Typhoons prowl around like roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. For hours, they ravage everyone and everything on their path beyond help — homes, power and communication lines, lives.
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To be caught in the eye of a storm is both fascinating and fearsome, in equal measure. For those who have less in life, it’s soul-crushing, even deadly.
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Kammuri was particularly violent, pumped up at 10:30 pm on December 2 in Legazpi (6.30pm Dubai time). It’s the first major Philippine city to bear the storm’s wrath: its airport passenger terminal took a massive beating after a wall and the ceiling came off.
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And in the eye of the storm, it’s deceptively quiet.
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And in the eye of the storm, it’s deceptively quiet.
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Modern-day storm tracking technology has brought to the world real-time, unfiltered reports of weather disturbances, including the monstrous Kammuri.
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Signal No. 3 or 4?
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The latest radar technology and weather satellites, many of them run by universities, have exposed Kammuri’s beastly might.
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Pagasa, the Philippines’ weather bureau, however, simply categories typhoons according to Signals #1 to #5.
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Kammuri is Signal 3 in places that took a direct hit, states Pagasa. However, a 2.5-minute rapid scan #Himawari8 Infrared images shows a Category 4-equivalent for Kammuri as it hit land.
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‘Ring of hell’
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Armed with backpack radar gear, and linked up to the world by social media, one Twitter-enabled storm tracker, Josh Morgerman, has constantly chased cyclones and typhoons.
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He shares what it’s like to live through “ring of hell” by the hour. Until power and communication lines are cut. Then, silence.
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Here’s a gist of what people in the Bicol region went through overnight and till this morning, thanks to Morgerman.
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‘Ear-piercing whistles’
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“Constant roar with ear-piercing whistles,” reported tweep Josh Morgerman, a typhoon tracker, from his Legazpi hotel. “Roof of covered walkway ripped off & flew away. Hanging lamps in lobby shaking as in an earthquake. Surge crashing up onto hotel grounds,” he added.
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At about 12:18 am on December 3, Morgerman tweeted, “The roar & the incessant whistling sounds are dying down. Suddenly. I think we might be grazing the eye! Pressure’s not that low, but it is definitely calming, or trying to.”
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After calm, it roars again
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At 1.40am, he reported: “After long calm, wind is starting to roar again. We’re going back into the ring of hell. While #KAMMURI’s violence has mightily impressed me, the data have not. I have 3 calibrated devices going, and none got lower than 961.9 mb. Weird. But this felt like a legit Cat 4.”
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“We’re going back in the ring of hell,” Morgerman tweeted at 1.40am, December 3 (Tuesday).
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Typhoon Kammuri is expected to continue on a general westerly path, lashing a huge swathe of land, including the capital Manila, with fierce winds and dumping heavy rains.
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Typhoon Kammuri is currently lashing the Mindoro island with fierce winds and heavy rains.
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Organisers of the on-going South-East Asian Games, hosted by the Philippines, reported that Kammuri has affected at least 8 sports events.
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Kammuri culminates a busy year for these monsters from the Pacific – it is region’s 20th typhoon in 2019.
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Kammuri has left the passenger terminal of Legazpi City airport in shambles. Power and communication are still cut in most of Bicol region. Manila airport has been shut down until 11pm on December 3.
###'No more phone signal'###
The Morning and Evening Brief###
The Morning and Evening Brief