A powerful typhoon is threatening the island country of Guam. Typhoon Dolphin has intensified from a Category 2 to a Category 3 equivalent Hurricane in the past few days and is to intensify further. The typhoon is packing wind gusts of 185 kmph and will gain strength to about 200 kmph by Friday. Early warning systems are expected to keep the casualty very less in Guam.
According to latest forecast the path of typhoon Dolphin is just north of Guam which means that the worst of the typhoon would hit the sparsely populated island of Rota. The city has a population of just over 3000 people. Guam which is having a population of about 1, 65,000 people is not out of danger either as northern Guam could still experience strong winds of about 110 kmph to 145 kmph with gusts up to 185 kmph. The storm surge of typhoon dolphin could be as high as 16 to 20 feet along with heavy rain of 200 mm to 300 mm.
The track of typhoon dolphin suggests that after hitting the island of Rota the typhoon will intensify to a category 4 and will curve northwards and eventually northeastwards. This means the typhoon will not have any impact on Philippines and Japan. Only last weekend a very strong typhoon Noul struck Philippines and Japan. Now, with typhoon Dolphin curving away, people in Philippines and Japan are breathing a huge sigh of relief.
Image credit: seattletimes.com
