Typhoon Soudelor

Typhoon Soudelor (Hanna)

Soudelor at peak intensity on August 4
Meteorological history
Formed	July 29, 2015
Dissipated	August 12, 2015
Violent typhoon
10-minute sustained (JMA)
Highest winds	215 km/h (130 mph)
Lowest pressure	900 hPa (mbar); 26.58 inHg
Category 5-equivalent super typhoon
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC)
Highest winds	285 km/h (180 mph)
Lowest pressure	907 hPa (mbar); 26.78 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities	59 total
Damage	$4.09 billion (2015 USD)
Areas affected	Mariana Islands Philippines Taiwan China South Korea Japan
IBTrACS
Part of the 2015 Pacific typhoon season

Typhoon Soudelor, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Hanna, was the third most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2015 after Hurricane Patricia and Cyclone Pam as well as the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2015 Pacific typhoon season. Soudelor had severe impacts in the Northern Mariana Islands, Taiwan, and eastern China, resulting in 40 confirmed fatalities. Lesser effects were felt in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. The thirteenth named storm of the annual typhoon season, Soudelor formed as a tropical depression near Pohnpei on July 29. The system strengthened slowly at first before entering a period of rapid intensification on August 2. Soudelor made landfall on Saipan later that day, causing extensive damage. Owing to favorable environmental conditions, the typhoon further deepened and reached its peak intensity with ten-minute maximum sustained winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) and a central atmospheric pressure of 900 hPa (mbar; 26.58 inHg) on August 3. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center assessed one-minute sustained winds at 285 km/h (180 mph), making Soudelor a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon. Steady weakening ensued thereafter as the storm moved generally west-northwest. Soudelor made landfall over Hualien, Taiwan, late on August 7 and emerged over in the Taiwan Strait early the next day. The typhoon soon moved inland over eastern China and degraded to a tropical depression by August 9.

Soudelor was the second worst storm to strike Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in nearly 30 years (following Typhoon Yutu of 2018). Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed and power was expected to take a month to restore. Two people died in Guam due to rip currents. In Taiwan, torrential rains and destructive winds caused widespread damage and disruptions. A record-breaking 4.85 million households lost power on the island. At least 8 people died and 420 others sustained injury there; a ninth person died in the storm's aftermath. Portions of eastern China saw their heaviest rains in 100 years, resulting in deadly floods and landslides. Typhoon Soudelor killed 45 people in eastern China after parts of the country were hit by the heaviest rains in a century. Total economic losses were counted to be ¥24.627 billion (US$3.97 billion).^[1]