Typhoon Mangkhut
October 1, 2018
Two weeks ago, early on the morning of Sept. 15, 2018 (September 14 in the United States), Typhoon Mangkhut struck the main Philippine island of Luzon. In a country accustomed to seasonal tempests, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) gives its own names to storms: there, Mangkhut (the named bestowed on the storm by the World Meteorological Organization) was known as Ompong. The typhoon raged regardless of name, causing deadly flooding and landslides that killed 95 people in Luzon. Mangkhut then killed one person on Taiwan and six others in China. On September 20, days after the storm dissipated, waterlogged soil on the central Philippine island of Cebu caused a landslide that killed another 85 people.
Members of the Filipino Bureau of Fire Protection carry a victim of a landslide in Luzon’s Benguet province on Sept. 18, 2018. Credit: © Basilio Sepe, Getty Images
Typhoon Mangkhut formed as a tropical depression over the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific Ocean on September 7. The storm grew into a tropical storm near Bikini Atoll and escalated to a Category 5 (the strongest level) typhoon in the Northern Marianas. Mangkhut roared westward across the Pacific and on September 12 the storm entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), the zone in the northwestern Pacific where PAGASA tracks dangerous weather.
Typhoon Mangkhut (Ompong) hit the northern Philippines and then crossed the South China Sea to Hong Kong and China’s Guangdong Province. Credit: WORLD BOOK map
In preparation for the massive storm, schools and public offices were closed in northern Luzon and people were evacuated from many coastal areas. Across the South China Sea in Hong Kong, officials issued a rare “No. 10” typhoon warning signal, the highest level of storm threat, and briefly shut down public services. Parts of China’s Guangdong Province also issued red alerts and closed schools and public offices.
Mangkhut reached the shores of Cagayán Valley, Luzon’s most northern administrative region, on September 15. The storm lashed Cagayán and the nearby Cordillera and Ilocos regions, where winds as fierce as 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour ripped up trees and houses and torrential rains caused flash flooding and mudslides. Mangkhut then leapt to China, where deadly winds knocked down thousands of trees and shattered windows in swaying high-rise buildings. Floodwaters blocked roads and railways and inundated coastal communities. On nearby Taiwan, the lone death occurred when strong ocean currents related to the storm swept a beachgoer out to sea.
