Typhoon causes serious damage in East Asia

A news analysis piece written by the BBC has described how “slow-moving Khanun is the third typhoon to hit east Asia in as many weeks, causing a huge amount of destruction and impacting business across the region. Typhoon Khanun threatens to worsen the impact of recent rainfall, which has seen the heaviest downpours in Beijing in more than a century.” The storms have killed at least 34 people in China so far, with experts warning that extreme weather events like this will become more frequent, says the BBC.

Two other typhoons, Talim and Doksuri have already soaked the Philippines and Taiwan, killing more than 30 people, in the last few weeks. Khanun's 252kmh (156mph) winds are expected to land on Japan's tropical Okinawa islands. As a result, about 20,000 people were told to evacuate and nearly 900 flights have been cancelled at Okinawa's Naha airport. According to the report, this is peak tourist season for the island.

As the BBC report: “Beijing alone has experienced the "heaviest rainfall in 140 years" over the past few days, breaking the record set in 1891, according to officials, who have warned of more "significant rainfall

In other news that will alert the (re)insurance underwriting community, 26 people died after a ferry capsized in rough seas south of Manila as Doksuri drifted away from the country's west coast and Khanun gathered strength in the east. The BBC notes that the storms have also had a major Business Interruption impact and: “destroyed infrastructure and sparked fires and floods across the region, forcing intermittent closures of schools and businesses.”

A study published in 2021 by the Frontiers in Earth Science, which investigated the impact of typhoons between 1979 and 2016, projected that typhoons could double in destructive power over land by the end of the 21st century, the BBC report concluded.

Russell will be watching this already active start to the Pacific Storm season with respect to the developing El Nino.

Post Date: 03/08/2023

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