Typhoon Ketsana came ashore mid-morning, UTC, as a category two typhoon with winds of 90kts (104mph or 167kph). Typhoon Ketsana made landfall near the border of Vietnam states Tân An and Trà Xuân.
Typhoon Ketsana - MTSAT Visible - Sep 29, 2009 08:57Z
Ketsana had actually taken a brief west-northwest track 24 hours ago that appeared would take the storm north of Hue. However, Ketsana leveled off westerly shortly after and then took a west-southwest track over the last 12 hours prior to landfall which brought the system inland about 110 miles southeast of Hue.
Satellite estimates of the Typhoon’s rainfall rates taken yesterday, along with water vapor imagery that shows some dryer air had been wrapped into the system thus limiting rainfall potential. Some parts of the storm as of yesterday had estimated rates of 1/2-inch to 1-inch per hour. However, due to the mountainous terrain of the region it’s highly likely these rates will flare up in feeder bands as the storm moves inland. As seen in the west with landfalling systems over central America or Haiti, flash-flooding and mud slides are highly likely.
Typhoon Ketsana - Aqua 1 Rain Estimates - Sep 28, 2009 18:48Z
The Phillipines continue cleaning up after the majority of floodwaters have receded. Currently, Ketsana’s death toll stands at 240 with 37 missing and over 200,000 homeless.
In the meantime, Tropical Depression 19-W was upgraded to Tropical Storm Parma overnight. Parma could be a threat to Taiwan and China later this week.
Tropical Depression 18-W is forecast to pass over Guam as a weak Tropical Storm Melor in about 24 hours.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
you must be really bored talking about west pacific storms. atlantc not busy enough for ya???
Actually, yes. Both basins are too quiet for me.
I’ve been planning on expanding the site to cover global cyclones. I’ve been collecting the data and creating all the pages I’m hoping to have them up in a couple of weeks along with the tracking.