Super Typhoon Mangkhut's Chaos in 13 Dramatic Pictures
The Category 5 storm has caused death and chaos in the Philippines and China.
Since super typhoon Mangkhut hit the Philippines early Saturday morning, it has caused extensive damage and killed at least 66 people, with many of the deaths caused by landslides.
The storm is now making its way across mainland China after pummeling Hong Kong, forcing nearly three million people to be moved to safety. After making landfall in China’s most populous province, Guangdong, it killed four before heading west into neighboring Guangxi province late Sunday night.
The storm, which is being called the world’s strongest of the year, is predicted to finally weaken as it continues to move inland through Asia in the days ahead.
Known in the Philippines as Ompong, the storm was packing winds of up to 165 miles per hour—75 mph stronger than Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas—when it began to rip roofs off buildings, uproot trees, block roads, and dump massive amounts of water. The most severe damage was inflicted in Luzon’s north, a sparsely populated region of the Philippines, causing a remarkable 51 landslides. There, in the mining town of Itogen, more than 34 miners were found buried when a mountain collapsed on a bunkhouse.
The super typhoon could be one of the strongest storms to hit Hong Kong in more than six decades, and the city’s weather observatory has issued its highest storm warning possible, a signal T10. Luckily, the city seems prepared for the worst, and has shut down operations in the city as well as any air travel—temporarily stranding tens of thousands of travelers.
Mangkhut is now expected to continue to move inland, west from Guangdong, and has been downgraded to a tropical depression.
