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Largest and Most Intense Tropical Cyclone On Record Hits the Philippines

Posted by Soulskill on from the be-safe dept.

mrspoonsi writes "A monstrous storm has arisen in the Western Pacific. The storm, called 'Supter-Typhoon Haiyan', has become the year's most intense. It bore down on the central Philippines this morning, packing winds up to 195 mph (314 km/h), with gusts up to 235 mph (378 km/h), threatening massive damage and sending over 100,000 people into evacuation centers. (Animation of landfall.) Flood waters went as high as 10 feet. The secretary general of the Philippine National Red Cross said, 'About 90% of the infrastructure and establishments were heavily damaged.'"

3 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Level 7 on modified Saffir scale by peter303 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Saffir scale tops out Level 5, > 157 mph. But each level increases about 20-25 mph. It is essentially a 500 mile wide tornado.

    1. Re:Level 7 on modified Saffir scale by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Living in Canada, in an area where there fiercest winds we have are 100 km/h

      Really? Really? Come on man, I'm in Alberta right now and we see 120km/h and 130km/h gusts through the mountains, and we haven't even hit on tornado's, updrafts(favorite in southern ontario), microbursts, and those lovely unpredictable t-storms in the summer that spawn in the lakes, or prairies. We sure do see winds higher than 100km/h.

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  2. Re:Manbearpig in 5...4...3... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting,eh? This is when Slashdot moderation gets scary.

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