Typhoon Haiyan May Have Killed 10,000 in Philippines
Posted on November 10, 2013
Typhoon Hiayan (Yolanda) made landfall in the Philippines as one of the most powerful systems in modern history. The JTWC estimated the system's maximum sustained winds at 315 km/h (195 mph) just a few hours before landfall. This would make it the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record. Dr. Jeff Masters says the previous record was held by Hurricane Camille, which made landfall in Mississippi with maximum sustained winds of 190 mph in 1969. He has posted a chart here showing Earth's strongest tropical cyclones at landfall by wind speed.
The above image was taken by the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image below was taken from the International Space Station. NASA has coverage of Haiyan here.
USA Today reports that there are fears the death toll could reach 10,000 people. USA Today also says there are corpses hanging from branches and widespread destruction. Some pictures of the massive destruction can be found here on The Daily Mail.
Hugh Willoughby, professor of meteorology at Florida International University, says Typhoon Haiyan was "off the scales" when it came to estimating intensity from satellite imagery.
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