Typhoon Ragasa stirs Philippines, surpasses Odisha’s 1999 cyclone fury by 2 Mb

Typhoon Ragasa barreled into northern Philippines, becoming the strongest storm of the year. Reports confirm that it made landfall over Panuitan Island. The Philippines was hit by torrential rain and winds exceeding 267 km/h (165 mph), equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.

 On Monday,  met scientist Uma Shankar on Monday informed that Ragasa was still a category 5 super typhoon, with packing winds of 270kmph (gusting upto 315 kmph) and an estimated central pressure of 914 mb. It is just 2mb higher than Odisha Super Cyclone of 1999, i.e 912 mb.

Odisha Super Cyclone 1999

 The 1999 Odisha Super Cyclone made landfall near Paradip on 29 October, causing up to 10,000 confirmed deaths, with many more injured or missing. Winds exceeding 250 km/h damaged over 1.6 million homes, destroyed millions of hectares of crops, caused hundreds of thousands of livestock losses, and severely impacted infrastructure. Gale-force winds and heavy rain paralysed transport and inundated low-lying areas.

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 Meanwhile, Hong Kong is bracing for Typhoon Ragasa, which caused massive devastation in the Philippines on Monday. Schools and some businesses have been shut down, and the airport will ground most flights from Tuesday evening as the city prepares for the super typhoon.