Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 17 SepteMber 2018
2 storms, Florence and Mangkhut, different as water and wind

By SETH BORENSTEIN Economics also play a role
AP Science Writer in a storm's impact. As a
WASHINGTON (AP) — Na- developing country, the
ture expresses its fury in Philippines is much poor-
sundry ways. Two deadly er than the southeastern
storms — Hurricane Flor- United States, which means
ence and Typhoon Mang- houses tend to be less stur-
khut — roared ashore on dy and first responders less
the same day, half a world well equipped, among
apart, but the way they other factors. This is one
spread devastation was reason why, when disaster
as different as water and does strike, the effects can
wind. be devastating. In 2013,
Storms in the western Pa- one of the most powerful
cific generally hit with storms on record, Typhoon
much higher winds and Haiyan , killed 7,300 people
the people who live in their and displaced more than 5
way are often poorer and million when it swept across
more vulnerable, Princeton the islands of the central
University hurricane and cli- Philippines. Straddling the
mate scientist Gabriel Vec- famous Pacific Ring of Fire,
chi said Saturday. That will the Philippines is also be-
likely determine the type of deviled by volcanoes and
destruction. earthquakes, and while
Mangkhut made landfall there are considerable
Friday on the northeastern patches of poverty in North
tip of Luzon island in the and South Carolina, it is not
Philippines with top-of-the- In this Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018, file photo, a resident walks beside a toppled basketball court af- the same as the rural area
scale Category 5 winds ter Typhoon Mangkhut barreled across Tuguegarao city, Cagayan province, northeastern Philip- where Mangkhut hit.
of 165 mph. Florence had pines. Munich Re's Rauch said
weakened to a Category 1 Associated Press about 30 to 50 percent of
storm with 90 mph winds by storm damage is usually in-
the time it arrived at North densely populated south- how long they last, accord- ence in the storms. Mang- sured in the United States
Carolina's coast. east coast of China, it is ing to more than 65 years khut formed further south but often less than 10 per-
Yet a day after landfall the likely to cause more death of storm data . and stayed south — over cent in developing coun-
faster-moving Mangkhut and destruction. But wa- So far this year there have warmer water. Florence tries, meaning nine-tenths
was back out over open tery Florence's insured los- been 23 named storms in was out of the tropics when of the people hit will end
water — weakened, but es total will eventually be the western Pacific and it hit land. up shouldering a bigger
headed across the South higher, Ernst Rauch, head 10 in the Atlantic, both re- Because of that, Florence economic burden.
China Sea toward China. of climate research for the gions more than 30 percent was weakened by the dry In the United States, "you
Florence, meanwhile, was world's largest reinsurer Mu- busier than average years. air and upper level winds of can't move houses, but
still plodding across South nich Re, told German me- Hurricanes and typhoons the higher latitudes. Not so people can move out of
Carolina at a pace slow- dia. are the same type of storm; the more southerly Mang- the way," reflecting mount-
er than a normal person That's because of a com- both are tropical cyclones, khut, which Maue said, "es- ing damages from storms
walks. By Saturday morn- bination of geography, cli- but those that occur in the sentially had a perfect en- and often lower losses in
ing, it had already dumped matic conditions and hu- Pacific west of the Interna- vironment to intensify to a life, Vecchi said.
more than 30 inches (76 man factors. tional Date Line are called Category 5 and stay there." As the world warms from
centimeters) of rain, a re- The western Pacific has typhoons. "Mangkhut and Florence the burning of fossil fuels,
cord for North Carolina. two-and-a-half times more The water in the western are certainly different ani- the globe will see both
Experts say Mangkhut may storms that reach the mini- Pacific is warmer, and mals," said Colorado State more extremely intense
well end up being the mum hurricane strength of warm water fuels storms. University hurricane re- storms like Mangkhut and
deadlier storm. As of Satur- 74 mph. It has three-and- There are also only a few searcher Phil Klotzbach. Be- wetter storms like Florence,
day afternoon, the death a-half times more storms pieces of land to get in the cause Florence is moving so Vecchi said.q
count in the Philippines that reach major hurricane way and weaken them, slowly, he said, it will dump
was a bit higher, although strength of 111 mph, and said University of Miami hur- more rain than Mangkhut,
still far below that of other three times more accumu- ricane researcher Brian Mc- which is named for the Thai
storms that have hit the lated energy out of those Noldy. word for the mangosteen
disaster-prone island na- hurricanes, an index that "If we are ever going to fruit.
tion. And with Mangkhut measures not just strength have a Category 6 (a Both storms have lasted a
now headed toward the and number of storms but speculated-on level that's long time, especially Flor-
above current measure- ence which formed all the
ment tools), the western way over near Africa 15
Pacific is where it's going days before landfall, Mc-
to be," said meteorologist Noldy said. Both storms
Ryan Maue of weather- cover a large area, but
models.com. Mangkut still dwarfs Flor-
The Philippines tends to ence. Mangkhut's tropical
get hit nearly every year, storm force winds stretched
the Carolinas far less fre- more than 325 miles from
quently though with lots of the center, while Florence's
close calls, Maue said. That spread about 195 miles,
shows another big differ- Klotzbach said.