhoons so close together it didn't actually stop raining for forty days. . . .

Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda followed on the tracks of another typhoon just a week earlier, and another is forming and moving on the same path now, due to hit in about four days. . . .

This will make mudslides in mountainous areas, and further delay repairs to roads and making contact with remote areas.

I've been watching the ocean surface temp data gathered by satellite for the past several years, and following some of the expert discussions. At this time the ocean east of the Philippines has an unusual warm temp, which holds for an unusual depth. A typhoon lives of the heat in the sea, usually churning it enough to mix in some cooler water from a little deeper. . . .
 
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The ten thousand death toll is the current estimate from Tacloban City alone. . . .mostly from the sea surge. . . .
 
Current estimates of the dead are going beyond the ten thousand. Here is an account from a "storm chaser" who was bunkered in a modern solid cement building. . . . .

The greatest death toll from Haiyan is likely to be in the capital of Leyte, Tacloban (population 221,000), which received a direct hit from Haiyan's northern eyewall. A stark eyewitness account posted to Facebook of what Tacloban endured, by storm chaser Josh Morgerman of iCyclone.com:

"First off, Tacloban City is devastated. The city is a horrid landscape of smashed buildings and completely defoliated trees, with widespread looting and unclaimed bodies decaying in the open air. The typhoon moved fast and didn't last long--only a few hours--but it struck the city with absolutely terrifying ferocity. At the height of the storm, as the wind rose to a scream, as windows exploded and as our solid-concrete downtown hotel trembled from the impact of flying debris, as pictures blew off the walls and as children became hysterical, a tremendous storm surge swept the entire downtown. Waterfront blocks were reduced to heaps of rubble. In our hotel, trapped first-floor guests smashed the windows of their rooms to keep from drowning and screamed for help, and we had to drop our cameras and pull them out on mattresses and physically carry the elderly and disabled to the second floor. Mark's leg was ripped open by a piece of debris and he'll require surgery. The city has no communication with the outside world. The hospitals are overflowing with the critically injured. The surrounding communities are mowed down. After a bleak night in a hot, pitch-black, trashed hotel, James, Mark, and I managed to get out of the city on a military chopper and get to Cebu via a C-130--sitting next to corpses in body bags. Meteorologically, Super Typhoon HAIYAN was fascinating; from a human-interest standpoint, it was utterly ghastly. It's been difficult to process."
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This, from the most reputable and knowledgeable authority on planet earth. . . .

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2576
 
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