One of the reasons that is being cited for more destruction from Typhoon Haiyan is the weak infrastructure of Philippines. However, the strongest of infrastructures would have proven to be nothing to reckon against a force of nature as deadly as Haiyan. Typhoon Haiyan landed with wind speeds as much as that of bullet trains in Tacloban city of Philippines on Leyte island on 8th of November.
The tropical cyclone was the eighth to form in West Pacific Ocean since October this year. It originated near 6°N on 3rd of November, possibly due to its interaction with Rossby wave - a westward moving atmospheric wave near the equator that can trigger convergence in the lower levels of the atmosphere.
The low pressure area soon took a shape of trpocial storm on 4th of November with winds blowing at more than 63 kmph. The tropical storm continued to strengthen due warm pacific waters. By 7th of November evening or early morning of 8th of November, just before the landing, the Typhoon sustained a wind speed of 315 kmph.
The weather system made landfall in a highly dense area on the morning of 8th of November, when its intensity was at its peak which is what led to so much devastation in Philippines.
A wind speed of 315 kmph at the time of landing produced higher than normal tides and waves along the coastal areas, leading to a significant storm surge. Storm surges are considered as the single biggest threat to life in areas of storm landfalls.
Other such tropical storms like Bhola- the one in Bangladesh in 1970 which led to more than half a million deaths, was proven lethal just because of the storm surge it brought to the Bangladesh coast. But a similar tropical storm Monica that hit western Arnhem Land in 2006 did not prove fatal as it landed on a sparsely populated area.
Haiyan, landing with its peak intensity in densely populated area made it one of the worst tropical storms experienced on the planet in recorded history.
Photograph by Wikipedia
