Super Typhoon Haiyan hits central Philippines
Posted November 7, 2013 9:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Super Typhoon Haiyan has made landfall in the Philippines, according to the country’s weather service.
There are 25 million people in the Typhoon’s path, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever observed has killed three people, including a 1-year-old.
The country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the infant and another person were hit by tornado debris in Cotabato province.
A woman died when she was hit by a falling coconut tree in Cebu, according to the provincial government of Cebu.
Tens of thousands of people in vulnerable areas of the central Philippines were evacuated earlier as the monster storm spun toward the islands.
Haiyan will likely be the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall anywhere in the world in recorded history with recorded sustained winds of 315 kph (195 mph) and gusts as strong as 380 kph (235 mph).
It will take further analysis after the storm passes to determine exactly if it is a record.
Its wind strength makes it equivalent to an exceptionally strong Category 5 hurricane.
A “super typhoon” has surface winds that sustain speeds of more than 240 kph (150 mph) for at least a minute, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Haiyan will move over the many islands of the central Philippines Friday and part of Saturday before exiting into the South China Sea.
The storm will weaken slightly as it crosses land, but forecasters with the Philippine weather agency, Pagasa, predict that it will maintain super-typhoon intensity throughout its passage of the islands.
