Typhoon Saomai struck the coast of Zhejiang province in the south-east of China on 10 August. Prior to making landfall, maximum sustained winds within the tropical cyclone were recorded by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) at 216 km/h, making it the most powerful typhoon to hit the country’s mainland in some 50 years. The CMA estimates that Saomai will move further inland at some 20 km/h.
Some 111 people have died and 149 are missing. Saomai was probably more powerful than the typhoon in August 1956 which triggered a massive storm surge, killing between 3 000 and 4 500 people in Zhejiang province.
Eight hours before the typhoon arrived on the coast and for the first time ever, CMA initiated a Category 1 typhoon response plan and intensified atmospheric and surface observations, ensuring that the latest data were made available to central and local authorities as rapidly as possible. More than 1 300 000 people were evacuated.
In the western North Pacific region, the average number of named storms reaches 8.5 by the end of July with 14 at the end of August. On 10 August 2006, nine storms had been named. However, seven of these have made landfall on Chinese coasts which CMA says is significantly higher than average.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
