Typhoon Kalmaegi, since its formation in the Western Pacific has moved very fast affecting Phillipines and then striking Hainan in China and now north coastal Vietnam. It has travelled from Phillipines to Vietnam in just about 3 days causing large scale destruction in these areas. The typhoon brought heavy rain to Tonkin Gulf and northern parts of Vietnman on Tuesday evening. While making landfall it had winds in gusts of 150 kmph. People living on the shores and low lying areas had to be evacuated and moved to safer places by the local authorities.
Meanwhile,the Category I hurricane has weakened to a depression and is lying close to the Myanmar region. Though, the typhoon will weakened further before reaching Myanmar, it still has the potential to affect the wind pattern and influence weather condition in the country including Northeast India. We can expect some rain in the region in next 48 hours.
There is another system originating from the same pocket (West Pacific) heading for Phillipines. It is currently positioned at 12⁰N Latitude and 103⁰E Longitude in the open sea.
The Pacific Ocean has an active stormy season commencing from September and lasting till December. The intensity of these systems vary largely from a tropical depression to super typhoon. The West Pacific was struck by four CAT-5 typhoons last year during the period between September and December 2013. A vast stretch of coastline of Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, China, Japan and Korea remains under threat of strong tropical storms, frequently achieving typhoon status. These systems have devastating potential and are punched with a deadly combination of gale winds and torrential rains.
