Typhoon Mangkut / Ompong
September 16, 2018 8:28 AM Subscribe
Super Typhoon Ompong [international name: Mangkut] leaves at least 29 dead in Philippines as it moves on to make landfall at the Pearl River Delta near Hong Kong and Macau
Good overview from the New York Times
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:42 AM on September 16, 2018
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:42 AM on September 16, 2018
Hong Kong locals are posting scary videos to WeChat, and my South China wife shows them to me: office high-rises with windows blown out, spewing papers into the void; trashed beachfront restaurants and hotel lobbies; fatalities crushed under wind-blown signs and views from balconies of neighboring roofs blowing off amid astonishing amounts of wind-blown plastic detritus.
She also tells me this super-typhoon's name is Shanzhu, or Sanjo (Mandarin/Cantonese for mangosteen) -- she doesn't recognize this word "Ompong" but a little research indicates that "Mangkut" is Thai for mangosteen. (Thailand gets to label typhoons?) Whatever, the National Geographic says it "would be considered a strong Category 5 storm in the Atlantic Ocean." Why such a fuss in the American media about Category 1-now-just-a-tropical-storm Florence?
posted by Rash at 10:53 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
She also tells me this super-typhoon's name is Shanzhu, or Sanjo (Mandarin/Cantonese for mangosteen) -- she doesn't recognize this word "Ompong" but a little research indicates that "Mangkut" is Thai for mangosteen. (Thailand gets to label typhoons?) Whatever, the National Geographic says it "would be considered a strong Category 5 storm in the Atlantic Ocean." Why such a fuss in the American media about Category 1-now-just-a-tropical-storm Florence?
posted by Rash at 10:53 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
The naming is explained at the end of the NYT article.
That northerly jog was a lucky break for the Philippines but they seem so well prepared: those were crazy winds in those videos!
posted by fshgrl at 11:26 AM on September 16, 2018
That northerly jog was a lucky break for the Philippines but they seem so well prepared: those were crazy winds in those videos!
posted by fshgrl at 11:26 AM on September 16, 2018
Why such a fuss in the American media about Category 1-now-just-a-tropical-storm Florence?
Because even if it doesn’t kill a ton of people, the damage from flooding is going to be epic (e.g. many many miles of major highways like route 95 are closed because of flooding) and take a long time to recover from. There’s an FPP and a check-in MeTa that have lots of links all about this. Also, it’s not exactly surprising that American media covering a destructive storm on American soil would do what it’s doing.
posted by rtha at 11:38 AM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
Because even if it doesn’t kill a ton of people, the damage from flooding is going to be epic (e.g. many many miles of major highways like route 95 are closed because of flooding) and take a long time to recover from. There’s an FPP and a check-in MeTa that have lots of links all about this. Also, it’s not exactly surprising that American media covering a destructive storm on American soil would do what it’s doing.
posted by rtha at 11:38 AM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
Why such a fuss in the American media about Category 1-now-just-a-tropical-storm Florence?
In case you are really wondering this: because it is happening in America, the American news media is going to make a big deal about it, just as they always do for hurricanes that hit America.
Maybe the rest of the world doesn't care much if a large part of southeastern North Carolina is experiencing historic flooding and if those people are really suffering because Florence was circling over the area for over 3 days, and if some people have died in the storm for storm-related reasons, but an American is generally likely to care about that and wants to hear about it because it is happening in America.
People who are seriously fretting about a hurricane happening in their own country are maybe unlikely to have the mental bandwidth to care equally as much about a major storm happening somewhere else.
Maybe it's reasonable to talk about Mangkut without being like "This storm is worse than that storm, so who even cares about that storm?"
posted by wondermouse at 3:39 PM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
In case you are really wondering this: because it is happening in America, the American news media is going to make a big deal about it, just as they always do for hurricanes that hit America.
Maybe the rest of the world doesn't care much if a large part of southeastern North Carolina is experiencing historic flooding and if those people are really suffering because Florence was circling over the area for over 3 days, and if some people have died in the storm for storm-related reasons, but an American is generally likely to care about that and wants to hear about it because it is happening in America.
People who are seriously fretting about a hurricane happening in their own country are maybe unlikely to have the mental bandwidth to care equally as much about a major storm happening somewhere else.
Maybe it's reasonable to talk about Mangkut without being like "This storm is worse than that storm, so who even cares about that storm?"
posted by wondermouse at 3:39 PM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
Why such a fuss in the American media about Category 1-now-just-a-tropical-storm Florence?
The Carolinas just weren't well prepared, nor do they have much ability to recover in many places. There are a lot of terribly poor people in the Carolina's, it was unspoken but it was obviously a major concern. Some of the photos or the disabled and elderly left behind in shack-like housing are shocking. The US is supposed to be a first world country and the extent of the desperate poverty and lack of good governmental response might not be appreciable to people who haven't lived there.
posted by fshgrl at 3:55 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
The Carolinas just weren't well prepared, nor do they have much ability to recover in many places. There are a lot of terribly poor people in the Carolina's, it was unspoken but it was obviously a major concern. Some of the photos or the disabled and elderly left behind in shack-like housing are shocking. The US is supposed to be a first world country and the extent of the desperate poverty and lack of good governmental response might not be appreciable to people who haven't lived there.
posted by fshgrl at 3:55 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yeah, we can really stop talking about the USA now. This post is about a typhoon in South East Asia.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:02 PM on September 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:02 PM on September 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
This one is more powerful than expected and it is affecting large scale weather systems. Although we're not in the cyclone's path, we're seeing the rainfall from the warm and wet air brought inland. Like, summer drove autumn away.
I can't imagine the horror in those affected directly by the storm.
posted by runcifex at 6:27 PM on September 16, 2018
I can't imagine the horror in those affected directly by the storm.
posted by runcifex at 6:27 PM on September 16, 2018
Yeah. I read that and am still trying to understand how you close an entire delta. Unreal.
posted by rtha at 7:57 PM on September 16, 2018
posted by rtha at 7:57 PM on September 16, 2018
Our family in Manila was sharing videos of the flooding in Baguio (up in the mountains outside Manila) - it's just insane to see a river running down a street. They also had some videos from folks in Hong Kong but part of me can't even decide if they're real - stuff like planes getting thrown around.
I was curious about "Ompong" since that's what my relatives mostly were calling it but as far as I can tell it's a Filipino diminutive nickname, not an actual word.
posted by brilliantine at 6:45 AM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was curious about "Ompong" since that's what my relatives mostly were calling it but as far as I can tell it's a Filipino diminutive nickname, not an actual word.
posted by brilliantine at 6:45 AM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Does the Pacific get storms in series, like the Atlantic is producing this year? Or are they rarer?
I mean, will those left homeless by the storm have time to rebuild, or will they, like Caribbean residents, be crouching in what's left of their houses as the next storm roars through in a week or three?
God help those poor people.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:26 PM on September 17, 2018
I mean, will those left homeless by the storm have time to rebuild, or will they, like Caribbean residents, be crouching in what's left of their houses as the next storm roars through in a week or three?
God help those poor people.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:26 PM on September 17, 2018
The cover photo on this article says it all: The Strongest Storm of the Year Shook Southeast Asia This Weekend (Yessenia Funes, Earther (Gizmodo)).
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:30 PM on September 17, 2018
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:30 PM on September 17, 2018
The photographs of the blown out high-rise windows in Hong Kong are mind boggling. That must have been terrifying.
Wenestvedt, the Philippines gets hit by an average of 20 cyclones per year per the news so they are probably fairly well prepared. I know they made lots of changes after Haiyan and it seems to have paid off in very few fatalities or civil unrest after such a massive storm.
posted by fshgrl at 5:42 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wenestvedt, the Philippines gets hit by an average of 20 cyclones per year per the news so they are probably fairly well prepared. I know they made lots of changes after Haiyan and it seems to have paid off in very few fatalities or civil unrest after such a massive storm.
posted by fshgrl at 5:42 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Many crazy videos here.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:46 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:46 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
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posted by rtha at 10:14 AM on September 16, 2018