On September 22nd, Super Typhoon Ragasa, also known in the Philippines as Nando, swept across the country.
Sustained winds exceeded 165 miles per hour, with gusts reaching up to 183, corresponding to a Category Five hurricane. Wave heights along the coasts of the provinces of Batanes, Cagayan, and Ilocos reached about 46 feet.
Ragasa became the most powerful tropical cyclone on the planet this year. The eye of the storm passed over the Babuyan Islands, dangerously close to the densely populated island of Luzon. Nearly 25,000 people had been evacuated in advance and placed in temporary shelters.
The storm damaged power lines, uprooted countless trees, and triggered floods and landslides in several areas. Domestic flights, ferry services, and fishing operations were suspended. Schools and government institutions in 29 provinces, including the capital Manila, temporarily shut down.
Agriculture also suffered heavy losses: thousands of acres of rice and corn ready for harvest were either submerged or destroyed by the winds, threatening the region’s food security.
In Manila, torrential rains caused flooding, with water in some neighborhoods rising as high as chest level. In the northern province of Benguet, one person was killed and seven others were injured when a landslide struck a major highway.
Tragedy also unfolded at sea: a fishing vessel carrying thirteen people capsized under the force of the waves and wind — seven lives were lost.
The island of Taiwan was also battered by Typhoon Ragasa. Beginning on September 22nd, the outer bands of the storm brought record-breaking rainfall to the island’s east coast. In some places, nearly forty inches of rain fell.
On September 23rd, in Hualien County, torrential rains overflowed a lake that had formed after a landslide earlier in the summer. As a result, sixty million tons of water burst through a natural dam and rushed down a valley toward the tourist town of Guangfu. Witnesses compared the scene to a tsunami: torrents of water mixed with silt and mud swept away cars and destroyed houses, leveling entire neighborhoods.
Residents were forced to seek refuge on the upper floors of buildings. Bridges and roads across the county were closed, and train service was halted. At least seventeen people were killed, while the fate of another seventeen remains unknown.
By September 24th, the typhoon had reached mainland China, where residents of Hong Kong, Macau, and the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi felt its full force. In Hong Kong, the highest danger alert was issued. More than one hundred people were injured during the onslaught.
In Guangdong, more than two million people were evacuated as a precaution. Winds were so powerful that in the city of Yangjiang alone, more than fifty thousand trees were uprooted.
Scientists continue to note the growing intensity and abnormal nature of tropical cyclones, warning that what we are witnessing now is only the beginning — far more destructive and unpredictable events are ahead. Why such certainty? The reason lies deep within our planet itself. For more details on these processes and how they may unfold in the coming years, watch the video “Why Turbulence Is on the Rise? Egon Cholakian on Atmospheric Anomalies and Nanoplastic Pollution.”