19 October 2010

Typhoon Megi and the Philippines

Posted by Dave Petley

In the last 24 hours Typhoon Megi has tracked from east to west across northern Luzon in the Philippines (map from here):

At the time of landfall this was a true super typhoon.  Even in its current weakened state it is generating gusts of up to 195 kph. Inevitably, it has brought very heavy rainfall to the north of the Philippines, although to date there is no news of any large landslide accidents.  However, at the moment the storm appears to be stalled just offshore (see PAGASA satellite image below), which is the scenario that often leads to prolonged intense local rainfall and thus significant slope problems. 

Tropical Storm Risk are forecasting that this typhoon will track northwestwards and will strengthen to landfall to the west of Hong Kong.  If this forecast is correct then there must be the potential for substantial landslide and flood occurrence in southern China in the next few days.